1.c4 c5
2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.d4 d5 5.Nf3 cxd4 6.exd4 Bb4
A fairly
circuitous move order has led the players into a fairly common
position from openings such as the Nimzo, Panov-Botvinnik or Queen's
Gambit. I'd be curious to know if my opponent was happy and
comfortable with the position we arrived at. I certainly was, as
this was actually one of the positions I was trying to steer him into.
7.cxd5
Nxd5 8.Bd2
It is also
quite reasonable to play 8.Qc2 as played against me by J. Shahade a
few weeks earlier in the league's season. White achieved a
comfortable position in that game, but I have always favored Bd2 a
bit, and thus am also more comfortable with it. After some
thought, I decided to stick to it.
8...0-0
9.Bd3 Nc6 10.0-0 Be7
In this
position, I was quite convinced that I correctly remembered a3 here
being the main move. However, I figured some of the main Black
moves that are possible next are Bf6, Nf6, or Qb6, all menacing the
d4-pawn. So I had to figure out what I was going to do about
that on the next move... and I did not see anything really appealing
after a3 Bf6. I looked and looked but could not come up with a
good path for White (see note to next move). When you don't see
what to do with what you know to be the "best move" in a position, it
usually does not make sense to play it. After all, two minutes
later, after your opponent has played the most obvious reply, Bf6, do
you expect that suddenly, the basis for your last move will come to
you? A move is only as good as the position you can see yourself
achieving with it. Thus, better to play a second best move where
you have an idea to follow. Which is what I did with...
11.Qe2
11.a3 Bf6
12.Ne4 This is the move I focused on in trying to make a3 work
out, as it has the right feel to it: White goes towards the black
kingside, and has ideas of weakening the dark squares by trading on f6
if Black plays g6.
But I could
not justify the pawn sac in the following line: 12.Be3 just does not
have the right feel to me. Black could trade on e3 for the
bishop pair at some point. also if Black just continues developing for
now, the Be3 is not amazing. It seems to me the white pieces
need to try to assume somewhat more threatening posts if White is to
gain any advantage in this variation.
For those
who are really interested in theory, I looked into a database after
the game, as I often do, to see what stronger players had done in the
same position, and I found the following idea: 12.Qc2 h6 (I would not
play 12...g6 13.Bh6 does have the right feel for White: after bg7 he
leaves Black with somewhat weak dark squares and does not have to find
a defense for his d4 pawn. After Re8, he can probably play
r(either)d1 and indirectly defend the pawn, thus avoiding any
sub-active moves.) 13.Be3 this is definitely a slight improvement on
Be3 straight away, as now it is harder for Black to play g6 and Bg7
tucking away the nice f6-bishop, because he has already made the h6
move weakening the kingside. however, I'm still not overly excited
about what White has done.) 12...Bxd4 (12...Nxd4 13.Nxf6+ Nxf6 14.Bb4
Nxf3+ 15.Qxf3 Re8 16.Rad1) 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Ng5 f5 Here I don't
feel White has enough compensation without showing something a little
more concrete, and I did not see it...
11...Ndb4
If there is
a downside to Qe2, it is probably this move. I have to imagine
that Wilson was brimming with confidence after winning so many games
(it takes several less than that to get me into confident mode), and
so I definitely expected him to play the move which looks to refute
Qe2. Here, White's important light-squared bishop is menaced
with a trade, and the important d4 pawn is also attacked. If you
were White, which would you rather keep? If you lose the bishop,
you have lost your best piece, and you lack punch to make threats and
demonstrate the kind of activity that will compensate for your
isolated pawn. You're asking for suffering, and there is a high
probability of losing. If you lose the pawn, Black will have
spent time putting his knight on b4 and snacking the pawn. You
will be ahead in development, have aggressive long-range bishops in an
open position, and be the first to place rooks on the fairly clear c-
and d-files. That should sound a lot more promising.
12.Be4
After some
thought I concluded that the bishop might in fact be good aimed at the
queenside from e4, as the queenside would be fairly open if black took
on d4, and White might have nice play in that direction (see
12...Nd4.) The best looking move might be (especially to a
king-oriented player) 12.Bb1, keeping open the possibility of Qe4 and
mate on h7. Ok, cool, but is the Ra1 feeling ok about this?
Actually this move doesn't work out because it prevents Rb1, and the
Nb4 is one of Black's tactical weaknesses if he takes the pawn:
12...Nxd4 13.Nxd4 Qxd4 14.Nb5 Qxb2. Of course White's rook is
not in any danger, but it's in this position that White desperately
wants to play Rb1. And the hidden attack of the Qb2 on Qe2
restricts White's bishop from moving. It's hard for White to
come up with anything good here as 15.Qe4 (and 15.Qh5 g6 ; White might
need to bail with 15.Bxh7+ Kxh7 16.Rfb1 Qf6 17.Bxb4 Bxb4 18.Qe4+ Kg8
19.Qxb4 Bd7 however this also just basically leaves him down a pawn
with minimal comp) 15...f5 don't work.
12...f5
12...Nxd4
13.Nxd4 Qxd4 Here I had a feeling that one of two moves would be
the right one. Either 14.Nb5 (or 14.Rfd1 which was harder for me
to calculate out anything precise about 14...Qf6 15.Be3 again, White
seems ok-ish to me. During the game choosing between these two
directions seemed quite hard to me. Now I think I feel a
perceptible preference for this position, but yeah, it's hard to say.)
14...Qb6 15.Be3 Qa6 16.Rfd1 White seems to have nice board
control. Probably Black will soon just plop the knight on d5 and
sac back the pawn to get his light-squared bishop out, with fair
chances. (16.Bxh7+ this combination doesn't work: 16...Kxh7
17.Qh5+ Kg8 18.Nc7 Qd6 )
13.Bb1
Now White
can move the bishop to the a2-g8 diagonal, and it will be a bit soft,
providing some extra comp for the pawn Black will now definitely
capture (what else is Black doing?). White had the option of
trading off his light-squared bishop to preserve his pawn, and it's
better than before, but I still hoped for more. Maybe being a
little overoptimistic in thinking I had more, and too dogmatic about
not parting with my great piece, but see for yourself the trade-off
option: 13.Bxc6 Nxc6 14.Rfd1 Nxd4 else White will probably just be a
bit better with d5 and bf4 and nd5 and rac1 moves coming. 15.Nxd4 Qxd4
16.Bg5 Qc5 Here I wanted to continue with 17.Rd5?! (a blander
but more reasonable continuation is 17.Na4 Qb4 18.a3 Qxa4 19.Bxe7 Re8
20.Rac1 with White doing fine and having some chances of achieving an
advantage) 17...exd5 18.Bxe7 Qc4 19.Bxf8 Qxe2 20.Nxe2 Kxf8 21.Nf4
But this is definitely no better for White, even if it's 'clever'.
13...Nxd4
14.Nxd4 Qxd4 15.a3 Nc6
I did not
expect to see 15...Nd5 16.Nxd5 Qxd5 17.Ba2 with a clear (though maybe
small) plus for White who will recover the sac'd pawn at his leisure,
and hopefully have some use of the open file(s) that he will control
at that point.
16.Ba2
Qe5?!
I expected
16...Kh8 17.Rad1 and did not have a clear evaluation in mind for the
position that was arising. I felt reasonably confident that
White has at least enough, and some chance that it would emerge that
white could gain the upper hand (or that my opponent would not find
the most precise way to solve black's development problems.)
17.Qxe5
This simple
exchange grants White an advantage in the ending, at no pawn cost.
At minimum I could already see White taking on e6 with his knight and
forcing Black to part with the bishop pair, leaving White with a
small, stable advantage for the long-term. And I knew that
something even better might come along, as I had several ways to
preserve tension a bit longer.
17...Nxe5
18.Nb5+/- Bd7
I barely
spent any time dismissing the only Black attempt to guard the e6-pawn:
18...Kf7 19.Nc7 Rb8 20.Rfe1 this looks great. the black king is a bit
in harm's way.
19.Nc7
Rad8
Already I
was having trouble coming up with variations that looked very
reasonable for Black e.g.: 19...Rac8 20.Nxe6 Rf6 21.Bg5 (ouch!)
20.Bc3
A move which
obviously improves White's position in advance of taking the e6 pawn.
Just taking did not offer all that much as Black might get the knight
to d3. It's nice to chase it somewhere less dangerous while d3
is not sustainable.
20.Nxe6 Bxe6
21.Bxe6+ Kh8 22.Bc3 Nd3 This is obviously not bad for White, but
it wasn't very exciting either.
20...Nc6
21.Bxe6+
See?
The original idea was that at least White could always take on e6 and
nab the bishop pair. But as White's pieces have improved,
something concrete has come along: the possibility to trade bishops
and outpost a knight on e6 which will gain control of the d-file for
White by attacking the d8-square. I think White can win from
here, so Black would need an improvement on Nc6 to provide better
resistance-- no easy task.
21...Kh8
21...Bxe6
22.Nxe6 wins an exchange.
22.Rad1
Bc8
22...Bxe6
23.Nxe6 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Rg8 25.Rd7 is the same picture as the game.
White must
win; if 22...Be8 one good option is 23.Rxd8 Bxd8 24.Nxe8 Rxe8 25.Bxf5
23.Bxc8
23...Rxc8?!
I thought
(and still think) that better would be 23...Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Rxc8 25.Ne6
Bf6 26.Bxf6 gxf6 The remaining rook being on the open c-file
makes it harder for White to go after Black's pawns as quickly (back
rank mate and Rc2 ideas). Still White looks likely to win to me.
27.Kf1.
24.Ne6+-
Now White
gets e6 for the knight, and d7 for the rook; Black is also tied down
further by the burden of defending g7.
24...Rg8
25.Rd7 b5
No, Black is
not just saving his pawn. He wants to play a5 and then b4,
knocking your bishop off the good diagonal. then he'll continue to
untangle with Bf6 (defending g7 solidly) and Rg-anywhere.
Suddenly the game will be about level. White absolutely needs to
prevent this.
26.Rb7 a6
I was still
focusing on calculating the consequences of Black playing 26...Bf6 in
every line, freeing his game at the cost of huge weaknesses to his
kingside pawn structure. Here I saw that after 27.Bxf6 gxf6
28.Rxb5 Rge8 29.Nf4 Nd4 30.Rd5 Rcd8 31.Rd1 would seal it; also no use
is 26...Rb8 27.Rc7 Rgc8 28.Rxc8+ Rxc8 29.Nxg7 wins White two pawns.
27.Rd1
Another rook
to d7?
27...Rb8
28.Rc7 Rgc8 29.Rdd7
Another rook
to d7!
29...Bd8
Not much
else to do.
30.Rxg7
Ok, it's
forced mate now.
30...Bxc7
31.Rxc7+ 1-0
Final Position
