Warmup for London tournament

K - C
G/20 Owen Sound, 18.07.2011
A57 - Benko Gambit

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 I had been going through Benko's autobiography so it was natural i would try this eventually. this was a good choice for a move in a "tune-up" game for the upcoming tournament as it would get us into relatively unfamiliar positions 4.Bg5 New to me. 4...d6? [Too passive. After playing both sides of the Tromp for years I should have suspected that 4...Ne4 was good;
I wanted to play 4...e6 but I was terrified about something like 5.d6] 5.Nf3 e6 I was trying to transpose into some sort of Blumenfeld, but basically I was floating 6.e4 Be7 7.Qc2 bxc4 8.Bxc4 Nxd5 [This was fine, but realistically if I wasn't going to win a pawn I should've just closed it down with 8...e5 ] 9.Bxd5 [9.exd5 Bxg5 10.dxe6 Bxe6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 with sharp play would have suited Kirk more] 9...exd5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.0-0 0-0? [and Fritz says I can get away with 11...dxe4 12.Re1 f5 13.Nc3 0-0 not greedy enough.] 12.exd5 Bg4 [Another way to go was 12...Na6 ] 13.Nbd2 Nd7 14.Rfe1 Qd8 [afterwards we took a quick look at 14...Qf6 15.Ne4 Qg6 amd Kirk thought that 16.Nh4 was good but after 16...Qh5 17.f3 (17.g3 Qxd5) 17...Qxh4 18.fxg4 Qxg4 it's all good] 15.Qe4 Nf6 [I liked the idea of 15...Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Nb6 instead of knight on f6 but i guess i have the same problem with the knight on e4 as i had on c4] 16.Qf4 Bxf3? [Shouldn't have been so quick to exchange 16...Qd7 put more pressure on White as the queen does two things at once] 17.Qxf3 Qc7 18.Nc4 Rfe8 19.b3 a5 [Fritz liked forcing the action on the e-file with 19...Re7 ] 20.Qf4 Red8 21.Rad1 a4 22.Qe3 axb3 23.axb3 Re8 [23...Qb7 put more pressure on with the rook defending. i wonder if i should've played 20. ...Rad8 instead or would i have run out of room] 24.Qf3 Rxe1+ [Again Fritz liked 24...Re7 ] 25.Rxe1 h6 to watch for backrank mates 26.h3 Rb8 27.Nd2 Qb7 28.Ne4 Nxe4 29.Rxe4 Qd7 [29...Kf8 was better, keeping the threat on] 30.Qe3 Kf8 [I was worried about checks on the diagonals and i guess this would have done two things...attackd d5 and stopped the checks 30...Qf5 ] 31.Qd3 Re8 32.Rxe8+ Qxe8 33.Kf1 Qe5 34.Qe3? f6? we both blunder in time pressure. i think i imagined by king being on e7 (i wanted him guarding the d-pawn not the queen) [34...Qxd5 wins] 35.Qxe5 fxe5 36.Ke2 g5? [I think that something like 36...g6 would have allowed me to try to get at the queenside, because he couldn't come through on f5] 37.Ke3 Kf7= his flag fell somewhere around here. i started the clocks back up to 5 minutes and i pressed too hard and he ended up winning in blitz. so we'll call it a draw. interesting game...lots of poor decisions (as opposed to blunders) by me. nice tune up ½-½

kirk got into time trouble but i would be happy with that game over the board. i felt like i was the one with the initiative and didn't give him very much. i didn't play perfectly, but i was happy enough with it as a warmup.