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Richard Bates (2373) - Alexander Baburin (2586)
4 NCL (7), 20.03.1999, Birmingham
1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 g3 g6 During my brief preparation I saw that my
opponent had played the Catalan and lines of the English Opening with g3,
Nge2. So, I decided that he would not be too familiar with the Gruenfeld.
4 Bg2 Bg7 5 c4 0–0 6 0–0 dxc4 7 Na3 Nc6 8 Nxc4 Be6 9 b3
Apparently White had little knowledge about this line, as he spent 45 minutes
on moves 9–11, while they were known ... On the other hand, as White
I have been playing systems with g2-g3 that often, that nowadays I don't
mind playing them even on the other side! 9...Bd5 10 Bb2 a5 Black
wants to play ...a4 and if later White takes that pawn, then Black continues
with ...Ra6 and ...Qa8. This plan is easy to follow and this is what I had
in mind, when choosing the Gruenfeld Defence. 11 Nfe5 A good example
of Black's strategy in this system is the following game: 11 Rc1 a4 12 bxa4
Ra6 13 Nfe5 Bxg2 14 Kxg2 Qa8 15 Nxc6 bxc6 16 a5 c5+ 17 Kg1 Rd8 18 e3 cxd4
19 exd4 Ne4 20 Qf3 Bxd4 21 Bxd4 Rxd4 22 h4 Rf6 23 Qa3 c5 24 Rc2 g5 25 h5
g4 26 Ne5 Qc8 27 Qe3 Rfd6 28 Qf4 f5 29 Nc4 Rf6 30 Ne3 Nd2 31 Qg5+ Kh8 32
Rxd2 h6 0-1 Ivkov-Gheorghiu, Manila 1973. 11...Bxg2 12 Kxg2 Nxe5 I
was not afraid that White would recapture on e5 with a pawn. Of course, tastes
differ - for example, GM Dvoirys does not take on e5 here. 13 dxe5 Nd5
This position merits a discussion. The move 13 dxe5 was quite ambitious -
the e5-pawn gives White certain spatial advantage. This advantage can be
very important if there are many pieces still left on the board. However,
as pieces come off the board, Black's pawn majority on the queenside becomes
more and more important. I was quite familiar with the classical game
Reshevsky-Fine, AVRO 1938, where a similar pawn structure arose. This helped
me to judge that 12...Nxe5 should be fine for Black - many pieces have been
exchanged. Black needs to remember about his g7-bishop though - eventually
either the e5-pawn should be removed or the bishop should be relocated to
another diagonal. 14 e4 Kicking the knight away White weakens the
d3-square. 14...Nb4 15 Qg4 [15 Qe2 Qd3] 15...Qc8 Here I also
considered 15...h5, but 16 Qf3 Qd3 17 Rfd1 leads Black nowhere. The move
15...b5 would have led to the same position as in the game, after 16 Rfd1
Qc8 17 Qxc8 Rfxc8. The text move is probably the most flexible. 16 Qxc8
Also possible was 16 Qe2, where Black can choose between 16...Rd8 and play
with 16...b5, followed by ...Qb7. 16...Rfxc8 17 Rfd1 b5 I spent 11
minutes on this move and came to a conclusion that the c4-knight had to be
pushed away. However, this move weakens Black's pawns and therefore is
double-edged. Perhaps 17...a4!? should have been preferred. 18 Ne3 Rd8
19 Rxd8+? Giving up the d-file does not look right to me. After 19 Nd5
c6 Black can still fight for an edge in the lines 20 Nxe7+ 20...Kf8 21 a3
Rxd1 22 Rxd1 Kxe7 23 axb4 axb4 24 Rc1!? Rc8 25 Bd4 Ke8 or 21 Rxd8+ Rxd8 22
a3 Kxe7 23 axb4 axb4 24 Ra7+ Ke8. But after 20 Nb6! Rab8 (20...Rxd1 21 Rxd1
Re8 22 a4) 21 Nd7 Rbc8 22 Nb6 Black may be better off to repeat the position.
The latter line was missed by both players. 19...Rxd8 20 a3 Nc6 There
was no point in allowing a pin after 20...Nd3 21 Rd1. 21 Rc1 Black is also
better after 21 Nd5 Nxe5 22 Nxc7 (after 22 Bxe5 Bxe5 23 Rc1 Bd6 White is
in trouble.) 22...Rd2 23 Bc3 Rc2 24 Nxb5 Ng4. 21...Rd2! In the post-mortem
my opponent said that he had missed this move. 22 Bc3 The line 22
Ba1 Nxe5 23 Rxc7 Nd3 24 Rc8+ Bf8 was also in Black's favour, for example:
25 Ng4 h5 26 Nh6+ Kh7 27 Rxf8 Rxf2+ 28 Kg1 Kxh6 29 Bc3 Rc2 30 Bxa5 Ne5.
22...Ra2 23 Be1 Or 23 Ra1 Rxa1 24 Bxa1 Bxe5 25 Bxe5 Nxe5 26 Nd5 c5
and Black is better, as his pawn majority on the queenside counts for more
than White's extra pawn on the other flank here. 23...Nxe5 24 Bxa5?
Black is better after 24 Rxc7 Nd3 25 Bxa5 Rxf2+, but now he has a winning
blow: 24...Rxf2+! 25 Kxf2 Nd3+ 26 Kg2 Nxc1 27 Bxc7 Nxb3 28 Nd5 e6–+
29 Ne7+ Kf8 30 Nc8 Nd2 31 Na7 Nxe4 32 Nxb5 Ke7 33 a4 Kd7 34 a5 Nc3 35 Nxc3
0–1 Time: 1.59–1.30 |
