This month we are examining the games of GM Hicham Hamdouchi. For a long time, GM Hamdouchi was one of the strongest players in Africa. He won the Moroccan Championship a whopping 11 times. In 2013, he won the french championship. This makes him one of the few players in the world to win in two different country championships. There are others, Gulko comes to mind as the best example (winning both the USSR and the US Championships). He currently lives in France and is still active on the tournament circuit. His FIDE rating is 2599 and he plays on ICC (handle: isham) to my knowledge we haven’t played any games.

The first game that I found was played in 1994 against GM Joel Lautier. It’s the kind of solid attacking game that I’m always looking for in these spotlights. Hamdouchi is the kind of player that finds those “impossible” moves in critical positions. In this game he sacrifices a rook on f7 and just rains down pieces on Lautier. Once Hamdouchi gets going there isn’t any stopping him.

[Event "Stars '94 Cap d'Agde Tournament FRA"][Site "05"][Date "1994.??.??"][EventDate "?"][Round "?"][Result "1-0"][White "Hichem Hamdouchi"][Black "Joel Lautier"][ECO "B47"][WhiteElo "?"][BlackElo "?"][PlyCount "55"]1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.g3 a6 7.Bg2 Nf6 8.O-O Be7 9.Be3 O-O 10.f4 d6 11.Kh1 Rb8 12.a4 Re8 13.e5 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 Nd7 15.Qg4 dxe5 16.fxe5 Bc5 17.Nd5 exd5 18.Rxf7 Bf8 19.Bxd5 Kh8 20.Raf1 Qd8 21.Qf3 Be7 22.Rxg7 Kxg7 23.Qf7+ Kh6 24.h4 Bg5 25.hxg5+ Qxg5 26.Qxe8 Qxg3 27.Qe6+ Qg6 28.Be3+ 1-0 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

This next game, is a real fun miniature that demonstrates once again how important it is to castle. Castle early and often everyone; don’t wait or terrible things can happen to you. The game ends when Hamdouchi finds a cute trick on move 19. It’s not clear to me why Simutowe didn’t play 13. … Bd7.

[Event "ch-Africa"][Site "Cairo EGY"][Date "2001.09.21"][EventDate "2001.09.16"][Round "6"][Result "1-0"][White "Hichem Hamdouchi"][Black "Amon Simutowe"][ECO "B23"][WhiteElo "2533"][BlackElo "2462"][PlyCount "37"]1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Bc4 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. O-O e6 7. Nxd4 cxd4 8. Nb5 d6 9. c3 Nf6 10. cxd4 a6 11. e5 axb5 12. exf6 Bxf6 13. Bxb5+ Kf8 14. d5 exd5 15. d4 Qb6 16. Bh6+ Kg8 17. Qf3 Bxd4 18. Rae1 Be5 19. Qf6 1-0 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

I liked this next game because it’s a good example of playing active defense. After withstanding an attack Hamdouchi goes on the offensive and launches a brilliant counter-attack. When Hamdouchi is attacking, you’re probably losing.

[Event "Athens Acropolis GM"][Site "President Hotel, Athens"][Date "2005.03.12"][EventDate "2005.03.06"][Round "7.4"][Result "0-1"][White "Dragan Solak"][Black "Hichem Hamdouchi"][ECO "B23"][WhiteElo "2596"][BlackElo "2555"][PlyCount "84"]1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nge2 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Bb3 d6 9. f3 Bd7 10. Qd2 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 b5 12. h4 a5 13. h5 e5 14. Be3 a4 15. Bd5 b4 16. hxg6 bxc3 17. Bxf7+ Rxf7 18. gxf7+ Kxf7 19. Qxc3 Be6 20. O-O-O Rc8 21. Qb4 d5 22. Bh6 Qc7 23. Qxa4 dxe4 24. fxe4 Bxh6+ 25. Rxh6 Kg7 26. Rdh1 Bxa2 27. R6h3 Bc4 28. Qa3 Kh8 29. Qf3 Qe7 30. Rh6 Rf8 31. g4 Bg8 32. g5 Nxe4 33. Qxe4 Qxg5+ 34. Kd1 Rd8+ 35. Ke2 Qd2+ 36. Kf3 Rf8+ 37. Kg3 Qf2+ 38. Kh3 Rf3+ 39. Kg4 Qg2+ 40. Kh4 Qxh1+ 41. Kg4 Qg2+ 42. Kh4 Rh3# 0-1 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

At this point it should come as no surprise that I like crazy games. In this game Hamdouchi sacrifices his queen and gets great compensation. Eventually, Tkachiev resigns as the white pawn will queen.

[Event "TOP 16 GpB"][Site "Cannes FRA"][Date "2009.03.20"][EventDate "2009.03.20"][Round "1"][Result "1-0"][White "Hichem Hamdouchi"][Black "Vladislav Tkachiev"][ECO "C91"][WhiteElo "2599"][BlackElo "2657"][PlyCount "133"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4 d6 9. c3 Bg4 10. d5 Na5 11. Bc2 c6 12. h3 Bc8 13. dxc6 Qc7 14. Nbd2 Qxc6 15. Nf1 Nc4 16. Ng3 Re8 17. a4 Be6 18. Ng5 Bd7 19. b3 Na5 20. Bd2 Qb7 21. axb5 axb5 22. Qe2 Rec8 23. Ra2 Nc6 24. Rxa8 Rxa8 25. b4 Nd8 26. Bb3 h6 27. Nf3 Ra3 28. Qd1 Bc6 29. Bc2 Ne6 30. Qc1 Qa8 31. Nh4 Bf8 32. Nhf5 Kh7 33. Ne3 g6 34. Ng4 Ng8 35. h4 h5 36. Nh2 Nf6 37. Qd1 Be7 38. Nf3 Kg7 39. Ng5 Nxg5 40. hxg5 Nh7 41. Qc1 Ra7 42. Bd3 Qd8 43. c4 bxc4 44. Qxc4 Bd7 45. f4 Rc7 46. Qd5 exf4 47. Bxf4 Nxg5 48. e5 Bc6 49. exd6 Bxd5 50. dxc7 Qa8 51. Rxe7 Ne6 52. Be5+ Kh6 53. Rxf7 h4 54. Ne4 h3 55. Nf6 Qa7+ 56. Kh2 Qa2 57. Ng4+ Kg5 58. Rf2 Qa8 59. gxh3 Bb7 60. Rf6 Qa2+ 61. Nf2 Qd5 62. h4+ Kxh4 63. Bg3+ Kg5 64. Be4 Qd7 65. Rxg6+ Kh5 66. Rxe6 Qxe6 67. Bxb7 1-0 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

Sometimes when I’m writing these articles I find games that are just too fun for me to ignore. The tactic at the end of this game is great; a sham queen sacrifice that mates the black king.