[Event "Kilkenny Masters 2005"]
[Site "Kilkenny IRL"]
[Date "2005.11.26"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Baburin, Alexander"]
[Black "Damljanovic, B"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2513"]
[BlackElo "2610"]
[ECO "E33"]
[Annotator "Baburin, Alexander"]
[ICUid "10939"]
{ This game was played when both of us had 2.5 out of 3 - alone with many
others. The time control was 1h 45 min per game each; the tournament was
not FIDE rated. } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 (4. Nf3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Bd3 Bxc3+ 7.
bxc3 d6 8. e4 e5 9. d5 Ne7 10. Nh4 h6 11. f4 Ng6 12. Nxg6 fxg6 13. fxe5
dxe5 14. Be3 b6 15. O-O O-O 16. a4 a5 17. Rb1 Bd7 18. Rb2 Rb8 19. Rbf2 Qe7
20. Bc2 g5 21. Bd2 Qe8 22. Be1 Qg6 23. Qd3 Nh5 24. Rxf8+ Rxf8 25. Rxf8+
Kxf8 26. Bd1 Nf4 27. Qc2 Bxa4 { 0-1 Spassky-Fischer, Reykjavik 1972. })
4... Nc6 { This is quite a playable side-line. I had to face it several
times and I don't think that White can get much of an advantage here. } 5.
Nf3 d6 6. a3 ({ Another popular option is } 6. Bd2 O-O 7. a3 Bxc3 8. Bxc3)
6... Bxc3+ 7. Qxc3 Ne7 $6 { This is a strange-looking move: Black moves a
developed piece again - and away from the centre. While it has some merits
(the knight is being moved away from b2-b4-b5 or d4-d5), I still don't like
it. } 8. Qc2 $5 { I considered 8.g3, but decided that I could spend some
time too, trying to establish a strong pawn centre. } ({ Later I found that
this position had occurred in practice and that White chose } 8. g3 b6 9.
Bg2 Bb7 10. O-O O-O 11. b4 a6 12. Bb2 b5 13. Rac1 { Tunik-Zangiev,
Krasnodar 1998. }) 8... b6 9. e4 ({ I also looked at } 9. Bg5 Ng6 10. h4 h6
11. Bd2) 9... Bb7 10. Bd3 c5 11. d5 $1 ({ I thought that after } 11. O-O
cxd4 12. Nxd4 { Black would get a reasonable hedgehog position. }) ({ I did
not think much of } 11. e5 dxe5 12. dxe5 { as I believed that the e5-pawn
would be more of liability than strength. But computer likes 11.e5 for some
reason. }) 11... e5 12. Nh4 $1 h6 13. g3 { Now the position resembles the
one from the famous Spassky-Fischer game (see note to move 4). However,
here White is better prepared for the f2-f4 push. And his pawn structure on
the queenside is much more sound. } 13... Bc8 (13... Ng6 $5 14. Nf5) 14. f4
Bh3 15. Nf3 Qc7 16. b3 $1 { One of the most difficult moves in the game.
White wants to put more pressure on e5. } ({ I felt that } 16. fxe5 dxe5 {
was undesirable, as the d6-square might be utilised by the enemy knight
later. }) ({ I wanted to play } 16. f5 { but this meets tactical
refutation: } 16... Nxf5 $1 17. exf5 e4 18. Bxe4 Qe7 $17) (16. b4 { came
into consideration too, but I felt that it would be unwise to create pawn
tension everywhere. }) 16... Nh7 { Preparing to meet 17.Bb2 with 17...f6. }
17. f5 $1 { Changing plans - the c1-bishop might be more useful on the
c1-h6 diagonal. } 17... f6 18. Ng1 Bg4 19. h3 Bh5 20. g4 Bf7 { After some
forced play we reached a position where White controls more space and has
clearly better chances. In fact, I believed that it is only White who can
have any play here. It is interesting to compare the d3- and h7- bishops.
The latter is 'good', but in fact it is rather useless, being blocked by
White's pawns. The former is 'bad', but useful. } 21. Ne2 Nf8 22. Nc3 Nd7
23. Be3 a6 24. b4 $1 { Here it all boils down to space. White has more of
it and as a result his pieces are more mobile. White can attack on either
side. I decided to create tension on the queenside, making it difficult for
Black to castle there. The move h3-h4 can wait. } 24... cxb4 { Interesting
decision. Although exchanging the c5-pawn for the a3-pawn looks like a raw
deal for Black, this may be his best chance. } ({ I suspect that after }
24... O-O { Black did not like the look of } 25. b5 $1 { Then, having
sealed off the queenside, White can attack with leisure on the opposite
wing. }) 25. axb4 O-O 26. O-O ({ You bet I considered } 26. h4 $5 { But I
decided that playing on the queenside was safer. Besides, I could always
play h3-h4 later. }) 26... Rfc8 27. Ra3 Be8 28. Rfa1 Qb7 29. Qa2 Nb8 30.
Kg2 ({ Here I spent 7 of the 18 remaining minutes looking at lines like. }
30. c5 bxc5 31. bxc5 dxc5 (31... Qa7 32. Qf2 $1) 32. Bc4 $5 { Finally I
decided to play a waiting move and come back to the c4-c5 idea later. } (
32. Rb1 $5)) 30... Kf8 $6 { After making this move Black had 16 minutes
left. } ({ Better was } 30... Kh8) 31. c5 $1 bxc5 32. bxc5 dxc5 33. d6 Nec6
({ A curious position would have arisen after } 33... Ng8 { Here the
b8-knight is from g8 - and vise versa! }) 34. Bxc5 Nd7 ({ The line } 34...
Qd7 35. Nd5 Bf7 36. Bc4 { does not look very appealing for Black either. })
35. Rb1 $1 { The black queen is trapped. Here I still had 6 minutes left,
while my opponent was down to his last two minutes. That made survival
virtually impossible for him. } 35... Qxb1 36. Bxb1 Nxc5 37. Nd5 Bf7 38.
Qf2 Nd4 39. Nb6 Rcb8 40. Nxa8 Rxb1 41. Rc3 Bc4 42. Rxc4 Nxe4 43. d7 Ke7 44.
Rxd4 exd4 45. Qxd4 1-0
