Although neither of the players in this week's game is Canadian, I figured I could get away with showing you this game since it was one of the most exciting games from this year's Canadian Open in Montreal. The tournament finished on Saturday with a three-way tie for first; second on tiebreak was Robin Van Kampen who led much of the way.
[Event "CAN-op"]
[Site "Montreal CAN"]
[Date "2014.07.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Ruiz Sanchez, Orlen"]
[Black "Van Kampen, Robin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B48"]
[WhiteElo "2465"]
[BlackElo "2636"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2014.07.19"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "CAN"]
[SourceDate "2014.07.19"]
{The third round was the second game of the day on the only double round day
of the tournament. Many players like to take it easy in such games, but not
these two. They played a fashionable but dangerous Open Sicilian in which
Robin has vast experience on both sides of the board.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.
d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qd2 {Spoiling for a fight} Nf6 8.
O-O-O Bb4 9. f3 O-O (9... Ne5 {the main line} 10. Nb3 b5 {with a double-edged
position}) 10. g4 {Interestingly, White scores somewhat poorly here (at around
51% according to my database) for such a major opening...} b5 11. a3 {not a
move that one can make lightly. Usually, weakening the pawns in front of your
King can be a big mistake. Here, it is still OK as long as White follows it up
properly} (11. g5 {is typical}) 11... Be7 12. h4 (12. g5 Ne8 (12... Nh5 13.
Nce2 b4 $40) 13. h4 b4 14. axb4 Bxb4) 12... b4 13. axb4 Bxb4 14. h5 Rb8 $146 ({
until this point, the players were following the game} 14... Ne8 15. h6 g6 16.
Nxc6 Qxc6 17. Qd4 Rb8 18. Bc4 d6 19. Bb3 Bd7 20. Bg5 e5 21. Qd3 Be6 22. Nd5 Qd7
23. f4 Bxd5 24. Bxd5 Nc7 25. fxe5 Nxd5 26. Qxd5 Qa4 27. Kb1 Bc3 28. Bc1 Bxe5
29. Rh3 Rb5 30. Qa2 Qxe4 31. Qxa6 Rfb8 32. Qa3 Ra8 33. Re3 Qb7 34. Rxe5 dxe5
35. Qd6 Qb6 36. Qd3 Rba5 37. c4 Qf6 38. g5 Qf5 39. Qxf5 gxf5 40. b4 Ra4 41. Kc2
Rxb4 42. Bb2 Rxc4+ 43. Kb3 Rc5 44. Kb4 Rc7 {0-1 Bitalzadeh,A (2370)-Jovanic,O
(2515)/Rijeka 2008/CBM 127 Extra}) 15. g5 (15. Nxc6 $5 {with the idea of Qh2
on ...dxc6 looks quite strong. Perhaps after} Qxc6 {White didn't like the look
of the pressure on the c3 Knight} 16. Bd4 Ne8 17. g5 $40) 15... Ne8 16. g6 {
Enterprising play} (16. Nxc6 Qxc6 17. Bd4 {was likely a strong candidate also})
16... Nxd4 17. Bxd4 e5 {It was around this point that I noticed this game. I
could tell that things were about to get crazy.} 18. h6 $5 {objectively not
best, but it deserves style points. Black's next three moves are forced} exd4
$8 19. hxg7 Nxg7 20. Qh6 $2 {It's hard to fault the Cuban IM for this move,
but it is actually a serious blunder.} ({My game had finished quickly, so I
was able to follow this live. With our computers, we noticed that 20.Bc4 was
White's best chance to continue the attack} 20. Bc4 $1 {Why Bc4 you may ask?
The reason is to deflect the Black Queen from a queen trade on f4 following Qh6
} Bxc3 (20... dxc3 $2 21. Qh6 $18) 21. bxc3 {Black has a few moves now (...d5,
Qd6, Qb6, Qc5), but} d5 {is likely best} (21... Qb6 {keep the game more
complicated and may have been Robin's preference had this occurred since it
would have given him more winning chances than after 21...d5}) 22. Qh6 (22.
Bxd5) 22... fxg6 23. Qxh7+ Kf7 24. Bxd5+ Be6 25. Bxe6+ Kxe6 26. Qxg6+ Rf6 $11)
20... fxg6 21. Rxd4 (21. Nd5 $2 Qa5 22. Kb1 Bc3 $19) 21... Qf4+ {an
understandable decision - Black gets a better endgame with no risk and there's
no need to worry about checkmate anymore!} (21... Bxc3 $1 22. Bc4+ d5 23. Qxh7+
Kf7 24. Bxd5+ Be6 25. Bxe6+ Kf6 26. Qh4+ Kxe6 $17) 22. Qxf4 Rxf4 23. Rxb4 Rxb4
24. Nd5 Rxf3 (24... Ne6 {transposes to the game}) 25. Nxb4 Ne6 26. Bc4 Kg7 27.
Rd1 $6 {embarking on a bad plan} (27. Nxa6 {White would have had real chances
to hold the ending had be taken on a6. A sample line is as follows} Bxa6 (27...
g5 28. Bxe6 dxe6 29. Nc5 g4 30. Kd2 g3 31. b4 e5 32. b5 $11) 28. Bxa6 Nc5 29.
Bb5 Nxe4 30. Bxd7 {and I believe White should definitely hold this}) 27... h5
28. Nd5 Bb7 29. Nb6 Nf8 (29... Bxe4 {was good also} 30. Rxd7+ Kf6 31. Kd2 h4
$17) 30. Nxd7 Bxe4 31. Nc5 Ba8 32. Bxa6 h4 33. b4 h3 34. Bb7 $2 {game losing
blunder} (34. Rh1 $1 {with the simple plan to stop the pawn and park the rook
on h2} Rg3 35. Rh2 {and Bc8 is a threat and obviously the b-pawn can move
quite quickly as well. White has enough to draw}) 34... Bxb7 35. Nxb7 g5 36. b5
g4 37. Nc5 g3 38. b6 Rf7 39. Rd3 g2 40. Rg3+ Ng6 {A fun game to watch, and I
hope you enjoyed it. For me, the possibility of move 20.Bc4 is what makes the
game so interesting.} 0-1
