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King's Gambit
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
 
Annotated Game

N.N. - Lassila, T. (B19 - Caro-Kann, Classical)

1.e4 c6

The Caro-Kann is my standard defense against 1. e4, but I often vary depending on the opponent. Here I happened to know my opponent was a fierce tactician who wasn't afraid to sacrifice for an attack, so I decided to play a more closed and positional opening just to be safe.

2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6

Continuing on the main line. White is building a small but sure edge.

7.Nf3 Nd7 8.Bc4 e6

This continuation is rarely seen. White wants to put immediate pressure on my kingside, but of course I'm not going to castle into her attack. Instead I consolidate my king position in the centre and then seek counterplay on the queenside.

By not exchanging light-square bishops White hopes to exploit my "problem bishop", but for now it's quite comfortably placed on g6.

9.Be3 Ngf6

Here 9...Qb6 10. h5 Bh7 11. O-O Qxb2?! 12. Rb1 Qc3 13. Qe2 is dangerous for Black since I can no longer safely castle on the queenside due to the open b-file. White also wins a lot of time chasing my queen around.

10.Qe2 Qa5+

I try to position my queen to excert pressure on b2 and to lure White's bishop off of e3 to the less useful square d2. Had I played conventionally, White gets a good position after 10...Bd6 11.O-O-O O-O 12.Ne5.

11.Bd2 Qb6 12.O-O-O Bd6

The queen's manouevre has lost some time but it has accomplished one thing: to get my opponent to castle queenside. This is according to my plans as it's easier to get counterplay if the White king is not huddled on g1 behind all those pawns.

13.Be3 Qc7

An alternative was 13.Ne5 Bxe5 14.dxe5 Nd5 15.h5 Bh7. Here I can get into some trouble by castling too freely. After 13...O-O-O?! 14.d5 c5 15.dxe6 fxe6 16.Bxe6 Bxg3 17.Bxd7+ Nxd7 18.fxg3 by king is pretty unsafe and this kind of position against this particular opponent did not seem enticing.

14.h5 Bh7

White has amassed lots of space in the center and now I must simply wait and see where she attacks, then hopefully bring my king out to safety.

15. Rhe1 O-O

Finally conceding to the kingside hoping that my control on the squares b5, d5 and f5 is enough to deter any White attacking plans. As we can soon see, the attack is comingly rapidly. I can win the pawn at f2 at any time, but this would be suicide as parting with the dark-squared bishop would a create massive vulnerability in my position.

16.Kb1 Rfe8

Bxe6 was a constant threat, though it doesn't quite work yet. For example 16...a5 17.Bxe6? fxe6 18.Bxh6 gxh6 19.Qxe6+ Kh8 20.Nf5 Bb4 21.c3 Rae8 and the attack has stalled, Black wins.

17.Qd2 Kf8

Now White's plan of attack is clear, and involves a piece sacrifice on h6. I don't want my king to get stuck on h8 so His Majesty beats a hasty retreat.

Position after 17...Kf8

18.Ne5! Nxe5 19.dxe5 Bxe5

Pawn sacrifice to open some lines before the attack. Very nice play from White here.

20.Bxh6 gxh6?!

Here I did consider the defense 20...Red8 21.Bxg7+ Kxg7 22.Qg5+ Kh8 23.Rxd8+ Rxd8 24.h6 Ne8, but didn't like the king in the corner. Maybe this would have been a better alternative, though.

21. Qxh6+ Ke7 22.Bd3? Bxd3?

Mutual blunders in a sharp position. Absolutely winning was 22...Bf4! and Black nets the queen for two bishops, due to 23. Qg7?? Rg8. Missing my opportunity I must now struggle on bitterly to save my king.

23.Rxd3 Bxg3 24.fxg3 Rad8?

Or 24.Rxg3 Rh8 25.Qe3 Rxh5. My move was a mistake, which gives White concrete chances to win. Much better was 24...Rh8 25.Rxe6+ Kxe6 26.Re3+ Kd7 27.Qxf6 Rae8 28.Qxf7+ Kd8 29.Qf6+ Kc8 and Black wins.

25.Rf3 Nd5 26.Qg5+ Kd7

Here it gets extremely tricky, but it appears that after 26.c4! Rc8 27.cxd5 cxd5 28.Rxf7+ Kxf7 29.Qh7+ Kf6 30.Qg6+ Ke7 31. Rxe6+ Kf8 32.Rf6+ Ke7 33.Rf7+ Kd8 34.Qg5+ Re7 35.Rf8+ Kd7 36.Qxd5+ Qd6 37.Qxd6+ Kxd6 38.Rxc8 White gains a winning endgame with precise play. After 26.Qg5+ if 26...f6 then 27.Qg7+ Kd6.

27. Rxf7+ Re7 28.Rxe7+ Nxe7 29.Qf6 Qd6 30.g4 Kc7 31.a3 Ng8 32.Qxe6 Qxe6 33. Rxe6 Kd7

Enticing White to play Rg6 when I have calculated that Black can just and just hold the draw.

34.Rg6 Ne7 35.Rg7 Rg8

Computers get absolutely crazy here, because they think the white pawns are unstoppable. But I calculated that with good defense, the white king can be prevented from penetrating to the queenside.

36.Rxg8 Nxg8

Position after 36...Nxg8

As a reward for her fierce attack, White has three passed pawns for my knight. Ordinarily such a fight would be heavily weighed against the poor knight, but here the distance of the white king allows for some hopes of drawing with precise play.

37.g5 Ke6 38.h6 Ne7

A key position. Now the knight can stop all three pawns, leaving my king to duel with his counterpart on the white side.

39.g4 Ke5 40.Kc1 a5

Here we have reached an almost study-like position where the lines go 10-15 moves deep. An alternative plan is to gobble up the kingside pawns while White makes a beeline to the queenside. Play might go:

40...Kf4!? 41.h7 Ng6 42.Kd2 Kxg4 43.Kc3 Kxg5 44.Kc4 b6 45.b4 Ne5+ 46. Kd4 Nf7 47.a4 Kh6 48.b5 c5+ 49.Kd5 Kxh7 50.Kc6 Ne5+ 51.Kb7 Kg7 52.Kxa7 Nc4 53.Kb7 Kf6 54.Kc6 Ke5 55.a5 bxa5 56.Kxc5 Nd6 and draws, but the position at Black's 40th move deserves to be studied more deeply.

41.Kd2 Ke4 42.Kc3 b5 43.b4 a4 44.Kd2 Ng6 45.h7 Kd4

Locking my knight in place - or so my opponent thinks. However the knight still controls the squares c4, d3, e2 and g2 by driving the white king away from those squares with check. An important subtlety that I later employ to my advantage.

46.c3+ Ke4 47.Ke2 Kf4 48.Kd3 Ke5 49.c4 Nf4+ 50.Kc3 Ng6 51.cxb5 cxb5 52.Kd3 Kd5

The position is now a dead draw. However, out of courtesy (I offered a draw on move 37), I wait for my opponent to offer the draw and what happens next astounds both players.

53.Kc3 Ke4 54.Kd2 Kd4 55.Kc2 Kc4 56.Kb2? Kd3

But this is all wrong! The only move was the simple 56. Kd2, as Black goes wrong with 56...Kb3? 57. Ke3 Kxa3 58. Ke4 Kxb4 59. Kf5 Ne7+ 60. Kf6 Nd5+ 61. Ke6 Nf4+ 62. Kf7 a3 63. h8=Q and the Black pawn never reaches the second rank. Therefore he must maintain opposition with 56...Kd4. If White tries to route through the king side Black should still just draw with:

56...Kd4 57. Ke2 Ke4 58. Kf2 Kf4 59. Ke2 Kxg4 60. Ke3 Kxg5 61. Kd4 Kh6 62. Kc5 Kxh7 63. Kxb5 Kg7 64. Kxa4 and draws.

Now it's a simple job of shouldering the white king into the corner and to the victor go the spoils. For a moment I considered conceding a draw to my opponent as a recognition for entertaining play, but didn't like the idea of giving away points for my team. Caissa must have wept that night.

57.Kc1 Kc3 58.Kb1 Kb3 59.Ka1 Kxa3 60. Kb1 Kxb4 61.Ka2 Ka5 62.Kb2 b4 0-1

A tragic finale to a beautiful game that in all fairness should have ended in a draw.


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