Sweep & Seal!

My university OTB season has started with a win in the first "semi-serious" game. It was played to decide who would get board 2. My opponent was ex-Welsh Champion Briant Bourne. I found this game quite tough, until my opponent allowed me to execute a pawn sacrifice known to Kotov fans as the "sealer-sweeper" manouevre

Bourne, B Vs Grange, J



1)c4 e5 2)Nc3 Bb4!? The Kramnik-Shirov counter-attack! An interesting defence to the English which I have had good results with. Sometimes Black will chop on c3 and get a position akin to the nimzo. Either way I find Black gets good activity compared to some other lines. 3)g3 d6 4)Bg2 Nc6 5)e4 this is theory, but I am always happy to see this as the d4 square becomes very sensitive. 5)...Nf6 6)Nge2 Bg4!?
My plan here was to try and reduce whites control over d4, aiming for ...Nd4 myself exchanging some pieces off. Any attempt to eject the Bishop weakens the King slightly or entombs the Bishop. 7)f3 Be6 The Bishop on g2 is temporarily entombed: a theme we shall return to! 8)d3 Nd4? Novelty
Not all novelties are worthy of an appearance in Infomator! This is a bad blunder. I was transfixed by the weakness of d4 and the inability for White to take my knight on d4 [as 9)Nxd4 exd4 wins the pinned piece - or so I though, see next note] 9)Bc5!? was much better taking more control of the important d4 sqaure. 9)O-O? It was only after white made this move that I saw he could have won a pawn with 9)Nxd4! exd4 10)Qa4+! Nd7 11)Qxb4 dxc3 12)Qxc3 +- where White has a won game. This shows an important rule I all too often forget: "When decided on a move, look at all your opponents possible checks, captures and threats". I feel I could be playing 50pts above what I am [if not more!] if I applied this logic. 9)...Nxe2+ 10)Qxe2 Bc5+ This move removes another defender of d4, as allowing the Black bishop to stay on the a7-g1 diagonal would have caused White too much of a headache! 11)Be3 Bxe3 12)Qxe3 Qd7 keeping my options open as I had not yet decided which side would be safer to castle to 13)b4!? White is obviously determined for me to go Kingside, and who am I to disagree? 13)...O-O 14)Nd5?
To me though this move was a big mistake. Any fans of Jeremy Silman out there? If there are, you may notice that I am now able to create a favourable minor-piece imbalance, namely superior knight over poor Bishop. I sat and thought this over for about 15 minutes, trying to work out which would be the better piece. Initially it seems obvious that the Black knight will be superior due to the closed nature of the position. But can white open the position? Also Black does not have a permanent home for his knight as d4 is unreachable after a capture on d5. After deep [well, as deep as I can go] contemplation, I decided that the Black Knight would indeed be the better piece. 14)...Bxd5! 15)cxd5 I felth that exd5 would leave more chance of opening up the position, but looking at it now it doesnt seem to make much difference. 15)...c6! At first it seems that black should not be opening up ANY of the position, but I am desparately trying to find a permanent home for my knight. By creating a string centre, I felt I would be able to play a quick ...d5 followed by d4 completely closing the position. 16)dxc6 bxc6 17)f4white is trying to open up the position for his Boshop, and will have the better game if I allow this. I have created a favourable imbalance - knight vs bishop, and therefore wanted to keep the position as closed as possible. I recalled a game in Kotov's "Think like a Grandmaster" involving a pawn sacrifice to bottle-up enemy pieces and to create room for his own. Here is the position:Kptpv was black and played the amazing 1)...e4!! 2)fxef f4! - this last move being the point. He sacrificed a pawn to bottle in the light bishop, and to create room for his own pieces [note the increased activity of the Bg7 and possible use of thr e5 square].
Back to my game - I played in similar vain 17)...d5! 18)fxe5 d4! White must react as his Queen is threatened.The move has bottled up the Bishop on g2, closed the centre [permanently!] and created a great home on c3 or e3 [also permanent!] for my knight. Not bad for just a pawn! 19)Qg5 Qg4?! trying to trade Queens off, but White doesnt have to play 20)Qc1 Much better than 20)Qxg4? Nxg4 when the knight is going to e3 for good, although the position remains unclear. 20)...Nd7 21)Qxc6 Nxe5This diagram demonstrates what Black has achieved. Although a clear pawn down with no definite way to reclaim it, I still nonetheless like Blacks position. If black can reach e3 it will be just winning. 22)Qb5 Qe6 23)Rf5 Ng4! here we go!! 24)Bh3 Ne3! There is no useful discovery against the Black Queen 25)Rh5 Qf6
Black enjoys the fruits of his labour - the knight reaches its dream square. Blacks plan is now complete, almost 10 moves later! Once you have an imbalance, you must do EVERYTHING to make it favourable to you. Now black just needs his Rooks to join the party and he will have a very comfortable game. 26)Rc1 Rab8 with tempo! 27)Qc5 a6 28)a3?? Rb5! winning the Rook. White resigned.

Crossing 1900 in Style!

It has been my goal for 2006 to cross the 1900 barrier, and it has now been achieved! What makes it even sweeter is the way in which it was done. The following game marks my cross over into A1900 play - who cares that my sacrifice was unsound? Not me!

Hydrapulse (1921) Vs jimgrange (1886) - ICC Nov, 2006


1)d4 Nf6 2)Nf3 e6 3)g3 b5!? an interesting move inspired by an old member of Cambridge club, now IM Andrew Greet. The idea is to challenge the long diagonal and to grab Queenside space. 4)a4 b4 5)c4 bxc3 6)bxc3?! I was expecting 6)Nxc3 which aids development, but also leaves b4 rather weak. I was hoping to exploit this with moves such as Bb4 and Na6. 6)...d5 7)Bg3 Nbd7 8)c4 Novelty 8)0-0 Ba6 9) Na3 c6 10)c4 Bd6 was Barbero (2505) Vs Bednarski (2375). 8)...c6 9)O-O Be7 10)Re1 Ne4 11)Qc2 Bb4 12)Nfd2
This was an interesting position for me, and I would have to choose the lazy option of saying its unclear. My knight is very strong on e4, but my King is in the centre and am a little un-coordinated. But white has little to boast about - he is very bottled up and under a little pressure. I felt I had a slight initiative, and could continue with such moves as O-O, Rb8 or even a5. But, the loose Rook on a1 and the preponderance of White pieces huddled on the Queenside made me look at a tactic. Fritz hates it, but who cares? I wasn't playing Fritz!! 12)...Nxf2!? 13)Kxf2 Qf6 now white must choose carefully
14)Nf3! the only move that doesn't lose the Rook hanging on a1. Every other move loses to Qxd4+ and Qxa1. 14)...e5?! At the time I felt it was a winning move, but my opponent commented "you are pushing your luck a little bit!" and I must now agree, however neither he nor I found what Fritz found! 15)Rf1? 15)Bd2! Bxd2 16)Nxd2 e4 17)cxd5 exf3 18)exf3+ leaves Black very dangerously placed. 15)...e4 16)Kg1 exf3 17)e3 the Rook was still losse on a1!
O-O 18)Bxf3 Qd6 19)Nc3 Ba6 20)c5 Nxc5!
21)Na2?! Taking on c5 would have been better, leaving Black only slightly up in material - this would have been compensated with a nice bishop pair. 21)dxc5 Qxc5 22)Bd2 [22)Bb2? loses to Qxd4+] Bxf1 23)Rxf1 Rae8 -/+ 21)...Bxf1 22)Nxb4 Bc4 23)dxc5 Qf6! That Rook is still loose! 24)Nxc6 Qxa1 the game is lost now for white, but there is a nice finish to come. 25)h4 Qf6 26)Nd4 Rfe8 27)Kf2 Rab8 28)Bd2 Re4 29)Kg2 Re7 30)Nf5 Reb7 31)Bc3?
31)...Rb2! 32)Ne7 Kf8 33)Bxf6 Rxc2!+ this zwieschenzug is the whole point behind Rb2 - he must loose a piece. 34)Kh3 gxf6 White Resigns. An unsound sac that forced the initiative in great complications. 2000 here I come!!!

5)...Qf6!? in the Exchange Spanish

Globetrotter (1929) Vs jimgrange (1870) - ICC Nov. 2006

I have recently taken up e5 against 1)e4 with reasonable success. The ever-popular exchange Spanish has less sting thanks to a suggestion by GM Nigel Davies in his excellent book "Play 1)e4 e5!"

1)e4 e5 )Nf3 Nc6 3)Bb5 a6 4)Bxc6 dxc6 5)0-0 Qf6!?

This is the move suggested by Davies, as played by Beliavsky and Michael Adams. Although the move looks rather primitive, the Queen is often well placed on f6. 6)d3 A rather quiet variation, but not without a sting. 6)...Ne7!? 7)Be3 Ng6 8)Nbd2 Bd6 9)Nc4 Novelty 9)h3 preventing Bg4 was preferred by Rozentalis against Magnus Carlsen (2006) 9)...Bg4! 10)h3 Bxf3 11)Qxf3 Qxf3 12)gxf3 Nh4 Black has completely equalised, and I prefer his position. The weakness of f4 plays an important role in the remainder of the game. 13)Nd2 f5 If White takes the extra pawn, he will not be able to hold on to it 14)Bg5 Be7 15)Bxh4 Bxh4 16)exf5?!
As already mentioned, White will not be able to hold onto this pawn, and just weakens his Kingside irreprably. Better would have been 16)Nc4!? fxe4 17)fxe4 Bf6 would have left him with an equal game. 16)...0-0 17)Rae1 Rxf5 18)Kg2 Raf8 =+ 19)Re4 Bg5 20)Nc4 Bf4! I really liked this move. It highlights the weakness of f4 and the White Kingside as a whole. 21)Na5 R8f6! The b-pawn is immune as 22)Nxb7?? Rg5+! 23)Kh1 Rh6 leads to mate. 22)Bd2? White Resigns. An interesting game highlighting the efficacy of 5)...Qf6!? in the Spanish.