Ukrainian knights

This week I pay tribute to the chess grandmasters from Ukraine, led by Vassily Ivanchuk, many times a candidate for the world championship. Ukraine occupies an honourable place in the history of chess, for example winning the gold medals in the chess Olympiad of 2010, held in one of the World Chess Federation’s favourite venues, Khanty-Mansisk in Siberia. Ivanchuk played an interesting role in last year’s world championship qualifier in London. Blessed with extraordinary creativity, yet almost equally erratic, Ivanchuk seemed headed for a disaster, based on his ability to lose on time in promising positions. Nevertheless, he played a pivotal role in deciding who should challenge Viswanathan Anand for the world championship, when he defeated both Carlsen and Kramnik, the leading contenders, in the closing rounds. The game I have chosen to illustrate his style was taken from the recently concluded Tradewise Masters, held in Gibraltar.
 
Vassily Ivanchuk-Alexandr Hilario Takeda dos Santos Fier: Gibraltar Masters 2014; Semi-Slav Defence
 
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 Nc3 c6 5 e3 Nbd7 6 Qc2 The old main line used to be 6 Bd3 dxc4 7 Bxc4 b5. The text avoids loss of time with White’s king’s bishop, should Black ever capture on c4. The queen move also contains the deeper point that White may try to castle queenside and assault Black on the opposite wing. 6 … Bd6 7 b3 0-0 8 Bb2 e5 Black counters resolutely in the centre before White can complete his plans based on 0-0-0 and g4. 9 Be2 e4 10 Nd2 a6 (see diagram 1) Black’s problem is that White plans g4 and if possible g5 driving away the protection of Black’s pawn on d5, the lynchpin of his pawn chain. Since this is hard to prevent, Black prepares a counteraction on the opposite wing. 11 g4 b5 12 g5 b4 Obligatory, otherwise he will simply lose the pawn on d5. 13 Na4 Ne8 14 cxd5 cxd5 15 Qc6 Rb8 16 Qxd5 Bb7 17 Qf5 (see diagram 2) Black’s gambit is known theory but the approved continuation here is 17 … Qe7 as in Bischoff-Pieschki, Bad Zwesten 2004 and Maleki-Berescu, Avoine 2011. 17 … g6 18 Qg4 Qe7 19 h4 h5 Suicidal. He must try 19 … Ng7. 20 gxh6 Kh7 21 Rc1 Kxh6 22 Nc5 Ndf6 23 Qg5+ Kh7 24 h5 Nxh5 25 Qxe7 White could win flashily with 25 Rxh5+ gxh5 26 Qxh5+ Kg8 27 Bc4 with a devastating attack. However, why introduce complications when the simple exchange of the text guarantees victory by virtue of massive material superiority? 25 … Bxe7 26 Nd7 Black resigns
 
This week’s puzzle is a brisk finish from Ukraine’s gold-medal winning performance in the 2010 Olympiad.