I hope that everyone had a good holiday season. This week, I chose a game played at the Pere Noel tournament in Montreal just after Christmas. IM Eric Lawson, returning from a long chess hiatus, tied for second in the event behind GM Bator Sambuev. His third round win was very short and sweet; it is definitely worth a look!
[Event "Pere Noel"]
[Site "Montreal CAN"]
[Date "2013.12.28"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Larochelle, Martial"]
[Black "Lawson, Eric"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2210"]
[BlackElo "2381"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[EventDate "2013.12.26"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "CAN"]
1. c4 e5 2. g3 h5 $5 {Eric Lawson, known for being a very creative and
original player, comes up with ...h5 on the second move. This would come as a
huge shock to most players, and based on the following moves, it appears that
Martial was caught unprepared by this somewhat eccentric pawn advance. It
looks pretty strong though!} 3. Bg2 h4 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 ({The following is
the highest level game I could find from the position reached in our game. As
you'll see, Black gets a strong initiative which he maintains until the end of
the game.} 5. Qa4 Nf6 6. d3 Bc5 7. a3 a5 8. Nh3 d6 9. Bxc6+ bxc6 10. Qxc6+ Bd7
11. Qg2 Rb8 12. Ng5 Bd4 13. Nd1 h3 14. Qf3 Rb6 15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. dxe4 Be6 17.
Qd3 Qa8 18. Ne3 Qb7 19. Rb1 Rb3 20. Qc2 O-O 21. Nd5 Rb8 22. O-O c6 23. Nb4 axb4
24. Qxb3 c5 25. Qf3 bxa3 26. e3 Bxb2 27. Bxb2 a2 28. Ra1 Qxb2 29. Rfc1 Qb1 30.
Qd1 Qxe4 31. Qf1 Rb2 32. Rd1 Bg4 33. Rdc1 g6 34. Rc3 Qf3 35. Rcc1 Bf5 {0-1
Swinkels,R (2483)-Rakhmanov,A (2585)/Shenzhen 2011/CBM 143 Extra}) (5. e3 {is
maybe White's best continuation. It led to a quick draw between 2400s back in
2005} Nf6 6. d3 Bb4 7. Bd2 Bxc3 8. Bxc3 d5 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Qb3 Nxc3 {1/2-1/2
Zueger,B (2417)-Maier,C (2404)/Switzerland 2005/EXT 2006}) 5... h3 {I don't
think I would have allowed Black to play this move. White's position is
looking very suspect already on the fifth move} 6. Bf1 Nf6 7. d4 (7. e3 {with
the idea of d4 looks much safer given the circumstances}) 7... exd4 8. Nxd4 Bc5
9. Nxc6 $6 (9. e3 Ne5 10. Be2 d6 $15) 9... bxc6 10. Qd3 Qe7 11. Bf4 $6 {It is
rarely good to play Bf4 with a pawn on g3 (as the Bishop cannot retreat to g3)
and here is another example of this rule.} Ba6 (11... Ng4 $1 12. e3 (12. Ne4
Bb4+ 13. Bd2 (13. Nc3 d6 {a multipurpose move which opens up the c8 bishop,
defends c7, and prepares ...Ne5}) 13... Rb8 $17) 12... g5 13. Bxc7 d5 14. Ba5
Ne5 $17 {with ...Nf3+ and ...d4 problems on the horizon for White}) 12. b3 $6 (
12. a3 d5 13. Qc2 Bxc4 14. Na4 {Houdini touts this line as White's best chance.
He is still in big trouble of course}) 12... d5 13. Bd2 $2 {It is tough to
suggest a move here - perhaps a3 or f3 - but this was not it.} Rd8 $19 {Very
restrained. ...Ng4 was great too, but this increases the pressure even more.
The problems on f2 and c4 as well as White's underdevelopment mean that he is
completely lost.} 14. O-O-O Ng4 $1 15. Be1 Bxf2 16. Qf3 Bxe1 17. Rxe1 Ne5 18.
Qf2 Qa3+ 19. Kc2 (19. Kb1 {makes the game last a bit longer} dxc4 $19) 19... d4
{and White will lose massive amounts of material to prevent mate. An excellent
win by Black, but I'm sure that White was disappointed by his inability to
cope with the surprise opening.} 0-1
