Wild and Wooly

    Re the title...is it spelled woolly or wooly? Wooly is predominantly used in American English while woolly is predominantly used in British English (the UK, Australoa and New Zealand). Either way you spell it, that describes the following game between Kupreichik and Sokolov that was played in the Bad Woerishofen Open in 2001. 

    Viktor Kupreichik (1949-2017, 67 years old) of Belarus won the individual gold medal at the 15th World Student Team Championship in Ybbs, Austria) in 1968. He was awarded the GM title in 1980. 

    Andrei Sololovw (born in 1963) from the Soviet Union was awarded the IM title in 1982 and the GM title in 1984. He became a Candidate in 1985 amd was World Junior Champion in 1982, USSR Champion in 1984 and joint Moscow Champion in 1981. In Candidates matches he beat Rafael Vaganian and Yusupov, but lost to Karpov on the Candidates Final in1987. 

     The game was played in the Bad Woerishofen Open Tournament. The event was won by Aleksej Aleksandrov with an 8-1 score. He was followed by: Amon Simutowe, Slobodan Martinovic, Sergey Kalinitschew,Ivan Farago, lerij Filippov. Yannick Pelletier, Sebastian Siebrech, Alexander Grafm Zoltan Vargam, Arkadij Naiditsch and Fabian Doettling with 7-2. Both Sokolov amd Kupreichik scored 6-3.

    Their individual game was a wild one!

[Event "Bad Woerishofen Open"] [Site "Bad Woerishofen GER"] [Date "2001.03.21"] [Round "7"] [White "Viktor Kupreichik"] [Black "Andrei Sokolov"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B20"] [WhiteElo "2453"] [BlackElo "2566"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2001.03.15"] {B20: Sicilian: Keres Variation} 1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 {(B20: Sicilian: Keres Variation) 1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 (This is known as the Keres Variation because of his successes in 1943-1944 when he occasionally played it. Though it can transpose into regular lines if white plays 3.d4 it is considered an offbeat line. With 2.Ne2, white aims to develop the N to a more flexible square. From e2, the N can go to g3, f4 or d4. Its advantages are it's surprise value and its flexibility and it avoids the main lines and the heavily analyzed lines like the Najdorf, Scheveningen or Open variations.} d6 3. g3 h5 {Highly original!} 4. d4 (4. h3 e5 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. c3 g6 7. d4 Bg7 8. Be3 {with a slight advantage. Vallejo Pons,F (2650)-Nakamura,H (2644) Cuernavaca 2006}) 4... h4 (4... cxd4 5. Nxd4 h4 6. gxh4 Rxh4 7. Nc3 Qa5 8. Nb3 Qe5 9. f4 Qh5 10. Qxh5 Rxh5 11. Nd5 {equals. Romanov,E (2501)-Loskutov,O (2397) Moscow 2007}) 5. dxc5 Bg4 6. gxh4 Nc6 7. cxd6 exd6 {This looks logical, but white now gets a good position/} (7... Ne5 {keeps the balance.} 8. Bg2 (8. dxe7 Nf3#) 8... e6 9. Bg5 Qxd6) 8. Bf4 Qxh4 {Aggressive, but somewhat risky play.} 9. Nbc3 Bxe2 10. Nxe2 g5 11. Be3 Qxe4 12. Rg1 Qb4+ 13. c3 Qxb2 14. Rb1 {[%mdl 2048]} Qxa2 15. Rxb7 Nf6 {After this black is in serious trouble because he needs f6 as an escape square for his Q.} (15... Nge7 $16 {was necessary.} 16. Nc1 Qa5 17. Rxg5 Qxc3+ 18. Bd2 Qf6 {with full equality.}) 16. Nc1 Qa5 17. Rxg5 d5 (17... Qxc3+ {fails...} 18. Bd2 {Note that f6 is now unavailable to the Q so...} Qd4 19. Qb3 Qe4+ 20. Kd1 Qe6 21. Bb5 Rc8 22. Qc3 {wins a piece.}) 18. Nb3 Qxc3+ 19. Bd2 Qb2 20. Bb5 {White has a decisive advantage.} Rc8 {This akkows a mate in 15...not that it matters.} 21. Qe2+ Ne4 22. Rxd5 (22. Qg4 $18 Qb1+ 23. Nc1 f5 24. Qxf5 Qxc1+ 25. Bxc1 Bb4+ 26. Kf1 Nd2+ 27. Bxd2 Rc7 28. Rxc7 Be7 29. Bxc6+ Kd8 30. Qd7#) 22... Qb1+ 23. Nc1 Bb4 24. Bxc6+ Rxc6 25. Rb8+ Ke7 26. Bxb4+ Ke6 {White is winning, but he must not get careless and take the R!} 27. Re5+ (27. Rxh8 Qxb4+ 28. Kf1 Kxd5 {and black has completely equalized.}) 27... Kxe5 28. Bc3+ Kd6 29. Rxb1 Nxc3 30. Qd3+ Kc7 31. Qg3+ {Black resigned.} (31. Qg3+ Kd8 32. Qb8+ Kd7 33. Rb7+ Ke6 34. Qxh8 Rb6 35. Qe8+ Kd5 36. Rd7+ Rd6 37. Qxf7+ Kc6 38. Rc7+ Kb6 39. Rxc3 Rc6 40. Rb3+ Kc5 41. Nd3+ Kd6 42. Rb7 Rc1+ 43. Kd2 Rc7 44. Rxc7 a6 45. Qd7#) 1-0