Table Of Content

Vassily Ivanchuk NikolaiKalinichenko Vassily Ivanchuk 100 selected games NewInChess2013 ©2013NewInChess PublishedbyNewInChess,Alkmaar,TheNetherlands www.newinchess.com Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinaretrieval systemortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying,recordingorotherwise,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionfrom thepublisher. All photos:NIC Archives Coverdesign:Volken Beck Supervisor:PeterBoel Proofreading:RenéOlthof Translation:SteveGiddins Production:AntonSchermer Haveyoufoundanyerrorsinthisbook? Pleasesendyourremarkstoeditors@newinchess.com.Wewillcollectallrelevant correctionsontheErratapageofourwebsitewww.newinchess.comandimplement theminapossiblenextedition. ISBN:978-90-5691-427-1 Contents Chapter 1 VassilyIvanchuk,aPortrait. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Selected Games Chapter 2 1985 – 1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Chapter 3 1994 – 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Chapter 4 2002 – 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Chapter 5 2008 – 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 VassilyIvanchuk'sPrincipal Tournament Successes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 Rating Chart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Game List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 Index of Openings and ECO Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 Index of Names. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 5 Chapter 1 Vassily Ivanchuk, a Portrait Vassily Mikhailovich Ivanchuk was born other way, we call it the search for truth on 18 March 1969, in the town of inchess. Kopychintsy(intheTernopolskayaOblast His first big successes came in 1985. of Ukraine), into a family of intelligent Vassily won the USSR junior champion- parents: his father was a lawyer and his ship and won the bronze medal in the motheraphysicsteacher. championshipofUkraine.Ayearlater,he ‘Atfirst,nobodydreamtIhadanytalentfor chess’,herecalledinoneinterview.‘Atfirst, Ijustverymuchwantedtoplay.Iwascapti- vated by this form of sport. It all started when my father gave me a magnetic chess set for my birthday. I liked the pieces and asked my father to tell me about the game and to show me how the pieces moved. Then I wanted to know more and more, and my mother brought me a few books fromschool.MyfirstbookwasAJourneyin the Kingdom of Chess, by Averbakh and Beilin. Then I started solving chess prob- lemsinnewspapers,whichIcopiedout.It was my first trainer, Gennady Vassilenko, whopredictedIwouldbecomeasuccessful player–“Youwillbecomeatleastagrand- master”,hesaid.’ Amongstthechessbookshehaslovedall his life, Vassily mentioned Lasker’s Man- joined the chess faculty of the Lvov state ualofChess,Bronstein’s1953ZurichCan- university of physical culture. From his didates’ book, and Alekhine’s and student days onwards, he has loved the Botvinnik’s game collections. Openings cityofLvov,whichbecamehishome. helovedtostudyfromKeres’books. In1986,the17-yearoldmasterwonthe But that isinthe future.For now,the life European Youth Championship (this of the 13-year-old Vasya Ivanchuk had event was traditionally held in the Dutch undergoneagreatchange–hewasareal city of Groningen, over the start of the sportsman. Into his life had come the newyear). thing that would forever define it,filling Here are several examples of his play in it with the joy of victory,the pain of de- thoseyears. feat, constant work and never-ending The following game, played in the last concern with self-improvement. Put an- round,decidedthefateofsecondplace. 7 VassilyIvanchuk í Ivanchuk,Vassily For the exchange, Black has a pawn, the n Savchenko,Stanislav advantage in the centre and prospects of an attack on the king. It seems White Jurmala1985 needs to show accuracy in defence, but Vassily demonstrates a concrete approach ..__..__..__TTmm totheposition: __..__..__QQjjJJ 29.g4! ..__JJ__..__..dd It turns out that Black’s pieces are unsta- jj..bb..jj..__.. blyplaced. II__IIll..__..__ 29...Àh4? __RR__BB__..__.. 29...Ãxc3wasessential. KKrr..__..__..tt 30.g5! __..__..__..__.. Suddenly,the bishop on d4,the pride of Black’sposition,ishanging. Savchenko was in very bad time-trouble. 30...©f4 31.Àxd5! ©g4 32.Àe3 Thiscircumstanceplayedadecisiverole– Ãxe333.fxe3Ãb5 now the simplest win was 31...Õxb2+ Or33...Àxg234.©xd7+Õf735.©d4+. 32.Õxb2Ãxb233.®xb2 ©d2+ 34.Ãc2 34.Õf2Àf535.Õc7+®g836.e4 Õb8+,butBlackplayed Blackresigned. 31...Ãxb2? Therefollowed PetroffDefence (C42) 32.©xg8+!!®xg833.Õb8+ í Howell,James and in the space of two moves, Vasya n Ivanchuk,Vassily Ivanchuk had jumped from a share of Groningen 1986/87 3–7thplaces,upto2ndplaceinthetour- 1.e4e52.Àf3Àf63.Àxe5d64.Àf3 nament.After Àxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Ãd3 Àc6 7.0-0 33...®f7 Ãg4 8.c4 Àf6 9.Àc3 Ãxf3 10.©xf3 Blackwasmated: Àxd4 11.©e3+ Àe6 12.cxd5 Àxd5 34.Õf8+®e635.Ãf5 13.Àxd5 ©xd5 14.Ãe4 ©b5 15.a4 Mate. ©a616.Õd1Ãe717.©f3 In the sixth game of the return match í Ivanchuk,Vassily Kasparov-Karpov, London 1986, play n Brenninkmeijer,Joris continued17.b40-018.©h3g619.Ãb2 ©c4 20.Õd7 Õae8 21.Ãd5 ©xb4 Groningen 1986/87 22.Ãc3Àf4,withstrongcounterplayfor ..__..__..tt..__ Black. __JJ__LL__..mmJJ 17...Õb8 JJ__..__JJddJJ__ Anovelty.Inthegame Timman-Yusupov, __..__JJ__SS__.. Hilversum match 1986, Black played ..__..ll..__..__ 17...Õd8,and the game soon ended in a draw. __..nn..__..ii.. 18.b4 IIii..qqRRiiBBii Itwasworthconsidering18.©h3. __..rr..__..__KK 18...0-019.Õd7? 8 VassilyIvanchuk,APortrait For the rapidly-improving youngster,the ..tt..__..ttMM__ endofthe1980swasthestartofaperiod jjJJjjRRllJJjjJJ ofespeciallyfastprogress.Muchhasbeen DD__..__SS__..__ saidandwrittenaboutthis. __..__..__..__.. After his victory in the New York Open IIii..__BB__..__ 1988,whereVassilyoutstrippedsuchex- __..__..__QQ__.. perienced grandmasters as Larsen, ..__..__..iiIIii GligoricandByrne(nottomentionmany rr..bb..__..kk.. others – the grandmaster entry at this tournament numbered 37 players), sto- Insteadofthisapparentlyactive,butmis- riesappearedintheAmericanpressabout taken rook penetration to the seventh the appearance of a new star of Soviet rank,Whiteshouldhaveplayed19.Ãb2. chess. Anatoly Bykhovsky drew attention 19...Õbd8!20.Ãxb7 to his enormous all-round chess knowl- Itturnsoutthattheblackbishopisinvul- edge,consideringhismainweapontobe nerable: 20.Õxe7? ©d6 21.Ãa3 ©xe7 hisdeepandaccuratecalculation. 22.b5 Àc5 23.Ãxh7+ ®xh7 24.©f5+ (noris24.©h5+®g825.Ãxc5©f6any Alexey Suetin, who had worked with better) 24...g6 25.Ãxc5 ©e2, and Black Ivanchukattrainingsessions,emphasised wins. hisspeedofthought,phenomenalmem- Nor can the bishop be taken in other ory and combinational sharpness, com- ways:20.Ãd3©c6 21.©h3 g6 22.Õxe7 paring him with the young Tal. And Tal ©c3 23.Õxe6 Õxd3 or 20.b5 ©b6 himself, summing up the results of the 21.Õxe7©d4. 55th national championship, in which 20...©c421.Õxd8 the young Ukrainian player occupied an 21.Õxe7?©d4. honourable 5–6 place,wroteinhispiece 21...Õxd822.Ãe3©xb423.Ãe4 ofthe‘VasyaIvanchukphenomenon’: 23.Ãxa7isbad,becauseof23...c524.a5 ‘Looking at the 19-year-old master, I Ãf6withadecisiveadvantagetoBlack. drewsomeanalogy(Ihopethisdoesnot 23...Ãc524.Ãxc5 seemoutofplace)withmyself.Ialsofirst After24.Ãd5,thisisapossiblevariation: played in the USSR Championship at 19, 24...Ãxe3 25.Ãxe6 Ãxf2+ 26.©xf2 and my result was roughly the same’ fxe627.©xa7c528.Õf1©d4+29.®h1 («64».1988,No18). ©f4 30.®g1 ©e3+ 31.®h1 h6, and Ivanchuk later shared his own impres- Blackshouldwin. sionsofTal: 24...©xc525.h4©d426.Õe1©xa4 ‘What Tal succeeded in doing in chess 27.h5 needs a complete re-evaluation in con- 27.Ãxh7+®xh728.©xf7doesn’twork, temporary chess. There is some sense in becauseof28...Õd6!. looking in great deal, from the com- 27...Àg5 28.©f5 Àxe4 29.Õxe4 puter’s viewpoint,at the positions where ©d1+ 30.®h2 g6 31.hxg6 hxg6 Talmadehisfamoussacrifices.Andthen, 32.©g5 Õd533.©f6 ©h5+34.Õh4 as well as his unique combinational tal- ©xh4+! ent, there is also his subtle psychology. Whiteresigned. For example, I remember his comment 9