In this week's game, White managed to completely squeeze Black and dictate the game. It is a great example of a situation where the initiative was much more important than the material
[Event "Quebec op 3e RIDEF"]
[Site "Montreal CAN"]
[Date "2015.07.24"]
[Round "8.10"]
[White "Bolduc, Steve"]
[Black "Maisuradze, Nino"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A26"]
[WhiteElo "2166"]
[BlackElo "2292"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2015.07.17"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "CAN"]
1. c4 e5 {A reversed Sicilian.} 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. d3 (5. e3 d6
6. Nge2 {Is also frequently seen}) 5... Nf6 6. e4 {Closing the center. This
starts to be quite different from regular Sicilians, where the center is
rarely closed like that. Nf3 was the other main option.} d6 7. Nge2 Nd7 $5 {A
very interesting try, which scores pretty well in my database. The idea is to
quickly reposition the knight to c5 and perhaps play f5. However, Black will
have to be careful not to create too many weaknesses or have inactive pieces.}
(7... O-O 8. O-O {Is the usual way to go}) 8. O-O Nc5 9. f4 Nb4 $5 {This was
probably the plan all along, but it is somewhat risky.} 10. Be3 Nbxd3 {Black
won a pawn, but lost a lot of tempi to do so and White has very coordinated
pieces and a lot of pressure in the center. This may have been prepared by
Nino Maisuradze, but I personnally do not think it is very pleasant to play
for Black.} 11. Qd2 (11. f5 $1 {And White has a great position} O-O (11... Nxb2
12. Qc2 Nxc4 13. Bxc5 dxc5 14. Qa4+) 12. Qd2) 11... Nb4 $2 {Precision was
extremely important, and unfortunately Black underestimated White's
counterplay.} (11... exf4 12. gxf4 O-O {And the position is really unclear})
12. f5 O-O 13. Rad1 {Simply putting more and more pressure} Nd7 14. c5 $1 Nf6
15. Bg5 {White is not missing an opportunity to put more pressure on Black!} c6
16. Qxd6 Qxd6 17. Rxd6 {Black gave back the pawn hoping that exchanging the
queens would lead to a more comfortable position. Unfortunately, White can
continue squeezing Black even without queens.} Ne8 ({An interesting option was
} 17... Ng4 18. h3 f6 19. Bd2 Nh6) 18. Rd2 Nc7 $2 {It's not clear where Black
is going. The knight on c7 controls no useful square.} 19. g4 (19. a3 Nba6 20.
Be3 {And again White is completely dominating}) 19... f6 20. Be3 Re8 {We can
now start seeing that Black cannot find a plan.} 21. Rfd1 g5 22. a3 Nba6 23.
Nc1 (23. Ng3 {h5 would also be a great square for the knight :} Bf8 24. Nh5)
23... Bf8 24. b4 Kf7 25. Bf1 {White has plenty of time and can simply position
his pieces on the best squares.} Nb8 26. Bc4+ Ke7 27. Nb3 Nd7 28. Na5 {Aiming
the c4 square} Nb8 29. Kf2 Bg7 30. Kf3 h6 31. Bb3 Rh8 32. Kg3 h5 33. h3 hxg4
34. hxg4 {Opening the h-file doesn't really help Black.} Rh7 35. Rd3 Rh8 {We
can see that Black has no idea what to do. And we cannot blame her, as there
is really nothing to do.} 36. Nc4 Nd7 37. Nd6 {It's a good time to stop and
take a look at Black's pieces. Both of her bishops have no hope of becoming
active, her rooks are also not doing much (dispite controlling the h-file) and
her knights are not much better.} Nf8 38. a4 Rh7 39. b5 a5 40. Nc4 Bd7 41. Nb6
Rd8 42. Ncd5+ $5 {Lack of patience or desire of a beautiful finish? I would
tend to think White was looking for the latter... In any case, it works, but
it is also a little bit risky to sacrifice a piece in a completely dominating
position.} cxd5 43. Nxd5+ (43. exd5 {Also does the job}) 43... Nxd5 44. exd5
Bc8 45. c6 Rd6 46. Rc3 {Even with the extra piece, Black is hopeless.} Rh4 47.
cxb7 Bxb7 48. Rc7+ (48. Bc5 {Also works} Kd7 49. Rdc1 {And Black has no useful
move}) 48... Rd7 49. d6+ Ke8 50. Bb6 Rxc7 51. dxc7 Nd7 52. Bxa5 Bf8 53. Bd5 Bc8
54. b6 Nc5 55. Bb4 e4 56. Bxc5 Bxc5 57. Bc6+ Ke7 58. b7 {It's over.} Rh8 59.
b8=Q Bd6+ 60. Rxd6 Kxd6 61. Bxe4 Re8 62. Bf3 1-0
