2008-12-07 - Mordue, Tyson 1-0 Jones, Victor
Tyson - This one won a share of The Best Annotated Game Prize in the 4NCL 2008-9 season. It's a model example of executing a chosen plan and it's capped by some nice tactics. Particular attention should be given to the note after Black's 27th move. The engines find an astonishing refutation to a suggested Black defence that's well worth seeing.
[Event "4NCL"] [Site "?"] [Date "2008.12.07"] [Round "4"] [White "Mordue, Tyson"] [Black "Jones, Victor"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B97"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "61"] 1. e4 {This game won a share of the Best Annotated Game Prize for that 4NCL season.} c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 {The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence, a line with which I have some small experience. Against it I have never played anything other than the main line 6 Bg5.} 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 {The famous Poisoned Pawn line. Black forsakes his development to grab a Pawn with his Queen. The main line is 7...Be7 while 7...Qc7, 7...Nbd7 and 7...b5 (the Polugayevsky variation) are all viable alternatives. After the text White can play 8 Nb3 but it really is much better to play a gambit.} 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Nb3 {I learned to play chess in 1972, the year of the famed Spassky-Fischer match. Spassky played 9 Nb3 in the 7th and 11th games. In the 7th he was lucky to escape with a draw after some untypical sloppy technique by Fischer in an endgame where the American had an extra Pawn. However, Spassky's powerful approach in the 11th game brought him a crushing victory in 31 moves, although Fischer could have resigned on move 24 with his Queen trapped and a Rook and Knight en prise as well. This game put 9 Nb3 well and truly on the theoretical map. I was so impressed by that game that I've never played the previously popular 9 Rb1. Many years later I was doing some preparation in anticipation of a Poisoned Pawn and reading through John Nunn's book on the Sicilian Najdorf when I got a pleasant surprise - one of my own games had been quoted! One of the characteristics of the 9 Nb3 line is that there are tactical chances to trap the Black Queen. Right now White threatens 10 a3 and 11 Ra2 hence ...} Qa3 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Be2 h5 {This move prevents Be2-h5 and was Fischer's choice in the 1972 match. Black can instead choose to play ...Bg7, ...0-0, ...Kh8, and ...Rg8 while White goes Bh5 and f4-f5 to pressure the light squares. This line featured in the game Mordue-Shapland, Hereford 2008, a game that I annotated for the group earlier this year.} 12. O-O Nd7 {Spassky-Fischer 11th match-game 1972 continued 12... Nc6 13.Kh1 Bd7 14.Nb1 Qb4 15.Qe3 d5? 16.exd5 Ne7 17.c4 Nf5 18.Qd3 h4 19.Bg4 Nd6 20.N1d2 f5 21.a3 Qb6 22.c5 Qb5 23.Qc3 fxg4 24.a4 h3 25.axb5 hxg2+ 26.Kxg2 Rh3 27.Qf6 Nf5 28.c6 Bc8 29.dxe6 fxe6 30.Rfe1 Be7 31.Rxe6 1-0. The text was new to me and only features in four games in my database. I played the usual continuation of tucking the King into the corner before committing my pieces.} 13. Kh1 Be7 {Short-Kasparov, PCA 1994 continued 13...h4 14.h3 Be7 15.Rad1 b6 16.Qe3 Bb7 17.f5 Rc8 18.fxe6 fxe6 19.Bg4 Qb2 20.Rd3 f5 21.Rb1 Qxb1+ 22.Nxb1 fxg4 23.hxg4 h3 24.Rc3 hxg2 25.Kxg2 Rg8 26.Rxc8+ Bxc8 27.Kf1 Rxg4 28.N1d2 e5 29.Qc3 Bb7 30.Qc7 1/2-1/2. This is probably the best way to play for White.} 14. Bf3 $146 {Clearing the e-file and pointing the Bishop at Black's Queenside. My opponent now emulated Kasparov's Pawn advance and I decided that I didn't want the thorn in my side of ...h4-h3. The weakness on g3 doesn't seem important. A Black Knight is hardly likely to arrive there in the near future. Alternatives are 14 Nb1 and 14 Qd4 but both sides are keeping their cards close to their chests here and avoiding really committal moves. One of those moves is 14 Rad1 which is the main theoretical move here. Andersson vs. Adamski, Raach Zonal 1969, went on 14...Nc5 15.Bf3 Ra7 16.Nxc5 dxc5? 17.f5 Qb4 18.Qe3 b6 19.a3! Qxa3 20.Ra1 Qb4 21.Ra4 Qb2 22.Rb1 Qxc2 23.Ra2 Qxb1+ 24.Nxb1 Bd6 25.Nd2 b5 26.e5 Bxe5 27.Qxc5 Rc7 28.Bc6+ Bd7 29.Rxa6 Bxc6 30.Rxc6 Rxc6 31. Qxc6+ Kf8 32.fxe6 1-0. Kuzmin vs. Platonov, 35th USSR Champ 1967 went on 14. ..Nc5 15.f5 Bd7 16.fxe6 fxe6 17.e5 Nxb3 18.axb3 fxe5 19.Ne4 d5 20.Qc3 Qb4 21. Nf6+ Kd8 22.Qxe5 Qd6 23.Qxd6 Bxd6 24.c4 Rf8 25.cxd5 Ke7 26.Nxd7 Kxd7 27.dxe6+ Kxe6 28.Rfe1 Kd7 29.Bxh5 Rad8 30.Rc1 Rf4 31.g4 Rb4 32.Kg2 Rc8 33.Rxc8 Kxc8 34. Bf7 Rd4 35.Kf3 Rd2 36.Re2 Rxe2 37.Kxe2 Kd7 38.Kf3 b5 39.Bg6 a5 40.Bd3 Kc6 41. h4 a4 1/2-1/2. So the effective difference is that Mordue-Jones includes ... h5-h4, h2-h3 and Adamski chose ...Ra7 instead of Jones's...Rb8.} h4 15. h3 Nc5 16. Rad1 {This move is a partial bluff. Ideally I'd like the Rook on the c-file but I have to wait for Black to exchange Knights on b3. Whether he wants to is a moot point but I thought that by playing Rad1 it might put Black off playing the natural ...Bd7. It did! Victor now settled in for a long think while I settled in a comfortable chair at the other end of the room. My opponent was clearly suffering from a cold and I didnt want to catch anything . .. other than his King or his Queen that is.} Rb8 {Victor discovers that 16... Bd7 17 e5! is not appealing. With Black's King in the centre any line-opening sequence is to White's advantage. If 17...dxe5?? 18 Nxc5 wins a piece. Better is 17...Nxb3 18 cxb3 d5 19 exf6 Bb4 (not 19...Bxf6 20 Bxd5! and Black could be in trouble, although Deep Rybka says 20...0-0-0 is equal.). He decides to get his Rook off the h1-a8 diagonal and venture ...b7-b5 but now castling Queenside is no longer possible. Meanwhile White continues to build up in the centre.} 17. Rfe1 b5 18. e5 {For better or worse White forces Black to define the central structure. Both of us thought that 18...fxe5 19 fxe5 d5 was asking for a sacrifice on d5, Victor suggesting 20 Nd4 first. Hence his choice to open the d-file in the belief that with his two Bishops controlling d6, d7 and d8 he should be safe.} dxe5 19. fxe5 Nxb3 {Exchanging Knights before White gets the chance to play Nb3-d4 and into the weak square on c6. Around here White deliberately avoids Bc6+ because it would just present Black with a tempo to centralise his Queen with ...Qc5.} 20. cxb3 f5 {Black has the two Bishops but opening lines with 20...fxe5 is just playing into White's hands because of his superior development. With the text he hopes to shuffle his King to g7 and some sort of shelter. Deep Rybka says the position here is level. Black has a Pawn for his troubles but it's the one on f5. At this point I determined that the Black Bishop on e7 was the glue holding Black's position together. There is only one White piece that realistically hope to eliminate it so my remaining steed sets off on a journey. The target square is c6. This idea is endorsed by Deep Rybka.} 21. Ne2 Kf8 {This move threatens the skewer 22...Bb4 now that Qd8 is no longer mate. A crucial alternative is 21...Qc5 bringing the Queen back into play. Fritz suggests the line 22 Nd4 Bb7 23 Bxb7 Rxb7 24 Rc1 Qd5 25 Rc8+ Bd8 26 Rd1 0-0 27 Nxe6 fxe6 28 Rxd8 and White regains his Pawn. The resulting ending is probably drawn though. Deep Rybka improves in this line with 26...Rd7 and it suggests 27 Qg5 Qb7 28 Qg7 Rf8 29 Rc2 with a slight advantage of 0.35 to Black. The engine also suggests an earlier tactical improvement: 23 Nxf5 Bxf3 (23...gxf5 24 Qd7+ Kf8 25 Bxb7 is good for White) 24 Qd7+ Kf8 25 Rc1 Bc6 26 Qxe7+ Qxe7 27 Nxe7 Bxg2+ 28 Kxg2 Kxe7 29 Rc7+ Kf8 30 Re4 Rd8 31 Rf4 and although the engine still evaluates Black as better -0.33 after 31...Rh7 - White clearly has a lot of compensation for his Pawn minus. However, apparently there's a positional improvement as well. 23 Rc1 Qb4 24 Qf2 Bxf3 25 gxf3 Bc5 26 Red1 Rh6 and the evaluation is equal. This position I don't like for White. The pin is awkward, his King position has been compromised and Black's King's Rook is active - it does nothing in the game. White does have alternatives in this line, 24 Qe3 for example,but it's clear that a timely withdrawal of the Black Queen is an important feature of the whole variation. See Andersson-Adamski above for Black getting it wrong!} 22. Nd4 Bb7 {This time 22...Bb4 is answered by 23 Qg5 Bxe1 24 Nxf5! and Black is crushed on the dark squares that his Bishop has just abandoned. If 24...Qe7 25 Rd8+ mates. An obvious improvement is 23...Be7 but after 24 Qe3 White has gained a useful tempo - here 24...Bc5 25 Nxf5! makes the point quite forcefully. The regrouping of the Queen doesn't fare so well here. If 22...Qc5 23 Nc6 Rb6 24 b4! Qc4 (the only square!) 25 Nxe7 Kxe7 26 Qg5+ mates again. If instead 22...Qc5 23 Nc6 Rb7 then 24 Nxe7 wins material because 24...Rxe7 loses to 25 Rc1 and the loose Bishop on c8 falls. These lines demonstrate that Black has problems with the co-ordination of his pieces due to his lack of development and his misplaced Queen (a characteristic of the Poisoned Pawn line). White is also dominating the open lines so Black must be careful. With the text Black prepares to take the Knight if it lands on c6. Naturally White is happy to exchange Bishops as his f3 Bishop is probably his least effective piece.} 23. Bxb7 Rxb7 24. Nc6 Kg7 { Once again 24...Qc5 to regroup the Queen is an important alternative. After 25 Rc1 Black has two choices, the endgame with 25...Qd5 and the middle game with 25...Qb6. After 25... Qd5 26 Qxd5 exd5 27 Nd4 (avoiding pins on the c-file) followed by 28 Rc6 White is doing very well and can expect to regain his Pawn minus soon. This is probably Black's best line. Instead 24...Qc5 25 Rc1 Qb6 26 Nxe7! now works well as Black can't recapture with the Queen. Taking with the King is a disaster after 27 Qg5+ so instead 26...Rxe7 27 Rc8+ Re8 28 R1c1 Qb7 29 Rd8! leaves Black short of moves. Fritz has the nice line 29...f4 30 Qxf4 Rxd8 31 Qf6 neatly emphasising the lack of co-ordination between Black's pieces. White regains his Rook with a strong initiative. Even worse is 29... Rxd8 30 Qxd8+ Kg7 31 Qf6+ Kh7 32 Rd1! (threat 33 Rd4 and 34 Rxh4+ mating) 32... Qa7 (the only square that defends f7 and controls d4) 33 Rd3 and there is no defence to 34 Qxh4+ and 35 Rg3+. Note how Black's h8 Rook does nothing in any of these lines. Also the semi-open g-file is a big problem for Black. If his f5 Pawn was back on g6 Black would have a reasonable position. The immediate transfer of the King to g7 instead of bringing the offside Queen back into play meets with an intriguing riposte. Take a good look at this position.} 25. Re3 $5 {This surprising move enhances White's options tremendously. Victor took twenty minutes over his reply. This note shows why. He had a lot to think about. The main strategical point is that White threatens 26 b3-b4 after which the Black Queen is forced to an even worse square on a4. The immediate 25 b4 is answered by 25...Qg3 and now Black's Queen assists in the defence of the Kingside. This is why I am refraining from Nxe7 while the Queen can recapture. White has good prospects on the Kingside as long as the Black Queen isn't helping out, see the variations in the last note. Also the Rook can go to d3 or c3 or possibly b3 (after b3-b4 Qa3-a4) to wall in the Black Queen. It can even go to g3 in certain lines because the pin 25...Bg5? is refuted by 26 Rg3! hxg3 27 Qxg5+ Kh7 28 Rd4 and the only move preventing 29 Rh4 mate is 28...f4. However, as long as White avoids 29 Rxf4?? Qc1 mate by the accurate 29 Qxf4 after which 29...Qf8 30 Qg5 Qh6 31 Rxh4 wins. Note once again the collapse occurs after the elimination of the Black Bishop, and how the Black Rooks have no constructive role in the defence here. It is now too late to bring the Queen back. After 25...Qc5 26 Rc3! Qb6 27 Nxe7 Rxe7 28 Qg5+ Kf8 29 Rc8+ Re8 30 Rd7! clearly emphasises the disparity between attack and defence. Even agreeing to enter a disagreeable endgame with 26... Qd5 is no good as White declines with 27 Qc1! Qe4 28 Nxe7 and you can guess the rest.} Kg6 $2 {Victor tries to force ...Bg5 but after the following incarceration of the Black Queen the White pieces rush to attack her exposed partner. Deep Rybka and Fritz suggest activating the Rooks with either 25... Rc7 or 25...Rc8 and even hints that 26 g4!? might be the answer to the latter. This is certainly a powerful indication of White's attacking potential and something we'll come back to. Deep Rybka says that after either 25...Rc7 or 25...Rc8 should by met by 26 Rc3 Rc7 or c8 27 R1c1 with equality. After 25... Rc8 26 g4 it merely replies 26...f4 and 27 Bg5 and White's attack potential has gone.} 26. b4 Qa4 27. g4 $1 {The striking blow indicated in the last note. Open lines are imperative when attacking. White is almost certain of opening the g-file here. However, the position is far from simple. You may wish to make a separate note of the current position before starting on this long annotation. First of all the question of whether White can actually trap the Queen here has been raised. Here's a line suggested by Fritz. 27 Rb3 Bg5 28 Qb2 Rc7 29 Rd6 R8c8 30 Ra3 Rxc6! and now both 31 Rxc6 Qd1+ and 31 Rxa4 Rxc1+ 32 Kh2 Bf4+ 33 g3 R8c2+ win for Black. This seems convincing enough. Secondly Fritz claims that 27 Nxe7+! Rxe7 28 g4 is a better move order and it could be right. Certainly after 27 g4 f4 I'd have played 28 Nxe7+, and after 28...Rxe7 almost any sensible move of the e3 Rook (say d3 or b3) followed by 30 Qxf4 is very strong. The exclusion of the Black Queen from the defence is the key factor.} fxg4 $2 {What I would have done after Victor's sensible post-mortem suggestion of 27...Bg5 28 exf5+ Kh7! ? I had only looked at 28... exf5 29 Rg1 and the Black Bishop must fall soon. Fritz claims 29 Rg1 Bxe3 30 Qxe3 Rg8 31 Rxg8 Kxg8 32 Qg5+ Kf8 33.Qd8+ Kg7 34.f6+ and now A) 34...Kg6 35.Qg8+ Kh6 (if 35...Kf5 36.Qg4 mate) 36.Qg7+ Kh5 37.Qg4+ Kh6 38.Qxh4+ Kg6 39. Qg4+ Kh6 40.h4 and the only way to stop 41 Qg5+ Kh7 42 Qg7 mate is to give up the Queen with 40...Qd1+. B) 34...Kh7 (34...Kh6 35 Qd2+ is the same line a move quicker) 35.Qd3+ Kh6 36.Qd2+ Kh5 - White now uses a stratagen called the ladder to ease his way in. The same ruse features in the game to a smaller extent. - 37.Qe2+ Kh6 38.Qe3+ Kh5 39.Qf3+ Kh6 40.Qf4+ Kh7 41.Qxh4+ Kg8 42.Qg5+ Kf8 43.Qg7+ Ke8 44.Qg8+ Kd7 45.Qd8+ Kxc6 46.Qd6 mate. My instinctive reaction was 29 Qd3. If C) 29...Qxd1+ 30 Qxd1 Bxe3 and now 31 fxe6 - threatening 32 Qd3+ picking up the Bishop - Black has no co-ordinated defence against Queen, Knight and two advanced Pawns. D) According to Deep Rybka Black's best defence is 29...Kh6. The engine says that White should have played 29 f6 first and after 29...Bxe3 30 Qd3+ Kg8 (30...Kh6? 31 Qxe3+ and Black gets laddered again.) we transpose into note E. E) 29...Bxe3 30 f6+ Kg8. At this point I was certain the attack should crash through but try as I might I couldn't produce a convincing line. The best I could find was E1) 31 Ne7+ Rxe7 32 fxe7 Kg7 33 Qd8 forcing promotion, but after 33...Qxb4 (Deep Rybka suggests 33...Qc2.) 34 Qxh8+ Kxh8 35 e8=Q+ Kg7 Black threatens 36...Qe4+ amongst other things. In this variation Deep Rybka claims White has an endgame win after 31 Ne7+ Rxe7 32 Qf1!? Qc2 33 fxe7 Qc6+ 34 Qg2+ Qxg2+ 35 Kxg2 Kg7 36 Rd8 Bg5 37 Rxh8 Bxe7 38 Ra8 Bxb4 39 Rxa6. E2) 31 Qe2 is a very good try. Victor and I succeeded in convincing ourselves (and I later convinced GM Matthew Turner amongst others!) that 31...Rh6 was a good defence, and it is after 32 Qg4+ Rg6 33 Rd8+ Kh7 34 Qh5+ Bh6. In fact Fritz proves it does win after 31 Qe2 Rh6 32 Ne7+ Kh7 33 Rg1 Bxg1 34 Qg4! Rg6 35 Qh5+ Rh6 36 Qxf7+ Kh8 37 Qg7 mate. However, there are lots of other losing alternatives at move 33 which have to be calculated. However, the really beautiful line is the wonderful yet logical retreat: E3) 31 Qb1!! I'm certain I would have found this over the board if we had reached this position. Now Black is faced with the threat of 32 Rd8 mate because the Queen still controls h7. The black Rooks are almost irrelevant here. Note how the Knight on c6 prevents ...Rb8 as a defence in every line. The desperate 31...Qxd1+ 32 Qxd1 leaves Black facing 33 Ne7+ and 33 Qg4+ and there is no defence to both. The only apparent defence after 31 Qb1 is 31...Bb6. White's constant problem here is getting an effective check on the g-file but now he can finally force it, and a bit more to boot! 32 Rd8+!! Bxd8 33 Qg1+ Kf8 34 Qg7+ Ke8 35 Qxh8+ Kd7 36 Qxd8+! Kxc6 37 Qd6 mate! There's a lot to calculate here and, obviously, this note is not comprehensive. What it does prove is that 27 Nxe7+ was much simpler! Back to the game after 27 g4! Black decided to capture directly. Taking en passant leads to annihilation after 28 Rxg3+ Kh7 29 Nxe7 Rxe7 30 R1g1.} 28. Rg1 $1 {Now Black doesn't even have the desperate ...Qxd1+. White's major pieces converge on the hapless Black King and there is now no parry. Both the thematic 28 Nxe7+ and 28 Re4 also win.} g3 {If 28...Bg5 29 Rxg4 Rh5 30 Rf3 (threat 31 Rf6+) 30...f5 31 exf6 Kh6 32 Qd3+ Kh6 33 f7 storms through. After the text I finally get to sacrifice a Rook on g3, and this went nicely with my Rook sac on b3 the previous day (Gibson-Mordue 4NCL Round 3 2008-9).} 29. Rexg3+ hxg3 30. Rxg3+ Kh5 {After 30 ...Kh7 White ladders his way in with 31 Qd3+ Kh6 32 Qe3+ Kh6 33 Qe4+ Kh6 34 Qf4+ Kh5 and now either 35 Qxf7+ or 35 Qg4+ mate soon. After the text White finally plays the thematic capture of the Bishop and Black has no way of ultimately stopping the mate on g5 except by giving up his stranded Queen.} 31. Nxe7 1-0
The games viewer used here was developed by
http://chesstempo.com
and is licensed under
CC BY 2.0.
