My Drawn Simultaneous Exhibition Game Against GM Sergey Smagin

 

                                                      

My Drawn Simultaneous Exhibition Game

Against GM Sergey Smagin

(by Yury V. Bukayev)

Dear readers, let me tell you about my drawn simultaneous exhibition game against GM Sergey B. Smagin which was played (August 16, 2026) during ‘The Chess Square 2026’ in Moscow. All official materials on this event can be shown by the editors of https://moscowchess.org . This game’s opening was Two Knights defence, its ending was almost Jerome-ish. And the score of this 15-board simultaneous exhibition was 14.5 – 0.5, like GM Valentina Gunina’s score in 2026 or GM Olga Girya’s score in 2025 (as you know).

GM Sergey B. Smagin – Yury V. Bukayev

15-board simultaneous exhibition, Moscow, 2026,

August 16 (‘The Chess Square 2026’)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.Re1 d5 7.Bxd5 Qxd5 8.Nc3 Qa5 9.Nxe4 Be7 10.Bg5

I couldn’t take part in maestro Sergey Smagin’s previous simultaneous exhibition, although I prepared to it. During that preparation I found an interesting fact in some of his games: sometimes he doesn’t capture in time, sometimes he captures not in time. I solved to try to use this fact in my game against this strong Grandmaster to get an advantage, and I could get it, in spite of my large risk!

10…f6?!

This risky move was made to decline all known theoretical lines and to choose a line with a lot of possible captures. He started to think, and I understood that the situation on the board became unknown for him. Nevertheless, here he captured in time:

11.Nxf6+! gxf6 12.Bxf6 Rf8!? .

Again he captured in time:

13.Bxe7 Nxe7 .

But then he made a very ‘natural’ move and didn’t capture in time:

14.Re5?

The situation became unknown to me too. But I found the right way here:

14…Qb4! .

Again he captured in time:

15.Nxd4 .

In this complicated position I tried to choose among 15…Kf7 and 15…Rf7. I asked maestro Sergey Smagin to miss me and give me an opportunity to think more, but he renunciated. And I played:

15…Rf7!? 16.Nb5! .

The position was still complicated. Here I wanted to make a trivial defence 16…Qc4!, but my goal was to get a clear advantage, so I solved to make a very risky trap with my hope that here he will capture not in time. Thus, I played:

16…Kf8?! .

And this trap brought me a serious advantage after his response, because he didn’t see my main idea and captured not in time:

17.Nxc7? Bg4! .

The preliminary check 17.Qd8+! Kg7 18.Nxc7! was necessary. Probably, after 17.Nxc7 he waited for 17…Rb8, so he saw no obstacles for his further check. Further both opponents played well:

18.Qe1 Qxe1+ 19.Raxe1 Rc8 20.Nb5 Rxc2 21.f3 Bd7 22.Nd6 Rg7 23.R1e2 Rxe2 24.Rxe2 Bc6 25.Kf2 Rg6 26.Rd2 Rf6 .

This Jerome-ish endgame (we can see Black’s minor piece against White’s two pawns here etc.) was won for Black, and both opponents understood this fact. Also they understood that this win isn’t very easy to make. Maestro Sergey Smagin offered me…a draw here. That Sunday I knew that on Saturday he took part in heavy funereal events, and I have solved to stop the fight this moment to don’t make him a sport pain which could be dangerous for his health, it maybe. His funereal pain was also my pain (IM Eldar K. Mukhametov, R.I.P.), that is why you can see my black mourning tape on the photo that day.

Nevertheless, this my draw is almost a win.

Finally, let me show you some photos from this simultaneous exhibition.