Today’s game comes from the Moscow Open, held at the same time as the Gibraltar tournament. It was a significantly weaker event but there were still a lot of interesting games. One of those is today’s game between the veteran Artyom Timofeev and the promising 20 year-old and eventual tournament winner Urii Eliseev. It features the rarity in tournament chess of four queens.
There are very few top level games that feature four queens. Probably, the most famous one is Fischer vs. Petrosian from the 1959 Candidates Tournament in Portoroz, Yugoslavia. In it, a 16- year-old Bobby Fischer battled the veteran Soviet player and future world champion Tigran Petrosian through incredible complications to an exciting draw.
If there is a lesson to be learned from the Timofeev-Eliseev struggle, it is that when there are four queens on the board, it is better to have your king safe and sound!
2016 Moscow Open, Moscow
Artyom Timofeev (2570) — Urii Eliseev (2582)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 The classical variation of the Sicilian. 6.Bg5 The well-worn Richter-Rauzer attack. 6...e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0–0–0 Bd7 9.f4 b5 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Kb1 Qb6 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.f5 b4 14.Ne2 e5 15.Ng3 h5 16.Bc4!? The first new move as 16.h4 is the main move. 16.Bc4!? is a very aggressive novelty. White sacrifices two pawns to get a serious assault on the white squares all with Black’s king stuck in the center. 16...h4 17.Nf1 Bxe4 18.Qe2 Bxf5 19.Ne3 d5, here comes the knight. 19...Be6 20.Nd5 Bxd5 Leaving the knight on d5 is not really an option. 21.Bxd5 Rc8 22.Qg4 For his pawns, White has a lot of compensation in white square domination, Black’s shaky king, his weak pawns, and bad bishop. 22...Rc7 23.Rhf1 Rh6 If 23...Be7 24.Qg7 is strong. 24.Rf3 h3 25.Rg3 25.Rxh3 Rxh3 26.Qxh3 Qf2 27.Qd3 Qc5 28.h4 a5 29.g4 Looks just equal. The opposite color bishops seem to save Black. 25...a5 26.a4 Qf2 Maybe 26…bxa3 27.Rxa3 Qf2 is a better way for Black 27.Bb3 f5 28.Qg8 hxg2 29.Rg7 f7 is the target and if that falls, Black is done. 29...Rf6 30.Rh7 31.Rh8 is now the threat 30...d5 If something like 30...Qf1 then after 31.Rh8 Qxd1+ 32.Ka2 Kd7 33.Qxf8 and Black finds himself under a major assault: 33…Re6 34.Qd8+ Kc6 35.Qa8+ Kd7 36.Rd8+ Ke7 37.Rg8 Kf6 38.Qxg2 threatening 39.Qg5 mate is hard to meet. 31.Rh8 Qc5 32.Qxg2 d4 33.Qg7 f7 again. 33...Rcc6 34.Ka2 Safety first. 34...Rce6 35.Rg1 He should just take the rook but what is the fun in that? 35...Rh6 36.Rg5 Rxh8 37.Qxh8 Rh6 38.Qg8 Rf6 39.Rg7 Qe7 40.h4 f4 41.h5 The h-pawn is going to be tough to stop. 41...f3 And so is the f-pawn. 42.h6 f2 43.h7 f1Q 44.h8Q Here we have the four queens but White’s king is safe while Black’s is under siege, which makes all the difference. 44...d3 45.Rg1 Qf3 The computer “thinks’’ this is a big mistake and suggests that 45…Qd2 or 45…Qf2 would hold but if you look at it long enough, White seems to be winning in all lines, such are the problems Black has with his king. 46.Rg3 Now Black loses the d-pawn and his king is in even a tighter grip. 46...Qc6 47.Rxd3 Rg6? Losing on the spot. To keep playing 47…Rd6 or 47…e4 was necessary but Black is still in a lot of difficulties. 48.Qxe5! Now, 48…Qxe5 loses to 49.Qxf7 mate and since there are no good defenses to 49.Qf7 mate and 49.Qb8+, Black resigned; 1-0
