ČEZ Chess Trophy 2015

Wesley So wins 3:1

[17.06.2015 00:00:00] - Before the fourth game I had a talk about how to change middlegames into advantageous endgames. I tried to explain to my audience how important endgames are. It is hard to use advantageous endgames without properly understanding endgames. We looked at two (beautiful) examples of two chess geniuses, J. R. Capablanca and his admirer and successor J. R. Fischer. By the way, both chess giants really liked endgames and they often used the opportunity to change the middlegame into a better endgame.

Quite surprisingly, the fourth game of the match partly copied the third one. David surprised his opponent with the move ...a5!?, which is definitely not a common one and made his opponent consider his next move for whole 17 minutes. In the crucial moment, David didn’t play the freeing ...c5 (but it would have meant the sacrifice of a pawn) and got under position pressure. In the end, we saw another endgame, which David defended with great tenacity. However, as in the third game, he couldn’t muster enough energy and didn’t find the opportunity to fight back, and his opponent won. We should definitely acknowledge and congratulate grandmaster So; he showed a rigorous game of chess full of pressure and managed to make use of even the smallest opportunities.



The deciding position after opening. The White threatens to play 17.b4 and suffocate the bishop on b7. In such situations, the Black has two ways of making free: ...c5 or ...e5. David chose ...e5 but that wasn’t the best plan, because it didn’t prevent the suffocating of his bishop on b7. He should have chosen a stronger 16...c5!?, even at the price of sacrificing his pawn on b5.



The White managed to play a strong b4! And that’s how this endgame came to life. At first, we thought the situation to be completely hopeless for the Black; but surprisingly, the Black still had a chance, despite the tragic bishop on a8. Here grandmaster So played very quickly 28.e4 , but he also could have played the “Karpovian” 28.Sc2 or “no rush”.



A critical position. Of course, the White holds all the aces; but after all, there are not so many pawns and the White has a bad bishop. Unfortunately, David quickly wrote the game off with 42..b3? While after 42...Jc3+ the White would have been forced to play a few precise moves more.

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