Faridani won the WZ GM-1
Adel Faridani, representing the USA has secured first place in the WZ GM-1 with only 4 unfinished games in the event. If he is able to get a win in his game against canadian player Pierre Jean he will also obtain his first SIM norm. With his current score he has obtained the IM title as well as his first WZ GM norm.
The recently titled IM José Guillermo de la Rosa Solórzano (CUB) has completed all his games and secured the second place in the tournament, with a brilliant performance.
Below we show one of Faridani’s nice wins against Unes Hassim (CAN)
Thank you for the nice article. It is an honor to finish first in such a strong tournament and I wish to thank all my opponents for the rich and well-fought games.
I would like to offer a few comments on my game with Unes Hassim that is shown in the article.
– 18. g4. More usual and thematic may have been to play 18. Bf2 with the aim to continue to play in the center and try to achieve e3-e4 at some point. This seems difficult to achieve, however, since Black has been able to put maximum pressure on the e4 square. Instead, I was attracted to this alternative plan of initiating play on the king side.
– 26. Kh1. An alternative to consider here is 26. Bg5.
– 31. Rc1. By now White had been able to get everything ready for a king side attack and it would appear most natural to now intensify the attack with 31. Nf5, instead of moving the rook away from the g-file. Also, 31. Nf5 may well win material: After the plausible moves
31.Nf5 Ne5 32.Ned4 gxf5 33.Bh6 Qxh6 34.Nxf5 Qg6 35.Nd4 Nxf3 36.Nxf3 d4 37.Bxg6 fxg6 38.e4 Bxe4 39.Re1 Rce7 40.Kg1 Nf6 41.Qg3 d3 42.Rf2
White has won Black’s queen for two pieces and a pawn. But the advantage may not be that easy to convert due to the strength of Black’s passed pawn. By playing 31. Rc1 I offered my opponent the opportunity to play another line, where I hoped to have even better chances. However, as I realized later and we will see below, 31. Nf5 seems to have been the best move after all.
– 32. Rcg1. If Black now plays 32. .. Rc7 we have the same position as after move 30 and I would have continued with 33. Nf5. Unes Hassim, however, correctly opts for an alternative.
– 36. … Ree6. I was relieved to see this move because 36. … Qh7 may have been a saving resource that I had underestimated when playing 31. Rc1. For example, after 36. … Qh7 37. Qg5 Bc8 38. Qxd5 Bb7 39. Bxg7 Rb6 it is difficult to see a win for White.
– 40. b4. One may wonder why this pawn move on the queen side is important. The answer becomes more apparent after move 44.
– 40. … Bf5. Playing 40. .. Bd7 instead may offer more resistance, but White should retain excellent winning chances.
– 44. Rc8
If back on move 40 White had played for example 40. Bd3 instead of 40. b4, the same position could have been reached but with the White pawn on b3 instead of b4. In that case the move 44. … Re8 would have held the game for Black. In the current position with the pawn on b4, 44. … Re8 would be met with 45. Rd8 Rxd8 46. Qxd8 Kh7 47. Qxh8 Kxh8 48. Bxg7 Kxg7 and the resulting King and pawn endgame is won for White. With the white b-pawn still on b3, it would be a just a draw.
Well played Adel !
I was unable to contain your onslaught.
Funny thing that I had 36…. Qh7 circled – my handwritten notes – and for some reason discarded it.
’36. … Qh7 may have been a saving resource that I had underestimated when playing 31. Rc1. For example, after 36. … Qh7 37. Qg5 Bc8 38. Qxd5 Bb7 39. Bxg7 Rb6 it is difficult to see a win for White.’