Saturday 18 January 2014

An old but interesting game, and an update on book sales!

Since I woke up unusually early today, I thought it will be interesting to run through some of my old games with Houdini 4 and correct some of my old analysis. I retrieved one game which I remember being very proud of after it was played and I thought I'll share it with my readers.

The game in question is not in the databases and featured an important win at the Caissa IM tournament, Kecskemet, in 2007 where I obtained my 2nd IM norm. A game that I liked (ChessBase 12)

[Event "Caissa IM Tournament"] [Site "?"] [Date "2007.05.24"] [Round "6"] [White "Jesper Morck Lauridsen"] [Black "Goh Wei Ming, Kevin"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B43"] [WhiteElo "2293"] [BlackElo "2375"] [Annotator "Goh,Wei Ming, Kevin"] [PlyCount "118"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 {The Sicilian Kan and the French defence were my 2 main defences against 1.e4 in the past.} 5. Nc3 (5. Bd3 {is the other big mainline in the Sicilian Kan and here, I favored and have played both} Bc5 6. Nb3 Be7 ({and} 6... Ba7)) 5... b5 (5... Qc7 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. O-O Bc5 8. Nb3 Be7 {is the other mainline.}) 6. Bd3 Qb6 {Diverting the d4 knight to a less active square is a common motif in the Sicilian Kan.} 7. Nb3 (7. Nf3 $1 { is critical but that's another story.}) 7... Qc7 8. O-O Nc6 9. f4 d6 10. Qe2 Nf6 11. Bd2 Be7 12. Rae1 O-O {Both sides have continued extremely logically. White's plan is typically centred around the line-opening e4-e5 while Black will go on the offensive on the queenside with ...b5-b4 and ...a5-a4. An alternate plan for White involves aggressive g2-g4-g5 ideas although I'm normally quite happy to see this as my b7 bishop will be a dangerous piece for me.} 13. Kh1 (13. e5 dxe5 14. fxe5 Nd7 15. Bf4 Bb7 {was my idea and I didn't see a concrete way for White to proceed with his attack.}) 13... Bb7 14. Rf3 { [%cal Gf3h3] Played with the obvious idea of Rh3 followed by e5, winning on the spot. Such rook lifts are typical in the Sicilian although Black's position is often resilient enough to withstand such caveman attacks.} g6 { Closing the door on White's light square bishop.} 15. Rh3 b4 16. Nd1 Rfe8 { [%cal Ge7f8,Gf8g7,Ge8e1] Discouraging any f4-f5 ideas and preparing Be7-f8-g7 which is a typical manoeuvre in the Sicilian Scheveningen/Kan complex.} 17. Ne3 {This keeps the possibilities of Ng4, exchanging a key defensive piece, or Nc4 where White gains control over some key squares. During the game, I thought this was logical but it turned out that the temporary loss of control over the e4 square was more critical than I thought.} (17. Nf2 $5 Bf8 (17... a5 18. c3 a4 19. Nd4 $1 Nxd4 20. cxd4 {is the point, when e4 is now defended. Still, Black seems fine after} Qb6 {,with a complicated position.}) 18. Ng4 Nxg4 19. Qxg4 Bg7 20. c3 a5 21. Qh4 h5 22. Qg3 {with complex play seems better.}) 17... a5 $1 18. c3 a4 $1 19. Nc1 a3 $1 {Black managed to gain several tempi and since I had the chance to break White's queenside early, I should take it! However, I had to calculate the consequences of the following exchange sacrifice.} 20. bxa3 Rxa3 21. Nc4 bxc3 $1 {An extravagant exchange sacrifice where Black didn't even gain a pawn for it. I was a little bit nervous going into this sequence as there was no immediate win and I was counting on the activity of my minor pieces to generate enough play. I also understood that Black's compensation lies in the discoordinated pieces but this was a temporary weakness and I had to stop White from consolidating at all costs.} ( 21... Rxc3 22. Bxc3 bxc3 {was also possible but I liked the idea of pushing the white knight to c3 so that I gain a tempo with the liberating ...d5.}) ({ I didn't consider the retreat} 21... Raa8 {due to the obvious} 22. cxb4 {but even here, Black gains an excellent position with} d5 $1) 22. Nxa3 cxd2 (22... Nd4 $1 23. Qd1 cxd2 24. Qxd2 d5 {may be more accurate.}) 23. Qxd2 d5 24. Nc2 $6 {This handed a permanent advantage to Black although it seems like he gets a complicated game with sufficient compensation in every scenario:} (24. e5 $2 Bxa3 25. exf6 Bb4 26. Qf2 Bxe1 27. Qxe1 Qxf4 $19) (24. Nb5 $1 {may be best.} Qb6 25. e5 (25. exd5 Bb4 $1 (25... Nxd5 26. f5 $1) 26. Qb2 Nxd5 $44) 25... Ng4 26. Rf1 Nb4 $13) 24... dxe4 25. Bxe4 Bd6 $5 {During the game, I was very happy with this move but the powerful engine demonstrated} (25... Nxe4 26. Rxe4 Na5 $1 27. Re1 Nc4 28. Qf2 Nd6 $1 {[%cal Gd6e4,Gd6f5] A truly extraordinary and creative manoeuvre!}) 26. Qc3 $2 {After this, White's game went downhill very quickly.} ({Keeping 1 bishop with} 26. Bf3 {was crucial to White's defence, for example,} Bxf4 27. Qc3 Be5 28. Qc4 {with counterplay. This was also why 25. ..Nxe4, mentioned in the previous note was much stronger.}) 26... Nxe4 27. Rxe4 Rc8 $1 {Taking advantage of White's awkwardly placed pieces on the c-file. This move opened up numerous tactical ideas which was hardly easy to defend against in a practical game.} ({My opponent expected the materialistic} 27... Bxf4 {which I rejected on account of} 28. Nd3 Bg5 29. Nc5 {which unnecessarily allows White's pieces to be somewhat activated. Still, I prefer Black here but White would have something more to play for.}) 28. Nb3 (28. Rc4 Ba6 {was an important detail. Black's domination down the c-file was very critical and this cannot be compromised.}) 28... Ne7 $1 {I was initially reluctant to trade queens as I was still an exchange down here (with no extra pawns) but my doubts quickly dissipated when I saw that the f4 pawn will soon be lost and it would be virtually impossible to restrict the activity of Black's bishop pair and active knight. This was one of those rare cases where the minor pieces simply work better than the rooks despite the presence of several open files.} 29. Qxc7 Rxc7 30. Re2 Nd5 31. Rf3 {Returning the exchange after which White no longer had any chances.} (31. Rd2 Bxf4 32. Rf2 e5 33. Ne1 e4 {would have been also quite gloomy for White but at least some accuracy from the second player would still have been required.}) 31... Nxf4 32. Rd2 Bxf3 33. gxf3 Be5 34. Kg1 Bc3 35. Rd8+ Kg7 36. Na3 Bb4 37. Nb5 Rc2 {Winning a second pawn and the game.} 38. a3 Rb2 39. axb4 Rxb3 40. Nd6 Rxb4 41. Rd7 Rb1+ 42. Kf2 Rb2+ 43. Kf1 Rb1+ 44. Kf2 Nd3+ 45. Kg2 Ne5 46. Ra7 Rb6 47. Ne8+ Kf8 48. Nf6 Rb2+ 49. Kg3 h5 50. f4 Rb3+ 51. Kg2 Ng4 52. Nh7+ Kg8 53. Ng5 Nh6 54. Ra8+ Kg7 55. Ra7 Kf6 56. Nf3 Rb4 57. h3 Rxf4 58. Kg3 g5 59. Rxf7+ $5 Nxf7 {This important win eventually led to my 2nd IM norm.} 0-1

I've sold several books since my last advert - here's the latest update on available books. PM me if you are keen:


                        The entire "Openings for White according to Anand" up till Volume 13 is available


                                    I don't think anyone is interested in the Master Tax Guide?





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