"Gary Kasparov was a product of the Soviet coaching system, in which the most talented kids were selected from a large number of chess-playing children.
The Chinese tried to emulate it (Ed. Note: copy it – as they do everything) and succeeded in producing a few women's world champions and a formidable women's team that keeps winning the gold medals at Chess Olympiads. But the Chinese men were behind. Now there is a hope.
In 2005, the then 15-year-old untitled player Wang Hao took clear first at the seventh Dubai Open with seven points in nine games, leaving behind 53 grandmasters. Who is he?
He was on the Chinese team at the Chess Olympiad in Calvia, Spain in 2001, but did not play well.
However, a more mature player showed up in Dubai. Let's see how he outplayed an experienced Georgian grandmaster, Georgi Kacheishvili, in the Slav defense in the last round.
Kacheishvili-Wang
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7
(The old-fashioned way to play the Slav defense. Not everybody has the nerves to enter the sharp line 6...e6 7.f3 Bb4 8.e4 Bxe4 9.fxe4 Nxe4 that still remains unsolved.)
7.Nxc4 Qc7 8.g3 e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Bf4 Nfd7 11.Bg2 f6 12.0-0 Nc5!?
(A move embraced by the Russian GM Alexander Morozevich, stressing active piece play.)
13.Ne3 Bg6 14.b4 Ne6
(The agressive14...Rd8 is refuted with 15.Ned5! cxd5 16.bxc5 with white's advantage.)
15.b5 Rd8 16.Qc1
(Black should not have problems with this passive move. Trying to invade black's position via the b-file with 16.Qb3!? Bf7 17.Bxe5 fxe5 18.bxc6 bxc6 19.Rab1 Nd4 20.Qb7 is more critical.)
16...Bc5!? (More aggressive than 16...Be7.)
17.bxc6
(Not much can be gained by 17.a5 0-0 18.a6 b6! 19.Bxe5 Qxe5 20.Bxc6, because after 20...Nd4 the activity of black's pieces easily compensates the small material loss.)
17...bxc6 18.Bxe5 (Scattering black's pawns, white also gets the square e4, but the activity of black's pieces easily compensates for his deficiencies. [Ed. Note: You have to be of grandmaster strength - or playing loose as a goose, confident and 'going for it' in the final round of a tournament to play Black's position here!])
[Diagram after 18. Bxe5]18...fxe5 19.Ne4 Be7! (The bishop controls many dark squares in black's camp.)
20.Nc4 Nd4 21.Ra2 0-0 22.Kh1 Kh8 23.e3!? Nf3 24.Ncd2
(Trying to drive the pesky black knight away from the square f3.)
24...Qd7! 25.Qa1
(After 25.Bxf3 Rxf3! 26.Nxf3 Bxe4 black wins.)
25...Qe6 26.Nc5?
(White should have tried 26.Nxf3!? Bxe4 27.Qxe5 Qd5 28.Qxe7 Bxf3 29.Bxf3 Qxa2 30.Bxc6 Qc2 31.Bd5 [Ed. Note: On 31.Bb5 comes 31...a6!] 31...Qxa4 32.e4 with some fighting chances for the exchange.)
26...Bxc5 27.Nxf3 Be4!
(Spelling trouble for white on the long diagonal h1-a8.)
28.Ne1
(A sad retreat, but after 28.Nxe5 Bxg2+ 29.Kxg2 Bd6, the knight can't go back, for example 30.Nf3 Qe4 31.Qd1 Bxg3 32.Qe2 Bc7, and black wins; and on 30.f4 comes 30...Bxe5 31.fxe5 Qd5+ 32.e4 Qxe4+ 33.Kh3 Rxf1 34.Qxf1 Qxe5 and black is a pawn up and the white king is exposed. Grabbing the pawn with 28.Qxe5 leads after 28...Qc4! 29.Raa1 Rd5 to a winning position for black.)
28...Bd5 29.Bxd5 (After 29.Rc2 Bxe3! decides.)
29...Qxd5+ 30.Kg1 Bxe3!
(Punctuating the attack with a piece sacrifice that helps black hunting down the white king.)
31.fxe3 Rxf1+ 32.Kxf1 Qh1+ 33.Ke2 e4!
(Closing the net. The white king can't escape.)
34.Kf2 Qxh2+ 35.Ng2 Rf8+ 36.Ke1 Qxg3+ 37.Kd2 Qxg2+ 38.Kc3 Qg5 White resigns."
Hat tip to Lubomir Kavalek and the Washington Post
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