Sunday Afternoon G/60

NN - C.
Sunday Afternoon G/60 (1), 19.03.2006
D94 - Grünfeld, 5.e3

We threw a three-round tournament on the weekend. We had 17(!) people show up so it was a little crowded at the Farmer's Market. I shouldn't have gone into such a sharp position but I decided to regardless. We played this game between the first and second rounds because I had a bye the first game and his mother said they had to leave at 12:30 so we tried to get a game in between. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 [Hoping for a Slav or something. Not sure why I didn't just play 2...b6 ] 3.e3 g6 4.c4 Transposing to a quiet Grünfeld 4...Bg7 [Another option is 4...c6 ] 5.Nc3 0-0 [I could've played 5...c6 here as well, but I wanted to get ...c5 in one move (thank you Jonathon Rowson)] 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.e4?! [So I'm in an exchange Grünfeld (which doesn't exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy) but a tempo up. 7.Bc4 may be better ] 7...Nxc3 8.bxc3 c5 9.Be2 Nc6 10.Be3 Bg4 11.e5 I've always wondered about pushing this pawn instead of the d-pawn in the Grünfeld. 11...cxd4[11...Qa5 was also playable, but after 12.Bd2 ah of course (Stronger is probably 12.0-0 Qxc3 13.Rc1 Qa3) 12...Rad8 , trying to take advantage of the fact he hasn't castled.] 12.cxd4 Rc8 13.0-0 b6? The beginning of a bad plan. I should have either tried to lever his pawn chain with [13...f6;
or allowed the rooks to be connected 13...Qd7 . My idea was that I wanted to get my knight to d5 for some reason] 14.h3 Bxf3? [Giving up the bishop pair. 14...Be6 was stronger, but I'm dogmatic and i don't like having my bishop in front of my pawns. I know, I know, if I'm dogmatic why am I playing the Grünfeld?] 15.Bxf3 e6 To allow my knight to get to d5 via e7 16.Qa4 This seemed strong to me 16...Na5? [16...b5! was a strong rejoinder because of 17.Qxb5 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 Qxd4 19.Rad1 Qxe5 20.Qxe5 Bxe5 and I'm up a clean pawn;
16...Qd7 was okay too] 17.Rfc1 Qe7 Not immediately losing, but setting up a tactic 18.Bd2 Rxc1+? [18...Qh4 may have been better, then i'm actually threatening something] 19.Rxc1 Rd8 20.Bb4 Qg5 21.Qa3 Rxd4? [I probably shouldn't have gone after the pawn and played 21...Bf8 22.Bxf8 Rxf8 instead, but my opinion is that if I can't see the immediate loss i'm taking the pawn so...] 22.Be7! Qxe5 23.Rc8+ Bf8 24.Rxf8+ [24.Bxf8! was better] 24...Kg7 25.Qe3? [25.Qe3? and I resigned even though 25...Qxe3 26.fxe3 Rd7 is playable, i do have 2 pawns for the piece and the e-pawn is hanging. Not a very good game by me.] 1-0

C - NN
Sunday Afternoon G/60 (2), 19.03.2006
E24 - Nimzo-Indian : Samisch Variation

1.d4 I had planned on playing 1.e4 before this tournament, but last time we had a tournament my opponent had this "how-to" openings book and it recommended a bad line against my f3 Nimzo, so I figured I'd try it against him. 1...d5!? A surprise already 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4!? Theoretically this is not as good as other moves because it transposes into a bad Samisch variation (as what I play). I realize that it was even played by Vallejo in Linares this year but I don't care for it 4.a3 [4.Nf3 would transpose to the Ragozin variation instead] 4...Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 Nf6 6.cxd5 [The Bacrot-Vallejo game continued 6.e3 0-0 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 c5 9.Ne2 Bg4 10.f3 Bh5 11.Nf4 Bg6 12.Be2 Nc6 13.h4 h5 14.0-0 Ne7 15.dxc5 Qa5 16.Nxg6 fxg6 17.Rb1 Qxc5 18.c4 dxc4 = ½-½, but I found e3 to be a difficult development of the bishop, particularly with the pawn on a3. In my line I get the bishop pair and get rid of the doubled pawns;
6.f3 would transpose to my f3 line] 6...exd5 [6...Nxd5 7.Qc2 f5 looks interesting] 7.Bg5 [7.e3 again is playable] 7...0-0 [7...c5 was Botwinnik-Kotov in which Kotov had a nice finish 8.f3 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.e3 0-0 11.Ne2 Re8 12.Kf2 Qe7 13.Qd2 Nd7 14.Nf4 Nf6 15.Bd3 Bd7 16.h3 Qd6 17.Rhb1 b6 18.Bf1 Re7 19.a4 Rae8 20.Re1 c4 21.g4 g5 22.Ne2 Rxe3 23.Ng3 Qxg3+ 24.Kxg3 Ne4+ 0-1. I decide to go on a mad hunt for a pawn which I probably should have been punished for] 8.e3 Bf5 9.Qb3 Trying to exploit the undefended b-pawn and the underdefended d-pawn. 9...b6 [9...Nbd7 10.Qxb7 c5 may be better, trying to take advantage of my lack of development] 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 [This loses a pawn but I wonder if 10...gxf6 was better? I doubt i] 11.Qxd5 So now I'm up a pawn but he is almost fully developed. If Fritz played Fritz it would probably be a draw, at club level pawn grabbing can pay off (I didn't learn my lesson from last game) 11...Nc6 [I wonder if kicking the queen with 11...c6 was better] 12.Bb5 Ne7! Gaining tempo on the queen 13.Qb3 a6 [Takign up space with 13...c5 may have been better] 14.Be2 Qg5 15.Bf3 This is still gonna be awkward development for me. 15...Bg4? [An unsound exchange sack. I wonder if tempoing my queen (again) with 15...Be6 16.Qc2 Rad8 would have been better] 16.Bxa8 Rxa8 17.Nf3! I was happy with this move 17...Qd5? [Terrible, down material and wanting to trade off queens. Better was 17...Bxf3 18.gxf3 Qh5 and I could've either tried 19.Ke2 (or 19.f4 . Being down material he has to try to keep as much wood on the board as possible) ] 18.Qxd5 Nxd5 19.Ne5 Bf5 I wouldn't figure out a way to get e4 in 20.c4 [20.g4 was something else I was thinking about, and as dangerous as his pieces got after c4, this was probably the better choice] 20...Nc3 21.Kd2 Ne4+ 22.Ke2 Nc3+ 23.Kf3?! Not as strong as going back to the back rank, but the idea of Kd2 in the first place was to unite my rooks...plus i'm up material ;) 23...Be4+ 24.Kg3 f5? I think he pushed the f-pawn one square too far, my knight is the best piece on the board easily. 25.f3 Rf8? [It's hard to suggest good moves here. 25...Bb7 may have been better, but I can understand why he didn't want to play passively] 26.fxe4 Nxe4+ 27.Kf3 g5 28.h3 [28.g4! was better] 28...h5 29.g4 h4 30.gxf5 Ng3 31.Kg4 Sure I'm running out of squres, but I'm up a whole rook so I can sack back the exchange and grab his pawn. 31...Rxf5 32.Ng6 [Too transparent a threat. Maybe 32.Rhg1 was better] 32...Kg7 33.Ne5 Kf6 34.Rhg1 Ne4 Now he's actually threatening something 35.Nd3 Nd2 36.c5 Kg6 37.Rad1 Nf3 38.Ne5+ Stopping the mating net. It's just mop up from here 38...Nxe5+ 39.dxe5 Rxe5 40.cxb6 cxb6 41.Rd6+ Kf7 42.Rxb6 Rxe3 43.Rxa6 Kg8 44.Rb1 Re7 45.Kxg5 Kh8 46.Rbb6 Rg7+ 47.Kxh4 Kg8 48.Rg6 So I ended up 1-1. Lost some points. Kirk scored 2/3 with his only loss v. FM Hans Jung so he was pretty satisfied. 1-0