Sergei Movsesian is 36 years old. He is ranked number 79 in the world and number 5 in his home country of Armenia. He is a very accomplished professional chess player. Daniel Bisby on the other hand is not a professional; at least I don’t think so. He is from England and has a much more modest world ranking of 4,194, and among the English, he stands at 65th. Yet these two faced each other in the second round of the ongoing Reykjavik Open, in a classic David vs. Goliath, where, once again, the underdog won.
Movsesian seemed to be caught off guard by Bisby’s choice of the King’s Indian Attack, which is a favorite among club players but a rarity on the world stage. His choice of a defense left a lot to be desired. He drifted into a much inferior position where blunders are so easy to make.
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d3 The beloved King’s Indian Attack, or KIA, a favorite of Bobby Fischer and mine. When I was young and reckless, I thought playing this was like “White to move and win.” The years have convinced me otherwise, but it is still a favorite system. 3...d5 4.Qe2 A KIA sideline. The main line is 3.Nbd2. 4...Ne7 Black’s whole approach here is different and morose. 4…Nf6 or 4…Nc6 are the main approaches. 5.g3 b6 6.Bg2 Bb7 7.0–0 Nbc6 8.e5 h6 9.h4 g6 10.c3 Bg7 11.Na3 Ba6 Right around here black starts going off the rail. There is no need to waste a tempo to prevent 12.Nb5 (heading to d6) 11...0–0 was much more sensible. Or even just a6. 12.Re1 Qd7 Perhaps preparing to castle queenside, a point that white takes good account of with his next move. 13.Rb1 Preparing b4 to opening lines on the queenside. 13...Nf5?! Not an outright mistake but a somewhat careless move as after 14.g4 Black will need to take more time to regroup, 14…h5 or biting the bullet with 14…0–0 are better. 14.g4 Nfe7 15.b4 Nd8 Not sure this is necessary to handle white’s threat of b5. Maybe 15…Bb7 is better. 16.bxc5 bxc5 17.c4! A classic theme in the KIA, where white trys to pry open the a8–h1 diagonal. It is even stronger here as black’s king is still in the center. 17...h5?! Unnecessary panic. He can still castle. 18.gxh5! The best move. g5 allows the knight back to f5 and also allows Black to castle safely kingside and now black’s rook is misplaced on h5. 18...Rxh5 19.Nb5 Nf5 20.d4 20.Bg5 is more solid. 20...cxd4 21.cxd5 Kf8 Better seems to be 21...exd5 22.Nc7+ Qxc7 23.Qxa6 Qc4 24.Qxc4 dxc4 25.Nxd4 Rc8 26.Nb5 c3 when is white is somewhat better. 22.d6 Now this pawn is a big problem for black.
22...Rb8 23.a4 Nxh4 24.Nxh4 Rxh4 25.Bg5 d3 26.Qxd3 Rxa4 At least the rook is now helping out but black’s king is still an issue. 27.Qh3! Offering a piece that black can’t take: i.e.; 27…RxN 28.Qh7 with the winning threat of 29.Be7+ (or even 29.Bh6) and 30.Qg8+ 27...Kg8 28.Nc7 Rxb1 29.Rxb1 Bxe5?? Time pressure? 29...Bc8 is necessary when after 30.Qc3 Nb7 31.Nb5 Rg4 32.f4. White has a large advantage but no knockout yet. 30.Nd5 Ra5 Planning on answering 31.Nf6+ BxN 32.BxB with 32…Rh5 defending the mate on h8 but there is a different move order for white. 31.Bf6! Now, there is no good defense (31…BxB 32.NxB+ wins black’s queen) to 32.Qh8# so black gave up; 1–0.
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