Sveins 7. Memorial under way | CHESS AT THE BAG OF CATS

Norway is where it happens this summer. Magnus Carlsen just won his third World Championship in a row, there will be a Chess Olympiad in Tromsö in august and currently, in Oslo, Sveins 7. minneturnering has started. I will not publish any of the games played in the first round, instead here is one of the games that top rated junior Aryan Tari played last year:

   [Event "Sveins 6. Minneturnering"]  [Site "Oslo"]  [Date "2013.06.21"]  [Round "3"]  [White "Djurhuus, Rune"]  [Black "Tari, Aryan"]  [Result "0-1"]  [ECO "B12"]  [WhiteElo "2455"]  [BlackElo "2354"]  [Annotator "Tiger"]  [PlyCount "48"]  [SourceDate "2011.03.24"]   1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h6 (4... h5 {is more common, when White  usually goes} 5. c4 e6 6. Nc3 {intending to use the weak dark squares on the  kingside later.}) 5. Nc3 $6 {This does not seem logical in combination with h4/  h6 since the normal g2-g4, followed by Ng1-e2 and h4 does not work anymore as  g4 can be met with Bh7.} (5. g4 Bh7 6. e6 Qd6 $1 7. exf7+ Kxf7 {is an  interesting line. The king is not in as much trouble as one might expect and  it is not easy for White to meet Nd7, e7-e5, without further weakening the  white squares.}) 5... e6 $1 6. Bd3 $6 {Rune Djurhuus has his own very original  ideas about how to play chess, but here I believe he goes to far; the  combination of Nc3 and Bd3 is not to be recommended.} (6. g4 Bh7 {and Black is  ready to continue with c6-c5.}) 6... Bxd3 7. Qxd3 c5 $1 {If Black waits with  this move, then White has time to play Nce2! so that c5 can be met with c2-c3.}  8. dxc5 {When you cannot support this kind of centre with c2-c3, then it is  often a good idea to take on c5. Here, the point is that 8...Bxc5 is met with  Qg3.} Nd7 $1 9. Qg3 Ne7 10. h5 {This is a sad necessity since White cannot  allow the Black knight to get stabilized on f5 (as would be the case if Black  gets to play h5).} Nxc5 $6 ({It was stronger to play} 10... Nf5 $1 11. Qf4 Bxc5  {, intending f7-f6. In this line Qf4 will find itself in the line of fire,  when the f-file opens.}) 11. Nf3 d4 $1 12. Nd1 {This is ugly. What is that  knight doing?} ({The obvious move is} 12. Ne2 {in order to put pressure on the  d4-pawn. After} Nf5 13. Qg4 d3 14. Ned4 {it is actually not so clear that  Black can get an advantage. The queen is annoying on g4.}) 12... Nf5 13. Qf4  Be7 14. O-O Qd5 $1 {There are three candidate moves in this position: 0-0, Qd5  and Rc8. The first one makes it impossible for Black to play g5 or Bg5 later  (removes "aji", a Go player would say); the second option is good, but it is  not absolutely sure that the rook will be better off on c8 than d8.  Centralizing the queen is an interesting, strong, human option. This shows  that Aryan already has a well developed intuition.} 15. b3 {This is too slow.}  ({White should play} 15. c4 $1 Qe4 ({The point is} 15... Qxc4 16. Ne3 Qd3 17.  Nxf5 exf5 18. Qxd4 {with equality.}) 16. Qxe4 Nxe4 17. g4 {although Black  keeps some initiative after} Nh4 18. Nxh4 Bxh4 19. b3 O-O-O $1) 15... O-O 16.  Bb2 ({White's coordination is null and void after} 16. c4 dxc3 17. Nxc3 Qd3 $1  {, followed by Rfd8.}) 16... Rfd8 17. Re1 Rac8 18. Re2 d3 {This is the start  of un petit combination, but there is much to be said for the squeeze:} (18...  b5 {when White is running out of good moves since} 19. Rd2 $2 {fails due to}  Bg5 $1 20. Nxg5 hxg5 21. Qxg5 Ne4) 19. Rd2 Nh4 20. Nxh4 $2 ({Here it was  better to play} 20. Ne3 Nxf3+ 21. gxf3 Qc6 22. Qg4 {although Black keeps some  advantage.}) 20... Bg5 $1 21. Qb4 Na6 22. c4 Qe4 23. Nc3 Qxh4 24. Qxb7 Nc5 {and  White resigned.} 0-1

In the end Aryan finished in sixth place. How far will he go this year? (Yes, I cheated a bit, since I really commented this game last year and didn’t find a use for it then. However, I’ll be back with new stuff shortly.)