Mike Splane (2205) - Alok Singh (1804)

Kolti Chess Club June 5, 2008

Alok was 15 minutes late for the start of the game. I think this affected his play; he played several moves at a rapid pace.

1. e4 d5

I have done very little opening preparation against this, yet somehow I win every time I face it. I took comfort in that knowledge.

2. ed Qd5 3. Nc3

I may switch to playing 3. d4, 4. Nf3 and 5. c4 working with White’s control of space. The 3. Nc3 line relies on piece activity. It also sets up a tactic, sometimes White can play b4 followed by Rb1. Notice that my pawn has to stay on d2 for this tactic to work.

3. … Qa5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bg4

This pin is a bit annoying. I spent a few minutes looking at tactics involving the Bf7+ sacrifice, but they don’t lead anywhere. I decided to castle with the aim of bringing a rook to e1 and playing d2-d4-d5 to open the file.

6. 0-0 e6 7. d4 Bb4

There’s only one game with this opening in Chesslab.com’s database. After 8. Bd2 Bc3 9. Bc3 Qh5 Black was worse, but eventually eked out a draw.

8. h3

At this point I had used 14 minutes to his 3. This move is a significant improvement on the Chesslab game. The idea is to take the h5 square away from his queen.

8. … Bc3 ??

Gives me 4 tempos! After 8. … Bf3 9. Qf3 c6 he has some problems, I have space and the two bishops, but it’s still a game. Now he loses material by force.

9. gh Bd6

9. … Qb4 10. Bb3 and I win a piece

10. c3 Bd6 11. b4 Qc6 12. g5 Nfd7

Alok thought this was the losing move. He was clearly overestimating his position.

If 12. … Ne4 13. Qd3 is crushing.

If 12. … Ng4 13. Qe2 (threatens Be6, Qe6+, and Qg4) 13. … 0-0 14. Qe4 with a wining attack.

If 12. … Ng8 13. Be3 with checking/pinning possibilities for White on the b5-e8 diagonal.

13. Be3 Qc6

After 13. … c6 14. d5 he loses the e pawn and can’t possibly survive. White’s lead in development and the opening of lines is too much to cope with.

14. Qd3

I looked at 14. Qb3 Nb6 15. Be6 but there is no need to sacrifice anything. He’s so tied up that he is bound to lose material soon. As Tartakower said, sacrifice your opponent’s pieces, not your own.

14. … e5

Not sure why he played this, but the position has been hopeless for several moves.

15. d5 Qa4 16. Bb5

Alok thought for a long time here before resigning. Obviously the queen is lost after 16. … Qa3 17. Bc1. I’m afraid I was a bit of a bad sport and left the board to look at some other games that were in progress instead of sitting and waiting for him to resign.

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