Please welcome FM Louie Jiang as a new contributor to this column. Starting this week, Louie and I will be annotating games in alternate weeks. The game he chose to analyze this week is from a weekly event held in Montreal. It features an interesting Modern Benoni which leads to exciting play from both players.
[Event "Mercredi XLV Section A"]
[Site "Montreal"]
[Date "2013.04.05"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Levkovsky, Alexandre"]
[Black "Chiku-Ratte, Olivier-Kenta"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A61"]
[WhiteElo "2252"]
[BlackElo "2219"]
[Annotator "Jiang, Louie"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "2013.04.03"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. Bf4 a6 8. a4
Bg7 9. h3 O-O 10. e3 Re8 11. Be2 Ne4 12. Nxe4 Rxe4 {An interesting alternative
to Nd2, which is the move recorded in the database. It seems more natural and
is definitely a valid, if not the best, alternative.} 13. Ra2 $146 (13. Nd2 Rb4
14. Nc4 {with the idea of regaining the d6 pawn seems to be good} Bxb2 15. Rb1
Bc3+ 16. Kf1 b5 $15 {but black is fine, despite his seemingly underdeveloped
pieces.}) 13... Rb4 14. b3 Nd7 {A completely natural move to the human eye,
which seems to be acceptable, whereas the computer suggests} (14... Bc3+ {A
completely bizarre move, since white wants to go Nd2 eventually anyway.} 15.
Nd2 Bxd2+ {?? It's suicidal at first glance, since black trades not only his
powerful dark square bishop, but also his sole developed piece.} 16. Rxd2 b5 $1
$11 {at which point the computer gives equality, while I feel black should be
completely lost. Black's queenside pawn majority should not be sufficient
compensation for the weak dark squares around his king, and white has 2
bishops to boot. But, after playing around with the position, things are not
so clear.}) (14... Qe7 15. O-O Nd7 $13 {Perhaps a more reasonable attempt at
continuing play without conceding anything. Black will break with b5, and put
pressure on the queenside. White will try to exploit the misplaced rook on b4
and reposition his pieces.}) 15. Bxd6 $14 {However, now white emerges with a
clear plus. Not enough to fully relax, as Black still has lots of play.} Qb6
16. Be7 Bf6 $2 {A mistake that white fails to exploit.} (16... Bc3+ 17. Nd2
Bxd2+ 18. Qxd2 Re4 19. d6 Qxb3 20. a5 Qb4 21. Bf3 Qxd2+ 22. Kxd2 Rb4 $14 {with
a tough defense in a difficult situation may have been Black's only choice.})
17. Bxf6 $2 {Missing a completely dominating position after} (17. a5 $1 Qa7 (
17... Qc7 18. d6 Qc6 19. Bc4 $18 {Black is completely paralyzed. Any further
attempts to free himself will result in further material loss.}) 18. d6 Bc3+
19. Nd2 b5 20. axb6 Nxb6 21. Rc2 Bxd2+ 22. Qxd2 $18 {Crushing position, white
only needs a little finesse to convert the point from here.}) 17... Nxf6 18.
Bc4 Bf5 19. Ne5 $6 {While this does not lose white his advantage, it does
reduce it by a fair bit. a5! with a complete bind should have been played. The
knight is also slightly misplaced on e5.} Rd8 $6 (19... Ne4 $5 20. a5 Qf6 21.
Qa1 Nd6 {puts up a stubborn fortress that makes white's job a lot harder.}) 20.
O-O Be4 $2 {Black missed that the d5 pawn is untouchable and white could have
ended the game immediately with} 21. a5 $2 {a logical move whose only demerit
was that f3 won quicker.} (21. f3 $1 Bxd5 (21... Bf5 22. e4 Bd7 23. Nd3 $18 {
decisive material advantage.}) 22. Rd2 Qe6 23. Ng4 Nxg4 24. fxg4 Qxe3+ 25. Rff2
$18 {also decisive material advantage.}) 21... Qc7 22. Ng4 Nxg4 23. hxg4 g5 {
A necessary evil, since white is threatening g5 and a future doubling on the
h-file.} 24. f3 $18 {Black is struggling, down material and faced with a
position where he has nothing he can do.} Bg6 25. Qa1 {Excellent move, taking
the long diagonal.} Qd6 26. Kf2 (26. f4 {recommended by the computer, but
really there is no point in opening up the position. White's choice is
perfectly solid.}) 26... Re8 27. Qc3 Re5 28. g3 f6 29. e4 {Locking out black's
bishop and any f5 breaks.} Re8 30. Rc1 Rc8 31. Qe3 Bf7 32. Re2 Qc7 33. Ra2 Qd6
34. Rd2 {White is patient and does not mind wasting some time to get his
pieces where they belong - the c-file.} Kf8 35. Qc3 Kg7 36. Be2 {Targets the
c5 pawn.} Rc7 37. Rdc2 c4 38. Bxc4 Qc5+ {Desperation by black, who is out of
anything to do.} 39. Qe3 Qxa5 40. e5 Bxd5 {the last mistake, but} (40... Qb6
41. Qxb6 Rxb6 42. d6 Rd7 43. Bxf7 fxe5 {is no better.}) 41. exf6+ Kxf6 42. Qd4+
Ke7 43. Qe5+ Kd8 44. Qd6+ Kc8 45. Bxd5 Qb6+ 46. Qxb6 Rxb6 47. Rxc7+ Kd8 48.
Rxh7 a5 49. Bxb7 Rxb7 50. Rxb7 a4 51. bxa4 Ke8 52. a5 Kf8 53. a6 Ke8 54. a7 Kd8
55. a8=R# 1-0
