[Event "QA Tour"]
[Site "Queen Alice"]
[Date "2008.10.22"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Shadrach"]
[Black "Scorpion Queen"]
[Result "0-1"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Nf3 a6 8. c4 f5 9. Nc3 Bf6
The Morozevich Line of the French Defence, not for the faint hearted since there are no "safe" lines in this position
10. Qd2 c5 11. d5 e5
12.Qc2 is a novelty by the Chess Engine Rybka 3. The point is that the White Knight can retreat to d2 after e4 by Black and help bolster the center when the Hypermodern principle that it is better to control the center with pieces than occupy it with pawns seems to ring true. Another point is that with White having effective control of the center the Black King is forced to castle and would end up castling short. The open lines on the K side mean that White should have something, though of course there is an entire game to be played out.
12. h4 e4 13. Ng5 Nd7 14. O-O-O h6 15. Nh3 Bd4 16. Ne2 Be5 17. f4
17...Bd6 was an option to leave f6 for the Black Knight, but stronger was perhaps 17...Bg7 when Black can castle short, play b5 and then b4 molesting the White King. To defend correctly the White minor pieces would end up on uncomfortable squares
17...Bf6 18. g4
An important point in the game. I must confess that 18.g4 took me a bit of guard, I had planned to look at this move on my opponents time and after I had played 17...Bf6 which was a mistake. Though this was a 7days per move with 3 days increment (max 10 days) time control, with the number of simultaneous games going on I was becoming short of time
18...b5
The most critical move of the game, but made entirely based on gut feel and instinct.
If I may be so bold as to quote the Late Great Magician from Riga Mikhail Tal, "It is good in that all other continuations are bad."
18...Nb6 was the top suggestion of most engines
(18...Nb6 19.Qc2 fxg4 20.Qxe4+ Qe7 21.Nf2 Bd7 22.d6 Qxe4 23.Nxe4 Bg7 24.Nxc5 Nxc4 25.Ng3 Ne3 26.Re1 Bd4 27.Nb3 Ba7 28.Kd2 Bc6 29.Rh2 0-0-0 30.Rxe3 Bxe3+ 31.Kxe3 Rhe8+ 32.Kf2 Rxd6 33.Be2 Bd7 34.Rh1 with advantage to White)
the reasoning behind 18...b5 was simple. Better him than me, there is no way the Black King would survive if White had time to complete development of the K side pieces. The 2 main things going for Black were,
1) The DSB on the long diagonal with the vacant dark center squares
2) The undeveloped K side
However if White could start an attack on the e file then the Black King would have serious problems
19. gxf5 Nb6 20. Nc3 Bxf5 21. Nxe4
here 21. Nf2 or 21. Qe3 came in for serious consideration
(21.Qe3 Na4 22.Nxa4 bxa4 23.Qxc5 Rc8 24.Qe3 Rb8 25.Rh2 Rg8 26.c5 Qa5 27.c6 Kf8 28.Rc2 Rg3 29.Qxg3 Bxb2+ 30.Rxb2 Qc5+ 31.Kb1 e3+ 32.Bd3 Rxb2+ 33.Kxb2 Qb4+ 34.Kc2 Qc5+ 1/2-1/2 was the computer line analysed to a draw, but perhaps there are improvements)
21...Bxe4 22. Re1 Kf8 23. Rxe4 Na4
here perhaps 24.b3 was better but I dont think White was content with a draw yet. It is hard to visualise that White can get into a spot of trouble even if Queens were exchanged
24. Re5 Qd6 25. cxb5 c4
At this point White should have tried to get his Knight into the game with 26. Nf2
26. Qa5 Bxe5 27. fxe5 Qxe5 28. Qxa4
(28. Qb4+ Qe7 29. Qxe7+ Kxe7 still gave White a chance to fight on)
28...Qe3+ 29. Kb1 Qe4+ 30. Kc1 Qxh1
Black now has a decisive advantage but still needs to play accurately to hold on to the win.
31. Qa3+ Kg8 32. Qg3+ Kh7 33. Qf2 Rhf8 34. Qf5+ Kg7 35. Qg4+ Kh8 36. Qf4 Qxd5 37. Qxh6+ Kg8 38. Ng5 Rfd8 0-1
A game that was a lot of fun to play.
