A great win for one of Canada's biggest hopes for a medal at this year's World Youth Chess Championships in the United Arab Emirates is Luke Pulfer's win over FM Kaifeng Yu in the sixth round. Luke stands at 5.5/7 and we wish him all the best in the rest of event. Check out this exciting upset!
[Event "WYCC U10"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.12.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Yu, Kaifeng"]
[Black "Pulfer, Luke"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D40"]
[WhiteElo "1960"]
[BlackElo "1612"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
{Two years ago in the U08 section of the World Youth in Brazil, Kaifeng beat
Luke in the second-last round on his way to a tie for first and the FM title.
This time, Luke gets his revenge!} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 c5 5. Nc3
Nc6 6. a3 a6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. b4 Be7 (8... Ba7 {is seen more often. A sample
continuation:} 9. Bb2 O-O 10. Qc2 Qe7 11. Rd1 Rd8 12. Be2 dxc4 $11) 9. cxd5 {
White decides he wants to play against the isolated queen pawn.} exd5 10. Be2
O-O 11. O-O Bf5 12. Bb2 Qd7 13. Nd4 Bg6 14. Nxc6 $6 {I believe it was a small
error to allow Black to rid himself of his IQP.} ({He could have kept up the
pressure with} 14. Na4 {By playing this move first, it makes it more difficult
for Black to cover the dark squares on b6 and c5} Nxd4 15. Bxd4 Qe6 16. Rc1
Rac8 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. bxc5 $14) 14... bxc6 15. Na4 Qc7 $6 (15... Qb7 {to keep
the Queen off of the same file as White's rook (which will soon be on c1)}) 16.
Rc1 Bd6 {Luke tries to mix things up. While objectively probably not a good
move, it is the execution of this plan which ultimately wins him the game.} 17.
h3 (17. f4 $1 {and Black faces a lot of problems. White plans to take on f6
and play Qd4 and the threat of f5 hangs in the air} Ne4 (17... Rfe8 18. Bxf6 (
18. Bd4 {retains a big positional advantage}) 18... gxf6 19. Qd4 (19. f5 $2 {
Not immediately. Black gets too many pawns and an attack on White's weak King.}
Bxh2+ 20. Kh1 Rxe3 21. fxg6 hxg6 $15) 19... Re4 20. Qb6 Qxb6 21. Nxb6 Rd8 22.
f5 Rxe3 $13) 18. Qd4 f6 19. Nb6 Rad8 20. Nxd5 $16) 17... Ne4 18. Bd4 Rfb8 19.
Bd3 h6 20. Qe2 Kh7 (20... Bh2+ 21. Kh1 Be5 22. Bxe5 Qxe5 23. Nc5 Nxc5 24. Rxc5
Bxd3 25. Qxd3 Qf6 {and Black has to fight for the draw. c6 is very weak}) 21.
Bxa6 Bh2+ 22. Kh1 Bg3 $5 23. Nc3 $2 (23. Nc5 $1 {which defends the bishop on
a6 was the way to go. It makes 22...Bg3 look a bit silly}) 23... Nxf2+ {This
works now that the Bishop on a6 is defended only by the Queen} (23... Bxf2 $4 {
trying to play ...Ng3+ obviously fails to Nxe4}) 24. Rxf2 Bxf2 25. Nd1 $2 {An
overreaction. White, perhaps very rattled by the unseen tactic, begins a
string of poor moves.} (25. Bd3 Bg3 $15) 25... Bg3 26. b5 Be4 27. Qg4 $4 (27.
Rxc6 Qd7 {with the threat of ...Qxh3+} 28. Kg1 Re8 $15 {and Black should
probably try to trade the d4 Bishop with ...Be5 next}) 27... f5 28. Qh5 Qa5 $1
29. Rc3 (29. Nc3 $8) 29... g6 (29... Rxa6 $1 30. bxa6 Qxa6 31. Kg1 g6 {and the
White Queen has nowhere to go!}) 30. Qe2 cxb5 (30... Rxa6 31. bxa6 Rb1 {with
the idea of ...Qb5 or ...Qa4 wins as well}) 31. Qd2 {Luke wins the game with
little trouble from this point.} Rxa6 32. Bc5 Be5 33. Bd4 Bxd4 34. Qxd4 Qb6 35.
Qe5 Ra7 36. Nf2 Rg7 37. h4 Rf8 38. Nh3 Qf6 39. Qxf6 Rxf6 40. Rb3 Ra6 41. Rxb5
Rxa3 42. Rb2 Rc3 43. Re2 Rc1+ 44. Kh2 Rc2 45. Rxc2 Bxc2 46. Nf4 Be4 47. g3 Rb7
48. h5 g5 49. Nh3 Rb1 50. Ng1 g4 51. Nf3 Bxf3 52. e4 Rh1# 0-1
Happy Holidays everyone, and I'll be back in the New Year with more games for your enjoyment!
