The Irish Chess Union

[Event "London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2010"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2010.12.13"] [Round "6"] [White "Roy Chowdhury, Saptarshi"] [Black "Lopez, Alex"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2448"] [BlackElo "2405"] [ECO "B13"] [Annotator "Lopez, Alex"] [ICUid "29845"] 1. e4 c6 { I was happy with this choice against the player, as he had rarely encountered the Caro-Kann, and each time that he had, he had chosen a different variation, suggesting that he probably did not have anything too solid against it. } 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 { Previously, he had played 4.Bd3, which theory considers to give nothing special for White. } 4... Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Nf3 { Interestingly, this move left me with a bit of a dilemma. Here, I could play the main line move of 6...Bg4, but of course this would allow White the possibility of forcing an endgame where Black cannot entertain serious winning chances. So, after about 10 minutes of thought, I decided that given my tournament situation (a round 3 loss against a 2200 player as White) I needed to aim for a win here in order to keep my IM norm chances in good shape. } 6... g6 { To my relief, my opponent here sunk into thought, indicating that he wasn't too confident about the theory behind this reasonably common move, and leaving me very happy to not have chosen Bg4. } (6... Bg4 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qb3 Bxf3 9. gxf3 e6 10. Qxb7 Nxd4 11. Bb5+ Nxb5 12. Qc6+ Ke7 13. Qxb5 Qd7 14. Nxd5+ Qxd5 15. Qxd5 exd5 16. O-O Ke6 17. Re1+ Kf5 { is the simplified middlegame that I am referring to. }) 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Bc4 (8. Qb3 { is a more precise order, as then 8...Nb6 isn't all that good. }) 8... Nb6 9. Bb3 Bg7 { Although this is a theoretical position, I honestly believe that Black has pretty much solved his opening problems. On top of that, my opponent was unaware of how best to continue, allowing me to gain a tidy advantage over the next few moves. } 10. Be3 (10. d5 Na5 11. O-O O-O 12. Bg5 { is a more principled way of handling the position, and here the game would have been very different altogether! }) 10... O-O 11. h3 Na5 { already, Black's situation is to be preferred. Here, White has a very difficult choice to make - between continuing with his development with 12.O-O, or saving the light-squared B with Bc2. To my mind, the second choice is a little better, but already it's hard to see how White is going to equalise. Black has the better structure, and will almost certainly gain the B pair. Furthermore, he has no development problems! } 12. O-O Nxb3 13. Qxb3 Be6 14. Qd1 (14. d5 $2 { This move was the only thing I had to make sure didn't work, as anything but accepting the dubious P sac would have put White right back into the game. Fortunately, the pin against the Black Q is balanced by the fact that the White Q is very poorly placed too! } 14... Nxd5 15. Rfd1 Nxc3 16. Rxd8 Bxb3 $19) 14... Rc8 15. Re1 Nd5 (15... Nc4 16. Bc1 Qa5 { would perhaps have been a more precise way of continuing, but I tried to play in a more principled manner with the text move. }) 16. Bd2 Nxc3 { not best - this move reduces slightly Black's advantage, as White's structure improves somewhat. Nonetheless, from a practical point of view to be able to control the d5-square. } 17. bxc3 Bd5 18. Ne5 Re8 19. Qa4 a6 20. Rac1 f6 { The N is too strong, and needs to be kicked out before White can carry out his plan of playing c3-c4. } 21. Ng4 h5 22. Ne3 Bf7 (22... Bc6 { is preferred by the computer, but to me Bf7 seemed more correct, as I did not want to suffer problems with the h5 and g6 P's. }) 23. Rb1 Rc7 24. Rb2 Qc8 25. Rb6 { the blockade is only going to be temporary. Here, Black just needs to maneouvre around a bit, release his pieces, and his long-term advantages (the BB pair, better structure) will make themselves felt. In the meantime, Black is quite solid, so it's difficult for White to undermine any points in the black camp. } 25... Rd8 26. Nf1 Kh7 27. Qa3 Rdd7 28. Qb2 Rc6 29. a4 Rxb6 30. Qxb6 Qc4 { Black has more or less released himself from the temporary bind, and now he will seek to undermine White's weak a pawn. } 31. a5 Qb3 32. Qc5 { Exchanging queens and hoping to extract a draw would have been quite optimistic! } 32... Qc4 33. Qb6 Qc7 34. Qb4 Bf8 35. Ng3 { Finally, under the pressure, White makes a significant mistake. } 35... Rd5 36. Ne4 { Instead, White makes this move, which simply loses the P altogether. The cheap trap is that if the immediate Rxa5, Nxf6 will put White back in the game. However, after Rb5 first, the White Q is forced onto a3, and when Rxa5 is played, Nxf6 will be calmly met by Kh8, winning. } (36. Ra1 Rb5 37. Qa4 f5 38. Nf1 Bg7 { and suddenly e5 is coming in with devastating force. } ) 36... Rb5 37. Qa3 Rxa5 38. Qc1 (38. Nxf6+ Kh8 39. Qb4 Rb5 40. Qa3 Rb3 $1 { the point, now the pin cannot be maintained, and the white N is lost. }) 38... Ra2 { White's position is already hopeless. } 39. Bf4 Qc6 40. Ng3 Bd5 { Gradually, all of Black's pieces are reaching good squares, and already the position is resignable for White. } 41. Re3 Qa4 (41... Bxg2 { Of course, there is nothing wrong with this move. I guess my reasoning here was that there are some ideas with moves such as Nxh5, Rg3, Qb1, f3. Naturally, a computer will immediately tell you that these are all incorrect, but when I saw Qa4, I felt that such a move was the better practical decision. }) 42. Re1 Qc2 43. Qe3 Rb2 { Black is simply seeking to exchange pieces, confident that the BB pair + extra P will be more than enough to secure an easy win. } 44. Bc7 Kg8 { An original move, creating the threat of Bh6, which would force further exchanges. } 45. Rc1 Rb1 46. Rxb1 Qxb1+ 47. Kh2 h4 48. Ne2 Qe4 { Black is consistent with his plan of simplifying the position, and forces the exchange of queens. } 49. Qxe4 Bxe4 50. g3 hxg3+ 51. Kxg3 Kf7 52. h4 Ke6 53. f3 Bb1 54. Nf4+ Kd7 55. Ba5 Bh6 56. Nd5 Bd2 57. Kf2 Ba2 58. Ne3 Bc1 59. Ke2 Ba3 60. Kd2 Bd6 { After some patient manoeuvring, Black has further improved his position, and now with 3 minutes on the clock, my opponent resigned. I chose to annotate this game, not because it was flashy, but because it was quite precise. After gaining an opening advantage, I did not give my opponent any significant chances, and this boosted my confidence in my game after a shaky start to the tournament, where I lost to a 2200 as white in the 3rd round. This may not have been the game that officially clinched me the title, but without a doubt, it contributed just as much to the norm as any other of my wins. } 0-1