The semifinals of the XXIII World Championship, sponsored by New In Chess and 1st by e-mail, are well underway and the first qualifiers are stepping forward. This month we feature an exciting tactical game by Osman Kosebay of Turkey who "cruised" through his section with a near perfect score of 8.5 out of 9 with one game, a likely win, remaining.

Osman is 31 years old and lives in Istanbul, Turkey with his wife Figen and their 3 year-old pet, a white boxer named Korsan. He works as the logistics manager for a company that distributes the leading brands of Japanese construction machinery in Turkey.

Osman began his over the board tournament career as early as ‘83 and was a very active tournament player. But it was during ‘90-’91, when he joined the training sessions of his good friend GM Andras Adorjan in Turkey that he made the most progress. He believes that it was these intense sessions that contributed much to his present understanding of chess and later successes. As he recalls "I achieved fourth place in the Championship of Turkey in ‘91, where I could have shared first place, if I had not blundered a totally winning last round adjournment. I also have two wins against GM's, one against Ermenkov in ‘90 and the other against Atalik in ‘95, this being his only loss against a Turkish player since ‘88".

His tournament activity slowed dramatically when he began working for his present company in ‘92; only vacations were left for tournaments. Then in ‘97 Osman married Figen and realized that he would have to be content with even less, perhaps 10-15 OTB games per year primarily in team competitions. Giving up OTB tournament chess for a career and family is an easy "sacrifice" to make, especially when there is Correspondence Chess! Thanks to his friend IM Fatih Atakisi, he turned to correspondence/Email chess and began play in ICCF tournaments in’97. He is presently competing in four CC and Email tournaments simultaneously, all very successfully.

Osman Kosebay’s win over Miklos Traeger of Hungary illustrates his tactical skills. The game follows Kasparov-Gelfand (Linares 1993) a game where Kasparov introduced 13.Nf3 in the Najdorf Sicilian, winning in 25 moves. Because the game is well known, solid alternatives for black have been found. So Osman deviates with 13.f4 and introduces the novelty 16.f6! which is later supported by the exchange sacrifice19.Qf4. A complex position is reached that requires precise calculation; a position that any tactician would love! The White pieces cooperate remarkably and hold the attack together by a thread, each piece playing a key role. A classic Najdorf Sicilian! (Annotations are by Osman Kosebay; my comments are noted with VVP)

Kosebay, Osman - Traeger, Miklos (2630)
XXIII World Championship Semifinals, 1999-2000
Najdorf Sicilian B87

My first Bc4 trial ever against the Najdorf. One of the merits of CC is that you always have time to enlarge your opening repertoire

After 9...Qc7, my intention was to play 13.Nf3 and follow Kasparov's analysis. An excellent analysis by Kasparov except for the final evaluation 13.Nf3 a5 14.e5 a4 15.Rd4 axb3 16.Bxg7 Nxg7 17.Rg4 bxa2 18.Rxg7+ Kh8 19.Ne4 a1Q 20.Rxh7+ Kxh7 21.Neg5+ Bxg5 22.Nxg5+ Kg6 Here Kasparov comments: White can only draw!

One does not get a chance to refute Kasparov very often, so let me try: 23.Nxe6+! (23.Nh3+=) 23...Kf5 24.Nxc7 dxe5 (24...Qxf1+ 25.Kxf1 Ra1+ 26.Ke2 dxe5 27.Qg7+-; 24...Qxb2 25.Qf3+ Kg5 26.Qf6+ Kh5 27.f4 Rg8 28.Qxf7+ Kh6 29.Qxg8 Qd4+ 30.Kh1 Ra1 31.Qh8+ Kg6 32.f5+ Bxf5 33.Qf6++-) 25.Qg7 Rc8 (25...Nc6 26.g4+ Kf4 27.Rxa1 Rxa1+ 28.Kg2+-) 26.Qxf7+ Kg5 27.Qg7+ Kf5 28.g4+ Kf4 29.f3 Qxf1+ 30.Kxf1 Rxc7 31.Qf6+ Ke3 32.Qxe5+ Kxf3 33.Qg3+ Ke4 34.Qxc7+- Unfortunately, I can only quote this line in brackets because later I discovered one more hole in the line.15...dxe5! 16.Rg4 g6 does not seem to promise much for white.

I also considered 13.f4 during my analysis after black's 9^th move. The position looked promising to me, but 16.Be3 which was played in all games in my database was simply not to my liking.I started to search for my novelty and ...

16...gxh6 17.fxe7 Qxe7 18.Qf4 b4 (18...f5 19.Qxh6 b4 20.Ne2 Bxe4 21.Qxe6 Qxe6 22.Bxe6 Bxc2 23.Rd2+=) 19.Ne2 e5 20.Qxh6 Bxe4 21.Ng3 Bg6 22.Nf5 Bxf5 23.Rxf5 with attack

[his sacrifice of the exchange seems the best way to maintain the attack. After any normal move by the rook on f6 (except 16.Rf4), Black plays 16....Bxe4 and stands very well. After 16.Rf4 e5 17.Rh4 f5, Black is better. It's interesting that Fritz 6 doesn't consider 19.Qf4 very highly. It must be Fritz's materialistic outlook on life! VVP

Checking immediately with 19...Qa7+! is better because it prevents the game continuation, i.e. 21.Rd4. Then 20.Kh1 Nxf6 21.Qxf6+ Kg8 22.Bd5! Bxd5 23.exd5 Rfe8 24.Rd4 h5! (24...exd5 25.Rg4+ Kf8 26.Qxd6+ Re7 27.Nd4!+-) 25.Ng3 Qe7 (25...exd6 with the threat of Re6 should force White to take the perpetual. VVP) 26.Nxh5 Qxf6 27.Nxf6+ Kf8 28.Nxe8 Rxe8 29.Rxb4 exd5 30.Kg1 Re2 31.c3+=; Also possible was 19...Bxe4 20.Rxe6 Bxc2 with an unclear position

The good looking 21...Qb6 is met with 22.Nf4 Qa5 (22...e5? 23.Ne6!+-; 22...Qc5 23.Bd5!+-) 23.Bd5! b3 24.h3! bxc2 (24...Qd8 25.Qxh6 Kh8 26.Bxc6! bxa2 27.Ra4 Rc8 28.Bd7!! Rxc2 29.Rxa2 Rg8 30.Rxa6 e5 31.Bf5 Rg7 32.Rxd6 Qg8 33.Qf6 exf4 34.Rd8 Rcxg2+ 35.Kf1+-) 25.Nxe6 c1Q+ 26.Kh2 Qg5 27.Nxg5 hxg5 28.Qxg5+ Kh8 29.Qf6+ Kg8 30.Rd3+-

At first sight 22.Nf4 seems to be a move of equal strength, but after 22..Qd8 (22...Qc5 23.Bd5 Qxc2 24.h4 Qc1+ 25.Kh2 Qf1 26.Qxh6+-) 23.Qxh6 Kh8 24.c4 (24.Rxd6 Qxd6 25.Qf6+ Kg8 26.Qg5+=) 24...bxc3 25.e5 Rg8 26.Bc2 Rg7 27.Nh5 Qg5 28.Qxg7+ Qxg7 29.Nxg7 dxe5=+ black has an advantage. The point is that 27.Rg4!! is not available here]

Best. The alternative 22...Qc5 is met with 23.Bd5! Qxc2 24.h4! Be2 25.Bxa8 Rxa8 26.Kh2 Qxb2 27.Qf2±

This came as a total surprise to me. After 25...bxc3! I could not find anything better than 26.Bc2 f5 (26...Rg7 27.Rg4!! Qf8 28.Qf6 Kg8 29.Bxh7+ Kxh7 30.Qh4+ Kg8 31.Nh5+-) 27.exf6 Ra7 28.Rh4 Rf8 29.Qxh7+ Rxh7 30.Rxh7+ Kg8 31.Rg7+=. After 25..Rg6, I felt for the first time, that victory was coming soon

27...Rg7 28.Nh5 Rg5 29.Rxd6 Qe7 30.Nf6 Rg7 31.Qh6+-; 27...Qg5 28.Bxg6 Qxf4 29.Rxf4 dxe5 30.Rxf7 hxg6 (30...Bxf7 31.Bxf7+-) 31.Re7 Kg8 32.Ne4!+-; 27...Rg5 28.Rxd6 Qe7 29.Qh4+-

Now white is winning by force. Other Black moves would not change the result. 28...Qa5 29.d7 Bf7 30.Bxf5! exf5 31.Qxf5+-; 28...Bd7 29.c5 Qg5 (29...a5 30.Nh5 Qg5 31.Qe5+ Kg8 32.Nf4 Rh6 33.Bb3 Qg7 34.Nd3±)

31...Rd8 does not help as well. 32.Kf2! e5 (32...Bf3 33.Kxf3 e5 34.Qxf5 Qxf5+ 35.Bxf5 exd4 36.c5+-; 32...Bg4 33.Qe3 e5 34.Rd5 e4 35.Qd4 Qxd4+ 36.Rxd4 f4 37.Ba4 e3+ 38.Ke1+-) 33.Qh4 Qxh4+ 34.Rxh4

35...Qg5 36.Rg3 Qc1+ 37.Kg2+-

And here Miklos resigned without waiting for 36..Rg8 37.Qxh5! A) 37...Qg1+ 38.Ke2 Rg2+ (38...Qg2+ 39.Kd1 Qf1+ 40.Kc2 Rg2+ 41.Rd2+-) 39.Kf3; B) 37...f3 38.Qxf3 Qg1+ 39.Ke2 Rg2+ 40.Qxg2! Qxg2+ 41.Kd1+-; C) 37...Qg2+ 38.Ke1 Qh1+ 39.Kd2 Rg2+ 40.Qe2! Rxe2+ 41.Kxe2+- and the Black Queen will run out of checks. 1–0

A fine game by Osman Kosebay. His innovation provided a challenging and complex position much to his liking, and he was eventually rewarded with a victory. It is amazing how the Najdorf Sicilian continues to provide us with such entertaining games!

All of the games from the XXIII semifinals will be available at the ICCF on-line games archive . Correspondence chessplayers are invited to send their comments, questions, and recent ICCF games (preferably with a few annotations) by e-mail to Vytas Palciauskas at VytasVP@aol.com.