Luke McShane

Meeting an idol

We had never met, but David Paravyan, from Russia, has been something of a personal idol since August 2018. My veneration was exclusively based on one game whose dazzling ingenuity was, to my eyes, awesome. Last week he took first place (and a £30,000 prize) at the Gibraltar Masters, one of the most prestigious open tournaments in the world. Paravyan is an accomplished grandmaster, but this was a huge career breakthrough in a field that included the likes of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Seven players tied for first place on 7½/10, and Paravyan triumphed in a gruelling series of tiebreak games after the final day’s play. Nevertheless, I cannot resist showing the earlier game which so impressed me.

It is no easy task, in the modern era, to win a game in the romantic style. Defensive skill has been much refined since the 1800s, but here we see a pawn, knight, bishop, queen and rook all offered up in a cascade of sacrifices. While the initial attacking stance, with an isolated queen’s pawn, bishop on c4 and knight on g5 against the castled king, is traditional, the subsequent motifs are exotic. In the diagram position, White found the only winning move 24 Qc7!!, flitting between the fire of Black’s bishops and sacrificing the queen on an empty square. There is a fearful symmetry to this, particularly when set against the preceding move 23 g4!! which offered the queen on c2.

David Paravyan–Saveliy Golubov

Korchnoi Memorial, August 2018

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Bd6 7 O-O O-O 8 c4 c6 9 Qb3 dxc4 10 Bxc4 Nd7 11 Re1 Ndf6 12 Nbd2 Nxd2 13 Bxd2 Qb6 14 Qd3 Qxb2 Consequent, but a move like 14… Bd7 was more prudent.

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