Daniel Kazmaier is one of the Canadian players who had a solid performance at the Reykjavik Open this year. He collected a cool 21 FIDE points helped by this 29-move last-round win against a Woman Grandmaster from Serbia. The game proceeds fairly slowly until Black's King gets stuck in the middle of the board. Have a look.
[Event "N1 Reykjavik Open 2014"]
[Site "Reykjavik, Iceland"]
[Date "2014.03.12"]
[Round "10.33"]
[White "Kazmaier, Daniel"]
[Black "Vojinovic, Jovana"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C14"]
[WhiteElo "2187"]
[BlackElo "2323"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2014.03.04"]
1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 {and a Classical French has arisen from an
unusual move order} 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4 $5 (6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 O-O (
7... a6 8. Nf3 c5) 8. Nf3 c5) 6... h6 (6... Bxg5 7. hxg5 Qxg5 {This is the
bold response to White's provocative play, but without preparation, I expect
Black can get into some trouble here}) 7. Bxe7 Qxe7 8. Nge2 {Played only once
before (without much success) in my database} Nc6 (8... a6 9. Nf4 c5 10. Qg4
cxd4 11. Qxg7 Qf8 12. Qxf8+ Rxf8 13. Nce2 Nxe5 {1/2-1/2 Moiseenko,V-Fedoseev,S
(2235)/Peterhof 2007/EXT 2008}) 9. Qd2 Nb6 10. Nc1 (10. Nf4 $14 {seems more
natural}) 10... Bd7 11. Nb3 O-O-O 12. f4 {The opening looks like it's been
quite successful for Black. White appears somewhat uncoordinated} f6 (12... Nc4
13. Bxc4 dxc4 14. Nc1 Qb4 $15) 13. O-O-O Be8 14. h5 Nc4 15. Qf2 Rf8 16. exf6
Qxf6 17. g3 {I'm still liking Black's position but objectively, things should
be about equal} Nd6 18. Be2 Bf7 19. Bf3 Bg8 {Maybe the idea is to support e4
with the Bishop on h7} 20. Rhe1 b6 21. Qf1 a5 $6 {It is usually inadvisable to
open the side of the board where the attack is coming} 22. Qa6+ Kd7 (22... Kb8
$1 {There is no reason to avoid going this direction with the King} 23. Nb5
Nxb5 24. Qxb5 Rd6 $11) 23. Na4 Ra8 $2 (23... Rb8 {It was important to protect
against the sacrifice on b6. Now, it is difficult for white to continue his
attack. A calm move like Kb1 is probably best} 24. Nac5+ Ke7 25. a3 $13 (25.
Bxd5 $2 Nb4 $19)) 24. Nxb6+ (24. Nbc5+ $1 {gives a more forcing variation
which could have occurred in the game} Ke7 25. Nxb6 $3 cxb6 (25... Rxa6 26.
Nxd5+) 26. Qxb6 Rfc8 27. Bxd5 Rab8 28. Qa6 Ra8 29. Qd3 Nb4 30. Qb3 Nxd5 31.
Qxd5 $16) 24... cxb6 25. Qxb6 Rfc8 $4 {This loses immediately. Black had only
one saving move} (25... Nc4 $8 26. Nc5+ Kd6 27. Ne4+ dxe4 28. Qc5+ Kd7 (28...
Kc7) 29. Bxe4 Rfc8 (29... Nb4 30. Qxc4 Rab8) 30. Qxc4 Rab8 31. a3 $14 (31. Qa4)
) 26. Bxd5 $1 ({Maybe Black counted on} 26. Nc5+ Ke7 27. Bxd5 Rab8 28. Qa6 Ra8
29. Qd3 $16 {but as we saw in the note to 24.Nbc5+, White obtains a superior
position here as well}) 26... Qd8 (26... exd5 27. Nc5#) (26... Nxd4 27. Be4 $18
) 27. Bxc6+ Rxc6 28. Nc5+ Rxc5 29. Qxd8+ {An unusual opening led to a pretty
equal middlegame in which Black failed to find a good plan. Some mistakes
followed, and Daniel found some nice tactics to win the game.} 1-0
If any of my readers know of websites which regularly contain recent Canadian games, I would be glad to hear about them. (I know about Canbase). It isn't always easy to get my hands on recent games. Of course, you are also encouraged to submit your own games for GOTW consideration as well. Until next time..
