Game of the Month 2004!
Which is the best game from each month's updates? It is you who decides, just go to Game of the Month voting to participate in the decision.
These games are open to all, subscribers and guests.
January 2004, February 2004, March 2004, April 2004, May 2004, June 2004, August 2004, September 2004
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January 2004
Newest ChessPublishing.com recruit GM Victor Michalevsky struck gold in his first update, here is how he introduced January's best game:
"Our second game features a brilliant Shirov win over Radjabov in Linares, 2004. Shirov opens with a relatively rare line 13.Bb2 and then sacrifices an exchange with 19.Rxe5! which was considered to be not too dangerous for Black:
                
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Two moves later he comes up with an interesting novelty 21.Bb2!? and eventually wins the game in good style, see Shirov,A - Radjabov,T".
February 2004
Victor was the February 'victor' with a neat combinational win of his own. Here is how he described it:
"Now I would like to show you a game I played in the Open Israeli Championship at the end of 2003. The game Mikhalevski-Vitebsky featured an aggressive line with 8.h4 instead of Beliavsky's 8.h3. Black's inaccuracy in the opening allowed me to deliver a beautiful combination. I hope that you are going to like the game!"
March 2004
One game was so outstanding this month that we didn't even bother to hold a competition (a first!) Again, Victor wrote the following introduction:
"Undoubtedly the best game of the year so far, Malakhov-Zvjagintsev was played this month in a very rare sub-line of the Orthodox variation with 9.Nd2.
  
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The diagram position arose after 12...Qb6. Malakhov immediately went in for a forcing line trying to create objects of attack on the Queenside, and seemed to be succeeding until Zviaginstevif played a nice positional exchange sacrifice. In the ensuing battle White underestimated the threats and the game ends with a beautiful Queen sacrifice. Look at the final position where White's extra Queen is absolutely helpless:
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What a fantastic position! Bravo, Zvjaginstev!"
April 2004
After helping Guildford to the 4NCL title by beating Morozovich in the critical first board match, Emil Sutovsky easily won our April Game of the Month competition. Here is how Neil introduced this sparkling effort:
"If Black chooses to delay castling then a key position is reached after the moves 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.f4 a6 8.Nf3 c5 9.dxc5 Nc6 10.Bd3 Qxc5 11.Qd2 b5 12.0-0-0:
 
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It has always seemed slightly odd to me that Black has got such a head start when it comes to a race between attacks with pawns on the wings, and yet it is White's delayed pawn attack on the kingside that often proves the deadlier. Of course chess strategy depends on more than just flinging pawns at the opponent's king. Above all a good piece coordination is essential. In this month's game Sutovsky demonstrates that the exchange of an important piece can ruin an opponent's attack. Have a look at his masterly play in Sutovsky-Thorhallsson."
May 2004
Another French Defence this month! Over to Neil:
"Bareev in the role of attacking genius.
It isn't often that we see the Russian Grandmaster Bareev going all out for mate. Normally he is content to manoeuvre patiently and try to wrong foot the enemy pieces. However, in this month's game he comes to the board armed with an important new idea and completely wipes out his opponent- even giving away his queen with check! Enjoy Lastin-Bareev."
June 2004
Well, what can we say? Yet another French, although rather surprisingly it is Black who wins in a 'solid' Rubinstein's Defence! Neil again:
"The most aggressive response to the Rubinstein
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bd3
In contrast to the solid Adams treatment above, with 5.Bd3 White signals that he intends to leave the knight on g1 for a couple of moves and instead develop his queenside quickly and castle long. This strategy has proved fairly successful, but Black responds in excellent style in Baramidze-Mufic."
July 2004
Another French! Over to Neil:
"An interesting idea refuted in stunning style
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 a6:
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In many variations of the French Defence White delays his development in favour of building a big pawn centre. He trusts that as long as he keeps a firm grip on a couple of key squares, notably d4 and e5, the blocked nature of the centre will prevent Black from launching a rapid counterattack. Most of the time White gets it right, but sometimes he meets an energetic opponent who will stop at nothing to break open the position- and then just a slight slip can bring down a huge attack on White's king. It is for such moments that we play the French as Black- enjoy Fogarasi-Jakab."
August 2004
Exceptionally August was won by a blitz game! Here is Andy's introduction: "3…Qd6 gets very rough treatment in Bologan-Gofshtein. Observe 8 g3!? which works fantastically:
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But then it was only a blitz game."
September 2004
For the very first time a Dragon game won the Game of the Month competition!
Here is how Chris Ward introduced it: "But whereas Faraoni-Lalic promised so much more, Bakre-Kadziolka definitely delivered!"
Succinct! In this position Black delivered a 'bolt from the blue':
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