Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

World Junior U20 Championship 2015

Options
  • 14-09-2015 4:49pm
    #1
    south of the border
    Registered Users Posts: 7 ✭


    Keegan O'Mahony who is representing Ireland in the U20 world junior championship in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia has just recorded a fine win over the Russian FM Mikhail Popov rated 2327!


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    south of the border wrote: »
    Keegan O'Mahony who is representing Ireland in the U20 world junior championship in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia has just recorded a fine win over the Russian FM Mikhail Popov rated 2327!

    It's good he held his nerve (unlike the opponent) but the play from about move 35 onwards was farcical.

    The game can still be seen at http://wjcc2015.fide.com/live-games/open/ or on chess-24 where they have the name of his opponent wrong.

    O'Mahoney had a slight edge with B v N but his plan starting Be8 was flawed. The B would have been superior to the N had he posted it on f3 where it could work on both wings.

    By playing to win the a-pawn, O'Mahoney misplaced his pieces, completely messed it up, allowing Black a passed pawn, and should have lost.
    Then at move 48 Black promoted the pawn (winning the B) whereas he should have played ...h6-h5 first so that afterwards his N could protect the P while the BK mopped up on the other wing.
    So now it should have been drawn and Keegan played it correctly.
    Eventually his opponent (presumably trying to win) messed it up (60...Nh5 or Ne2 was necessary) and Keegan won! So he now has 3.5 with one round to go, after being on 1/9.
    It's certainly impressive that he has kept fighting and maybe he's a bit older than some of his opponents and has more stamina for a long tournament. He definitely needs to review all his games with a strong player when he gets home, in order to derive the full benefit from the experience.


  • Options
    #3
    Tim Harding
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭Tim Harding


    Tim Harding wrote: »
    It's good he held his nerve (unlike the opponent) but the play from about move 35 onwards was farcical.

    O'Mahoney had a slight edge with B v N but his plan starting Be8 was flawed. The B would have been superior to the N had he posted it on f3 where it could work on both wings.

    By playing to win the a-pawn, O'Mahoney misplaced his pieces, completely messed it up, allowing Black a passed pawn, and should have lost.
    Then at move 48 Black promoted the pawn (winning the B) whereas he should have played ...h6-h5 first so that afterwards his N could protect the P while the BK mopped up on the other wing.
    So now it should have been drawn and Keegan played it correctly.
    Eventually his opponent (presumably trying to win) messed it up (60...Nh5 or Ne2 was necessary) and Keegan won! ...

    I have now analysed the interesting O'Mahoney endgame with the help of the Lomonosov 7-man tablebase and posted this analysis on my website:

    http://www.chessmail.com/games/mahoneypop.htm


Advertisement