A Queen Given, a Queen Taken: How Aydin Suleymanli Beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov at the European Club Cup

Photo: Vladimir Barskij / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Nodirbek Abdusattorov is one of the best players in the world. At the 41st European Chess Club Cup in Budva, Montenegro, he plays top board for SuperChess Romania, the defending champions. On Tuesday, in Round 4, he met Aydin Suleymanli of Azerbaijan, who plays for the club Vugar Gashimov.

Abdusattorov was rated 2780. Suleymanli was rated 2679, 101 points lower. Suleymanli won.

He won with a beautiful idea: he gave away his queen, and one move later he took his opponent's queen back. Here is the whole game, and then a look at the race for the team title.

A fight over a pawn

Suleymanli had White. The game began 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4. Black took the pawn on c4, so this is a Queen's Gambit Accepted. A gambit is an opening where one side offers material, and here Black accepted it.

White played 5.e4, building a big center, and Black held on to the extra pawn with 5...b5.

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

After 5...b5. The pawn on b5 protects the extra pawn on c4. White to move.

Analyze this position

White did not let Black keep it for long. After 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxb5, the white knight took the pawn on b5, and the material was even again.

The game went on 7...Nb6 8.Be2 Nc6 9.O-O Be7 10.Rb1 O-O 11.b3 cxb3 12.Rxb3 Nb4 13.a3 N4d5 14.Bd3 a6 15.Qc2 g6 16.Nc3 Nxc3 17.Rxc3 Nd5 18.Be4 Rb8 19.Bxd5 Qxd5.

A rook on the seventh row

Then Suleymanli played 20.Rxc7, taking a pawn and putting his rook on the seventh row. After 20...Bd7 21.Bg5 Bxg5 22.Nxg5 Qxd4, Black took a pawn back.

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

After 22...Qxd4. Material is even. White's rook on c7 sits on the seventh row, deep in Black's half of the board. White to move.

Analyze this position

A rook on the seventh row is a strong piece. From there it attacks the pawns that are still on their starting squares, and it can trap the enemy king on the back row. Our Stockfish 17.1 engine gave White a small edge, a little less than a pawn.

Racing the clock

The game went on 23.Nf3 Qa4 24.Qc1 Bb5 25.Re1 Rbd8 26.h3 Qa5 27.Rc5 Rd3 28.Re3 Qd8 29.Rxd3 Qxd3 30.Qh6 Qd1+ 31.Kh2 Qa4.

Look at the clock here. In this event, each player has 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then gets 30 more minutes, plus 30 seconds for every move. After his 31st move, Abdusattorov had about four minutes left for nine more moves.

The white queen on h6 was now very close to the black king. After 32.Rc7 Rd8, our engine rated White about four pawns better. With so little time, Black had a very hard job defending.

Suleymanli was short of time too. After 33.g3 Qd1 34.Ng5 Qh5, his knight took a pawn: 35.Nxf7. At that moment he had under two minutes left.

The queen sacrifice

Abdusattorov answered 35...Qf3. His queen came close to the white king.

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

After 35...Qf3. White to move. Look at the pawn on h7, the king on g8 and the black queen on f3. Can you find White's best move?

Analyze this position

Here is the idea. Suleymanli played 36.Qxh7+, giving up his queen. Black has to take it: 36...Kxh7.

Now comes the point: 37.Ng5+.

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

After 37.Ng5+. The knight gives check to the king on h7 and attacks the queen on f3 at the same time.

Analyze this position

The knight on g5 attacks two things at once: the black king on h7 and the black queen on f3. A move like this is called a fork. Black must get out of check first, so the queen cannot be saved. After 37...Kh6 38.Nxf3, White had taken the queen back.

Count the pieces after that. White had a rook, a knight and five pawns. Black had a rook, a bishop and three pawns. White had given a queen and taken a queen, and he had come out two pawns ahead.

How do you find moves like 36.Qxh7+? Look at every check, even the ones that give away your queen. A check that sets up a fork is worth looking for in every game.

Winning the ending

Two pawns ahead is a lot, but the game was not over. Abdusattorov's rook and bishop were still active. After 38...Rd3 39.Kg2 g5 40.h4 gxh4 41.Nxh4 Rxa3 42.Rf7 Bc6+ 43.Kh3 a5, Black had a passed pawn on the a-file. A passed pawn is a pawn that no enemy pawn can stop.

Suleymanli did not chase it at once. He sent his king forward instead: 44.Rf6+ Kh7 45.Kg4 a4 46.Kg5 Bd5 47.Rf7+ Kg8 48.Kf6. The white king was now close to the black king, helping the rook and knight attack it.

After 48...Rb3 49.Rg7+ Kf8 50.Re7 Kg8 51.g4 a3 52.Re8+ Kh7 53.g5 Be4 54.f4 Rg3 55.Re7+, Abdusattorov resigned.

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

The final position, after 55.Re7+. White's king, rook, knight and pawns surround the black king. Black resigned.

Analyze this position

Black's a-pawn was only two steps from becoming a queen. But the black king was boxed in on the edge of the board, with the white king, rook and knight all close by. Our engine rated White's position as winning by a lot.

The match: SuperChess still won

Here is the surprise. Even with their top board losing, SuperChess Romania beat Vugar Gashimov 4-2. In a team match, every board counts the same.

• Jorden van Foreest beat Rauf Mamedov.
• Alexey Sarana beat Khazar Babazada.
• Daniel Dardha beat Vugar Manafov.
• Haik Martirosyan drew with Read Samadov, and Bogdan-Daniel Deac drew with Shiroghlan Talibov.

Round 4: the other big matches

• Alkaloid beat Ashdod 3.5-2.5. Wei Yi, Yu Yangyi and Velimir Ivic won. Arjun Erigaisi drew with Pavel Eljanov. Ashdod's wins came from Arthur Kogan, over Abhimanyu Puranik, and Israel Caspi, over Aleksandar Indjic.
• Bayegan Pendik and Elektroprivreda drew 3-3. It was a bad day for Pendik's top two boards: V Pranav beat Anish Giri, and Murali Karthikeyan beat Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus. Richard Rapport and Ediz Gurel won to save the draw.
• Novy Bor beat Rishon LeZion A 4.5-1.5. Nihal Sarin, Pentala Harikrishna and Nils Grandelius won. Nodirbek Yakubboev drew with Boris Gelfand.
• Nitra beat Beer Sheva 4-2, with a win for Vasyl Ivanchuk.
• Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai and Aix-en-Provence drew 3-3.

Round 3: Abdusattorov's first game, and some upsets

On Monday, Abdusattorov played his first game of the event and beat Balázs Csonka of Cheddleton. SuperChess won that match 5-1. But the biggest upset on the top tables came on the next board: Richard Pert, rated 2409, beat Jorden van Foreest, rated 2716. That is a gap of more than 300 points.

There were other surprises too. Alvar Alonso Rosell beat Nodirbek Yakubboev, although Novy Bor still won their match against Silla 4-2. Pierre Laurent-Paoli of Marseille beat Pavel Eljanov, but Ashdod won the match 4.5-1.5.

The favorites mostly won big. Bayegan Pendik beat Pardubice 5.5-0.5, with wins for Giri, Erdogmus, Richard Rapport, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Ediz Gurel. Alkaloid beat Schachfreunde Berlin 4.5-1.5, with wins for Erigaisi, Wei Yi and Ivic. Vugar Gashimov beat Buducnost 5-1.

The standings after four rounds

A team gets 2 match points for winning a match and 1 for a draw. After four of the seven rounds, four teams have won every match:

• Alkaloid 8 match points (20 game points)
• SuperChess Romania 8 (20.5)
• Novy Bor 8 (18.5)
• Nitra 8 (18.5)
• Bayegan Pendik, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai, Aix-en-Provence, Elektroprivreda, Riehen and Dunajska Streda 7

Alkaloid is listed first on the official table because of the tiebreak rules. There are 108 teams in the open section, so a lot can still change in the last three rounds.

We will cover the European Club Cup in full once the U.S. Championship is over.

What to take away

• Check every check. 36.Qxh7+ looked like it lost the queen, but it set up a fork.
• A knight check is a fork maker. A knight can attack the king and another piece at the same time, and the king must move first.
• A rook on the seventh row is strong. It attacks pawns and boxes in the king.
• In the ending, use your king. Suleymanli's king walked up to f6 to help trap Black's king.

Earlier at this event, we looked at Kuybokarov's win over Tabatabaei in Round 2 and Goryachkina against 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan in the women's section. On the same day as this game, Wesley So moved one draw from the U.S. title.