IT’S a holiday in Reykjavik, Iceland and the semifinal round of the 2021 Icelandic Cup-World Cup Qualifier has been postponed for a day. This gives us the chance to open a window for a peek at the ongoing 40th Israeli Championship being conducted at Haifa in Israel.
After three rounds of play, top seed GM Tamir Nabaty is leading alone with a perfect score of three points. Although the 32-player Swiss competition is a fairly strong event, it sadly misses the presence of Israel’s other top players. Nabaty is Israel’s number two, but missing from the country’s top ten players are GMs Boris Gelfand, Emil Sutovsky, Maxim Rodshtein, Boris Alterman, Michael Roiz, Boris Avrukh, and Alexander Huzman. Only Nabaty, GMs Ilia Smirin, and Evgeny Postny are present from the top 10. Worst, Smirin and Postny appear to be off-form; the former losing his first two games, the latter can only show 1½ points after round three.
Top 12 standings after round three: 1. Nabaty, 3; 2-3. Gorodetsky, Gorshtein, 2½; 4-12. Tzidkiya, Mikhalevski, Kobo, Rozen, Parkhov, Kraus, Steinberg, Boruchovsky, Haimovich, 2.
Tzidkiya, Y (2380)-Smirin, I (2614) [B43]
Haifa (1.2) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.g3 Bb4 7.Nb3 Nf6 8.Bd2 Nc6 9.Bg2 Be7 10.a4 b6 11.0-0 Bb7 12.f4 d6 13.Be3 Na5 14.Nxa5 bxa5 15.f5 Rb8 16.g4 h6 17.h3 Ba8 18.Qd3 0-0 19.Rab1 Rb4 20.g5 hxg5 21.Bxg5 d5 22.Bxf6 Bxf6 23.fxe6 Bxc3 24.Qxc3 Qb6+ 25.Kh1 Qxe6 26.Rf4 dxe4 27.Rg4 Qh6 28.Rg1 f5 29.Rg3 Rb7 30.Bf1 e3 31.Kh2 Re7 32.Rg6 Qf4+ 33.R1g3 Qe5 34.Rxg7+ Qxg7 35.Rxg7+ Rxg7 36.Qxe3 Kh7 37.h4 Be4 38.c3 Rb8 39.Qe2 Rg4 40.Qf2 Rg7 41.Bh3 Kg8 42.Bf1 Rgb7 43.Qg3+ Kh7 44.Qg5 Rxb2+ 45.Kh3 R2b6 46.Qe7+ Kh6 47.Bc4 Rg6 48.Bf7 Rc6 49.Qg5+ Kh7 50.h5 Bd5 51.Bg6+ Kh8 52.Qe7 Kg8 53.Kh4 Rcb6 54.Bh7+ Kh8 55.Bxf5 Kg8 56.Bh7+ Kh8 57.Bd3 1-0
Gruenfeld, Y (2412)-Nabaty, T (2638) [C70]
Haifa (2.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Be7 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.d3 f6 7.h3 c5 8.Be3 Be6 9.Nbd2 Bd6 10.c3 Ne7 11.d4 cxd4 12.cxd4 exd4 13.Nxd4 Bf7 14.Qc2 c5 15.N4f3 Rc8 16.Nc4 b5 17.Nxd6+ Qxd6 18.0-0 0-0 19.Rfd1 Qc7 20.Rac1 c4 21.Nd4 Ng6 22.Nf5 Be6 23.Nd4 Rfe8 24.Nxe6 Rxe6 25.Rd4 Rd6 26.Rxd6 Qxd6 27.Rd1 Qe6 28.Rd4 Ne5 29.Qd2 Nc6 30.Rd7 Qxe4 31.f3 Qf5 32.Bf4 Re8 33.Rd5 Qb1+ 34.Kh2 Qe1 35.Qxe1 Rxe1 36.Rd6 Ne7 37.Rxa6 Nd5 38.Ra8+ Kf7 39.Ra7+ Re7 40.Rxe7+ Kxe7 41.Bd2 Kd6 42.Kg1 Kc5 43.Kf2 Kd4 44.Ke2 c3 45.Bc1 Nf4+ 46.Kf1 Kd3 47.bxc3 Ne2 48.Ba3 Nxc3 49.Bf8 Nxa2 50.Bxg7 b4 51.Bxf6 Nc3 52.Be7 b3 53.Ba3 Kc2 0-1
Gorodetsky, D (2495)-Ben Artzi, I (2368) [B07]
Haifa (2.7) 2021
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3 Nf6 5.Qd2 c6 6.Bh6 Bxh6 7.Qxh6 Qa5 8.Bd3 c5 9.d5 Nbd7 10.0-0-0 c4 11.Bxc4 Qc5 12.Bb5 Qxf2 13.Nf3 Qxg2 14.e5 Ng4 15.Qg7 Rf8 16.Rde1 Qxf3 17.Rhf1 Nf2 18.exd6 Qf4+ 19.Kb1 Qxd6 20.Rxf2 a6 21.Ne4 Qb6 22.Bxd7+ Bxd7 23.Nf6+ Kd8 24.Qxf8+ Kc7 25.Qxe7 1-0
Postny, E (2605)-Gorshtein, I (2387) [A80]
Haifa (3.3) 2021
1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 h6 3.Bh4 g5 4.e3 Bg7 5.Bg3 d6 6.h4 g4 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Bd3 Nc6 9.d5 Nb4 10.Bc4 c6 11.dxc6 bxc6 12.Qd2 Rb8 13.Nge2 Nbd5 14.Bb3 Bd7 15.0-0 0-0 16.Nxd5 cxd5 17.Bxd5+ Kh7 18.Rab1 Nxd5 19.Qxd5 Bxb2 20.Nd4 Qc8 21.Rfd1 Rb6 22.c4 e6 23.Qa5 f4 24.Rxb2 fxg3 25.Nb3 gxf2+ 26.Rxf2 Rxf2 27.Kxf2 Ra6 28.Qd2 Be8 29.Kg1 Bg6 30.Qb4 g3 31.Rxd6 Rxa2 32.Qe1 Rf2 33.Rd2 Qb7 34.Rxf2 gxf2+ 35.Qxf2 Qxb3 36.Qf4 Qb1+ 37.Kh2 Qb7 38.Qe5 h5 39.c5 Qc6 40.Qc3 Qc7+ 41.Kg1 Be4 42.Qd4 Bc6 43.Qd3+ Kh6 44.Qf1 Qg7 45.e4 Kh7 46.Qf3 Qg6 47.Qa3 Qxe4 48.Qxa7+ Kg6 49.Qa2 Qe1+ 50.Kh2 Qxh4+ 51.Kg1 Qd4+ 52.Kh1 Qe4 53.Qf2 e5 54.Qa2 Kf6 55.Qg8 Qxg2+ 0-1
Nabaty, T (2638)-Tzidkiya, Y (2380) [E00]
Haifa (3.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Bg5 h6 4.Bh4 Bb4+ 5.Nd2 g5 6.Bg3 Ne4 7.Ngf3 h5 8.Qc2 Nxd2 9.Nxd2 Bxd2+ 10.Kxd2 h4 11.Be5 Rh6 12.d5 Qe7 13.Bc3 Qc5 14.e3 exd5 15.Qf5 Qe7 16.cxd5 Na6 17.Qe5 Qxe5 18.Bxe5 d6 19.Bg7 Rg6 20.Bd4 Nc5 21.Rc1 b6 22.b4 Ne4+ 23.Ke1 Kd8 24.Bd3 f5 25.g4 Rh6 26.Rg1 Bb7 27.gxf5 Bxd5 28.Bg7 Rh7 29.f6 Kd7 30.f3 Rxg7 31.fxe4 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rhf3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rxf5, Bxf5+ 2.Rxf5#; 1…Bh3, h3 2.Rxh3#; 1…Bxf3 2.Qxf3#; 1…Bf4/g3/h2/d4/c3/b2/a1/d6/c7/b8/f6/g7/h8 2.Qe8#./PN
