| In the following game I got another good opening
but then I misplayed it and was completely lost. Then one move before
the second time control a miracle happened... I guess it's only fair given
what happened in rounds 4 & 5. |
V. Rajlich - M. Senff
[C02/05] French: Advance (Wade)
Round 6
HUN Budapest, October 8, 1999
|
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 cxd4
7.cxd4 Bb5
| This variation makes a lot of sense to me from Black's perspective.
White is left with the worse bishop and the weakness on d4, and what does
he have in return? I'm not sure how to put it theoretically, I guess
more space, and it's hard for Black to play ...f6 since then e6 is weaker
than if Black had his "bad" bishop. By the way, in the ending my
weakness on d4 was a pretty big inconvenience. |
| I was very happy with this move, maybe it's a little too normal to
really shout about, however it's very good. At first I had trouble
with 11...Nf5, I analyzed for a long time 12.g4 Nfxd4 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Rxd4
Qxd4 15.Qb5+ Kd8 16.Bg5+, unfortunately Black has 16...f6 there which wins.
So I started looking at 11.Bg5, since then 11...Nf5 loses to 12.g4 since
in the same variation 15.Qb5 is mate, so Black instead plays 11...h6 and
now 12.Bxe7 Bxe7. Yes, perhaps the trade of dark-squared bishop is
good for White, but one of Black's problems in this opening is where to
put his own pieces, ...Be7 can run into Bg5, etc. 11.Nc3 is what
White really wants to play... and so then I found 11...Nf5 12.Qd3. |
| 13.Ng5 almost wins on the spot, 13...Rd7 is forced and then 14.g4 and
now if 14...Nh6 then 15.Nxh7 is winning, I believe. So, what about
14...Nfxd4? White plays 15.Be3, then 15...h6 is the only move, however
Black seems to hold, it's annoying but 16.Nh3 Nf3+ 17.Kg2 Nh4+ etc.
So, too bad. White is still doing very well, I think, with 13.g4. |
| This is provocative but good, White can cover his weakness and how
else to advance the queenside pawns. In the meantime, Black's kingside
minor pieces are horrible. |
| Here it started occurring to me for the first time just how big my
advantage was. Na4 is a crushing idea for White. What does
Black do? However, in retrospect, maybe my advantage wasn't ever
that big, d4 remains a weakness and Black's knights are good. |
| Black looks really badly off, and in fact White is much better, but
things aren't so clear. Nc5 will be met with ...Bxc5, and Black's
knights are better than White's knight and bishop. Also, d4 is a
considerable weakness, and White's impressive-looking pawn on c5 can easily
be blockaded and isn't going to be a factor anytime soon. Furthermore,
Black's targets on g7 and f7 are basically easily defended, unlike d4.
Really, the only reason White will have any advantage at all is his more
active rooks. In my quest to trade my bishop off I let him trade
one pair of rooks and activate his remaining rook, and that should have
cost me the game. |
| This is simply inaccurate. I was playing natural moves quickly
without really analyzing them deeply. After this Black trades a pair
of rooks, and probably White is no longer better. |
| I just missed that after this White won't have Ba5+. |
| Somewhere around here I needed to find a plan. I simply cannot
let Black active his rook as in the game. Forget about the f7 weakness,
White should be thinking about survival. Notice what a problem d4
is in this position. |
| Seems weak, as White can trade off his bishop, but it isn't, in fact
White probably shouldn't trade the bishop off since Black then has an awesome
rook. Perhaps Black is already better. |
| Time control. Black is much better, probably winning. |
| This makes things much worse. I just completely didn't understand
my problems here. 41.Rd1 is pretty much forced, but then 41...a5
anyway, though here White has time to bring his knight back with Nh3-g5-f3-d2. |
| I think White is lost here. |
| My opponent now plays really well for a long time, he combines prophylactic
moves with aggressive moves. |
| Excellent move, now White has nothing on the kingside. I spent
a long time on my next move. What do I do about ...Rb2+, ...Ra2
and ...Rxa3? I need to get the knight to c2 to have any chance to
hold the knight ending, so.... |
| In playing 47.Nf4 I looked at all the crazy sac lines to promote the
c-pawn, such as 49.c6 Rxa3 50.Nxd5+ exd5 51.Rxf7+ Kxf7 52.c7 (problem:
52...Ne2+ and 53...Rc3), but they are all just hopeless. My idea
here in playing 49.Ng2 is 49...Rxa3 50.Rxa3 Nxa3 51.Ne3 Nb5 52.Nc2, to
control b4 against the king coming in (With the knight on e2 White is helpless
against this). I am not sure if this knight ending can be drawn,
Black can put his pawn on a3 (it's immune there, Nxa3 Nxd4) and try to
use zugzwang to get the king in. But, it's the best try. Unfortunately,
Black now has time to take on a3 with the knight. There's no reason
to think that White should be able to hold this, he can just try to keep
it complicated for as long as possible. |
| My pieces aren't well placed at all, the a-pawn will be a monster. |
| I thought I had to resign at first. Finally, I at least found
a way to continue: |
| Also winning was 53...Nxf4 54.Kxa2 etc. |
| Hangs d4 and c6 in one move, but I can't go down an exchange. |
| Unfortunately the only try, 55.Ka1 Nc3 and White can't stop mate. |
| My opponent played this really accurately as well, of course every
move here wins but 57...Kf8 is most convincing. Now it's time to
resign. |
| 58...Ke7 59.Nd3 was more practical but that will take some time.
My opponent though he was winning on the spot with this move, but he missed
a vicious resource. Fortunately for me, it came after the time control. |
| At first I thought I had to resign, 61.Rxf7 a5 62.Ra7 Nc6 etc.
But fortunately I had some time now and I found: |
| It's a draw now, if 61...a2 then 62.Nd6+ Kd8 63.Rf8+ Kc7 64.Rf7+ and
now if 64...Kb6 then 65.Nc8+ and 66.Rxa7. My opponent spent pretty
much his next time control trying to find something, but all he could find
was one more try: |
| The only move, 62.Kc3, 62.Ke3, 62.Kc1, 62.Kd1 and 62.Ke1 all lose.
But I had some time and found it and then |
| In view of 63.Nd6+ Kd8 64.Rf8+ Kc7 65.Rf7+ Kb8 66.Rf8+ etc. |
|
|
L. Lengyel - V. Rajlich
[E92/05] King's Indian: Classical (Andersson)
Round 7
HUN Budapest, October 9, 1999
|
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Be2
e5
| I was getting really happy here, unfortunately my opponent had other
ideas. |
| I knew the Korchnoi-Kasparov game which went 12...Be6 13.f4 h6, Korchnoi
played 14.Bxf6 and I also knew some of the analysis of 14.Bh4 g5 etc.
I also knew this other really rare idea 12...Nh5. I think the best
line against 12...Nh5 is 13.f4 h6 14.Bxh5 hxg5 15.Nxg6, this is what Fred
Lindsay played against me in a simul about four or five years ago, I think
it's good for White, he'll get four pawns for the piece. However,
it's also pretty unclear, and my opponent had offered a draw with 7.dxe5,
so I did not think he'd go into this line. So, I went for it. |
| An interesting quiet move, however it seems to leave White playing
for an advantage. I guess ultimately it's just equal, but it seemed
to me at the board that Black still had to keep playing accurately to equalize.
I had to find some accurate moves. So, maybe 12...Nh5 is just not that
good. |
| If 13...Bxc3 14.bxc3 Nc5 then White plays 15.Nd2 with a big edge.
I need to keep the dark-squared bishop for now to stop Nd2 due to ...Bf8.
Unfortunately, 13...Nc5 allows the following: |
| Another critical moment, how does Black proceed? |
| This is best, and it does equalize, however it's slightly scary and
in fact I misanalyzed it. The first thing to note is that other moves
come nowhere near equalizing. 17...Nf6 runs into 18.Nd2 when 18...Nxe4
is very bad after 19.Nxe4 Rxe4 20.Rd8. 17...Bg4 does recover the
pawn, but after 18.h3 Bxf3 19.Bxf3 Nf6 20.Rhe1 White is much much better.
The critical response to 17...Rxe4 is 18.Rd8. I spent a long time
analyzing this, and double checking everything, since Black is walking
on a tightrope. I ended up concluding that Black was fine after 18...Ng7
19.Rhd1 Re8 20.Rxe8 Nxe8 21.Rd8 Nc7 followed by either ...a6 or ...b6 and
then ...Bf5/e6. However, White has the winning shot 22.Ng5, 22...Bf5
is met with just 23.Rxa8 Nxa8 24.Bxa7, 22...b6 or 22...a6 run into 23.Nxh7
and if 23...Ne6 then 24.Nf6+, and 22...Ne6 loses to just 23.Nxe6 fxe6 24.Bh6.
So, my line was bad after all. Fortunately, 18.Rd8 can adequately
be met with 18...Ng7 19.Rhd1 Ne6 20.Re8 f6 and if 21.Bd3 then just 21...Rxe3
22.fxe3 Kf7. So, this entire line going back to 13.Nf3 is just equal,
since 18.Rd8 is nothing after all. |
| I'd be happy with Black's position in the case of 19.Bxh5. |
| Does White still have an edge here? Black's next move settles
the question: |
| Probably it is Black who stands better, since White's king is a little
uncomfortable. |
| I couldn't believe that my opponent played this, however I can't say
for sure that it's a mistake, I see no clear win for Black and Black was
already better anyway. |
| I spent a long time deciding between this and 23...Bh6. I ended
up concluding that after 23...Bh6 White can come very close to equalizing
with 24.h4 Ng4 25.Bxg4 Bxg4 26.f3 Be6 27.Bd4 Bxc4 etc., though perhaps
the two bishops will be strong. The line starting with 23...h6 looks
crushing, but with the queens off the board the attack isn't as strong
as one might think and my opponent managed to wiggle out. |
| After the game I thought that maybe this was inaccurate because it
gives white the defensive resource 28.f3 in the game, why not wait to play
...g4, however it's not so simple, if 25...Ra8 then White has 26.Bd4 Rxa2
27.g3 and now 27...g4 28.Bg2 and he keeps control of e4 anyway. So,
25...g4 probably isn't the place for Black to look for an improvement. |
| This is I think where Black has the critical choice. I just couldn't
resist 28...h5, however it seems inaccurate, it lets White wiggle out.
I now believe that Black should just contend himself with 28...gxf3 29.gxf3
Nh5 30.Bxg7 Kxg7 with ...Nf4 next. White is horribly tied down and
his king can't easily enter the game, unlike in the game when White's king
is pretty nicely placed on c3. I think in this line White is very
badly off, perhaps lost. |
| I spent another huge chunk of time here, for obvious reasons.
I couldn't believe that White could get away with this. In the end
I chose a quiet positional line. |
| Of course Black isn't worse here in light of the repetition, however
I really don't think he's any better either, certainly not much better,
his chances have evaporated. What happens between now and move 40
is a nightmare. |
| This weakens c6. Of course I couldn't in my wildest dreams imagine
White's method for exploiting this! |
| Good lord! White is much better now! |
| Now, a critical position has arisen. Black is much worse, but
he probably isn't lost. Unfortunately, I change that with my next
move. |
| Necessary was 41...Rb2, I was concerned about 42.b5 Rc2 43.Bd3 Rxh2
44.Ra1 but that's tough, that's what had to be played. I imagine
that Black can somehow draw that with a timely sac of a piece for the two
kingside pawns and then drawing R+B vs R or R+N vs R or something like
that. I saw everything in the 41...Rc2 line except for in the line
42.Ra1 Bxc4 43.Bd1 Rxh2 that White can just play 44.Bxa4. |
| This too is a mistake, however Black won't be able to stop the connected
passes pawns in the case of 42...Nc3 43.Bd3 Rxh2 44.Kxb6 etc. |
| My opponent returns the favor, 43.Bd1 was winning, my original idea
was 43...Rxh2 but then White takes on a4 not with the rook (allowing ...Rh1)
but with the bishop. Once I saw this I was trying to choose between
43...Rxh2 44.Bxa4 Rh1 but then 45.Rc1 is strong or 43...Bd5+ 44.Kxd5 Nc3+
45.Kd4 Nb5+ 46.Kd3 (all of this was to save the b-pawn) 46...Rxh2 but then
47.Ra6 and I can't imagine that Black will survive long. Basically
White just wins in this line. |
|
|
| I guess White still wanted that draw, 46.Kxb6 Rxh2
would have given him some winning chances, in my opinion, although I wasn't
planning on losing this. |
| In the following game I just played badly, as we
analyzed it afterwards it just became clear that I didn't understand the
position and I didn't look at what I needed to look at. |
|
V. Rajlich - R. Soffer
[C02/08] French: Advance (Paulsen)
Round 8
HUN Budapest, October 10, 1999
|
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Nh6 6.Bd3 cxd4
7.cxd4 Nf5 8.Bxf5 exf5 9.Nc3 Be6 10.h4 h6 11.Ne2
| My opponent has played this line several times and apparently he's
thought pretty deeply about it. In the postmortem he was wondering
why people don't play 11.h5 here (so far nobody has), then 11...g5 immediately
is unplayable due to 12.hxg6 fxg6 13.Ne2 and then Nf4, and in general ...g5
will be very difficult to play, in which case where is Black's counterplay?
It's a good question, I will have to look into it. One idea he suggested
for Black in response to 11.h5 was 11...Bb4 to get rid of the knight, but
even then ...g5 will be tough to play, for one thing the pawn structure
after hxg6 fxg6 seems generally favorable for White. |
| Apparently this is my opponent's invention, and he's reached this position
twice previously, both times against GMs. I was on my own however,
I need a better database. |
| I need to think about this position a little more, I don't really understand
it. Both of the previously-mentioned opponents played 15.Kg2 here.
I rejected it due to 15...g5 and if 16.Nxe6 fxe6 17.Bxg5 then 17...Bxg5
18.Nxg5 Qxd4, this seemed good for Black, in fact how can it not be good
for Black? However, in both games my opponent rejected 15...g5 because
he thinks this line is good for White, and he played 15...Rag8 when a good
response is 16.Nd3. This shows one of the drawbacks of 14...Kd7 versus
the normal 14...0-0-0, since after 16.Nd3 Black can't play 16...g5 due
to 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.Rxh8 Rxh8 19.Bxg5 Bxg5 20.Nc5+ etc. My opponent
faced 14...Kd7 15.Kg2 Rag8 16.Nd3 once, he played 16...f4 and ended up
winning. |
| Strangely this too may be a mistake. I thought it was a no-brainer
since now the pressure against g5 is real, if 16...Rag8 17.hxg5 is then
wining for White. However, basically Black plans ...f4 in all lines,
and this is the move White needs to be ready to answer. So, 16.Nd3
is probably slightly more accurate. |
| I expected this, for lack of anything better, however I just failed
to appreciate how normal it is in this variation (and how strong it is
in this position). It just seemed unclear. Black often plays
it even when it looks just insane, for example after 14...Kd7 15.Kg2 Rag8
16.Nd3 Black played 16...f4. |
| This is also inaccurate. Best seems to be the insane-looking
18.Kg2, then play might continue 18...gxh4 19.Nxh4 Rhg8 20.f3 Be6+ 21.Kf2
Bxh4+ 22.Rxh4 Ne7. Black will put the knight on f5 and White's pawn
clump is lifeless and his bishop is useless. Probably Black has a
slight edge here. I didn't look at this line, I just didn't like
18.Kg2. Also better than 18.Nh2 seems to be 18.Nfg1, then maybe 18...Rhg8
19.f3 Bf5 and this time White's pieces are a little more awkward than in
the above line. I definitely didn't like this. Other moves
just lose, for example 18.Ne1 Nxd4, booom! |
| Seemed like a no-brainer to me, however my opponent spent some time
looking at 19...Rag8, then just 20.fxg5 hxg5 21.h5. |
| Forced, 20.Nf3 Rhg8+ 21.Kh2 Bg2. |
| Another interesting idea was 20...Bf5, I missed this idea, the point
is to take on b2, my opponent rejected this because of 21.Nc3 Qxb2 22.Nxd5
Be4 23.Nxe7 Nxe7 when if Black takes the exchange next White will have
some comp. Probably 20...Bg4 is better anyway. Now, things
get really hairy. |
| Possibly 22.Kf1 was better. I just didn't analyze this right,
I rejected it due to 22...Nxd4 but then Black's king becomes a factor,
23.Bxd4 Bxe2+ 24.Qxe2 Qxd4 25.Qb5+ (I saw all of this but it didn't seem
like a big deal, however this is what Black wants to avoid) and White is
doing better than he deserves. Instead Black can just play 22...Rac8
or 22...Qa6, White is still pretty tied up. |
| I am not sure whether this is better than 23.Re1. After 23.Re1
Black plays 23...Nb4 and White has serious problems, 24.f3 Bf5 is even
worse, however 23.f3 is bad too. |
| This too is inaccurate. I looked at 24.fxg4 Qxe3 and now two
moves, 25.Rg1 and 25.Rf1, and I rejected both due to 25... Nxd4.
However, my opponent thought that 24.fxg4 Qxe3 25.Rg1 was best, then against
25...Nxd4 I have two possibilities. An inferior one is 26.Qa4+ Nc6
27.Qb5, this looks insane and in fact Black wins with just 27...Kc7, but
it was worth looking at I guess, Black's king isn't completely comfortable.
The better one was just 26.Nxd4 Qxf4+ 27.Kh1 Qxd4 28.Qb3, we were looking
at 28...Bb4 29.Nf3 and now not 29...Qc4 due to 30.e6+ but rather 30...Qe4.
At any rate, this variation shows how careful black has to be about his
own king which is never completely safe, and how mindful White should be
of this, being willing to give up a lot of material in lines where it becomes
a factor. However, I guess in this line White doesn't quite have
enough, Black should win. |
| My opponent criticized this afterwards as a "lazy" move, that he should
just play 26...Qe4 and if 27.Nc3 Qc2+ (to draw the queen away from defending
h3) 28.Qf2 Qf5 29.Nxd5 Rg3 30.Qf1 Rag8 and White probably shouldn't last
long. 26...Rg3 is of course very good for Black, probably winning,
but White survives into an ending. |
| I again didn't have much time and couldn't set up problems for Black
to solve. I think with some accurate play by White Black will have
to really work hard and maybe it can even be drawn. |
| My opponent suggested 31.Ng1 Rxf4 32.Nxh3 to try to break everything
loose. |
| The final blunder, but 32...Rg8 with the idea of 33...Rg2+ was an unpleasant
threat. |
|
|
T. Fogarasi - V. Rajlich
[B30/01] Sicilian
Round 9
HUN Budapest, October 11, 1999
|
1.e5 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 g6 4.Bb5
| I need to give these systems with Bb5 some more thought. I wasn't
sure whether to encourage him to take on c6 or whether to support my piece.
Generally I don't mind the doubled c-pawns, however I also didn't want
to spend a tempo to get them. I guess I don't see anything wrong with my
treatment of the opening though. |
| I rejected 5...e6 due to 6.Bxc6 bxc6 7.e5, when the c-pawns will be
fixed and exposed. |
| Now that my queen's knight is supported by a piece, my opponent prepares
to preserve his king's bishop. Black will get the useful ...a6 for
free, but on the other hand the ...Bd7 may not be ideal. On the whole
I don't think that Black should have any problems here. |
| To prepare 9...Bg4, since 8...Bg4 would lose to 9.Bxf7+. Also
possible was 8...e6 followed by 9...Nge7, however I like 8...Nf6 a little
better. |
| To me playing for ...b5 was a no-brainer, I'll grab my play and go
from there, however at the moment White is threatening e4-e5 and while
this seemed like no big deal at the time I now think that I should just
take a moment to stop it with something like ...Qc7 or ...Rc8. With
...Na5 I go into a very natural line which ends up losing for me, however
I could have backed out at several points so at the moment I am not sure
which moves are actually bad. |
| White is just much better now. |
| I just didn't appreciate Black's problems after this move. Instead,
I needed to really sit down and work out the best way to just stay in the
game. 13...dxe5 14.Bxc5 is obviously very good for White, however
it may well at this point be Black's best continuation. |
| I was still oblivious, 15...Bf6 should again be given serious consideration. |
| After this Black is lost. 16...Rc8 was absolutely forced, and
White is obviously much much better. I was feeling a little uncomfortable
here of course, however I still didn't bother to sit down and work out
the variations, I didn't try to find the win for White after 16...Rb8,
so I just played the natural move thinking I'd work things out when there
is something to be worked out. |
| This continuation hardly seemed the most dangerous to Black, how bad
can this possibly be? Well, amazingly enough Black can now resign!
I spent over seventy five minutes on my next three moves, but it's too
late. |
| I kept looking at everything here, too bad after 21...Qe7 White can
get away with 22.Nxd6. I was really happy with myself for finding
21...Rc7, but it's not enough. |
| I kept looking at 22...Nb8/b4 23.Rxd6 Qe7 24.Nxf6+ and now either 24...Bxf6
25.Rxf6 when White's threat of 26.Rxg6+ stops 25...Nd7 or 24...Kh8 25.Ra6
and if 25...h6 then if nothing else just 26.Bxh6. The rest of the
game deserves no comment. I thought I'd have a good chance to rob
him as it's a little messy but really it's hopeless. |
| The only practical chance, 27...Nxa6 28.Ng5 Ra7 is best to a computer
but then Black can just resign. |
| I was low on time, 38...pass (maybe 38...Kh7) was best, so if 39.Rb8
Nd3, but it's irrelevant, White is easily winning anyway. |
|
|
| This is kind of a funny game, I guess I shouldn't
complain about drawing it but I'd be curious to see how say Kasparov would
have won it, it seemed that after 9...Nc6 White hardly had a winning chance
which can't be the case. Also, one thing which this game impressed
upon me was the importance of studying normal positions and normal techniques
in those positions, my opponent played the middlegame very well and I suspect
it's all normal, I thought I was a little better after for example 16.Be2
and I was wondering what Black would do, but 16...h5 and 17...Rg8, keeping
the f8 bishop at home, and then slowly activating both rooks with ...Rc7,
...h4, ...hxg3, ...Rh8, seemed to be the way for Black to perhaps even
get a slight edge, and I suspect it's all just normal stuff. |
V. Rajlich - A. Vaulin
[B97/08] Sicilian: Najdorf (Poisoned Pawn)
Round 10
HUN Budapest, October 12, 1999
|
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5
e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Nc6
| This was new to me. There seem to be only three viable replies
(9.0-0-0, 9.Nxc6 and 9.Nb3, as continuing to offer the pawn should give
Black just an improved version of normal poisoned pawn lines), and of those
9.Nb3 should just be bad. 8.Nb3 (one move earlier) is a normal move,
however then White continues with Qf3 and 0-0-0 while Black continues with
...Be7, ...Nbd7, ...Qc7 and ...b5. It's just like the normal main
line with 7...Be7, however White's king knight is on b3 instead of d4,
which I think favors Black, and theory seems to agree. Here on 9.Nb3
it'd be even worse than that I think, as White has put his queen on the
less active square d2, and Black's placing of the queen's knight seems
reasonable. So, 9.Nb3 should be an improvement for Black over the
8.Nb3 line, which is in turn an improvement for Black over the main 7...Be7
line, which shouldn't happen with a move I'd never heard about. 9.Nxc6
I also didn't like, if then 9...bxc6 10.0-0-0 Rb8 and Black seems to be
doing fine. So, by process of elimination, 9.0-0-0 should be right,
and White should be better if for no other reason than that 8...Nc6 isn't
seen. |
| However, the way the game went, it seems like I never had a serious
winning chance. How would Kasparov play this? I don't believe
that Vaulin could draw Kasparov on a regular basis from this position. |
| Yes, perhaps this is where the draw starts to become likely, however
I was concerned about the two bishops. Maybe 12.Bh4 was best. |
| This is clearly better (it seems) than 16.Bc4. |
| I wasn't really sure what to expect but I was looking at lines like
17...Bh6 18.g3 e5 19.Rxd6 Rxd6 20.Rxd6 exf4 21.Kb1 and White is much better.
After 17...Rg8 I'd actually rather switch colors and play Black - although
really it's very drawish. |
| Now I am ready to play 21.g4. |
| If 24...Rh2 then 25.e5 is good for White. |
| If 25...Rhc5 then 26.Rh2, followed by Rdd2 and Rh7/h8, Bh5, etc., when
White should be better. If 25...Rh8 then just 26.Rd1 and Rh1. |
|
|
X. Bu - V. Rajlich
[E81/05] King's Indian: Sämisch
Round 11
HUN Budapest, October 13, 1999
|
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3
c5 7.Nge2
| A draw would clinch first place for my opponent, so he just offered
me one right in the opening. This would eventually help me out, as
in the final position White was better and could have played for a win
but decided to play it safe and take clear first. |
| I couldn't remember the actual theory, but I remembered the ideas Black
uses in this opening. One tricky thing for Black is the timing of
...h4. Generally you want to wait with it, for one thing if you play
it before you can follow it up with ...Nh7 then White may end up playing
Bg5. Also, if you play it too early, i.e. before ...e6, then in response
to ...e6 White may play f3-f4 since you may no longer have ...Neg4.
Finally, if you play it too early then White may re-maneuver his g3 knight
to a different active square, whereas if you play it later then the re-maneuvering
may come at a more expensive time. The one thing to watch out for
is, if you wait too long to play ...h4, White may play f3-f4 and e4-e5
and then in response to ...h4 he'll have Ng3-e4. At any rate, I'm
happy with 10...e6. |
| Now, my first real think of the game took place. One idea is
...Bd7 and ...Rb8, however ...Bd7 always has the drawback of taking away
an escape route for the Ne5 so in response to 13...Bd7 I didn't like just
14.h3 threatening 15.f4. I still think that this is right, that 13...Bd7
would be bad. Also, in playing the move I chose (13...Nh7), Black
isn't doing anything that will prevent him from playing ...h4 in the future
and forcing White's g3 knight to some square other than e4. So, I
think my move is right, however Black needs to think this through and be
precise. |
| Preparing either ...h4 or ...f5. |
| This seems inaccurate. We looked in the postmortem for a while
at 14.h3, Black has to play accurately. For example, 14...Rb8 is
bad, i.e. 15.f4 Nd7 16.e5 and White has a strong initiative. I guess
more analysis would be needed to prove that White is doing well there,
but this is what he wants, this is what he plays for. What this shows
is that after 14.h3 is the time for Black to play 14...h4, i.e. 15.Nh1
Qe7 (most accurate, 15...Rb8 is just too slow and lame) 16.f4 Nd7 and now
Black threatens the e-pawn as well as ...f5. Perhaps White should
even have taken this slower, preparing f3-f4. |
| It's so simple now that I've had some time to think about it, but here
Black should play 16...h4 and then after 17.Nh1 play whatever he wants,
such as 17...Rb8. |
| And White himself returns the favor. He should have played 17.h3
Bd7 (17...h4 18.hxg4 hxg3 19.g5 is winning for White, i.e. 19...Qd7 20.Rf3
and then 21.Ne2 if need be) and then 18.e5. Again this is complicated,
however this is what White wants, and now his g3 knight is coming to e4.
I think that White would be considerably better in this case. After
17.e5 White has problems, and I am not sure what the right way to solve
them is. |
| Maybe 18.fxe5 would have been more accurate. I need to look at
this position more closely to see what White could have done to avoid the
problems he experiences in the game. |
| 19.Rxf4 was also possible. 19.Bxf8 would lose to 19...Bd4+ 20.Kh1
fxg3 followed by 21...Qh4. |
| It's amazing how effective this move is. I was really happy to
find it. Basically without a white knight on e4 White threatens both
...Qc7 and ...Be5xh2+/...Qc7+. 20...f5 almost works, unfortunately
there's the d5-d6 resource, for example 21.Ng3 h4 22.Nge2 Be5 23.Rf2 Bxh2+
24.Kxh2 Qc7+ 25.d6+. I almost went into this, I saw 23...Qc7 24.d6+
but it took me a second look to realize that d5-d6+ works even against
a Black check! |
| This was my idea all along, I thought that Black was much better after
22.Bb6 Qe7 23.R4f2 Qh4, however I missed 24.g3 Qg4 25.Rf4 when it's really
messy and I'm just going to call it unclear. Also possible is 24...Qh3
to avoid this, but that's not so threatening in the first place.
However, Black has a vicious and a little strange resource here, 21...b6.
Amazingly White's bishop just doesn't have a good square, in fact it seems
to be really good for Black. 22. Bb4 (for example) prevents R4f2,
i.e. 22...Be5 23.R4f2 Bd4, so probably best is 22.Bf2 Bh6 23.Rh4, then
maybe 23...Be3. Black is just much better. |
| I spent the longest time on move 22 seeing if I can't just win a pawn
with the ...Bxh2+ idea, however White always gets the f7 pawn. There
were other things to look at, for example 22...Qe7 23.R4f2 Bxc3 (this better
work out really nicely, this is a nice bishop) 24.Nxc3 Bd3 and now 25.Rxf7
Qh4 seems to win for Black, however I couldn't answer 25.d6. Also,
23...Bxe4 24.Nxe4 Bxh2+ 25.Kxh2 Qh4+ 26.Kg1 Rxe4 27.Rxf7 Rb4 28.Qe3 holds
everything, I just don't trust 28...Rxb2 there. This is the main
problem with these lines, you give up the bishops and then your position
has holes. So, why not 23...Qh4, with tremendous pressure?
Unfortunately, White now has a tricky defensive idea which I missed: |
| Perhaps 24...Qh3 is better to avoid the following. |
| Best. I expected 25.Qd1 with a big edge for Black. |
| We're four moves from agreeing to a draw, so perhaps I shouldn't criticize
this, however I think White's 30th move as well as his draw offer were
both influenced by the fact that a draw would clinch first place.
Perhaps 26...Bxe4 is more accurate, with the idea of 27.Rxg4 hxg4 and then
...Nh7-g5-h3. |
| The most ambitious move is 30.Qxb7. I was planning 30...Bf5 and
if 31.d6 then sacing a second pawn with 31...Nf6. It seems that Black
is playing for a perp, however I thought that I was likely to get it, White's
king is very exposed. After 30.d6 Bc6 maybe 31.Nd5, White will be
really hard-pressed to find a way to get his king out of the checks. |
|
| Anyway, there they are, all of my games from this
tournament. I will need to subject them to more serious scrutiny.
Enjoy. |
|
