Nishant Sawant (1709)
Robert Hollenhorst (1634)
Midwest Class Championships, Class B, Round 4
Chicago, IL, October 2003
Queen’s Pawn: Zukertort (London), D02

Notes by Jeff Aldrich

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 e6

This closes off the bishop. 3...c5 gives Black the option of developing the bishop if the opportunity presents itself.

4.e3 Be7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3

White wants to keep the light-squared bishop on the b1–h7 diagonal for a possible attack when Black castles.

6...Nc6 7.Nbd2 0–0 8.Ne5 Bd6 9.h4

Telegraphing the attack, but the Black king-side does not have any weaknesses at the moment.

9...Qc7 10.Ndf3 Bd7 11.h5 h6

Now we have a weakness.

12.g4 Bxe5 13.Nxe5 cxd4?

Missing the discovered attack. Black needs to realize this before exchanging the bishop on e5.

14.Ng6 e5 15.Nxf8 exf4?!

This just loses the exchange. The in-between move 15...Bxg4 has several points to it: It picks up a pawn and slows down White’s attack. It also exposes the White king to a counter-attack in the center.

16.Nxd7 Qxd7 17.exd4 Re8+ 18.Kf1 Nxg4 19.Qf3 Qe6?!

Seems like a good attacking move, but it exposes the queen. Just wait and see.

20.Kg2 Nb8? 21.Rhe1

There it is. The queen is now overworked. It cannot hold both the knight and rook.

21...Ne3+ 22.fxe3 fxe3 23.Qf5 Qxf5 24.Bxf5 Re7 25.Re2 g6 26.hxg6 fxg6 27.Bd3 Nd7 28.Rae1 Nf6 29.Rxe3 1–0