On Wednesday 24/4/2024, John Littlewood Chess Club and St. John the Evangelist Church, Rice Lane, were honoured to host a simultaneous display given by Ukrainian International Master Svyatoslav Bazakutsa.
From left to right, John Gillett (half in photo), Mat O'Keefe, Tom Plews, Sanjoy Bannerjee, Rob Frith, Shay Hanlon, Alfie Melia, Joel Bartlett, Andy Savage, Owen Crawford.
Mr. Bazakutsa, an IM at the age of just fifteen (and who I am informed has recently achieved his first Grandmaster norm in a tournament in Norway) is a prodigy even by the ludicrously high standards against which such things are measured in the 21st century. Here is his recent victory over the well-known Indian 2600 GM (and fellow prodigy) Luke Leon Mendonca:
Perhaps unsurprisingly, in our simul Svyatoslav scored 28.5/30 against a (predominantly youthful) field assembled from JL C.C., St. John's, and an array of other MCA clubs including Liverpool, Atticus, and Waterloo. Here are some of the highlights from our individual efforts to compete with him.
IM Bazakutsa (right) shakes hands with club president Keeghan McGarry (left)... 1-0
The Sole Winner:
Andrew Savage of Atticus Knights, recent returnee to chess and MCA Division 4 Player of the Year, was the sole winner, accounting for two thirds of our collective 1.5 point haul. Alas, the game was not transcribed, so we will have to make do with a beauty shot.
Congratulations to Andrew, pictured here deep in concentration against IM Svyatoslav
The Near Misses:
Two John Littlewood first team players had their chances to draw. But those chances went begging.
In the midst of a long defence of an uncomfortable position, our own Shay Hanlon missed the chance to equalise and escape from the straightjacket Svyatoslav had put him in:
Black to move
Sadly, our Shay missed 18... b6!, advocated by Stockfish, leading to a series of beneficial relieving exchanges in the event of 19. Nxa6 Nxb4 20. Ndxb4 Bxb4 21. Qxb4 Qxa6 equalising comfortably.
Shay Hanlon deep in thought.
More tragic was Rob Frith's capitulation at the culmination of an equal rook and pawn ending:
After 34... Rg4?!
This has the feel of drifting, wherein the best (or easiest, which is sometimes the same thing) continuation is ignored in favour of a viable but needlessly complicated alternative. Instead, the natural 34... g4 35. h3 Rf4, targeting the f2 pawn and threatening an eventual Rd7-d2, asking white to play f3 and weaken his second rank, should result in a draw in fairly short order. 34... Rg4?!, however, gives both sides an opportunity to be imprecise.
35. Rxg4 fxg4 36. Kg3 Rd3+?
An unwise check
Practically forcing white to take the doubled g-pawns. Instead, 36... Rd4, the engine's choice, protecting g4, is better but unappetising, as after 37. Re7+ Kf6 38. Rxb7 a5 39. ba Ra4 black has a position an engine might cooly save, but which would put the fear of God into most human players.
The road not travelled
37. Kxg4 Rxa3 38. Re7+?
White returns the favour with a needless check of his own. Even Svyatoslav makes mistakes, and the short amount of time even an IM has to make his moves in a simultaneous display means that his opponents should always live somewhere between hope and expectation. Instead, 38. Kxg5 wins.
38... Kf6 39. Rxb7
And now, had Rob found 39... a5! he might still have drawn.
39… a5!
Which the engine assures me is equal. But, again, and as always, that's easy for it to say. After 40. Rb6 ab 41. Rxc6+ Ke5 42. Kxg5 Rf3! Black is temporarily two pawns down, but, owing to his passed pawn and active rook, still level.
I think Rob can be forgiven for missing this line.
The Most Exciting Game:
Was on top board, featuring Liverpool Chess Club's Owen Crawford and a bafflingly complex King's Indian position that constituted not so much shifting sands as a veritable sandstorm of tactical possibilities.
Owen Crawford - Equality!!
Shield your eyes from the following:
29... Rf2?!!
How do you annotate a move like 29... Rf2?!!? Owen himself described it as an 'aura' move, which for those of you unfamiliar with the highly metaphorical vernacular of the transhuman age means something like 'radiating the power of its inventor'. The engine prefers 29... Nh3, envisioning white sacrificing the exchange with 30. Rxg4. And while this is probably objectively (what do I really know?) the better move, 29... Rf2 is a much greater shock to the system of any opponent, simul giver or otherwise.
The rook is immune from capture, taking advantage as it does of the potential knight fork on d3. To call 29... Rf2 a mistake would require white to have the silicon sangfroid to play 30. Kb1! and carry on regardless with an enemy rook in the heart of their position.
30. Kc2 Nh3 31. Rg3 Rh2 32. Bf3 Bf5+
Kc1 or Kd1?
Now the most critical of several critical moments: white has two choices as to where to remove his king to on the back rank: c1 or d1. Common sense, that least reliable (or for that matter definable) guide in the chess decision making process, might suggest d1 on the grounds that it avoids a knight check on d3. Yet the engine says go to c1, as after 33. Kc1 Nd3+ 34. Kb1 Nb4+ 35. Ka1 white's king is tucked safely away in the corner. Leaving white free to consider how to deal with black's passed h-pawn.
33. Kd1? Bc2+?
For the fourth time in this event review a check proves counterproductive. I shall not stoop to repeat the memorable observation made by Bobby Fischer on such matters (especially as the player with the white pieces here would no doubt give Fischer a decent game, were the fallen idol still alive today). But with this mistimed check, Owen misses a chance to impose order out of chaos. Instead, after 33... Rxg3 34. Nxg3 Bc2+ 35. Ke1 Nd3+ 36. Kf1 we would have reached this picturesque situation reminiscent of a medieval siege:
Black to move.
White must give up his queen on f2 to avoid mate at the hands of black's rook and symmetrically arranged knights. The position would remain somewhat unclear, but the engine has black slightly for preference.
However, the game took a different avenue, and after reciprocal inaccuracies, Svyatoslav - paying this game much greater attention than the others still in play, it must be noted - emerged materially intact, held his nerve, and won. It's a game well-worth playing through and is included in playable form at the end of this report. At one point black is two rooks and a passed pawn for a Queen and knight 'down', but the position equal.
The Honourable Draw:
The collective half point remaining was achieved by Matt O'Keeffe, also of Atticus Knights.
Can you spot Matt in amongst the crowd?
Matt was up against it for the majority of this game. He did well to hang on and take his opportunity to equalise when it presented itself. Here is the game in full:
Svyatoslav Bazakutsa (2462) - Matthew O'Keeffe (1622)
1. c4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. Nc3 d5 5. e3 c6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Nge2 Bd6
Svyatoslav chooses a slightly unusual set-up against the Dutch. As shown below, white declines to occupy d4 with a pawn, leaving it free for his pieces, while also tantalising black with the prospect of pushing ... f4 (every Dutch player's favourite move) at some point. The white pawns on e3 and g3 make such a jab unappetising in the near term.
8. d3 0-0 9. 0-0 Qe7 10. b3 Nbd7 11. Bb2 Kh8 12. Qc2 Nc5 13. b4
The first real aggressive gesture on white's part, challenging black to find the best square for his knight as white expands on the queenside intending to give black a backward pawn on c6.
13... Nbd7
Born of the realisation that the knight can, in the event of white's inevitable b5, return to c5. However, the engine believes the knight is better placed on e6, after which the game may continue down any of several viable paths, the most interesting of which to me, watching, involved a thematic pawn sacrifice.
If 13... Ne6 14. b5 Bd7 15. bxc6 Bxc6 (15... bxc6 is possibly too compliant. Stockfish gives the elegant backwards knight move 16. Nb1!, emphasising black's backward c-pawn and somewhat vulnerable looking f5 pawn. Such small black defects are black advantages made of. See the first diagram below.) 16. Qb3 Rad8 17. Nb5 and while white has the d4 square as an outpost, black is merely at a manageable disadvantage.
If 13... Ne6 14. a3 then black has the aforementioned sacrifice 14... d4!? (see the second diagram below) Which white accepts only to return in order to maintain a slight advantage after 15. Nxd4 Nxd4 16. exd4 Be6 17. d5! Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. Bxd5 cxd5 20. Rae1 Qf7 at which point white occupies d4 with his bishop and applies a grip to the central dark squares.
For another example of this sacrifice, see the game Wouter Spoelman - Martijn Dambacher, Dutch League, 2017.
A subtle knight retreat
Thematic pawn sacrifice
14. b5 Nc5 15. Rfe1
Preparing an eventual e4 break in the center.
15... Bd7 16. bxc6 bxc6 17. Nd4 Rab8 18. Rad1 Rb7 19. Bc1 Rfb8 20. e4?!
Too soon.
Doubtless at a longer time control and permitted to give the game his sole attention Svyatoslav would have taken the opportunity to further weaken black's position with either 21. Ba3 or 21. Bh3, hoping to provoke ... g6, before then blowing up the center with e4.
There now follows a series of exchanges resulting in equality.
20... fxe4 21. dxe4 dxe4 22. Nxe4 Nfxe4 23. Bxe4 Nxe4 24. Rxe4 Qf6 25. Bf4 g5?
If this were a film, this would constitute the 'all is lost' moment. ... g5 is a kamikaze lunge in an otherwise equal position. Matt compromises all his dark squares and jeopardises his king for the sake of an attacking gesture beloved of all Dutch players.
26. Bxd6
Trading the dark square bishops emphasizes the weakness of black's dark squares. But Svyatoslav could also have retained the bishop and attempted to exploit them more directly with 26. Bd2 intending Bc3. Perhaps trading lets black slightly off the hook, but the line 26. Bd2 Rb2 27. Qd3 Bc5 is perhaps not so easy to calculate when giving a simultaneous display.
26... Qxd6 27. Nb3
With the superior minor piece (the knight on b3) and black's structure a collection of weaknesses, white should be close to winning.
27... Qf6 28. Red4?
28. Nc5 and black has no option but to trade down into a bad queen and rook ending in which all his pawn weaknesses will tell. 28... Bf7 29. Nxb7 Bxe4 etc etc.
28... Bh3!
In one sense an obvious move: black takes control of the weak squares around white's king. In another sense, not an easy move to play, as the black bishop does nothing other than control the weak squares around white's king. But the threat to the king proves enough to equalise.
29. Qd3 Rf8 30. f4
If white has to play f4, potentially losing control of the second rank, then something has gone wrong.
30... c5!
A witty pawn sacrifice that tests the simul giver's nerves. Stockfish, not a sportsman, gives 30... Rg7 and a slight advantage for black.
31. Rd6
Instead, white can probably accept the pawn and survive after 31. Nxc5, but the further weakening of the light squares means black's compensation endures - he's always threatening mate on g2.
31... Qb2
The position is equal.
32. Rd2 Qg7 33. Rd8 gxf4 34. Nxc5 Rf7 35. Rxf8+ Qxf8 36. Qd4+ Kg8 Draw.
A game Matt can be justifiably proud of.
Thank you to all those who took part in this event, the church for providing refreshments, and everyone else who played a part behind the scenes.
The replayable games: