Time for some excitement... This week's game from the 2nd round of the ongoing BC Open features 1.g4 (leading to a losing position out of the opening), but the White player fights back and makes it to a rook endgame. The old adage about "all rook endgames are drawn" holds true once more. Check it out!
[Event "BC op"]
[Site "Richmond"]
[Date "2016.02.06"]
[Round "2.7"]
[White "Kagaoan, Jose"]
[Black "Doknjas, John"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2024"]
[BlackElo "2288"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2016.02.06"]
[EventRounds "6"]
1. g4 $6 {The Grob is known to be a pretty terrible opening, with IM John
Watson stating, "As far as I can tell, 1 g4 is competitive with 1 h4 for the
honour of being White's worst first move."} d5 2. h3 ({I remember one of my
first chess coaches taught me the following variation (for Black), known as
the Romford Countergambit} 2. Bg2 Bxg4 3. c4 d4 (3... c6 4. Qb3) 4. Bxb7 Nd7 5.
Bxa8 Qxa8 6. f3 d3 $13 {however, I am not so convinced by the line as I once
was. It looks like 6...d3 is likely not the best move, as it allows White's
queenside Knight to move to c3} (6... e5 $15)) 2... e5 3. Bg2 Nc6 (3... c6 {
apparently known as the Keene Defense looks very solid}) 4. c4 Be6 5. Qa4 Nf6
$146 6. Nf3 Nd7 $1 7. cxd5 Nb6 8. Qd1 Nxd5 9. d3 Bb4+ 10. Nfd2 (10. Kf1 e4 $1
11. Ng5 (11. dxe4 $4 Ne3+ $19) 11... e3 $17) 10... h5 {Black has done an
excellent job of taking advantage of White's opening adventure and has
attained a nearly winning position} 11. gxh5 Qd7 $6 {probably a slight
inaccuracy} (11... Qg5 {keeps up the pressure} 12. Kf1 Qxh5) 12. a3 Nf4 13. Bf3
$2 (13. Be4) 13... Bxd2+ 14. Bxd2 (14. Nxd2 Nd4) 14... Nd4 15. Bxf4 (15. Bxb7
$6 Rb8 16. Bxf4 exf4 17. Bg2 Rxb2 $19) 15... Nxf3+ 16. exf3 exf4 {Let's take
stock. White is temporarily up a pawn, but his pawn structure is completely
shattered: he has 4 pawn islands (not counting the one on h5 which will fall
shortly). The position is open, so he also has the disadvantage of a Knight vs.
a Bishop. He is further behind in development, and his King is unsafe. It's
safe to say Black has a nearly winning position here.} 17. Nd2 Rxh5 18. Qe2
O-O-O 19. O-O-O $2 (19. Ne4) 19... Qxd3 $6 {It is often said that when you see
a good move, you should look for a better one. I believe had the Black player
thought a little bit longer here, he would have realized that trading Queens
was unnecessary, and he would do better to keep them on and take advantage of
White's last move 0-0-0} (19... Qc6+ 20. Kb1 Qd5 $19 {is really lights out.
Black threatens ...Qa2+ as well as ...Bf5 if White attemps to parry the threat
on a2 with b3 or Nc4}) (19... Rc5+ {even more natural than ...Qc6+} 20. Nc4 Bf5
(20... b5 {is good too})) 20. Qxd3 Rxd3 21. Ne4 {Black should easily have
enough to win here, but sometimes when you let your opponent stick around,
things don't always go as planned.} Rxf3 22. Rhg1 g6 23. Ng5 Rxf2 24. Nxe6 fxe6
25. Rxg6 b6 26. Rd3 f3 27. Rg3 {probably a good practical decision (to keep
the h-pawn)} Rf5 28. Rg1 Rc5+ $2 (28... Re2 {passed pawns need to be pushed,
and it makes sense to get the f-pawn to f2}) 29. Kd1 Rcc2 30. Rxf3 $1 Rxb2 $2 {
Things become murkier once a pair of rooks comes off the board. Black loses
much of his advantage here and over the next dozen moves or so} (30... Rfd2+
31. Ke1 Rh2 {threatening mate on c1} 32. Kd1 Rxb2 33. Kc1 Rhc2+ 34. Kd1 Ra2 $19
) 31. Rxf2 Rxf2 32. Rg3 Rh2 (32... Kd7 {it was more important to quickly
activate the King. The h-pawn isn't really going anywhere}) 33. Ke1 Kd7 34. Kf1
Kd6 35. Kg1 Rd2 36. h4 Rd5 37. Kh2 Rf5 (37... c5 {Black was too reluctant to
push his own pawns}) 38. Kh3 Ke5 $6 39. Rg7 Rf3+ 40. Kg2 Rxa3 41. Rxc7 (41. h5)
41... Kf4 42. Rg7 Ra5 43. Kh3 Ra3+ 44. Kg2 Ra5 45. Kh3 e5 $2 {I don't know for
certain, but I think it is probable that this move throws away the win} (45...
a6 {likely the correct way of avoiding the repetition - with the idea of
pushing the b-pawn}) 46. Rf7+ Ke3 47. Kg4 e4 48. h5 Ra1 49. h6 Rh1 50. Kg5 Kd2
{not the best try, but let's examine an alternative} (50... a5 51. h7 $11 {The
black pawns are not far enough advanced to be able to beat White's rook once
Black sacks his rook for White's h pawn} b5 52. Kg6 Kd4 53. Rd7+ Kc4 54. Re7
Kd5 55. Rd7+ Kc6 56. Re7 {although it looks scary, White's rook will be able
to keep the pawns at bay}) 51. Rxa7 e3 52. Ra2+ (52. Rd7+) 52... Kd3 53. Ra3+
Ke4 54. Rb3 e2 55. Rxb6 e1=Q 56. Re6+ Kd5 57. Rxe1 Rxe1 58. Kf6 Rf1+ 59. Kg7
Ke6 60. h7 Rg1+ 61. Kh8 Ra1 62. Kg7 Ra7+ 63. Kh6 Ra8 64. Kg7 Ra7+ 65. Kh6 Rxh7+
66. Kxh7 {Credit to Jose Kagaoan for keeping his cool in a very tough position
and battling back to score the draw against his much higher rated opponent!}
1/2-1/2
