From: Jason Kenney
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007
Subject: Bluenose–Dalhousie Chess Club Open

Here are my games with some minor annotations.

Round 1: McGillivary, Mike (1774) - Kenney, Jason (2193)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Nb3 Be7

I think Qd2 is the way to go, with the unfortunate requirement of having some major bollocks and/or a very good memory. But if you are playing the 6. Bg5 line in the first place, neither of those things should concern you much... Radjabov has played a number of crushing white games recently in that line.

9. Qf3 Nbd7 10. O-O-O Qc7 11. Bd3 b5 12. Rhe1 b4

12. a3 was played in (soon to be IM) Lee - Kenney at the Canadian Closed, where I misplaced some pieces, and then miscalculated and lost very quickly. But as a result of looking over that game later I learned a lot and felt much more confident about my ability to handle the Nb3 variation here... Lesson One: Bb7 is unnecessary unless e5 forces it and even gets in the way of your queenside play. On a3 the correct move is Rb8 (not Bb7 as played in Lee-Kenney) to renew the possibility of b4. So if white doesn't prevent it, it should be played. That said I think white is probably better not to play a3, although this is only a guess at best as there are pluses and minuses to the move...

13. Ne2 h6 14. Qh3?! a5

Qh3 is usually played with the idea of some kind of sacrifice on e6, but with my bishop on c8 it seems suspect just on principle to me. And indeed, the computer starts recommending ...e5 almost immediately for black. I considered that too, but felt while it looked good, it wasn't in the spirit of my position, and wasn't clearly a better choice than something more thematic and continued with the queenside attack.

15. Ned4 a4 16. Nb5 Qb6 17. N3d4 Qc5!

I took a while before playing Qc5, but I like it very much. It is a very useful move. It: -prevents e5 from white for the moment -eyes a3 and c3, which will be entry squares after I push a3 -it covers h5, so now I can castle and Bxh6 isn't even an option of dubious value has I immediately have Qh5 to trade the queens

It looks a bit scary since it temporarily traps my queen, but I could see no way to exploit that fact. This is probably a good example of playing prophylactically. I take away white's ideas and it's not clear at all what he should be doing next. Probably some combination of Bh4 and g4 is possible, however it is awkward with his queen on h3. I think trading his bishop for my knight was a mistake, he becomes very weak on the dark squares, which is very relevant due to my ability to play a3 on any move. It may have been possible for me to play Bxf6 as I am not sure Nxe6 is sound, but that would let white's remaining pieces become very active and is definitely unclear enough to avoid if not necessary. That position would be very good to practice calculation and tactics on, and check with a computer later...

18. Bxf6? Nxf6 19. e5 Nd5 20. Qg4? O-O 21. Nxd6 a3

Now I don't even need to take his knight, probably Nxd6+ before Qg4 was a better try. I was prepared to play Bf6 in the event of exd, again with a large amount of dark square control. The pawn on d6 is irrelevant as it cannot be pushed, and black is very quick with a3 and Nc3 ideas. (Either trading to bring the Q to c3, or picking off the a2 pawn, which can be pushed!)

f5 is losing by force, on Kxb2 there are several options which give black a mating attack, involving various combinations of Rxa2+ and Nc3.

22. f5 axb2+ 23. Kd2 Bg5+ 24. Ke2 Nc3+ 25. Kf1 Nxd1 26. Rxd1 Qxe5 27. Nxc8 Raxc8? 28. Nf3 Qf4 0-1

Of course Rfxc8 was more accurate as Rxa2 and Ra1 comes, but it doesn't matter at this point.

Kenney, Jason (2193) - Du, Jasmine (1770)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 Be6

I knew white can play Bxc6 and d4 quickly when black plays a quick d6 in the Ruy Lopez, and it was the kind of position I was angling for by playing 1. e4 anyway. I decided I should try to stick to positions with fixed pawn structures as I have a tendency to prefer ones with very fluid pawns, whether it is good or not, and as such tend to think they are better for me/worse for my opponent than they perhaps are in reality. So I figure by practicing in ones with little or no pawn breaks I will gain a better appreciation of the qualities of the positions without such fluid pawns.

So clearly white has only one possible pawn break, e5, and by playing it he removes all pawn influence in the center. I realized the position of my queen makes it a little awkward to develop as g7 is somewhat tender, and on Nf6 e5 comes with tempo. Black's next two moves are clearly Nf6 and Be7, with the possibility of c5 first. This move should probably have been played, even if the B is commited to e6 already, as the white queen has no obvious square to move to, and it removes the pawn as a target on c6. If black manages to get castled I feel white will very likely have not much (and again, that is perhaps not true, but I don't play these sorts of things enough to appreciate the activity of the knights if it is not). So I can play e5 immediately, or after another developing move, where I have the choice of Nc3, Bg5, Re1 and Rd1.

8. O-O Nf6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. e5 Ng4

During the game I believed white could maintain the initiative after e5, but now I believe it was better to keep developing. One idea I had considered was to play Qa4 and on c5 play Qa5 hitting c7 which is awkward to defend (Nd5 comes now that c5 has been played).

I believe dxe was easiest. My idea was to continue to pressure black and keep the king in the middle with Qa4 as a prelude to capturing back with Nxe5, however I don't think white has anything after Bd6. Even immediately after the game I couldn't remember what I had intended so maybe I was just hallucinating. Qxd8 Rxd8 Nxe5 is nothing at all to fear. The bishop pair compensates fully for the pawn weaknesses, and I would even take black in this position. Black could even play Bd5 if he doesn't like the look of Rd6.

11. Qa4 Bd7 12. e6 Bxe6

I realized my original plan had a flaw after Ng4, exd cxd Qxg7?? Bf6 and because the Ng4 covers h6 my queen is trapped! However the N has now become a target on g4 as my e6 shot shows. I don't remember how much I saw after 11. Qa4 Nxe5, but the computer shows white still has a pull after Nxe5 dxe Qxc6+ Bd7 Qd5 as e5 and c7 are hard to defend while still getting the king out of the middle, eg. Bf6 Qc5 and it's not clear how black is to proceed. I wouldn't be surprised he eventually he can equalize, but I'd be happy to pose some new problems for black to figure out.

13. Nd4 Ne5?

This one is definitely a mistake. Black had to play either Nf6 or Bd7. I had planned Nxc6 with Nd5 to follow on Bd7 but missed that black can just play O-O and there is only trouble for white after Nxd8? Bxa4 Nxf7?? (Nxa4) Bxc2 Ng5 Bd3 and black is winning a pawn and likely the game with his also now passed d-pawn.

14. f4 Ng4 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. Qxc6+ Kf7 17. f5 exf5 Black's king is ripped open and despite material equality there should be no hope to save the game, his king is stuck in the middle and will soon be at the mercy of my pieces. Unfortunately I played some inaccurate moves and gave black a chance.

18. Qd5+ Ke8 19. Qxf5 Nf6 20. Bg5 Rf8 21. Bxf6 Rxf6 22. Qxh7 Rxf1+ 23. Rxf1 Bf6 24. Qg6+? Kd7 25. Qf5+ Kc6 26. Qd5+ Kd7

This whole idea to move my queen was bunk as now he can play Kb7! safely and my intended Rf4 has no bite after Rb8 and black is defending (although he's still a pawn down).

Instead of Qg6+, Nd5 was a much better (and obvious) idea. I considered as well, but rejected it for reasons unknown. I think I couldn't see a forced win after Bxf6, but that's silly as I now see if nothing else white will win the bishop if the K ever tries to flee to b-file. He can't even get that far though, as Bxd4?? Qg8+ (apparently Qe4+ Be5 Nb4 is best for white but this is quite hard to see for a human I think, the point is now c6 is covered so white threatens Qg6+ Kd7 Qf5+ Ke8 Qf7# and it's impossible to stop without chucking heavy material) Kd7 Qf7+ Kc6 Ne7+ Kd7 Qf5+ Kxd7 Qf7# is a very pretty possible finish. 27. Ne4 Rb8 28. Nc5+ Ke8 29. Qg8+ 1-0

Qe6+ and Nd7+ follows winning the queen. Black only had to calculate well for 3 moves to obtain an at least even game, and on no move was it very deep. This is the kind of thing that led me away from e4 to d4 years ago, but I think as this game shows, I didn't do a whole lot better, I was just a little lucky she chose Ne5 and I definitely need some work here...

[Event "Bluenose Chess Club Championship"] [Site "Halifax, NS, Canada"] [Date "2007.03.03"] [Round "3"] [White "Wysocki, Anton"] [Black "Kenney, Jason"] [WhiteElo "2155"] [BlackElo "2193"] [Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5

I paused here and was so very tempted to play ...c5, however my goal to not play fluid pawn structures would clearly be a failure in that case, as a hedgehog is one of the most fluid you can get (perhaps a pure English opening is the most...).

4. e5 d4 5. exf6 dxc3 6. bxc3 Qxf6 7. Nf3 h6

I was aware that e5 d4 was possible in a line similar to this, I think there may be some other openings where a similar thing happens. I was also aware there was a trap in the opening where something like this happens and someone loses, so I was a little afraid it was the trap line I was playing into but it turns out I chose a theory line.

Here I realized white is likely going to push his d-pawn to at least d3, and my queen is happier on f6 than on d8, so I will need to play h6 to keep it there. I was not sure how he was going to develop the rest of his pieces so I thought I would play it immediately, and perhaps have the option to play g5?! and fianchetto my bishop as well. I also considered ...e5 and it looks pretty critical and sharp so I opted not to examine it as Anton was clearly familiar with white's position and I was not familiar with black's.

8. d4 c5

My old fritz has a game that went 7. ... c5 8. d4 h6 transposing, however playing c5 first seems odd to me as white is not obligated to play d4, and in the case he doesn't, c5 probably hurts black more than not playing d4 hurts white. In any case, I was very pleased with my position after c5, and after the game we couldn't find a plan that seemed acceptable for white. The above mentionned game may provide an answer though: it continued 9. Bd3 cxd 10. cxd Bb4+ 11. Kf1! an idea we had not considered. And indeed white quickly built up a threatening attack on black's castled king after Bb2 h4, g4, Rg1 and g5, making black wish he had not played h6 back when it seemed like a good idea. Perhaps black had better options earlier in that game, but the idea looks strong enough for me to take white's position on move 8.

9. Ba3 Be7 10. Bd3 Nc6 11. O-O?! cxd4

Well I thought, if I want to win, I must take this pawn as I didn't really believe white had enough for it.

12. Bxe7 Kxe7 13. Be4 dxc3 14. Qa4 Rd8

The computer is fool-hardy enough to want to play 14. ... Bd7 but after 15. Qa3+ Rac1 its next suggestion is g5 and quickly decides white is at least equal. Silly machine. I prefer to develop my pieces...

15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Qxc6 Bd7 17. Qc5+ Ke8

I thought I still had a little edge here as my pawn on c3 is worth quite a lot, and the pawn on c4 is a target. I was also happy with my bishop over the knight as I thought it was the better piece. As it turns out I could have continued to pose white very hard problems but didn't see through all the tactics well enough.

18. Rac1 Rac8 19. Qb4 Bc6?!

I think black is still a little preferable after Bc6, but a5! was a much better try. I had seen that Qxa5? Rxc4 was much better for black. I also believe I think I saw that Qxc3? Qxc3 Rxc3 Bb5 Rfc1 Rxc3! was possible due to the weak back rank and black has decent winning chances due to the B vs N situation. However I missed that white's other option , Qb3 allowed black to penetrate after a4! Qb4 Rb8! and Qxc3 Qxc3 Rxc3 Rb2 white is again going to be put under considerable pressure. eg. a3 Rb3! is now very strong. Perhaps it's better than the other line, but again black is the only one with winning chances I suspect.

20. Rxc3 Qf4

Trying to dominate the Nf3, while also targetting c4.

21. Qb1 Be4?

I was afraid of Qh7, and I assume Anton also thought it was a strong threat, but in reality Kf8 Qh7?? Be4! traps the queen after Qh8+ Ke7 Qxg7 Rg8. A case of double blindness perhaps? Qb5+ was the move I feared after Be4 and indeed it was probably an easy draw now for white.

22. Qc1? Qg4?

Black's last chance to play for a win was probably Qxc1 Rxc1 Bxf3 gxf (on Rxf3 there is Rxc3! again, whoops missed that) Rc5. I don't think I have any losing chances here, but I am not sure how significant my winning chances would be. Despite the broken pawns on the kingside, it's hard to see how to target them without allowing his rooks to penetrate. White's pawn is blockaded on his side of the board so I will have mobility along the 5th rank with which to work, but I don't know nearly enough about rook endgames to evaluate it accurately.

23. h3 Qh5 24. Re1 Bxf3 25. Rxf3 Rd4 26. Qa3 Qc5 27. Qa4+ Ke7 28. Ra3 Rc7 29. Rc1 g5 30. Rb3 Rd2 1/2-1/2

[Event "Bluenose Chess Club Championship"] [Site "Halifax, NS, Canada"] [Date "2007.03.04"] [Round "4"] [White "Wang, Shane"] [Black "Kenney, Jason"] [WhiteElo "2053"] [BlackElo "2193"] [Result "0-1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5

e6 is possible too, but would be a more fluid pawn structure...

7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 Nbd7 9. Qd2 b5 10. O-O-O Be7

I was a little concerned about what happens on 10. a4 here, but also was confident I was still following a well played line so I knew black had some way to handle it to at least get a slightly inferior position. It turns out Kasparov himself has even had the black position after 10. a4, and has made some significant contributions to the theory of the line. Want to know what they are? I will gladly play this opening again against any willing white takers. ;)

11. Qf2 Rc8 12. Kb1 Rxc3

The computer agrees with me that Rxc3 was strongest. Afterwards instead of 11. ... Rc8 I saw that ... Qb8 had been played before, and I was confused about the reason at first, but I believe it is now to be to play Bd8 to cover b6 enough to allow Nb6, while keeping the rook on a8 to support b4,a5,a4. The Bd8 would still follow on Nd5, which is somewhat odd as usually it is captured immediately in this line.

Now Nd5 has been prevented forever, and I can play d5, opening the position for my bishops. White doesn't really want to play exd as it lets my Nf6 into the game with great purpose, but not doing so might leave e4 subject to capture. c3 will also be very hard to hold onto, and white's king will need constant (and vigilant) defense. I felt I was at least equal here, and had no anxiety about the slight material difference as my position had much more quality.

13. bxc3 Qc7

My original intention was to play d5 immediately, but I noticed on that white might try Bc5 or Nc5. Those were perhaps not something to fear, but as I could play Qc7 to prevent it while also gaining time on c3 I felt it wasn't worth thinking over.

14. Kb2? d5

Kb2 was perhaps the losing move! After this black gets a serious advantage in firepower on the queenside and white has no idea to oppose it. In addition his king is in a worse position in that it is subject to checks from c3, a3 or a4. It is at this point that white has to think very carefully about how to proceed if he wants to maintain the balance.

15. Bd3 O-O

15. exd?! Nxd5 and c3 cannot be defended, eg. Qd2 Nxc3! Qxc3 Ba3+ or Bd2 Nb6 and now Na4 comes with serious problems for white

16. Qd2 Nb6

Anticipating Rc8, but now I can play Nb6 and his dark squares are weakened further. It may seem strange with the material disparity, but black's advantage here is of a completely static nature. There doesn't seem to be anything white can do to fight back, even given lots of time. Fritz's top 10(! I stopped there, could be more) choices for black all maintain the same evaluation. White's pieces just have nothing to do in this position at all.

17. Bxb6 Qxb6 18. Rhe1 Rc8 19. Bf1 b4!?

b4 doesn't spoil anything, but a simple preperatory move like h6 would have been excellent. I also considered the computer choice, dxe, however I didn't evaluate the resulting position as strongly as it does. White has clearly run out of ideas if he is playing a move like Bf1. So I definitely have time to stop here, and prepare for the final assault.

20. Qd3 bxc3+

I anticipated Qd3 as white's only move. It is actually a defensive move, to try to defend the a-file from behind, taking the a6 pawn is only incidental. However I wasn't sure how to proceed. I saw it was possible to play bxc3+ Kb1/a1 d4?! Qxa6 Qd8 with a probable decisive invasion to a3 and a2 after Ra8, however white seemed to be generating annoying counterplay against my pawn chain by hitting e5 and my queen after Qa5!. However the computer finds what I missed: Qxa5 Nxa5 Ra8 Nb3 Bxb3 cxb c2 Rc1 Bb4! with the double threat Bc3# and Bxe1. I am kind of mad I missed this possibility (and some more to come...) as it is completely forcing. I was right to dismiss this line as white has a better try which may hold in Nc4, but that is beside the point I suppose. I saw a very tempting option which I played, but maybe it was a little too tempting and I was excited about my earlier play so I did not calculate carefully or long enough to see everything I should have. Luckily I think Shane was kind of depressed about his position and might have not really tried to find a defense after Rc4 as it looks quite threatening and there is only one line to salvation.

The computer recommends what I agree must be the best move, Qc7. I didn't even notice this move was possible! But it prevents Qxa6 as Qxc3 and Qxc2 follows. It also defends a5 so pushing the a-pawn to dislodge the knight is now possible. Rc6 is very similar and I considered it, but I thought I was winning after Rc4, albeit I now had concern that I might have miscalculated as I was aware I hadn't been very thorough, but I guess I couldn't contain my excitement any longer...

21. Ka1 Rc4?? 22. exd5 Ra4 23. Rb1?? Nxd5

White had one line which actually turns the game around, dxe6 Qb4 Qd8+ Bf8 e7! This is the move I missed, it interupts my cover of the a3 square, so now while Rxa2+ Kxa2 Qa4+ Kb1 Qa3 would mate the next move, unfortunately it is white's move and he comes first with Qxf8# I hope you can see how useful h6 might have been to spend a move on before!

It was also possible to try dxe6 Qb4 Kb1!? As I apparently did not calculate Rxa2 Qd8+ Bf8 exf7+ carefully enough either, I thought after Kxf7 my king would just go to g6 and I would mate, but white has the simple Rd7+ Kg6 Bd3+ Kh6 Kc1 and his king runs away, although instead of Kc1, Qxf6+ is even nicer... gxf Rxh7+ Kg5 h4+ forces me to return my queen and end up a piece down.

Amazingly enough, after the calm fxe white AGAIN has one line only, with a queen sacrifice as a means of winning black's queen and staying up material after Qc4! Qa3 Qxe6+ Kh8! (Kf8 is worse as white gets to play Bc4+ and Bd3+ with tempo) Qc8+ Kf7/Bf8/Ng8 Qxc3 Ba3+ Kd2 Bb4 Qxb4! Rxb4 Ra1 Qb2 Reb1 and black's queen is trapped, he has to start shedding with: Rd4+ Bd3 Rxd3+ Kxd3 e5+ fxe Qe5 and white should probably now win as he'll pick off the a-pawn and have his c-pawn to push home. Black might be able to whip up some counterplay with his knight but it will be a desperate fight to draw.

24. Nc1 Nb4 25. Qe4 Bd5 0-1

I wanted to play Rxa2+ to finish in style (and the computer tells me Bxa2 was by far stronger), but had one scare after Rc4 and that was enough, even though at the time I had no idea just how scared I should have been!

[Event "Bluenose Chess Club Championship"] [Site "Halifax, NS, Canada"] [Date "2007.03.07"] [Round "5"] [White "Kenney, Jason"] [Black " Ferreira, Paulo"] [WhiteElo "2193"] [BlackElo "1780"] [Result "1-0"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. Bd2 c6 8. Bc4 Qc7

I don't think black has time for this luxury. Afterwards he said he was concerned about Nd5 Qb8 Nxf6+, but this kind of pawn structure isn't something to necessarily fear.

9. g4 Bg6 10. Qe2 Bxc2 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7

I thought black was in trouble even if he didn't take on c2, eg. Nd7 Ne5 e6 h4 and he has to stop h5, but playing it or h6 himself allows Nxg6, and Nxe5 loses a tempo after dxe hitting the Nf6. If he tries Nxe5 first, then dxe hits the Nf6 and e6! follows. But the computer lets me know that Nd7 Ne5 e6 h4 Nxe5 dxe Nfd7 h5 Bxc2 Rc1 b5! is ok for black. Instead of h4 I also knew I had O-O-O as an option and might have chose that had it been necessary for me to look deeper...

12. Ne5+ Ke8 13. Bf4 Qa5?

Black was in trouble and clearly didn't see Bf4 prevents the B from retreating to Bg6, but this move just gives up completely. At least Qb6 or Qd8 hit d4...

14. Qxc2 Nd5 15. Bd2 Nxc3

I saw 15. Qf5 was possible and it seemed like the right move to me, but I couldn't quite make it work. The computer makes it work pretty quick of course... I saw there could be pretty variations with something like Nxc3 bxc! Qxc3+ and because of Qc8# The black queen is limited in her mobility. eg. Qxc3+ Ke2 Qa5 Qc8+ Qd8 Qxb7 and now after Qxd4 the computer finds the incredibly weird looking Rhg1, which makes sense upon seeing, but it is clearly a "computer move" is there ever was one. The idea is to prepare Rad1 or Qxa8 while allowing white to play Kf1 on Qe4+ without dropping the rook on h1, yet still preventing Qh1+ after say the more immediately obvious Rhd1!? instead. Note the Bf4 is still untouchable due to the mate on c8.

I think the key point I missed was Nxf4 Qf7+! Kd8 Qxf4 gains all kinds of time for white due to the knight fork. Kc8 Qf5+ Kc7 Rc1 leaves him seriously tied up, the Nb8 has no moves, and with it the Ra8 is trapped. Something very nasty is also about to happen on the c-file.

I only considered Qc8+ and Qxb7 seriously. White must still be winning there too, but it didn't seem any easier than something more mundane. Black ends his misery quickly by going pawn grabbing.

16. bxc3 Qd5 17. O-O Nd7 18. Rfe1 Nxe5 19. Rxe5 Qf3 20. Rae1 Qxh3 21. Qe4 1-0

Black has only one move to save his queen, but in that case his king is dethroned swiftly with Rxe7+.