GEOFF MCKENNA - PHIL COLLIER
DC CHESS LEAGUE 2001
SEMI SLAV
Notes by Geoff McKenna
(After the game against Krush (US Amateur Team - see page xx) I had an opportunity to put my rating where my mouth was. I think that the opening somewhat vindicated my opinion about the 8th move but the subsequent course of the game wasn't so propitious. Here's what happened:) 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 c4 d5 4 Nc3 c6 5 e3 Nbd7 6 Qc2 Bd6 7 Bd3 0-0 8 cxd5!? exd5! 9 Bd2 (Here I had two thoughts: (1) White's position is better than in the Krush game; (2) Given the wimpy placement of the White QB, why not play a normal QGD Exchange variation instead? On the other hand, Reshevsky, who understood the QGD about as well as anybody, actually played in the dull.) 9...Re8 10 0-0 (White plays to avoid drama. It was still possible to go for something like g4, Rg1, or O-O-O, but given the placement of my QB I had little confidence in any of these lines.) 10...Nf8 11 h3 Ne6 12 a3 a5 (I suspect this is a mistake, as it weakens b5) 13 Na4 g6 14 b4 axb4 15 axb4 Ng7 (Black proceeds with the normal Stahlberg plan against the exchange QGD. It seems like a bit of a concession to let White get in b5 without a fight.) 16 b5 Ne4 17 Nc3 Bf5 18 Rxa8 Qxa8 19 Nh4?! Nxd2 20 Nxf5? Nxf5? (Black should call White's bluff with 20...Nxf1, eg, 21 Nxd6 Nxe3 22 fxe3 Rd8 and the knight is trapped on d6. I had hallucinated that after 23 Nxb7 Qxb7 24 bxc6 the Queen on c2 defended the pawn on c6 but there is an intervening knight.) 21 Qxd2 Ne7 22 Qb2?! (White has emerged from the opening with an advantage that is both tiny and psychologically dangerous - to himself. In a bid to exploit Black's queenside pawn weaknesses White now systematically denudes his own king. As Tarrasch would say, after the opening the Gods have placed the rest of the game.) 22...Qc8 23 Rc1 Qe6 24 Nb1?! f5! (Very energetic; White should probably try 25 Qd2 now but this would involve an admission of error in the knight placement, so...) 25 Qe2?! f4 26 bxc6? Nxc6! (Winning material. After the game Phil said this was the point at which he believed himself to be winning. I agree. Instead of 26 bc White could try either 26 Qg4 or 26 ef achieving an inferior position with reasonable practical chances in either case.) 27 Rxc6 (A little baroque but I didn't want to face ...Nd4)
27...bxc6 28 e4 Qd7?! (I think 28...f3 is more energetic, quickly breaking up the White Kingside position. Naturally Black avoids the loss of his queen after 28...de 29. Bc4) 29 Nd2 Bb4?! 30 Nf3 dxe4 31 Bxe4 Kg7 32 Qc2 Rc8 (The game has become a bit messy again. Now 33 h4 and 33 Qb2 both have their points.) 33 Qc4 Bd6 34 h4 h6 35 Qc2 Qe8 36 h5 gxh5 37 Nh4 Kh8 38 Bg6 Qe1+ 39 Kh2 f3+ 40 g3 Qe2! (Nice move. I was pleasantly surprised not to get mated during the time scramble although as far as I could tell we were both playing good moves.) 41 Kh3 Be7 42 Qf5 (Natural but unreasonable. A better try is 42 Bd3 to encourage a Queen swap. After 42...Qxc2 43 Bxc2 Bxh4 44 gxh4 (and not 44 Kxh4 Re8 î Re2) Black is winning but it will require some patience as the c6, f3 and h5 pawns are all vulnerable. After the text White gets a concussion.) 42...Qf1+ 43 Kh2 Qxf2+ 44 Kh3 Qf1+ 45 Kh2 Qe2+! (It's good to centralize the queen before otherwise defending the king.) 46 Kh3 Rf8 47 Qxh5 Bg5 48 Bf5 Rf6 49 Ng6+ Kg7 50 Ne5 Qf1+ 51 Kg4 f2 52 Qe8 Qe2+ 0-1
JOHN MCNERNEY - JOHN CAMPBELL
ARLINGTON SENIORS CHESS CLUB
CENTER COUNTER
Notes by Ralph Belter
(We have recently published several losses by John Campbell. This may be a compliment in disguise. John is such a strong player that when he does lose a game it is newsworthy. Anyway to help set the record straight, here is a more typical Campbell game - one in which he wins with a nice attack.) 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Nf6 3 Nc3 e6 4 Bc4 (This just loses time. 4 d4 and development was correct. [4 dxe6 ± -ed]) 4...exd5 5 Qe2+ (Now the queen and king are in a dangerous line. 5 Bb3 was relatively best.) 5...Be7 6 Bb3 0-0 7 Nf3 Re8 8 0-0 Bd6 9 Qd3 (Has anybody asked the queen's bishop what it thinks of this development plan?) 9...c6 10 Ne2 Na6 11 c4 Nc5 (White's terrible opening now costs him a piece since the queen must move away.) 12 Qb1 Rxe2 13 cxd5 Nxb3 14 axb3 Nxd5 15 d4 h6 16 Qd3 Qe7 17 Be3 Rxb2 18 Rfe1 Be6 19 Bc1 Nb4 20 Qe4 Rxb3 21 Bd2 Nd5 22 Qc2 Rb5 23 Ne5 Qh4 24 Re4 Qd8 25 Rae1 Nf6 26 Rh4 Bxe5 27 dxe5 Ng4 28 g3 Rxe5 29 Rd1 Qb6 30 Bc3 Bb3 31 Qd3 Qxf2+ 32 Kh1 Bd5+ 0-1 (Of course 32...Bxd1 also won. As for the move actually played, a cute finish would be 32...Bd5 33 Qxd5 cxd5 34 Rxg4 Qf3 forking White's whole army. Nicely played John!)
Frank Huber provides another game from the Michael Rohde simultaneous exhibition at the Millennium Festival. Frank was one of three players who managed to draw with the grandmaster.
FRANK HUBER - MICHAEL ROHDE
SIMULTANEOUS EXHIBITION 2001
QUEEN'S INDIAN
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 e3 c5 4 b3 b6 5 Bb2 Bb7 6 Bd3 Be7 7 Nbd2 0-0 8 0-0 cxd4 9 exd4 d6 10 c4 Nbd7 11 Qc2 Rc8 12 Rfe1 Re8 13 Ne4 Nxe4 14 Bxe4 Bxe4 15 Rxe4 d5 16 Rg4 Nf6 17 Rg3 Ne4 18 Rh3 Bf6 19 Ne5 h6 20 Qe2 Ng5 21 Rg3 Qc7 22 Rc1 Qb7 23 Ng4 Qe7
24 Nxh6+ gxh6 25 h4 Kh7 26 hxg5 Bxg5 27 Rcc3 Qf6 28 Rcf3 Qg6 29 Bc1 f6 30 Bxg5 hxg5 31 Rh3+ Kg7 32 Rh1 Qb1+ 33 Kh2 Rh8+ 34 Rh3 Qf5 35 g4 Rxh3+ 36 Kxh3 Qe4 37 Qxe4 dxe4 38 Rc1 f5 39 gxf5 exf5 40 d5 Kf6 41 Rd1 f4 42 d6 e3 43 fxe3 fxe3 44 d7 Rd8 45 Kg3 e2 46 Re1 Rxd7 47 Rxe2 Rd3+ 48 Kg4 Rd4+ Draw