The Montreal Open was held at Brebeuf College over the weekend, and GM Bator Sambuev, fresh off his trip to the World Cup, was once again victorious. The game chosen for this week's GOTW, however, is between third-place finisher Joey Qin and Arkady Khashper. The 60-move game featured a theoretical opening leading to an early endgame in which White eventually broke through. This one is educational!
[Event "Montreal op"]
[Site "Montreal CAN"]
[Date "2013.09.07"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Qin, Zi Yi (Joey)"]
[Black "Khashper, Arkady"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C06"]
[WhiteElo "2333"]
[BlackElo "2134"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "119"]
[EventDate "2013.09.06"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "CAN"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 {The second French Tarrasch we've seen in GOTW
recently. This one goes a much different route, however.} Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3
c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 f6 {We're following the main line here} 9.
exf6 Nxf6 10. Nf3 Bd6 11. O-O O-O (11... Qc7 {is the alternative. I question
whether Black's queen should be on the half-open c-file as that is where
White's rook will soon be located.}) 12. Bf4 {The main idea. Black's bishop is
strong on d6, so it is natural that White wants to neutralize it. Because the
idea makes so much sense, we head towards very theoretical variations.} Bxf4
13. Nxf4 Ne4 14. Qc1 (14. Ne2 {is also played. Black should be equal in this
position due to his pressure on the f-file.}) 14... Ng5 {As the lower rated
player, Black is simplifying into an equal position. Houdini tells me that
Black will end up with equality, but the coming endgame looks favourable for
White.} 15. Nxg5 Qxg5 16. Bxh7+ {A bit shocking at first if you've never seen
the idea, but it's all been played dozens of times before.} Kxh7 17. Nxe6 Qf6 (
17... Qxc1 18. Nxf8+ Kg8 19. Raxc1 Kxf8 20. Rfe1 Bf5 $13 {in practice, White
scores well}) 18. Nxf8+ Qxf8 19. Qg5 Qf5 20. Qh4+ {Although the sample size is
small, (8 games), white scores 69% from this position.} Kg8 21. Rae1 {As
played by Tiviakov, Dvoirys, Maslak...} Bd7 22. Re3 {The rook is very mobile
along the third rank} Qg4 {Black decides that a queen trade is on order.} 23.
Qxg4 Bxg4 24. f3 Bh5 {Possibly Black's first small mistake. ...Bd7 is perhaps
a better square} 25. Kf2 Re8 $2 {Not the right idea. Black should retain a
rook in order to hold the position.} 26. Rc1 (26. g4 Bg6 27. Rxe8+ Bxe8 28. Ke3
{is how I would have played it. I would guess that Black's chances of survival
here are quite slim.} Nb4 29. Rc1 Nxa2 30. Ra1 Nb4 31. Rxa7 Bc6 32. Ra8+ Kf7
33. Kd2 {and White's 3-1 pawn advantage on the kingside should tell}) 26... Kf8
27. Rxe8+ Kxe8 28. Ke3 Kd7 29. a3 {An unecessary weakening move. It gives
Black's knight options such as b3 or c4. Joey should have at least waited
until Black played ...Nb4 to waste a tempo on a3} (29. h4) 29... Na5 30. Kd3 $1
{correctly realizing where his King should be, i.e. the queenside} Nc4 31. Kc3
Ne3 32. g4 Bf7 33. Rg1 $1 {Strong prophylaxis. An instinctive move may have
been Re1, but then Black's knight can reach f4 via g2} Nc4 34. h4 Nd6 35. h5
Bg8 36. Re1 {finally taking control of the e-file.} Nf7 (36... Be6 {probably
the best chance} 37. Rh1 Nf7 38. Kd2 {and the White king and rook will trade
places again shortly - by that I mean that white's king goes to the kingside
and the rook will go to the c-file. Black cannot defend both sides of the board
}) 37. Kd3 Bh7+ 38. Ke3 Nd8 39. Kf4 $6 (39. Rh1 $1 {forces Black into passivity
} Nf7 40. Kf4 $18) 39... Nc6 40. Rd1 Ke6 41. Kg5 Bc2 42. Rd2 Bb1 43. f4 Be4 44.
f5+ Kf7 45. Rd1 Bc2 46. Rd2 Be4 47. Kf4 Kf6 48. Rd1 {White has made his task a
slightly longer process, but there will be no problem converting the full point
} Kf7 49. Rc1 Kf6 50. b4 (50. g5+ Kf7 51. b4 a6 52. Rc5 Kf8 53. a4 {and
there's no stopping the rook from infiltrating}) 50... Bd3 51. Rc5 Bc4 52. g5+
Kf7 53. b5 Nxd4 54. Rc7+ Kf8 55. Rc8+ Kf7 56. g6+ Ke7 57. h6 gxh6 58. g7 Ne2+
59. Ke5 d4 60. f6+ {A clean win that demonstrates it is not always a good idea
to follow theory and past grandmaster games. The position after 20 moves or so
was already difficult for Black. His big mistake, though, was trading rooks on
e8. Without that, the position is playable.} 1-0
