Chess News

Malcolm Pein on…Jorden van Foreest’s Big Game

Malcolm Pein

February 14, 2021

Today’s Daily Telegraph column continues Malcolm Pein’s coverage of the Tata Steel Masters with an examination of Jorden van Foreest’s fabulous game in the last round.

Malcolm Pein on…Jorden van Foreest’s Big Game

A spectacular final-round victory for Jorden van Foreest saw the Dutch number two take the clubhouse lead on 8.5/13 at the Tata Steel Masters. Long-time leader Anish Giri had to suffer against David Anton Guijarro, but eventually drew to force a play-off.

Both blitz games between Giri and Van Foreest were drawn before Van Foreest triumphed in a dramatic Armageddon encounter to become the first Dutch winner at Wijk aan Zee since Jan Timman in 1985.

Fabulous Game

J. Van Foreest – N. Grandelius
Sicilian Najdorf

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qd3 Nbd7 7.Be2 b5 8.a4 Nc5 (A logical novelty, after which White elects to make the pawn sacrifice permanent) 9.Qe3 b4 10.Nd5 Ncxe4 11.a5!? Nxd5 12.Qxe4 e6 13.0-0 Bd7 (13…Bb7!? 14.Bg4 looks scary, but the computer is unimpressed after 14…Be7 15.Re1 Rb8) 14.Bd2 Be7 15.Bf3 0-0 16.Qd3 Qb8 17.c4! bxc3 18.bxc3 Ra7 19.Rfb1 (Remarkably this was White’s first decent length think of the game. His queenside pressure supplies more than enough for the pawn) 19…Qc8 20.c4 Nf6

21.Nb5!! axb5 22.cxb5 Bxb5 (Or 22…Nd5 23.Bxd5 exd5 24.b6 when White will favourably regain the material) 23.Qxb5 Nd7 24.Bb7 Qd8 25.a6 Bf6 26.Ba5 Qe8 27.Bc7!? Bxa1 28.Rxa1?! (Flashy and 28.Bxd6! Bd4 29.Bxf8 Kxf8 30.Rc1 Nc5 31.Rxc5 Qxb5 32.Rxb5 should be winning with Black’s rook stuck) 28…d5? (Grandelius was under time pressure and misses 28…Nc5! 29.Qb6 Qd7! with definite chances to draw after 30…Nxa6! or 30.Qxa7 Qxc7 31.Rb1 g5 32.Qb6 Qxb6 33.Rxb6 Nxb7 34.Rxb7 Ra8 35.a7 Kg7) 29.Bd6 Qd8 30.Rc1 g6 31.h3 Re8 32.Rc7 Nf6 33.Be5 Ne4 34.Qc6 Rf8 35.Bd4 Qb8 36.f3 Rxa6 (Desperation. Black has been completely outplayed) 37.Bxa6 Qb4 38.Be5 Qe1+ 39.Kh2 Nf2 40.Qc3!? (Going for an attractive king walk and shades of the famous game Short-Timman, Tilburg 1991, over the simpler 40.Bd4) 40…Qh1+ 41.Kg3 Qg1 42.Rc8! Nh1+ 43.Kh4 Qf2+ 44.g3 g5+ 45.Kxg5! f6

Test Your Strength

Now 46.Bxf6?? Qxg3+ would turn the tables, so how did White win?

Highlight the space below to reveal the answer.

46.Kh6! fxe5 47.Qxe5 1-0 Mate follows, as with 47…Qa7 48.Qh8+! Kxh8 49.Rxf8#.

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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