Auckland Chess Centre

ACC Bulletin – 1 March 2010

Monday, March 1st, 2010 | News

The bulletin features games played during Round 3 of the Summer Cup on February 22nd

A reminder that the ACC Weekender tournament is coming up on the weekend of the 5th-7th of March.

Game of the week

Luke Li vs Hans Gao in B grade. Annotated by Ewen Green

(7) Li,Luke – Gao,Hans [D08]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 Now the “official” moves are g3, Nbd2, or a3. Luke chooses a rarely-played sideline. 5.Bg5 f6!? The most effective move in practice – White has a minus score from 13 games. 6.exf6 Nxf6 7.e3 Never been played before… 7…Bb4+ 8.Nbd2 dxe3?! Allowing White’s dark-squared bishop a safe retreat. [8...0–0!? 9.a3 Be7!?] 9.Bxe3 Bg4?! 10.Be2 Qd7?! Black should be castling short here – trying use his space and extra file to create a weakness or to dominate. His hoped-for kingside pawnstorm is nowhere near as fast as White’s on the queenside. 11.0–0 0–0–0 12.a3 Be7 13.Ng5 This forces some exchanges, but is not actually necessary. [13.b4!? is direct and very dangerous for Black.] 13…Bxe2 14.Qxe2 Rhg8 Ehhh? 15.Rad1 Qf5 16.Ndf3?! This should lose most of White’s advantage – Qf3 or b4 are both very good. 16…Rde8?! Avoiding exchanges is sensible when behind in material – provided it does not cost too much in time or co-ordination. Here it costs time and misses an opportunity to mess with White’s co-ordination. Part of the trouble with being behind in material is that the side with the extra material has an extra type of threat available – namely, offering equal exchanges of pieces. This explains a lot of Black’s later moves in the game – he simply has to keep pieces on the board. [16...h6!? is natural - pushing White's minor pieces onto unnatural squares. Black needs to find an unexpected move to make this work, though. 17.Nh4 Qg4! Unexpected and very useful. 18.Qxg4+ Nxg4 19.Ngf3 Nxe3 20.fxe3 Bf6 21.b4 Bb2! equalising. This is actually a typical Albin Counter Gambit scenario - White's queenside pawns becoming exposed and harassed.] 17.b4 From here, White dominates completely. 17…Nd7? Trying to create a threat…better was …h6 anyway. 18.Nh4! Qf6 19.Rxd7! Well spotted – a very nasty shot! White is now winning. 19…h6 Now White can gain two minor pieces for his rook, or support it in its dominating position. 20.Rfd1!? hxg5 21.Qg4 Kb8 22.Nf3 Ne5 23.Nxe5 Qxe5 24.R7d5 Qc3 25.R5d3 Qf6 26.Qd4 Qa6 27.Qd7 Bf6 28.Qd5 Qa4 29.Bxg5 Bxg5 30.Qxg5 a6 31.h3 Qc6 32.Qd5 Qf6 33.b5 g5 34.bxa6 Qxa6 35.Qb5 Qf6 Black avoids exchanges – but his King may object. 36.Rb1 b6 37.c5 Ka7 Black’s king is severely at risk here. Not surprisingly, there is a tactical killer available to White – but he does not need it, with all his other advantages. 38.cxb6+!? [38.Rd6! wins directly] 38…Qxb6 39.Qxb6+ cxb6 40.Rd6 Rb8 Black’s rooks are sorry fellows – but he must hang on to his pawns somehow, because White does not yet have a passed pawn. 41.Rb5 Rg7 42.Rf5 Rc8 43.Rdd5 Rcg8 44.Rd4 Rc8 45.Rdd5 Rcg8 46.Rd4 Rc8 47.Rg4 Rcg8 48.Rf3 Rc8 49.Rfg3 Rc1+ 50.Kh2 Rc2 51.Rxg5 Rxg5 52.Rxg5 Rxf2 53.h4 Rf8 54.h5 Rh8 55.g4 Kb7 56.Kg3 Kc7 57.Rg6 Ra8 58.h6 Rxa3+ 59.Kh4 Ra8 60.h7 Rh8 61.Rg7+ Kd6 62.g5 Ke6 63.g6 Black resigns 1–0

Highlighted games

(1) Taylor,Richard – Wu,Bill [C91]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 d6 7.d4 b5 8.Bb3 Bg4 9.c3 0–0 10.d5 Na5 11.Bc2 c6 12.dxc6 Nxc6 13.Be3 £d7 14.Nbd2 Rfb8 15.Rc1 Bd8 16.Nf1 h6 17.Re2 Bxf3 18.gxf3 Bb6 19.Rd2 Bxe3 20.fxe3 Rd8 21.Ng3 Ne7 22.Kh1 Rac8 23.Bb3 Rc6 24.£g1 a5 25.a3 g6 26.Rcd1 Rb6 27.Nf5 Nxf5 28.Qxg6+ Ng7 29.Qxf6 Kh7 30.Bxf7 Black resigns 1–0

(6) Michael,Andrew – Holdo,Karl [B50]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.c3 Nf6 5.£e2 a6 6.0–0 e6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Be7 12.Bf4 0–0 13.Rfd1 Bf6 14.Qe4 Re8 15.Ne5 Bd7 16.Bd3 g6 17.Ng4 Bg5 18.Qe3 Bxf4 19.Qxf4 Kg7 20.Re1 g5 21.Qg3 h5 22.Ne5 Nxe5 23.Qxe5+ Qf6 24.Qe4 Qf5 25.Qe2 Qg4 26.Qe5+ f6 27.Qc7 e5 28.dxe5 fxe5 29.Rxe5 Rxe5 30.Qxe5+ Kf7 31.Re1 Re8 32.Qd5+ Be6 33.Qxb7+ Re7 34.Qe4 Qxe4 35.Rxe4 Rc7 36.Re3 Bxa2 37.Bxa6 Ra7 38.Be2 Bd5 39.Bxh5+ Kf6 40.h3 Black resigns 1–0