Aerosvit
07
Ukraine


Dominguez
-
Van
Wely


The Aerosvit Intl. Chess Tournament 2007 is under way with the first round victories by Shirov and the Cuban Lenier Dominguez. All eleven rounds will run from June 18 to June 29 at Foros Crimea in the Ukraine. Here is Dominguez's win over Loek van Wely at move 30...f5? The question mark is mine in light of what happened next. It all seems simple when you are in post-mortem analysis, but it ain't so when you're in the hot seat in real time. Don't we all know that! Dominguez struck with 31. Rd4! cd4 32. Qd4 and Van Wely resigned. The white rook's imminent entry unto the 7th rank is the killer. Diagram 2.


Here's why: 32...Raa8 33. Re7 Qe5 ( a desperate attempt to stop mate on g7 ) 34. Qe5 Kf8 35. Qg7 mate anyway. What if Van Wely went for 32...Qb6, then 33. Re8+ Kf7 34. Qd5+ Qe6 35. Re6 Re6 36. Bf1 Ke7 37. Qc5+ Kd7 38. Bb5+ Rc6 39. Qc6+ Ke7 40. Qf6 mate. Finally, if 32...Rd7, then 33. Re8+ Kf7 34. Qd7 mate. A wonderful tactical strike by Dominguez!