This year's Edmonton International featured its strongest field ever. When I played the event back in 2009, the tournament boasted a 2600+ rated player (Victor Mikhalevski). He was back again this year, along with Eric Hansen, and two 2700s, Lazaro Bruzon and Nigel Short. FM Dale Haessel, always a dangerous opponent, nearly scored the upset of his career in a topsy-turvy game against Nigel Short in the last round. You don't want to miss this one!
[Event "8th Edmonton International"]
[Site "Edmonton - Canada"]
[Date "2013.07.01"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Haessel, Dale"]
[Black "Short, Nigel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A10"]
[WhiteElo "2171"]
[BlackElo "2682"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[TimeControl "5400"]
1. Nf3 b6 2. c4 Bb7 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 {Provocative} Bxf3 {Black does not allow
white to get away with standard development and promptly doubles his pawns.
The ensuing pawn structure is not often seen.} 5. exf3 c5 6. d4 {This would
not be my first plan in this position. I can understand that white wanted to
open up the position to benefit from his two bishops, but I believe he should
have done so with 6.f4 and Bg2, 0-0 etc.} cxd4 7. Qxd4 Nc6 {It is for this
reason that I am not a fan of 6.d4. Black gets tempi developing by attacking
white's queen and then putting pressure on c4} 8. Qd3 Rc8 9. f4 {logical.
keeps the knight out of e5 and prepares to fiancetto} Qc7 (9... Nb4 10. Qd1 Nf6
11. a3 Nc6 12. b3 $14 {I suppose Nigel Short didn't like this position, and I
don't blame him. White's doubled pawns seem to be an advantage here in that
they open lines and cover the key e5 square}) 10. Nb5 Qb8 11. Bg2 Nf6 12. O-O
a6 13. Nc3 Be7 14. b3 O-O 15. Bb2 Rfd8 16. Rfd1 {Honestly, I'm a bit confused.
This position is starting to look pretty comfortable for white, but I can't
really see any mistakes from black.} Ne8 17. f5 {I probably would have waited
on this move, but it shows that Dale was ready for a fight} (17. Rac1) 17...
Nd6 18. fxe6 (18. f6 $5 gxf6 19. Qe3 Ne5 20. Qh6 {it's tough to evaluate this
position, but white looks like he's doing well despite the sacrificed pawn})
18... dxe6 19. Qe2 Bf6 20. Ne4 {Understandable. ...Nd4 looked a bit worrisome}
Bxb2 21. Qxb2 Nf5 22. Qa3 a5 (22... Nfd4 $1 {This move forces white to deal
with the ...Nc2 threat and allows black time to double rooks on the d-file.})
23. Nc3 Ncd4 24. Qb2 h5 25. Rd3 Rc7 26. Rad1 Rcd7 27. Kh1 {And we have an
approximately equal position well into the middlegame. Considering the 500
point rating gap, this has to be considered a success for white.} Qc7 28. Qd2
Rd6 $2 {I feel a bit silly attaching question marks to moves made by top GMs,
but this just drops a pawn..} (28... g6 {was more prudent}) 29. Qg5 {and g6 is
clearly impossible due to Ne4 and 1-0} b5 $2 {Trying to create complications,
but this is just bad.} 30. c5 (30. Ne4 bxc4 31. bxc4 $18) 30... R6d7 31. Ne4
Kf8 32. Qxh5 {Let's take stock. White is up a pawn, has a bishop for a knight,
and is battling against a weak black king. Black should be lost here, but he
manages to escape this game with a draw.} Rd5 33. Qh8+ (33. Ng5 $1 {a hard
move to find. It appears that white is simply giving away c5} Rxc5 34. Be4 {
and black is actually dead lost. The immediate threat is to take the knight on
f5. Black is paralyzed by the pin on the d-file}) 33... Ke7 34. Qh7 Qb8 $1 {A
good attempt at staying in the game, especially if time was a factor here.} 35.
Nd6 $2 {and Dale spoils his huge advantage.} (35. Qh3 $18 {and black can only
play for tricks}) 35... Rh8 {the point of black's previous move. It is
important to always ask oneself "what is my opponent's threat?"!} 36. Nxf5+
Nxf5 37. Qxh8 Qxh8 38. Bxd5 exd5 39. Rxd5 {It is actually impressive that
white held it together and got a draw from this game. From personal experience,
I know that blowing a win like that will very negatively affect play for the
rest of the game} Qa8 40. Kg1 g6 41. Rd7+ Ke8 42. Rc7 Qe4 43. Rc8+ Ke7 44. c6
Kf6 {Black misses his chance to put the game away.} (44... Nd4 $1 45. c7 Nf3+
46. Kg2 Ng5+ 47. Kf1 (47. Kg1 Nh3+ 48. Kf1 Qf5 $19) 47... Qh1+ 48. Ke2 Qf3+ 49.
Ke1 Qc6 {and black will win the c7 pawn and with it the game after ...Ne4 and .
..Nd6}) 45. Rcd8 Qc2 46. R1d2 Qc1+ $2 (46... Qxc6 {and there is no} 47. g4 Qc1+
48. Rd1 Qg5) 47. Rd1 {and now c6 is immune} Qc3 48. R8d3 Qc2 49. R3d2 Qc3 50.
Rd3 Qb2 51. R3d2 Qc3 52. Rd3 {It seems to me that white could have claimed a
draw by repetition here...} Qxc6 53. g4 Qe4 54. gxf5 Qxf5 55. Rd6+ Kg7 56. R6d4
Qc8 57. Kg2 Kh6 58. R1d3 Qc6+ 59. f3 f5 60. Rd2 Qc3 61. R2d3 Qe1 62. a4 b4 63.
Rd8 Qe2+ 64. Kg3 Qe1+ 65. Kg2 Kg5 66. R8d4 Qe2+ 67. Kg1 f4 68. Rd8 Qb2 69. R8d7
Qe2 70. R3d5+ Kh6 71. Rd3 Kg5 72. R3d5+ Kh6 73. Rd3 {One of the most confusing
games I've analyzed for GOTW. I thought that black was getting a good position
out of the opening, but the opposite happened. Then, after a somewhat equal
position, white quickly got a winning advantage after some very
uncharacteristic blunders by a super GM. He missed one of black's only tries (.
..Qb8 and ...Rh8) and still managed to draw after Nigel failed to capitalize
on a few endgame chances.} 1/2-1/2
