Final round 8

Schwarzman suffered the wrath of Samb.

The best African player from this moment got a huge shot of adrenaline from the absurd incident of yesterday.

That game against Getmansky, by the way, will be continued at the 48^th move with 13 seconds for Samb and 10 seconds for Getmansky, so now it is mainly a question of having good nerves. Two moves in 10 seconds must be possible, but you still can be suprised in some way. Out of my younger times I can remember a junior blitz tournament with two brothers facing each other with serious time trouble. The clever one kicked the other very nasty against the leg, under the table and out of sight from the referee, and won the game.

Well, it is not a sugestion....

Samb must have noticed that his Russian opponent is not all that interested, this tournament.

Sometimes it can be a cunning tactic to pretend indifference and beat the opponent in a la-dee-dee-la mood. With Schwarzman it seems to be different, as it looks like he sees this tournament as an inconvenience.

However, Samb played his booby-trapped game:

Samb-Schwarzman

It is black to play.

Superficially it seems that white has a bad piece at 36. It is not, but it might have been if black still could bring a piece to 6, which he lacks.

At this moment black can`t play (11-17?) 28-23! etc. He tries to force some changes:

28. ...24-29 29.33x24 20x29

This move seems to serve black`s goal.Samb was pleased with it and played simply, but strong:

30.40-34! 29x40 31.45x34 ...

Now we can see that the black position is a little bit messy. Piece 7 would be better of at square 8. Now (19-24?) is not available. Black tries to make the game classic:

...15-20 32.34-30! ...

Behind my PC I clapped my hands for this move. Black is eager to play (20-24?), but this move is forbidden by the combination 28-23! (18x29*) 37-32 (26x28) 39-33 (28x39) 43x23 (19x28) 30x6.

...11-17 33.39-33! 18-23

Dubious. It might have been better to play (17-21)

34. 30-24! ...

Samb creates a swamp!

...23x41 35.20x15 26x37 36.36x47 ...

Whatever this is worth objectively, I don`t know, but I do know that the tactical merit of this gambit should be appreciated!

After a second gambit , Samb cleared the way to king. Schwarzman could not organize the thoughts in a proper way, to find the right answer.

Just before the end of the game, there was a funny moment, that showed that Samb was not 100% clear either:

Samb-Schwarzman

Black to play crashed and played 16-21 (no ?-sign, while it is lost anyway). Now white could hit 5x42!, but he took :

42.5x30(over21)? 25x34 43. 39x30 …

Now it is white having two pieces more.Black can struggle with (22-27), but he played:

...12-17? 44.47-42! ....

At this moment black had used all his available time, but it was lost anyway.

2-0

Valneris is coming!

Far away, at the horizon, there is a man that is still a shade. He can become the hope for the Netherlands, but he has still an enormous job to do. No, no, I don`t tell his name. It is of utmost importance that he can work properly, without being disturbed and in silence.

I will tell you the last round, when (hopefully) the spotlights will be pointed at him....

Paul Oudshoorn.