The Canadian University Chess Championships (CUCC) concluded yesterday, and McGill A emerged victorious. You can read Felix Dumont's account of the tournament at http://chess.ca/newsfeed/node/497.
For me, the CUCC is always a great event where you are able to reconnect with fellow chess players who may not have the same amount of time to focus on chess as they did before university. Either way, there are always interesting and hard-fought battles. I decided to analyse my game against Mike Ivanov from U of T because I believe I reacted well to an unorthodox position.
[Event "CUCC"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.01.12"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Kleinman, Michael"]
[Black "Ivanov, Mike"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C04"]
[Annotator "Kleinman,M"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd7 {White faces a choice here.
White can play Bb5 and enter the main lines there or develop the bishop to e2,
and opt for a quick repositioning of the d2 Knight. I chose the latter.} 6. Be2
f6 7. exf6 Qxf6 8. Nf1 b6 {This is a very rare move.} ({The main line goes
like:} 8... Bd6 9. Ne3 O-O 10. O-O Qg6 {and Black's plan is to reposition the
d7 Knight, and in some cases put it on e4. Typically the Black bishop develops
to b7.}) 9. Bg5 {This reaction seems most logical to me, but it was only
played once before.} Qf7 10. Bh4 h6 11. Ne3 Bb7 12. O-O g5 13. Bg3 O-O-O 14.
Bb5 $14 {White has achieved a nice advantage from the opening. The bishop on
g3 is extremely powerful hitting c7.} Bg7 (14... Bd6 {seems necessary to
neutralize the g3 bishop.} 15. Bxd6 cxd6 16. c4 dxc4 (16... a6 17. Bxc6 Bxc6
18. cxd5 exd5 19. Rc1 Kb7 {As bad as the position looks with doubled d-pawns,
they do control a lot of central squares. White is still clearly better, but
this may have been Black's best option.}) 17. Qa4 Na5 18. b4 cxb3 19. Rfc1+ Kb8
20. axb3 $40) 15. Rc1 {This move basically tells my opponent I am playing c4
next. However, there is not much he can do about it.} Na5 $2 (15... Ndb8 {
seemed necessary to try and hold the position together. It overprotects c6,
covers c7 in some lines, and opens up the rook.} 16. c4 a6 17. Bxc6 Nxc6 18.
cxd5 exd5 19. Ng4 $16) 16. c4 dxc4 17. Nxc4 Nxc4 18. Rxc4 e5 19. Qc2 Nf8 $5 20.
Nxe5 Bxe5 21. Bxe5 Ne6 22. Rc1 $1 {Here it seemed more practical to not grab
the exchange. The bishop on e5 is extremely strong hitting c7, and while White
would still be much better after taking the exchange, I felt like it was more
important to exchange light squared bishops.} Rh7 23. Bc6 Bxc6 24. Rxc6 Rd7 25.
Qe4 Kb8 26. h3 (26. Rxe6 {doesn't quite work due to back rank problems.} Qxe6
27. Rxc7 Rxc7 28. Bxc7+ Rxc7 29. Qxe6 Rc1+ $19) 26... Re7 27. Rxe6 $1 Rxe6 28.
Rxc7 1-0
