Serge Bierhuizen (1839) - Mike Splane (2205)

Kolty Chess Club May 29, 2008

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. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. f4

This is too ambitious, the f4 pawn can become weak and his king gets exposed. As White in this position I play 5. Nf3.

5. … cd 6. cd Nc6 7. Nf3 Bb4+ 8. Kf2 !

Interposing loses the f pawn, and the king is actually quite safe on f2.

8. ... a6

I thought for 18 minutes here trying to come up with a good plan. I looked at this position on ChessLab.com and found two games with the plan of … 0-0 and …f6. Black got in trouble in both games; he doesn’t have enough development to be opening lines like this.

So I switched my attention to the queenside. First I looked at sacrificing the bishop with 8. … Qb6 9. a3 Nd4 10. Nd4 Bc5 but 11. Be3 Ne3 12. Ke3 holds the piece. I also considered trying to open the center with 8. ... d6 but my pieces get shoved backwards with 9. a3 Ba5 10. b4 Bb6 11. b5 .

So 8. … a6 is correct, stopping the b2-b4-b5 plan, but I should follow it up by retreating the bishop to e7 on the next move. Then Black has easy development with b5, Bb7, Rc8 and d6.

9. a3 Qa5 ? 10. Bc4

I had intended 10…. Nce7 followed by 11. ... b5, but it's too slow. 11. Ra2 wins my bishop. 10. Nbd2 was also strong.

10. … Be7 11. Ra2

A critical loss of a tempo which gives me time to create counterplay in the center. After 11. Bd2 Qb6 12. Bd5 ed I like White’s game.

11. …. d6   12. b4 Qd8 13. g4 ?

This is a strange decision. Perhaps he was planning to take on d5 and then push the f pawn.

13. … de 14. de Qb6+ 15. Kg3

If 15 Ke2 I was going to castle, play Rd8, and fianchetto the queen bishop. His king is too exposed. I saw the bishop sacrifice idea on move 17 when I played the queen check, but didn’t completely analysis it out. It looked crushing.

15. … Ne3 16. Be3

If. 16. Qg1? Nc4 wins a piece. If 16. Qd3 Nc4 17. Qc4 Qb5! 18. Qb5 ab when both his queenside pawns are weak.

16. … Qe3 17. Re2 ?

The move I was hoping for, opening the door for a beautiful combination. 17. Re1 loses in a similar way.

17. ... Bh4+ ! 18. Kh4 Qf4!

The main threat is 19. ... h5, so he has to drive my queen away.

19. Qc1

He smiled and visibly relaxed. It looks like everything is guarded. If I take the knight my queen is trapped.

19. … Qf3 ! 20. Rf1 ?

Played almost instantly, this blunder loses a rook. He was still smiling, but when I instantly made my reply he slumped back in his seat. The only move to survive is 20. Qf1.

20. … g5+ ! 21. Qg5

Forced. King moves all lead to quick checkmate.

21. ... Qf1 22. Nd2 Qc1!

I spent a long time studying the position before deciding on this move. His only effective pieces are the queen and knight. This move pins the knight; if he moves it I’ll trade queens. To activate the knight he has to move his queen, but he doesn’t have a good square for it. On f6 it blocks the best checking square of the knight, on g7 it lets my queen get back to f4.

23. Qg7

If 23. Qf6 Rf8 24. Ne4 Ne7 25. Nd6+ Kd7 26. Nf7 Ng6+

23. … Rf8 24. Ne4 Qf4

If  25. Nf6+ Ke7  26. Ng8+ Rg8 27. Qg8 Ne5 is crushing.

If 25. Ng5 Nd4 26. Nh7 Nf5+

If 25. Bd3 Nd4 26. Rf2 Nf5+

White resigned. 0-1