I got my first IM norm in a tournament in 2019. I played in the Champions League in Division B on board 3.

Before the tournament you look at the opponents and trying to figure out which game you might be able to push for a win. Looking at the players in the table above – this wasn’t easy.

In the end I managed to win 3 games in that tournament although I did lose one game quite carelessly.

The game against Kunzelmann was a silly mistake from him. At the time he had just finished 9or about to finish) the World Championship circle and came third. He made the quite common error of making the 2nd move before the first in a line and just lost a piece without compensation. He resigned on the spot.

The game which sealed the IM norm for me in this tournament was the game against Semmler. A good player but he had a tournament to forget – finishing bottom with 2 losses and no wins.

Richardt,Mike (2299) – Semmler,Reinhardt (2378) [E32]
CL/2019/B2 ICCF, 01.09.2019
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d5 6.e5 Ne4

A very interesting line in the Nimzo-Indian opening.
7.Bd3 c5 8.Nf3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nd7 10.Bf4 Qh4 11.g3

This is the main line and black has two options here: 11…Qh3 or 11…Qh5
Up until recently the 11…Qh3 line was suppose to be inferior although my current games with this opening as white doesn’t show this.
A series of more or less forced moves are going to happen and after that black chose the wrong continuation.

11… Qh3 12.0-0-0 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Ba3+ 14.Kb1 Nb6 15.Bf1 Qh5 16.Be2 Qg6 17.Bd3

This is the critical position in the game and “new-ish” theory suggest 17… f5. At the time the most common move was 17… Qh5 which lit the board up and the position became very tactical.
The difference between the two moves in terms of evaluation is +0.3 (17… f5) and +2.29 (17… Qh5) and that might be because computer programs are getting stronger and see deeper etc.
The reason is that white starts opening up lines against the black King and he hasn’t got a lot of support and if black decides not to take the ppoisoned pawn then white’s superior piece co-ordination will prevail.

Qh5 18.g4! Qh4 19.Nf3 Qd8 decided to retreat rather than taking the pawn.

The position before 19… Qd8. The position is very tactical and black can’t take the g4 pawn as this leads to all sorts of trouble:
[19…Qxg4 20.Rhg1 Qxf4 (20…Qxf3 21.Bxh7+ Kh8 22.Rxg7 Kxg7 23.Rg1+ Kh8 24.Bh6 f5 25.exf6 Qxf6 26.Bg7+ Qxg7 27.Rxg7 e5) 21.Bxh7+ Kh8 22.Rd4] and black is lost.

THe game instead continued with black retreating his Queen and white continued his attack:
20.c5 Bxc5 21.Bxh7+ Kh8 22.Ng5 Nc4 23.Ka1 Ba3 24.Rb1 Nxe5 25.Bg8

Threatening mate in one. [25… g6 doesn’t work due to 26.Bxf7 Nxf7 (26… Rxf7 27.Bxe5+ and mate in 13 apparently) and 27.Qxg6] Which leaves 25… f5 as the only “good” option.
f5 26.Bxe6 Be7 27.gxf5 Bxg5 28.Bxe5 Bxe6 29.fxe6 Qe7 30.Rhe1 Kg8 31.f4 Bf6 32.f5 Rac8 33.Qb3 Rc5 34.Qxb7 Bxe5 35.Qxe7 Bxc3+ 36.Rb2 Rb8 37.a4 Bxb2+ 38.Ka2 Bd4 39.Qf7+ Kh8 40.Qh5+ Kg8

Two strong pawns in the middle the rest is technique – especially with a computer. I managed to win the game in style and finished top of the table.

Interestingly when looking at the position 17… Qh5 this has still been played recently – in my Database I have a game from May 2023 (Deforel – Vegjeleki) – with a winning score of ~ 97% for white. 4 games are mine and all wins.

Here is the game from the ICCF website.
Enjoy!