Jose Chau-Lee (1741) - Mike Splane (2257)

Kolty Chess Club February 7, 2008

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3

Last week Levitan played 3. e3 against me, and we transposed into the Panov Bottvinnik attack in the Caro Kann, I was hoping to get a chance to apply the lessons I learned from that game.

3. … g6 4. Nc3 cd 5. Nd4 Bg7

Now if 6 g3 I’ll play 6. … d5

6. e4 d6

I briefly considered castling, hoping to lure the e pawn forward where it may become a weakness. The move I played is safer and gets me into positions I understand very well.

7. Be2 0-0

I was a bit concerned that he might push the h pawn, but that plan seems awfully slow.

8. Be3 Nc6

Now he has to decide what he wants to do with the kingside pawns. He can play for a solid center with f3, for space with h3 and f4, or for an attack with h4. By castling he eliminates the third alternative.

9. 0-0 a6

My queen may want to go to c7, and I’d like to break his grip on the center with … b7-b5.

10. h3 Bd7

After the game Jose thought he should have played 10. f3 shoring up his center. I also thought h3 was a weak move, and so I decided to play a few quiet moves to see if he would weaken a few more squares. The idea behind the bishop move is to trade on d4 then play …b5 at some point.

11. Rb1 Re8

As White I would have played 11. Rc1 and 12. b3 to restrict Black’s queenside counter-play, and then pushed my kingside pawns.

My rook to e8 is a flexible move with several ideas. First, guarding e7 is useful in some lines where he tries to post a knight on d5. Second. I may decide to play …e6, … Qe7, ...Qf8 a fairly standard idea against the Maroczy bind. Third, I may want to play … e5, weakening the d6 square. In that case I want to have the f8 square available for my bishop. Fourth, I want him to play b2-b4, which weakens the c-file.

I also looked at 11. … Nd4 12. Bd4 b5 13. cb ab, but didn’t see anything constructive for me to do after 14. a3.

12. b4 Rc8 13. f3

This makes sense, strengthening his center, although it does weaken squares around his king. I thought about the Nf6-h5-g3 idea, but was afraid it would take too long; I have o worry about b4-b5

13. … Ne5 14. c5!

I was looking forward to 14. Qb3 Qc7 15. Nd5 Nd5 16. cd Qc3 followed by 17…. Qb3 trading queens and 18. … Nc4. I have no weaknesses and he has too many squares to defend. I didn’t even look at his move.

14. … dc 15. bc Qa5

Not 15. … Rc5? 16. Ne6! winning the exchange.

16. Nb3!

Another shocker. At first I thought he had simply hung the knight.

16. … Qc3!

I can’t retreat, if 16. … Qc7 17. f4 Nc6 18. e5 Nh5 19. Bh5 gh is great for White. At first sight, it looks like 17. Bd2 traps my queen, but I escape after 17. … Nf3+ 18. Bf3 Qe5.

17. Bd4 Qb5

I can’t play to win a pawn with 17. … Nf3+ 18. Bf3 Qb4 because of 19. Bf6 Bf6 20. Qd7, so White recovers his material.

18. Be5 Bd6

Threatening both to take over the d file, and to win the c pawn by capturing the knight. White correctly decides he has to trade queens to save the pawn.

19. Qd4 Qa3

The idea is simply 20. … Bb3 and 21. … Qc5, but not 20. … Qa2? 21. Rb2 Qb3 22. Ra1.

20. Qa2 Qa2 21. Rb2

The right recapture, guarding the a2 pawn so the knight can move.

21. … Red8

Setting a diabolical trap, which he falls right into.

22. Nd4? Rc5!

This looks like a blunder. He doubles my pawns and then wins both my queenside pawns, but I had seen much further.

23. Ne6 fe 24. Bf6?

Loses outright. He had to play 24. f5 b5 25. Bf3 Rc4 26.Rfe1 Rd3 when Black still has some work to do. To be fair, he was getting a little low on time.

24. … Bf6

There is no defense. Black doubles rooks on c2 and d2 and either mates or wins major material.

25. Rb7 Rd2 26. Ba6

Nothing saves him.

If 26 Re1 Bh4.

If 26. Rf2 Bd4

If 26. Bd1 Rc1 27. Bb3 Bd4+

If 26. Bd1 Rc1 27. Be2 Rcc2

If 26. Kf2 Ra2 with the follow-up Rcc2 and Bc3

26. … Rcc2

Now there is no defense to the mate.

27. Rfb1 Rg2+ 28. Kf1 Rcf2+ 29. Ke1 Bc3+

0-1 He doesn’t wait to be shown 30. Kd1 Rg1+ 31. Bf1 Rgf1#