Team 45 45 League, Round(s) 1 & 2

I’m playing in team 45-45 league.

So far I’ve played two games for my team. Both, board 1.

My first game won as game of the week and I got a few praised comments but surprisingly I didn’t like the game too much.
The reason is that my opponent played a known bad line and I hardly had to think till quite late into the middle game. All I did was to follow Avrukh’s recommendation so I can’t claim any brilliance in the opening so forgive me if the first diagram appears at a later stage.

[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2011.02.12"]
[White "MusiqueWand"]
[Black "easycure"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2328"]
[BlackElo "2330"]
[ECO "D11"]
[Opening "QGD Slav"]
[Variation "4.e3"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. b3 Nbd7 6. Bb2 Bd6 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Bd3 b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Ne5 Qe7 11. Qf3 Ba3 12. Bxa3 Qxa3 13. Qh3 h6 14. f4 Qd6 15. g4 Qb4 16. Ndf3 Nxe5 17. Nxe5 dxc4 18. bxc4 Nh7 19. g5 Qe7 20. gxh6 g6 21. Qg3 Rad8 



{And now we see the execution of the attack. Not perfectly played but certainly nice to watch. The endgame was quite good though… I have been studying the endgame a lot for months now.}

22. Bxg6 fxg6 23. Nxg6 Qf6 24. Ne5+ Kh8 25. f5 exf5 26. Rxf5 Qxh6 27. Raf1 Qe6 28. Rxf8+ Rxf8 29. Ng6+ Qxg6 30. Qxg6 Rg8 31. Qxg8+ Kxg8 

{The endgame starts!}

32. h4 Ba6 33. Rc1 Nf6 34. Kf2 Ne4+ 35. Kf3 Nd2+ 36. Kf4 Nxc4 37. e4 b5 38. Rg1+ Kh7 39. e5 Bc8 40. h5 a5 41. Rg6 Bd7 42. Rf6 Be8 43. Kg5 c5 44. dxc5 Nxe5 45. Re6 Nf3+ 46. Kf4 Bxh5 47. c6 1-0

***

The second game was a strange combination of several openings, including my own SW ideas.

[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2011.02.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vnchess"]
[Black "MusiqueWand"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "2217"]
[BlackElo "2348"]
[Annotator ",USER"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c6 3. Bg2 Bg4 4. b3 



4… Nd7 5. Bb2 e6 



(I played …e6 because I was considering a SW formation with …f5. an interesting idea that hasn’t been tested as far as I know is: 5... f6 6. d3 (6. d4 e5 7. dxe5 Bxf3 8. Bxf3 fxe5) 6... e5. Black seems ok.
The normal plan is: 5... Ngf6 6. O-O e6 7. c4, with a level headed game) 

6. d3 f5 



{White’s DSB controls a lot of weak squares inside Black’s camp}

7. Nbd2 Nh6 

(Again, a “book” move will be 7... Ngf6 and considering the position of White’s DSB I’d say that Black’s whole game concept is doubled edged. Surely placing the pawns on light squares rendered White’s LSB rather useless but his DSB targets decent spots that may prove decisive should Black show carlessness.) 

8. h3 

(I can’t bring myself to add a “?” to White’s eighth move but it was …. Not brilliant, let’s put it like that. He weakened his King side for no good reason. True enough, after the game’s continuation White was able to play e2-e4 but that hardly, or dramatically made a difference. You could argue that Black’s entire strategic theme was to stop White from playing e2-e4, okay, but even if White can muster this pawn push… is it even good for him? What does it Achieve really? These are all good questions and I don’t have a definite answer but I am certain that weakening your king side against SW formations is a bad idea!! Better was: 8. O-O Nf6 9. c4 Bd6 = ) 

8... Bxf3 9. Bxf3 



9… Nf6 10. O-O Be7 

(Worth considering is 10... Bc5 but I have learned to appreciate …Be7 for it’s numerous multi purpose functions. Quite bad will be 10... Bd6 because of the threat of 11. e4 / e4-e5) 

11. e4 O-O 

{Black is not impressed and tiredly castles}

12. Qe2 Qc7! 13. c4 



{A critical moment, I had to figure out a plan of utilizing my pieces and attacking his King. I believe I was able to come up with a decent plan that resolved the centre and worked on his weak King’s area.}

13… dxe4! 14. dxe4 f4! 15. Kh1? 

(Rybka: 15. e5 Nd7 16. Be4 fxg3 17. fxg3 Nc5) 

15... Rad8 16. Rg1 fxg3 



17. Rxg3 Qf4! 

{There! the forst stage of the plan has been successfully executed. Now for the second part…}

18. Bc3 Nf7! 19. Rag1 g6 20. Bh5!!?



20… e5! 21. Bg4 Nxg4 22. Rxg4 Qh6! 

{Look how the Queen attacks both the Knight and the h-pawn while threatening either …Bg5 or ... Bh4 winning material.}

23. R1g3? 

(Much better was: 23. R4g3 Bg5 24. Nf3 Bf4) 

23... Bh4 24. Kg2? Bxg3 25. fxg3 

(25. Rxg3 c5) 

25... Ng5



26. h4 

(26. Rh4 Qg7) 

26... Ne6 27. c5 



27… b5!? 

(Apparently missing 27... Qh5. I wasn’t blind to the move but with the game starting to reach deadly TC and seeing ghosts after White post a Knight on c4 and d6 I decided to stop it.) 

28. cxb6 axb6 29. Nf3 

(Setting a small trap for White! If: 29.Nc4 Qc1! 30. Bb2 Qb1 31. Bxe5 Rd1) 

29... Qc1! 



30. Bxe5? 

(Better was: 30. Bb2 Qb1 31. Bxe5)

30... Rxf3! 31. Qxf3 Rd2+! 32. Kh3 Qg1 33. Rg5 



{Black to play and mate!}

33… Rh2+ 34. Kg4 Rxh4+ 35. Kxh4 Qh2+ 36. Kg4 h5+ 37. Rxh5 Qxh5# 0-1



{Nice finish}

As always you can find this game on my ICC library, game number 52