There are a number of Canadians having good tournaments at the World Open in Virginia, but especially impressive is Razvan Preotu who is on track for an IM norm with his 4/6 against very strong opposition. Watch as he takes down a player just outside of the top 100 in the world.
[Event "42ND ANNUAL WORLD OPEN"]
[Site "Arlington, Virginia"]
[Date "2014.07.04"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Preotu, Razvan"]
[Black "Gareyev, Timur"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C45"]
[WhiteElo "2341"]
[BlackElo "2640"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2014.??.??"]
[Source "MonRoi"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bb4+ {Unusual but playable} 5. c3 Bc5 6.
Be3 Bb6 7. Qg4 $1 {The real test of Black's provocative play} (7. Bc4 {Fares
very poorly actually.}) (7. Nf5 {a reasonable alternative to 7.Qg4 but the
game will take on a very different flavour} Bxe3 (7... g6 $5 {and White's
Knight looks a bit silly having adventured to f5}) 8. Nxe3 Nf6 9. f3 $11) 7...
g6 {It's pretty clear by Timur's response to the Scotch that he wanted to
avoid main lines. Here, he again chooses to play an offbeat line.} (7... Qf6 8.
Qg3 $5 Qg6 (8... Nxd4 {Black takes a big risk in taking this pawn. White gets
a big initiative} 9. cxd4 Bxd4 10. Bxd4 Qxd4 11. Nc3 Ne7 {It's best for Black
to give the pawn back so he can at least castle.} 12. Qxc7) 9. Nd2) 8. Nd2 d6 (
{David Howell won an exciting game against Ivan Sokolov in London five years
ago after} 8... Nge7 9. Qh4 Nxd4 10. cxd4 d5 11. Bg5 Bxd4 12. O-O-O h6 13. exd5
hxg5 14. Qxd4 Rh4 15. Ne4 Bf5 16. f3 Bxe4 17. fxe4 Kf8 18. g3 Rh7 19. Bc4 Qd6
20. Rhf1 b5 21. Bxb5 Rxh2 22. Rf6 Qxg3 23. Rdf1 Rh7 24. Bc4 Ke8 25. Bb5+ Kf8
26. Bd7 Nc8 27. R6f3 Qh2 28. Qh8+ Ke7 29. Rxf7+ {1-0 Howell,D (2614)-Sokolov,I
(2655)/London 2009/CBM 132}) 9. Qg3 Bd7 (9... Nf6 10. Be2 Qe7 11. O-O Bd7 12.
Nb5 O-O-O 13. Bxb6 axb6 14. Rfe1 Nxe4 15. Nxe4 Qxe4 16. Qxd6 cxd6 17. Nxd6+ Kc7
18. Nxe4 Bf5 19. Bf1 Bxe4 20. Rxe4 Rd2 21. Re2 Rhd8 22. Rae1 g5 23. h3 h5 24.
h4 g4 25. Rxd2 Rxd2 26. Bc4 f6 27. Bf7 Ne5 28. Bxh5 Rxb2 29. Re4 g3 30. fxg3
Rxa2 31. Be2 Kd6 32. g4 Ra3 33. c4 Ke6 34. Kf2 Rc3 35. Rd4 Rc2 36. Ke3 Rc3+ 37.
Kf2 Rc2 38. Ke3 Rc3+ 39. Kf2 {1/2-1/2 Rosito,J (2424)-Garcia Palermo,C (2467)/
Pinamar 2002/CBM 088}) 10. Bb5 Qe7 11. O-O Nf6 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Rfe1 (13. Bg5
{Looks promising at first, but White might land in trouble after} Nh5 14. Qe3
f6 15. Bh6 g5 16. h4 gxh4 (16... Rg8 $13) 17. Qf3 Qf7 18. Nf5 Rg8 $15) 13...
Nh5 14. Qf3 O-O 15. a4 Rab8 16. b4 (16. e5 {worth considering} dxe5 17. a5 $1
Bc5 18. b4 $14) 16... a5 17. Nc2 Bxe3 18. Qxe3 Rfe8 19. bxa5 Ra8 20. Nb3 f5 21.
Nd2 Rxa5 22. exf5 Qxe3 (22... Re5 $2 {Not so good and White has nothing to
worry about on the back rank since he has Nf1 at the end if Black sacks all of
his major pieces} 23. Qd4) 23. Rxe3 Rxe3 24. Nxe3 gxf5 {Let's take stock.
White has a slightly better pawn structure: both sides have three pawn islands
but White has a passed pawn. Black leads in that he has a Bishop for one of
White's Knights; this should not be discounted especially since there are
pawns on both sides of the board. Overall, the position is actually pretty
equal and both sides can play for the win} 25. Nb3 Ra6 26. a5 f4 27. Nc4 Be6
28. Ncd2 c5 29. Nc1 Kf7 30. f3 Ke7 31. Ne2 Kd7 32. Kf2 Kc6 33. g4 fxg3+ 34.
hxg3 Nf6 35. Nf4 Bf7 {Nothing much has changed over the past 10 moves} 36. g4
Nd7 37. Ke3 $11 {I expect that Razvan was thinking that the game was heading
towards a draw - a big achievement against such a strong Grandmaster - only to
realize that he was winning a few moves later} c4 $6 {The first of an
uncharacteristic string of bad moves by Timur} 38. Ne2 (38. Ne4 d5 39. Ng5 Bg8
40. Nge6 Bxe6 41. Nxe6 Kb7 {Black should hold now since he can use his King to
stop the a-pawn and get his Rook active}) 38... Ne5 $6 (38... Kb7 {with the
same idea as the note to the previous move}) 39. Nd4+ Kd7 $6 40. Ne4 Bg6 $2 41.
Nf6+ Kc8 $2 (41... Ke7 42. g5 c5 43. Nb5 Nc6 44. Nd5+ $16 {White is still
winning, but it looks more difficult to get the full point than in the game})
42. f4 $18 {All of a sudden, White is winning} Nd7 (42... Bd3 $5 43. g5 $16 (
43. fxe5 $2 dxe5 44. Nb5 Rxf6 45. a6 Rf1 $14)) 43. Nxd7 $2 {Razvan's biggest
error so far} (43. Nd5 $18 {With a multitude of threats including Ne7+ and Nb5}
) 43... Kxd7 44. Rh1 (44. f5 {probably more accurate this way since Black
can't play the intermediate move 44...c5, but I assume that Razvan must have
correctly evaluated the ensuing ending and known that it was still a win})
44... c5 45. Ne2 Bd3 46. f5 Rxa5 47. Rxh7+ Kc6 48. Rg7 $6 (48. Nf4) 48... Ra1 (
48... Bxe2 49. Kxe2 Ra2+ 50. Ke3 Rc2 51. f6 Rxc3+ 52. Kd2 $18) 49. Nf4 Re1+ 50.
Kd2 Rg1 $4 (50... Rf1 {looks like it may hold} 51. Nxd3 cxd3 52. Kxd3 Kd5 {and
White still has strong winning chances, but I'm not really sure how he can go
about doing so}) 51. f6 Rf1 52. Nxd3 cxd3 53. g5 c4 54. Re7 (54. f7 Kd5 55. g6)
54... d5 (54... Rf2+ 55. Ke1 d2+ 56. Kd1 d5 57. Re2 $18) 55. f7 Kd6 56. Ra7 Ke6
57. g6 Rf2+ {a somewhat poorly played ending for players of this calibre, but
still a great win for one of Canada's top junior players. He is on track for
an IM norm and I expect the title to follow soon.} 1-0
