1984-06-14 - Handley, Michael 1-0 Kendall, Richard
Yet another junior v strong adult game. Mike walks all over another Grunfeld and the finish is very mature for such an inexperienced player.
[Event "D&F CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP"] [Site "?"] [Date "1984.06.14"] [Round "?"] [White "Handley, Michael"] [Black "Kendall, Richard"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D86"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "1984.??.??"] {Yet another defeat of an established player by a new junior. Done very stylishly too. Michael Handley rapidly climbed to a grading of nearly 200, then, as so many do, went off to University and was lost to the club.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Ne2 c5 9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 {"The opening is similar to Ojaroo-Kendall game. White has played more accurately with Bc4 and Ne2 instead of Nf3 and Be2, which means he can answer ...Bg4 with f3 and so his centre is more solid than in that game."} Nc6 11. Qd2 {This move is not so common. However, it is aggressive and Michael was always one for learning new opening variations quickly and well. White now has the option of Be3-h6 swapping off Black's dark-squared Bishop and, by delaying castling, he still has the option of advancing h2-h4-h5 and trying to mate Black. This makes Black's next move very understandable.} Qa5 {I only found this in two games on my database, the most high profile being Ljubojevic-Korchnoi, Tilburg 1989 which was a quick draw in 20 moves.} 12. Bd5 {"Each side would like the other to exchange Queens. If White did so Black's Knight would be very useful on a5, but if Black swaps the White King recaptures and this is useful for the endgame. However, here 12... Qxd2+ 13 Kxd2 e5! is useful for Black because White cannot establish a passed Pawn with d5 in reply. I like the idea of pressuring c6 but 12 Rc1 first is possibly more accurate." The point about the White King being better in the endgame only applies as long at Black doesn't have play against the monarch down the d-file. After the text Deep Rybka and I looked at the line 12...Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 e5 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Rab1 Rd8 16.Bg5 Rd6 17.Rhd1 h6 18.Bf4 with a tiny advantage to White. Left on it's own the engine produced 12...Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 h5!? which I completely fail to understand. Deep Rybka evaluates 12 Rb1, 12 Rc1 and 12 Rd1 as almost all the same (+0.06 to +0.12)} Qa3 {"Although this move is thematic in certain variations of the Grunfeld I doubt its value here. I am not a Grunfeld expert!" No change there then! Nevertheless Richard the Grunfeld exponent played 12...Qa3. I can only assume that he agrees with me that the White King is good in the centre in the endgame. Also I can very reasonably assume that he doesn't fear 13 Bxc6 bxc6 because he gets to follow up with ...Ba6 and ...Rad8 and increases the pressure on d4.} 13. O-O {A very radical alternative is 13 h4 going for the attack. After all Black's Queen on a3 is not well posted to help out the defence, although there is no doubt it could be useful in a counterattack. A bit of analysis with the engine produces 13.h4 h5 14.Nf4 - threat 15 Nxg6 - 14...e6 15.Bxc6 (if 15.Bb3 Rd8 is strong) 15...bxc6 and I can't see any active prospects for White. Instead of 14 Nf4 White can play 14 0-0 and the mutual advance of the h-Pawns adds an extra dimension to a tense position. Then again White can, and does, castle without advancing Pawns like that.} e5 $6 {"After this Black comes under increasing pressure on the dark squares. Perhaps he could try 13...e6 14 Bb3 Na5 15 Bc2 f5!?" Deep Rybka doesn't like this move, it's evaluation going from 0.16 before to 0.86 afterwards which is effectively an endorsement of my comment. The engine does agree with bits of my suggestion. It is okay with 13...e6 but prefers to answer it with 14 Bxc6. So do I hence I'm surprised that it suggested 14 Bb3. The engine is also happy with Na5 but then suggests 15.Bh6 Nxb3 16.axb3 Bxh6 17.Qxh6 Qxb3 with a slight plus to Black. I'm sure this must be a thematic Grunfeld scenario and I would think that Grunfeld players would be very happy with it. After some thought it changed its mind with 15 Rab1. Alternatively after 15.Bc2 f5 it says White is slightly better and prefers the very natural 15...Nc4 with the boot on the other foot.} 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Rac1 $6 {This threatens the fork 16 Bc5 and Black takes the simple way out by moving his Queen. Deep Rybka says that 15 Rab1 is better maintaining pressure on b7. After the text it offers 15...Be6 16 Bc5 Qd3! and in the ensuing liquidation White keeps a small advantage. However, we should remember that Black turned down a Queen swap on move 12 so maybe that could be a game plan. An alternative is 15...Rd8 refusing to move the Queen until forced to.} Qa6 $2 16. Bd4 {This is okay. Deep Rybka has a preference for 16 Rc7 or 16 f4 but Michael keeps these as options. Indeed, after the latter choice he can exchange dark-squared Bishops and the f6 square for one looks sensitive.} Bg4 17. f3 {Deep Rybka says that immediate 17 Nf4 is stronger. If Black had played 16...Be6 then undoubtedly 17 Nf4 is the reply, but I see no reason why White shouldn't utilise the consolidating tempo f2-f3 that he's been given for free. It's not as though a potential ....Qb6 (check) will be doing any damage - there isn't a b2 Pawn to snatch!} Be6 18. Nf4 $1 {"Good judgement! A Pawn on d5 looks good but the Knight will be much stronger."} Rad8 $6 {This move sets a trap but it looks better to play 18...Rac8 to challenge the open file and reserve d8 for the other Rook.} 19. Qc3 $6 {"Increasing the pressure and avoiding 19 Bxe6?? Rxd4! 20 Qxd4 Nxf3+ or 19 Nxe6 fxe6 20 Bb3 or c4 Rxd4 21 Qxd4 Nxf3+ both winning the Queen." The text move isn't accurate. Deep Rybka prefers 19 Rc7 and 19 Rfd1. I can understand Michael's keenness to get off the d-file but maybe now Black should correct his error from last move and play 19. ..Rc8.} Bxd5 $2 {Giving up the d5 square without a fight and being forced into the following weakening move. Deep Rybka says White's plus now goes up to 1.5. No surprise there when you contrast Pawn structures and the individual piece activity.} 20. Nxd5 f6 21. f4 $1 Nc6 {"Trying to confuse the issue. If 21... Nd7 22 Qb3 threatening both Ne7+ and Rc7 leaves Black hopelessly passive." There's a misprint here. White's discovery is plainly 23 Nc7+ winning the Queen. Obviously 21...Ng4 isn't any good either after 22 h3 so Richard sacrifices a Pawn. Michael plays the rest of the game with admirable maturity.} 22. Bxf6 Rxf6 {"If 22...Rxd5 23 Bxg7 is horrible and 22...Bxf6 23 Nxh7 is worse. Black tries to hold on to his famous King's Bishop in the hope of some counterplay." After 22...Rxd5 23 Bxg7 Rd3 24 Qb2 Rf7 25 Bh6 is not evaluated so highly by Deep Rybka, about +1.2 to White, but any human takes one look at the dark squares and says no.} 23. Nxf6+ Kh8 24. e5 {Putting either Rook on d1 is also good but Michael consolidates the Knight's position first. "When winning don't allow any unnecessary counterplay." Mordue.} Qe2 { Hoping that White will allow 25...Rd2 but White swats the Queen away. It's interesting that the a2 Pawn is not a concern for either player because clearly the main battle is on the Kingside, but then again it could be argued that from a2 the Black Queen could go back to f7 to aid the defence. I suspect both players may have been in time-trouble here which means that play isn't 100% accurate. However, it doesn't have to be from White but Black must ensure he doesn't lose in simple fashion.} 25. Rf2 Qb5 26. Qh3 Bxf6 {"If 26... h6 27 Qg4! Ne7 28 Rc7 is even worse. Note that the Queen on g4 guards against . ..Rd1+." A poor piece of analysis. After 28 Rc7?? the continuation is 28... Qb1+ 29 Rf1 Qb6+ picking up the errant rook. After 26...h6, and also 26...h5 which seems to be the engine's very doubtful preference, Deep Rybka regroups the Knight with 27 Ne4 threatening 28 Nd6 and 29 Nf7+. It also suggests 27 Qe6 but after 27 Qg4 prefers 27...Qd3. Understandably Richard decides if his Bishop is not going to participate in the game then he may as well eliminate the dangerous Knight. Unfortunately it's replaced by an equally dangerous Pawn. } 27. exf6 Qa4 {Angling for 28...Rd1+ 29 Rxd1 Qxd1+ 30 Rf1 Qd4+ and 31...Qxf6. However, White does have 32 Qc8+ and 33 Qxb7+ because the interposition 32... Nd8 loses immediately to 33 Rd1.} 28. Re1 {"Threat of 29 f7 and 30 Re8+." Now 30...Rd1 is met by 31 Qc8+ Rd8 32 Re8+ mating. Black does have 31...Nd8 instead but 32 R2e2 is a strong reply, a benefit of Black's wasted tempo with 24...Qe2 and 25...Qb5.} Nd4 29. Re7 {"Not 26 Qh6? Nf5." The text is more to the point and Michael has the refutation to Black's play all worked out."} Qd1+ {Deep Rybka crushes 29...h5 with 30 f5! After 30...Qd1+ 31 Rf1 Ne2+ 32 Rxe2 Qxe2 33 fxg6 the passed Pawns are irresistible - 33...Rd1? 34 Qc8+ mates.} 30. Rf1 Ne2+ 31. Rxe2 $1 Qxe2 32. Qh6 {There's no more ...Nf5.} Rg8 33. f7 {Now White is winning a Rook and Richard doesn't even consider the spite check.} 1-0
The games viewer used here was developed by
http://chesstempo.com
and is licensed under
CC BY 2.0.
