Alexander Baburin (2586) – D. Sharma (2377)
Commonwealth Ch, Bikaner India (2) 1999

1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 e3 Nf6 4 Bd3 e6 5 Nf3 Nbd7 6 Nbd2 c5 7 0–0 Also possible is 7 b3, aiming to play with Hanging Pawns. 7...cxd4 8 exd4 dxc4 9 Nxc4 Be7 10 Bf4! After the game I found only a couple of examples of this position, but they were poor. In both White developed his bishop to g5, which makes little sense here: with the knight on c4 it's better to play on the queenside. Russian master Nikolai Ryumin favoured this development of bishop to f4 in such positions. 10...0–0 11 Rc1 Nd5 I expected 11...Nb6, where I was going to choose between 12 Nxb6!? Qxb6 13 Qc2 and 12 Nce5. After 11...b6 White can play 12 Ne3, preparing to invade to c7. 12 Bg3 N7f6 13 a3! It's useful to take control over the b4-square. 13...h6? My opponent failed to find a suitable plan ... Both 13...Bd7 14 Qb3 b6 15 Nce5 and 13...b6 14 Nce5 Bb7 15 Qa4 leave White with serious initiative. 14 Re1 Ne8 15 Bb1 f5 16 Be5 Nef6 17 Ba2! Strictly speaking, that was the only move – otherwise some readers would have pointed to page 193 of my book Winning Pawn Structures, where I wrote: "Once the b1-h7 diagonal has been closed for your bishop, relocate it on to the neighbouring diagonal!". Should I not follow my own recommendation, some people might demand their money back! 17...Re8 Here White already has wide and very pleasant choice: 18 Bxf6 Bxf6 and then 19 Nce5 or 19 Ne3. The line I chose in the game is also very good – I already saw my 22nd move. 18 Ne3! Nxe3 19 Rxe3 Nd5 20 Bxd5! Qxd5 Better was 20...exd5, although after 21 Bc7!? Qd7 22 Ne5 Qe6 23 Nc6 Qf7 24 Nxe7+ Rxe7 25 Rxe7 Qxe7 26 Be5 Black’s position is very bad. Now it looks like Black is going well, but I something in mind, when exchanging Black’s knights: 21 Bxg7! Kxg7 22 Ne5+- Something is happening to my chess nowadays – somehow I’ve started looking for sharp lines! Seriously, I was pleased that I could see this attack when I played 18 Ne3!. 22...Bg5 23 Qh5 Even better was 23 Rc7+! Re7 (23...Kh8 24 Qh5) 24 Rxe7+ Bxe7 25 Qh5. However, I saw one winning line and did not bother to search for yet another. 23...Re7 24 Rg3 Qxd4 25 Rxg5+ hxg5 26 Qxg5+ Kf8 27 Qf6+! Kg8 28 Qxe7 Qxe5 29 Qd8+ Kf7 30 Rc7+ Bd7 31 Qxd7+ 1–0