Raul Cruz Annotates

This one is for our Pinoy readers and, especially, for fans of Oliver Dimakiling. Meralco staffer Raul Cruz annotates Oliver's game against Fred Berend (LUX) in the second round of the Turin Olympiad.

Raul is 45 years old - a graduate of UST with a BS Industrial Engineering. He presently works for MERALCO, the Philippines biggest electric utility. His workplace hosts the Meralco CC which holds regular practices for employees, retirees and dependents, conducting goodwill matches with other companies and giving chess clinics for dependents.

Says Raul, "I have swindled now GM Villamayor in a blitz game in our training session where Bong was our trainer and also now IM Martinez, in Clean-up Chess Club. I just love the game!"

36th Olympiad 2006
Berend, Fred
Oliver “D-Mc” Dimakiling
C88


1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez Opening. It is one of the oldest opening on record which was named after Ruy Lopez de Segura who authored Libro del Ajedrez in 1561.

Lasker in Manual of Chess, “The most logical of all Openings arising from the double step of the two King pawns. Fine in The Ideas Behind The Chess Openings, “One reason why the Ruy Lopez is so strong is that the most natural sequence of moves leads to an ideal position for White.”

White’s sequence of development follows Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals, “The beginner would do well to remember this, bring out knights before bringing out bishops.”

Mason in The Art of Chess, “The Ruy Lopez is astonishingly complicated, embodying as it does a perpetual intertwining of grandiose strategical planning with an alarming maze of difficult tactical finesses and combinative motifs.”

Its first Finals appearance was in the Steinitz vs Zukertort World Championship Match of 1886.

3... a6 The Morphy Defence, the most popular line of Ruy Lopez, whose idea is to immediately challenge the intentions of the White bishop. As Viggo Mortensen in Young Guns II said, “Well, it’s a start.” 4. Ba4 Lasker in Manual of Chess, “White might reply Bc4 or Be2 without getting into peril. And Bxc6 is quite playable. But the above move is the most aggressive one, since it preserves the Bishop for future action against the King besides maintaining the pressure on the square e5.”

4... Nf6 5. O-O Fine in The Ideas Behind The Chess Openings, “Castle as soon as possible, preferably on the King’s side.”

Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals, “White could choose to defend the e-pawn with the simple 5.d3, but the best attempt to keep the initiative is 5.O-O.”

5... b5 This early pawn-roller is known as the Arkhangelsk Variation, a sharp counter-attacking system. 6. Bb3 Be7 This bishop placement transforms the opening to what is known in theory as the Closed Variation.

De Firmian in Modern Chess Openings, “This is the start of a fascinating opening struggle where both sides are able to develop and build their positions toward a tense and dynamic middle game.”

Consistent with the Arkhangelsk is 6... Bc5 as in Anand-Tkachiev in Moscow 2001 where The Vishy coded the move 14.Ra3 - voted the Most Important Novelty of Informant Volume 83. Unknown to many, the 2000 World Champion was tutored by the late NM Cabrido of Finance when he was studying here in the Philippines.

7. Re1 O-O D-Mc is aiming for the speculative Marshall Attack, one of the most significant ideas introduced in the 20th century. I myself have two encounters against the Marshall; the first was vs Domingo of San Juan in the Agora Open in the 1980’s and the second was vs Nabos in the MERALCO-LRT Goodwill Match last November.

8. h3 Mason in The Art of Chess, “Refrain from pushing any Rook pawn merely to prevent Bishop attacking Knights or pinning, as it is called. Let the Bishop come on, if he will; then attack him with pawn, if advisable.”

Berend ended the Marshall plan (8. c3 d5; the gambit pawn) of D-Mc. Other Anti-Marshall alternatives are:
a) 8.a4 played by 2002 World Champion Ruslan “Super” Ponomariov against Bacrot in the MTel Masters 2006.
b) 8.d4 played by 2004 World Champion Rustam “The Dream” Kasimdzhanov against Adams in their 2004 World Championship.

8... Bb7 Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals, “Placed on the long diagonal, the bishop is posted for its maximum potential control of the central squares as well as eyeing the opposite wing of the enemy’s camp.”

This is in the repertoire of The Vishy; Polgar-Anand in Match 2003, Leko-Anand in Dortmund 2004, Svidler-Anand in Dortmund 2004, Ivanchuk-Anand in Amber Blindfold 2004, Shirov-Anand in Amber Rapid 2004, Kramnik-Anand in Dortmund 2004, Topalov-Anand in MTel Masters 2006 and Svidler-Anand in MTel Masters 2006.

9. d3 d6 10. a3 Reigning World Champion Topalov preferred the move 10.a4; vs Grischuk in Corus 2005 and vs 2002 World Champion Ponomariov in Mtel Masters 2006. 10... Qd7 For Black, the opening phase is over. Knights and bishops are out, King has castled and rooks are connected. This is the ideal position!

This Queen Caoili move is a favorite of Levon Aronian, World No. 3 and who is treated like a god in Armenia – the 2006 Olympiad Champion; Movsesian-Aronian in Bundesliga 2004, Charbonneau-Aronian in 2004 Olympiad, Bologan-Aronian in Karabakh 2005, Karjakin-Aronian in European Championship 2005, Galkin-Aronian in Aeroflot 2005 and Efimenko-Aronian in Aeroflot 2005.

11. Nc3 Nd8 Up to this point, D-Mc is moving on a the path of GMs; Ivanchuk-Grischuk in Russian Club Cup 2006, Dominguez-Ponomariov in Cuernavaca 2006, Ponomariov-Kamsky in Mtel Masters 2006 and Svidler-Kamsky in MTel Masters 2006. 12. Ba2 Topalov pushed 12.d4 in the 2005 World Championship.

12... Ne6 13. Be3 c5 14. Nh2 Nc7 15. Bg5 b4 SHREDDER recommends, “[15...Ne6!? 16.Bxf6 Bxf6= (‹16...gxf6 17.Ng4±) ].”

16. axb4 cxb4 17. Na4 Rab8 18. Nb6 Qd8 19. Nc4 Ne6 20. Be3 Kh8

Byrne in Great Chess Victories and Defeats, “One of the paradoxes of chess is that the stodgy, passive move is so often the key to the launching of the most violent attacks.”

21. Bb3 Nd7 22. Na5 Ba8 23. Bd5 Why exchange the active bishop? White should have listened to Salma Hayek in Bandidas, “We need to consider the consequences, the implications.”

23... Qc7 24. Qd2 Rb5 25. Bxa8 Rxa8 26. Nc4 a5 27. b3 Rf8 28. Ra2 Nb8? SHREDDER recommends, “[28... f5 29.Qd1 d5 30.exd5 Rxd5=].” 29. Rxa5 White gets a pawn for nothing. As Gene Hackman in The Quick and The Dead warned, “It’s a neat trick.”

29. .. Rb7 30. Rea1 Nimzovich in My System, “The ideal which lies at the root of every operation in a file is the ultimate penetration by way of this file into the enemy's game, that is to say to our 7th or 8th rank.”

30... Nc6 31. Ra8 Rbb8 Wolff in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess, “Trading pieces is the first strategy you can adopt when your position is cramped.” 32. Rxb8 SHREDDER recommends, “[R8a6+-].” 32... Rxb8 33. Qd1 g6 34. Nf1 f5 Byrne in Great Chess Victories and Defeats, “A wing attack is best met by a counter in the center.”

35. exf5 gxf5 Nimzovich in My System, “We exchange in order to seize or open a file or diagonal without loss of time.” 36. Bh6 f4 37. Nh2 d5 38. Nd2 Ncd4 A “Tarrasch Knight” is a knight centrally posted in the enemy camp, supported by a pawn and cannot be attacked by an enemy pawn. 39. Ng4 There is a general principle that you should not leave a piece where it ties up another piece to its defense.

39... Nf5 40. Ra6 Nc5 41. Ra2 Rg8! The point of opening the g-file 7 moves earlier. 42. Qa1 Rxg4 43. hxg4 Nxh6 D-Mc gets 2 minor pieces for his rook. 44. Ra8+ Ng8 SHREDDER recommends, “[44...Kg7 45.d4 Ne4 46.Nxe4 dxe4=].”

45. d4 Ne6 Purdy in Fine Art of Chess Annotation, “Blockade! The average player thinks an isolated pawn is meant to be won, but that is not till the endgame.”

Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals, “The knight is the best piece to blockade a passed pawn. Even with this defensive duty, the knight has offensive power.”

46. dxe5 Qxc2 47. Nf3? SHREDDER recommends, “[47.Qa7 Bc5 (‹47...Qxd2 48.Qxe7 Qd1+ 49.Kh2 Qxg4 50.Qf6+ Ng7 51.Qf7=) 48.Qf7 Bxf2+ 49.Kxf2 Qxd2+ 50.Kf1 Qc1+ 51.Kf2 Qd2+ 52.Kf1 Qd1+ 53.Kf2 Qxg4=].” 47... Bc5 Lasker in Manual of Chess, “The target for the attack has to be a weakness in the hostile position.”

Capablanca in Chess Fundamentals, “The advantage of having the bishop lies as much in its ability to command, at long range, both sides of the board from a central position as in its ability to move quickly from one side of the board to the other.”

48. Qf1? SHREDDER recommends, “[48.Qa6 Qb1+ 49.Kh2=].” 48... Kg7 49. Nh4 Ne7 50. Ra6 Nd4 51. Rf6 Qe4

Lasker in Manual of Chess, “The more space you dominate, the less space for the opponent in which to move his pieces about, the more restricted the number of moves with which he may threaten you or guard himself against your threats.”

52. Ra6 Qxe5 53. Nf3 Nxf3+ Kotov in Think Like A Grandmaster, “A GM considers where to move each piece to, what weakening he can thereby induce in his opponent's position and what point in his own position needs strengthening.”

54. gxf3 Ng6 55. Rc6 Qc3 56. Qb5 Qe1+ 57. Qf1 Bxf2+ 0-1

Soltis in Turning Advantage Into Victory In Chess, “Forks, pins, threats of various kinds, these are the bricks and mortar of technique.”