Today's Canadian Game of the Week is James's round 2 win over another BC player, Ethan Low. It's annotated by Elias Oussedik.
[Event "World Open 2016"]
[Site "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"]
[Date "2016.07.01"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Li, James"]
[Black "Low, Ethan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "1753"]
[BlackElo "1686"]
[Annotator "Oussedik,Elias"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
{We welcome here Mr James Li from Vancouver, or should I say Mr.12K. I am sure
most of you are unfamiliar with the name. However, the young gun from the West
coast had the tournament of his life! What better place to have the tournament
of your life than the U1800 section of the World Open!} 1. c4 {Li is "only"
rated 1753 but is playing mature openings. Here he chooses the English opening.
} Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Nf3 e6 4. g3 b6 {Both White and Black seem to be classical
players. They are opting for a hedgehog type of setup. Extremely mature play
by these two 1700s.} 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O d6 {And the creature is born! Black's
idea in the hedgehog is to place his pieces on logical squares and patiently
wait for White to overextend. Typical piece placement for Black includes: a6,
Nbd7, Be7, Qc7, 0-0, Rc8, Rfe8 and then opt for a b5/d5 break once White
overextends.} 7. d4 {Even though this is the most common move and transposes
directly into a hedgehog, I find the move d3 more annoying to play against
when on the Black side.} (7. d3 {The idea of this move is to delay transposing
into known hedgehog lines. For Black players, this can confuse them as their
typical d5/b5 breaks don't work as well.} Be7 8. e4 O-O 9. Re1 Nc6 {A key move,
Black intends to play Nfd7 and Bf6 to firmly control d4.} 10. d4 $1 $14 {
Move order nuances to be aware of. White decides to transpose to a hedgehog
once the Black knight is on c6 and not on its ideal d7 square.}) 7... Nbd7 $2 {
A mistake. Black should be transposing into his spiny creature, the hedgehog,
with 7...cxd4} (7... cxd4 8. Qxd4 a6 9. Rd1 Be7 10. b3 {This position has been
seen thousands of times. Somewhere up above Polugaevsky is smiling.}) 8. d5 $1
$14 {This James Li guy is strong! He transposes to a favorable Benoni/KID
setup where Black's light squared bishop is imprisoned on b7.} e5 9. Ne1 {
Another nice positional decision by Mr. 12K. In these structures, White
usually opts for e4, Nd3 and f4. For a 1700, James Li knows these structures
quite well. What have they been feeding these 1700s on the West coast?} Be7 10.
f4 {Great stuff!} O-O 11. e4 Ne8 {Black is hoping to get his bishop to f6.
Likewise, Black is contemplating capturing the pawn on e5 with his own pawn
and then placing his knight on d6.} (11... exf4 $6 {Question for the reader,
would you capture on f4 with the pawn or bishop?} 12. gxf4 $14 {The pawn is
the correct choice! With the pawn, Black doesn't have control over the e5
square. Likewise, a key idea in this position for White is to push his pawn
with e5. A classic plan would follow Nd3-Re1 and e5. Black's light square
bishop is very passive on b7.}) 12. Nd3 Bf6 13. Qe2 $6 {A little dubious as
White's queen doesn't necessarily belong on e2. Qc2 would have accomplished
the same plan as Qe2 - connecting the rooks. However, in this position, White
can consider a plan such as f5 and then g4-g5. However, can the reader see why
f5 immediately might not be the best idea?} (13. Be3 {The idea is to continue
with Qd2 and then to push f5.} Nc7 {Black is trying to get counterplay with b5.
} 14. Qd2 $6 {A rushed decision.} (14. a4 a6 15. Qd2 Rb8 16. f5 $16 {White has
a crushing position. He will continue h4-g4-g5.}) 14... Ba6 15. b3 b5 {Black
gets his oh-so-necessary counterplay on the queenside.}) (13. f5 $6 Bg5 $1 $14
{This allows Black to exchange his bad bishop for White's good bishop.
Likewise, Black doesn't have much space so White shouldn't be eager in
allowing Black to exchange pieces so easily.}) 13... Qe7 14. Bd2 exf4 $2 {
A poor positional move. This allows James to potentially continue with an e5
push in the near future. Better would have been to continue with Nc7/Ba6 and
try to get counterplay with ...b5.} (14... Ba6 15. b3 Nc7 $14) 15. gxf4 {
Of course White takes with the g-pawn as he want to push e5.} g6 $2 {Too slow.
Black is trying to transpose into a Benoni down at least 5 tempi.} (15... Bd4+
{The bishop is safe on d4 as White can't easily kick it out.} 16. Kh1 a6 $14 {
Black should play for b5.}) 16. Rae1 {White missed the opportunity to play an
immediate e5!} (16. e5 $1 dxe5 17. Rae1 {White will take back on e5 with the
pawn and have a terrorizing center.}) 16... Bd4+ 17. Kh1 f6 $2 {A good idea,
in theory, trying to prevent White's deadly e5 push. However, this traps
Black's bishop on d4. James doesn't miss chances to snack on dark squared
bishops.} (17... a6 $14 {This move was necessary preventing the white knight
from attacking Black's dark squared bishop.}) 18. Nb5 $1 Ng7 19. Nxd4 cxd4 20.
Qf2 {White will pick up the d4 pawn and will have a pawn and the initiative.}
Rae8 21. Qxd4 $18 Bc8 22. Bc3 {Simple chess. Improve your worst piece and
prepare an e5 push in the near future to open the position for the two bishops.
A possible breakthrough with b4-c5 is an idea as well. Let's sit back and
watch James' Kramnik-esque technique.} Rf7 23. Bh3 Qf8 24. Nb4 Nc5 25. Bxc8
Rxc8 26. Nc6 Nh5 27. Kg1 Qh6 28. e5 {Elliott the e-pawn makes his push!} fxe5
29. fxe5 Qg5+ 30. Kh1 Rxf1+ 31. Rxf1 dxe5 32. Qxe5 Qxe5 33. Bxe5 Re8 34. Bd4
Re2 35. d6 {Peek-a-boo says Devin the d-pawn.} Ng7 36. Ne7+ {And it's mate on
f8 if Black's king moves to h8 and if not, Black needs to give up his rook on
e7. A wonderful game by James Li. This was James' second round game. He went
on to score a monstrous 8.5/9 and win clear 1st in the U1800 section of the
World Open. Way to go James!} 1-0
