Slim pickings

Unlike round robins, swisses are normally a feast of good and bad chess, where every game is important (except maybe the last round), and players bounce up and down the standings with great regularity. Unless of course it is an elite swiss, in which case, every treads warily, keeping a close eye on all the games to make sure no one is getting too far ahead.
The Mallorca Grand Prix is providing slim pickings for anyone who likes the score table to contain lots of 1's an 0's. Not to disparage a good hard fought draw, but with over 60% of the games ending that way, not every draw is a result of players battling till exhaustion.
Of the decisive games, there have been a few that have jumped out at me. The one I've chosen for this post was Svidler's win over Hammer. Apart from the rarity of seeing 'actual mate on the physical chessboard', the fact the White king gets hacked on the kingside in a sicilian also adds to its attractiveness.


Hammer,Jon Ludvig (2629) - Svidler,Peter (2763) [B51]
Palma De Mallorca GP 2017 Palma de Mallorca ESP (3.5), 18.11.2017

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. Qd3 Rc8 9. Nd2 Be6 10. Nf1 Be7 11. Ne3 Nf6 12. O-O Qc7 13. a4 Qc5 14. Rd1 O-O 15. Bd2 Bd8 16. Nf5 Bxf5 17. exf5 d5 18. Rac1 Bb6 19. Qe2 h6 20. a5 Ba7 21. Na4 Qc6 22. b3 Rfe8 23. Kh1 Qd7 24. g4 d4 25. Qf3 e4 26. Qg2 Qc6 27. g5 hxg5 28. Bxg5 e3 29. f3 Re5 30. Qh3 e2 31. Rg1 d3 32. Nb6 Bxb6 33. axb6 Rce8 34. Bh6 Ng4 35. Rxg4 e1Q+ 36. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 37. Kg2 R8e2+ 38. Kg3 Rg1+ 39. Kh4 Qxh6# 0-1