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White plays an odd line in this game, leading to a fine game for Black. The trick is to convert a fine game into a winning one, and there, it seems, Black chose a misguided plan, opening up the K-side, but building up a formidable centre. But the open g-file and a little regarded h-pawn prove the stronger. Possibly Black could have hung on for a difficult draw, but a woeful blunder - a slip of the mouse - brought the game to an abrupt end. The first 5 moves we've seen before... |
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1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. d4 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f4 O-O 6. Be3
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(?!) Already a very strange move... |
 
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6... c6
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(?) ... and a very insipid response. Black just wasn't attending. |
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7. Bd3
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(?) Another weird move that lands White in a bit of hot water... |
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7... Ng4
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(!) This ought to have been played a move earlier. However, since White positively insisted (with his 7th move) that this be played it seemed churlish to turn him down... :) |
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8. Qf3 Nxe3 9. Qxe3 Qb6
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(!) White suddenly finds his centre under fierce attack. He has to drop a pawn... |
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10. Nge2 e5
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(!) Piling on the pressure! Black's Q-side can wait for the time being... |
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11. Qd2 exd4
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Winning a pawn - a centre pawn at that. Black has now a protected passed pawn in the centre, a long term asset. |
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12. Na4 Qc7 13. b4 c5
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Consolidating the advanced pawn, and taking an equal stake in the centre. |
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14. a3 Bd7
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Possibly preferable might have been 14...Nd7 with the view to ...Nf6 shortly. But the move played ought to be OK. |
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15. Nb2 Nc6 16. O-O Rae8
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Mobilising for a central break. Yet that break proved difficult to achieve. For the next few moves Black tries to consolidate before embarking on a positive plan. |
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17. Ng3 a6
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Something of a temporising move. Having yet to decide on a plan, Black puts some constraint upon White's Q-side pawns. |
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18. Rae1 b6
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I really wanted to advance this pawn 2 squares, but then White would have mobilised his centre-king side pawns: 18...b5? 19.cxb5 axb5 20.Bxb5 Rb8 21.Bxc6 Bxc6 22.f5 - not to mention wiping out the pawn deficit. Now I hoped for 19.b5 axb5 20.cxb5 Na5, locking up the Q-side. |
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19. Bc2
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(!?) Changing the guard at d3? |
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19... h5
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(!?) Already planning to run the pawn forward as far as it would go. I really did think the lines opened up would be of more use to Black than to White, but that belief was to prove unfounded. But all this was in fact a change of mind. I spent a deal of time looking at the possibility of giving up my passed d-pawn for the change of breaking through in the centre: 19...d3!? 20.Bxd3!? cxb4 21.axb4 a5 22.b5 Nd4 with maybe a bit of a bind on the position. E.g. 23.Na4 Nb3 24.Qf2 Nc5 25.Nxc5 dxc5; or, possibly less OK for Black: 20.Nxd3 cxb4 21.axb4 Be6 22.Bb3 Nd4 23.Ba2 Bxc4 24.Bxc4 Qxc4 25.e5 (...dxe5; fxe5). On the whole Black seemed to get nothing tangible for the pawn sacrificed. |
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20. Nd3 h4 21. Nh1 h3
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This looked really good at the time, but White seemed more than happy with his game. |
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22. gxh3
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(!?) |
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22... Bxh3 23. Rf3 Be6
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(?!) Eyeing c4, but ... |
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24. f5
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White knew Black wouldn't take the c-pawn, taking the bishop away from the more important c8-h3 diagonal. |
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24... Bd7
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Not that I was all that fussed about the pawn on c4. The position still looked OK to me. To be sure, Black's K-side is weak, and looks to be getting weaker. But owing to the strong centre that Black was planning to consolidate soon, Black thought any attack on the flank could be contained. |
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25. Nhf2
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(!) I did expect 25.f6, but White prefers to keep things in a state of flux. |
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