This week's game was played in the 4th round of the Quebec Carnaval Tournament, where tournament leader and eventual winner GM Bator Sambuev built up a promising attack against FM Olivier-Kenta Chiku-Ratte, before rushing with a piece sacrifice that could have backfired. Black chooses the wrong continuation and immediately gets punished. Enjoy!
[Event "Quebec Carnaval Tournament"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.02.21"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Sambuev, Bator"]
[Black "Chiku-Ratte, Olivier-Kenta"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2582"]
[BlackElo "2413"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.20"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 Ne4 (7...
d6 {is way more common and usually reaches a Hedgehog after} 8. e4 a6 9. d4
cxd4 10. Nxd4 Qc7 11. Be3 Nbd7 12. Rc1 O-O) 8. d4 Nxc3 9. bxc3 d6 10. e4 (10.
d5 {was also possible, to get a Benoni-like structure with the bishop on b7
locked in after} exd5 11. cxd5 O-O 12. c4) 10... cxd4 11. cxd4 O-O 12. Bb2 Nd7
13. Nd2 {An interesting idea, although perhaps a little slow. White realizes
the knight is not doing much on f3, and decides to bring it to e3 (from where
it will control the key squares d5 and f5) via d2 and f1.} e5 ({A commital
decision, as it significantly weakens the d6 pawn and the d5 and f5 squares.
On the other hands, Black will have nice squares for the knight and some
pressure on c4, while the alternative} 13... Rc8 14. Rc1 Qc7 15. Nf1 Nf6 16.
Qd3 Rfd8 17. Ne3 {leaves White with a pleasant space advantage.}) 14. Nf1 exd4
15. Bxd4 Nc5 16. Ne3 Ne6 ({The knight had some utility on c5, as it was
putting pressure on e4. It might have been better to make simple developping
moves like} 16... Rc8 17. Rc1 Re8 {followed by ...Bf8 or ...Bf6.}) 17. Bb2 Rc8
18. Rc1 Re8 19. Rc2 Bf8 20. Rd2 Qg5 21. Nf5 Rxc4 22. h4 Qd8 23. Ne3 (23. Nxd6 {
was better, as after} Bxd6 24. Rxd6 Qc7 25. Rd7 {the open position favours
White's bishop pair. The dark-squares bishop is particularly strong and gives
White good attacking chances on the kingside.}) 23... Rc7 24. Qg4 ({Of course
the attacking set-up with Qg4 and Nf5 is tempting, but as we will see in the
game removing the defenders of the c2 square allows Black to obtain some
counterplay with ...Qc8 and ...Rc2. Instead White could have tried} 24. Nd5
Bxd5 25. Rxd5 Rc5 26. Rd2 {where the bishop pair and the pressure on d6 fully
compensate the pawn deficit}) 24... Qc8 25. Nf5 g6 26. h5 Rc2 27. Qe2 $2 ({A
serious oversight, although the position is no longer as promising for White
as it was a few moves ago.} 27. Ree2 {would have led to a wild and highly
unclear position after} Rxb2 28. Rxb2 Nd4 29. Red2 Qc1+ 30. Kh2 Bc8 {where
both players would have had their share of chances}) 27... Rxd2 $2 ({Black
misses the powerful} 27... Rxb2 $1 {after which White is simply lost:} 28. Rxb2
gxf5 29. exf5 Ng7 30. Qd2 Rxe1+ 31. Qxe1 Bxg2 32. Kxg2 Qxf5 {and White has
absolutely no compensation for the material deficit.}) 28. Qxd2 gxf5 29. exf5
h6 30. fxe6 Rxe6 31. Rc1 Qa8 32. Bh3 (32. Bxb7 {would have given a huge
advantage, but White was probably worried Black might get counterplay after}
Qxb7 33. Qd4 Re5 34. f4 Qf3 {In fact White has everything covered, for example}
35. fxe5 Qxg3+ 36. Kf1 Qf3+ 37. Qf2 Qd3+ 38. Kg1 dxe5 39. Bxe5 Bc5 40. Kh1 Qh3+
41. Qh2 Qf3+ 42. Qg2+ {but over the board 32.Bh3 may have been the safest
option.}) 32... Bf3 ({Of course Black can't allow} 32... Re8 33. Qd4 Re5 34. f4
{, especially as now ...Qf3 is not available}) 33. Bxe6 fxe6 34. Qd3 Qe4 35.
Qxe4 Bxe4 {Black's pawns are weak and not far enough to create any real threat,
so the ending is clearly winning.} 36. Rc7 a5 37. a4 e5 38. Ba3 Bf3 39. Rd7
Bxh5 40. Bxd6 Bg7 41. Bc7 Be8 42. Rd6 Bxa4 43. Bxb6 Kf7 44. Bxa5 Bf8 45. Rb6
Bd1 46. Bc3 e4 47. Rf6+ Kg8 48. g4 {A very important move. White prevents
Black from establishing some kind of blockade with ...h5 and ...Bf3, after
which it would be much harder for White to make progress.} Bf3 49. Bd4 h5 50.
g5 h4 51. Rb6 Bh5 52. g6 h3 53. Kh2 Bg4 54. Rb8 e3 55. g7 1-0
