This month we showcase a victory by Vytautas Andriulaitis in the Reg Gillman memorial B tournament. Vytautas, the present Correspondence Chess Champion of Lithuania, has one game remaining and a win would guarantee him sole possession of first place.

Vytautas Andriulaitis is 45 years old and lives in Jonava, a small town just 30 km from Kaunas the second largest city in Lithuania. He and his wife Zita have one daughter Ugne and three sons Danas, Saulius, and Lukas. Vytautas studied economics at the Lithuanian Academy of Agriculture and for many years worked as an agricultural economist. During the last 10 years he has been a portfolio manager at "Lietuvos Draudimas", the largest insurance company in Lithuania .

Vytautas learned chess at the age of 12 from a schoolmate. As he recalls "In our class there were numerous chess enthusiast, so we spent countless hours during recess and after school playing chess in the library. The players in our class were unusually strong, so much so that the city youth team was primarily composed of this group of friends." Such a competitive environment led to his rapid development and within a short time he became one of the strongest student players in Lithuania and invited to play on the Lithuanian team in USSR student team competitions. When these carefree student days were over, chess occupied a lesser part of his life and he limited himself to over-the-board play in Jonava city championships and in representing Jonava in team competitions.

Although Vytautas began correspondence chess quite early, he had long interruptions due to army service and his profession. But, in ‘92 he again returned to the correspondence chess battlefield and achieved a string of successes. He began play in the XVIII-th Lithuanian CC championship, and after breezing through the early rounds, won the final handily with a score of 11.5 out of 14. He successfully defended the title in the XIX-th Lithuanian championship winning with an even more impressive score of 12.5 out of 14! Vytautas is presently playing in the Reg Gillman Memorial B (e-mail) tournament and has scored 9.5 points out of 12 games, surpassing the GM norm of 9 points with one game remaining. By winning his remaining game, he would be alone in first place. This string of victories not only brought a lofty rating, but also an invitation to play first board for the Lithuanian team in various competitions such as the V European team championship final and the first ICCF Olympiad by e-mail.

Playing so many tournaments simultaneously takes considerable time, so other interests and activities have "suffered". One of his "passions" is basketball and he especially enjoys following the exploits of the Lithuanian national team. Since 1938 when Lithuania won the European Championship as an independent country, basketball has been immensely popular in Lithuania. Considering its small population it has established a rich tradition and produced many outstanding players.

A tidbit of basketball history. When the USSR won against the US team composed of college all-stars in the ‘88 Olympics (the last year before professionals were allowed to compete), four members of the USSR starting team were Lithuanians (Marciulionis, Sabonis, being the best known). Since recently regaining its independence, Lithuania has won two bronze medals in Olympic competitions, and in the last Olympics came within an eyelash (two missed free throws in the last minute) of achieving the unthinkable, beating the US "dream team" of professionals in the semi-finals.

Vytautas chess style is very solid, and he has established a reputation for not losing games. Since returning to CC play in ‘92, he did not lose a game during the next eight years! But, this does not imply that he is averse to sharp openings and sacrificing material for a long range attack, as his win against Matthias Rufenacht of Switzerland well illustrates. The opening is a Queen’s Gambit accepted where instead of the more traditional 10...cxd4 isolating the queen pawn, Black plays the provocative 10....Qb6. Vytautas counters with the sharp 11.d5 exd5 12.e4 and follows it up with a piece sacrifice 14.Bxf7+ when the long range King hunt begins! Slowly the White pieces penetrate Black’s defenses, and only the wall of Black pawns keep his King safe from the rest of White’s army. Suddenly White plays 34.b3! and the wall of pawns crumbles. The annotations are by the winner.

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Andriulaitis, Vytautas (2607) - Rufenacht, Matthias (2512)

Reg Gillman memorial, B
Queen’s Gambit Accepted, [D28]
[Andriulaitis]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bxc4 e6 5.Nf3 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.Bb3 Nc6 8.Nc3 b5 9.Qe2 Bb7

Black chooses a continuation that at the present time is not in vogue. Moves that are seen more often are 9....cxd4 and 9....Be7.

10.Rd1 Qb6 11.d5 exd5

In this position White usually plays 12.Nxd5 Nxd5 13.Bxd5 Be7 14.b3 with a slightly better position. Looking over the games played with this variation, my attention was drawn to two games where 12.e4 was played. In both games White quickly gained a strong advantage. The positions reached after 12.e4 are very complex and offer many tactical posibilities, so I decided to try this move.

12.e4 d4

12...dxe4 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4+ Be7 15.Bg5 c4 16.Bc2 f6 17.Be3 Qc7 18.Qg4 g6 19.Bh6 Kf7 20.Rd7 Qb8 21.Re1 Bc8 22.Qe6+ 1-0 Livshits,R-Petterson,R/CAN 1992/EXT 99/

13.e5 Ng8

13...0-0-0 14.exf6 dxc3 15.Bf4 c4 16.Bc2 g6 17.bxc3± Furman - Byvsev, SSSR, 1952 Although Black has fallen behind in development, he has a strong center and threatens to play 14....c4. Thus, White must act immediately and sacrifices the bishop for a strong, long range attack on the Black King.

14.Bxf7+!

14...Kxf7

14...Kd8 15.Nd5 Qa7 16.Ng5±; 14...Kd7 15.Nd5 Qa7 16.Bxg8 Rxg8 17.Ng5+-

15.Nd5 Qa7

Best. After 15....Qa5, black's queen would not be available for defense; while after15....Qd8 it could be harassed and would interfere with the defense.

16.Ng5+ Ke8

In this position I could not find a forced win because in most variations white's queen and two knights are not sufficient for a winning attack. So I had to find a way to bring more pieces to bear on black's king.

17.Re1! Nh6!

Developing a piece and defending the very important and vulnerable f7 square. Other moves are not as strong as can be seen by the following variations.. 17...Rd8 18.Qh5+ g6 19.Qf3 Ba8 20.Nf6+ Nxf6 21.exf6+ Kd7 22.Nf7 Bd6 23.Nxd6±; 17...Rc8 18.Qh5+ g6 19.Nf6+ Nxf6 (19...Kd8 20.Qh3 Kc7 21.Ne6+ Kb8 22.Nd7+±) 20.exf6+ Kd7 (20...Be7 21.Qh6 Kd7 22.fxe7±; 20...Ne7 21.Qg4±) 21.Qh3+ Kc7 22.Nf7±; 17...Nb4 18.Nc7+ Ke7 19.Nxh7 Rxh7 20.Qg4 Bc8 (20...Kd8 21.Ne6+ Ke8 22.Qg6+ Kd7 23.Qxh7 Be7 24.Qf5±) 21.Bg5+ Nf6 22.exf6+ Kf7 23.Qe4 Kg8 (23...Qxc7 24.Qxh7+-) 24.f7+ Kxf7 25.Qe8+ Kg8 26.Re7+-; 17...Qb8 18.Qh5+ (18.Ne6!? also looked very good.) 18...g6 19.Nf6+ Nxf6 (19...Ke7 20.Qh3 Bc8 21.Qf3 Nd8 22.Qd5 Ne6 23.Qc6+-) 20.exf6+ Ne7 21.Qh3 Bd5 22.f7+ Bxf7 (22...Kd8 23.Ne6+ Bxe6 24.Qxe6±) 23.Nxf7 Kxf7 24.Qe6+ Kg7 25.Bg5 h5 26.Bf6+ Kh6 27.Bxh8±; 17...Bc8 18.Qh5+ g6 19.Qf3 Qb7 (19...Nb4 20.Nxb4 cxb4 21.e6 Qb7 22.Ne4±) 20.Nf6+ Nxf6 21.exf6+ Kd8 22.Bf4 Bf5 23.Nf7+ Qxf7 24.Qxc6 Rc8 25.Qb6+ Rc7 26.Re7 Bxe7 27.Qxc7+ Ke8 28.Qc6++-

18.Nf6+ Ke7

the best reply.

18...gxf6 19.exf6+ Kd7 (19...Kd8 20.Bf4 Bd6 21.Bxd6 Bc8 22.Qh5 Nf5 23.Nf7+ Qxf7 24.Qxf7 Nxd6 25.Qg7 Re8 26.Rxe8+ Nxe8 27.Qg8+-) 20.Bf4 Nd8 21.Ne6
A) 21...Kc8 22.Nxd8
A1) 22...Bd5 23.Ne6 Bc4 (23...Qd7 24.Nxf8 Rxf8 25.Qe7 Qxe7 26.fxe7 Re8 27.Bxh6±; 23...Nf7 24.Nc7 Qxc7 25.Bxc7 Kxc7) 24.Qd1 Qb6 (24...Bxe6 25.Rxe6 Qd7 26.Qf3 Qxe6 27.Qxa8+ Kd7 28.Qb7+ Kd8 29.Qc7+ Ke8 30.Bxh6 Qxf6 31.Re1+ Be7 32.Bg5 Qxg5 33.Qc8+ Kf7 34.Qxh8±) 25.Nxf8 Rxf8 26.Bxh6 Rxf6 27.Re8+ Kb7 28.Re7+ Kc6±;
A2) 22...Qb6 23.Qh5 Qxf6 24.Nxb7 Kxb7 25.a4 Qxf4 26.Qd5+ Kc7 27.axb5 Bd6 28.Qc6+ Kb8 29.g3 Qf8 30.Rxa6±;
B) 21...Bxg2 22.Nxd8 Kc8 23.Kxg2 Qd7 (23...Nf5 24.Nc6±; 23...Bd6 24.Nc6 Rg8+ 25.Kf1±) 24.Qe4 Ra7 25.f7 Nxf7 (25...Bg7 26.Rac1 c4 27.Bxh6 Bxh6 28.Nc6 Ra8 29.Nxd4±) 26.Nxf7 Rg8+ 27.Kh1 Qb7 28.Qxb7+ Kxb7±;
C) 21...Bd5 22.Nxf8+ Kc8 23.Bxh6 Rg8 24.Qh5±;
D) 21...Qb6 22.Nxf8+ Rxf8 23.Qe7+ Kc8 24.Qxf8±;

18...Kd8 19.Ne6+
A) 19...Ke7 20.Bxh6 gxf6 (20...gxh6 21.Qg4 Nb8 22.Nxf8 Rxf8 23.Qg7+ Rf7 24.Ng8+ Ke8 25.Qh8+-) 21.exf6+ Kd7 22.Nxf8++-;
B) 19...Kc8 20.Bxh6 gxf6 (20...gxh6 21.Nxf8 Rxf8 22.Qg4++-) 21.Bxf8±]

19.Nd5+

Because I had exceeded the first time control, I decided to repeat moves. Black has no choice but to follow this repetition.

19...Ke8

19...Kd7 20.e6+ Kd8 (20...Ke8 21.Nf7±) 21.Nf7+ Nxf7 22.exf7±; 19...Kd8 20.Ne6+ Kc8 (20...Kd7 21.Nxf8+ Raxf8 22.e6+ Ke8 23.Qh5+ Kd8 24.Qg5+ Kc8 25.Qxg7±; 20...Ke8 21.Bxh6 Ne7 22.Ndc7+ Kd7 23.Qg4 gxh6 24.Nxa8 Bxa8 25.Nxf8+ Ke8 26.Ne6 Rg8 27.Ng7+ Kd8 28.f3±) 21.Bxh6 Nb4 (21...gxh6 22.Nxf8+-; 21...Nd8 22.Nxf8 Bxd5 23.Qg4+ Kb8 24.e6+-) 22.Nxb4 gxh6 23.Qh5 Be7 24.Qf7±

20.Nf6+ Ke7 21.Ngxh7!

21...Kd8

The king attempts to escape from the dangerous massing of the white pieces on the kingside. 21...gxf6 22.exf6+ Kd8 (22...Kd7 23.Bf4 Nd8 24.Nxf8+ Kc8 25.Qh5+-) 23.Bf4 Bd6 24.Bxd6 Nf5 25.Bf4 Bc8 26.Qe4 Qxh7 27.Qxc6 Qb7 28.Qxc5+-

22.Bxh6 gxh6 23.Qh5 Be7 24.Qxh6 c4 25.Qg7 Rxh7 26.Qxh7 Qc5

Black has withstood the first wave of the assault, but his exposed king remains a liability. White has won back his sacrifced material and with his queen and knight presses the attack.

27.Qg8+ Kc7 28.Nd5+ Kd7 29.Qg4+ Kd8

29...Ke8 30.Nc7+ Kf7 31.Qh5+ Kg8 32.Ne6+-

30.Qe6!

Insufficient was 30.Nf4 Bc8 31.Qg8+ Kc7 32.Ne6+ Bxe6 33.Qxa8 because of 33...Bc8 34.b4 Qd5 35.a4 Bd8 36.axb5 Bb7 37.Qxb7+ Kxb7 38.bxc6+ Qxc6 with advantage to black

30...d3

30...Bg5 31.b4 Qf8 32.Re4 Qe8 33.Qd6+ Qd7 34.Qf8+ Qe8 35.Qc5 Kc8 36.Rxd4±; 30...Bc8 31.Qg8+ Kd7 32.e6+ Kd6 33.Nxe7±

31.Re4

The rook finally enters the battle.

31...Bc8

31...Nb8 32.Qg8+ Kd7 33.Qg4+ Ke8 34.Nxe7 Qxe7 35.Rd4 Nc6 36.Rd6 Nxe5 37.Qg8+ Qf8 38.Re6+ Kd7 39.Qxf8 Rxf8 40.Rxe5±

32.Qg8+ Kd7 33.b3 

This move shatters the black pawn front. Seeing no satisfactory defense, black resigned. Possible variations could have been: 33.b3 Bb7 (33...Nb4 34.bxc4 Nxd5 35.cxd5 d2 36.Rd1 Qc2 37.Qg4+ Kd8 38.Qe2+-; 33...c3 34.b4 Qa7 35.Rd1+-; 33...cxb3 34.e6+ Kd6 35.Nxe7 b2 36.Nxc8+ Rxc8 37.Qg3+ Ne5 38.Rd1 Qd5 39.Rxe5 Qxe5 40.Qxd3+ Kc7 41.Qd7+ Kb8 42.e7+-) 34.Qg4+ Kd8 35.bxc4 bxc4 36.Qe6+-

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