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