Vallejo's amazing game against Onischuk

[Javier]

True, Gashimov won the Reggio Emilia tournament on Tie break from Vallejo, but I don't think he played as interesting a game as the following one:

 

[Event "53rd Masters"]

[site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]

[Date "2011.01.05"]

[Round "8"]

[White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]

[black "Onischuk, Alexander"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "C45"]

[WhiteElo "2698"]

[blackElo "2683"]

[Annotator "Javier Gil"]

[PlyCount "55"]

[EventDate "2010.12.28"]

 

[pgn]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8.

Nd2 Bb7 9. Nf3 {Perhaps this is better than the main lines with 8.c4, but I

still find it a little hard to believe.} Qb4+ 10. Qd2 Qe4+ 11. Be2 {I ve tried

to find games with this move on my database and have only been able to come up

with one, but not particularly relevant as black went wrong with 11.Qe2 and

after 11...Bb4 he was in serious trouble as Nd2 or Bd2 are met by ...Qxc2, and

12.c3 is met by 12...Bxc3. So white had to play 12.Kd1, which obviously can t

be a good move.} Ba6 12. Kf1 {Modern chess, I suppose. But seriously now, this

could be one of the opening discoveries of the year...} Bxe2+ 13. Qxe2 Qf5 (

13... Qxe2+ 14. Kxe2 {With a slight advantage to white.}) 14. c4 Nb4 15. Bd2

Bc5 16. Bxb4 Bxb4 {From now onwards Vallejo shows a superb understending of

the position. Black s bishop on b4 is completely out of play...} 17. Rd1 O-O

18. Qd3 {Once again, the ending would be better for white.} Qe6 19. Ng5 Qh6 20.

h4 Rad8 21. Rh3 {Activating the Rook.} d5 22. Qf5 {The white pieces are now

becoming very active. It is not easy for black to defend...} Rde8 23. Rf3 Qxh4

{Paco will now show some classy attacking chess. Watch} (23... Qh5 24. g4 {

Black cant take on h4 because of Rh3.} Qh6 25. Kg2 f6 (25... g6 26. Qf6 Be7 27.

Nxf7) 26. exf6 Rxf6 27. Qd7 Ref8 28. Rxf6 Qxf6 29. Qe6+ Qxe6 30. Nxe6 {You

guessed it, this ending favours white. Perhaps black s position is just bad

from the early stages of the game?}) 24. Rh3 Qxc4+ 25. Kg1 g6 26. Qf6 Be7 {

This loses, but the alternatives were not much better.} (26... Re6 27. Nxe6

fxe6 28. Qxe6+) (26... Qc2 27. Rxh7 Qxd1+ 28. Kh2 Qh5+ 29. Rxh5 gxh5 30. Qh6) (

26... h5 27. Rxh5 gxh5 28. Qf5 {With a winning advantage for white.}) 27. Nxh7

Qg4 28. Qxe7 {Nasty attack... Black resigned.} (28. Qxe7 Qxd1+ (28... Rxe7 29.

Nf6+ Kg7 30. Rh7#) 29. Kh2 Kg7 (29... Rxe7 30. Nf6+ {And mate on h7 to follow})

30. Qf6+ Kg8 31. Ng5) 1-0[/pgn]