TODAY’S article is dedicated to the underdogs – particularly the lowly-rated players during the just-concluded 2021 European Individual Chess Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland, which was won also by an underdog and unheralded Russian GM Anton Demchenko via superior tiebreak.
We present six games below from these underdogs who, through sheer guts and determination, manage to clobber stronger and higher-rated opponents. I know most of you will not recognize the names of these players since they’re rarely ever invited to big ticket events and are mostly haunting the European Swisses that dominate the continental chess scene.
At any rate, replay the six selected games and feel the bursts of inspiration that fueled the will of these underdogs to win. Hopefully, we can present more tomorrow. Enjoy!
Banusz, T (2631)-
Heimisson, HF (2309) [D02]
Reykjavik (1.15) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 cxd4 5.0-0 h6 6.b3 e6 7.Bb2 Be7 8.Nxd4 0-0 9.c4 e5 10.Nf3 e4 11.Ne5 dxc4 12.Nxc4 Na6 13.Nc3 Nc5 14.b4 Be6 15.Na5 Qb6 16.a3 Rfd8 17.Qc2 e3 18.f4 Rd2 19.Qb1 Nd3 20.Na4 Qb5 21.Bd4 Nc1 22.Bxf6 Nxe2+ 23.Kh1 Nxg3+ 24.hxg3 Qh5+ 25.Kg1 Rxg2+ 0-1
Wecker, M (2195)-
Bosiocic, M (2610) [E62]
Reykjavik (1.28) 2021
1.Nf3 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 c6 6.Nc3 Bf5 7.0-0 0-0 8.Re1 Ne4 9.Qb3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bc8 11.e4 c5 12.e5 dxe5 13.Nxe5 Nd7 14.Nxd7 Qxd7 15.dxc5 Qc7 16.Ba3 Bf6 17.Rab1 Rb8 18.c6 Bf5 19.cxb7 Bxb1 20.Rxb1 Rfd8 21.c5 Rd3 22.c6 Qe5 23.Qa4 a5 24.Qf4 g5 25.Qxe5 Bxe5 26.Bxe7 h6 27.Bf6 Bc7 28.Bd4 Rd8 29.Bb6 1-0
Deac, B-D (2639)-
Nagy, G (2518) [B46]
Reykjavik (3.21) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.a3 d5 8.exd5 exd5 9.Qd2 Be7 10.0-0-0 0-0 11.h3 Be6 12.g4 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 b5 14.Bd3 b4 15.axb4 Bxb4 16.Qf4 Bd6 17.Be5 Bxe5 18.Qxe5 Qb6 19.f4 Rab8 20.Ne2 Ne4 21.Bxe4 dxe4 22.Rd2 Rfe8 23.Qc3 e3 24.Rdd1 Rec8 25.Qa3 Rc5 26.b4 a5 27.Rd4 axb4 28.Qxe3 b3 0-1
Stefansson, H (2519)-
Jones, GCB (2684) [C78]
Reykjavik (4.14) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6 8.d4 Bb6 9.Be3 Bg4 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Bxb6 cxb6 12.Nbd2 0-0 13.h3 Nxf3+ 14.Nxf3 Bh5 15.Re1 Re8 16.g4 Bg6 17.e5 Nd7 18.exd6 Rxe1+ 19.Qxe1 Nc5 20.Rd1 Qf6 21.Ne5 Nxb3 22.axb3 Bc2 23.Rd2 Bxb3 24.Qe4 Rf8 25.d7 Be6 26.Nc6 Bxd7 27.Rxd7 Qh6 28.Kg2 Qc1 29.Qe7 1-0
Vogel, R (2441)-
Sivuk, V (2589) [E68]
Reykjavik (4.29) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.d4 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.e4 Re8 9.h3 b6 10.d5 Nc5 11.Ne1 a5 12.Nc2 Rf8 13.Bg5 h6 14.Be3 Nh7 15.Qd2 f5 16.f4 exf4 17.Bxf4 Ng5 18.Nd4 Qf6 19.Nc6 Ba6 20.e5 dxe5 21.Bxe5 Qf7 22.Rae1 Rae8 23.h4 Nh7 24.d6 cxd6 25.Bd5 dxe5 26.Bxf7+ Rxf7 27.Qd6 Rd7 28.Qxg6 Re6 29.Qxf5 Rxc6 30.Rd1 Nf8 31.Rxd7 Ncxd7 32.Nd5 Kh8 33.b3 Bb7 34.Qf7 Rg6 35.Ne7 Rxg3+ 36.Kh2 Rg2+ 37.Kh3 Bf6 38.Rxf6 Nxf6 39.Qxf6+ Kh7 40.Qxf8 Bc8+ 1-0
Juksta, K (2438)-
Can, E (2569) [E20]
Reykjavik (4.30) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 dxc4 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Qa4 Bd7 9.Bg5 a5 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.a3 Nb8 12.Nb5 Bd6 13.Qxc4 Bc6 14.Nxd6 cxd6 15.Rac1 Nd7 16.Qd3 Rfc8 17.Nd2 d5 18.Rc3 Qd8 19.Rfc1 Nf6 20.e3 Ne8 21.Bf1 Nd6 22.Qb1 Qe8 23.Bd3 g6 24.h4 Kg7 25.Qc2 Ba4 26.b3 Rxc3 27.Qxc3 Rc8 28.Qb2 Bb5 29.Bb1 a4 30.bxa4 Bxa4 31.Rc5 Bb5 32.Qc3 Ra8 33.Qb2 Ra6 34.Rc3 Bc4 35.e4 Qc6 36.Ba2 b5 37.Bb1 Qb6 38.e5 Nc8 39.Rf3 Ne7 40.h5 Nc6 41.Rf4 Qa5 42.h6+ Kg8 43.Nxc4 dxc4 44.d5 Nd8 45.d6 Rc6 46.Rf3 f5 47.g4 Rc5 48.gxf5 Qe1+ 49.Kg2 Rxe5 50.Re3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ngf3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Ra8 2.Qxc7#; 1…Bc2 2.Be1#; 1…Bc4 2.Be5#./PN
