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World championship 2013 finals round 9

Both Jean-Marc Ndjofang (Cameroon), and the talented youngster Boomstra (Netherlands) were sometimes close to seizing the draughts crown. But in the end Alexander Georgiev from Russia managed to win some crucial games, and so he became world champion for the seventh time. Due to a larger number of victories than Boomstra, Ndjofang earned the right to challenge his world title In 2014.

World Champion Alexander Georgiev

The final results of the tournament were:

1. Alexander Georgiev 15
2. Jean-Marc Ndjofang 14
3. Roel Boomstra 14
4. Yuriy Anikeev 13
5. Alexander Getmanski 12
6. Alexey Chizhov 12
7. Alexander Schwarzman 11
8. Joel Atse 10
9. Adonis Ano 9
10. Edvard Buzinskij 9
11. Artem Ivanov 8
12. Erdenebileg Dul 5

Georgiev - Ano 2-0

In the last round Georgiev needed to win to make sure of his world title. In the position after 35 moves he already had a substantial advantage, but nothing was decided yet. 10-14 36.38-33 6-11? This makes the white task much easier. A tougher defense was ≡  14-20 37.25x14 9x20 and now for example 38.31-27 3-9 39.42-38 6-11! Then white can not develop the pieces on 33 and 39 due to the combination 40.33-28? 26-31 41.37x26 16-21 42.27x18 13x42, while the white advantage after ≡  40.38-32 11-17 41.27-22 17x28 42.32x23 looks insufficient to win. ≡  37.24-20! 15x24 38.29x20 White prepares an elementary break through on the black left wing. 16-21 39.20-15 12-18 40.33-28 21-27 41.31x22 18x27 42.42-38 11-17 43.38-33 17-21 44.28-23 27-32 45.37x28 21-27 46.23-18 13x22 47.28x17 8-12 48.17x8 3x12 49.33-28 12-17 50.25-20 14x25 51.15-10 9-14 52.10x19 26-31 53.19-13 31-37

diagram 1

54.13-8? Georgiev had to make a difficult decision here. He explained that he did not see how to win after ≡  54.13-9 27-31 55.36x27 37-42 56.9-4 25-30 57.27-22 17-21. Only after the game he realized that 58.4-15! 42-48 59.15-4! 48x34 60.22-17 21x12 61.28-23 34x18 62.4x22 is immediately winning. The endgame that he chose in the game looked very good. But the computer revealed that after ≡  27-31! 55.36x27 37-42 56.8-3 42-48 57.3x26 48x34 58.26-8 black can make a draw using 34-39! 59.27-22 (or ≡  59.28-23 39-43! 60.27-22 43-48 61.8-35 48-37 62.23-18 37-31! etc.)≡  39-44 and in both cases the black king successfully keeps the white pieces from making further progress.

On the World Draughts Forum Gérard Taille showed that the position after ≡  54.13-9! is actually winning for white. He gave an astonishing variant to demonstrate his case. 27-31 55.36x27 37-42 56.9-4 42-48 57.27-22 48x34 58.22x11 25-30 59.11-6 30-35 60.4-27! 34-39 It looks as if black is going to make a draw. But white plays 61.28-23! 39-34 62.23-19!

diagram 2

34-30 63.27-49!! 30x2 64.6-1 and the resulting 3x2 endgame is winning for white. A plausible variant is 2-16 65.1-6 16-7 66.6-39 7-2 67.39-50 35-40 68.49x35 2-7 69.50-39 7-2 70.35-49 2-16 71.45-40 16-7 72.39-34 7-11 73.34-1 11-2 74.40-34 2-16 75.34-29 16-2 76.49-35 2-16 77.1-7 16x2 78.29-24 2x30 79.35x8. Wonderful stuff!

In the game Ano played ≡  37-42? 55.8-3! 17-22 56.28x17 25-30 57.17-12! White decides the game by making a second king. 30-35 58.3-25 42-47 59.12-8 27-32 60.8-3 32-37 61.3-14 and black resigned.

Anikeev - Boomstra 1-1

After 25-30 34.44-40 6-11 Anikeev took a small initiative using 35.40-34! 30-35 36.27-21! 16x27 37.22x31 15-20 38.31-27 20-24(?) 39.50-44 Here ≡  39.39-33 was a promising alternative. Then black has to watch out for combinations to square 3, for example 18-23? 40.27-21 26x17 41.34-29 23x34 42.28-22 17x39 43.38-33 39x28 44.32x3. This is not winning for white, but it is very uncomfortable for a black player. An alternative plan for is ≡  1-6 40.27-21 26x17 41.34-29.18-22! 42.29x20 11-16, but again this does not look very safe for black. ≡  18-23 40.38-33 9-14 41.34-30 23-29 42.42-38 29-34 43.30-25 34x43 44.48x39 1-6 45.27-22! 11-16 46.39-34 12-17 47.22x11 6x17 48.44-39 24-29 49.33x24 19x30 50.37-31 26x37 51.32x41 White is going to win the piece on 30 now, but it is not enough to win the game. 16-21 52.38-33 21-27 53.34-29 17-21 54.25x34 14-20! 55.29-23 20-25 56.41-36 25-30 57.34x25 35-40! 58.23-18 13x22 59.28x26 40-45! Boomstra finds a convincing way to make a draw. 60.26-21 27x16 61.25-20 45-50 62.20-14 16-21 63.14-9 50-45 64.9-3 21-26 65.3-14 45-18 66.14-37 18-22 67.37-32 22-11 68.32-16 11-2 69.33-28 2-30 70.16-43 30-2 71.43-32 2-11 72.39-33 11-16 73.32-37 16-11 The endgame is similar to a famous game between Wiersma and Gantwarg in their match for the world title. Then the white piece on 33 was placed on 22. 74.37-48 11-16 75.33-29 16-11! 76.28-23 11-16! 77.23-19 16-32! 78.19-13 32-37 79.48x31 26x37 80.13-9 37-42 81.9-4 42-48 and the players agreed to a draw.

Getmanski - Ndjofang 0-2

After 10-15! 31.40-34? Ndjofang completely surprised his opponent with 16-21! 32.31-26? This is definitely losing. It was better to play ≡  32.31-27 22x31 33.36x16 15-20 34.25x23 18x27 35.49-43 12-18 36.44-39 27-31 37.48-42 with a difficult, but not hopeless position for white. ≡  15-20! and white resigned.

© Wieger Wesselink http://10x10.org