return of the caro

K-C
January Match Internet Chess Club (8), 24.01.2006
B12 - Caro-Kann : Advanced Variation

We decided to have a midweek game. 1.e4 c6 I wanted to move the battle to the late middlegame/endgame. Over the board there won't be as many miniatures for and against I hope 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5!? [I tried something different today. Normally I play the Karpov-esque 5...Ne7 6.-- Nd7 and only then 7.-- c5 and 8.-- Nc6 . ] 6.0-0 Nc6 7.c3 Nge7 [The main line is 7...cxd4 8.cxd4 then 8...Nge7 but I didn't want to open any lines for him. I can't understand why someone would play this way v. the old Karpov Knights way. Development is awkward at best and painful at worst.] 8.Bg5!? [The mainline is 8.dxc5! Ng6 9.b4 Ngxe5 . I wa happy with his move because it allowed me to develop a little bit] 8...Qb6 9.Qb3?! giving himself doubled isolated pawns [9.Qd2 may have been better] 9...Qxb3 10.axb3 Bxb1 11.Rfxb1 cxd4 12.cxd4 Nf5



Whether I'm better or worse here I'm happy with my position. I missed Kirk's next move, but I wanted just to trade off the bishops and my two queenside pawns are better than his. 13.Bb5! Be7 14.Rd1 Bxg5 15.Nxg5 h6 [I wanted to play 15...Ke7 to break the pin, but after an eventual 16.Nf3 -- and 17.g4 the knight is out of play] 16.Nf3 0-0 [Now 16...Ke7 17.Bxc6 bxc6 18.g4 loses] 17.Bxc6 bxc6 Now it comes down to whether the backwards c-pawn is weaker than the doubled isolated b-pawns. 18.g4 Ne7 19.Rdc1 [Fritz liked 19.Ra3 and I think that's okay as well. Easier for him to get at the a-pawn, since my knight is guarding the c-pawn. ] 19...Rfc8 20.Ne1 Ng6?! [Fritz wanted me to go after the b-pawn, but my idea was to play 20...Rc7 defending the a-pawn 21.-- Rac8 and freelance with my knight. With this setup of rooks if he decided to go after my a-pawn, i can always play 22.-- Ra8] 21.Ra6? [I think 21.Nd3! was better, limiting my knight.] 21...c5! 22.Nd3? [22.Rxc5 Rxc5 23.dxc5 Nxe5 24.h3;
or 22.dxc5 Nxe5 23.h3 was better] 22...cxd4 23.Rxc8+ Rxc8 24.Rxa7 Rc2 25.f4 Rd2 26.f5 Rxd3 [Fritz said that 26...exf5 was stronger but I thought my line was winning as well] 27.fxg6 fxg6 28.Rb7 Re3 29.b4? [29.Rb4 may have been a bit better, but it's a win now] 29...d3 30.Kf2 Re2+? [a blunder by me 30...d2! was instantly winning] 31.Kf1 Rxb2 32.b5 Rxh2? [Again not paying attention. I got lazy 32...Rb1+ 33.Kf2 d2] 33.Ke1 Rb2 34.b6 h5 Trying to make a second weakness 35.gxh5 gxh5 36.Rb8+ Kh7 37.b7 h4 38.Kd1 h3 39.Kc1 Rb3 40.Kd2 h2 White resigns 0-1