A Shocking Combination

All Things Chess
1

… by my opponent on FICS. I publish losses because if my playing strength is consistent from game to game, the losses will be better games than the wins.

[Event “ICS Unrated Chess Match”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2011.06.26”]
[Round “?”]
[White “GuestARTI”]
[Black “GuestTKCH”]
[TimeControl “120+12”]
[Result “0-1”]

  1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Na5 6. Nxe5 Nxb3 7. axb3
    Qe7 8. d4 d6 9. Nf3 Qxe4+ 10. Be3 Nf6 11. Nc3 Qb7 12. O-O b4 13. Ne2 g6
  2. c4 bxc3 15. bxc3 Bg7 16. c4 Rb8 17. Ra3 O-O 18. d5 Re8 19. Nfd4 Bd7
  3. Qc2 Ng4 21. Bd2 c5 22. dxc6 Bxc6 23. Nxc6 Rxe2 24. Nxb8 Nxf2 25. Rxf2
    Bd4 26. b4 Rxf2
    {GuestARTI resigns} 0-1

Comments: I don’t know this opening very well, but it seems I cannot prevent Black from regaining the pawn. 11 …Qb7 stopped any cheapos based on taking the b5 pawn. I thought 12 … b4 looked too loosening for him so I was glad to see it. He thought a long time about 13 … g6. I was happy with my move 17. Ra3 even though it’s stuck because it does the job, keeps an eye on the a6 pawn, escapes any possible long diagonal cheapos that may arise, and there’s no way at all that he can attack it. And around move 18 I was very comfortable, I’ve played positions like this 100 times before and all I have to do is put the pieces on good squares and no counterplay is effective. Moves 20 and 21 are defensive but it doesn’t matter because counterplay won’t succeed. On move 23 things were going as expected and I was cruising along on autopilot, when I got a shock, 23 …Rxe2! taking the wrong knight!

Well I assumed this was a miscalculation but there’s nothing else to do anyway (24. Na5, Qb6) so 24. Nxb8 Nxf2!

Look at this position, I’m a rook up, I’m not in check, my pieces are on normal-looking squares, but I can’t move anything and I can’t stop Bd4. My queen can’t go to d3, e4, f5 or even d1, no useful squares at all. My bishop is pinned to the queen so it can’t do the automatic Bc3 to fight Black’s bishop. So 25. Rxf2 Bd4 and I realized that if 26. Qd3 Rxf2 27. Qxd4 his queen is on just the right square for Qxg2 mate! I saw nothing to do and played a random move: 26. b4 Rxf2 and resigned.

And so he DID exploit my rook’s move to a3 back on move 17. If it were somewhere on the first rank, I could have covered things with Rf1. And I was wrong, there was dangerous counterplay, and he found it!

2

I would’ve seriously considered trading the white bishop: 6. Bxf7… for 2 pawns and a really missplaced black king. Looking at a couple variations, it looks hard for black not to give up at least one more pawn and a very hard to defend position.

3

Thanks for the comment. I’m not sure what variations you have in mind and would be happy to respond to specifics, but looks OK to me for Black if he’s careful for a couple moves. White has not much development to mount an attack, and even if White gets 3 pawns, generally speaking an extra piece so early can be superior.