Mike Splane (2258) –
David Childress (1753)
Kolty Chess Club June 6, 2007
1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nc6
I had vague recollections of our previous game and couldn’t remember the move order in the opening. I remembered that I played a premature g2-g4 and should have played f2-f4 first. When I got home after the game I saw that he played 2. … g6 in our January game, and waited on …Nc6. That is a more accurate move order, as we will soon see.
3. d4
cd
I don’t like this premature release of the central tension.
White gets a big pawn center and Black has no way to counter it. It also clears
the c file for my rook and the c3 square for my knight; Black gets no
corresponding good squares for his pieces.
4. cd g6 5. d5 Nb8
Other moves lose the knight, or put it out of play. 5… Ne5 6.f4, or 5. …
Na5 6.Qd4 Nf6 7.b4. He could try 5. … Nb4 hoping for 6. Qd4 forking his rook and
knight but falling into 6. … Nc2+. I could’ve
played 6. a3 Na6 7.
b4 Bg7 8. Ra2 putting his knight out of play and activating my rook, or
simply 7. Qd4 Nf6
8. b4.
6. Nc3
Believe it or not, I found five games in Chesslab.com’s database that reached this position. My move is a novelty. Two games went 6. Bc4, a meaningless move that was punished, three games went 6. Qd4 f6 another bad move that resulted in three wins for White. I looked extensively at 6. Qd4 Nf6 and decided that Black was ok after 7. e5 Nh5 8. g4 Ng7. There are no immediate tactical ideas, and White’s center could collapse. If 7. g4 threatening e5, then.7 … d6 is ok for Black. I felt confident in my strong pawn center, so decided to continue with simple development.
6. … d6
7. Be2 Bg7 8. Be3
My standard set up in these types of positions. The bishop on e3 can control events on both sides of the board. The bishop on e2 takes away the g4 and h5 squares, squares Black will need for his knight after White’s plan of g2-g4-g5.
8. … Nf6 9. f4
I had learned from the earlier game. Now I can answer 9. … Qa4 with 10. Bf3 without blocking my f
pawn. Then, depending on his reply, I can play either the g4 and g5
idea, or Nge2 and Nd4 followed by castling. He has zero counter-play and no
space, so this position can probably be considered to be won. In the earlier
game he had the chance to play …f6 and open the f file, when my bishop on f3 would
have been exposed to attack by his rook.
9. … 0-0
This allows the g2-g4-g5 idea. If he leaves his rook on h8 Black meet g4 with …h5. I have a plan in reserve for that idea as well.
10. g4 Bd7
The bishop is badly misplaced here. He needs the d7 square for his knights.
11. g5 Ne8 12. Qb3
I thought for quite a while before making this move. I badly wanted to attack on the kingside, and the queen is poorly posted on b3 for that plan. On the other hand, his weaknesses on the queenside are obvious and easily exploitable. I think I knew that Qb3 was the right move, but I needed to convince myself first that the h2-4-h5Xg6 plan was ineffective before making this move. One reason I didn’t like the h-pawn advance is because he will recapture on g6 with the f pawn, activating his rook.
The final consideration that made Qb3 my choice came when I asked myself what plan I would try if I was Black. I would play …e6 or …e5 challenging the center. My queen is well posted on b3 to make those ideas more dangerous for him. By guarding the b2 pawn I can recapture on d5 with my knight if he plays ….e6 and …ed.
12. … Qc8
Both 12…. Bc8 and 12. … b6 were better ideas. The queen is too exposed here.
13. Rc1 Nc7 14. Nf3
I can finally play this move without having to worry about 14. … Bg4 due to 15. Nb5 Na6 16. Ba7
14. … a6 15. h4
He is tied down on the queenside, so I want to see if he will make a blunder. It doesn’t hurt me to have this pawn advance to h4 or even h5, and it looks dangerous, so maybe I can coax an error out of him.
15. … Bg4
And here it is. This loses at least the exchange.
16. Na4 Nd7 17. Nb6
He could try 17. … Qd8 18. Na8 Na8 19. Qb7 Qa5+ 20. Kf2 Qa2 21. Qa6 Qb2 22. Rb1 Qc2 23. Qd3 but with the exchange ahead and open lines for the rooks White is clearly winning. I wasn’t sure if I would go into this. I could play 19. Kf2 when I didn’t think his queenside pawns would be safe for long. When you’re ahead the best rule of thumb is to avoid counter-play. He saved me the trouble of making a decision by resigning.
1-0