44th Chess Olympiad -- Paragua Shocks World #18 Duda

image from rappler.com

Last time I wrote about Mark Paragua's loss to Hiarcs at his peak. This time let's see how good he is as he upsets one of the best in the world.

In round 7 of the 44th Chess Olympiad held in Chennai in 2022, GM Mark Paragua played against Hyper GM Jan Krzysztof Duda of Poland, ranked 18th in the world with an Elo of 2750. Mark on the other hand, has fallen from his peak rating of 2621 and was rated 2461 at that time. I remember watching this game live as the commentators discussed the game due to the impending upset and its effect on the standings. Poland was one of the top contenders at that time.

Jan Krzysztof Duda image from wikipedia.com

White Player Duda, Jan Krzysztof (2750)
Black Player Paragua, Mark (2461)
Event: 44th Olympiad 2022
Site: Chennai IND Date: 08/05/2022
Round: 7.13 Score: 0-1
ECO: B90 Sicilian, Najdorf, Adams attack

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3
not the most popular choice. Usual moves here are Be3 or Bg5

e5 7.Nde2 h5 8.Bg5 Be6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.Nd5 Qd8 11.Qd3 Nd7 12.O-O-O g6 planning to develop the Bishop at g7 but leaving the d6 pawn weak.

'13.Kb1 Nc5 14.Qa3 h4 15.Nec3 Bg7 16.Ne3 O-O giving up a pawn against the World #18, gutsy play by Mark!

'17.b4 Nd7 18.Rxd6 White wins a pawn but Black gains the initiative due to the weaknesses left by b4. For the price of a pawn, White has opened up his King and weakened the c3 square.

Qc7 19.Rd2 Nb6 20.Ncd5 Bxd5 21.Rxd5 an exchange sacrifice to plant a Knight on d5. This Knight cannot be challenged unless Black sacs his rook as well. On the other hand this is the best move according to Stockfish {21. Nxd5 Nxd5 22. Rxd5 Rfd8 23. Rd5 Bf8 gives Black a slight advantage}. But now Mark turns his sights on the a file.

Nxd5 22.Nxd5 Qd8 23.Qe3 a5 24.a3? The crucial mistake. White should not allow the a file to open, better was b5. Now Black has the advantage.

axb4 25.axb4 Qd7 26.Bc4 Qa4 27.Qc3 b5 28.Bb3 Qa7 29.Rf1 Rfc8 30.Qb2 Rc6 31.Nc3 Ra6 32.Na2 Qd4 33.Bd5 Rd8 34.Qb3 Kh7 35.Qd3 Rxd5 the final nail on the coffin. Black's dominance on the a file together with the opening of a1-h8 diagonal is decisive.

36.exd5 Qa7 0-1

Not only was this loss an upset to Duda, it also affected Poland's standings as they were held to a draw by the lowly Philippine team.

Here's Wesley So bantering with the Philippine team. In 6:53 of the video he jokingly quipped "Mark made Duda cry he didn't want to play anymore!" 😅

In the final round, the Philippines upset third seed Norway 2.5 - 1.5 as Magnus Carlsen opted to rest in this match.

Thank you for reading!