Belgrade Round One

A FLURRY of no-shows reduced entries for the 34th Belgrade Trophy International to 52.

Round 1 on 2020/11/24 at 17:00

Bo.	No.			Name	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name		No.
1	1		GM	Vukic Milan	0		0		Poleksic Petar		26
2	27		AFM	Zlatkov Anton	0		0	FM	Tsvetkov Andrey		2
3	3		IM	Rajkovic Mladen	0		0		Poleksic Dusan		28
4	29			Kocyigit Buse Naz	0		0		Potpara Nikola		4
5	5		FM	Damjanovic Vuk	0		0		Radojicic Aleksandar M		30
6	31			Katic Goran	0		0	GM	Abramovic Bosko		6
7	7		FM	Lundin Jan	0		0		Hart Alexander		32
8	33		FM	Petrovic Petar	0		0	FM	Milosevic Milos		8
9	9			Dolsonov Ayusha	0		0		Radosavljevic Vukasin		35
10	36			Zubic Aleksandar	0		0		Ivanovic Marko		10
11	11		FM	Bujisic Vlastimir	0		0		Grncarski Jugoslav		37
12	39			Zhapova Yana	0		0	WGM	Chelushkina Irina		12
13	13			Risteski Emil	0		0		Andjelkovic Milija		40
14	41			Spanton Tim R	0		0	IM	Smolovic Mile		14
15	15		FM	Maric Dragan	0		0		Djakovic Todor		42
16	43			Karanovic Djordje	0		0		Vasic Vladimir		16
17	17			Stanic Aleksandar	0		0		Radulov Nevena		44
18	45			Mitrovic Jovan V	0		0		Petrovic Aleksa		18
19	19			Dimitrijevic Dusan	0		0		Bjeletic Zeljko		46
20	47			Rajlic Boris	0		0		Nedeljkovic Dragan		20
21	21			Stojkovic Nenad P	0		0		Stankovic Andrea		48
22	49			Ivanovic Strahinja	0		0		Milanovic Nemanja		22
23	23			Tyurin Artem	0		0		Petkovic Luka		50
24	51			Petrovic Teodor	0		0		Stankovic Boris		24
25	25			Petkovic Jovan	0		0		Rajlic Irina		52
26	34			Hlebec Darko	0	½			not paired
27	38			Novakovic Aleksej	0	½			not paired

The playing hall at the Hotel Slavija

Slavija Square

Facemasks must be worn

Spanton (1831) - Mile Smolović (IM 2210)

Belgrade Round 1

Sicilian Moscow

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7

This is considerably less popular than 3...Bd7 but much more common than 3...Nc6.

4.d4 Ngf6

The main idea of playing this, rather than ...cxd4 or ...a6, is to prevent White setting up a Maróczy Bind, eg 4...cxd4 5.Qxd4 and c4.

5.Nc3 a6 6.Bxd7+

White gives up the bishop-pair, relying on speedy development.

6...Nxd7

This is the main move, although two 2500+ players, Ľubomír Ftáčnik and Viktor

Kupreichik, have tried the strange-looking 6... Qxd7!?

7.Be3!?

Normal is 7.O-O.

7...cxd4 8.Qxd4 e6 9.O-O

I was not brave enough to go for it with 9.O-O-O!?

9... Qc7 10.Rfe1

This seems to be a new move at this point, although the game has transposed to a line that gets here by a different move-order. White usually plays 10.Rfd1 or 10.Rad1.

10...Ne5!?

I seem to have been so non-plussed by this move, which, for a time at

least, is Stockfish12's choice, that I wrote on my scoresheet ...Nd7-f6.

11.Nxe5

Stellan Brynell (2488) - Volkmar Dinstuhl (2404), Bundesliga 2000, went 11.Na4!? Bd7!? 12.Nb6 Rd8 (again ...Nf3+ seems to be crying out to be played, but Brynell and Dinstuhl clearly felt otherwise) 13.Nxd7 Nxd7 14.Rad1 with what looks like an edge for White (½–½, 48 moves).

11...dxe5 12.Qb6 Qxb6 13.Bxb6 Bd7 14.Rad1 Be7 15.Rd3 Bd8?!

Stockfish12 and Komodo11.01 reckon Black has a small edge after 15...Rc8, and if 16.Red1 then 16...Bc6.

16. Bxd8?!

White seems to have a bigger edge after 16.Red1 Bxb6 17.Rxd7.

16...Rxd8 17.Red1 Ke7 18. f3 Bc6 19. Rxd8 Rxd8 20. Rxd8 Kxd8

The ending clearly favours White, although the engines at first reckon the advantage is small

(Stockfish12 comes to give White the upper hand. The main fly in the ointment is that the white pawn-chain g2-e4 could become vulnerable to the black bishop.

21.Kf2 f5 22.Ke3 b5?!

Allowing White to fix the black queenside pawns on light squares seems odd as White will be able to manoeuvre on the dark squares.

23.a3 Ke7 24.Na2 Kd6 25.Nb4 Bb7 26.Nd3

MS offered a draw.

26.Bc6 27.b4 Ba8 28.Nc5 a5 29.Nb3 axb4 30.axb4 Bb7 31.Nc5 Bc6 32.g3 g5 33.g4 fxg4 34.fxg4 Be8 35.Kd3 h5 36.h3?

Winning, according to the engines, is 36.gxh5 Bxh5 37.Nb3. I rejected the line because it activates the bishop, but the bishop no longer has any real targets.

36...hxg4 37.hxg4 Ke7

Getting ready to defend e5 and g5 from f6 if the knight heads for the kingside.

38.c4!?

The engines do not like this. They reckon White has the upper hand after a line such as 38.Nb3 Kd6 39.Nd2 Ke7 40.Nf3 Kf6, but their evaluations are static and it seems there is no way

for White to make progress.

38...Kd6 39.Nb7+ Kc7 40.Nc5 Kd6 41.Nb7+ ½–½

41.cxb5 Bxb5+ is no improvement for White as g4 is too weak.