1984-01-01 - Binks, Mike 0-1 Ashby, Alan
A prize-winning game from the Clifton club championship. Unfortunately our player is on the receiving end, but it's a classic refutation of playing too many Kingside Pawn moves against a Modern Benoni.
[Event "CLIFTON CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP"] [Site "?"] [Date "1984.01.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Binks, Mike"] [Black "Ashby, Alan"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A77"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "66"] [EventDate "1984.01.01"] {This game was judged by the legendary Doctor JM Aitken to be the best played in that year's Bristol & Clifton Club Championship. The original notes are by both Dr. Aitken and Alan Ashby marked AAA.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Be2 e6 8. O-O exd5 9. cxd5 Re8 {"Reaching a well-known position in the [Modern] Benoni. The unusual move order ( 3...d6 and 7...e6 instead of 3...e6) avoids such lines as 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 e6 4 Nc3 exd5 5 cxd5 d6 6 e4 g6 7 f4 Bg7 8Bb5+ and 6 Nf3 g6 7 Nd2." AAA.} 10. Nd2 Nbd7 11. f3 Ne5 12. h3 $6 {"This weakens White's control of g3.12 Qc2 is better." AAA. This move is not listed in the database and the combination of h3 and f3 is unusual regardless in many openings, not just the Modern Benoni. The usual moves after 11...Ne5 are 12 a4 and 12 Nc4 although there is one game with 12 Qc2 which was won by Black in 29 moves after White weakened his Kingside too much in the early middle-game! During the course of this game g3 is visited by a Black Knight and, on the final move, by a Black Rook. A finer refutation of a weakening move is, at club level, is hard to find. No wonder Doc Aitken awarded this the Best Game Prize in this event.} g5 $1 {"This strange looking move is quite common in such positions, the main idea being simply to delay White's intended f3-f4. The move has drawbacks of course. If White can play Nc4-e3-f5 he obtains a crushing advantage." AAA.} 13. Nc4 {As going this way to f5 leads to the immediate exchange of the Knight it begs the question why not go in a different direction? After 13 Rf2 Black needs to be aware of ...Bg7-d4 pins while 13 Re1 is simply met by 13...Nh5 14 Nf1 Nf4 15 Ne3 Qf6 and Black has a fine position, and there is no question of White playing Nf5 'with a crushing advantage'.} Nxc4 14. Bxc4 Nh5 15. Be3 $6 { "Allowing another strong Pawn thrust. I was expecting 15.Ne2 a6 16.a4 Rb8 17. a5 b5 18.axb6 Rxb6 although Black must have an advantage then." AAA. At the end of this line Deep Rybka suggests 19.Ra2, another odd but not unusual move in a Modern Benoni, and judges White to be better by 0.43. I can understand why Alan would have been happy with Black's position though. The engine agrees that 15 Be3 is a weak move though for a reason that will soon be apparent.} a6 {This is not the Pawn thrust that Alan refers to in his previous note. In the Modern Benoni the move ...a7-a6 is a common one intending Queenside expansion with ...b7-b5. As is the almost automatic response Binks plays a2-a4 to stop or slow it down.} 16. a4 f5 {This is the move that Alan referred to. Usually in this line after ...Nf6-h5 the break ...f7-f5 has to be carefully timed because after e4xf5 Bxf5 White may have g2-g4 forking f5 and h5. See Tukmakov-Tal 1969 for a clear and entertaining example. In this game obviously 17 exf5 is just answered by 17...Rxe3 showing the drawback of 15 Be3. It self-pinned the e4 Pawn.} 17. Qd2 f4 {Deep Rybka says that this position is equal although I prefer Black and Doc Aitken says "Black is clearly better.".} 18. Bf2 b6 {"Black's usual play on the Queenside consists of move like ... a7-a6, ...Ra8-b8, ...b7-b5 etc. Here, though, I felt that 18...Rb8 19.a5 b5 20. axb6 Qxb6 gave me fairly little so, instead, I played to block the Queenside." AAA. Deep Rybka says after 21.Rfb1 White is better by 0.67 so that confirms Alan's judgement to some extent. By sealing the Queenside and having control of e5 Alan puts all his eggs in one basket, the attack on the Kingside. However, Black has the f4 bridgehead and White has played h2-h3 so ...g5-g4 will hit hard. What is so impressive is that Alan doesn't bother to play ... h7-h5 to reinforce the ...g5-g4 break.} 19. Rab1 a5 $5 20. Bb5 Rf8 21. Bc6 Ra7 22. Nb5 Raf7 23. Na3 Ba6 24. Rfd1 {"At the time I considered 24 Bb5 stronger since 24...Bxb5 25 Nxb5 Ng3 26 Rfe1 followed by Na3-c4 gives White some pressure - but the simple 24...Bc8 still leaves Black on top." AAA. The correct conclusion. The c8 Bishop supports the attack while the White Bishop doesn't do much for the defence.} Ng3 25. Bb5 Bc8 26. Nc4 g4 $3 {"This wins in all lines, e.g. 27 Bxg3 fxg3 28 hxg4 Qh4 29 Ne3 Bd4 with many threats; or 27 Bxg3 fxg3 28 fxg4 Bd4+ 29 Kh1 (29 Ne3 better) 29...Qh4 30 Re1 Rf2 31 Re2 Rxe2 32 Qxe2 Rf2 33 Qe1 Qxh3+! 34 gxh3 Rh2 mate." AAA. Nothing to disagree with here. If a player as strong as Mike Binks isn't taking on g4 then he's clearly confirming Alan's analysis. Deep Rybka says the line 27 Bxg3 fxg3 28 fxg4 Bd4+ 29 Ne3 is still better than +3 for Black.} 27. Qe1 gxf3 28. Nd2 fxg2 29. Bxg3 fxg3 30. Qxg3 Kh8 $1 {A strong attacking move. It unpins the Bishop and creates a square on g8 for the Rook. Deep Rybka has Black at +13 which is no surprise. All Black's pieces participate in the attack against an exposed White King and two White Rooks and a Bishop aren't in the defence.} 31. Kxg2 Be5 32. Qe3 Rg7+ 33. Kh1 Rg3 {Black's second occupation of g3 and it's decisive. White throws in the towel.} 0-1
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