GamesO. Winfridsson (Cambridgeshire South) vs. Ch. Ross (Cambridgeshire North) [E18]Cambridgeshire North vs South, board 1. Warboys, 24 September 2008. 1.d4 e6 Having played with Chris on the county team and seen him play in the 4NCL over the years I've noticed that he seems to play virtually everything! So, on encountering this move I suspected it to be an invitation to the French (after 2.e4) or the Dutch (after 2.c4) - I didn't quite fancy either on the night, so… 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0-0 Be7 6.c4 0-0 7.Nc3 d5 We've reached a Catalan position. About 15 years ago, I considered of taking up this opening, but thought better of it once I had had a closer look at it. It requires subtle manouevring aplenty, and although I can't claim to be a swashbuckler, I felt it to be too positional even for my liking! 8.cxd5 Nxd5 In view of the follow-up (9…c5), perhaps Chris should to have captured with the pawn. 9.Qc2 In the Catalan the queen usually goes to e2 (which I was blissfully unaware of all these years later …), but the text move was dictated by the fact that I wanted to keep the option of developing the dark squared bishop along the diagonal c1-h6. Black's Nb4 didn't cause me any concern. 9…c5?! 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Ng5 'That's just hacking!', Chris claimed in the post-mortem. I disagree. There's every reason for White to try exploit the fact that all Black's pieces have deserted the kingside in order to provoke a weakness on the dark squares. 11…g6 12.a3 With the idea of executing the 'big fianchetto' with b4, now that Black has a fianchetto without a bishop controlling the long diagonal. 12...Be7 13.h4 Qc8 The threat of 14.Rd1 was rather unpleasant, but perhaps not immediately dangerous because it will also be unprotected should the game proceed in a similar manner to the game, say 13…Bf6 14.Rd1, and now Black can play 14…Qc8 since 15.Nxd5 Qxc2 not only leaves the rook en prise (leaving no time for Bxb7). My plan was to counter 13…Bf6 with 14.Nce4 Bg7 15.Rd1 with a complicated battle. 14.Nxd5!? I didn't take very long over this move since I judged the resultant position to be promising for White (but not necessarily , but more importantly much easier for White to play than Black. 14…Qxc2 I expected Black to go into the endgame with 14…Bxd5 15.Qxc8 Rxc8 16.Bxd5 exd5, and now 17.Rd1 Rc2 gives Black active counterplay, so White should play 17.Bf4 with the idea 17…Rc2 18.Rac1 forcing 18…Rxc1 (18…Rxb2 or Rxe2 blunders away piece after 19.Rc8+) 19.Rxc1 with a better endgame for White due to the weakness of the d pawn and the control of the open c file. 15.Nxe7+ Kg7 16.Bxb7 Nd7 17.Be4 Creating an escape square on c6 for the knight on e7. If White captures the rook on a8 the knight on e7 is in very severe danger of being trapped. 17…Qc4 Black starts treading water, this loses a tempo. Either 17...Qxe2 straight away or, as suggested by Chris after the game, 17...Qc7 in order to consolidate the defences. 18.Be3 Nc5?! During the game I considered 18...Rae8 to be Black's most promising continuation, which Hans Richter also suggested when we looked at the game. The basic idea is to get the kingside pawns rolling with h6, f5 and e5 (not necessarily in that order) with a highly complex battle in prospect. 19.Rac1 Qxe2 20.Bd4+ I immediately regretted this move, spotting a paradoxical resource for Black. Perhaps it's more accurate to play 20.Rc2 Qa6, displacing Black's queen for the moment and keeping greater control of the game. 20...Kh6?? This loses immediately. As soon as I'd let go of the bishop on d4 I saw that Chris had the counterintuitive 20...e5!? (to lure the bishop to e5, hoping exploit the White pile-up on the e-file) in his locker. This gives resource to a bewildering forest of variations. Although it's tricky to judge (interesting resources are popping out of the woodwork everywhere), White seems to come out on top. Having said that, these variations are only tentative, and haven't been checked with Fritz or Rybka: a) 21.Bxe5+ f6 22.Rfe1 (22.Bxa8 Qxe5) 22...Qa6 (22...Qxe1+ seems bad in view of 23.Rxe1 Nxe4 - 23…fxe5 24.Lxa8 - 24.Ne6+ Kf7 25.Nxf8 Rxf8 26.Nxg6 hxg6 27.Rxe4) 23.Bd4. Intuitively it feels important to keep this bishop. (23.Bxa8 fxe5 seems good for Black, but 23.Bc3 Nxe4 24.Rxe4 seems to work out fine for White. Black has to look out for the two knights who only seem to be a check or a jump away from a nasty fork!) 23…Nxe4 24.Ne6+ Kf7 25.Nxf8 and Rxe4. b) White can also insert a swischenzug, 21.Bf3, 21…Qa6 22.Bxe5+ f6 23.Bc3 looks promising. 21.Bf3 Qb5 Or 21…Qxf3 22.Nxf3 leaving White two pieces up. 22.Ng8+ And faced with unavoidable mate (22...Rxg8 23.Nxf7#), Black resigned. 1-0 | |
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