GM Wong Meng Kong – 4th President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup International Chess Challenge 2009

Played in Manila, Philippines, GM Wong Meng Kong, ranked 28th on the start list ended the 9 round tournament in 10th position. Based in Hong Kong, he took time off from his busy schedule to compete in the tournament. Here, he did a quick annotation of his 2nd round game against GM Tigran Kotanjian, born 1981, ranked 12th in Armenia with an elo rating of 2553.

Round 2 – the real battle begins. No pressure, being the bottom ranked GM in the list.

Wong, Meng Kong (Singapore) - Kotanjian, Tigran (Armenia), Manila, 2009

1. e4 back to the 1980s. Over the past decade, I had been struggling with the faster 4 hour games, and the tactical as opposed to strategic positions arising from 1. e4 allow me better time management. 1…c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Be2 Wong – Bachtiar Ito (z) 1978 went 5. Bg5 and was my first win internationally at age 14, and was the first time I met a Sicilian Najdorf with Be7 omitted.
5…Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. O-O Nbd7 8. a4 b6 9. f4 Bb7 10. Bf3 Qc7 11. Kh1 Rc8 12. Qe1 black omits Be7, so touching the g3 square seems natural, and also pre-empts the positional sacrifice ….Rxc3
12…e5?!N 12….h5 13. Be3 Be7 14. Rd1 g6 15. Nde2 Qb8 16. Bf2 Qa8 17. Bh4 Nxe4 18. Bxe7 Kxe7 19. Nxe4 Bxe4 20. Qd2 Rhd8 21. f5 Ne5 22. Bxe4 Qxe4 23. fxe6 fxe6 24. Qg5+ Kd7 25. Ng3 1-0 Ivanchuk,V-Almeida Quintana,O 2007; 12….Be7 13. e5 dxe5 14. fxe5 Bxf3 15. Nxf3 Ng4 16. Qg3 h5 17. Bf4 g6 18. Ne4 Rd8 19. Bg5 Nc5 20. Nxc5 Qxc5 21. Bxe7 Qxe7 22. Qf4 Rd5 23. c4 Rc5 24. b4 Rc7 25. c5 bxc5 26. b5 Kf8 27. b6 Rd7 28. Ng5 Nh6 29. Qf6 Qxf6 30. exf6 Ke8 31. Rab1 Kd8 32. Ne4 Kc8 33. Nxc5 Rd6 34. Rfc1 Rc6 35. b7+ Kb8 36. Nd7+ 1-0 Tseitlin,Ma-Rotstein,E 2007
13. Nf5 g6 14. Ne3 exf4 15. Ned5 Nxd5 16. Nxd5 16. exd5 was inferior as Nc3 clumsily obstructs the queenside majority advance, and Bb7 crucially supports a6 & c6 weaknesses.
16….Bxd5 17. exd5+ Ne5 18. Bxf4 Bg7 forced sequence.
19. Be2! this quiet move begins a sequence to unleash the power of the double bishops, the queenside majority and the developmental lead 19….Qb7 20. Qb4 Rc5 21. a5 b5 22. c4 O-O 23. cxb5 Rxd5 24. b6 Nc6 25. Qe4 25. Qe1 Bxb2 26. Ra2 Be5 allows either counterplay against h2 and lets black be a pawn up 25….Rxa5 26. Bxd6 Rxa1 27. Rxa1 Rc8 28. Bxa6 Ra8 29. Re1! returning the back rank favour
29…Qxa6 30. Qxc6 Bd4 this loses through a forced sequence, but 30…Bxb2 also loses to 31. h3, with the b8-h2 connecting the queening square with kingside defence. 31. Re8+ Rxe8 32. Qxe8+ Kg7 33. Bf8+ Kf6 34. Qd8+ 1-0 black resigns as 34….Ke5 35. Bg7+ or 34…Ke6 35. Qxe5 Qf1 36. Qg1.