A small detail from Michael Adams #chess

There is a lot of top class chess on at present, including the Russian Superfinal where I am hoping both Svidler and Kramnik will do will. Whilst in Bilbao, I am backing one player, Britain's number 1, Michael Adams. He has started well, with a win and two draws, so is presently in the lead.

His victory yesterday interested me.

Black (Maxime Vachier-Lagrave) has just played Rac8, to which Mickey replied Bc1-e3. I think I would play, almost without thinking, c3, protecting my c pawn, but I do realise that my queen might be pushed somewhere: and also, I would only be protecting the c pawn as a knee-jerk reaction “it is threatened, therefore I defend it” whereas I know I should (following one of Purdy's maxims) always ignore the threat, and decide what I would like to do irrespective of the threat, and then decide if the threat must be met.

Had MVL taken on c2, Mickey would have taken on a7, and MVL then on b2. A temporary pawn sacrifice.

Mickey would then play Rb1, and the net effect is to give white a passed a-pawn, to black's passed d-pawn. Very clever.

So instead of taking on c2, MVL played Bc5, swapping the bishops off, and after further exchanges the following position was reached.

Mickey has an ever so slight advantage, which he nurtures, eventually winning a pawn and getting to this endgame.

The final position, below, is strange: black resigned in the position below. Houdini gives it as 0.0 so I wonder if MVL lost on time after playing his fortieth move? I have not seen any report yet. I don't know whether it is drawn or not (I would say black is sufficiently active to hold the draw) but even if it were not, is the position resignable? I think not: hence I favour loss on time.

The result of the game is not the main reason for this posting. It is the endless variety of chess, and the interesting points that can be found in seemingly dry looking positions: especially when in the hands of such elite players as Mickey.

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