Stunning sac from Karpov Chess Tournament in Poikovsky

Sergey Karjakin - Ivan Sokolov

Black to play

Hi everyone!

I saw on chesspro (in Russian) this game from the Karpov chess tournament in Poikovsky.

Sokolov is under tremendous pressure from Karjakin on the Queen's side, so he risks to play 25…Nxg2!? But is it a good move?

See below for what happened and what's the evaluation of this position.

Meanwhile, Jakovenko and Riazantsev are leading with June 8 being a rest day. They both have 4/6. This 11th edition of the tournament named after 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov is taking place from June 2-13 in Poikovsky, Russia. Earlier, the tournament used to have 10 players but this time it has 12 players.

Solution:

What followed was 26.Kxg2 Rxa5 27.bxa5 Qxh3+ 28.Kh1 Nh4 and here, Sokolov was probably hoping for 29. Rg1? Nf3 30. Rg2 Nxh2 31. Rxh2 Qf1 mate but Sergey simply played 29.f3 Nxf3 30.Rc1! and continued on to win. Sometimes a sacrifice can be enticing to make, but you need to calculate variations to the end.

You can check out the official website here for more details and latest news about the tournament.

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk


Women's World Champion

www.chessblog.com