Wednesday 21 March 2018
White: K. Nevols (157) - Black: D. Munford (169)
2. Nc3 Nc6
3. f4 g6
4. Nf3 Bg7
5. Be2
Again preferring a quiet development of the bishop. 5. Bc4 might be more aggressive.
5. ......e6
6. O-O Nge7
One of the questions I face in this system is where will Black put his king's knight? Nf6 is most common but sometimes, like here, Black likes to keep the bishops' diagonal open and take the sting out of a possible e5 from White.
7. Qe1
The other question I face is where will Black put his king? This move prepares Qh4 if it goes to the kingside, stays opposite if it stays in the centre, and also frees up the d1 square to meet Nd4 with Bd1.
7. .....d5
8. d3
The other option is 8. e5 but I did not want to concede central squares yet.
8. ......d4
9. Nb1
I prefer this to Na4 as I am planning Nd2. The position is level.
9. .......Qc7
10. Qh4
Now the queen has moved from d8 I can play this. My intention is to encourage Black to commit his king so I can then prepare an attack.
10. .....Bd7
... and I think his king is going over there, hence my next move.
11. a3
I took some time to look at 11. Nd2 but decided to keep that in reserve for now.
11. ....... O-O-O
And now Black offered a draw! This was quite a surprise as we were only half an hour or so in. I pondered a while and glanced at the board next to me - board three - where I could see we were losing. As I had a plan of attack, I decided to play on.
Castling kingside would have been safer for Black as he has sufficient defensive resources there. Now the computer recommends 12. Ng5 Rdf8 13. Nxh7?! I did not see this but, if I had, I would not have played it. There is a danger that the offside knight would get trapped.
12. b4!
This was the point of a3 - to open lines should he decide to castle queenside. Had Black castled kingside, well, the a3 pawn would have been useful in protecting the b4 square.
My intended follow ups include Nd2-c4, Bd2, Qe1, Rooks over and so on.
12. ......Qb6
A red rag to the knight.
13. Nd2
It is coming to c4 and then maybe to d6.
13. ......Be8
Already Black is feeling the pinch. 13. .. cxb4 might not look attractive but it makes some space. My next move is obvious.
14. Nc4
I now looked at 14. .. Qc7 15. e5, 15. Bd2 or just 15. bxc3 - and also 14. ... Qa6 15. e5? (a mistake - 15. .. Nf5 16. Qe1 Nxb4), or 15. bxc5.
14. ..... Qb5??
Can I trap the queen? The answer is yes.
15. a4 Qxb4
16. Bd2
The trapped queen has to sacrifice herself.
16. ..... Qxc4
17. dxc4 d3
18. Bxd3 Bxa1
19. Rxa1
OK, so now I have a queen for a rook. I sometimes find the hardest games to win are those which are winning, so I settled down for a grim struggle. I planned to consolidate my pieces and try to get some exchanges.
19. ........ Nd4??
And this was a surprise.
20. Qxe7
Now it is queen and bishop versus rook and so Black resigned.
Maidstone v Rochester
Cliff Chandler (204) 1-0 Keith Hyde (166)
David Munford (169) 0-1 Keith Nevols (157)
George Hollands (155) 1-0 Vytautas Gedminas (130)
Robert Thompson (146) 1/2-1/2 Rob Woolacott (130)
Ian Clark (134) 1/2-1/2 Tyrone Jefferies (116)
Stefan Sainiuc (120) 1-0 Andrew Gillard (107)
Maidstone 4-2 Rochester
No comments:
Post a Comment