This is the busiest time of year for local chess. The several club title events are getting close to a finish. Generously Alan Le Cours, the sparkplug of the Saratoga Club, provided an update of that championship Thursday.
This year no one in the three big clubs is running away in the title races. Saratoga is a case on point; the three highest rated players are all in the hunt for the title. The standings in Saratoga are:
1 Alan Le Cours 5 - 1
2 Gary Farrell 4 ½ - 1 ½
3 Jon Feinberg 4 - 2
4 Josh Kuperman 3 - 6
5 David Connrs 2 - 6
6 Jeff Hrebenach Withdrawn
The Saratoga event is a rather unusual double round robin tournament, not something we often see locally. Alan Le Cours has the highest score so far. He has to meet for the second time each Jon Feinberg and Gary Farrell. These games will pretty much determine this year’s title winner. In the first half of the event, Alan won from Feinberg and lost to Farrell. Feinberg and Farrell have played both of their scheduled games splitting the points with one win each. Le Cours has his fate entirely in his own hands. It should be an interesting finish. These guys have met each other often in recent years and know what to expect in the way of opening variations. We will see if someone can come up with a surprise.
One of the challenges of trying to gather these local games is picking the right game to follow when more than one side is down to just minutes on the clock. The way things often work out there will be two worthy games coming to such a pass at the same time. That was the case Wednesday at the Albany Area Chess Club. Both Wright - Magat and Henner - Caravaty had a participant with less than five minutes on the clock. I stuck with the possible upset; Chris Caravaty just might forge a draw against Mr. Henner. The unfortunate result is I did not capture the interesting finale of Wright - Magat where Gordon won. I have reconciled myself to sometime missing the good stuff.
Today we will look at what I have of the Wright - Magat game.
Wright, Tim - Magat, Gordon [D31]
AACC Championship Guilderland, NY, 07.12.2011
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 e6
White has a rather large number of choices here in the Semi Slav. He chooses to put his Knight on c3, also possible are: 4 Qc2, 4 Qb3, 4 e3, 4 Bg5, 4 g3, 4 cxd5, 4 4 b3, and 4 Nbd2. Some of the options are no more than move order choices, and some such as 4 g3, or 4 Bg5, can set the tone for many moves into the future.
4.Nc3 dxc4
And Black in his turn captures on c4 foregoing the much more common 4..., Nf6. With such experienced players you can never be exactly certain if they are trying some sophisticated move order wrinkle, or they are improvising at the board.
5.e3 b5
This line is called the Marshall Gambit in some tomes. In other works it is named the Noteboom without ..,Nf6. I don’t quite know the difference between the two. Essentially, White makes big concessions on the Q-side betting he can build an attack with pieces and pawns on the other side of the board. One thing that makes this a very interesting line for White is he has a second string to his bow; as he attacks the Black King his eye is peeled for opportunities to cripple or devalue the Black passed pawns. Here is an example by a couple of strong Russians that illustrate some of the ideas in this line:
(1148480) Klimov,Sergey (2498) - Matlakov,Maksim (2452) [D31]
St Petersburg FINEC GM St Petersburg (2), 26.01.2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.e3 b5 6.a4 Bb4 7.Bd2 a5 8.axb5 Bxc3 9.Bxc3 cxb5 10.b3 Bb7 11.bxc4 b4 12.Bb2 Nf6 13.Bd3 0–0 14.0–0 Nbd7 15.Nd2 Re8 16.Bc2 Qc7 17.f4 Nb6 18.Qe2 a4 19.e4 a3 20.Bc1 Nxc4 21.Nxc4 Bxe4 22.Bb3 Red8 23.Be3 Qb7 24.Rfc1 Rac8 25.Nd2 Bd5 26.Rc5 Rxc5 27.dxc5 Bxb3 28.Nxb3 Qd5 29.Qd2 Qxd2 30.Bxd2 Rd3 31.c6 Nd5 32.Bxb4 Rxb3 33.Rxa3 Rxa3 34.Bxa3 f6 35.Kf2 Kf7 36.Kf3 Ke8 ½–½
Back to our game.
6.a4 Bb4 7.Bd2 a5 8.axb5 Bxc3 9.Bxc3 cxb5 10.b3 Bb7 11.bxc4 b4 12.Bb2 Nf6 13.Bd3 Ne4 14.Ne5?!,..
White undertakes a too direct path in the next operation. More normal is 14 Qa4+, with the continuation 14..., Qd7 15 Qc2 f5 16 Ne5 Qc7 17 c5 0-0 18 f3 Nf6 19 Nc4, and White has made progress on his base plan; prepare an attack on the Black King while watching for the chance to do something about the pair of passers. The text aims to bring the Queen and Knight into close proximity to the Black King.
14..., 0–0 15.Qf3 f5 16.Qd1,..
Second thoughts cross Mr. Wright’s mind, but why all the way back to d1? The post on e2 looks a bit more reasonable for the Queen. This sort of discontinuity of thought; begin traveling down one path, and then a reversal of direction, seldom works out. I’m no great theoretician, but I suspect the loss of time unraveling what you started knitting together is why such play fails more often than it succeeds.
16..., Nd7?!,..
A routine decision to “develop” a piece. More forceful is 16..., Qg5!; and the White King will not find a safe home anywhere. There is also a good chance White will have to give up his light squared Bishop for the annoying Ne4.
17.Nf3?!,..
White would be better served by trading on d7 and driving off the Ne4 with f2-f3. Wright’s reversal of the movement of pieces to the K-side grants Black time to get his own pieces to there.
17..., Ndf6 18.h3 Qe8 19.Bc2 Qh5 20.d5?,..
This move takes what is a slightly worse position for White and makes it an outright bad situation. Conceding his 17th was mistaken with 20 Ne5 keeps the damage to a minimum. After the text, White is down a pawn with no compensation of to speak of.
20..., exd5 21.cxd5 Bxd5 22.Qd4?!,..
White seems to have lost faith in his position as evident from the last few moves. He now is wagering on making his pieces active as possible in hopes there will appear some shot that can balance the position. That is not an unnatural decision. After 22 0-0, Black will increase the pressure with 22..., Rfc8; and White will soon have to trade some minor pieces making the pair of passed pawns on the Q-side more dangerous than ever.
22..., Qf7?!
Cautious, perhaps too much so. With 22..., Rfc8; or 22..., Rfd8; Black keeps the pressure on the White game.
23.Ne5 Qa7?!
This looks wrong to me. Black must figure the endgame with two passed pawns is simply won. With so many minor pieces on the board there are many things to calculate, and White just might find a trick to make a successful defense. I would prefer 23..., Qc7 24 Ba4 Rfd8; improving the position of the Black pieces.
24.Qxa7 Rxa7 25.Bd4 Raa8 26.Ba4 Rfb8
White has gotten a lot of what he wanted. The game is complicated with many tricks possible. It is true if you can play like a computer, the position is won for Black, but after three hours of play as the day gets long not many people have a computer-like accuracy in their calculation.
27.0–0 Nd2?!
Rather than seek clarity Black goes in for complications. It maybe offering the f-pawn with 27..., Rc8 28 Nd7 Nxd7 29 Bxd7 Rd8 30 Bxf5 Nd2 31 Rfd1 Nb3; eliminating the Bd4 and setting the stage for an advance of the Q-side pawns is the correct way to play this position. There is now a period of complexity while time was getting short for both players.
28.Rfd1 Nb3 29.Nc6 Bxc6 30.Bxb3+ Kf8 31.Bxf6,..
White has achieved much. The game is near equal. The decision to go for material is understandable. Tougher is 31 Be5 Rb5 32 Bd6+ Ke8 33 Ba4 Rb6 34 Bxc6 Rxc6 35 Bxb4, eliminating one of the passed pawns making the game nearly equal. Mr. Wright may have been motivated by a wish to get back to the hunt for the title by winning this game. I am not certain the position justifies playing for a win by White, but that is one of those decisions easier to make after the fact than in the heat of battle.
31..., gxf6 32.Rd6 Be8 33.Rxf6+ Kg7 34.Rxf5 a4 35.Bd5 Bg6?!
It is harder meet 35..., Ra5. The position then looks won for Black. After the text the game equalizes.
36.Bxa8 Bxf5 37.Rxa4 b3 38.Bd5 b2 39 Ba2 0–1
I was not able to get the remaining moves. They were played at a very rapid pace, and both players were down to about two minutes on the clocks. Eventually, Black won. The victory vaulted Gordon Magat into the lead. In the final few rounds all will be targeting Gordon, but I like his chances.
More soon.
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