A brief but idea-rich game from the State Championship

Hello again. I'm coming out of my little turtle shell to put up the score of a relatively short game that I played in the Under-2200 section of the New York State Championship last month. This encounter only lasted twenty-seven moves, but it seems to me that there are a few tantalizing ideas in it. And I should admit that it also serves my ego to publish one of the few non-garbage games that I managed to produce all summer. Besides, the blog needs the traffic! So I have a variety of excuses to choose from.

My notes here will concentrate on the interesting tactical themes that crop up throughout.

9/4/2010

Philip Sells - Harold Stenzel

132nd NY State Championship (2)

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nc6 5. Nf3 b6  

This seems to be a pet line of my opponent, who has played it many times over the years. This database that I'm using at the moment, incomplete though it is, has Stenzel playing the Black side in 17 of 29 games. I was told that this is called the Burn Variation of the French, but I don't see why we couldn't call it the Stenzel Variation at this point. 

6. c3

 

Another possible approach is to play the white king's bishop to a natural destination and leave the center a little bit unstable for the moment, as shown in this game: 6. Bb5 Bb7 7. Qe2 a6 8. Bxc6+ Bxc6 9. Ne5 Bb7 10. c3 Qd5 11. f3 f6 12. Nd3 O-O-O 13. O-O g5 14. Re1 e5 15. Ndf2 exd4 16. cxd4 Qxd4 17. Be3 Qb4 18. Nxg5 fxg5 19. Bxg5 Ne7 20. Bxe7 Bxe7 21. Qxe7 Qxb2 22. Rac1 Rd7 23. Qe6 Rhd8 24. Rcd1 Qb5 25. Ne4 Bd5 26. Nd6+ cxd6 27. Rxd5 Qc6 28. Red1 Kc7 29. h3 Rg7 30. Kh2 Re8 31. Qh6 Reg8 32. g4 Rg6 33. Qxh7+ R8g7 34. Qh4 Qc4 35. R1d2 Rf7 36. R5d4 Qc6 37. Rf2 Qc1 38. Qg3 Re7 39. Qg2 Kb8 40. Rc2 Qe1 41. Qf2 Qa5 42. Qd2 Qe5+ 43. f4 Qf6 44. Rc6 Rh7 45. Rcxd6 Qh4 46. Rd8+ Kc7 47. R4d7+ 1-0, Nikolayev Igor (USA) 2354 - Stenzel Harold (USA) 2140, Monticello (USA) 2005.09.03

 

6... Bb7 7. Bd3 Nf6 8. O-O Qd7 9. Qe2 O-O-O 10. Bg5  

This may be a little too easy on Black, since it almost forces some exchanges.

A couple of smooth wins for White have occurred after 10. Rd1 Be7 (10... Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Bd6 12. b4 f6 13. Bb2 Qf7 14. a4 Ne7 15. Bxb7+ Kxb7 16. a5 Nd5 17. axb6 cxb6 18. Ra4 Ra8 19. Rda1 Kb8 20. c4 Nf4 21. Qe4 Qd7 22. c5 Bc7 23. cxb6 Bd6 24. Rxa7 Rxa7 25. Rxa7 1-0, Panken Richard - Stenzel Harold, Long Island 1996 Ch Nassau Chess Club) 11. b4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Bf6 13. Bf4 Ne7 14. c4 Bxe4 15. Qxe4 Qc6 16. Qe2 Nf5 17. b5 Qe8 18. Be5 Qe7 19. a4 Rd7 20. a5 Nd6 21. axb6 cxb6 22. c5 bxc5 23. dxc5 Nf5 24. b6 Rhd8 25. Qa6+ Rb7 26. bxa7 Rxd1+ 27. Rxd1 Bxe5 28. a8=Q+ Bb8 29. c6 1-0, Renna Tony - Stenzel Harold, Long Island 1990 Ch Chess Club.

It's worth noting that 10. Nxf6 gxf6 seems risky for White here, as it opens the g-file for Black's rook to point straight at the white king. White also robs himself of the e5-square, which the ¤f3 would have liked to use. The structural deficiencies for Black (i.e. the doubled f-pawns and isolated h-pawn) would be of negligible significance at this point in the game--the more critical factor is that Black has free play against the white king without having had to exert any effort to generate it.

10... Be7 11. Rfd1 Nd5 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Ba6 h6

This may be a little too slow. A proposal from Rybka is 13... f5 14. Ned2 g5 15. Qb5 Kb8 16. Bxb7 Kxb7 17. Nc4+= , when White has the idea of securing a knight on e5, resulting in the elimination of the only piece defending Black's king at the moment. Black would have to scramble a bit to keep his light-square weaknesses covered.

14. Bxb7+ Kxb7

 

The black king now becomes a little bit exposed due to the weakness of a6 in particular and the fact that White has an obvious way to open the a-file. Here we start to see some interesting tactical motifs appear. 

15. a4

One potential attacking idea, given the queenside pawn structure seen here, is 15. Nc5+ bxc5 16. Qb5+ , which would work well if Black didn't have 16... Nb6 17. dxc5 a6 18. Qb3 Qxc5.

15... f5 

Black chases the Ne4 away from its threatening central position and gets his kingside counterplay moving. He will have to remain aware of the backward e-pawn, though. 

16. Ng3 g5 17. Re1 Nf4 18. Qf1

18. Qc4 was also possible and certainly a little more active. Amusingly, it would also have prevented the next move in the game in view of 18... Qf7?? 19. Qxc6+ Kxc6 20. Ne5+ Kb7 21. Nxf7 . The text at least takes no risks with the safety of either the queen or the g2-square, while still awaiting a chance to use the weak queenside light squares.

18... Qf7?! 

This does solve the problem of the e-file pin, but as the later tactics reveal, is not the best place for the queen. Either 18... Qf6 or 18... Qg7 suggests itself as an alternative. I suppose, given the logic of Black's proposed defensive setup (see later notes), the move to g7 is the most pertinent, though of course the Pe6 is loose then. (Or maybe 18... Qf6 planning the setup ... Rd7-g7 + ... Nd8 would work. Hard to say which is best.) 

19. a5 Kb8  

Black's defensive scheme involves use of the second rank. There was nothing that the second player could have done realistically to prevent White from opening the a-file and getting access to the a6-square, but his point is to meet axb6 with ... cxb6 so that the black queen helps to defend a7. (The recapture ... axb6 is never going to be possible as long as Black has his king in its queenside pillbox, because White then mates trivially on the a-file.)

19... Nxa5? invites 20. Rxa5 bxa5 21. Qb5+ Kc8 22. Ne5 Qe8 23. Qa6+ Kb8 24. Nc6+ +-.

20. b4 g4 21. Ne5

21. b5 gxf3 22. bxc6 is another of those interesting tactical ideas. I had thought little of it during the game owing to my perception that Black could defend, at least for the time being, with 22... Rd6 when White seemingly can't both hold onto the c-pawn and go for the mate. But 23. Qb5! threatening 24. axb6 would have been quite strong here. Since, as mentioned before, Black can only retake with 24... cxb6, the b8-h2 diagonal would in that event be opened up and 25. Qe5 would win. 23... Qg7 

(or 23... Ng6 24. c4 intending 25. d5, thus defending the Pc6 long enough to play Qa6 and mate;

23... Qe8 provides more pretty tactical possibilities, such as 24. axb6 Qxc6 25. bxc7+ (25. bxa7+ Ka8 26. Qe5 Ng6 27. Qg7 e5 28. Rxe5 Rd7 29. Qxh8+ Nxh8 30. Re8+ Kb7 31. Rb8#) 25... Ka8 26. Qe5 Ng6 27. Qg7 Rc8 (27... e5 28. c8=Q+ Rxc8 29. Qxa7#) 28. Qxg6; 23... Nxg2 24. Re5)  

24. gxf3 Rg8 25. Re5! with the cute idea of just defending the Pc6 via Rc5. 25... Rgd8 26. Rc5 Rxd4 27. cxd4 Qxd4 28. Rcc1 +-.

21... Nxe5 22. Rxe5 Rd5 23. axb6  

Played at this moment, the black king's exposure on the b8-h2 diagonal can give White certain tactics, as has been shown above. However, as long as Black is careful, this should turn out to be rather weak tea. 

23... cxb6 24. Rxd5 Nxd5 25. Qb5  

Black is hardly being crushed here--he just has to be a little careful. But instead, he played exactly the move I was hoping to see.... 

25... Nxc3??

25... Qc7 26. Qe2 Rd8 27. Qxe6 Qxc3 28. Rf1 f4 29. Ne2 Qxb4 30. Qxg4= Rybka 3

26. Qe5+ Kb7 27. Qxh8 1:0

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If anyone cares, I prepared these notes using Chess Assistant 10, which I've been trying out for a little while now. There are some things I like about CA a lot, but unfortunately there are rather more things that really annoy me about it. Interestingly, ChessBase 11 is rolling out in a little over a week, so I'll give that a run as well to see if I can get the best of both worlds.

Thanks for reading.