In round 6 of the 41st European Chess Club Cup, Aydın Süleymanlı (2679) beat the German IM Aljoscha Feuerstack (2466) with the white pieces in 34 moves. Süleymanlı is playing at a 2872 performance in the event, has gained 10 Elo and his live rating has climbed to 2694; the next target is the 2700 barrier. Supported under the Chess Talents project, Süleymanlı has a special place for us: when he crosses 2700, the Turkic chess world will have one more player above that mark.
The game is an instructive example of the 6.Bxf6 line of the Queen's Gambit Declined followed by the 8.h4! idea, a sharp middlegame after castling on opposite sides, and Süleymanlı's typical style – once he has the advantage, quiet moves such as a3 and f3 that simply tell the opponent "you move". Below you can play through the whole game with the commentary from the video, and then try to solve the critical positions yourself.
Annotated Game
Click on the moves, use the buttons under the board or the arrow keys on your keyboard to step through the game. The board is shown from the side of Süleymanlı, who has the white pieces.
Critical Positions
Four positions highlighted in the video. The side to move is given in each heading. Think for yourself first, then open the answer or use the forward button under the board to see the move played.
Critical Position 1 – move 8, White to play
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8.h4! Black's biggest headache in the d4-d5 openings is the c8 bishop. If Black tries to develop it with 8… b6, then 9.g4! follows: 9… g6 10.g5! hxg5 11.hxg5 Bxg5 12.Nxg5 Qxg5 13.Qf3, and with long castling, Bd3 and Rg1 White has a winning attack – pure Mamedyarov style. Feuerstack saw this and took precautions with 8… g6; and since 9.g4 Bg7 10.g5 h5 would lock everything up, Süleymanlı pushed 9.h5 at once.
Critical Position 2 – move 19, Black to play
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19… Bxd4! After 20.exd4 Qc7 Black would have had real play for the pawn (20… Qxd4? fails to 21.Bh7+, winning the queen). The move actually played, 19… Nc6?, earns a question mark: 20.Nxe6 fxe6 21.Rc2 exchanges Black's best piece and puts the rook on the c-file with the threat of Na4.
Critical Position 3 – move 22, White to play
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22.Na4! With 21… Kg7?? Black wanted to prepare the Nb4 fork (21… Nb4 at once runs into 22.Qxe6+). But the Na4 threat was in plain sight, and it is really surprising that the opponent ignored it. The queen has to go back: 22… Qf8 (22… Qd6 23.Bb5). Against Black's idea "if you take the knight, Rc8 skewers the queen", Süleymanlı does not hurry: 23.Kb1! keeps the knight under attack and the black queen is left strangely out of play.
Critical Position 4 – move 32, White to play
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32.Nb7! The black queen is tied to the defence of the b6 rook; Nb7 attacks the queen and leaves the rook hanging. Black lashed out one last time with 32… Rxb2+, but after 33.Rxb2 Qc7 34.Qc5 he is a piece down and resigned. Look at the clocks too: 30 seconds for Black, 41 minutes for Süleymanlı – no time pressure at all.
Lessons from the Game
- Bxf6: do not lose time, keep developing. After 5… h6, instead of allowing ideas like b6 or dxc4 with 6.Bh4, Süleymanlı exchanged at once with 6.Bxf6 and moved on to the e3, h4 plan. Sometimes the way to gain tempi is to give up the bishop pair.
- h4 is not just a pawn move, it is a question. 8.h4! asks Black "how are you going to develop that bishop?" Against 8… b6 there is a winning attack with 9.g4 and the g5 pawn sacrifice; against 8… g6 an immediate 9.h5 locks the kingside, and Black's g6-g5 structure becomes a permanent weakness.
- The order of the pawn pushes matters: 9.g4? Bg7 10.g5 h5 would have locked everything; to avoid the trap of "whichever pawn I push, he pushes the other one", Süleymanlı played 9.h5 first.
- Opposite-side castling = sharp play: With 12.Qb3 and 13.O-O-O Süleymanlı made it clear that he wanted to win with White against a lower-rated opponent. Black answered "I can play sharp too" with 13… Be6, giving up the b7 pawn to open the b-file – logical, but in such positions a single mistake is enough.
- A pawn up does not mean an easy win: After 18… Rfc8 Black's two rooks and queen were all staring at the white king; without the knight on d4 the position would have been really stressful. Even when the engine shows an edge, you have to meet an opponent who is "coming at you with a roar" calmly.
- Ignoring your opponent's threat ends the game: With 21… Kg7?? Black focused on his own fork idea and overlooked Na4. Asking "what did my opponent's last move prepare?" before every move prevents most losses of this kind.
- Quiet moves when you have the advantage: 26.a3 and 27.f3! The engine wanted to "blow it open" with 26.Nc5, but the moment Süleymanlı felt his opponent could not improve, he made luft and told him "you move". The opponent moved – and with 26… e5 and 28… e4 gave up pawn after pawn.
- Target the overloaded piece: 32.Nb7! ended the game because the black queen had to guard the b6 rook. Tactical chances very often appear from the question "which piece is tied to which?"
Notes and Anecdotes from the Video
- 2872 performance, 2694 live rating. Süleymanlı has gained 10 Elo at the European Club Cup, on top of what he had already gained before. "He is coming with a roar" – the sentence that never changes in our recent videos. The target is to cross 2700; then the Turkic chess world will have one more player above that barrier.
- Mamedyarov style. The attack with the g4-g5 pawn sacrifice against 8… b6 is reminiscent of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's style: long castling, Bd3, Rg1 and a winning assault on the kingside.
- "I can play sharp too." Black's 13… Be6, giving up b7, says "I give you the pawn, I will use the b-file for an attack later, and look, I am even waving a fork at you". The way Süleymanlı met all this calmly is the most enjoyable part of the video.
- "Solid, solid as a rock." After 23.Kb1 and 24.Rdd2 the black queen was "left in a strange place" on f8 and the knight went backwards; White is a pawn up, and although there is pressure on b2, everything is in its place.
- Süleymanlı's typical style. 26.a3 is the move the video enjoys most: while the engine suggests blowing things open with Nc5, Süleymanlı makes luft, saying "my pieces are so good that my opponent cannot do anything". Quiet moves like this show the confidence of top players in their position.
- The clocks. At the end of the game Black had 30 seconds, Süleymanlı 41 minutes. "That is a good thing too; no stress on the clock."
- Last round on Friday. When the video was recorded, the final round of the European Club Cup had not yet been played; we are following Süleymanlı's road to 2700 with excitement.
Source: the video commentary on the Satranç Okulu YouTube channel (in Turkish) and the Lichess study.
