Hello Chess Friends,

One of the very strong GMs that plays on ICC goes by the handle of
"Goldmund." He is actually Alexander Rustemov from Russia. He is one
of the few, the proud, the daring humans to take on Rybka at blitz.
Lately, he has been playing at a time control of 3 minutes with an
increment of 5 seconds. Like "Smallville" (AKA Hikaru Nakamura), he is
conversant with the strategy of locking up the entire position to
achieve a draw. This appears to be a small gap in Rybka's game that the
GMs can sometimes exploit to gain a draw. Rybka is so strong that this
in itself is a victory for the humans.

Goldmund continues to try to find a path to a win while holding the
lockup strategy as a reserve plan B. Let me be clear, wins are very,
very rare for the humans against Rybka. Draws are rare also. Nakamura
might manage 2 draws out of ten games on a good night.

Thus, it was an exciting surprise to see that Goldmund managed the near
impossible yesterday by defeating Rybka straight up. The game is an
excellent example of powerful, patient positional play with the idea of
the lockup strategy in reserve. Have a look at it.

[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2008.02.20"]
[White "Goldmund"]
[Black "TransWarp"]
[Result ""]
[TimeControl "180+5"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 b6 4. g3 d5 5. Bg2 Bd6
6. Bg5 Nc6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. e4 Be7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. O-O Re8
11. Re1 Bb7 12. Qc2 Qd7 13. Rad1 g6 14. h4 a5 15. h5 a4
16. hxg6 hxg6 17. e5 Bg7 18. Nf1 Na5 19. Ne3 c5 20. Ng4 Qe7
21. Qc1 Nc4 22. Re2 a3 23. b3 Nb2 24. Rdd2 Ba6 25. Re3 c4
26. b4 Bb5 27. Bh3 Rec8 28. Kg2 Nd3 29. Qh1 Rc7 30. Kg1 Re8
31. Bf1 Ra7 32. Qh3 Rc7 33. Ne1 Ba4 34. f4 Nxe1 35. Rxe1 Kf8
36. Qh7 Qd8 37. Rh2 Rc8 38. Ne3 Re7 39. g4 Rb7 40. g5 Qe7
41. Ng4 Ke8 42. Qxg7 Kd7 43. Qf6 Kc6 44. Qxe7 Rxe7 45. Rc1 Ra7
46. Kf2 Rf8 47. Ke3 Raa8 48. Be2 Rh8 49. Kd2 Rxh2 50. Nxh2 Rh8
51. Ng4 Rh4 52. Ke3 Rh3+ 53. Kf2 Rh8 54. Nh6 Rh7 55. Rh1 Bc2
56. Rh2 Bb1 57. Rh1 Bc2 58. Rc1 Ba4 59. Ke3 Kd7 60. Kd2 Ke8
61. Rh1 Rh8 62. Rh2 Bb3 63. Rh1 Ba4 64. Kc1 Kf8 65. Rh2 Ke8
66. Ng4 Rf8 67. Rh7 Ke7 68. Kb1 Bc6 69. Bd1 Bb5 70. Bc2 Kd8
71. Nh6 Be8 72. Rg7 Kc8 73. Rg8 Rxg8 74. Nxg8 Kd8 75. Nf6 Bd7
76. Ng4 Kc7 77. Ne3 Be8 78. Bd1 Kb7 79. Kc1 Bd7 80. Nc2 b5
81. Nxa3 Kb6 82. Nb1 Kb7 83. Kb2 Ka7 84. a4 Kb7 85. Ka3 Ka6
86. Nd2 Kb6 87. Nf1 Ka6 88. Ne3 Kb7 89. axb5 Kb6 90. Bf3 Bxb5
91. Bd1 Ba6 92. Ba4 Kc7 93. Be8 Bc8 94. Bxf7 Kd7 95. Bxg6 Kd8
96. b5 Ke7 97. Kb4 Kf8 98. Kc5 Kg8 99. b6 Kf8 100. Kd6 Bb7
101. Kxe6 Bc8+ 102. Kf6 Kg8 103. e6 Bxe6 104. Kxe6 Kg7 105. f5 Kg8
106. Kf6 Kf8 107. b7 Kg8 108. b8=Q#


All of Rybka's attempts to find tactical cheap shots were thwarted.
This was a very nice game, especially for blitz.
--

Cordially,
Rev. J.D. Walker, MsD, U.C.