Manis Davidovich (2103)
Don Vandivier (1873)
Universal Flint Fall Swiss, Round 2
Flint, November 2003
Sicilian: Scheveningen (Sozin), B87

Notes by Don Vandivier

I played Black against Mani in round 2 and chose the Najdorf variation against his 1.e4. The time control was 90 minutes per game so you can imagine my surprise when Mani took nearly 60 min on one move! Here’s how the game went:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6

I’ve played this variation many times for both sides.

7.Be3 b5 8.Bb3 Bb7 9.f3

White’s game looks somewhat passive, however the opposite is true. Black cannot develop his king-bishop with 9...Be7 because of the immediate sacrifice 10.Bxe6 fxe6 and then 11.Nxe6, winning at least 3 pawns for the piece and destroying Black’s king position. I’ve played the sac and won twice in tournament games, so my next move is the obvious choice for Black.

9...d5!

But this is where Mani spent nearly 60 minutes... “What the heck was he analyzing?”, I thought.

10.Qe2!

Now it was time for me to take a hard look at this position as I had expected 10.e5.

10...dxe4

I played what looked like the logical choice.

11.0–0–0!

Now I saw the storm brewing, but unfortunately I missed one of the tornadoes.

11...exf3

Expecting 12.gxf3.

12.Nxe6?!

And now this position deserves some serious attention. In a state of shock I played the horrible:

12...fxe2??

I had considered playing 12...Qa5, but that loses to 13.Bb6! Qxb6 14.Nc7# Double-check and MATE! It looks like the only move Black can play is 12...Qe7 Mani had told me that 13.Nxb5! won. But that’s not true. White loses after the simple 13...fxe6 capturing the knight on e6 and making an escape square at f7.

13.Rxd8+ Ke7 14.Bc5# 1–0

Eric Fischvogt (2272)
Don Vandivier (1873)
Universal Flint Fall Swiss, Round 5
Flint, November 2003
Grünfeld: Exchange, D85

Notes by Don Vandivier

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3

So much for my Budapest Gambit... now I had to choose between all the other lines.

2...g6

Yeah, I’ll play something I know, the Grünfeld if he allows it.

3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 0–0 8.Rb1

I knew Rb1 was considered to be the “new variation” as opposed to the older lines where White plays Bc4, Be3 and Rc1. I must admit I don’t know the Rb1 line so now I’m just ‘playing chess’.

8...c5 9.Be2

Well, I’ve never seen the bishop played to e2, but then I don’t know this line and it’s probably not bad.

9...Nc6

Developing a piece and putting pressure on White’s center. After all, this is what the Grünfeld is all about. Black allows White to have the center and then tries to take it away from him. :)

10.Be3 cxd4 11.cxd4 Qa5+

A patzer move? Not really, after Bd2 Black has to decide whether to take the a-pawn and try to survive or simply play the Queen back to c7.

12.Qd2?

WOW! My opponent just dropped a pawn! I was really surprised.

12...Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 Rd8 14.d5

I think once you realize that you’ve dropped a pawn you should get on with the game. I’m not criticizing White’s move, it’s just that the more he tries to hold the pawn the worse his position becomes. Had he offered me a draw at this point I would have taken it.

14...e6 15.Rb5?! a6 16.Rc5 Bf8 17.Rc2 exd5 18.Bb6?!

This might be a good move against a weak player, who would be tempted to move his rook to d7 thus blocking off his queen-bishop.

18...dxe4+ 19.Bxd8 exf3 20.Rxc6

I had to calculate this move before deciding to play 18...dxe4+!

20...Bh6+!!

Suddenly White finds himself in a situation where I might be able to take the rook and maintain two pieces under attack, which will happen if I have a bishop check with the queen-bishop.

21.Ke1

Now I was tempted to play 21...fxg2 winning yet another pawn with tempo. However, after looking the position over I felt that the better line was to catch the White king and rook on the back rank, so I played:

21...bxc6 22.Bxf3 Be6 23.Ba5 Rb8 24.a3

I was a bit surprised when Eric played this move, but maybe 24.Be4 loses.

24...Rb1+ 25.Bd1 Bf8

This is a won position, all I have to do is make the right moves.

26.Kd2 Bxa3 27.Re1 c5! 28.Be2

You have to give Eric credit for striving to reach a position he might be able to draw.

28...Rxe1 29.Kxe1 Bc8 30.Kd2

The obvious looking move, to get the king closer to the pawns. But this is what I saw when I decided to go into this line.

30...Bb4+! 31.Bxb4 cxb4 32.Kc2 a5 33.Kb3 Bd7 34.h4 Kf8 35.h5 Ke7 36.hxg6 hxg6 37.Bd3 Bf5 38.Bb5 Kd6 39.Ka4 Bd7! 0–1

And White resigned because after 40.Kxa5 Bxb5, White can’t take the bishop back without letting the pawn queen.