GM Vladimir Okhotnik, courtesy of susanpolgar.blogspot.co.uk
You may be interested to know that three English players took part in the Liechtenstein Seniors – for players born in 1952 or earlier – between the 11th and 19th May, 2012. The Seniors was won by Grandmaster Vladimir Okhotnik rated 2463 from France with a score of 8/9. (Bernard Cafferty informed me that the name of the tournament winner, Okhotnik, means hunter in Russian!) There was a three way tie for second place between IM Josef Pribyl rated 2307 from the Czech Republic, myself, CM Kenneth I. Norman (2168) and Oliver A. Jackson (2192), both from England, all of whom scored 6.5.
Oliver Jackson won five games, drew three games and lost just one game to the tournament winner Okhotnik. My result was uncharacteristic with six wins, two losses and one draw in the last round with Pribyl. My wife, Dinah M. Norman (1866), lost in round one to a much stronger opponent. Then, in round two, she beat a lower rated player and followed this with seven draws. Her score of 4.5 placed her in 19th=.
DM Norman-v-H Koch
London System A46
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 d6 3 Bf4 Nbd7 4 e3 g6 5 Bc4 Bg7 6 Bxf7+ Kxf7 7 Ng5+ Kg8
8 Ne6 Qe8 9 Nxc7 Qd8 10 Nxa8 b6 11 c3 Bb7 12 Nxb6 Nxb6 13 O-O Qd7 14 Nd2
h5 15 h3 Qf5 16 Qb1 Ne4 17 Nxe4 Bxe4 18 Qd1 g5 19 Bg3 Bf6 20 f3 Bb7 21
e4 Qg6 22 e5 Bg7 23 exd6 exd6 24 Re1 Bf8 25 Qe2 Rh7 26 Qe6+ Qxe6 27 Rxe6
Kf7 28 Re2 Rg7 29 Rae1 Rg6 30 Re8 Bc6 31 Rb8 Bg7 32 Rd8 Bf8 33 Rb8 Bg7
34 Rd8 1/2-1/2
A Goris-Schouwstra-v-KI Norman
Gruenfeld D94
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 c4 Bg7 4 Nc3 d5 5 e3 O-O 6 Be2 c5 7 O-O cxd4 8 Nxd4
a6 9 cxd5 Nxd5 10 Nxd5 Qxd5 11 Bf3 Qd8 12 Qb3 e5 13 Bxb7 exd4 14 Bxa8 Be6
15 Qc2 d3 16 Qd2 Nd7 17 Bf3 Ne5 18 Rd1 Nxf3+ 19 gxf3 Qg5+ 20 Kh1 Qh5 21
Qxd3 Qxf3+ 22 Kg1 Qg4+ 23 Kh1 Bf5 0-1
OA Jackson-v-P Hohler
King’s Gambit C34
[Jackson]
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 e5 Ne4
This move came as a surprise as I was expecting Nh5.
5 d3 Ng5 6 Bxf4 Ne6 7 Bg3 d6 8 d4 dxe5 9 d5!?
Instead of the simple recapture of the e5 pawn I wanted to take my opponent out of his comfort zone (i.e. prepared line) and this move prepares a pawn sacrifice.
9…Nf4 10 Nxe5 Nxd5
When analysing later I discovered that this position had occurred in the game M Illescas-PA Motwani, Olympiad, 1988 which continued 11 Bc4 Be6 12 Qe2 Be7 13 Nc3 Nxc3 and Black won. Although this line was completely new to me I felt that the queen should stay on d1 to deter Nxc3 as shown in the variation at move 12.
11 Nc3 I had originally planned to play c4 here but after Bb4+ my king gets the runaround, so I abandoned the idea.
11…Be6 12 Bc4 Bb4
12…Nxc3 13 Qxd8+ Kxd8 14 Bxe6 fxe6 15 Nf7+ Ke8 16 Nxh8 Ne4 17 0–0–0 Bd6 18 Rde1 Ng5 19 Be5 White will extricate his knight with a winning position.
13 0–0 Bxc3
With the two bishops in an open position I’ve got some compensation for the pawn.
14 bxc3 0–0 15 Qf3 c6 16 Rad1
This looked the natural move as I had ideas of an eventual c4 but it came to nothing.
16…Nd7 17 Bd3 Qg5 18 Nxd7 Bxd7 19 Rde1 Be6 20 Qe4 g6?! This weakens the black squares so I’ve now got very good chances 20…Qh5 21 Qd4 b6 22 Re4 c5 23 Qf2 Nf6 24 Rh4 Qg5 25 Bf4 Qd5 26 c4 Qd4 27 Qxd4 cxd4 28 Be5 Rfd8 29 Rxf6 gxf6 30 Bxf6 Kf8 31 c5+- Black’s in a mating net.
21 Qd4 Qd8?! This retreat gives White a free hand on the kingside as the threat of swapping queens is easily avoided
22 Kh1 Qb6?!
Black was desperate to relieve the pressure on his position but these queen moves only help White. 23 Qh4 Qd8 24 Qh6 Qd7 25 c4
If I was to break through I needed to shift this knight.
25…Nb4 26 Be5!?
Not the strongest move but I knew that my opponent would be worried by the bishop move 26 Bh4! f6 27 Bxg6 Qg7 28 Qxh7+ Qxh7 29 Bxh7+ Kxh7 30 Rxe6 Nxa2 31 Bxf6 Rae8 32 Rxe8 Rxe8 33 g4+-.
26…f5 27 Bc3 Nxd3 27…Nxa2 28 Bb2 Rae8 29 Qf4 Bf7 30 Bxf5 gxf5 31 Rd1 Qe7 32 Qd4 Qe5 33 Qxe5 Rxe5 34 Bxe5 & White is slightly better.
28 Rxe6! Rfe8
28…Nc5 29 Rxg6+ hxg6 30 Qxg6++-
29 Rxg6+ hxg6 30 Qh8+ Kf7 31 Qg7+ 1–0
Oliver adds: “The tournament was run superbly without any major problems and with mini bulletins being made available each day and I’ll definitely be making a return visit.”
A total of 55 played in the Seniors. 105 – including nine grandmasters – contested in the Open. The eventual winner was Grandmaster Sebastian Bogner from Germany, rated 2569.
The dates of next year’s Liechtenstein Seniors are 3rd to 11th May, 2013. We hope more English Seniors will be able to play.
