Andrew Yeh (1627) - Mike Splane (2257)

Kolty Chess Club July 12, 2007

1 e4 e6 2. d4 c5

I like this move order to get into the Sicilian. It avoids the closed Sicilian, and a couple of sidelines: 3. Bb5 and 4. Qd4

3. Nf3 cd 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 a6 7. Bd3 Nc6

IIRC this is the wrong location for the knight. I think Black’s plan against Bd3 is to play e5, b5, Bb7, Nbd2 and Nc5, putting pressure on the e4 pawn. Once again I am betrayed in the opening by my lazy reluctance to study book lines.

After writing this note I looked it up. Next time I’ll know the correct plan. The plan above is good against 7. Bc4, not 7. Bd3.

8. 0-0 Be7 9. Qe2 e5

This move, weakening d5, is bad. I should only play it after he plays f4, in order to secure the e5 square for my pieces if he exchanges.

10. Nb3 Be6

I really am clueless this game. All this bishop does here is facilitate its exchange. Black should be castling. The right plan is to provoke a3 or a4, then swap the b pawn for the a pawn. Black then gets good pressure down the b file, and can safely trade the knight for bishop on d3. The bishop belongs on c8 to guard the a6 pawn. Of course I’ve already weakened the d5 square, so I have to improvise a defense somehow. If my the knight on c6 was on d7 I could’ve played Bb7.

11. Rad1 b5

I wanted to avoid 12. Bc4, but the cure is worse than the disease. If I had this position again I would play 11. … 0-0, keeping the position closed up.

12. a4!

Forcing me to relinquish control of c4, and exposing the a6 pawn as a major weakness.

12. … ba 13. Na4 Nb4 14. Ra1

I thought he was clearly better after 14. Bc4 and 15. c3. The text is less forcing, but it sets a number of traps. I have to constantly watch for a minor piece coming to b6 and creating havoc. I was glad to get the extra tempo for castling; many of my defensive attempts fail if he can check on b5 after capturing on a6.

14. … 0-0 15. Rfd1 Rb8

Threatening … Nc2, and preventing Nb6 or Bb6.

16. Nd2 Ng4 17. Nc4 Qe8

This one requires an explanation. When I played 16 Nc4 I thought I would have a nice positional advantage after 17. … Nd3 18. Qd3 Bc4 19. Qc4 Ne3 20. fe. Now I examined this line and decided that White could easily post his knight on d5, when the invulnerable outpost would give him the edge. I have a bad bishop to go with weak pawns on a6 and d6. A master would win as White from that position. I could have tried trading both my knights for his two bishops, but again I was worried about the weakness on d5. I decided to keep the position complicated. With my knight aggressively posted on g4, it would be useful to have my queen on the h-file, so I was planning to eventually push the f pawn and swing my queen to h5. With his army tied up on the queen side I thought I could create winning threats.

18. Bd2

I didn’t see this move, and I lost my composure for a couple of moves. My knight is now a tactical liability.

18. … Nc6

There was no reason to retreat the knight. Of course he won’t allow it to come to d4.

19. c3 d5 ??

This is a classic case where you analyze 2-3 candidate moves, don’t like any of them, and then play a move you haven’t even considered. Of course this move was playable with the knight on b4, so I had considered it the previous move. As soon as I let go of the pawn I saw that I was losing a piece. And my opponent didn’t take long to spot it either. He gave me an odd look, half gloating, half pitying.

20. ed f5 21. de e4

Of course he can take the pawn with his bishop, in which case I would sac my knight on f2. I knew my only hope was to somehow get at his king and the trades would open some lines.

22. Bc2 Qc8

The only way I could see to attack his king was to get my queen on the b8-h2 diagonal, via c7. Of course he can prevent this with 23. Bf4 when my position is hopeless. Instead, he falls into a common failing of developing players. They often seeks to win more material when already ahead in material, and neglect king safety. He spots 23. Nb6 followed by forking the rooks, or the capture of the a6 pawn.

23. Nb6 Rb6 24. Nb6 Qc7 25. Qa6

The only move to both stop mate and protect the knight, and it also wins material. It was safer to stop the capture on h2 and give up the knight.

25. … Qh2+ 26. Kf1

At this point I became extremely nervous, and couldn’t organize my thoughts. I knew I had to calmly analyze this position, since accurate moves were needed to ensure that his king didn’t get away, but I just couldn’t sit still. Perhaps I should have gotten up and gone for a drink of water to calm my nerves.

26. … Qh1+ 27. Ke2 Qg2 28. Rf1

He doesn’t fall for 28. Be1 Qf3+ 29. Kd2 Bg5+

28. …. Qf3+

I didn’t want to play this move, but it is needed to keep his king from escaping to the queenside. His queen is guarding the rook on f1.

29. Ke1

I wrote 29. … Nce5 on my scoresheet, thinking that after 30. … Nd3+ 31. ed there is no defense to mate on e2. Then I saw 29. … Nce5 30. Qe2 holds everything, so I had to go a different way.

29. … e3 30. fe ??

After 30. Be3 Ne3 31. fe Qe3+ 32. Qe2 Qb6 White is up an exchange, but by now he was short of time, so it’s hard to predict the outcome.

30. … Bh4+

After31. Rf2 Bf2+ 32. Kf1. I was looking at discovered checks with my bishop, not noticing 32. … Nh2#. Maybe he saw it - he resigned here

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