Report by Alvah Mayo mayo@north.nsis.com
Game scores by Justin Gulati justin.gulati@pei.sympatico.ca
A match between two candidate masters Alvah Mayo of Westville, Nova Scotia and Justin Gulati of Charlottetown PEI took place at the Edward Chess Club in Charlottetown. The following report is by the winner of the match, Alvah Mayo.
As Justin said, I won the 4 game match we contested this weekend in Charlottetown by a score of 2.5-1.5. The match was hotly contested, and every game was a fight. I just got back from the Island, so I haven't yet had a chance to analyze the games in depth, but I still hope you find the summary useful. When I come up with some detailed analysis, I'll post it to the listserv as well.
Round 1 2 3 4 Total --------------------------------------- Alvah Mayo 1 1/2 1 0 2 1/2 Justin Gulati 0 1/2 0 1 1 1/2
I would like to extend my thanks to Justin Gulati, who not only gave me everything I could handle but also was a gracious host. Justin has already posted the complete game scores on his web page, so if you want to take a look at the moves before reading further, that would be the best place to do it.
[Event "Mayo - Gulati"] [Site "Charlottetown, PEI (1)"] [Date "1997.08.23"] [Round "?"] [White "Alvah Mayo"] [Black "Justin Gulati"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E92"] [WhiteElo "2045"] [BlackElo "2065"] [PlyCount "109"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8 Rxd8 9. Bg5 Re8 10. O-O c6 11. Rfd1 Nbd7 12. b4 Nf8 13. h3 Ne6 14. Be3 Nh5 15. Rac1 Nhf4 16. Bf1 Nc7 17. Kh2 Be6 18. g3 Nh5 19. Ng5 Bf8 20. Nxe6 Nxe6 21. c5 Rad8 22. Bc4 Nd4 23. Kg2 Nf6 24. f3 Rd7 25. Kf2 Red8 26. Ne2 Nxe2 27. Bxe2 Rxd1 28. Rxd1 Rxd1 29. Bxd1 a5 30. a3 Nd7 31. Ke2 Be7 32. Ba4 axb4 33. axb4 Kf8 34. Kd3 Ke8 35. Kc4 Kd8 36. Bc2 Kc7 37. b5 Nf8 38. f4 f6 39. Bd1 cxb5+ 40. Kxb5 Ne6 41. Kc4 exf4 42. gxf4 g5 43. f5 Nd8 44. Kd5 Nc6 45. Ke6 Bd8 46. Kf7 Ne5+ 47. Kg8 Nc4 48. Bd4 Nd2 49. e5 fxe5 50. Bxe5+ Kc6 51. Bd4 Kd5 52. Bc3 Ne4 53. Bf3 h5 54. f6 Kc4 55. Bxe4 1-0
I chose a rare (for me) 1 d4, and we followed book for a few moves in a King's Indian Classical. On move 7 I played dxe5, avoiding a locked central pawn position as part of my overall match strategy to keep things in the center from being totally blocked. Queen's came off early and Justin played correctly, avoiding the tricks Black can fall into in this opening.
Justin got some good squares for his knights on the kingside while I grabbed queenside space in the ensuing moves. White's 17th move Kh2 was the beginning of a reorganization that took away the outposts for the Black knights, and on move 20 I managed to snag Justin's light squared bishop. I spent the next few moves before time control repairing holes on the kingside and centralizing my king, while Justin planted a knight on d4 and doubled his rooks on the open d file.
On move 24 Justin offered a draw which I refused, keeping in mind that I had the bishop pair. Just before time control in mild time pressure Justin traded knights and all 4 rooks leading to an ending where I had the bishops and a queenside space advantage. Justin managed to set up a fortress like position that looked impregnable to me, even though my bishops were more active, I had more space, and my king was more active.
It looked to me like the game might be a draw despite my best efforts when Justin lashed out with 39...cxb5? which relinquished control over the d5 square. After I recaptured on b5 I infiltrated Justin's position with my king, culminating with 47 Kg7 threatening to munch the h7 pawn.
Justin went on a few adventures with his knight trying to tempo my pieces to death, but then he self pinned his knight with 52...Ne4. Justin gamely tried to create his own passer on the kingside, but I already had 2 of them. Justin resigned after 59 c6, so I took the lead in the match 1-0.
[Event "Mayo - Gulati"] [Site "Charlottetown, PEI (2)"] [Date "1997.08.23"] [Round "?"] [White "Justin Gulati"] [Black "Alvah Mayo"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "2065"] [BlackElo "2045"] [PlyCount "70"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Nxd5 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be2 e6 6. c4 Nf6 7. Nc3 Be7 8. Be3 Nbd7 9. Qc2 O-O 10. Rd1 c6 11. O-O Qc7 12. Rfe1 Rac8 13. h3 Bf5 14. Bd3 Bxd3 15. Qxd3 Rfd8 16. Qc2 a6 17. a3 b5 18. c5 Nf8 19. Ne5 Ng6 20. Nxg6 hxg6 21. b4 a5 22. g3 axb4 23. axb4 Nd5 24. Nxd5 Rxd5 25. Ra1 Qd8 26. Red1 Bf6 27. Ra7 Ra8 28. Rxa8 Qxa8 29. Qb2 Qd8 30. Rd2 Qd7 31. Kg2 e5 32. dxe5 Rxd2 33. Bxd2 Qd5+ 34. Kh2 Bxe5 35. Bc3 Bxc3 1/2-1/2
Justin had white for the second game, and his 1 e4 was really no suprise, since that is Justin's main opening move. The suprise here was the opening I played- none other than the infamous Scandinavian! I would like to be able to say that it was the influence of IM Lawrence Day that led me to play this, but it was really from seeing Antoni Wysocki play it with good results. For matches, I always like to come up with something new that I haven't played before, and 1 e4 d5 was it! Justin said later on, "Since when did YOU start playing the Scandinavian?" Justin decided to avoid the Icelandic Gambit which stems from white's attempt to hold his extra d pawn. Maybe he saw the game Breau-Wysocki from the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick Match?
In any event, the opening developed normally, with Black restraining White's central pawn duo at d4 and c4. On move 16 and 17 Black initiated a counterattack on c4 with 16...a6 and 17...b5, trying to win the d5 square. Justin pushed past with 18 c5 which yielded the d5 square but necessitated some shuffling of pieces by Black. I knew I would probably win if I could trade off all the minor pieces ala the IQP (isolated queen's pawn) ending, but Justin wasn't cooperative. After time control was reached I liquidated everything and offered a draw on move 35, which Justin accepted. Now the score was Mayo 1.5 Gulati 0.5.
[Event "Mayo - Gulati"] [Site "Charlottetown, PEI (3)"] [Date "1997.08.24"] [Round "?"] [White "Alvah Mayo"] [Black "Justin Gulati"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A41"] [WhiteElo "2045"] [BlackElo "2065"] [PlyCount "83"] 1. d4 g6 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. g3 d6 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. c4 e5 6. dxe5 Nxe5 7. Nxe5 Bxe5 8. Qc2 Ne7 9. Nc3 Nc6 10. O-O Bg7 11. Bf4 Be6 12. Nd5 O-O 13. Rfd1 f5 14. Rac1 Ne5 15. b3 Kh8 16. Qd2 Nf7 17. Be3 c6 18. Nf4 Qe7 19. Qb4 Rfe8 20. Nxe6 Qxe6 21. Qxb7 Ne5 22. Bf4 Rab8 23. Qc7 Rbd8 24. Bxe5 Bxe5 25. Qxc6 Bf6 26. Rc2 f4 27. Rcd2 fxg3 28. fxg3 Bg5 29. Rxd6 Rxd6 30. Rxd6 Qxe2 31. h3 Qe1+ 32. Kh2 Re3 33. Qc8+ Kg7 34. Rd7+ Be7 35. Qc7 Re2 36. Qxa7 Re3 37. Qd4+ Kh6 38. Qf4+ g5 39. Qg4 Qf2 40. h4 Re2 41. hxg5+ Kg7 42. Qd4+ 1-0
I have White again, and again I open with 1 d4. Justin deviates first with 1...g6 giving me unpleasant thoughts of facing 1 d4 g6 2 c4 Bg7 3 Nc3 c5!? which is known to be good for Black. I didn't feel up to facing some wrinkle in one of my own favorite systems, so I opted for 2 Nf3 resulting in some sort of Fianchetto System vs the King's Indian. I again trades pawns on e5 early but this time Justin took back with a piece so the queen's stayed on the board for all of this one. The resulting pawn structure is known to be better for white, with a good square on d5.
I developed quietly and efficiently and on move 12 posted a knight to d5. I proceeded to back it up with rooks on c1 and d1, while Justin was playing some strange looking (to me anyway) moves on the kingside. By move 16 my pressure on d6 and c7 was mounting, causing Justin to play 16...Nf7 and 17...c6, resulting in a backward d pawn on the half open file. On move 19 Justin blundered/sacked a pawn with Rfe8. An interesting side note is that in both Game 1 and Game 3 White's 20th move was Nxe6, both times capturing the bishop!
Justin offered me another pawn on move 22 with Rab8 but it was poisoned, as 23 Qxa7?! Ra8! would allow Justin's rook to enter the game on a2, winning a pawn back and planting a rook on his seventh rank. By move 23 I was up a pawn and had the bishop pair. Most of his pieces were pinned, but his rooks were threatening to immediately become active and chase my queen from her aggressive post at the same time, so I grabbed a second pawn with 24 Bxe5. Justin uncovered an attack on my backward e2 pawn with 25...Bf6 which I carefully defended with my c1 rook. Justin then played 26...f4!? which is his best chance, to open up my king and try to attack me, which would be helped by the presence of opposite colored bishops.
I managed to weave my way to time control with my 2 pawn advantage still intact. I've been told that I had better than 31 h3, namely Rf6, but to be honest at that point I was looking to set up a little shelter for my king in the corner and make sure I didn't get mated. Justin had some scary looking stuff around my king but I had faith that I wasn't going to get mated. I ended up grabbing a third pawn and recentralizing my queen. Justin overlooked the second threat entailed in 40 h4! and promptly resigned after 42 Qd4+ where the queens are finally coming off with a winning ending for White. So now the score was Mayo 2.5- Gulati 0.5
[Event "Mayo - Gulati"] [Site "Charlottetown, PEI (4)"] [Date "1997.08.24"] [Round "?"] [White "Justin Gulati"] [Black "Alvah Mayo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "2065"] [BlackElo "2045"] [PlyCount "59"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Nxd5 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. c3 c6 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. O-O e6 8. Re1 Qc7 9. Nbd2 Bd6 10. h3 Bh5 11. Ne4 Be7 12. Bg5 N5f6 13. Ng3 Bg6 14. a4 Bd6 15. Nf5 Bxf5 16. Bxf5 O-O-O 17. Bd3 h6 18. Bd2 g5 19. b4 g4 20. hxg4 Nxg4 21. b5 c5 22. a5 Nxf2 23. Kxf2 Bg3+ 24. Kg1 Bxe1 25. Bxe1 Qd6 26. Qe2 Rhe8 27. a6 b6 28. Bc4 Re7 29. Qe4 f6 30. Qb7# 1-0
Another black, and another Scandinavian. Thank you Mr Wysocki! This time Justin didn't advance his c pawn to c4 which leads to positions of a slightly different character. After some opening shadow boxing I traded off my bad bishop at Justin's "insistence" with 15 Nf5. Probably a better idea for Black was 14...O-O playing it safe and keeping the probable draw in hand. However, I decided to "play for a win" and intended to castle long to help out. Playing for a win is fine, but not if you are going to play bad moves, as I proceeded to do! I should have prepared my g4 push more carefully with moves like Rdg8, h5 and then g4. Black's 22...Nxf2 was bad, giving up two active pieces for an inactive rook and unimportant pawn. After that my attack was exhausted and Justin's was just getting under way. My position looked objectively lost after my 26th move Rhe8 (maybe Rhg8 was better) where Bh4 was a constant worry. I then blundered for the last time with 29...f6?? where White is on move and has mate in 1, which Justin was not going to miss. Thus, the match ended at Mayo 2.5-Gulati 1.5
Click here for a PGN file of the match.
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