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Malcolm Pein on…A Straight Eight

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In today’s Daily Telegraph column, Malcolm Pein returns to the Russian Team Championship and reports on a perfect score for the champions.

Malcolm Pein on…A Straight Eight

Mednyy Vsadnik, the Bronze Horseman from St. Petersburg, swept the field aside at the Russian Team Championship in Sochi, winning all eight matches. Moscow’s team finished second on 13/16, but won the Women’s Team Championship, winning all nine matches, aided by 6.5/7 from top board Kateryna Lagno.

For the Bronze Horseman, the star of the show was 19-year-old Andrey Esipenko, who also scored 6.5/7, despite playing five games with black. Esipenko’s rating is now 2716, making him the world number 26, just ahead of Michael Adams. Vladimir Fedoseev also impressed with 6/7, while Nikita Vitiugov, Maxim Matlakov and Kirill Alekseenko were solid on the top boards and the team lost just one game.

Esipenko turns the Catalan Opening into a proper gambit with the sharp 5.Nc3 when 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 is a main line.

The Catalan Opening in Action

A. Esipenko – M. Kobalia
Mednyy Vsadnik vs Gogolevsky

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 dxc4 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.0–0 0–0 8.a3 Be7 9.e4 Rb8 10.Be3 b5 11.Qe2 Na5 12.Rad1 (White’s well-centralised forces supply full compensation for the pawn) 12…Bb7 13.Ne5 Qc8? (13…a6 as in Sambuev-Wei Yi, FIDE World Cup, Tbilisi, 2017, is better and if 14.g4!? Nd7)

Test Your Strength

A. Esipenko – M. Kobalia White to Play and Find a Strong Move

 White to play. What is the best move?

14.g4!? (Tempting, but what unexpected tactic did both players miss?) 14…b4?! 15.axb4 Bxb4 16.g5! Nd7 17.Ng4 f5! (Black must counter the threat of f4-f5 ) 18.gxf6 Nxf6 19.Nxf6+ Rxf6 20.Bg5 Rf7 21.d5!? (Keeping Black’s queenside pieces out of play) 21…e5? (21…Qe8! would have avoided what follows) 22.f4! h6 23.fxe5!? (Tempting, but 23.Bh4! Rxf4 24.Rxf4 exf4 25.Kh1 was strong) 23…Rxf1+ 24.Rxf1 hxg5 25.e6

White’s sacrifice has left the black king bereft of defenders. 25…Qd8? (25…Qe8! 26.Rf7 Nc6! keeps Black on the board) 26.Qh5 Qe7 27.Rf7 Qc5+ 28.Kh1 Bxc3 29.Rf3! (Threatening 30.Qf7+ Kh7 31.Rh3#) 29…Be1 (White also wins after 29…Qe7 30.bxc3 Bc8 31.Rf7 Rb1+ 32.Bf1 and 29…g4 30.Qf7+ Kh7 31.Bh3! is very pretty) 30.Qf7+ Kh8 31.e7 Qd6 32.e8Q+ 1-0

Highlight the space below this line to reveal the answer.

14.b4! Nc6 (14…cxb3? 15.Qxb5 wins the knight, as will 14…Nb3? 15.Nxb5) 15.Nxb5 leaves Black in serious trouble.

Play Through the Game

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Malcolm Pein

Malcolm Pein

Malcolm Pein is a British International Master, chess organizer, author and journalist. He was a child prodigy and a former British Junior Champion. He qualified for the International Master title in 1985. Malcolm is a distinguished writer, journalist and editor. He has been a chess correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph for over 30 years, has written numerous chess books and is the Executive Editor of CHESS Magazine. In 1992, he founded the London Chess Centre, a games store in central London and the UK's only chess shop. He is also the founder and CEO of Chess in Schools and Communities, a UK charity whose aim is to introduce chess to state schools and has taught the game to over 250,000 children since its inception in 2009. Malcolm is also well-known for his chess event management. He was responsible for the pre-planning of the World Chess Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik in London 2000. In 2002 he was appointed as Technical Director of the 'Brains in Bahrain' match between Vladimir Kramnik and the computer program Fritz. In 2009, Malcolm devised and organized the 1st London Chess Classic - the UK's first world-class elite all-play-all tournament since the 1980s which ran annually until 2019. Malcolm is also very active with the English Chess Federation. In 2016, he was appointed as the Manager and Captain of the England national team. He was also appointed as English Chess Federation delegate to the European Chess Union and FIDE and is the Director of International Chess. In 2018, he also stood for the post of Deputy President of FIDE. In 2021, Malcolm joined the ranks of Chessable authors by bringing the highlights of his column in the Daily Telegraph in the form of an interactive Chessable course, titled Telegraph Tuesday. Profile photograph © Lennart Ootes

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