1987-01-01 - Koopman, H 0-1 Burgess, Graham
A trendy King's Indian from Graham Burgess although the notes reveal he wasn't quite up to date. Nevertheless Graham sacs a Pawn for the initiative. Under pressure Koopman fails to find the right line and has to give up a piece. Can Graham then make the time-control? Some interesting KID stuff yet again from the author of several books on the opening!
[Event "BIEL OPEN"] [Site "?"] [Date "1987.01.01"] [Round "9"] [White "Koopman, H"] [Black "Burgess, Graham"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E90"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "96"] [EventDate "1987.??.??"] {Original notes by Graham Burgess (GKB) in BCT Issue 67, October 1987.} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. d4 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. h3 e5 7. d5 Na6 8. Be3 Nh5 9. Nd2 {"Kavalek-Kasparov, Bugujno 1982 went 9 Nh2 Qe8 10 Be2 Nf4 11 Bf3 f5 12 h4 Qe7 13 g3 Nb4! 14 Qb3? (14 0-0 g5 is unclear.) 14...Nfd3+ 15 Ke2 f4 16 Bd2 and now 16...Nxf2 would have given Black a winning attack." GKB. The sequence 9 Nh2 Qe8 10 Be2 Nf4 11 Bf3 f5 is now a major line with 44 games on the database. However, only five games continued with 12 h4 - most players castled - and only Kasparov played 12...Qe7 in preference to 12...Nb4, 12...Bd7 and 12...c6 which all had mixed results. After 16 Bd2 Kasparov won quickly enough anyway with 16...fxg3 17.fxg3 Rxf3 18.Nxf3 Bg4 19.Raf1 Rf8 20.Nd1 Qf7 21.Be3 Bxf3+ 22. Kd2 Qd7 23.Rhg1 Qh3 24.a3 Bxe4 25.Rxf8+ Bxf8 26.axb4 Qh2+ 27.Kc3 Nc1 0-1} Qe8 10. Nb3 f5 11. c5 Nf4 $5 {"After the game my opponent showed me the theoretical line: 11...f4 12 Bd2 Nxc5 13 Nxc5 dxc5 14 b4 cxb4 15 Nb5 f3 16 g4 Ng3 17 Nxc7 Qf7 18 Nxa8 Nxh2 with a highly obscure position." GKB. The only game on the database to get as far as 15...f3 (two other Black players chose 15...Qd7 and 15...Rf7 with a win and a draw respectively. Deep Rybka prefers 15...Qd8. Make of that what you wish!) was Barsov-Bekker-Jensen, Hampstead GM 1999 which 16.gxf3 Qd8 17.Qb3 Kh8 18.Bxb4 a6 19.Bxf8 Bxf8 and White won in 35 moves. In Koopman's line 16 g4 Ng3 (16...Nf4 is good also) 17 Nxc7 Qf7 18 Nxa8 Nxh2 Deep Rybka thinks White is better but the engine and I both disagree about 17...Qf7 and prefer 17...Qd8. A position well worth studying.} 12. cxd6 { "12 g3 Nh5 intending ...f4." GKB. Deep Rybka says 12 g3 Nh5 13 exf5 gxf5 14 Be2 forcing 14...Nf6 leaves White slighly better. I agree but I'd still be happy playing Black.} cxd6 13. exf5 {In the only game on the database to reach this position Bylino vs. Groetz, Schwarzach 2001 continued entertainingly with 13.Nb5? Nxg2+! 14.Bxg2 Qxb5 15.Qe2 Qe8 16.h4 Bd7 17.Na5 Bb5 18.Qd1 Nb4 19.a4 Nd3+ 20.Kd2 Nxb2 21.Qb3 Nxa4 22.Rhb1 a6 23.f3 fxe4 24.fxe4 Bh6 25.Bxh6 Rf2+ 26. Ke3 Re2+ 27.Kf3 Qf7+ 0-1.} gxf5 14. Bxf4 {Now 14 g3 is met by 14...Ng6 and .... f4 carries even more punch. Koopman must have planned this exchange before starting his Pawn swaps but I wonder if he overlooked Graham's 15th move.} exf4+ 15. Be2 f3 $1 {"White must not be allowed to safely castle!" GKB. Deep Rybka and I both like this move which maintains a dymanic balance by ruining White's Kingside Pawns and making his Bishop a poor piece.} 16. gxf3 Bd7 17. Rg1 Kh8 18. Qd2 Rc8 19. O-O-O Nb4 {Deep Rybka prefers 19...Nc5. The text is both more obvious and active and I don't see a reason for the preference. The engine is agreeing with all the other moves here and is giving White a plus of about 0.65, but I wonder how much that is do with the extra and currently useless Pawn.} 20. Kb1 f4 21. Nd4 Qe5 $1 {"The devious point of this move is to allow ...Bd7-e8-g6, so White must bring matters to a head." GKB.} 22. Ne6 { Deep Rybka says 22 Ne4 is better and if 22...Nxd5 23 Nb5 is good for White. Black doesn't get time to get his Bishop to f5 with any good effect and the removal of the d-Pawns certainly seems to help White. However, the text is the engine's second choice.} Bf6 $1 23. Qxf4 $2 {"23 Nxf8 Bf5+ wins or 23 Nxf4? Bf5+ 24 N (or B) d3 Rxc3 25 bxc3 Rc8 gives Black a winning attack, or 23 a3! leaves White only a little worse." GKB. 23.Nxf8 is not good, 23...Bf5+ 24. Ka1 (if 24.Kc1 Nxa2 mate) 24...Nc2+ 25.Kb1 Na3+ 26.Ka1 (if 26.Kc1 Nb1! is another example of Mordue's theory about occupying the square an enemy piece just vacated. It's very strong!) 26...Rxc3! and White is getting demolished. Instead 23.Nxf4 Bf5+ 24.Nd3 (or 24.Bd3 Rxc3 25.bxc3 Nxd3 26.Nxd3 Qxd5 leaves Black with a slight advantage according to Deep Rybka. In my opinion it's quite a big one as White can do nothing to challenge those raking bIshops and his King is in the firing line.) 24...Rxc3 25.bxc3 Rc8 26.Rc1 Nxd5 and the engine gives Black about +4. This time it's right. Finally "23 a3! leaves White only a little worse" is accurate. After 23...Nxd5 24 Nxd5 Bxe6 25 Nxf6 Rxf6 and Black is +0.09 better according to Deep Rybka. Personally I think it should be more because Black essentially has an extra Pawn here. Note that 26 Qxd6?? fails to 26...Bf5+ so Black has a move to secure this Pawn.} Qxf4 24. Nxf4 Bf5+ 25. Ne4 {There's nothing else to play. If 25 Kc1 Nxa2+ and c3 collapses as well, while 25 Ka1?? drops a piece to 25...Rxc3 because 26 bxc3 Bxc3 is mate.} Bxe4+ 26. fxe4 Rc2 {"Black is clearly winning, but only has 4 minutes to reach move 40" GKB.} 27. e5 {Bringing the Bishop forwards that the next move attacks two pieces.} Bxe5 28. Nd3 Rxe2 29. Nxe5 {But White can't take the Knight because 29...Rxb2+ will be mating whichever way the King goes. This means a piece has gone, but can Graham make it to the time-control?} Rxe5 30. Rg4 Rxd5 31. Rdg1 Nc6 32. Rg7 Nd8 $2 {Much simpler is 32...Rd1+ 33 Rxd1 Kxg7.} 33. Rd7 Rdf5 34. Rgg7 R5f7 $2 {And here 35...Nf7 splits the Rooks so White has to retreat the g7 tower.} 35. Rgxf7 Nxf7 36. Rxb7 Ne5 37. Rxa7 Rxf2 38. a4 Nd3 39. Rb7 Nc5 40. Rb8+ Kg7 {"Phew! But White's Pawns look dangerous. However, in reality they are quite slow compared to Black's King." GKB. Are they now? It doesn't seem that the King is in the square of the Pawns, nor is it in the square of the ...White King either!} 41. a5 Kf7 {Not 41...Kf6?? 42 Rf8+ skewering.} 42. b4 Na4 43. Rb7+ $4 {A completely unnecessary check which gives Black an extra tempo and speeds the King on it's way, not towards the Pawns but the enemy King. Instead White can draw with 43.b5 Ke6 44.a6 Nc3+ 45. Kc1. If Black insists on trying to stall the Pawns with 45...Ra2 46.b6 Kd5 47. a7 then he ends up losing! However, the simple 45...Nxb5 46.Rxb5 Ra2 47.Rb6 Kd5 splits the point.} Ke6 44. a6 Nc3+ 45. Kc1 Ra2 46. b5 Kd5 47. a7 Kd4 48. b6 Kd3 {Had White left the Rook on b8 at move 43 then the Black King would only be on d4 so a8=Q would win. Instead White is getting mated by 49...Rc2.} 0-1
The games viewer used here was developed by
http://chesstempo.com
and is licensed under
CC BY 2.0.
