1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8. Be3 Qa5 So here we are again, another Grunfeld Exchange. After my game with Jim, I checked my book to see what was suggested, and my (super old) Rowson book suggests Qa5 in this line. The move for white here is, of course Qd2. Chris' move doesn't seem right - the Queen no longer supports the center and doesn't perform very well on b3. Of course, I take the opportunity to wreck his pawns.
9. Qb3 O-O 10. Bc4 cxd4 Bxf7 is not really threatened, simply dxe3 wins material.
11. Bxd4 Nc6 And so white has a big choice: he can trade dark colored bishops and accept an inferior endgame with a very weak c-pawn, or he can repair his pawns at the cost of giving up his dark colored bishop and allowing a pawn majority for black on the queenside. I think optically the first option is worse but may objectively be better! Notice as the game progresses, white never has a single opportunity to advance his center pawns due to the pressure of the Bg7. In effect, black is actually just playing a pawn up!
12. O-O Nxd4 13. cxd4 Rb8 14. Rab1 Bd7 15. Qb4 Qxb4 Chris mistakingly thinks trading queens will ease in defense. It's actually the opposite - play becomes simple for black now. I think he believed he was holding up my queenside pawns with pressure on the b-file, but the tactics are in black's favor and I can play it regardless.
16. Rxb4 b5! 17. Rfb1 Rb6 I didn't consider Rfc8 much, but the computer considers it superior to my choice. There is a new idea there - the weak back rank. After Rb6 Bxb5?? Rfb8 the pin turns on white and he loses at least the exchange.
18. Be2 a5 19. R4b3 Rfb8 20. Rc1 b4 My pawns are rolling, white's have yet to move, and there's no sign of when they might: pushing d5 is only helping black by opening up his bishop.
21. Rc7 R8b7 22. Rc5 a4 23. Rb1 b3 And here I took a very long think, almost an hour! I wasn't exactly sure how to break through. There are many options: I can play Rc6 and exchange a rook, I can try to open the long diagonal by going after the a2 pawn wit Be6, I can play Bg4 with similar ideas, I can play a3 as a preperatory move to b3, or I can play the obvious breakthrough with b3. And in the last case, if I play b3, on axb, I again have three options: push past with a3, retake with the pawn, or retake with the rook! This is an excellent position to test yourself, there is nothing too crazy happening, but you need to think clearly and keep a lot of things straight. Some sample lines: Be6 d5 Bd7 e5 g5! h3 h5 looks pretty good for black, I don't he can hold e5. So instead, Be6 Bc4 looks likely forced, but then after Bxc4 Rxc4 it's again not obvious how to continue, black probably wins here too, but more to calculate, and maybe another line is simpler, let's move on: Rc6 Rb5 Rc1+! Rxc1 Bxb5 Bxb5 Rxb5 looks similar to the last line after Be6 Bxc4, only there is one less pair of rooks - this is likely in black's favor, so let's consider it a better version of the first line. Still no clear breakthrough though, I can obviously push b3 and get a pawn to b2, but can the rook and knight blockade successfully? My intuition says no, but my calculation powers aren't sufficient to say. b3 axb a3 Ra3 Rxb3 Rxb3 Rxb3 doesn't seem right - white is behind the pawn and my rook is stuck guarding it laterally, maybe white can just play Bf1 to remove the back rank threat and threaten his own with Nd2?! Cross it off the list. b3 axb axb Nd2?! looks messy, there are some tricks here and I have faith in black to be better, but why get involved in this mess if there is simpler? Pass for now, but we'll revisit later if required b3 axb Rxb3 This feels best so far - my pawn remains guarded by the bishop, and a rook pawn is harder for a knight to deal with. If white doesn't exchange, I can force it with Rb1 anyway, probably better just to do it right away: Rxb3. Now Rxb3 keeps the rook pawn and allows my rook to operate on the b-file. Still no obvious breakthrough, but no dirty tricks to worry about, and I seem more active than in the other lines. And what on Rxb3 axb: the pawn is now really close to queening, and the Rc5 isn't helping at all: only two choices here, Rc1 and Bd3, this also looks very dangerous for white, so it seems clear b3 is the move. We can decide later after we know what he does. Play it and move on!
24. axb3 Rxb3 25. Ra1 Rb1+ A surprise! Well I could go Rxf3 and Bxd4 here, which I considered during the game, but decided on another continuation, I just didn't have as good a feeling about it, I felt like I'd want to keep that bishop to help control the queening square!
26. Rc1 Rxc1+ 27. Rxc1 Rb4 Another position with lots to consider. Again, g5 is possible, and also now Rb2 and a3; or vice versa - they will transpose likely. I found another quiet move, I'm perhaps too fond of those, but it was too juicy to resist: can I just attack the d4 pawn directly as white has no way to defend it?! Well he could go h3 and just let me have it, but if that was my goal, then why reject Rxf3 - surely that's better to mess up his pawns more. Some not so clear thinking, heh. :)
28. Bc4?? Bh6 Whoops, well I guess that bishop did come in handy after all.
29. Rc2 Rb1+ 30. Bf1 Bb5 31. Nd2 Bxd2 0-1
[J. Kenney]
