Vasyl Ivanchuk celebrated his 56th birthday last week, but based on the following game it might not have been a great birthday week. In round 9 of the European Championship, Ivanchuk faced Maxim Rodshtein who decided on move 17 to sacrifice a piece. In this case it was a 'real' sacrifice in that there was no immediate mating attack, or the change to win back material. Instead there was just pressure in the form of a central pawn mass, which caused to Ivanchuk to play some poor defensive moves. But the real shock came on move 28, when Ivanchuk allowed a mate in 1. Of course this may have been his way of resigning a lost position, but for a GM of his calibre, a surprise nonetheless
Round 9: European Championship (9.10), 24.03.2025
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. Qd3 c6 8. O-O b6 9. b3 a5 10. e4 Ba6 11. e5 Ne8 12. a4 Nc7 13. Rd1 h6 14. Bb2 Rb8 15. Nd2 b5 16. axb5 cxb5 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. cxd5 Bb4 19. d6 Ne6 20. Nf1 Bb7 21. Bxb7 Rxb7 22. Ne3 Nb6 23. Qxb5 Qb8 24. Nf5 Re8 25. Rac1 Nd7 26. Qe2 Nb6 27. d5 Nc5 28. Qg4 Nxb3 29. Qxg7# 1-0
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