It might seem somewhat vain, but I've chosen to annotate my last round win from the Canadian University Championship for this week's GOTW. I was finally back in the groove after a bit of a tournament hiatus. The game features a razor-sharp Dragon Yugoslav Attack and I believe that it provides good educational value. My apologies for two games in a row from the same tournament, but let me remind you to please submit your games for GOTW consideration!
[Event "CUCC 2014"]
[Site "Ottawa"]
[Date "2014.01.24"]
[Round "5"]
[White "MacKinnon, Keith"]
[Black "Gonsalves, Ryan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "2300"]
[BlackElo "1662"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2014.??.??"]
[EventType "team-swiss"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "CAN"]
[SourceDate "2006.01.30"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 {Going into a
Yugoslav attack against a much lower rated opponent is seldom a good idea, but
I was in an attacking mood after the previous day's loss.} Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2
O-O 9. O-O-O {A practical decision: 9.Bc4 is more common at lower levels} Nxd4
(9... d5 {the primary move. Black often wants to play ...d5 when given the
opportunity in the Dragon}) 10. Bxd4 Be6 {Played almost all of the time} (10...
Qa5 {gives White the opportunity to play Bc4 if he so chooses} 11. Kb1 {This
move renders ...Be6 inadvisable due to Nd5} (11. Bc4) 11... e5 (11... Be6 12.
Nd5 Qd8 13. Nxf6+ exf6 14. Bc3 (14. h4)) 12. Be3 Be6 13. g4 {and White scores
extremely well. One simple idea is to play g5 and plop his Knight on d5
thereby killing any attack by Black.}) 11. Kb1 {prophylaxis against ...Qa5 as
then Nd5 and the intermezzo of Nxe7+ if ...Qxd2} Qc7 12. g4 (12. h4 {the main
alternative which actually scores much better} Rfc8 (12... h5 {was my primary
deterrent against playing 12.h4 in the game} 13. g4 {It appears that White
needs to go all in with this move, but being unprepared, I didn't want to deal
with potential deep preparation here.}) 13. h5 Qa5 14. hxg6 hxg6 15. a3 {and
White apparently scores 70% as it takes Black a long time to get anything
resembling a dangerous attack}) 12... Rfc8 13. h4 Qa5 14. a3 {so that rook
sacks on c3 will be harmless} (14. Qg5 {a major alternative, but I had no
desire to trade the queens at this point in the game}) (14. h5 $2 {would be a
serious error due to} Rxc3 15. Qxc3 Qxa2+ 16. Kc1 Bh6+ 17. Be3 Rc8 18. Qd3 Bc4
$15 19. Qc3 {and White is hanging on for dear life}) 14... Rab8 15. h5 b5 16.
h6 $5 {A risky position to play without prior knowledge so both my opponent
and I were starting to use a lot of time (although this position is still
theory)} (16. hxg6 {played often but without much success} hxg6 17. g5 b4 $13)
16... Bh8 (16... b4 17. Nb5 $1 Bh8 (17... Rxb5 18. Bxb5 Qxb5 19. hxg7 bxa3 20.
Qd3 $16) 18. Qxb4 Qxb4 19. axb4 a6 20. Na7 Rc7 21. b5 axb5 22. Nxb5 Rcc8 23. b3
Bd7 24. c4 Bc6 25. Kb2 Nd7 26. Bxh8 Kxh8 27. Be2 Kg8 28. Ra1 f6 29. Ra7 Kf7 30.
Rha1 g5 31. R1a5 Bxb5 32. Rxb5 Ne5 33. Rxb8 Rxb8 34. Kc3 Ke6 35. b4 Nc6 36. Ra4
Ke5 37. b5 Nd4 38. Bd1 Rb7 39. Ra8 Rc7 40. b6 {1-0 Grischuk,A (2549)-Cebalo,M
(2453)/Biel 1999/EXT 2000}) 17. g5 Nd7 $6 (17... Ne8 $2 18. Nd5 Qxd2 19. Nxe7+
Kf8 20. Rxd2 Bxd4 (20... Kxe7 21. Bxh8 f6 22. Bxf6+ Nxf6 23. gxf6+ Kxf6 24.
Rxd6 $16) 21. Nxc8 Be3 22. Rd3 Bc5 23. b4 $18 {the reason the whole line works!
}) (17... b4 $5 {the counterblow doesn't quite work, but it is still Black's
best option} 18. Nb5 Qa4 $1 19. Rh2 $8 bxa3 20. b3 Rxb5 (20... Bxb3 21. cxb3
Qxb3+ 22. Ka1 $16) 21. Bxb5 Qxb5 22. gxf6 $16) 18. Bxh8 Kxh8 19. Qd4+ Ne5 $6 {
A bold try - but fails tactically} (19... f6 20. Nd5 Bxd5 21. Qxd5 $14 {and it
looks pretty grim with Qf7 and Bh3 in the air, but Black is somewhat OK after .
..Qc7}) 20. f4 b4 21. Nb5 $8 {Ryan told me after the game that he hadn't
really considered this important defensive resource. Without it, Black is
winning!} bxa3 (21... Rxb5 22. Bxb5 Qxb5 23. fxe5 Rc4 24. Qxa7 $18) 22. fxe5
Ba2+ {A little bit scary, but I had worked it all out.} (22... d5 {prolongs
the game, but after White finds} 23. Rh3 $3 {it's over} Bxh3 24. e6+ f6 25.
gxf6 Qb6 26. Bxh3 $18) 23. Kxa2 Rxc2 24. exd6+ f6 25. Qxa7 (25. dxe7 {would
have won even faster} axb2+ 26. Kb1 Rc1+ 27. Kxb2 Qa1+ 28. Kb3 $18) 25... Qxa7
26. Nxa7 Rbxb2+ 27. Kxa3 Ra2+ 28. Kb4 Rab2+ 29. Ka5 {and the King uses the
Knight and Bishop to hide from the checks. I was impressed by my opponent's
play in this game, and, even with a 600+ rating point advantage, I had to play
very carefully to get the win.} 1-0
