The World Cadet Chess Championship is taking place right now in Batumi, Georgia. After seven of eleven rounds, three Canadians are in medal contention with 5.5 points: Nameer Issani (U10), Aiden Zhou (U10), and Anthony Atanasov (U8).
[Event "WCCC U8"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.10.22"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Atanasov, Anthony"]
[Black "Ansat, Aldiyar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A43"]
[WhiteElo "1546"]
[BlackElo "1791"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "2016.10.22"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "GEO"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 (4. c4 {going into a Benoni is normal,
though White should be prepared for a Blumenfeld gambit with} b5) 4... exd5 5.
Nxd5 Nxd5 6. Qxd5 Be7 {Diagram [#]} 7. e3 {After this Black should be at least
equal on all lines as he can play ...d5 with more space. More testing moves
are:} (7. Bf4 $1 Nc6 8. O-O-O O-O 9. Bd6 {1-0 (29) Landa,K (2638)-Simacek,P
(2485) Czechia, 2013.}) (7. e4 $1 O-O 8. Be2 d6 9. O-O Nc6 10. c3 Be6 11. Qh5
h6 12. Rd1 $14 {1-0 (36) Karpov,A (2740)-Topalov,V (2640) Dos Hermanas, 1994.})
7... O-O 8. Be2 Nc6 9. O-O Nb4 (9... d6 {preparing ...Be6 is another way to
prepare ...d5, though White can change course and play e4.} 10. e4) 10. Qd1 d5
$11 11. c3 (11. c4) 11... Nc6 12. Qc2 Be6 13. Rd1 a5 {I'm not sure what this
is supposed to do.} (13... Rc8 {looks more natural.}) 14. Bd3 g6 15. e4 {
Diagram [#]} d4 $1 (15... dxe4 16. Bxe4 Qc7 17. Bh6 $14 (17. Ng5 $14)) 16. Bh6
c4 $1 (16... Re8 17. cxd4 cxd4 18. Bb5 $14 {White has pressure on Black's
d-pawn.}) 17. Bxc4 (17. Bxf8 cxd3 18. Qxd3 Bxf8 19. Nxd4 Nxd4 20. cxd4 Qb6 $15
{White's center looks nice, but it's not going anywhere.}) 17... Bxc4 18. cxd4
Ba6 {Diagram [#]White would like to keep his d4-e4 center as long as possilble,
but he's going to be forced to advance the d-pawn soon, and doing so now is a
small improvement, kicking away the N when it doesn't have a good choice of
squares:} 19. Bxf8 (19. d5 Nb4 (19... Nb8 20. d6 Bf6 21. Bxf8 Qxf8 22. e5 Bg7
$16) 20. Qb3 Be2 $13 {makes an escape square on a6 for the N,} (20... Re8 21.
a3 a4 22. Qc3 $16 {with a mate threat and attack on the Nb4} (22. Qxa4 $2 Bc4
$19 {traps the Q.})) 21. Bxf8 Bxf8 22. Rd2 {and at least Black has to give up
the B pair.}) 19... Bxf8 20. a3 (20. d5 {doesn't transpose to the previous
note because after} Nb4 21. Qb3 a4 $1 22. Qc3 {now that the Bh6 has taken the
exchange there is no mate threat on g7, so after} (22. Qxa4 $4 Bc4 {as above,
White's Q is trapped.}) 22... Rc8 $17 {Black either forks an exchange or gets
his R to c2 with an attack on f2, and an Octopus landing on d3.}) 20... Bg7 21.
Qd2 Qd6 22. d5 Ne5 23. Nxe5 Bxe5 24. h3 {Either pawn move has its
disadvantages, since it restricts one B while giving squares to the other; but
I prefer} (24. g3 {which could make f2-f4 a tactical threat.}) 24... Re8 25.
Re1 Rf8 26. Qc2 Qf6 27. Rab1 Qf4 (27... h5 $5 {aiming for ...h4 then ...Qf4 is
another way to harness the Bs for attack.}) 28. g3 Qh6 29. Kg2 Qg5 30. b4 axb4
31. axb4 b5 $6 (31... Bb5 $142 32. Qc5 Bd7 $15 {and ...Bc8 will protect the
b7-pawn while attacking the kingside.}) 32. Qc1 Qh5 33. Qe3 Bc8 34. Rh1 $1 {
White plays safe!} (34. g4 Qh4 35. f4 {is tempting, but there's no need to
advance the pawns unless forced to, and delaying their advance leaves Black
unsure of which diagonals to attack.}) (34. h4 Qg4 $15 {the following gives
shows one of Black's attacking chances:} 35. Rbc1 Qh3+ 36. Kg1 Bg4 37. Rc5 $2
Bd4 $1 $19) 34... Re8 35. Rbc1 Bg7 36. Qf3 Qe5 {Black is hoping for an attack
with ...Bb7 and ...f5, but there's nothing wrong with the Q trade,} (36...
Qxf3+ 37. Kxf3 f5 38. Rhe1 fxe4+ 39. Rxe4 Rf8+ 40. Rf4 (40. Kg2 Bb7 $17) 40...
Rd8 $15) 37. Rhe1 Bb7 $6 (37... f5 $4 38. exf5 Qxe1 39. Rxe1 Rxe1 40. f6 $18) (
37... Bd7 $142 {protects b5.}) 38. Qd3 Rf8 (38... f5 $1 39. Qxb5 Re7 $13) 39.
Qxb5 Bc8 40. Qd3 Qd6 41. b5 f5 {Black gets his break in, but it's a different
story with White's passed b-pawn and access along the c-file.} 42. Rc6 $1 (42.
e5 $1 Bxe5 43. Rc6 Qb8 44. d6 $18) 42... Qe5 43. Qc4 Bd7 {Diagram [#]} 44. b6
$2 {White tries to keep his kingside pawns in their defensive lineup, but here
he misses his chance to shut out Black's Bs for good.} (44. f4 $1 Qd4 (44...
Qb2+ 45. Re2 $18) 45. Qxd4 Bxd4 46. e5 $18 {Black has no attack and White's
pawns will roll.}) 44... fxe4 $6 (44... f4 $1 {threatening ...fxg3 then ...Qh5,
when g3-g4 loses to ....Bxg4.} 45. g4 Qg5 $1 $13 {and Black has dangerous
threats with ...Bxg4, or ...f3+ then ...Qh4.}) 45. Rxe4 Qf5 46. Rf4 Qxh3+ 47.
Kg1 Ra8 $1 48. Qf1 $8 $16 Qh5 $2 (48... Qxf1+ $142 49. Kxf1 Rb8 50. Rb4 $16)
49. b7 $1 $18 Rb8 50. Qc1 $1 Be5 (50... Bh6 51. Rc8+ $18) (50... Rxb7 51. Rc8+
{is mating.}) 51. Rc8+ Kg7 52. Rh4 (52. Qc5 $1 {aiming for f8 is more precise,
but White's cool move wins too.}) 52... Qe2 53. Qh6+ $1 Kf6 54. Rf4+ Bf5 55.
Qf8+ Kg5 56. Qe7+ 1-0
..
