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I. Divljan - V. Rajlich
[E99/03] King’s Indian: Yugoslav (Aronin)
Toronto, 10 September 1999, (1)
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3
e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Be3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bf2 g5 13.a4 Ng6
14.a5 h5 15.b4 Nf6 16.c5 g4 17.cxd6 g3 18.hxg3 fxg3 19.Bxg3 cxd6 20.Qd2
h4 21.Qg5 Kh7 22.Bxh4 Bh6 23.Qg3 Be3+ 24.Kh1 Nxh4 25.f4 exf4 26.Qxh4+ Kg6
27.e5 Rh8 28.Bd3+ Bf5 29.Bxf5+ Kxf5 30.Qh3+ Rxh3+ 31.gxh3 dxe5 32.Ng2 Kg6
33.Nxe3 fxe3
0-1. |
| 15.b4 is too slow. Probably 17.Kh1 was a better
try that 17.cxd6. 21.Qg5 loses by force but White was just hosed
anyway. |
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V. Rajlich - F. McKim
[C45/23] Scotch: Golmayo
Toronto, 11 September 1999, (2)
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| 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3
Nge7 7.Bc4 Nxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4+ 9.Nc3 Qg6 10.0-0 Bxc3 11.bxc3 b6 12.Bd3 0-0
13.Qd2 Qh5 14.Rae1 Qa5 15.Bf4 d6 16.e5 Nd5 17.exd6 Nxf4 18.Qxf4 cxd6 19.Qe4
g6 20.Qxa8 d5 21.Qc6 1-0. |
| Silly game. Actually I took about 30 minutes
to play 12.Bd3, I just wanted to be precise, which 12.Bd3 is, I was happy
with it. |
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V. Rajlich - K. Spraggett
[B42/14] Sicilian: Paulsen
Toronto, 11 September 1999, (3)
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| 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.0-0
Qc7 7.Qe2 d6 8.Nc3 g6 9.Be3 Bg7 10.Rae1 0-0 11.f4 b5 12.a3 Bb7 13.f5 exf5
14.exf5 Nbd7 15.fxg6 hxg6 16.h3 Rae8 17.Qf2 Re5 18.Nf3 Rh5 19.Ng5 Ne5 20.Be2
Rh8 21.Bd4 Nh5 22.Nce4 Qe7 23.Nxd6 Qxd6 24.Bc5 Qd5 25.Bxf8 Bxf8 26.b4 f5
27.Rd1 Qc6 28.Rd8 Kg7 29.Rfd1 Be7 30.Rxh8 Kxh8 31.Nf3 Nf4 32.Bf1 Nxh3+
33.gxh3 Nxf3+ 34.Kh1 Nh4+ 35.Kh2 Bd6+ 0-1. |
| This was really interesting. Javier Segovia
and I had the position after 7...d6 on the board in the room preparing
before the game, we were looking at these lines without c2-c4. As
a result I reached move 15 after only about 15 minutes. I only thought
for real for the first time in playing 16.h3. |
| Another idea in the opening would have been 9.f4
Bg7 10.f5, threatening just 11.fxe6 and 12.Bc4. A reasonable defense
seemed 10...Nc6, but Spraggett thought that after 11.Nxc6 bxc6 White’s
attack was still dangerous. |
| His 17...Re5-h5-h8 maneuver was really shocking,
but I think it’s best. The rook isn’t useless on h8, there are really
no useful files since the e-file will be clogged up with a black knight
on e5, and most importantly on h5/h8 Black’s rook prevents white from playing
Qh4 and Bh6, etc. |
| Really the main reason I lost this game was that
I spent too much time calculating variations on moves 22 and 23.I spent
probably 75 minutes on those two moves. I looked for a long at the
line 22.Bxb5 axb5 23.Nxb5, as crazy as this looks I think it’s actually
good for me, i.e. 23...Qe7 24.Nxd6 and now 24...Qxg5 is bad due to 25.Nxb7
Ng3 26.Qf4 (this took me a long time to find, for a long time I thought
that this ..Qxg5/Ng3 idea refuted this) while 24...Qxd6 25.Bc5 Qd5 (to
stay on f7) 26.Bxf8 forces 26...Kxf8 since 26...Bxf8 loses to 27.Rxe5.
Then, after I worked all of this out, I found just 22...Qe7. Ouch. |
| But, these ideas recur, so the time wasn’t wasted.I
played the correct 22.Nce4, and now what does Black do about the dual threat
of 23.Nxd6 and 23.g4? Answer: 22...Qe7! Now, in the postmortem
we ended up concluding that White should play 23.g4 with incredible complications
which seem roughly equal. Instead, I calculated the crap out of 23.Nxd6,
but I missed that Black can play 25...Bxf8 since then if 26.Bxh5 Bc5.
Nor can White even throw in Bxh5 earlier, for example 25.Bxh5 Rxh5 26.Bxf8
Rxg5 and g2 is hit. |
As it turns out, however, after 25...Bxf8 the game
is only equal. Instead Black should have played 24...Qc6, he still
has the ...Bc5 resource and the queen is out of the way of a Rd1.
It seems hard to believe that White can take the time to play 26.b4 and
hold the balance, but this does indeed seem to be the case. So, 23.Nxd6?
and 23...Qd5? were offsetting mistakes, after
which the game resumes its normal course. Unfortunately, I only
had about twenty minutes left at this point. |
| 26...Nf4 was an interesting alternative to 26...f5.
I was going to play 27.Bd1, however this isn’t best, Black is better.
Instead white holds the balance with 27.Rd1 Qxg2+ 28.Qxg2 Nxg2 29.Rd8.
In these sorts of positions material just isn’t as valuable as setting
up a positions good for the material you have. If Black’s queen were
on c6 instead of d5, then 27.Bd1 would be forced and Black would be much
better. |
| After 31.Nf3, the last critical position arose.
If Black doesn’t have 31...Nf4 he is in trouble, I missed 31...Nf4, however
White has a counterresource which seems to force a draw: 32.Nxe5 Nxh3+
33.Kf1 Nxf2 34.Nxc6 Nxd1 35.Nxe7 Ne3+ 36.Kf2 Nxc3 37.Nxg6+ Kg7 38.Bd3 and
White draws. Spraggett saw this whole thing but not 38.Bd3, he didn’t
have a choice anyway. It would have been a lucky draw for me but
with just a few minutes to think I would have realized that 32.Nxe5 hits
Black’s queen and 38.Bd3 is easy to find once you’re there. |
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M. Stroud - V. Rajlich
[B87/10] Sicilian: Scheveningen (Sozin)
Toronto, 12 September 1999, (4)
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| 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4
e6 7.Bb3 b5 8.0-0 Be7 9.f4 0-0 10.Kh1 b4 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 bxc3 13.exf6
Bxf6 14.bxc3 Bb7 15.Qg4 Nc6 16.Ba3 Be7 17.Bb2 Ne5 18.Qe2 Ng6 19.Rad1 Qc7
20.Qg4 Bd6 21.Bc1 Bxh2 22.Rd3 Ne5 23.Qh3 Nxd3 24.cxd3 Be5 25.Ne2 Bxc3 26.d4
Bb4 27.Nf4 Rac8 28.Be3 Bd6 29.Nh5 Qc6 30.d5 Qb5 31.Rf2 Qd3 32.Qg4 Be5 33.Rf6
Bxf6 34.Nxf6+ Kh8 35.Bd4 Qf1+ 36.Kh2 gxf6 37.Qh4 e5 38.Bf2 Rg8 39.Qxf6+
Rg7 0-1. |
I wasn’t too happy with my opening play, better
was 11...bxc3 12.exf6 cxb2 13.Bxb2 Bxf6 since 14.Qf3 is nothing due to
14...d5. There was a really complicated tactical line after 15...Nc6:
16.Nxc6 Bxc6 17.Bxe6. Before playing 15...Nc6 I saw the refutation
of 17...fxe6 18.Qxe6+ Kh8 19.Qxc6 Bxc3, 20.Ba3. I planned 17...Bxc3,
which does in fact win. However, White has a try which I didn’t see
until it was my opponent’s turn: 18.Ba3. Black then seems to win
in an incredibly complicated position with the calm 18...Bxa1 19.Bxf8 Kxf8,
i.e. 20.Rxa1 Qf6 or 20.Rxf7+ Ke8 and everything seems to hold, including
21.Qb4 Qd1+. This is a good candidate for computer analysis.
16.Ba3 seems wrong, maybe just 16.Be3, though Black is probably just
better. In the game White’s compensation for his queenside pawns
seemed to just slowly peter out. |
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V. Rajlich - M. Dougherty
[B77/02] Sicilian: Yugoslav Dragon
Toronto, 12 September 1999, (5)
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| 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Be3
d6 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.f3 0-0 9.Bc4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.0-0-0 Qa5
13.h4 b5 14.Kb1 b4 15.Ne2 Nd7 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Nd4 Rf6 18.Qg5 Qc5 19.Qg4
Kf7 20.h5 g5 21.Nb3 Qe5 22.Nc1 Nc5 23.g3 a5 24.Nd3 Nxd3 25.cxd3 Qd4 26.Qxg5
Rg8 27.Qxa5 Rxg3 28.a3 bxa3 29.Qxa3 Rfxf3 30.Rhf1 Kf6 31.Qa8 Kg7 32.Rxf3
Rxf3 33.Qe8 Qf6 34.Rd2 Qg5 35.Kc2 Rf8 36.Qd7 Qc5+ 37.Kb3 Rb8+ 38.Ka2 Qa5+
39.Kb1 Qxd2 40.Qxe7+ Kh6 41.Qxe6+ Kg5 42.Qe7+ Kg4 43.Qe6+ Kf3 44.Qh3+ Ke2
45.Qg2+ Kxd3 46.Qf3+ Kc4 47.Qf7+ Kb4 0-1. |
| This game was unbelievable. The whole 18.Qg5
idea may have been misguided. I missed 20...g5. I thought 19...Nf8
was forced. The really crazy thing is after 19...Kf7 I should have
seen 20...g5 since otherwise 19...Kf7 doesn’t make any sense. I think
by the way that I have an awesome position on move 17/18. |
| My opponent’s best move was 25...Qd4. It throws
into question my whole idea of playing for Nd3 and replying to ...Nxd3
with cxd3. After 25...Qd4 Black threatens just ...a4 and ...a3, and
in fact for a long time I didn’t see 28.a3 in the game continuation and
so I didn’t see a good reply to 25...Qd4. After 28.a3 I think Black
has a small edge. However I was planning to use my passed b-pawn
to generate winning chances, it’s double-edged. |
| 30...Kf6 surprised me, it’s probably not accurate.
However, White’s active queen isn’t such a big deal, so maybe it’s no worse
than anything else. I should have forced a draw with 34.h6+.
I just got greedy. I remember that 30...Qf6 made me greedy, when
I saw that move I decided that I would win the game after all. There
is no reason to be playing for a win, Black’s queen is better than White’s
and white’s passed b-pawn is hardly a factor with the queens on the board.
After 34.Rd2 Qg5 White is in trouble. I need to run this through
the computer. 35.Rc2 Rg1+ 36.Ka1 Qa5+ 37.Kb3 is just a draw.
I don’t know about just 35...Rxd3, it’s probably good for Black. |
| In playing 36.Qd7 I saw that Black can win my rook,
I just decided to bank on having a perp rather than play 36.Qc6 since then
I am just much worse. However I really shouldn’t have expected to
have a perp. |
