There were a number of upsets at last week's Canadian University Chess Championships. In my experience, I've found that upsets are often caused by blunders made by the higher opponent - they are rarely the result of being outplayed positionally. However, that is exactly what occurred in the following game from the third round match between U of T and U of O. Lloyd, playing against his old team, suffered a defeat with the White pieces in one of the oldest known openings, the Giuoco Piano.
[Event "Canadian University Team Championship, K"]
[Site "Chess5"]
[Date "2016.01.09"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Mai, Lloyd"]
[Black "Dunne, Francesco"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "2358"]
[BlackElo "2165"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 {The Giuoco Piano is no longer the
popular opening it once was, but it is still a solid choice} Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6.
O-O d6 7. Bb3 Bb6 8. Nbd2 Ne7 9. Nc4 (9. Re1 Ng6 10. Nf1 c6 11. Ng3 {is an
alternative, but Black scores exceedingly well here}) 9... Ng6 10. Nxb6 {White
decides to eliminate Black's Bishop, at the cost of several tempi and the
opening of the a-file} ({I might have preferred} 10. h3 h6 11. a4) 10... axb6
11. h3 ({I was finding it tough to recommend good plans for White in this
position, so I searched for the top game and found the following. The ideas
White employs are pretty interesting} 11. Re1 Qe7 12. d4 Be6 13. Bc2 h6 14. h3
Nh7 15. Be3 Qf6 16. Bd3 Nf4 17. Bf1 Ng5 18. Nd2 Ng6 19. Qh5 Nf4 20. Qd1 Ng6 21.
Kh2 Qe7 22. Qh5 Ra5 23. d5 Bd7 24. g3 Nh7 25. a3 b5 26. c4 bxc4 27. Nxc4 Ra4
28. b3 Raa8 29. a4 Nf6 30. Qf3 Nh7 31. Qh5 Nf6 32. Qf3 Nh7 {1/2-1/2 Korneev,O
(2565)-Grigoriants,S (2594)/Sochi 2007/CBM 118}) 11... Qe7 12. Be3 (12. Bg5 $5
h6 13. Nh4 {using some tactical tricks, as was shown in the following game.
However, even here, Black obtained a good position and could have pressed for
the win} Nxh4 14. Bxh4 g5 15. Bg3 Kh7 16. Bc2 Rg8 17. Kh1 Bd7 18. d4 Kh8 19.
Qd2 Bc6 20. Qe3 Rg6 21. c4 Nh5 22. Qf3 Nf4 23. Bxf4 gxf4 24. dxe5 dxe5 25. Kh2
Rag8 26. Rg1 Qc5 27. Rae1 R8g7 {1/2-1/2 Kovanova,B (2321) -Sarquis,M (2149)/
Belfort 2005/CBM 107 ext}) 12... h6 13. Qd2 Kh7 14. Nh2 $6 {White started to
go wrong around here.} (14. Bc2 {with the intention of preparing d4 may have
been a preferable idea}) 14... Nh5 15. d4 Nhf4 16. f3 {Continuing with the
previous plan, but it was probably better to bring the Knight back to f3} Be6
17. Bxe6 (17. Kh1) 17... Qxe6 18. a4 f5 19. b4 $2 (19. d5 Qf6 20. b3 $15 {and
things aren't so bad for White. The position is obviously unpleasant, but it's
unclear whether Black can make real progress. For example} fxe4 21. fxe4 Qh4
22. Rae1 b5 (22... Qg3 23. Kh1 Nh4 24. Bxf4 Rxf4 25. Rxf4 exf4 26. Rf1 Rf8 $15)
23. axb5 Ra3 $15) 19... Qc4 $1 20. g3 $2 {an unusual mistake by Lloyd, but
understandable with it being the third game of the day} (20. Bxf4 Nxf4 21. Rfe1
$15) (20. Rfe1 {perhaps White's best defense} Nd3 21. exf5 Rxf5 22. Red1 Ndf4
23. Re1 exd4 24. cxd4 c5) 20... Ne2+ 21. Kf2 Nxg3 (21... f4 $1 22. gxf4 (22.
Qxe2 fxg3+ 23. Ke1 Qxc3+) 22... Ngxf4 $19) 22. Kxg3 f4+ 23. Bxf4 Nxf4 24. d5 (
24. Ng4 {doesn't make much difference at this point, but this was another
option}) 24... h5 25. Rf2 c6 26. Nf1 cxd5 27. exd5 Rf6 28. Rh2 Nd3 (28... Rxa4
$1 29. Rxa4 Qxf1 {mating (in 8 apparently)}) 29. Kg2 Qxd5 30. Qe3 Rc8 31. Ra3
Rxf3 32. c4 Rxe3+ 33. cxd5 Nf4+ {A very well played game by Francesco} 0-1
