Going into the final round of the 2015 Canadian Closed, IM Leonid Gerzhoy lead IM Nikolay Noritsyn by 1/2 a point. This week's Canadain tactic comes from their fourth round game. White sacrificed a piece for two pawns, and Black gave back the exchange to make his King safer. White has just played 30.R1f5, what should Black play?
[Event "2015 Canadian Closed"]
[Site "Guelph, Ontario"]
[Date "2015.07.12"]
[Round "4.4"]
[White "Gerzhoy, Leonid"]
[Black "Noritsyn, Nikolay"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B50"]
[WhiteElo "2538"]
[BlackElo "2586"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2015.07.10"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 Nbd7 (4... Nxe4 $4 5. Qa4+ $18) 5. d3 b6 6.
O-O Bb7 7. h3 g6 8. Be3 Bg7 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. a4 (10. Qc2 Rc8 11.
Nh2 d5 $1 12. f4 e5 (12... Bh6 $1 $15 13. Ng4 $6 Nxg4 14. hxg4 d4 $1 $17) 13.
f5 c4 14. fxg6 hxg6 15. dxc4 dxe4 16. Rad1 Qc7 17. Ng4 Nxg4 18. hxg4 Qc6 19.
Qxe4 Qc7 20. Qc2 Nc5 21. Bf3 Bxf3 22. Nxf3 e4 23. Nd4 Nd3 24. b3 Qg3 25. Ne2 $4
{0-1 Renkowski,P (2051)-Dragun,K (2546) (Olsztyn U18 rapid), 2013.}) 10... Qc7
11. a5 d5 12. Qc2 Rac8 13. axb6 axb6 14. Nh2 e5 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Bf3 Nxe3 17.
fxe3 Bxf3 18. Rxf3 b5 {White's central pawns look a bit squishy,
but after e3-e4 Black's B will be playing defence the rest of the game.
Computers rate this =/+, but (FWIW) I think it's easier to find something to
do with White's minors than Black's.} (18... f5 $5 {with the positional threat
of ...c4 and ...e4,} 19. e4 c4) 19. e4 c4 20. dxc4 bxc4 21. Ng4
Nb6 $6 {This looks natural, but it may be a mistake: it weakens f6 and defends
c4 and d5 before White has spent any tempi attacking them.} (21... h5 $5 22.
Ne3 Nb6 {and ...Bh6.}) (21... Rb8 $5) 22. Nf1 Qc5+ 23. Kh2 Kh8 24. Ng3 h5 25.
Nf6 Rc6 26. Raf1 Bh6 ({I don't see any reason to avoid exchanges:} 26... Bxf6
27. Rxf6 Rxf6 28. Rxf6 Kg7 $15 {the iso on e4 has to make this a little bit
better for Black.}) 27. Ngxh5 $1 gxh5 (27... Qe7 $1 28. Ng3 Bf4
29. Ng4 Nd7 $44 {Houdini and Stockfish rate Black as having nearly full
compensation for the pawn.}) 28. Rf5 Rxf6 $1 {Black is doomed if the N stays
on the board.} (28... Qe3 29. Qd1 $16) 29. Rxf6 Kg7 30. R1f5 (30.
g3 $5 Qe3 (30... h4 $2 31. Qd1 $18) 31. R1f3 $1 (31. R6f3 $6 Qd2+) 31... Qc5
32. Qe2 $36) 30... Bf4+ $4 {Black's idea must have been to force g2-g3, hoping
that it would allow counterplay along the second rank... but he's missed
something.} (30... Nd7 $4 31. Rxh6 $8 Kxh6 32. Qd2+ $1 $18 {forces mate.}) (
30... Qe3 $5 31. Rf3 $1 (31. Qf2 $4 Bf4+ $8 $19) 31... Qc5 (31... Bf4+ $4 32.
R6xf4 $18) 32. R6f5 h4 $1 33. g3 $36 {White has the initiative, but I can't
find anything fatal.}) (30... Be3 $142 $1 $13 31. Qd1 $140 (31. g3 Nd7 32. Ra6
$8 Rb8 33. Qe2 Qb5 $1 $15) 31... Bf4+ $8 (31... Bg5 $2 32. Qxh5 Bxf6 33. Qg4+
Kh7 34. Rh5#) 32. Rxf4 $8 (32. g3 $4 Qf2+ $19) (32. Kh1 $2 Qe3 $17) 32... exf4
33. Rf5 $8 Qe3 34. Rg5+ Kf6 $8 35. Qd6+ $1 {And White has a perpetual.} Kxg5
36. Qe5+ Kh6 37. Qf6+ Kh7 38. Qf5+ $11) 31. g3 $8 Be3 (31... Bg5 {loses
trivially:} 32. Rxb6 Qxb6 33. Rxg5+ $18) 32. Qd1 $1 (32. Qe2 $143 Nd7 $8 33.
Ra6 Rb8 {and Black is out of immediate danger.}) 32... Qb5 33. Qxh5 Qxb2+ 34.
Rf2 $1 {The winning point: White threatens both RxQ and Rxf7 mating.} Qxf2+ $8
(34... Bxf2 35. Qg5+ Kh7 36. Rh6#) 35. Rxf2 Bxf2 36. Qg5+ Kh7 37. Qf5+ Kg7 38.
Qxf2 {White easily mops up Black's loose pawns,} Na4 39. Qf5 Re8
40. Qd7 Ra8 41. Qd5 Ra7 42. Qxe5+ f6 43. Qd4 Re7 44. Qxc4 Nb6 45. Qc5 Re6 46.
Qc7+ Kf8 47. c4 Ke8 48. c5 Nc4 49. c6 Rd6 50. Qb8+ Kf7 51. c7 Rd2+ 52. Kg1 Ne5
53. Qb3+ $1 (53. c8=Q $4 {Was Black's forlorne hope:} Nf3+ 54.
Kf1 (54. Kh1 $4 Rh2#) 54... Nh2+ 55. Ke1 Nf3+ $11 {a standard drawing pattern.}
) 1-0
This game, and others annotated by the players from the 2015 Canadian Closed, will appear in an upcoming issue of Chess Canada, the CFC's online newsletter.
