Jamaica’s Elliott annotates key win

Jamaica’s Warren Elliott sent in a nice miniature against fellow FM Bengt Hammar of Sweden. The game came out of a Najdorf where Hammar played the suspect 6…Nbd7. Generally black plays 6…e6 and 7…Qc7 keeping a watchful eye on the e6-square that often becomes the target of sacrifices (with knights, bishops and rooks).

Hammar, a strong correspondence player, ventured into familiar terrain as he had played this variation a few times, but perhaps did not check the Elliott’s 14.Nf5!? which actually is a logical choice given black’s centralized king. The game ventured into a tactical battle where black was only a castle away from escaping. Perhaps 14…O-O was called for. Nevertheless, an exciting game!