WC Finals 11-20

20th World Correspondence Chess Championship

World Championship 20 Final (2004-2011)					TD Bielecki, Witold->Flores Gutiérrez, Carlos
Category 13 GM=8 SIM=6				R	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	Score	SB
1	FIN	GM	Lehikoinen, Pertti	2583	♔	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	½	1	1	9	58.75
2	SWE	SIM	Winge, Stefan	2522	½	♔	½	1	0	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1^D	1	1	9	58.25
3	CZE	SIM	Kratochvíl, Miloš	2537	½	½	♔	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	1	½	1	1	½	8.5	57.50
4	GER	SIM	Broß, Horst	2565	½	0	½	♔	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	1	1^D	1	½	8.5	55.25
5	GER	SIM	Brenke, Dr. Andreas	2602	½	1	½	½	♔	½	½	1	½	½	0	½	½	½	1	8	55.00
6	GER	GM	Soltau, Achim	2640	½	½	½	½	½	♔	½	0	1	1	1	½	½	½	½	8	54.75
7	USA	GM	Zilberberg, Alik Samulovich	2614	½	½	½	½	½	½	♔	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	1	8	53.25
8	SUI	SIM	Thaler, Anton	2551	½	½	0	0	0	1	½	♔	½	½	½	½	1^D	½	1	7	44.75
9	CZE	GM	Tocháček, Michal	2486	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	♔	½	½	0	½	½	1	6.5	44.00
10	GER	IM	Hafner, Manfred	2494	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	♔	½	½	½	½	1	6.5	42.50
11	ENG	GM	Brookes, John G.	2589	0	0	0	½	1	0	½	½	½	½	♔	½	1^D	1	½	6.5	41.00
12	CHI	GM	Toro Solís de Ovando, Guillermo	2626	½	½	½	0	½	½	0	½	1	½	½	♔	½	0	½	6	42.00
13	RUS	GM	Pankratov, Aleksandr Valerievich	2475	½	0^D	½	0^D	½	½	½	0^D	½	½	0^D	½	♔	½	½	5	34.50
14	GER	IM	Herbrechtsmeier, Christof	2502	0	0	0	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	0	1	♔	½	5	32.25
15	ESP	GM	Mercadal Benejam, Josep	2506	0	0	½	½	0	½	0	0	0	0	½	½	½	½	♔	3.5	23.75

X^D = result by default

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Pertti Lehikoinen (FIN)

Bio note

Pertti Lehikoinen (born 19.03.1952 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish grandmaster of correspondence chess. He won the 20th World Correspondence Chess Championship (started in 25th Oct 2004, finished in 20th Feb 2011).

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[Event "20th CC World Ch Final"]  [Site ""]  [Date "2004-2011"]  [Round "?"]  [White "Lehikoinen, Pertti (Finland) (20th WChampion)"]  [Black "Hafner, Manfred (Germany)"]  [Result "1-0"]  [ECO "D37"]   {Commented by Pertti Lehikoinen, translated to English by Panu Laine. This positional struggle against Manfred Hafner from Germany was my best game in the 20th Correspondence Chess World Championship Final. I was able to convert a small advantage I gained in the opening to a full point.}   1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7!   {This move order was originated by Tigran Petrosjan in the late 50's and early 60's and he used it in 3 games in his match against Botvinnik in 1963. It found its way to the games of Victor Kortshnoi, Anatoli Lutikov, Boris Spassky, Lajos Portisch and many other top players of the time. The purpose of 3...Be7 is to avoid the worst problems of QG Exchange variation, when after 3...Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 black has some problems with his queen's bishop. The line 5…c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Qf3 is unfavourable for black. The idea of 3…Be7! is revealed in the variation 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 c6 7.e3 Bf5 or 7.Qc2 g6 followed by …Bf5. In both cases black has solved the problem of his “bad” c8 bishop and renders the exchange variation aimless for white. We can say that 3…Be7! force white to play Nf3 or alternatively Bf4 instead of the normal Bg5, and in both cases white doesn’t have hope of opening advantage.   A further interesting question is that should black overall be afraid of the exchange variation? One answer is given in my game against Alexander Ugge in XIX ¾ final. In that game I succeeded to win my Canadian opponent and I barely made it to the WCC final instead of the Canadian. He made it to the 21st WCC Final and got silver medal right after the venerable Joop J. van Oosterom being the only player without losses.}   4.Nf3   {Black's 3rd move practically forced me to give up the exchange variation, so I had to invent something else.}   4…Nf6 5.Bf4   {I had earlier played here 5.Bg5, but my latest effort with this move ended into a draw only after 17 moves, so I wanted to try something else. 5.Bf4 shouldn't be any better for fighting for an advantage according to the opening manuals, but it is not at all that simple. Anyway white enjoys the advantage of the opening move and the white bishop on the diagonal h2-b8 is clearly more dominant than either of the black bishops. So I was confident that I would find something to maintain a small advantage with the white pieces.}   5…O-O 6.e3 Nbd7   {The most usual move here is 6...c5, but also 6...b6 and 6...c6 has been played rather regularly.}   7.c5 c6 8.Bd3 b6 9.b4 a5 10.b5!   {This move has been played only a couple of times, but I had prepared a novelty in this variation. The usual continuation is 10.a3 Ba6 11.O-O Qc8 with equality. This was also played in Tomi Nyback-Magnus Carlsen, Dresden ol, 2008.}   10...Bb7 11.cxb6 Nxb6 12.bxc6 Bxc6 13.Ne5!   {This is a novelty! Earlier continuations had been 13.O-O Nfd7 14.Qc2 h6 15.Nb5 Bxb5 16.Bxb5 Nc4! 17.Bxc4 Rc8 18.Rab1 Rxc4 1/2-1/2, Peter Heine Nielsen-Kasimdzhanov, Skanderborg, 2003. Kasimdzhanov recommends instead of 15.Nb5 to play 15.Rab1Bb4 16.Rfc1 Qe7 17.Qe2 and considers it a little better for white. I also spent a lot of effort to study that game, but rejected it after realising that black can equalise by playing simply 13...Ne4.}   13...Bb4 14.O-O Bxc3 15.Nxc6 Qe8 16.Bb5 Bxa1 17.Bd6   {While black is collecting material, White is adding the steam. Now white threatens to win the black queen with Ne7+ and black queen doesn't have any vacant squares left. Black's only alternative is to move his king to the corner, after which white may recollect the sacrificed material.}   17…Kh8 18.Qxa1 Ne4 19.Bxf8 Qxf8 20.Ne5   {I sent this move at the last day before overstepping the time limit.}   20…Nd6 21.Rb1   {After the heavy exchange of blows the material is even and the position is going into a more positional direction. White's pieces are a little better situated, but that shouldn't be significant. Instead black has one permanent weakness is a form of a-pawn. Black's future difficulties to protect it will give white a slight advantage.}   21…Nbc4 22.Bxc4 dxc4   {Here my opponent spent a considerable amount of time on pondering, weather to take back with a knight or pawn. I had faced the same dilemma without being able to draw any definitive conclusions. Black's choice was a slight surprise after all. After 22...Nxc4 the most probable continuation would have been 23.Nxc4 dxc4 24.Qb2! h6 25.h3 and white enjoys a slight advantage also in this continuation.   In the game continuation black's passed c-pawn is a weakness in an ending, but in favourable circumstances it may also prove to be strength.}   23.Rb6   {With a simple threat of Rxd6 and Nxf7+.}   23…Kg8 24.h3! Rc8   {This was almost forced as 24...f6 25.Nd7 Qe7 26.Nc5 Qc7 27.Qb1 is even more advantageous for white. Even worse would have been 24...Qd8 25.Rc6 Rc8 26.Rc5 Rxc5 27.dxc5 Ne4 28.Nxc4 Nxc5 and like in a textbook example white's strong Q+N beats the black colleagues. Namely 29.Qe5 Nb7 30.Qb5 Qa8 31.Qc6 (threatening Nd6) Qb8 32.Nb6! h6 (Luft, what else could black play?) 33.Nd7 Qa8 34.Nc5 and black loses his knight. Of course something else like 30...Qc8 31.Nxa5 Dc1+ 32.Kh2 Qc7+ 33.f4 is better for black, but even here black can't take to a5 due to back rank mate. That is why white has an undisputable advantage in all variations.}   25.Qc3!   {I considered this move really long time, because it demanded very deep analysis, so I took my first and only allowed overstepping of the time limit here. After the game to my surprise Fritz didn't get this move even to top-6. Fritz's favourite is 25.Ra6, but when I played my analysis against Fritz, after variations 25...c3 26.Qc1 Ne4 27.Nd3 as well as 26.Rc6 f6 27.Rxc8 and 26.Nd3 c2 27.Rxa5 Qd8 28.Ra3 also Fritz admitted that the white advantage had gone to the winds. Kasparov has said that engines must be twisted even several moves towards your variation before they agree with you. Here it is perfectly true. Usually I even don’t use engines in positional game, as they have very little to offer for a strong correspondence player. Instead in sharp and tactical situations engines are mandatory, as they speed up a lot the analysis work. Even then it is clear that you can't trust blindly to engines opinions. Perhaps this is a blessing for correspondence chess.}   25...Qd8 26.Ra6 f6   {Black has also came to a conclusion that his a-pawn is lost already. The following rather forcing variation 26...Ne4 27.Qc2 Qd5 28.Nc6 Qb5 29.Ne7+ Kf8 30.Ra7 Re8 didn't attract black.}   27.Nc6 Qd7 28.Nxa5   {Now the a5-pawn has been removed from the board, but it can't be considered a win of a pawn due to added strength of the black c-pawn.}   28...Nf5   {Here I expected more 28...Ne4 29.Qb4 c3 30.Nb3, but white would have a slight advantage also in this variation.}   29.Qb4 c3 30.Nb3 e5   {Black must try to rip the position open as much as possible to be able to support the advance of his passed c-pawn. An alternative 30...c2 31.Nc1 would lead to white advantage after Qd5 32.Qb3 Qxb3 33.axb3 e5 34.d5 e4}   31.dxe5 fxe5   {Naturally black didn't like 31...c2 32.exf6 c1=Q+ 33.Nxc1 Rxc1+ 34.Kh2 Rc8 35.Qb3+ Kh8 where white has four pawns for a knight and black's king's position remains shaky.}   32.Kh2!   {Finding this move caused me a lot of trouble, while I was first time analysing this position at my 25th move. I was obsessed that my king should run to fight for the black's c-pawn. Things started to materialise after I was able to convince my thick head that white king has absolutely nothing to do in the open field with this much material on the board. The game continuation removes the white king from the future back rank checks.}   32.-Qc7   {An alternative was 32...c2 33.Nc1, but now 33…Qd1? would have been too straightforward, because 34.Qb3+ Kf8 (34...Kh8?? 35.Rc6! and white wins) 35.Ra7 Ne7 36.Qb4 Re8 (36...Qd8 37.a4) 37.Qa3 would only lead to white advantage. Of course, instead of the weak 33...Qd1 black may develop something quieter, but that would eventually lead to positions resembling the game continuation with a slight advantage for white, or in the best case to transpose to game continuation.}   33.Qe4   {This is a great post for the white queen. It controls important a8 and c2 squares, it chases the black knight away from f5 and keeps on pressuring the e5 pawn.}   33…Ne7 34.Nc1 c2   {The black pawn on c2 is really irritating for white. Without removing it, it will be impossible for white to progress. Fortunately white has an excellent solution at his disposal and it is perfect timing for that, as black doesn’t have any direct threats at the moment.}   35.a4!   {White's plan is very simple: White wants to create a competitor to black’s c-pawn by advancing the a-pawn as far as possible. At some point black must start paying attention to it and lighten the defence of c-pawn.}   35…Rf8 36.Ra8   {It is time for white to exchange rooks.}   36…h6   {Of course black can change rooks himself 36...Rxa8 37.Qxa8+ Kf7 38.Qe4, but both following continuations leave white on top: 38…Qc3 (38...Qc6 39.Qxc6 Nxc6 40.Kg3 Ke6 41.Kf3 Na5 with White’s advantage.) 39.a5 Qd2 40.Qc4+ Kf8}   37.Rxf8+ Kxf8 38.a5 Qxa5!   {There is no point for black to delay taking the pawn any more. Instead it is important for him to take control of the important d5 square for defensive purposes.}   39.Qxc2 Qd5   {The pain in white's flesh has been removed at last and white is a clear pawn up. On top of that black has one isolated pawn, which defence might prove difficult in the future. The black queen on d5 helps his defence and it is not easy to get her leave that square. Black's assets for successful defence consist of: all pawns are on the king side and queens are still on board. Here I consider that my chances to win this game compared to draw are fifty-fifty.}   40.Nd3 Kf7   {This move was a total surprise for me! I had imagined that the knight ending after 41.Qc4 would be winning, but things are not that clear. Fortunately the move came in just a couple of days before my vacation, so I could delve into this knight ending for a month without let my clock to tick. After a long hesitation I came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to win this knight ending. By co-incidence I saw the ending in Kivimäki-Pyshkin in Estrin Memorial, where my friend Kivimäki was able to hold a draw in a knight ending with a pawn down. My own analysis led to similar kind of position. So, I decided to keep the queens on board for a while, although I couldn't be sure about any brighter future. That half-intuitive decision I never had to regret!}   41.f3 Kg8 42.Qc3 Nc6 43.h4!   {White wants to push the pawn to h5, where it would restrict even more about black's alternatives. In that case white's long term plan could be to land his knight into g6 and threaten a mate along the back rank. If nothing else, this would force black to give up d5 for his queen. Another aim was that in case of g7-g6 and exchange of the pawns, black's remaining pawns would be as far as possible from each other, which would make black's defence difficult. Naturally white needs to ensure that he can support the pawn on h5, but that is not a problem.}   43…Kh7 44.h5 Kh8   45.Kg3 Qe6?!   {Black's first mistake, if you don't count his opening variation a mistake, where I was able to make my novelty. Black shouldn't have given up the d5 square under any circumstances without a fight. Of course I could have gotten d5 after a long fight, but I believe it would have taken some 20 moves more. Now all this was handed to me on the plate.   A strange co-incidence happened here. A couple of times my opponent had numbered his moves incorrectly. I had bypassed those mistakes and with his next move the numbering was correct. But now something happened, which hadn't happened before: my opponent had marked my move as 45.Kh3. I was absolutely sure that I had written down to the card 45.Kg3, but I started to hesitate as my candidate moves had been 45.Kh3 and 45.Kg3. Even more embarrassing was that my 45th move was the last move before time control and I had only one day left. If I would have made a protest and I would be wrong, I would get a five day penalty and lose on time. For a moment I was even thinking to play my 46th move normally and look at his reaction, as if my king would be on his opinion on h3 in check, he would notify me. In that case my penalty would come on move 46 and not on 45 and I would be clear.   After a lengthy pondering I came to a conclusion that I couldn’t possible have been able to write down a different move to the card and to the protocol, because I always double check them twice. So I emailed to my opponent a notification that he had written a wrong move to his card and he could naturally move something else, if he wishes. It took three painfully long days before my opponent replied. He was sorry for his mistake and confirmed that my move had been 45.Kg3 and his move is 45…Qe6. He kept his move the same and the only conclusion is that he had genuinely made a mistake in writing the moves down.   After this episode my paranoia grew to the extent that I started to take photocopies of all my cards to be able to verify that my move had been written down correctly and the card would signed. Perhaps one more factor to take additional measurements was that at this point of the tournament I started to fight for the medals. Another decision I took was that I would never play by post any more as webserver solves all this kind of problems. Webserver’s problem is that 50/10 thinking time is too quick for about half of the WCC finalists. To my opinion ICCF shouldn't push these players to play by post only because they want to play slower, as roughly 30% of the players have wished for slower playing tempo on server.}   46.Qa3 Kh7 47.Nc5 Qe7   {Black can't allow the exchange of the queens any more.}   48.Qd3+ Kh8 49.Qd5   {We can see now the consequences of black giving up the d5 square for his queen. Now white queen lands there and starts to control the game.}   49…Nd8 50.Kf2!   {White king moves to e2, from where it can proceed to d3 and e4 after exchanges.}   50…Nf7 51.Ke2 Kg8   {I had considered my position as winning since move 50 and from here my winning plan is almost forcing. My intention is to play 52.Nd7 and to make sure that there is not any more direct winning variation I let Fritz to calculate these positions from here on. I have to admit that I have probably never before disagreed so much with the engine about the variations as I did now.}   52.Nd7   {Gradually white manages to paralyse black completely. Black's next move is practically forced, because black has great problems on his back rank. 52...Qe8 53.Qb5!   Surprisingly this self-evident move was only 10th on Fritz list. Fritz would prefer to play the white king back to f2 and g3 without being able to proceed after that any more. But this is not surprising for engines. The move played n the game threatens 54.Nf6+.}   53…Kh8   {Alternatives were scarce. After 53...Qa8 54.Kf2 e4 55.f4 Kh8 56.Kg3 white wins rather quickly. Another alternative could be 53...Nd6 54.Qc6 and the black knight can't move due to threat Nf6+, so 54…Qe6 55.Kf2 e4 56.Qa8+ Ne8 57.Nc5}   54.Qb8!   {Simple and strong! Fritz prefers 54.e4 and 54.Kf2, which are tame.}   54...Qxb8 55.Nxb8   {This is an easy win for white.}   55…e4   {This is practically forced, because otherwise white king just marches to e4 and drops the pawn off.}   56.fxe4 Ne5 57.Na6   {White's knight is coming via c5 or b4 to d3 to chase the black knight away.}   57…Kg8 58.Nc5 Kf7 59.Nd3 Nc4 60.Kf3 g5 61.hxg6+ Kxg6   {This is exactly the situation I was aiming by the pawn push to h5. Black king should stand behind the e pawn and simultaneously and remotely to defend the h-pawn. Impossible.}   62.Kf4 Kf6 63.Nf2 Ke6 64.Ng4 h5 65.Nh2 Kf7 66.e5 1-0   {This was my best game in the WCC final and it even had opening theoretical importance.}

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