Saturday 29 May 2010

Fairs Fair

Having shown a game last week where I was cleaned up at Street Chess, it is only fair (at least to me) where I managed to win a 'one-off' game this week.
Borrowing liberally from Bobby Fischer, I chose 6.Bc4 against the Najdorf. Of course his usual recipe was to preserve this Bishop, play f4-f5 and then mate black. I was not able to do this, but only because I had a more 'positional' plan. As the pieces came off, the control of d5, and the pressure on the backward d pawn became more pronounced. And as Fischer said in My 60 Memorable Games, "tactics flow from a positionally superior game". My only regret was not getting to play Qf3 on move 29 (as I realised it is refuted by 29. ... Qc5+) and then not realising I could safely play it on move 31.

Press,Shaun - Palma,Mario [B90]
Street Chess, 29.05.2010

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bb3 0-0 9.Bg5 Nc6 10.0-0 Be6 11.Qd2 Qc7 12.Rad1 Rad8 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Nd5 Bxd5 15.Bxd5 Ne7 16.Bb3 Ng6 17.Ne1 Nf4 18.Nd3 Bg5 19.Nxf4 Bxf4 20.Qe2 Kh8 21.Rd5 f5 22.Rfd1 fxe4 23.Qxe4 Rf6 24.c3 Rdf8 25.Bc2 Rh6 (D)
26.Rxd6 Rxh2 27.g3 Bxg3 28.fxg3 Rh5 29.Kg2 Qc5 30.R1d2 Qb5 31.Qd3 1-0

1 comment:

PeterPullicino said...

Instead of black taking Rxh2... 1...Bxh2! 2. Kf1 Qc5 and white is no longer mating. Courtesy of an engine. Gives the position as equal.