Research and Improvement

There are many ways to improve. From time to time I play through games in Chess Informant in the effort to expand my knowledge and understanding. Today I'm playing through one of the games nominated as one of the best in Informant 94. Thirty games from 94 are listed in Informant 95 as the nominees. The game I'm examining this morning is number 27 on the list, as it received no votes from the distinguished jurors. Nevertheless, Rytshagov - Lugovoi, Jyvaskyla 2005 has merits as a terrific and instructive struggle.

The position prior to White's thirteenth move appears in seven games in the Chessbase online database, which does not include this game for some reason.







Here, Rytshagov played 13.Nf5!?

This move, acccording to the Chessbase database was previously played in Sulskis - Izoria, Ohrid 2001. That game, and the current one both continued

13...exf5 14.Nd5 Qb7 15.exf5 Nde5, and then diverge.

Here Sulskis played 16.f4, but Rytshagov played 16.f6.

It appears that 13.Nf5 has been played only twice, and that White won both games. Yet, the idea behind this sacrifice may show up in other positions. Perhaps it merits further research. First, however, it seems important to make the effort to understand the purpose behind the sacrifice.