Thursday 18 September 2014

Old or new

The following game from the 2014 European Club Championship is already receiving high praise. Grischuk does his best to keep Rodshtein's king in the centre, sacrificing material to do so.
But having played through the game I am undecided whether I am looking at a modern masterpiece, or a homage to a previous time. The sacrifice of material, combined with direct threats against an uncastled king, reminds me of some of Keres' games from the 1930's. However, to pull this off requires pretty exact calculation, which is more the hallmark of the modern player. Nonetheless, one thing seems to be a constant in this game, and that is falling behind in development gets punished, whether it is 1934 or 2014.


Grischuk,Alexander (2789) - Rodshtein,Maxim (2678) [A07]
30th ECC Open 2014 Bilbao ESP (3.3), 16.09.2014



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