The games in today’s post were surprising. In the first one, the board four clash between Leisner and Rotter, two of the sharper players active locally made a careful draw that struck me as slightly out of character for these guys.
CDCL Match Schenectady A v Albany, Board 4
White: Jon Leisner
Black: Bobby Rotter
Date: 17 June, 2010
1.f4..
Over the past two or three years, Leisner and Rotter have made good progress in the ratings list because they court tension in sharp lines. Both have pet lines of play about which they are very knowledgeable. The Bird’s Opening is one of Jon’s favorites.
1..., d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Be2 c5 5.0–0 Nf6 6.d3 0–0
It is not easy to find games between masters in this opening. I have yet to obtain one of Chessbase’s big databases. With four or five million games there may be more examples found. In the one million or so games in my databases, there are only a double handful of games in the Bird’s. Of those, three or four feature master players on both sides of the game. Absent a goodly number of games from the better players, I had to fall back on my electronic mentor. At this point Rybka sees Black as having a slight edge.
7.Nc3 d4!?
Bobby tries to sharpens the contest. The move lets go of some of his edge because it lacks preparation. More controlled is 7..., Nc6.
8.Ne4 Nxe4 9.dxe4 dxe3
Opening the d-file allows the trade of Queens taking much of the fight out of the game. With 9..., Qb6; tension could be maintained. Both players may have recognized they were facing mirror images and decided to stay away from tactical melees.
10.Qxd8..,
White had choices here. He could have tried 10 Bxe3, 10 e5, or 10 c3. None of these seem particularly better than the game move.
10...,Rxd8 11.c3 Nc6 12.Bxe3 b6 13.Rfd1 Bb7 14.e5 e6
This move sets up a rather inflexible pawn formation for Black, however it has the virtue of limiting possibilities for White. The game is entirely level now.
15.Rxd8+ Rxd8 16.Rd1 Rxd1+ 17.Bxd1 Bh6 18.Kf2 Ne7 19.g3 Bc6 20.Nd2 Bf8 21.Nc4 Nd5 22.Bd2 Bb5 23.Ne3..
Creating some tension with 23 Be2 Bd7 24 Na3 is met by 24... Nc7 leaving White with some initiative but it is hard to see just how significant progress is to be made. The text agrees to a trade of Knights. The resulting position with both sides having a pair of Bishops and no pawn weaknesses offers little incentive to keep the battle going.
23..., Nxe3 24.Bxe3 Be7 25.Bf3 Kf8
Black avoids advancing his f-pawn. That is the only resource available to introduce any kind of imbalance into the position.
26.b3 Ke8 27.c4 Bd7 28.Bd2 Kd8 Draw agreed.
The careful play by these two fighters indicated the importance of the match, the result was certainly going to be a major factor in deciding who was to be in first place at the finish. By the time the draw was agreed, Katrein had resigned his game against Aaron and Leisner, the Albany team captain, was measuring his team’s chances of holding a drawn match. Halving the match point would have kept alive Albany hopes for another League title.
The surprise in our second game was Katrein made an error in sharp position he deliberately brought about. The following week he and I had opportunity to talk about the game. Matt said he had noted the superior move, 22..., Nf3+, and just forgot to play it. Matt is a very strong player and has been so for many years. If my memory is accurate, he acquired the Life Master title before 1980. He, like almost all chess players, has lost games through mistakes, but Matt’s mistakes are not often made when he instigates the tension. This game was the first to finish. The result heartened the Schenectady team by the unexpected early win.
CDCL Match Schenectady A v Albany, Board 1
White: Deepak Aaron
Black: Matt Katrein
Date: 17 June, 2010
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Be3 Bg7
Katrein has used Alekhine’s Defense for decades. It, and the Pirc are his main weapons against 1 e4.
8.Rc1 0–0 9.Be2 Nc6 10.b3 e5!?
This is risky as this game demonstrates. The move sets White a decision; open a central file with 11 dxe5, or grab a superior Q-side pawn structure while facing aggressive play by Black on the K-side. Mr. Aaron goes for the long term positional plus of a superior Q-side pawn formation. Black could have tried 10..., d5, then a possible line is; 11 c5 Nd7 12 Nxd5 Ndb8 13 Bc4 b5 14 cxb6 axb6 15 a4 e6 16 Nc3 Nxd4 17 Nge2 e4, and so on. Not too many humans would think this way. The computer likes it and calls the game equal. White can continue with 18 f4, and the position is full of tactics.
11.d5..
If the Black King is tied down on the K-side in some fashion in an bare King endgame, the White Q-side pawn mass has excellent chances of forcing a passed pawn. Mentioning this characteristic of this particular game does not imply the position is lost for Black. It does indicate Black will have to be accurate from here forward.
11..., Nd4 12.Nf3 Nxe2 13.Qxe2 Bg4 14.h3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 f5
The logical continuation of the idea behind 10..., e5. Black wagers there is compensation to be found in a direct attack by pieces and pawns on the White King.
16.0–0 Nd7
Aiming at bringing the Knight around to f6 if allowed to do so, reinforcing the planned attack, or so I thought at the time. It seems Mr. Katrein had in mind a different plan.
17.Nb5..
Threatening a7 and d6 and thinking probably that Black will have to use some time to calculate 17..., Nf6 18 Bxa7 Qa5 19 Qe3 Nd7 20 Bd4 and the alternatives all of which are quite complicated
17..., e4
Mr. Katrein is not to be distracted. The a-pawn is bait to buy a tempo to be used to speed the K-side assault. Matt did not use a huge amount of time to decide on the e-pawn push. I expect he had been considering his options in this position for a couple of moves
18.Qe2 Ne5
So this where the Knight was heading.
19.Nd4..
Deepak gave some moments of thought perhaps considering 19 Bxa7 Nd3 20 Rcd1 Nf4 21 Qd2 Qg5 which looks near won for Black, and 19 Rcd1 Nd3 20 f3, with things becoming more complicated. Rybka liked the text move.
19..., f4!?
The computer prefers 19..., Nd3. After the game move it gives White an advantage, not a winning one, but a distinct edge. Matt’s move is the logical continuation of the intention of attacking the White King. With 19..., Nd3 20 Ne6 Nxc1 21 Rxc1 Qa5 22 Bf4 Qa3 23 Nxf8 Rxf8 24 Qd2 b6 25 c5 dxc5 26 d6 Bd4 27 Bg5 Rf7 28 Be7 Rxe7 29 dxe7 Kf7 30 Qh6 Kxe7 etc. the computer claims the game is equal. I think it would take the mechanical accuracy of a computer, or the skillful vision and confidence of a GM to go down the computer’s recommended path.
20.Ne6?!..
Not to be outdone Aaron goes boldly into great complications. Safe an sound is 20 Bd2 when White obtains good compensation after giving up the Exchange in the form of extra pawns and a powerful Ne6. The line goes; 20..., Nd3 21 Ne6 Nxc1 22 Rxc1 f3 23 Qe4 Qe7 24 g3 Rf5 25 Bf4. The pawn on f3 is likely doomed, although White must approach taking it off gingerly via ..Rd1/d3/xf3 to avoid problems . Even if Black returns the Exchange on e6 he will only get back one of the two pawns leaving White with a very favorable ending. After the text the tactics come quick and sharply.
20..., Qh4 21.Bxf4 Rxf4 22.g3 Qxh3?
Matt told me he had seen the correct move, 22..., Nf3+ and then forgot about it when it was time to play the move. As dangerous as the situation appears to be for White, really the game is even after 22..., Nf3+ 23 Qxf3 Rxf3 24 gxh4 Rxh3 25 Kg2 Rxh4 26 Rh1 Rxh1 27 Rxh1 Bf6 28 Re1 Rc8 29 Rxe4 h5 and the passed h-pawn balances the White pawn plus on the Q-side. Another path to equality is 22...Nf3+ 23.Kg2 Rg4 24.Rh1 Rg5 25.Nxg5 Qxg5 26.Qxe4 Rf8 and the two minor pieces are very well placed to fight against the two extra pawns White has in hand.
The forced sequence that follows gives White a solid advantage.
23.Nxf4 Nf3+ 24.Qxf3 Qxf1+ 25.Kxf1 exf3 26.Re1 Rf8?
Often it takes a couple of errors to lose a game. White has the clear edge before this move. After it is made the game is lost. Notwithstanding the theoretical plus Black has; a Bishop versus a Knight with pawns on both sides of the board, White is much better here. The Bishop lacks targets, the White pieces have an unassailable outpost at e6 and the White Rook threatens to go to the 7th rank wrecking havoc with the Black pawns. Black had to try the risky 26..., b5!?; to get his Rook into action and make fight of it. White will still be better, but Black has chances. The next moves are virtually forced and make the White win clear.
27.Ne6 Rf5 28.g4 Re5 29.Nxg7 Rxe1+ 30.Kxe1 Kxg7 31.g5 and Black Resigns.
If 31..., h5 32 gxh6+ Kxh6 33 c5! And the d-pawn rolls home to make a Queen. Other tries fail also on the rock of White making a passed pawn on the Q-side. Deepak Aaron got some edge early, defended calmly against a furious direct attack on his King and took advantage of his opponent’s errors to simplify into a won pawn ending. A masterly performance. A very nice win for the newest local master.
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