Chess
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Your support makes all the difference.THE LAST round of the Goodricke Open in Calcutta takes place today. It has been consistently exciting, with plenty of bloodshed - much of it, refreshingly, in clashes between the top players, who sometimes agree canny draws and concentrate their fire on weaker opposition.
The top seed Alexei Fedorov from Belarus started with three straight wins but was stopped in his tracks by the second seed, Victor Bologan from Moldavia. He then continued though with five further straight wins, to lead with a massive 8/9 with two rounds to go.
In an obscure side line, Bolgan was able to sacrifice a piece for no fewer than four pawns while forcing off the queens.
21 ...hxg6 would have been even worse because Black then has no potential play against the f3 pawn and White can still play h4-h5, intending to answer ...gxh5 with g5!.
Though an expert on the Dragon, Fedorov didn't know about the line, while Bologan with 23 Bc5! was in fact improving on a game between Topalov and Tiviakov in Polonica Zdroj 1995, in which after 23 Nb7 Bc8 24 Nc5 Rc6 25 h3 g5! 26 Rhd1 Ng8! 27 Rf2 Rh6 Black got counterplay and quickly drew.
23 ...Ng8 would lose to 24 Nf5! gxf5 25 Bxf8 Bxf8 26 Rxd7 but after 24 Nc4 Bologan was in time to force the rook from the dangerous file.
With 28 ...Bxa4, Fedorov captured a vital pawn but got his pieces in a tangle. In time trouble, Bologan forced repetition with 32 Kc1 and then moved in for the kill.
Of course, if 37 ...Rxb6 38.Nf7 is mate. Bologan took several minutes over the forced 44 Nf7+ to check everything. At the end, Black loses at least a rook.
White: Victor Bologan
Black: Alexei Fedorov
Sicilian Dragon
1 e4 c5
2 Nf3 d6
3 d4 cxd4
4 Nxd4 Nf6
5 Nc3 g6
6 Be3 Bg7
7 f3 0-0
8 Qd2 Nc6
9 Bc4 Bd7
10 0-0-0 Na5
11 Be2 Rc8
12 Kb1 Nc4
13 Bxc4 Rxc4
14 g4 b5
15 b3 Rc8
16 Ndxb5 Qa5
17 a4 a6
18 Nd5 Qxd2
19 Nxe7+ Kh8
20 Rxd2 Rce8
21 Nxg6+ fxg6
22 Nxd6 Re6
23 Bc5! Bc6
24 Nc4 Rb8
25 Rd6 Rxd6
26 Bxd6 Rd8
27 Be7 Rb8
28 Rd1 Bxa4
29 Bd6 Rb7
30 Na5 Rb5
31 Bc7 Ng8
32 Kc1 Bh6+
33 Kb1 Bg7
34 Rd3 Rc5
35 Bb6 Rb5
36 Nc4 Rb4
37 Nd6! Nf6
38 Ba5 Rb8
39 Bc7 Rb4
40 Ka2 Bb5
41 c4 Bc6
42 e5 Nd7
43 e6 Ne5
44 Nf7+ Nxf7
45 exf7 h5
46 Rd8+ Kh7
47 Be5 Rb7
48 f8Q Bxf8
49 Rxf8 Kh6
50 h4 hxg4
51 fxg4 Rh7
52 Rg8! 1-0
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