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Good luck! Cracking win v. Kokarev in rd 6, by the way. 22...bxa4 was a familar line-opening. But its mirror image, 26...gxh5, was inspired - and instructive

Kokarev, Dmitry - Short, Nigel D
0-1
2nd Kolkata Open 2015 round 06

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. Be3 Be7 10. c3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Qd7 12. Bc2 Nxd2 13. Qxd2 Bg4 14. Qd3 g6 15. Bh6 Rfe8 16. Rfe1 Bf5 17. Qd2 Bxc2 18. Qxc2 Nd8 19. Rad1 Ne6 20. h4 c5 21. h5 Rad8 22. a4 bxa4 23. Ra1 Rb8 24. Bc1 Rb6 25. Rd1 Rd8 26. Rxa4 gxh5 27. Ra5 Ng7 28. Bg5 Rg6 29. Bxe7 Qxe7 30. Qa4 Rg4 31. Qc6 Ne6 32. Kf1 d4 33. cxd4 cxd4 34. Rxa6 h4 35. Ra8 Rxa8 36. Qxa8+ Kg7 37. Qd5 Qb4 38. b3 Qc3 39. Qc4 h3 40. Qxc3 hxg2+ 41. Ke2 Nf4+ 42. Kd2 dxc3+ 43. Kxc3 Ne2+ 44. Kd3 g1=Q 45. Nxg1 Nxg1 46. Ke3 h5 47. f3 Rg2

Nigel looks to be losing in round 8, though...

Not so sure about that. Nigel has plenty of play. Awkward for both sides.

And now the engine evaluation has reappeared (move 52), I'm right - White is only [+0.31]

Yeah, I can't make head or tail of it.

EDIT: And Nigel winning now.
EDIT: Spoke too soon, a slip from Nigel and it was drawn.

Nigel's fatal flaw: he's not made of silicon. Hence, 70...Kg7 was pure carbon. Never mind

Not sure if the top board being drawn makes that any less tragic. I suppose a draw was a fair result, but Nigel could have been leading if he had seized that chance (he had an earlier chance as well on move 64). I think both players were down to not much more than the increment though. And to be fair, 70...Rh1 was a scary line. Wonder how much of this was seen over the board by either player?

Still a three-way tie going into the last round.

I had food poisoning and was up half the night. Glad that I didn't lose. By the way, we have a fast time-limit of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds. It is not conducive to accurate play in complicated endings.

Nigel Short wrote:I had food poisoning and was up half the night. Glad that I didn't lose. By the way, we have a fast time-limit of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds. It is not conducive to accurate play in complicated endings.

Good luck in the last round; glad to see you have White.

Nigel drew. His opponent (and presumably Nigel as well) missed a vicious tactic in a line starting from move 22 that the silicon monster spots immediately:

Short, Nigel D - Lu, Shanglei
½-½
2nd Kolkata Open 2015 round 09

1. c4 e6 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 g6 5. d4 Bg7 6. O-O O-O 7. Qc2 Nc6 8. Rd1 Ne7 9. Nbd2 c6 10. a4 a5 11. b3 b6 12. Ba3 Bb7 13. Rac1 Rc8 14. Qb1 Re8 15. e3 Nd7 16. e4 c5 17. exd5 exd5 18. cxd5 Bxd5 19. dxc5 Nxc5 20. Nc4 Qc7 21. Nd4 Bxg2 22. Kxg2 Rcd8 (22...Bxd4 23. Rxd4 Nf5 24. Rd2 (24. Rf4 Ne6 25.Nd6) 24...Qc6+ 25. f3 Nd4 26. Rc3 Ncxb3) 23. Nb5 Qc6+ 24. Kg1 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 Nf5 26. Bxc5 Qxc5 27. Qd3 h5 28. Kg2 Bd4 29. Rd2 Qc6+ 30. Qf3 Qxf3+ 31. Kxf3 Bc5 32. Rd1 Re6 33. h3 Kg7 34. g4 hxg4+ 35. hxg4 Ne7 36. Rd2 g5 37. Nbd6 Ng6 38. Nf5+ Kf6 39. Nce3 Bxe3 40. Nxe3 Ne5+

Nice tactic that. Might make an appearance in some tactics manuals.

(EDIT: Though I'm not sure what the continuation is in the variation given after 25.Kg1 instead of 25.f3... Hope the computer didn't get 'frozen' in bad evaluation by some transmission glitch or the players playing moves quickly.)

The other guy on 6.5 (Surya Shekhar Ganguly) won and wins the tournament.

I haven't switched on the engine yet, but I intended 24. Rf4 and after check, Kg1.

So: 22... Bd4 23. Rd4 Nf5 24. Rf4, but has the rook got anywhere safe to go after 24...Ne6? Maybe there is some deep line in there where the knights kick the rook around and the tactics all work in Black's favour? *shrug* Without the help of an engine, I'm a bit lost there. Stuck on 25.Nd6.

Using a fairly rubbish online chess engine, it seems that after 22... Bd4 23. Rd4 Nf5 24. Rf4, the right move for Black is Qb7+ and if White plays Kg1, then Black simply plays Ne4, with the threat of Ng5 and Nh3+ being devastating. The Black knights swarm over the White kingside, while the White pieces are spectating from the queenside. Or something like that. The usual caveats apply.