Triumvirate

Three important tournaments concluded this month, for two of which (Gibraltar and Bunratty) I attended the awards ceremonies. I have already given the results of Zurich. The most impressive game, the concluding phase of which provided last week’s puzzle, was Magnus Carlsen’s victory against Fabiano Caruana. We join the game just before Carlsen sacrifices rook for bishop to cause a fatal breach in the black defences.
 
Carlsen-Caruana: Zurich Chess Challenge 2014
 
22 Rxf7 Bxf7 23 Rxf7 Rd7 24 Rxd7 Kxd7 25 exd5 g6 26 Qg4+ Kc7 27 Qe6 Kb7 28 Qe7+ Qc7 29 Qe4 Qd7 30 d6+ Ka6 31 Bf4 Rc8 32 Kh2 Rc4 33 Bg3 Rc8 34 Qd3+ Kb7 35 c4 Qc6 36 Qb3 Ka8 37 a4 Re8 38 a5 Kb7 39 c5 Kc8 40 axb6 axb6 41 d5 Qxc5 42 Qa4 Re3 43 Qa8+ Kd7 44 Qb7+ Ke8 45 d7+ Kd8 46 Bh4+ Re7 47 Qc8+ Black resigns
 
The Tradewise Masters in Gibraltar is widely hailed as the best open tournament in the world. This year players from 59 federations were represented with 68 grandmasters and 40 international masters, with 15 per cent of the field being women. There is a record prize for the female winner of £15,000, which was won by Muriya Muzychuk. First prize in the Masters was shared between Vassily Ivanchuk, Nikita Vitiugov and Ivan Cheparinov, the last of whom took the laurels on tie-break. The extract I have chosen is a fine victory by the player who also won in 2013, Nikita Vitiugov.
 
Vitiugov-Spraggett: Gibraltar Masters 2014
 
26 Nb1 Nh7 27 h5 Ne7 28 g4 Nc8 29 Bd2 Nb6 30 Qg3 Ng5 31 f3 Rc8 32 Be3 Rxc1 33 Rxc1 Qb8 34 Qf2 Na8 35 Bd3 Qb7 36 Qd2 f6 37 Nc3 Nf7 38 Bf2 Rc8 39 Qe3 Rc7 40 Ne2 Rxc1 41 Nxc1 Kf8 42 Ne2 Ke8 43 Nc3 Nd8 44 Qa7 Nc7 45 Qb6 Black resigns
 
Finally, the Bunratty tournament in Ireland near Limerick saw the former British champion Gawain Jones in overpowering form, taking top prize. I shall be covering Gawain’s exploits in a future column, but for now I would like to say how pleased I was to see my old friend Eamon Keogh competing with his customary flair and vigour at Bunratty. I first encountered Eamon at Ybbs in Austria in 1968. I held a small edge in our game but after 54 moves of battering at his fortress I had to admit that Eamon’s defence had triumphed. The puzzle this week demonstrates Eamon in action, exploiting the lack of development of the black forces.