William Johns (1740) Mike Splane (2239)
Kolti Chess Club April
24, 2008
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 c5 3.
Nc3
I’ve never seen this before, but it is not a novelty.
3. … cd 4. Qd4
If 4. Nd4 I push center pawns with tempos.
4. … Nc6 5. Qa4!
I found this position in three games in chesslab.com’s database. From a6 the queen exerts an annoying pin on the c6 knight, and controls the center. Black won two games out of three, but none of the games refuted Whites idea.
5. … g6 (?)
This is a novelty, and a bad one. I thought for 5 minutes here to decide on a development plan. I wanted to play 5. … d5 to prevent e4, but it doesn’t work. Another idea is to kick the queen with a6 and b5 but I need to prepare this because of the pin on the a-pawn. I decided to play for a dragon structure and to pursue a minority attack on the queenside, but the plan is too slow. If I ever reach this position again, I will not capture on d4.
6. e4
d6 7. Nd5!
I like this idea. I was expecting/afraid of 7. e5 de 8. Ne5 Qd6 9. Nc6 bc when I thought the open lines would compensate for the isolated pawn.
7. … Bg7 8. c3 !
This time I was expecting 8. Bg5 e6 9. Nf6 Bf6 10. Bf6 Qf6 when I thought I was ok. His pawn move effectively restricts my best
minor pieces.
8. … 0-0 9. Nf6+ Bf6
I seriously considered 9. … ef. I wasn’t sure if that favored me, and I thought the minority attack plan would give me a risk-free edge.
10. Bf4 ?
I think this was one of only two bad move he played, outside of the blunder at the end. It turns the initiative over to me and lets me create a kingside pawn weakness. I was expecting 10. Bh6 when he can push the h pawn if I move the rook. I thought this plan was too slow for him with his king in the center. If I was White here I would have continued developing my kingside.
10. … Qb6 11. Qc2 Bg4 12.
Be2 Rfc8
The other rook is needed to defend the a pawn. I’m threatening 13 …. Bf3 14. Bf3 Nd4, so he needs to get out of the pin.
13. Qd2 Na5 14. 0-0 Bf3
14. … Nc5 is also possible, but I didn’t want to let him push the e pawn.
15. gf Nc4
16. Bc4 Rc4
17. Be3 Qc6
I felt very comfortable here. I have a ready made minority
attack, and if that doesn’t work I can try to take advantage of his weakened
kingside. Somehow I managed to make a mess of this position. This is probably
the first mistake, the queen belongs on c7. The funny thing is, if he didn’t have the
kingside weaknesses I would have carried out the minority attack and won
simply. I was just too distracted by the kingside.
18. Rad1
If he puts the bishop on d4 I’ll trade it off. Recaptures with the pawn give me the only open file. Recaptures with the rook give my rooks access to the c5 square where they can quickly be transferred to the kingside.
18
. … a5 19. Qd5 a4?
My idea is to play Qc7 Ra5 Rh5 Qc8 and attack on the kingside. Unfortunately, pushing the a-pawn kills the minority attack.
20. a3 Qc7
21. Bb6
The only move but a good one. This costs me several tempos to regroup.
21. … Qc8 22. Rfe1 Rc6 23. Qb5 Ra6
I originally intended, 22. … Qh3, trading the b pawn for the f pawn. Then I got greedy.
24. Bb3 b6 ?
Throwing away everything by being impatient. The right plan is 24. … Qa8 25 Rd5 e6 26. Rd2 Ra5 followed by Rh5. The pawn is just too weak here.
25. Qf1 !
Totally missed this idea as well as at
least a half dozen of his other moves. It’s a miracle I won this game. Now he can
block the fifth rank.
25. … Ra5 26. Rd5 Rd5 27. ed Rc4
28. Bb6
He can’t allow me to play 28 …. b5
when he has no compensation for his weak pawns.
28. … Rf4
A spectator suggested 28. … Rh4 I thought that was a good idea too, but I wanted to make sure to regain my material.
29. Qg2 ?
The queen is misplaced here. If 29 Bd4 Qf5 and my position is rock solid.
29. … Rf5 30. Be3
Of course I was hoping for 30. Qg4?? Rg5
30. … Rd5 31. Qg4 Rf4 !
I don’t have any real ideas here; I’m just waiting for him to do something stupid. I looked at 31. … Qb8 32. but after 32. Qa4 Qb2 33. Bh6! my weak back rank could cause real problems. I was hoping he would play 32. Qa4 Rf3 33. Bh6 Rh3 34. Be3 Rh4 35 Q moves Qh3.
32. Qe4 Kg7
Now I’m ready to go after some pawns.
33. Rd1 Rh5 34. Qg4 Qb7 35. Rd2 Rh4
This looked very good, restricting the queen, but the rook is nor safe here. I should continue my waiting policy and play … h6.
36. Qg3 Qb5
Threatening to go to h5
37. Bd4 e5 38. Be3 d5
This is a classic case of a common psychological error. You force your opponent to make a move, and you miss the threats that result. He spent the whole game avoiding a bishop trade, so it wasn’t even on my radar.
39. Bg5 !
I don’t think I have much advantage left after the bishops come off. If I had played …h6 before embarking on this plan he would be defenseless against the threat of 39 … d4
39. … Rh5 40. Bf6+ Kf6 41. f4
I spent some time looking at capturing this pawn, but it’s just too dangerous. By now we were both running short of time. I had about ten minutes to his three.
41. … e4 42. h4 Rf5
43. Kh2
Qc8 44. Kg2
If 44. Rd4
Rf4 45. Ra4 Rf2+ wins. I make a waiting move to see what he will do.
Frankly I was hoping for a blunder in his time pressure.
44. … h6 45. Rd4 Qb5?
Still making waiting moves. I
should just capture the b pawn. I completely missed his next move.
46. Rb4
And now he has counterplay. I was not sure the game was still won for me, his queenside pawns look very threatening if the queens come off.
46. … Qc6 47. Qe3 Kg7 48. Rb6 Qc7 49. Qd4+ Kh7 50. Ra6 Qf4 51. Ra8 Re5
Probably a mistake. Alex Levitan recommended 51. … Qf3+ 52 Kf1 Rf6. This make sense because the rook is kept active, with the threat of 53. … e3. White can play 53. Kg1 when I didn’t see what to do next. After the game, I was able to see that he has no defense if I push my g and h pawns.
I played the rook to e5 to set two traps, 52 … Qf3+ 53. Kf1
Qd3+ 54. Qd3 ed 55. Ra4 d2 55. Rd5 Re1+ and the blunder he
actually made.
52. Re8 Re8
What pin? He saw the blunder the instant his hand released the rook.
I won this game because I put constant pressure on his position
and eventually ran him out of time. By no means was this a perfect game, but it
was a good struggle.
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