We conclude coverage of this year’s Capital District Chess League play with the Albany - Saratoga A match. First place was decided the week before when Schenectady A defeated the previously undefeated Albany A team. Now Albany had to play the very strong Saratoga A team. Saratoga had conceded two drawn matches at this point and were potentially tied with Albany for second place. Events in the match worked to keep the spectators uncertain of the outcome right up to the last moments of the match.
The drama of the match began early on the first board. In the decades of the 1960’s and 1970’s Matt Katrein was clearly the strongest local player. Somewhere in the 80’s Steve Taylor emerged as a challenger for that distinction. Around the same time and through 90’s Matt scaled back his participation in local events and Steve was preeminent among the locals with others such as Van Riper and Howard and Battes challenging. Today Deepak Aaron is generally seen as the strongest player in the Capital District. It may be said this game is a clash between the “old guard” and the “older guard.”
CDCL Match Albany v Saratoga A, Board 1
White: Matt Katrein, Albany
Black: Steve Taylor, Saratoga A
Date: 24 June, 2010
1.e4 c5 2.c3..
Karpov, Anand, Ivanchuk, Kramnik, Shirov and others at the top of the ratings lists have used the Alapin variation of the Sicilian against top level opponents as a change of pace. Although it has to be said they have not used it often in classical chess. The line is popular with the top flight in contests such as Wijk aan Zee and the like.
2..., d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 e6 7.0–0 Be7 8.Qa4+ Nc6 9.c4 Qd7 10.dxc5 Ne4
A couple of Russian masters played so in the Alekhine Memorial, Moscow, 1992; Lagvillava - Bazhin. Rather than 10..., Ne4; Bazhin went with 10..., Bxc5; winning in 38 moves. The game move has the idea of capturing on c5 with the Knight and making the White Queen uncomfortable on a4.
It may be said the opening has not gone particularly well for White - ten moves in and Black is equal.
11.Be3 0–0 12.Rd1 Qc7 13.Nbd2 Nxc5 14.Bxc5..
Rybka suggests 14 Qa3, as an alternative. It avoids giving up the Bishop pair immediately and enters a nicely complicated middle game position after 14..., Na6 15 c5 Nab4 16 Rac1 Nd5 with play centering on can the c-pawn be held or not. Quite a difficult position to play and that difficulty may be why Matt searched out an alternative.
14..., Bxc5 15.Ne4 Be7 16.h3 Bf5 17.Ng3 Bg6 18.h4...
This move leads to trouble. Finding something better is not easy. 18 Bd3, is met by 18.., f5 heralding the advance of the center pawns. Perhaps White has nothing better than 18 a3 and trying to work his way out of difficulty slowly. The computer suggests play going 18 a3 Bf6 19 Rd2 Rad8 20 Rad1 Rxd2 21 Rxd2 Qf4 22 Qd1 e5 23 Nf1 e4 24 N3h2 then either 24..., Be7; or 24..., Ne5; or even 24..., Qb8; do not give Black anything more than a slight edge.
18..., Bc5
A small threat (19.., Qxg3) that Katrein may have missed when heading for this position allows Black to improve the activity of his pieces. The small but persistent advantage Black has enjoyed so far is blossoming into something significant.
19.Kf1 h6 20.Bd3 f5 21.a3 Rad8!?
Heeding that piece of wisdom about correct technique; never hurry, Mr. Taylor improves piece position rather than entering the tactical line 21.., Nd4 22 Nxd4 Bxd4 23 Ne2 (If 23 Bxf5 Qxg3 24 fxg3?? Rxf5+ 25 Ke2 Re5+ 26 Kd2 Rd8 and the end is near. If White tries to improve on this by not taking the Queen, things are no better; 24 Rxd4 Rxf5 and he is down a full piece.) 23.., Bxb2; getting away with a whole pawn leading to a very promising position that is probably won for Black.
Chess players, particularly very strong ones such as our protagonists in this drama, often are faced with decisions like this; two good moves, one comfortable not requiring much calculation, and one sharp needing a clear evaluation of some more or less complicated lines. The practical choice in this age of sudden-death time controls is to take the comfortable path. For the benefit of easier scheduling, we the spectators may not get to see some pretty chess. The selection of practical over artistry is surely a characteristic of modern times. This is the case here. Steve keeps the advantage and Matt has the task of finding a plan in tough position.
22.h5..
This move creates a target. The alternative 22 Qc2, is not much more appealing when Black continues 22..., Ne5 and if White plays 23 Qe2 Nxf3 24 Qxf3 Rd4 25 h5 Rf4! Is winning for Black. Trying to improve with 24 gxf6 in this line leaves Black still comfortably ahead and the White K-side very weakened.
22..., Be8 23. Qc2 Bd6 24.c5..
Things have not been going well for White. At first look I was tempted to mark this move as an error with a query, but when the alternatives; 24 Ne2, and Be2, are examined they are not any better. In every case, the White K-side comes unraveled and pawns fall.
24..., Bxg3 25.fxg3 Bxh5 26.Bc4 Bxf3 27.Bxe6+ Kh8 28.gxf3 Nd4
The final blow. Save the Bishop with 29 Qc4, and the rest of the pawn cover is stripped from the White King with 29..., Qxg3+; and mate is close. Give up the Exchange by 29 Rxd4 and 29..., Rxd4 30 Kf2 Rfd8 threatens havoc on the 2d rank. Nothing works for White now, and so Katrein resigned.
The game on board 1 did not take much of the allotted playing time. I was keeping up with play on the other boards. As it became clear Katrein for Albany was going to lose, the situation on board 2 appeared to be very good for Albany.
CDCL Match Albany v Saratoga A, Board 2
White: Lee Battes, Saratoga A
Black: Dean Howard. Albany
Date: 24 June, 2010
1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3..
A quirky line that is one Lee’s favorites. It is not used by the elite GM’s but has featured in the opening repertoires of some very good players; Ljuboojevic, Benjamin, Andras Andorjan of “Black is OK” fame, and Ian Rodgers.
3..., Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.d4 c5 6.Bg5?
This is just bad. The GM’s like 6 dxc5, and they have a reasonable record with the move. Another try, 6 Bb5, seems to not be bad either. The text, however, is just not good. The line does have some tricks in it that can catch an unwary opponent off guard.
6... Qa5!?
The text did not work out well for Black in Sjkoldborg - Zemerov, Marianske Lazne, 2004 where, after 7 Bb5 a6 8 Bxd7+ Bxd7 and Black later traded off all the minor pieces except his poor light squared Bishop, suffered for many moves without much hope and succumbed in 55 moves. Much more usual is 6..., Qb6, hitting at b2 and d4.
7.Bb5 Nc6!?
A bit more accurate is 7..., a6; more principled is 7..., cxd5.
8.0–0 cxd4 9.Bxc6?..
A surprising slip by Mr. Battes in the early going in an opening he knows well. Necessary is 9 Nxd4, when after 9..., Nxd4 10 Qxd4 a6 11 Bxd7+ Bxd7 the game is level.
9..., dxc3! 10.Bxd7+ Bxd7 11.bxc3..,
White has lost a pawn. This recapture makes things worse. The isolated pawn on the c-file is a easy target for the Black heavy pieces. Offering more resistance in a bad position is 11 b3. The rest of the game revolves around the theme of attacking this exposed weakness and using these threats to gain an advantage elsewhere.
11..., Qxc3 12.Rb1 Qc7 13.Re1 Bc5 14.c3 0–0 15.Re2 Rfc8 16.Nd4 Bb6 17.Rc2?..
Better is 17 Re3. If then 17..., Ba4?; there is no real threat on the back rank after 18 Qxa4. Black probably has to play 17..., Qc4 then 18 Rh3 is an attacking gesture (19 Rh3) that requires Black to simplify with 18.., Bxd4. The resulting ending after 19 cxd4 Qxa2 20 Rxb7 Bc6 21 Qb1 Qxb1 22 Rxb1 is bad for White. At this point in the game the result on board 1, Katrein’s loss, was clear and very likely played a part in the decision by White. He wanted to delay the leveling of the match score at 1-1 as long as possible knowing the score would play a role in decisions on other boards.
17..., Ba4 18.Nb3 Qxe5 19.Qd2 Qf5 20.Rcb2 Bxf2+ 21.Qxf2 Qxg5 22.Nc5 Bc6 23.Nxb7 Qe7 24.Nc5 Qc7
Black has a winning advantage; two extra pawns and continuing pressure on the c-pawn.
Time pressure began about here in the game. Both players had used nearly all of the allotted time and the game became a flurry of quick moves with errors made by both sides. It rolled on for several more moves with the advantage going first one, then the other player until Lee made the last error, dropped material and resigned.
While this situation was unfolding Jon Leisner had obtained what looked like a near winning advantage over Magat of Saratoga on board 3, and the Le Cours - Wright game was unclear. This post is getting too long. I will finish up tomorrow with the game scores for boards 3 and 4.
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