[Event "Bunratty Masters 2014"]
[Site "Bunratty IRL"]
[Date "2014.02.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Korneev, Oleg"]
[Black "Jones, Gawain"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2631"]
[BlackElo "2648"]
[ECO "B76"]
[Annotator "Jones, Gawain"]
[ICUid "31345"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 { Going into the last
round I had a half point lead over my opponent and Sam Collins and decided
to fall back on my beloved Dragon. } 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9.
O-O-O { Recently this positional approach has supplanted the old main line
of 9.Bc4. } 9... d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 Bxd4 13. Qxd4 Qb6
14. Na4 Qc7 15. Bc4 Rd8 { The main move but actually the first time I've
played it. } 16. Nc5 Bf5 { Threatening 17...Bxc2 as 18.Kxc2 Nb4+ picks up
the queen. } 17. Bb3 Nf4 (17... h5 $2 { was played in an elite event but }
18. g4 $1 e5 19. Qg1 Nf4 20. Re1 hxg4 21. fxg4 Bc8 22. Qg3 a5 23. Qh4 a4
24. Bxf7+ Kg7 25. Ne4 { was disastrous. 1-0 Karjakin,S (2780)-Van Wely,L
(2679) Wijk aan Zee 2013. }) 18. Qf2 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 Rd8 20. Rxd8+ Qxd8 21.
g3 Qd4 22. Qxd4 Ne2+ 23. Kd2 Nxd4 { And so we've gone straight from the
opening into an endgame. Black is actually winning a pawn by force here but
it should only be White pressing with his active pieces and Black's
vulnerable c6 pawn. } 24. Ke3 Nxc2+ 25. Bxc2 Bxc2 26. Nd7 f6 27. Nb8 c5 {
In weekend tournaments preparation doesn't really come into it as there's
so little time between games. However, in the 15 minutes or so I had before
going to lunch I had a look over a couple of critical lines and actually
had this position on my computer screen! The time control was 90 minutes
for the whole game plus 15 seconds increment every move. By this point I
still had around 84 minutes left while Oleg was down to below 5 minutes, a
useful advantage. } 28. Nd7 ({ Regaining the pawn immediately with } 28.
Nc6 { is preferred by the computer when I thought Black should be holding
after } 28... Kf7 29. Nxa7 Ke6 { although I still need to be accurate. })
28... c4 29. Kd4 Kf7 30. f4 $2 { In time trouble Korneev errs. } (30. Kxc4
{ was better but I daresay he wanted to avoid } 30... e5 31. Nc5 Bd1 32. f4
exf4 33. gxf4 g5 { when the pawns will get liquidated and his winning
chances disappear. }) 30... Ke6 31. Nc5+ Kf5 $1 { White can't defend his
kingside pawns. } 32. Kxc4 Kg4 33. Kd4 ({ I thought Oleg had to go into a
race but my kingside pawns are at least as fast as his. } 33. Kb5 Kh3 34.
Ka6 Kxh2 ({ The computer points out } 34... e5 $1 35. fxe5 fxe5 36. Kxa7 e4
37. Ne6 Kxh2 38. Nd4 Ba4 $1 39. b3 Bd7 { and apparently I'm faster. }) 35.
Kxa7 Kxg3 36. b4 h5 (36... Bd1 { might be better. }) 37. b5 h4 38. b6 h3
39. b7 h2 40. b8=Q h1=Q { and both queen. I'd actually calculated this
position and thought it likely that White would hold the draw but Black can
hardly lose. }) (33. b4 Kh3 34. b5 (34. a4 Kxh2 35. a5 Kxg3 36. b5 Bd1 $1 {
and I'll successfully stop White's queenside pawns. }) 34... Kxh2 35. a4
Bxa4 $1 36. Nxa4 h5 { and again my kingside pawns are too powerful. })
33... Kh3 34. Ke3 Kxh2 35. Kf2 h5 36. b4 { At this point Oleg offered me a
draw. While a draw would guarantee me at least first equal there was a
chance Sam would win to catch me. Spending a little of my huge time
advantage I calculated a forced win. } 36... g5 37. fxg5 fxg5 38. Ne6 g4
39. Nf4 h4 40. gxh4 g3+ 41. Ke3 e5 42. Ne2 g2 43. Kf2 (43. Kd2 Bg6 $1 { is
no different. }) 43... Bd1 44. Ng1 e4 { Korneev threw in the towel as
there's no defence to 45...e3+. } 0-1
