2017-01-17 - Bennett, Dominic 0-1 Ruano Marco, Javier
[Event "Clifton B v Downend B"]
[Site "Town House, Whiteladies Road"]
[Date "2017.01.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Bennett, Dominic"]
[Black "Ruano Marco, Javier"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[Annotator "Tyson,Mordue"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2017.01.17"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 {The Trompowsky Attack, also known as the Opocenský Opening.
It's a popular system these days and is chosen particularly by White players
who wish to avoid the King's Indian Defence amongst other asymmetric openings.
Indeed if Black is of an asymmetric mind here then he could play 2...c5 or
consult a mental health specialist.} e6 {A classical choice enabling Black to
recapture with his Queen and avoid doubled Pawns on f6. There's nothing wrong
with this, but one of the most well-known games in this line is Korchnoi vs
Karpov, Hastings 1971-2. Korchnoi chose to play an early e2-e4 and take the
central space which the text permits. Here Dominic declines the invitation and
continues more modestly.} 3. Nd2 d5 4. e3 Be7 5. Bd3 Nbd7 6. c3 e5 $5 {When I
consulted the openings database there were 38 games with the position after
White's 6th move. I was surprised to find that this was the most popular
choice, ahead of more natural alternatives such as 6...c5, 6...0-0 and 6...b6.
I am not an expert on the Trompowsky by any means, but although Black loses a
tempo by playing ...e7-e6 and then ...e6-e5, one should regard White's extra
move as the modest c2-c3. Indeed it could be observed that after the text
White is playing a reversed Caro-Kann, and that's not an opening choice that
scares people. I only know of three players who actually made a success of
playing that particular opening as Black, and they were Botvinnik, Petrosian,
and Karpov, all world champions. None of these played in the Bristol League.
What I'm saying in a roundabout fashion is that the text impresses me. Black
deliberately changes the Pawn structure in the very opening in an attempt to
unsettle White.} 7. Ne2 {This equally modest move is apparently the main line
here. Obviously 7. Ngf3?? is a blunder losing a piece after 7...e4, while
first playing 7. dxe5 allows 7...Nxe5 attacking the undefended Bishop on d3.
White doesn't want to surrender Bishop for Knight in an open position so the
move 8. Bc2 seems to be the only move that is not a concession. Nevertheless
Black looks okay here, but to my mind he looks even better after the text even
if it is the most popular move!} O-O 8. Bc2 $6 {I presume that this is a case
of going before he's pushed, and by that I mean retreating to c2 before being
attacked by the advance ...e5-e4. But if that was a worry then why not castle
first and retreat later? For definite this move is not on the openings
database.} Re8 9. O-O $2 Ng4 $5 {There are other moves for Black here, but it
seems that Javier is already trying to provoke a crisis.} 10. Bxe7 Qxe7 11. c4
$2 {Not only is this a tactical oversight, but it's also the wrong approach to
the position. Given that White has Knights on d2 and e2 then he should be
aspiring to put them on d4 and e4 squares, which Black currently has no
control of with minor pieces. So the right way to play this is 11. e4, hoping
that all the four centre Pawns get eliminated and the White Knights get to
their optimum squares. There is a game Walther vs Tal, Munich Olympiad 1958.
Against Tal's Sicilian Defence Walther played a very slow system involving Ne2
and Nd2. In the post-mortem Walther remarked that he was concerned that he
might have to play Ne2-c3 and Nd2-f3 thus losing two whole tempi on the usual
Sicilian lines. He didn't, but Tal still won brilliantly! I wonder if Dominic
was worried about the same scenario. What happens here is that Javier declines
the immediate tactical refutation of the text move, but then gets a second
chance.} Ndf6 $5 {This is an intriguing position. Black stands well and he has
an obvious continuation with 11...exd4. White needs to recapture and it can't
be 12. exd4?? because of 12...Qxe2 winning a piece. Note that after 13. Re1
Qxd1 White can't play 14. Rxe8+ winning material because that Rook is pinned
laterally to his King. Hence after 11...exd4 White has to play 12. Nxd4. This
permits the simple combination 12...Nxe3 13. fxe3 (here 13. Re1 Nxd1 14. Rxe7
Rxe7 is costing White an Exchange.) 13...Qxe3+ 14. Kh1 Qxd4 and Black is two
Pawns up. However, White has a counter combination with 15. Bxh7+. Now if 15...
Kxh7?? 16. Qh5+ Kg8 17. Qxf7+ Kh7 18. Qh5+! Kg8 and only now 19. Qxe8 with
check and Black has lost an Exchange and had his Kingside torn apart. But
Black doesn't have to take the Bishop. Instead with the trivial 15...Kf8 he
maintains one extra Pawn and an advantage. I'm fairly confident that Javier
didn't miss this continuation, but he may seen far enough ahead and been
reluctant to give White the chance to disrupt his own King position with 15.
Bxh7+. Two Pawns up is very nice, but one Pawn up when the opponent has
counterplay is not so good. The text move rules out White's Bxh7+ tactic, and
it improves the position of the hinder Knight while opening up the Bishop. It
also keeps the above combination alive if White doesn't spot it.} 12. h3 $2 {
It's a Pawn to Rook Three, and it's not a good one. This allows Black to
execute the combination that he could have played a move earlier, but with an
improved position. It doesn't matter too much that Black has a Knight en prise
on g4 because there's another one ready to replace it. Instead of the text
White would do better to play either 12. Nc3 or 12. Ng3. I prefer the former
even if it is half of Walther's worry outlined in a previous note.} exd4 $1 {
This must have come as a shock to White, but it seems likely that he missed
the same combination a move previously. The first point is that 13. exd4 Qxe2
14. hxg4 Bxg4 and Black has won a Pawn. Secondly 13. Nxd4 Nxe3 14. fxe3 Qxe3+
15. Kh1 Qxd4 definitely leaves White two Pawns down for nothing. I'll make the
point here that if White had chosen the correct 11. e4, then none of this
would be happening because the primary target of Black's combination wouldn't
be on e3 any more. So the only choice White has here is to take the Knight on
g4, but as noted above there's another one ready to replace it!} 13. hxg4 dxe3
{The basic problem here is that the d2 Knight is en prise. If White tries 14.
fxe3 Qxe3+ and the Knight on e2 is attacked twice, hence White has to play 15.
Rf2 but then 15...Nxg4 attacks the pinned Rook. After 16. Qe1 Nxf2 17. Qxf2
Qxe2 anyway. If White tries a counterattack with 14. g5 Black can play either
14...Ng4 or 14...exf2+ and they will probably come to the same thing. That
leaves moving the d2-Knight. The only alternative to what Dominic plays seems
to be 14. Nb3, with the difference that a future ...d5xc4 attacks this Knight
and may gain a tempo. While this may not seem significant what is important is
that Black will have taken five White Pawns along the way. Even if White gets
two pieces for a Rook the material disparity is going to be too much.} 14. Nf3
exf2+ 15. Rxf2 {Instead 15. Kxf2 Nxg4+ 16. Ke1 Ne3 is even worse.} Nxg4 {
So Black has three Pawns for his piece and the attacked Rook can't move
because it would leave the e2-Knight en prise. Dominic tries a counterattack.}
16. Qd3 {An alternative is 16. cxd5, but after 16...Nxf2 17. Kxf2 Qe3+ 18. Kf1
Bg4 19. Ned4 Rad8 20. Bb3 c5! 21. Nc2 (Opening more lines with 21. dxc6 bxc6
will be disastrous.) 21...Qe4! threatening 22...c4 and 23... Rxd5 Black has a
material plus and a huge initiative. A better try might be 16. Qd2 Nxf2 17.
Kxf2 dxc4 18. Rh1, and Black has to work out whether he can risk 18...g6 19.
Qh6 Qxe2+ 20. Kg3 Qxc2 21. Qxh7+ Kf8, or just play the simple 18... h6. Worth
analysing.} g6 {And now Black has the useful move 17...Bf5, so White's forcing
move does not have as much value as Black's forced reply.} 17. Bd1 $2 {This
guards the e2-Knight so that the White Queen is not tied to its defence after .
..Nxf2, Kxf2. However, the Bishop does nothing constructive and blocks in the
Rook. The engine's suggested alternative is Walther's nightmare with 17. Nc3.
After 17...Nxf2 18. Kxf2 Qc5+ 19. Qd4 Qxc4 20. Qxc4 dxc4 21. Nd5 Rd8 22. Nxc7
Rb8 Black has Rook and three Pawns for two Knights. He is still winning but
White has practical chances because Black might fall into a fork.} Bf5 18. Qc3
Nxf2 19. Kxf2 dxc4 20. Qxc4 $2 {This is the final error which puts the result
beyond doubt. Dominic is trying to reduce the Pawn count, but with the neat
continuation Javier reduces the piece count until he's merely three Pawns up
in a Rook ending. The alternatives are just to play 20. Nf4 or 20. Ned4, but
Black is clearly better in the absence of any White co-ordination with his
minor pieces.} Qe3+ 21. Ke1 Bd3 22. Qd4 Bxe2 $1 {Accurately calculated. The
flashy 22... Qxe2+ 23. Bxe2 Rxe2+ gets nowhere after either 24. Kf1 or 24. Kd1.
} 23. Qxe3 Bxf3 {A very nice touch. Black recovers the two pieces for a the
Rook because of the newly-created pin on the e-file. The recapture on e8 is
with check so White has no time to take the Black Bishop.} 24. Qxe8+ Rxe8+ 25.
Kf2 Bxd1 26. Rxd1 Re7 {Ensuring that White doesn't get to the seventh rank.
Dominic could resign here, but he was probably in his usual time-trouble and
carrying on through inertia.} 27. b4 Kg7 28. Rd8 h5 29. Ra8 a6 30. Ra7 c6 31.
a4 Kf6 32. b5 cxb5 33. axb5 axb5 34. Ra5 Ke5 35. Rxb5+ Kd4 36. Rb6 Kc5 37. Rf6
{I don't know if this was a loss on time or a resignation without waiting for
the opponent's move. Either way 37...b5 and this Pawn will be ushered home by
the Black King to win the White Rook.} 0-1
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