Create a weakness, exploit a weakness

The following game was played tonight at the ANU Chess Club, between tournament leaders Harry Press and Fred Litchfield. Both players may have mixed up their opening lines (5.Nf3 instead of the intended 5.f4, 9. ... Qb6 instead of 9. ... Bc5) but after that the game turned into an interesting exercise in using the initiative. White exploited the location of the Black knight on b6 to play a4-a5-a6, with the idea of creating a weakness on c6. He then landed his knight on the now weakened square, before bringing his rooks into play. Black probably played the position a little too passively, although paradoxically he may have survived if he had "turtled" in the position with moves like Nb8 and Be7. As with games of this type, the decisive moment came when the White rooks reached the 7th rank, and after that all White needed to do was avoid back rank tricks to secure the victory.

Press,Harry - Litchfield,Fred [C11]
ANU Spring Swiss, 14.10.2015

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nf3 c5 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Qd2 cxd4 8. Bxd4 Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Qb6 10. Qxb6 Nxb6 11. Nb5 Ke7 12. Bd3 f6 13. O-O Bd7 14. Rfe1 Bxb5 15. Bxb5 f5 16. a4 Rc8 17. a5 Nd7 18. a6 b6 19. Nd4 Rc7 20. Nc6+ Kf7 21. c4 dxc4 22. Red1 Bc5 23. Bxc4 Rxc6 24. Rxd7+ Be7 25. b3 Ra8 26. Rad1 b5 27. Bxb5 Rc5 28. Rb7 Rac8 29. Rdd7 Rxb5 30. Rxe7+ Kf8 31. Rf7+ Ke8 32. h4 Rxe5 33. Rxg7 Kf8 34. Rxh7 Kg8 35. Rbg7+ Kf8 36. Rxa7 Kg8 37. Rag7+ Kf8 38. a7 Ra5 39. Rc7 1-0