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INVISIBLE BARRIER Home | Traps | Endgames | Puzzles | Library | About me White: TheChessKid(2235) Black: MoltenThinker(2206) Time Control: 1 minute + no increment Event: 2005 ICC Atomic Championships This was perhaps the most interesting game played during the Championships, which I unfortunately lost! The game began: 1. Nh3 f6 2. Nc3 c6 3. e3 d5 4. Ng5 Bg4 5. f3 fxg5 6. g3 Nh6 7. Bh3 e6. Here white are up a pawn, and will trade down material, while black will try to cramp white in. 8. f4 Ng4 9. Bxg4 g6 10. o-o Bb4 11. f5 o-o 12. Qg4,  White continue exchanging: 12... Qh4 13. Qxh4 e5. Being a pawn down and no play on the kingside, black attempt to control the center. Sadly, knight-bishop pins never last, white played 14. Nb5 a6? (a5 was probably better, but the idea was to put the pawn on a white square where it will be harmless from the white bishop), 15. Nc7 Nd7 16. Nxa8 e5 17. b3?, after 17... Bxd2, there would be nothing to fianchetto. Black find white's lack of development a good time to attack: 17... Nd5!  Here Nf3+ and Ng4 can be quite painful. White played 18. h3, other possibilities are 18. d3 and 18. f6. Both are quite ugly. 18... Bxd2 19. f6 Nf3+ 20. Kh1 Kf7. Now, that black have their king blocking the f-pawn, he needs to make sure that it will stay there. 21. c4 g5? (Here, black missed their well deserved win from which they never recovered: 21... d4!) 22. dxc4 Rd8 23. Rad1 Rd2 24. Rxd2 h5 25. g4 h4 26. a4 b5 27. Rc1 c5 28. axb5 Nd2 29. Ra1? a5 30. Rc1. White wait black's pawns out to clear some open files.  The question is what pawn to push, or rather, which pawn to keep? Time was short and black played 30... a4? and lost a few moves later. Sadly, 30... c4 also loses due to 31. b4 even after 31... Nb3 32. b5 Nc5 33. Rxc4. However, not 31. bxc4? Nc4 - draw. |
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