Ravinsky Stomps the Sicilian

    Every player who has ever faced the Sicilian remembers seeing a game where white scores a crushing win using numerous sacrifices. That’s exactly what Ravinsky did in the following game. When all of the conditions for a N sacrifice on e6 were in place he conducted a merciless attack that even included additional sacrifices. 

    Grigory Ravinsky 1909-1994, 64 years old) was born in St. Petersburg. When he was 19, he made his debut in the city championship where he met some stiff competition: played against Botvinnik, Romanovsky, Ilyin-Genevsky, Levenfish and Rabinovich. 

    It wasn’t until 1941that he became a Master of Sport and qualified from the Leningrad championship to the semi-final of the USSR championship. This tournament was interrupted by the War. 

    After WWII ended Ravisky lived in Moscow where lived in a communal apartment until the end of his days. He played in several city championships and qualified several times for the USSR Championships. 

    Never married, he loved the theater and the Prague Cafe, famous for its chocolate cake, which was his true home and he visited it regularly. His main calling was that of a trainer. He was described as a kind man who was very strict when it came to chess. 

    Soviet Master Evgeny Gik told of the time he was to play in a simultaneous exhibition Ravinsky was giving and when Gik arrived a few minutes late Ravinsky refused to allow him to play. 

    In 1957, Ravinky became a recognized trainer and two years later he was mage an International Arbiter. In 1965, Ravinsky retired from competition. 

    His opponent, Vasily Panov (1906-1973, 66 years old), was born in Kozelsk, Russia. Awarded the IM title in 1950 he won the Moscow Championship of 1929. As the chess correspondent for Izvestia he contributed much to the theory of the Caro-Kann and the Ruy Lopez.

 

[Event "Red Army 25 yr Jubilee"] [Site "Moscow URS"] [Date "1943.02.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Grigory Ravinsky"] [Black "Vasily Panov"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B80"] [Annotator "Stockfisj 16"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1943.??.??"] {B80: Sicilian Scheveningen} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g3 {In modern times white usually plays 6.Be2, or, if he is feeling aggressive, 6.g4m the Keres Attack. Of course at the time this game was played the theory on 6.g4 was not known.} Nc6 7. Bg2 Bd7 8. O-O a6 9. Be3 Rc8 10. Qe2 b5 (10... Nxd4 11. Bxd4 e5 12. Be3 Be7 13. a4 O-O {equals. Hernandez Guerrero, G (2551)-Duarte Barahona,R (2082) Aguascalientes 2007}) 11. a3 Ne5 {Black's play here is a bit suspect...he is negelecting to get castled.} (11... Be7 { remains equal.} 12. f4 O-O {is fully equal.}) 12. Rad1 Nc4 13. Bc1 Nxa3 { This tactical idea is faulty. True, it wins a P, but even if white plays 14. bxa3 he would get plenty of compensation for it. However, white has an even better line...the crushing 14.e5!} 14. e5 {This opens up the e-file for white's pieces. Exactly how he will use the e0file will become clear as the game progresses.} dxe5 15. Nc6 {This is the correct way to recapture on e5 because it allows white to eliminate a defender of e6 the importance of which will soon become clear.} Qc7 16. Nxe5 Nc4 {Returning to safety.} 17. Nxd7 Nxd7 18. Nd5 {Attacking the Q with a gain of time for the next phase of his plan.} Qa7 {This is not the optimal square for the Q.} (18... Qe5 {would have kept white's advantage at a bare minimum.} 19. Qg4 {keeping an eye on e6 and g7. In this position black should be able to finmd moves that are good enough to hold on.}) 19. Nf4 {One suspects white has in mind a sacrifice on e6. aiming for Nxe6!} Nce5 {Black is tryinh to shield e6.} (19... Be7 {This blocks the e-dile and, hopefully, will enable him to castle, but it to is ineffective.} 20. Nxe6 $1 fxe6 21. Qxe6 {Black must now prevent Rfe1.} Nce5 22. Bg5 Qc5 23. Rd5 Rc6 24. Rxc5 Rxe6 25. Rc8+ Kf7 26. Rxh8 Bxg5 27. f4 {White is winning.}) 20. Rxd7 { [%mdl 512] Crushing. Now e6 is exposed.} Nxd7 (20... Qxd7 {is no better. After} 21. Qxe5 {Even though white has the more active pieces and black is undeveloped and his K is stuch in the center, how does white capitalize on his advantage?} Qc7 22. Qg5 h5 23. Nxh5 Be7 24. Nxg7+ Kf8 25. Nxe6+ $1 fxe6 26. Qg6 Qe5 27. Bb7 Rc4 28. Bh6+ Rxh6 29. Qxh6+ {and white is winning.}) 21. Nxe6 { [%mdl 512] Of course!} fxe6 22. Qxe6+ Be7 (22... Kd8 {An attempt to flee will prove unsuccessful.} 23. Bg5+ Kc7 24. Qc6+ Kb8 25. Bf4+ {and the K is in a devastating crossfire.} Bd6 26. Bxd6+ Rc7 27. Bxc7+ Kc8 28. Bb6+ Kb8 29. Bxa7+ Kxa7 30. Qb7#) 23. Re1 Qc5 {[This defends against Bg5 and now white must find the one move that keeps his winning advantage. ...Rf8 is the strong threat.} 24. b4 $1 {The only move; black cannot defend the B.} Nf8 25. Qg4 {Avoiding exchanges and keeping an eye on c8 and attacking g7. There is no reason to settle for 25.Qxa6} Qc3 {This defends both the R and g7, but white is not done sacrificing.} 26. Rxe7+ $1 {[%mdl 512]} Kxe7 {Black is way ahead in material, but his K is exposed in the miffle of the board.} 27. Bg5+ Kd6 {Stockfish now informs us that white has a mate in 15.} (27... Qf6 {Giving back some material avoids mate, but black is still lost after} 28. Bxf6+ gxf6 29. Qxc8) 28. Qd1+ Kc7 (28... Ke5 29. Qd5#) (28... Ke6 29. Qd5#) 29. Bf4+ Kb6 30. Qd6+ Ka7 31. Qe7+ Rc7 32. Bxc7 Qa1+ 33. Bf1 Ng6 34. Qc5+ Kb7 35. Ba5 Rf8 36. Qb6+ {Black resigned. White mates a move sooner with 36.Qc7+} (36. Qb6+ Ka8 37. Qc6+ Kb8 38. Bc7+ Ka7 39. Bb6+ Kb8 40. Qc7+ Ka8 41. Qa7#) 1-0