Home and Abroad on Canada Day!

[Event "Toronto Open 2014"]
[Site "Annex Chess Club"]
[Date "2014.04.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Plotkin, Mark"]
[Black "Cheng, Bindi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B85"]
[WhiteElo "2247"]
[BlackElo "2522"]
[Annotator "Mark Plotkin"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2014.??.??"]

{Before this game, I knew Bindi was a tough opponent, as he smashed me in the
Pirc last time. I prepared for his line, and he wanted to surprise me with the
Sicilian. Unfortunately for him, I knew theory there as well.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3
d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 (4. dxc5 Nxe4 5. cxd6 Nxd6 $11) 4... cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 {
This is a normal theoretical line in the Najdorf. The most popular
response is either Bg5, or Bc4. I decided to play a line that Karpov used to
play most regularly.} 6. Be2 {This was Karpov's calm move, with no real
intention of attacking, just attempting to get a positional edge over your
opponent.   After Be2, there are two good responses for Black: ...e6 or ...e5.
...e5 usually leads to boring positions, and knowing Bindi, I wasn't afraid of
his response.} e6 7. O-O Be7 8. Be3 O-O 9. f4 Nc6 10. Kh1 {This is still
theory, and I probably still played Kh1 prematurely, but I just wanted to keep
my king safe from the a7-g1 diagonal.} Qc7 11. Qe1 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 b5 13. Bd3 Bb7
14. Qg3 {My bishops are placed very well, and after Qg3, I am
ready to attack my opponent's king.   The only piece defending his K is his
knight, but White has two ways of attacking the Nf6: pushing e5, or playing
Nc3-d5 as a sac to open lines for the bishops. That is a very typical idea.
For example: 15...Bc6 16. Qh3 Rac8 17.Nd5. With ideas of 17...exd5 18.exd5 and
threatening mate on h7.    Also, if Black goes ...b4, the Knight goes from
c3-d1-e3-g4 and trades the Nf6. The e4 pawn isn't hanging after Nd1 because
there's a mate: 14...b4 15.Nd1 Bxe4? 16.Bxe4 Nxe4 17.Qxg7#.     Knowing Bindi
though, he wasn't going to allow me to have all that, but these tactical
threats may force Black to weaken his king side position with  ...g6.} Nh5 $4 {
A huge error. The only piece that was defending his king, and with one move,
Bindi puts his best piece out of play.} 15. Qh3 Nxf4 16. Rxf4 e5 {Diagram [#]
It seems that here Black is able to recover the strong bishop, but there was a
tactic that Bindi missed...} 17. Nd5 $3 {A strong  in-between move forcing
Black to give up his strong bishop. If Black doesn't take the knight, (e.g. 17.
..Qd8) White goes 18...Bb6 and is up a piece, or even more.} Bxd5 18. exd5 g6 {
The only move to defend from mate. White just got everything he wanted.
Opening up the light-squared bishop, weakening the opponent's king.} 19. Raf1
$3 {Diagram [#]} exf4 {If Black takes the bishop he gets mated after Rxf7!} ({
editor - Here's the mating attack Mark mentioned:} 19... exd4 20. Rxf7 Rxf7 21.
Rxf7 Kxf7 22. Qxh7+ Ke8 23. Bxg6+ Kd7 (23... Kd8 24. Qg8+ {#2}) 24. Bf5+ Ke8
25. Be6 Bd8 26. Qg8+ Ke7 27. Qf7# {every single attacking move on a light
square.}) ({editor - The computer says Black's best chance was} 19... f5 {
though after} 20. Bxf5 Rxf5 21. Rxf5 gxf5 (21... exd4 22. Rf7) 22. Qxf5 Rf8 $1
(22... exd4 23. Qg4+ $8 Bg5 $8 (23... Kh8 24. Rf7 Rg8 25. Qxd4+ {and mate}) 24.
Qxg5+ $18) 23. Qg4+ $16 {White has an extra pawn and a Black's exposed K will
probably cost more.}) 20. Qh6 f6 21. Bxg6 Bd8 ({editor -} 21... hxg6 22. Qxg6+
Kh8 23. Rxf4 {is mating.}) 22. Bf5 Qg7 {All forced moves for Black.
White wins a lot of pawns for the exchange and it is obvious that the White
bishops over-power the black rooks.} 23. Be6+ Kh8 24. Qxf4 Rb8 25. Rf3 {
Threatening Rg3, and after ...Qe7, White is dead won after Qh6.}
Bb6 26. Rg3 Qe7 27. Rg8+ {Winning the Queen for a Bishop and a rook.} Rxg8 28.
Bxf6+ Qxf6 29. Qxf6+ Rg7 30. h4 {The game is practically over:
White is up two pawns, Black doesn't have a lot of play, and the opposite
color bishops actually increase White's advantage because of king-side play.  
I'm threatening to push the pawn to h6, but Black finds a way to stop that.}
Re8 31. h5 Bd8 32. Qf4 Bg5 33. Qxd6 {Now White is just gonna take all of
Black's pawns. Despite not having any king side play anymore, White is up too
many pawns for Black to handle.} h6 34. Qxa6 Bf4 35. Qxb5 Rb8 36. Qf1 Bd6 {
Diagram [#]} 37. Qf6 $2 {I thought I was just gonna win the h6 pawn because
after 37...Kh7 38.Bf5+ I have Qxh6 next. But Black has an unexpected response.}
Rf8 $1 {Fighting on, and playing for one last chance.} 38. Bf7 $3 {This move
puts the dagger in his opponent's heart. The game is over, and Black has no
way of fighting any more.} (38. Qxh6+ Rh7 39. Qc1 Rxh5+ {and Black has a lot
more play than White needs to give.} {editor - according to my computers,
White has to play precisely to keep any advantage:} 40. Bh3 $8 Bg3 41. c4 $8 {
Computers say White is winning, but FWIW, I don't trust them here. One of
their few remaining weaknesses is evaluating fortresses, and this position
seems like an "anti-fortress": White pawn advances risk allowing Black to
coordinate R's to go after e1.}) 38... Be7 39. Qxe7 Rgxf7 40. Qe5+ Kh7 41. d6
Rf5 42. Qe4 Kg7 43. d7 {The game is over as Black has no real way of stopping
White from promoting to another queen.   Overall, I'm pretty happy with this
game despite making the Qf6 blunder. Other than that, I was able to capitalize
very effectively on my opponent's errors.} 1-0


[Event "Sunningdale Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2014.05.25"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Hambleton, Aman"]
[Black "Pert, Nicholas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2453"]
[BlackElo "2560"]
[Annotator "Aman Hambleton"]
[PlyCount "111"]

{In round 4 I played against GM Nicholas Pert from England, a new opponent for
me although he has played this tournament before. I expected this to be the
toughest match for me, as he was the #1 ranked in the event.} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6
3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 {Diagram [#]Black has two main options in 4. ... Bf5 and
4. ... Bg4 if he wants to develop the light squared Bishop. Otherwise ...e6
leads to a Semi-Slav position where the Bishop usually develops to b7.} 5. Nc3
e6 6. h3 Bh5 7. g4 {There are a number of ways to play as White, but I prefer
to establish an imbalance immediately by trading my N for the light-squared B.}
Bg6 8. Ne5 Nbd7 9. Nxg6 hxg6 {Diagram [#]} 10. a3 $1 {A subtle move. I think
Bd3, Qb3, or Bd2 are more common. The idea of a3 is obviously to prevent ...
Bb4, but more specifically to prevent Black from controlling e4.} ({For example
} 10. Bd3 Bb4 11. Bd2 Bxc3 12. Bxc3 dxc4 13. Bxc4 Ne4 $11 {So many pieces have
been traded and White will lose his Bishop pair as well.}) 10... g5 {This is a
noteworthy plan, securing the dark squares and preventing White from
continuing to expand on the Kingside with g5 and h4.} (10... Bd6 11. Bd2 Qe7
12. Bd3 dxc4 13. Bxc4 O-O $13 {leads to imbalanced play. White has a Kingside
initiative while Black intends to open up the center and expand on the
Queenside.}) 11. Qf3 Be7 12. Bd3 {Neither of Black's most common
central breaks (...c5 or ...e5) work because of the pressure Qf3 has on the
Pd5.} Kf8 $6 {The idea of this peculiar move is g6-Kg7 while leaving the h8
rook to pressure h3 and prevent h4.} (12... O-O 13. h4 gxh4 14. g5 Ne8 15. Qh5
$18 {leads to checkmate.}) 13. Bd2 dxc4 (13... g6 14. O-O-O Kg7 {seemed much
more consistent. Black achieves his plan and although White is preferred the
middlegame is balanced.}) 14. Bxc4 c5 $2 {I do not agree with
opening the center after playing a move like ...Kf8.} 15. h4 $1 {My opponent
certainly had not considered this move. Although ...Kf8-g7 is sometimes a core
idea, the timing did not make sense because of White's Qf3 creating tactics
along the f-file.} (15. d5 Ne5 16. Qe2 exd5 $19) 15... cxd4 (15... gxh4 16. g5
Nh7 17. g6 Ng5 18. Qf4 $44 {Although the computer evaluates this as equal, it
certainly looked to favour White over the board.}) 16. hxg5 $1 ({Incorrect
would be} 16. exd4 Nb6 17. Bd3 Qxd4 $15 {where Black has a lot of activity and
White's King is still in the center.}) 16... Rxh1+ 17. Qxh1 dxc3 18. Qh8+ Ng8
19. Bxc3 $16 {Diagram [#]This was the point of the combination that began with
15.h4: White's two Bishops exert immense pressure on the position and Black's
pieces lack coordination.} Ndf6 (19... e5 {is the only way to prevent Qxg7+
but there are too many threats to deal with after} 20. g6 $1 $18) 20. Rd1 Qc7 {
Diagram [#]} 21. Bd3 {A patient move. There is no rush to take the free Nf6,
so instead Bd3 creates a more powerful threat of Bh7xg8. All of White's pieces
are optimally placed.} Rc8 22. Bh7 Nxh7 (22... Qh2 23. gxf6 Qg1+ 24. Kd2 Rd8+
25. Bd4 Qxf2+ 26. Kc1 $18 {And Black's checks will run out.}) 23. Qxg7+ Ke8 24.
Qxh7 {The remaining N is trapped and ...Kf8 doesn't change matters.
After White regains the piece he will still be ahead two pawns with a strong
attack.} Bf8 25. Qxg8 Qh2 26. Rd4 (26. Ke2 Qg2 27. Rd4 e5 28. Bb4 $18 {was
more accurate.}) 26... e5 27. g6 exd4 28. Qxf7+ Kd8 29. Qxf8+ Kc7 30. Qc5+ Kb8
31. Qxd4 {After giving up the exchange for 2 more pawns White has
an easy endgame to convert.} Ka8 32. Qd7 Rf8 33. Bf6 Qh1+ 34. Ke2 Qe4 35. g7
Re8 36. Bd4 a6 37. Kd2 Rb8 38. Qf5 Qe8 39. g5 Rc8 40. Qd5 Qg6 41. e4 Qe8 42.
g8=Q {Although not the most precise, time was getting low and I
knew that the Bishop + 3 pawns vs. Rook endgame was a win.} Qxg8 43. Qxg8 Rxg8
44. Bf6 Kb8 45. Ke3 Kc7 46. Kf4 Kd7 47. Kf5 Rc8 48. f4 Ke8 49. e5 a5 50. e6
Rc5+ 51. Kg6 b5 52. f5 b4 53. axb4 axb4 54. Bh8 Rc6 55. f6 Rxe6 56. Kg7 {This
was the first time I played against GM Pert and with my victory I maintained
first place in the tournament.} 1-0