The just-concluded St. Louis Chess Club’s Ultimate Blitz Challenge had many exciting moments and was unpredictable from the get-go. The force of nature that is Garry Kasparov, though obviously rusty, had a plus score against everyone but Wesley So and played some fine-attacking chess. So, who most did not give much of chance, played exceedingly well and came in second, earning $15,000. The big favorite, Hikaru Nakamura, bounced back from a shaky first day with an excellent second day to win the event and $20,000. And one of the pretournament favorites, Fabiano Caruana, very surprisingly finished last. And Kasparov donated his $10,000 third-place prize to the fund to help the US Olympiad team travel to Baku, Azerbaijan, in September.
There were many brilliant games played over the two days but perhaps none as good as So’s victory over Kasparov in the 10th round. Kasparov said, “It reminded me of games Morphy played against amateurs.’’
2016 Ultimate Blitz Challenge, St. Louis
Wesley So (2773) – Garry Kasparov (2812)
1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Bg4 5.Be2 Nc6 6.Nbd2!? e5 Not 6...Nxd4 7.Nxd4 Bxe2 8.Nxe2 wins 7.d5 Nce7 8.h3!? A new move here. 8...Bd7 I think that Black needs to take the knight to save time. 9.c5! Opening lines before Black gets fully development. 9...dxc5?! For better or for worse, this has to be ignored. 9…Nf6 was essential to get castled as quickly as possible. A possible line is 9...Nf6 10.Qc2 0–0 11.0–0 Ne8 12.Rd1 f5 13.Bc4 with equality.10.Nc4 f6 Too slow, Again, 10...Nf6 is to be preferred 11.d6! More open lines. Pawns don’t really matter here — time does. 11...Nc8 12.Be3 More development with tempo. 12...b6 13.0–0 Bc6?! Necessary was 13…cxd6, 14.Nxd6+ NxN 15.QxN Qe7 with equality. 14.dxc7 Qxc7 15.b4! Yet more open lines. 15...cxb4 Keeping the position closed with 13…b5 followed by c4 gives Black the best chance of survival. Also, if 15...Bxe4 White gets very good compensation after 16.Rc1 Bc6 17.bxc5 bxc5 18.Bxc5. 16.Rc1 Nge7 Another try is 16...Nh6 but after 17.Na5 bxa5 18.Bb5 Ne7 19.Rxc6 Nxc6 20.Qd5 Rc8 21.Qe6+ Qe7 22.Qxc8+ White wins. 17.Qb3 Castling is now problematical for Black. 17...h6 Defending against a possible Ncxe5. For example, 17...b5 18.Ncxe5 fxe5 19.Ng5 Nd6 20.Ne6 Qc8 21.Nxg7+ Kf8 22.Ne6+ Ke8 23.Rfd1 18.Rfd1 b5 Too provocative. Kasparov needed to be more patient here to survive. Possibly 18...Rb8 holds longer but if White finds 19.Nh4! Black has a new set of problems on the other side of the board, i.e.; 19…a5 20.Nxg6 Nxg6 21.Nxb6 Nxb6 22.Bh5 Qf7 23.Bxg6! Qxg6 24.Qe6+ Kf8 25.Bc5# 19.Ncxe5! Played instantly 19...fxe5 20.Bxb5 Pins everywhere. 20...Rb8 21.Ba4 Qb7 22.Rxc6! The sacrifices keep coming. 22...Nxc6 22...Qxc6 23.Bxh6! Bxh6 24.Nxe5 Nd6 25.Rxd6 Rh7 26.Rxc6 Kf8 27.Nd7+ Ke8 28.Nxb8 23.Qe6+ N8e7 What else? If 23...Kf8 24.Rd8+ Nxd8 25.Qe8#; or 23...Qe7 24.Bxc6+ Kf8 25.Bc5 Nd6 26.Bxd6 Qxd6 27.Rxd6 wins. 24.Bc5 Rc8 25.Bxe7. Black now gave up as after 25...Qxe7 he is mated: 26.Qxc8+ Kf7 27.Bb3+ Kf6 28.Qxc6+ Qe6 29.Qxe6#; 1–0
