Teimour Radjabov, the world’s leading junior player, is making his debut at the Amber tournament. Like most newcomers to the unusual format he has struggled to match his opponents at both Blindfold and Rapid Chess but on a few occasions he has shown why he is considered a potential world champion.
It is good to seeing Radjabov play again. After his remarkable performance at Wijk aan Zee where he stunned his opponents by winning four games with the King’s Indian Defence, he withdrew from Linares following the burglary of his hotel room before the start of play in Mexico.
With a game to play at Amber, Vladimir Kramnik still leads by two points and his victory is all but assured. Radjabov’s combined score between Rapid and Blindfold is 8.5/20, here is one of his best efforts.
T Radjabov - F Vallejo Pons
Amber Blindfold Monte Carlo (6)
Dutch Defence
1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.h4 (This move is often played in positions where White has an extra piece out such as Bf4 or Nf3 in place of pawn c2-c4 yet it still appears to be potent. White intends to play h4-h5 and either take on g6 followed by Nh3-f4 or to advance the pawn to h6 and force a bishop on g7 to retreat)
4...d6 (4...h6 is met by 5.Nh3 to f4)
5.h5 Nxh5 6.Rxh5! gxh5 7.e4! Be6 (7...fxe4 8.Qxh5+ Kd7 9.Qg4+ e6 10.Nxe4 looks equally dangerous)
8.Be2 (8.Qxh5+ Bf7 9.Qxf5 Bg7 allows Black to develop although it still looks pleasant for White)
8...Bg7 9.Bxh5+ Kd7 10.d5 Bg8 11.exf5 Qf8 12.Bg4! (Black has to lose more time)
12...Bf6 13.Nge2 Na6 14.Be3 Bf7 15.Ne4 Rg8 16.Bh3 Kc8 17.Qd2 Be8 18.Rc1 (18.0-0-0)
18...c5 19.Nf4 Bd7 20.Ne6 Qf7 21.a3 b6 (Hereabouts Black had to exchange on e6 but it looks bad)
22.b4 Nc7 23.bxc5 bxc5 24.Nxc7 Kxc7 25.Qa5+ Kc8 26.Nxc5! a6 (26...dxc5 27.Bf4 mates)
27.Nxa6 Rxa6 28.Qxa6+ Kd8 29.Bb6+ 1-0
Pons
Radjabov
Final position after 29.Bb6+
Kramnik has 8.5/10 at Blindfold but in the following game he said he had started to forget where some of the pieces were so he offered a draw. With the bishop coming to b2 White is certainly better as he can play moves like Ba4 and Ra6 while Black must defend his e5 pawn.
M Carlsen - V Kramnik
Amber Blindfold Monte Carlo (9)
Ruy Lopez
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.Nbd2 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.d5 Bd7 13.b3 g6 14.Re1 Nh5 15.Nf1 Nb7 16.Bh6 Ng7 17.a4 Rfb8 18.Qd2 Nd8 19.b4 f6 20.bxc5 dxc5 21.axb5 axb5 22.c4 b4 23.Qe2 Nf7 24.Be3 Rxa1 25.Rxa1 f5 26.Bc1! f4 draw
Originally posted by LoletteI would presume that he wants to chat about chess.
Why are you here when you dont even make one move 😠
btw, you arab? keefak? 😕
Lolle
That said, all the blindfold games greatly impress me. I have tried blindfold and in familiar opening can manage about 15 reasonable moves, but quickly lose the thread when there are any time of complexities.
Originally posted by zebanoMy uncle play without looking at chess board 😲
I would presume that he wants to chat about chess.
That said, all the blindfold games greatly impress me. I have tried blindfold and in familiar opening can manage about 15 reasonable moves, but quickly lose the thread when there are any time of complexities.
Originally posted by Zander 88It works well against the Leningrad Game 2201224, but isn't so great after 3. ... e6 as 4. h4 doesn't look good now and after 4. g3 the queenside's been committed too early because of Bb4, I think black is ok in Nimzo-Dutch hybrids. In that game I'd looked at my opponents previous games and was pretty confident he'd play g6.
Thanks for the annotations. I think I will try that h4 idea against the Dutch next time I play against it.
