This week, I present to you Eric Hansen's round 8 game played at the Continental Chess Championships. This game shows a clean transformation of a positional advantage to a win.
[Event "10th American Continental"]
[Site "Montevideo URU"]
[Date "2015.05.23"]
[Round "10.5"]
[White "Hansen, Eric"]
[Black "Lujan, C."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2580"]
[BlackElo "2353"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2015.05.15"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {The Sicilian Rossolimo. This is a very popular
alternative to the Open Sicilian.} e6 (3... g6 {is the main alternative}) 4.
O-O Nge7 5. Re1 a6 6. Bf1 d5 7. d3 (7. exd5 Nxd5 8. d4 Nf6 9. Be3 {Carlsen won
a nice game against Gelfand in this line a few years ago, but there were
probably some theoretical developments since.}) 7... g6 {Curiously, Eric's
opponent decided to repeat a line Eric had played in an earlier game. I am not
sure what Eric's opponent had prepared, but it seems like Eric gets a
comfortable and stable positional advantage in a few moves.} (7... d4 8. e5 Ng6
9. g3 Qc7 10. Qe2 $14) 8. exd5 exd5 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Bg7 11. Nxc6 bxc6 {
Generally speaking, the fewer pawn islands you have, the better your pawn
structure is. In this position, White's plan is to try and control the c5
square, and place his rooks on the 'e' and 'd' file.} 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Bg5 Be6
14. Qd2 Re8 15. Na4 a5 16. Rad1 Qb8 17. b3 $14 Nf5 18. Bf4 Qa7 19. Be5 {
Trading the dark square bishop would leave Black's king very exposed.} Bh6 20.
Qc3 Bf8 21. Qf3 h5 22. h3 Be7 23. Bd3 Rad8 {All of White's pieces are placed
ideally, but White needs to realize his advantage.} 24. Qf4 Kh7 25. Re2 Bf8 26.
Rde1 Bh6 27. Qf3 Bg5 28. Bb2 Rg8 29. Re5 {Possibly threatening to sacrifice on
f5} Kh6 30. g4 {A well timed breakthrough.} Nd4 31. Qg3 Bf4 {There must have
been an error transmitting the moves, because 31. h4 was played instead of 31.
Bf4. The position after move 32 transposes to the game position.} 32. Qg2 h4
33. g5+ Kg7 34. Rxe6 fxe6 35. Rxe6 Rd6 36. Qg4 $18 {The main point is that
Black is losing it's dark square bishop.} Rxe6 (36... Rf8 $2 37. Rxd6 Bxd6 38.
Bxd4+ $18) 37. Qxf4 Qf7 (37... c5 38. Nxc5 $18) 38. Bxd4+ Kf8 39. Bf6 Rxf6 40.
gxf6 Qe6 41. Nc5 Qe1+ 42. Kg2 g5 43. Qf5 {Black will get mated in a few moves.}
1-0
