[Event "Bunratty Masters 2014"]
[Site "Bunratty IRL"]
[Date "2014.02.08"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Short, Philip"]
[Black "Jones, Gawain"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2274"]
[BlackElo "2648"]
[ECO "E73"]
[Annotator "Jones, Gawain"]
[ICUid "31343"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 { The Averbakh
Variation. I'd had a look at this for the London Classic as Boris Gelfand
plays it from time to time. Remembering my analysis was another thing
entirely! } 6... Na6 7. Qd2 c6 8. Bd1 $5 { Philip goes his own way. I think
his idea was to play Bc2 and Nge2 reinforcing his centre but it feels a bit
slow } (8. Nf3 { is the normal move but in a recent game from the World Cup
White fell for a cunning trap: } 8... e5 9. O-O exd4 10. Nxd4 Nc5 11. f3 $2
Nfxe4 $1 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. fxe4 Bxd4+ 14. Qxd4 Qxg5 15. Qxd6 Rd8 { and
Black was already clearly better. } 16. Qa3 Rd2 17. Rfe1 Be6 18. Qc3 Rad8
19. c5 R8d4 20. b3 Rxe4 21. Bf3 Red4 22. Re3 Bd5 23. Re8+ Kg7 24. Bxd5 Qxd5
25. Qg3 Rd1+ 26. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 27. Re1 Qxc5+ { 0-1 Agdestein,S (2567)-Bacrot,E
(2714)/Tromso 2013/CBM 156 }) 8... b5 $5 { Trying to exploit the loose e4
pawn. } 9. cxb5 cxb5 10. Bc2 (10. a3 { was better. }) 10... b4 11. Nd1 d5
12. e5 Ne4 13. Bxe4 dxe4 14. Ne2 f6 15. exf6 exf6 16. Be3 Nc7 { This starts
to complicate the game unduly. } (16... Rb8 { holding onto the pawn was
safer. }) 17. Qxb4 Nd5 18. Qa3 Rf7 19. Ndc3 Nxe3 20. fxe3 Rb8 { Overlooking
that White's next is legal. } 21. Nxe4 Re7 (21... Bf8 { was my idea but I'd
forgotten White could play simply } 22. Nc5) 22. Nc5 ({ I considered } 22.
Nf2 { to be better, controlling the g4 square. Black still has good play
for the pawns with my bishop pair and White's vulnerable king and e pawn. }
) 22... Bg4 23. Rd1 f5 $6 { Not the most accurate and I flounder over the
next few moves. } ({ Following } 23... Qd5 { White's obliged to give up the
exchange with } 24. Nf4 Qc4 25. Kd2 Bxd1 26. Rxd1 { but I wasn't sure how
to evaluate the position. White has two pawns for the exchange but Black's
probably still better as White's king is loose. }) 24. Qc3 $2 Qe8 $2 (24...
Bh6 $1 { immediately should have been preferred as } 25. Rd3 Qd5 { leaves
White completely defenceless. }) 25. Rd3 Bh6 26. h3 { After the game we
thought this was the losing move but the computer points out an amazing
resource. } (26. Kf2 { was the move I was expecting and had calculated the
following line: } 26... Bxe2 (26... Qf7 $5 { looks like dynamic equality. }
) 27. Kxe2 Bxe3 $2 28. Rxe3 Rxe3+ 29. Qxe3 Rxb2+ 30. Kf3 Qc6+ { but
couldn't see anything after } 31. Kf4 { and indeed White's just winning. })
26... Bxe3 $6 { Objectively a mistake but White's path is difficult. } (
26... Bxe2 27. Kxe2 Qf7 { seems to leave Black with enough play for the
material. }) 27. hxg4 Bf2+ 28. Kxf2 $2 ({ We'd both overlooked } 28. Kd1
Rxe2 29. Nd7 $3 { when, surprisingly, Black doesn't have a threat and the
fork on f6 would force me to give the exchange with } 29... Qxd7 30. Kxe2
Bh4 { when White is clearly better but the game's not yet over as } 31.
Rxh4 Qe7+ { regains the exchange. }) 28... Rxe2+ 29. Kg3 Rbxb2 { Now my
pressure on the second rank is worth at least a piece. } 30. Rg1 $2 { This
appears to be the losing move but it was already extremely difficult and
perhaps cannot be saved anyway. } 30... Qb8+ 31. Kh3 Qf4 $1 32. gxf5 g5 {
And there's no defence to the threat of ...Qh4# } 0-1
