PREPARE TO ATTACK: WITH NIGEL SHORT

Como aficionado al ajedrez, siempre me han impresionado los sacrificios de dama, aunque, creo entender que, en muchos casos, lo más difícil, no es el sacrificio propiamente, sino su preparación. Por ésto, he seleccionado ésta partida, tomada del libro titulado "Prepare to attack" cuyo autor es Gary Lane  (Editorial Everyman Chess, 2010); un libro que, igual como aficionado, me ha permitido seguir disfrutando del juego del ajedrez, concediéndome momentos de reposo, en éste mundo tan complicado de hoy. La partida, en cuestión, la disputaron el GM inglés Nigel Short y el GM chino Ye Jiangchuan; una Defensa Siciliana, de la que pienso, podemos aprender, como deben ser conducidas las piezas blancas. 

FUENTE: http://www.broadstairschessclub.co.uk/hou-yifan-v-nigel-short/

Descrito como una persona de carácter afable y gran humildad, el Gran Maestro inglés nos ha brindado a los largo de su dilatada carrera deportiva, creaciones artísticas inolvidables. Esta partida para mí es una de ellas; espero les guste. No he querido modificar los comentarios originales del libro, y por tanto los coloco en ingles, aunque la nomenclatura de la partida está en español a si como el resto del texto de la entrada. Seguro no importará, pues "Gens una sumus". Por cierto, la foto la he seleccionado porque precisamente considero es representativa de la hermandad entre la gran familia ajedrecistica.

Nigel Short - Ye Jiangchuan [B47]

Sanjin Hotel Cup Taiyuan CHN (8), 17.07.2004

1.e4 c5 2.Cf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Cxd4 Cc6 5.Cc3 Dc7 6.Ae2 a6 7.0–0 Cf6 8.Rh1 "This is the sort of mysterious move that can make people wonder how to emulate stars. However, if you look at a lot of background games in this line then it should come as no susprise. The idea is that the king gets out of the way in preparation for f2-f4, when annoying checks or pins on the g1–a7 diagonal will now be avoided" 8...Ae7 9.f4 d6 10.Cxc6 bxc6 11.Dd3!? 

"The Queen is ready to swing across to the kingside whe required. The slight difference, compared to the standart manoeuvre Qe1, is that White also has the option of the h3 square to carry on attacking in the middlegame. In other lines White tends to play Bf1–e3 an early stage so Short is taking advantage of the situation" 11...0–0 12.b3 "White does not want to hurry to move the queen, so the queen's bishop needs to be developed and a fianchetto is appropriate in this case" 12...Ab7 13.Ab2 c5 14.Tae1 Tae8 "This a good demostration of Black conducting a reasonable -looking defence- as you would expect from one of China' best players. Still, even if you are not sure by now of how to breakthrough, the idea of counting the pieces allows the rest of us to try and guess Short's intentions by just adding more pieces to the kingside" 15.Dh3! "In his comments afterwards Short revealed that this was the hardest move of the game because he offers up a pawn without having a conclusive follow-up. Nevertheless, a key factor in his decision making would surely be that all his pieces are well placed for a kingside attack, which means once again that he will have a lot of tactical opportunities" 15...Cxe4 

"Black accepts the challenge and grabs the pawn" 16.Ad3 Cf6 "The knight returns to f6 to protect against mate on h7. After 16 ...d5 White can regain material equality with interest: 17. Cxe4....." 17.Te3 "This fits in well with the general strategy of adding more pieces to the attack because White is now in a position to move the rook along the third rank to help influence matters" 17...g6 "Black blunts the might of the light-squared bishop but at the same time enhances White's dark-squared bishop..... In his notes to the game Short does his best to prove that White also has plenty of attacking chances after 17 ...h6; 18. Tg3 (threatening to take on h6) 18.... Rh8 and then 19. Cd1!...." " 18.Cd1 "The bishop on b2 is revealed, ready to strike at the black kinside. Meanwhile the knight can manoeuvre to g4 via f2 in order to make the most of the slight weakening of the pawn shield now that a black pawn no longer covers the f6 or h6 squares" 18...c4 "A pawn sacrifice to distract White from the kingside attack. 18. ...d5 has been suggested instead, but 19. Ae5 Dc6; 20. Dh4! is good news for White" 19.bxc4 Dc5 20.f5! 

"The white pieces are well placed to wreak havoc on the kingside and the pawn advance is timed to inject some tactics into the position by further weakening the black pawn shield" 20...e5 "Black keeps the position closed and at least lessens the influence of the bishop on b2, but the downside is that White can exert intense pressure on g6" 21.Tg3 Ae4 "It is clear that Short is preparing to sacrifice on g6, so Black attempts to thwart the idea. The pin with 21. ...Ac8 fails to impress after 22. Dh6! with a very strong attack...." 22.Ce3 "Good planning, another piece is added to the attack to make up for the light-squared bishop being blocked" 22...Axd3 23.cxd3 Rh8 It seems that Black is just surviving, having beaten off the initial challenge instigated by 20. f5, but White's pieces are still on good squares to carry on attacking" 24.Ac1! 

"A high-class move; White is patient enough to switch the bishop once again to a place where it can potentially (i.e. when knight on e3 moves) do some damage to teh kingside. Such a move might at first glance seem beyond a lot of us, but if, with no obvious breakthrough available, you use the formula of count the pieces, then adding another piece must increase the tactical options. The desire to win a pawn with 24. fxg6, fxg6; 25. Txg6 is not quite so convincing after the stunning 25 ...Ce4!, ensuring at least equality due to the threat of a back rank checkmate" 24...Tg8? It makes sense to defend the g6 pawn but now Black goes rapidly downhill. This is the problem with defending, even at the highest level, the need to find the perfect move each time is and arduous task. A better defence is 24 ... Dd4!...." 25.fxg6 fxg6 26.Cd5 Cxd5 

"White wants to remove the denfender of h7 for a good reason and Black duly obliges. Perhaps 26 ...Ch5 would prolong the struggle, although after 27. Tgf3 White has massive advantage in attacking terms..." 27.Dxh7+! ¡Sin duda una excelente partida! Las negras abandonaron.

Bien amigos, hemos llegado al final de ésta nueva publicación en el Blog "Ajedrez para Niñas, Niños y otros Aficionados" Les invito como siempre a seguir la pagina en Facebook o la cuenta en Twitter. También a formar parte de La Gran Comunidad de Ajedrez, hasta la próxima.