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Malcolm Pein on…The Gift of the Jab

Malcolm Pein

March 25, 2021

In today’s Daily Telegraph column, Malcolm Pein explains how the gift of the jab enabled the Israeli Championship to take place over-the-board.

Malcolm Pein on…The Gift of the Jab

The Israeli Chess Federation took the opportunity provided by the country’s successful vaccine rollout to stage the national championship in Haifa. The event was sanctioned by the Israeli government and sponsored by Mifal Hapayis, the national lottery. All players and officials needed to have a ‘green pass’ which allows Israelis access to public events and facilities like gyms. Forty-two players are competing.

In the early rounds an untitled player, Ohad Kraus, ruffled a few feathers, defeating GM Ilya Smirin and winning this miniature:

S. Dvoirys – N. Steinberg
40th Israeli Championship
Slav Exchange

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bg5 Ne4 6.Nxe4 dxe4 7.a3 (7.e3 Qa5+ picking up the loose bishop on g5 would be unfortunate) 7…Qb6 8.Bd2 e5! (After 8…Qxd4 9.Qc2 Nc6 10.Bc3 Qd5 11.Rd1 Qe6 12.e3 Black will struggle to get his pieces out) 9.Bc3 e3?! (9…Nc6 10.dxe5 e3! or 9…Nc6 10.d5 Nd4 11.e3 Nb3 12.Ra2 Bd6 13.Bc4 Nc5 14.Ne2 0–0 15.b4 Nd7 look fine for Black)

10.fxe3 e4 11.Qc2 Bf5 12.g4! Bg6 13.Nh3! Be7 14.Qa4+ Nc6 15.0–0–0 0–0 (Not 15…Rc8 16.d5 or if 15…0–0–0 16.d5 Nb8 17.Bd4 Qc7+ 18.Kb1 Rxd5 19.Nf4 Ra5 20.Qb3 when Black’s pieces lack coordination and the Bg6 is out of play. Bg2 and Rc1 follow or Nd5)

16.Nf4 a5 17.h4 Qa6 (After 17…h6 18.g5 h5 19.Nxg6 fxg6 20.Bg2 Bb4 21.Qb3+ Kh8 22.Bxe4 a4 23.Qe6 Bxc3 24.bxc3 Black is losing a third pawn and will have to give up an exchange on e4 to prevent Qxg6-h7#) 18.h5 b5 19.Qb3 b4 20.hxg6 bxc3

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White to play and win

40th Israeli Championship
O. Kraus – Y. Sokolovsky
Sicilian Najdorf Sozin

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.a3 Be7 8.Ba2 0–0 9.0–0 b5 10.Qf3 Bb7 11.Re1 Nc6 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.Bf4 Qc7 (Black has a comfortable position. There are no sacrifices on e6 to worry about or an imminent White attack on the kingside) 14.Rad1 Rfd8 15.Qe2 Rd7 16.b4 Qb7 17.Rd3 a5! 18.Bb3 axb4 19.axb4 Nxe4! 0-1

If 20.Nxe4 Bxe4 21.Qxe4 Qxe4 22.Rxe4 Ra1+ leads to mate on the back rank.

Highlight the space below this line to reveal the answer.

21.Qxf7+!! 1–0 If 21…Rxf7 22.gxh7+! and if 22…Kh8 23.Ng6# or 22…Kf8 23.h8(Q)# . If 21…Kh8 22.Rxh7#

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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