[Event "Bunratty Masters"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2006.02.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Baburin, Alexander"]
[Black "Nunn, John"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D79"]
[WhiteElo "2511"]
[BlackElo "2617"]
[Annotator "Alexander Baburin (www.chesstoday.net)"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2006.02.22"]
[Source "Chess Today"]
[SourceDate "2006.02.23"]

{The blind fortune somehow decided that I should always get White against Dr
John Nunn - not that I would ever complain! :-) That was our fourth game and I
was fairy certain that it would be another Fianchetto Gruenfeld - just like in
the previous 3 encounters.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 {Diagram #} c6
({Of course, there is nothing wrong with the King's Indian approach:} 4... O-O
5. Bg2 d6 {But I noticed that many KID players choose the Gruenfeld when
facing the Fianchetto System. There are two possible explanations: either they
don't line to play against this super solid line of the KID or they feel that
the Fianchetto offers little against the Gruenfeld. Alas, the former might be
true...}) ({Here} 4... d5 {
leads to a more interesting branch of the Gruenfeld. But that is riskier too.})
5. Nc3 {The most accurate move order.} ({After} 5. Bg2 d5 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. O-O
O-O 8. Nc3 {Black has} Ne4 $1 (8... e6 9. Bf4 Nc6 10. Rc1 Qa5 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12.
Bxe5 Bd7 13. Qd2 {1/2-1/2 Baburin-Nunn, Isle of Man 1994.})) 5... d5 6. cxd5
cxd5 7. Ne5 O-O ({If Black tries to do the same -} 7... Ne4 {
, he has to reckon with} 8. Qa4+) 8. Bg2 e6 {Diagram #} ({The old line} 8...
Nc6 9. O-O {lives White with a small, but durable advantage.}) 9. O-O ({
One of our previous games went} 9. Bg5 Qb6 10. Qd2 Nbd7 11. Be3 Ne8 $5 12. b3
Nd6 13. Bh3 $5 Qd8 14. Bf4 Qe7 15. O-O f6 16. Nxd7 Bxd7 17. Qe3 Kf7 $1 18. Bh6
Rfe8 19. Bxg7 {1/2-1/2 Baburin-Nunn, 4NCL, Birmingham 2002.}) 9... Nfd7 10. f4
Nc6 {Diagram #The main tabia of the Symmetrical Fianchetto Gruenfeld.} (10...
f6 11. Nf3 Nc6 12. b3 Qa5 13. Bd2 f5 14. e3 Qd8 15. Ne5 Ndxe5 16. dxe5 b6 17.
Bc1 Ba6 18. Rf2 Rc8 19. Ba3 Nxe5 {Diagram #} 20. Nxd5 Nc6 21. Rc1 Qe8 22. Rxc6
{1-0 Baburin-Nunn, Kilkenny 1997.}) 11. Kh1 {Nimzowitsch used to talk about
"mysterious rook move". Here we have no less mysterious case. This move looks
like waste of time, but it has good points. First, it might be good to move
the king away from the a7-g1 diagonal in case of ...Nxe5, dxe5. Secondly, in
this system White often goes for g3-g4. Vacating the g1-square for the rook
can be beneficial then.} ({Here the most popular move by far is} 11. Be3 {
However, I feel that this bishop might be better off on a3, so I wanted to
keep it on c1 for a while.}) 11... Nb6 ({After} 11... Ncxe5 12. dxe5 f6 13. e4
dxe4 14. Nxe4 fxe5 15. fxe5 Nxe5 16. Qxd8 Rxd8 17. Bg5 Rf8 18. Rxf8+ Kxf8 19.
Rf1+ Kg8 20. Nf6+ Bxf6 21. Bxf6 Nc6 22. Rd1 Kf7 23. Bg5 {
White seized initiative in Toshkov-Baldauf, West Berlin 1987.}) (11... f6 12.
Nf3 Nb6 13. b3 Bd7 14. a4 $5 f5 15. Ba3 Re8 16. Ne5 $36 {
Baburin-Braga, Saint Vincent 2000.}) 12. b3 Bd7 ({
This move looks logical as Black probably should not fancy positions after} 
12... f6 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Ba3 Rf7 15. e4) ({or} 12... f5 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Ba3
) 13. Ba3 Re8 {Diagram #} 14. Rc1 ({I now believe that White should have played
} 14. e4 $1 dxe4 (14... Ne7 15. Qe2 (15. Rc1 $5) (15. Nxd7 $5 Qxd7 16. e5)
15... Bc6 16. Rfd1 dxe4 17. Nxe4 Bxe4 18. Bxe4 Nbd5 19. Qf3 Qa5 20. Nc4 Qc7 21.
Rac1 $14 {Bunzmann-Appel, Germany 1997.}) 15. Nxe4 Nd5 16. Qd2 Nxe5 17. fxe5
Bc6 18. Qf2 Qd7 19. Rac1 Bb5 20. Rfd1 $16 {Brkljaca-D.Pavlovic, Kladovo 1994.})
14... f6 $1 15. Nf3 f5 $1 {Now the centre is blocked and White has to try luck
on flanks. White's chances are better because some of his pieces are better
positioned. For example, his queen's bishop is more active than Black's. Also,
the f3-knight is better than his counterpart on b6. Still, White's advantage
is not huge and it is easy to get carried away.} 16. e3 Bf8 17. Bxf8 Rxf8 18.
Ne5 {During the game I was not sure about this move. On e5 the knight can be
easily exchanged, so maybe it was better to keep it on f3.} ({Computer favours
} 18. a4 {This might limit the enemy bishop in the future (b5!), but I felt
that it would weaken White's position on the queenside.}) ({Interesting was} 
18. Bh3) 18... Qe7 19. g4 {Played after 10-minute thinking.} fxg4 20. Qxg4 Rac8
({Probably better was the immediate exchange operation:} 20... Nxe5 21. fxe5 (
21. dxe5) 21... Rxf1+ 22. Rxf1 Rf8) 21. Ne2 {Further 13 minutes were spent on
this move. I could not see any useful idea, so finally I decided to relocate
that knight, anticipating ...Nxe5, fxe5, when the f4-square becomes available.}
Nxe5 22. fxe5 Rxc1 23. Rxc1 Qb4 ({More critical was} 23... Qa3 {
probing White's weaknesses on the queenside.} {I was going to play} 24. Rg1
Qxa2 25. Nf4) 24. Nf4 Qd2 25. Rg1 Rf7 ({
Black could not ignore the threat to the g6-pawn:} 25... Qxe3 26. Nxg6 $1 Rf7 (
26... hxg6 27. Qxg6+ Kh8 28. Qh5+ Kg7 29. Bh3+ Qxg1+ 30. Kxg1 $18) 27. Nf4+ Rg7
(27... Kf8 28. Nxe6+ Bxe6 29. Qxe6 $18) 28. Qh4 $18) 26. Qg3 ({The immediate} 
26. Nh5 {was possible too, but I did not see a reason to rush. At that point I
still contemplated Bg2-b3 or h2-h4-h5, where I need my knight on f4.}) 26...
Qc2 $6 ({For better or worse, but Black had to grab the  a2-pawn:} 26... Qxa2 {
I would be choosing between} 27. h4 ({and} 27. Bf1 Qxb3 28. Bd3)) 27. Nh5 $1
Bc8 $2 28. Qh4 $1 Qf5 $6 29. Nf6+ Kh8 30. e4 $1 (30. e4 g5 31. exf5 gxh4 32.
Bxd5 Rg7 33. Bxe6 $18) 1-0

[Event "Alekhine mem"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D79"]
[WhiteElo "2715"]
[BlackElo "2655"]
[Annotator "Alexander Baburin (www.chesstoday.net)"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "1992.11.??"]
[Source "Chess Today"]
[SourceDate "2006.02.23"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 d5 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Ne5
e6 9. O-O Nfd7 10. f4 Nc6 11. Be3 Nb6 12. Bf2 Bd7 13. e4 Ne7 {Diagram #} 14.
Nxd7 Qxd7 15. e5 Rac8 16. Rc1 a6 17. b3 Rc7 18. Qd2 Rfc8 19. g4 Bf8 20. Qe3 Nc6
21. f5 Ba3 22. Rcd1 Nb4 23. Qh6 Qe8 24. Nb1 Bb2 25. Qd2 Nc2 26. Kh1 Qe7 27. Bg1
Nd7 28. Rf3 Qb4 29. Qh6 Qf8 30. Qg5 Qg7 31. Qd2 b6 32. Rdf1 a5 33. h4 Nb4 34.
a3 Rc2 35. Qf4 Nc6 36. Bh3 Nd8 37. Be3 b5 38. R3f2 b4 39. axb4 axb4 40. Rxc2
Rxc2 {Diagram #} 41. Rf2 Rxf2 42. Qxf2 Ba3 43. Qc2 Nxe5 44. dxe5 Qxe5 45. Qc8
Qe4+ 46. Bg2 Qxb1+ 47. Kh2 Bb2 48. Qxd8+ Kg7 49. f6+ Bxf6 50. Bh6+ Kxh6 51.
Qxf6 Qc2 52. g5+ Kh5 53. Kg3 Qc7+ 54. Kh3 1-0

[Event "Leon Man+Comp m"]
[Site "Leon"]
[Date "1998.06.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D79"]
[WhiteElo "2825"]
[BlackElo "2740"]
[Annotator "Alexander Baburin (www.chesstoday.net)"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "1998.06.??"]
[Source "Chess Today"]
[SourceDate "2006.02.23"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 c6 6. Nc3 d5 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Ne5
e6 9. O-O Nfd7 10. f4 Nc6 11. Be3 f6 12. Nf3 f5 13. Ne5 Nb6 14. b3 Bd7 15. Qd3
Nc8 {Diagram #} 16. Bc1 Nxe5 17. dxe5 Rf7 18. Be3 Bc6 19. Rfc1 Qa5 20. a3 a6
21. Bd4 Bf8 22. e3 Be8 23. Qd2 Qd8 24. Bf1 Rc7 25. Qb2 Rc6 26. Na4 Rxc1 27.
Rxc1 Bc6 28. Nc5 Qe8 29. a4 a5 30. Qc3 Qf7 {Diagram #} 31. Bb5 Bxb5 32. axb5 h6
33. Na4 Ba3 34. Qxc8+ Rxc8 35. Rxc8+ Kh7 36. b6 1-0
