1986-02-16 - Binks, Mike 1-0 Collier, David
A reversed Grunfeld. Black's Pawn structure come under pressure and then Mike Binks takes complete control with a surprise positional Exchange sac.
[Event "BRISTOL LEAGUE CONGRESS"] [Site "?"] [Date "1986.02.16"] [Round "4"] [White "Binks, Mike"] [Black "Collier, David"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "1986.01.01"] {Originally annotated by Graham Burgess (GKB) in BCT Issue 56, April 1986.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. O-O d5 6. a3 {It's a Pawn to Rook Three but a useful one, and it appears 44 times on the database. The opening has become a Reversed Grunfeld so Mike, in his usual practical style, puts the onus on Dave to find a constructive continuation.} cxd4 7. Nxd4 Qb6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. c4 Be7 {Valdes vs. Forcen Esteban, Roquetas de Mar Open 2015, continued 9...a5 10.Nc3 Bb7 11.Be3 Qd8 12.Na4 Nd7 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Bd4 Rc8 15. Re1 f5 16.e3 Kf7?! 17.Qb3 and Black lost in 31 moves.} 10. Nc3 a5 {"Typically Mike Binks has played the opening unambitiously, just aiming for an unbalanced middle-game. White's chances lie on the Queenside and Mike shows an excellent understanding of this." GKB.} 11. Rb1 O-O 12. Be3 Qa6 13. cxd5 exd5 $2 {"The c6 Pawn is a target for the advance of White's b-Pawn, so Black should have taken the opportunity to remove it by playing 13...cxd5 when the chances appear equal. The move played has the idea of activating the Queen's Bishop to attack the Rook on b1, but this plan meets with an astonishing rejoinder." GKB. Graham's point about the Pawn structure goes like this. After the text White can play b2-b4 which will result in a swap of Pawns. A subsequent b4-b5 will mean either a swap on b5 or c6 leaving Black with an isolated d-Pawn, or Black playing ...c6-c5 which again weakens the d5 Pawn. Of course all this is subject to piece placement by both sides.} 14. b4 $1 axb4 15. axb4 Qc4 {An alternative scenario to the ones described in the previous note is White playing b4-b5 and after ...c6xb5 White taking on d5 instead, then concentrating his fire on the weak b5 Pawn. Of course winning that Pawn isn't likely to be enough to win an ending because all the remaining Pawns are on the Kingside, but Black would have to suffer a long time. Ironically that's exactly what happened in Mike's next round game against me. He won a Pawn in the middle-game but my activity in the ending was enough to secure a draw that won me the tournament. With the text Dave activates his Queen and, in turn, Mike decides it is too good on this square and goes to exchange it off.} 16. Qd4 Bf5 {Black probably does better to swap Queens although White maintains a slight advantage. Deep Rybka says the position is equal here which is a misjudgement. We know Dave wasn't using an engine here but even so Mike's 18th move must have come as a surprise.} 17. Qxc4 dxc4 18. Bxc6 $1 {"A perfectly sound Exchange sacrifice since White's b-Pawn and Bishop pair are so strong." GKB. Indeed White has every chance of picking up the c4 Pawn and getting two Pawns for the Exchange. Such is White's control of the position that ...Bxb1 turns out to Black's last incursion into the opposition's half of the board. A positional sacrifice of the Exchange for a Pawn is now a common weapon in the strong player's arsenal. Former World Champion Tigran Petrosian was particularly noted for the frequency of his Exchange sacs, but if you study the games of players such as Botvinnik. Smyslov, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov you'll find Exchange sacs galore.} Rac8 19. b5 Bxb1 20. Rxb1 Bd6 $2 { Graham doesn't comment on this particular move but from here Black starts to go downhill very quickly. The natural 20...Rfd8 looks better although one still has to come up with a plan for Black rather than one obvious move. Deep Rybka says the position after 20 Rxb1 was roughly level but after the text it quickly gets to +0.68 for White.} 21. Bd4 Bb8 {"It is difficult to suggest anything better but this move makes things easier for White." GKB. Specifically it loses control of the b4 square so now the c4 Pawn drops without a fight. Granted, the Bishop does occupy the promotion square of White's ambitious b-Pawn. Should White now swap on f6 it would be difficult to winkle out the prelate on b8, regardless on the damage done to Black's Pawn structure. Yet again 21...Rfd8 is suggested by Deep Rybka but with no specific plan in mind.} 22. Rb4 Rfd8 23. Rxc4 Nd7 24. Nd5 {"White's pieces are a picture of utter domination. Black soon gives back the Exchange, but finds no sanctuary even in an opposite-coloured Bishop ending." GKB. The problem is that there remains a pair of Rooks on the board which give White a lot of extra options. As it went Mike didn't really need to demonstrate his endgame technique.} Bd6 25. e4 Ne5 {Presumably on the basis that if 25...Kf8 to avoid the fork White plays 26 f4 ruling out the text. Nevertheless Black comes out two Pawns down for no compensation.} 26. Bxe5 Bxe5 27. Ne7+ Kf8 28. Nxc8 Rxc8 29. b6 Ke7 30. b7 Rb8 31. Bd5 f6 32. f4 Bd6 33. Kf2 h6 {Not really advisable as it tempts the White King to invade on g6, but what else does Black have?} 34. Kf3 h5 35. h4 {Fixing the h5 Pawn as a target. Black's position is steadily worsening.} Kd7 36. Rc8 Rxc8 $2 {I suspect Dave had seen the reply but just wanted to be put out of his misery.} 37. Be6+ $1 1-0
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