Have yourself a very merry war on Christmas — over the chessboard

A war on Christmas?

Bring it on.

To clarify, when we say “on Christmas,” we mean it in the chronological sense of “during the time of the year-end holiday season,” and when we say “war,” we mean it in the metaphorical sense of spirited, bloodless competition featuring 16-man armies clashing on a 64-square battlefield.

The fact is the end of the year has always been a busy one for chessplayers, dating back to the time when professor Adolf Anderssen used his winter semester break to play young American upstart Paul Morphy in their landmark 1858 match. The holiday season and chess go together like eggnog and nutmeg.

D.C.’s traditional Eastern Open, which starts next Tuesday, is just one of a number of popular events traditionally held around this time of year. The Dutch city of Groningen has been holding its Chess Festival over Christmas since 1977, attracting a large field in a chess-mad country. (It probably helps that the Dutch have already celebrated their holiday on Dec. 6.)

Ukrainian GM Alexander Kovchan, tied for first in the 50th running of the tournament in 2012, helped in large part by a positional masterpiece he fashioned over Indian IM Saptarshi Roy Chowdhury, in which an inspired pawn sacrifice is the key to victory.

It’s shaping up as a typical Sicilian Lowenthal battle, with Black’s backward but hard-to-crack d-pawn the focus of both players’ attention. Kovchan changes the dynamic at a stroke, however, with 16. f4 (Rad1 Rd8 17. Rd2 Ne6 18. Rfd1 Qc7 19. b3 h6 yields nothing) Ne6 17. f5 Nc5 (see diagram) 18. Bxc5! (apparently solving Black’s biggest headache and ceding a bishop for a knight) dxc5 19. f6!!; there may be a little Yuletide generosity in the annotation here, but the pawn sacrifice works out so beautifully that we’ll stick with it.

The point, after 19…gxf6 20. Ne3 Be6 (f5!? was worth a long look here, as after 21. fxe5 Qg5 22. Rf3 e4!? 23. Qxe4 Nd4 24. Rf2 Bb7 25. Qg4 Qxg4 26. Bxg4 Rfe8, it’s Black who has the positional compensation for the pawn deficit) 21. Nd5 Bxd5 22. cxd5 Nd4 23. Bg4, is that White holds all the trumps despite being down material: The blocked, doubled Black f-pawns on a half-open file are permanently weak, and White has a ready avenue for his major pieces to flood the kingside. The protected, passed d-pawn is also a long-term endgame asset.

White’s 29. Qd3! supports the d-pawn and adds the threat of an invasion via the queenside light squares, and 35. b3 locks up the position to allow Kovchan to cash in on the kingside.

The finale: 38 Qf1 (White’s major pieces are locked and loaded on the f-file, while Black’s can only passively defend) Kg7 39. h4 Kh8 40. Rxf6 (one pawn falls) Qd7 41. Rxg6! (Rxf7? Qg4 42. Qd3 Qxh4 43. Rf8 Rxg3+ 44. Rxg3 Rxf8, and White’s advantage evaporates) Rxg6 (fxg6 42. Rf7 Qd8 43. Qb5 Rg7 [the threat is 44. Qb7] 44. Rxg7 Kxg7 45. Qxc5 Qb8 46. d6 Kf6 47. Qc7 Qb5 48. Qe7 mate) 42. h5! Rb6 (on 42…Rg7, simply 43. h6 Rg6 44. Rxf7 Qd6 45. Rf8+ and wins) 43. Rxf7 Qg4 44. Re7!, and Roy Chowdhury resigns, eyeing 44…Qxe4+ (it’s makes no difference after 44…Qc8 45. Qf7 Qg8 46. Qf5) 45. Kh2 Qg4 46. Qf8+ Qg8 47. Qf5, and there’s no defense to the threat of 48. Qxe5+.

Groningen Chess Festival, Groningen, Netherlands, December 2012

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 Be7 8. Be3 b5 9. Nd5 Rb8 10. c4 b4 11. Nc2 Nf6 12. Qd3 O-O 13. Be2 Ne8 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. O-O Nc7 16. f4 Ne6 17. f5 Nc5 18. Bxc5 dxc5 19. f6 gxf6 20. Ne3 Be6 21. Nd5 Bxd5 22. cxd5 Nd4 23. Bg4 a5 24. Bf5 Kh8 25. Qh3 Nxf5 26. Rxf5 Rg8 27. Raf1 Rg6 28. Rh5 Rg7 29. Qd3 Rbg8 30. Rf2 Rg6 31. Rhf5 Qd6 32. g3 a4 33. Qb5 Rb8 34. Qc4 a3 35. b3 Qb6 36. Kg2 Qd6 37. R2f3 Rbg8 38. Qf1 Kg7 39. h4 Kh8 40. Rxf6 Qd7 41. Rxg6 Rxg6 42. h5 Rb6 43. Rxf7 Qg4 44. Re7 Qxe4+ 45. Kh2 Qg4 46. Qf8+ Qg8 47. Qf5 Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email dsands@washingtontimes.com.