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This is the second of the games from Charles Higgie's Commonwealth Games Mini-T that I have chosen to annotate. In contrast with the tactical melee and attacking game of the first, this was more in the way of a positional siege against Black's whole position. A positional knight sacrifice placed a clamp over Black's whole game. Once White's assault columns were prepared, Black's constrained Q-side pieces were ill-placed effectively to intervene. |
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1. d4 d5 2. c4
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Queen's Gambit... |
  1 comment
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2... e6
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...Declined. This is the classical method of declining the gambit, though these days 2...c6 is more popular (and my usual choice as well). The text can lead to problems of developing Black's light-square bishop. |
1 comment
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3. Nf3
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More commonly played is 3.Nc3, but hereabouts this opening is apt to transpose... |
2 comments
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3... Nf6 4. Nc3
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... Like this... But White has a wide range of options, here. Normally, I play 4.g3, but 4.Bg5 (an erstwhile favourite of mine) and 4.e3 are both very good lines. Plenty of room for experiment then. |
1 comment
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4... Bb4
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Ragozin Defence. Here we have a parting of ways. Black has a wide range of playable possibilities too: 4...Be7 and 4...c6 are very popular. Here Black threatens the well-known motif: 5...Ne4. |
1 comment
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5. cxd5
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This exchange rivals 5.Bg5 for popularity, and 5.Qa4ch (...Nc6), played, among others, by GM Hikaru Nakamura, is also a very playable line. The text seems to be World Champion Magnus Carlsen's choice. |
2 comments
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5... exd5
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Probably best, though ...Nxd5 has been tried. |
1 comment
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6. Bg5
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Stymieing Black's threat to exploit the pin at c3, by imposing a counter-pin at f6. |
1 comment
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6... O-O
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A fairly surprising choice: in effect, Black ignores the pin. Two other option are more frequently tried: [A] 6...h6 with this possible line - 7.Bh4 g5!? 8.Bg3 Ne4!? 9.Nd2! Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bxc3 11.Rc1 Ba5 12.e3 ... and White has an active game for the pawn given up; [B] 6...Nbd7 7.e3 c5 8.Bd3 c4 9.Bf5 ... and anything might happen. These are 'sample lines', of course. Both sides have wide choices in either sequence. |
1 comment
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7. e3
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Instead, 7.Rc1 is often played, here, and certainly it is a handy looking square for the rook. But it seems to me that completing the King-side development ought to take priority. |
1 comment
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7... Be6
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Again, not the usual choice by Black, but that is not to criticise it. Possibly Black was concerned to ensure adequate protection for the d-pawn, at the same time developing quickly. More usual, though, is an early strike at the centre: 7...c5 8.dxc5 Nbd7 9.Rc1 ... when Black chooses between 9...Nxc5 and 9...Qa5. |
1 comment
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8. Bd3
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I have always liked the look of this type of position for White. |
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8... Nbd7
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(!?) Perhaps this was a good moment for Black to carry out the ...c5 strike. |
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9. O-O c6
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Black has chosen a fairly conservative, but solid approach to the game. It's the sort of play I used to favour, but I always found it difficult to come up with a positive plan. Hence my own preference for the King's Indian or Benoni type of defences. At this point I was thinking in terms of a 'minority attack' - that is, a general advance of the a- and b-pawns, with the view to engaging the enemy Q-side pawns in the expectation that after exchanges, Black's majority would be reduced to an isolated or backward pawn on a file open to White's rooks. There it would be a target, whilst White's counterpart, the e-pawn, would be quite safe from attack. |
2 comments
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10. a3
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A good alternative seems to be 10.Bf4, interdicting the dark squares in the middle of Black's position. How to follow it up seems to remain the question, though. |
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10... Bd6
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(!?) Very much a surprise: I quite expected the exchange here: 10...Bxc3 11.bxc3 h6 12.Bh4 Qa5 13.Qc2 c5 with a rough equality, and Black breaking out of the constraints of her earlier solid mobilisation. Black seems to be interested, instead, in keeping as much material on the board as may be, or else wished to exchange it for nothing less than a bishop. I have no quarrel with this. The text seems to be quite playable. |
1 comment
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11. h3
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Partly to ensure no enemy minor piece is going to land on g4 from now on. But this should also signal that White is not going to allow a bishop exchange on g3. |
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11... Qc7
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This was the other reason for the h2-h3 advance. Sure, h2 is adequately protected, but I might not have wanted the king's knight to be chained to its defence. |
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12. Rc1
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'Put your rook on the line of the queen, whatever the pieces that intervene'. The rook was intended for this square anyhow, but now was a very good time the play it. If, now, 12...h6, hoping to win a pawn on f4, White has 13.Nb5! Qb8 14.Nxd6 Qxd6 (14...hxg5 15.Nf5) 15.Bf4. |
1 comment
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12... a6
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[!] Obviating Nb5 in the event of ...h6. It also rather discouraged the long term 'minority attack' idea I had been nursing along for several moves. |
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(2332)