Here is a game and analisis from Brian Wall
[Event "2006 Denver Round Robin"]
[Site "Tabor Center, Denver, CO"]
[Date "2006.07.01"]
[Round "3"]
[White "brianwall"]
[Black "Robert Ramirez"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2222"]
[BlackElo "2047"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Najdorf, Lipnitzky attack"]
[ECO "B86"]
[NIC "SI.13"]
[Time "12:14:08"]
[TimeControl "Game/70 minutes 5 second delay"]
There is something very strange going on in Colorado Chess,
some kind of ghostly mismanagement - everything looks the
same until you realize the TDs and organizers are cardboard
cutouts and mannequins stuffed with dust that tip over if
you breathe on them. The Denver Open usually brings in over
100 people - my section had 6! so I call it the 2006 Denver Round Robin.
2006 Denver Round Robin
Game/70 plus 5 second delay
Round 3
Board 1
July 1, 2006
Opening - I don't know who decided the 6 Bc4 Najdorf was the Lipnitsky Attack -
I think of it as the Sozin or the Fischer Attack. I consider the Bc4, Bg5
approach the Rabid Patzer Attack.
White - Brian Wall 2222
Black - Robert Ramirez 2047,
exhausted after one of his wild Latin nights
I was half an hour late helping Anthea recover from a postmortem.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bg5
I thought I read ages ago in Chess Life that all kinds of terrible things
happened to White if he tried this ultra aggressive approach - things like
.. Be7 and ... Qa5 and ... h6 and ... N:e4 and ... Ng4. So how could
Nisipeanu crush 2719 Grischuk and draw 2661 Karjakin with a weak discredited
system in the very latest 2006 Foros, Ukraine tournament?
7 ... Be7 8.Qf3
I know plunking the Queen down in front of the f2-pawn is a very old idea
but I had not tried it before so it seemed very exotic and chic to me.
It was like trying a new Salsa dance, I had no idea how it would work out.
8 ... Qc7 9. Bb3 Nc6
I was thinking here Chess positions don't really matter, I just win by move
technique, meaning I consider every legal move each turn so that gives
me a huge edge over the normal Chessplayer who just analyzes 2 or 3
reasonable moves each time. Me playing in Colorado is like putting Rybka
( 3002 rated computer ) against a third grader.
10. O-O-O O-O 11. Kb1 TN Wall
Theoretical Novelty by Brian Wall
Most kids my age toyed with the Najdorf in the Fischer era.
Playing the White side of a Sicilian is the quickest way to
lose a Chessgame I know. The problem is right here - it is
so easy to make a move that is good in some variations and
bad in others. While White is horribly misplacing his pieces
Black just puts his in the normal spots and waits to see what
damage White has done to himself. Finding the most flexible
move for White in the Najdorf is an incredibly subtle task.
I considered a lot of moves - 11 Kb1 seemed like
a useful defensive move however I chose to attack.
some ideas -
1 - Rhe1 and Qg3 to sac after ... b5 and pick up 3 pawns for a
piece with N:b5 and N:d6, an old idea first played by Bronstein,
I think and quickly copied in a Fischer-Najdorf game.
2 - Rhe1 to pressure ... Be7 with Nf5-Nd5 ideas like Velimirovic
3 - h4 Fishing Pole ideas allowing ... h6 and ... hg
4 - g4 pawn storm
5 - Qg3 to free the f-pawn
If I had computer help I could have reviewed the Fritz 8 choices -
11 N:c6, Qg3, Kb1, Rhe1, h4, a3, Be3,
Rhf1, Rd2, Nce2, h3, Rhg1, g4 and Ba4
or the human database choices
3 11 Qg3
2 11 h4
1 11 h3
1 11 Rhg1
Fritz choice #1 is anti-human, strengthening Black's center with 11 N:c6 bc
11 Qg3 seems fairly flexible
I was afraid 11 Rhe1 or h4 might be too committal -
my rook is needed on h1 to make the Fishing Pole ideas work,
11 h4 might be irrelevant if Robert attacks on the Queenside or center.
Robert is already better than me in 3 minute Chess, we have studied and played
together many times, he has thousands of Najdorf games under his belt like me
at his age. David Wallace calls Robert's blitz style "disgusting, he doesn't do
anything, he just tries to kill your ideas and win on time". Robert can attack
very well, he just likes to keep his Chess sound. He can be very frustrating to
play, he sees your attack better than you do and stifles it effectively.
Playing into Robert's current favorite opening was scary - he led the 2006
Colorado Closed for most of the tournament.
I didn't like 11 g4 much because clearing the g4-pawn's path to g5 with
12 B:f6 B:f6 hangs the d4-knight
If I had this position again I think I
would go with the human favorite of 11 Qg3
I had used two minutes thinking time total so far.
----------------------------------------------------------
11 ... Bd7
----------------------------------------------------------
A typical Najdorf tactics contest occurs after
11 ... b5 12 N:c6 Q:c6 13 Nd5 ed 14 B:f6 de!!
15 Qf4 B:f6 16 Bd5 Qc5 17 B:a8 Be6
18 B:e4 Qc4 19 B:h7+ K:h7 20 Q:c4 bc
turns out in Robert's favor.
11 ... b5 12 N:c6 Q:c6 13 Nd5 ed 14 B:f6 de!!
15 Qe3! looks about equal
11 ... b5 12 N:c6 Q:c6 13 Nd5 ed 14 B:f6 de!!
15 Qe3! B:f6 16 Bd5 Qc5 17 B:a8 Q:e3 18 fe Bg4
19 B:e4 B:d1 20 R:d1 Re8=
11 ... b5 12 N:c6 Q:c6 13 Nd5 ed 14 B:f6 de!!
15 Qe2 B:f6 16 Bd5 Qc5 17 B:a8
looks equal/unclear
Fritz 8 choices -
11 ... Na5!!, ... Bd7!!, ... h6!, ... N:d4!,
... Rb8, ... Rd8, ... Ne5, ... b5, ... Nd7,
... Kh8, ... Re8 and ... b6
Robert has uded 7 minutes total thinking time so far.
12. Qg3!!
I spent 10 minutes on this one.
The most flexible move.
Robert had plenty of playable alternatives
all game so I hardly refuted the Najdorf but
Robert's next move refuted himself.
12 ... Rfd8???
felt like playing against myself a time warp -
35 years ago I beat David Jellison in a critical
Colorado Junior CHampionship game by putting my
rooks on ... d8 and ... c8 in a Scheveningen.
My next move is tough to see if you just consider
the 2 or 3 reasonable most reasonable looking moves
like 95% of Colorado but impossible to miss if you
consider every legal move like the elite. I found it
in 3 minutes because I had already tried to make it
work with Rhe1.
13. Nf5!!!
De Groot discovered that Chessplayers often move their pieces
to the exact same squares as the Grandmasters but in the wrong
order. That's what Anthea did when Robert and I tested her here.
She found the correct move order with a little prompting.
13 ... exf5!
Only move.
The obnoxious f5-knight was attacking everything in sight.
14. Bxf6!
Only move.
14 ... Bxf6!
Only move.
15. Nd5!
Only move.
15 ... Qa5
Here is another example where just my normal move technique
discovered a move Robert didn't. I showed him
15 ... Be5! 16 N:c7 B:g3 17 N:a8 B:f2 18 R:d6? fe!
" which is how I would have won as Black ".
I can easily improve this line for White -
15 ... Be5 16 f4!! Qa5-c8-b8 17 fe
15 ... Be5 16 f4!! B:f4 17 Q:f4
15 ... Be5 16 N:c7! B:g3! 17 N:a8! B:f2!
18 Rhf1!! Bc5-d4 19 Nc7
So the unreasonable looking 15 .... Be5! isn't so hot but
it's better than Robert's automatic move. The point is to
look beneath the surface. Ugly faces might house beautiful souls.
15 ... Qa5 highlights the hidden problem with
the automatic developing move 12 ... Rfd8??? -
it blocks 15 ... Qd8! here -
hard to see if you just make a cursory glance.
Robert actually thought 5 minutes on
12 ... Rfd8 so my reply completely shocked him.
Kasparov -
The Queen belongs near the King
and 12 ... Rfd8?? separated them.
16. Nxf6+!
Only move
16 ... Kh8!
Only move.
17. Rd5
My intention from afar was just 17 N:d7 to win a pawn.
I had a weird instinct here to play 17 N:h7!!! but
decided I was probably a bit loopy from too many Fishing Pole.
I thought, " Wow, I was right after all, what made me consider that move?! "
after Fritz showed me all the beautiful variations after the game.
17 N:h7!!! Be8 18 Rd5 K:h7 19 ef!!! Qc7 20 f6!!! mating
17 N:h7!!! Be8 18 Rd5, Nf6, Nf8, Ng5, Qh3, Qh4 and ef all win
17 N:h7!!! Ne5 18 Ng5!!!!!, Rd5!!!, f4!!!,
R:d6!!!, Qh4!!!, ef and Qh3 all win
17 N:h7!!! K:h7 18 B:f7!! g5!
19 Q:g5, Rd5 or Q:d6 are all killers
I considered the knockout punch 17 N:h7!!! Ne5 18 Ng5
and I thought - OK, I'm a pawn up, so what, I'm a pawn up
in every line. I should have considered the number of
bodyguards ( pawns near the Black King ) and then I might
have seen how fragile Robert's King was here.
I did feel it though, I promise you, I wanted to play the move,
I just chickened out. I had 20 minutes to Robert's hour and
just wanted clarity now. I must have felt rushed because I
didn't really look at two other good moves, 17 Qh4! and 17 Nh5!
17 Knight takes h7 is clearly best by far.
The idea of 17 Qh4 is
17 Qh4! gf? 18 Q:f6+ Kg8 19 Q:f7+ Kh8 20 Qf6 checkmate or
17 Qh4! h6 18 B:f7! with a pawn and an attack
17 Nh5! is good too -
17 Nh5! Rg8! 18 B:f7! or
17 Nh5! g6? 18 Rd5!! with a raging assult
17 ... Qc7! 18. Nh5!!!
A little better than 18 N:d7!
or 18 N:h7! K:h7 19 ef!
15 ... g6?
Robert was really exhausted - he was playing all his games
fast to get them over with. Don't think you can do this
to him on a normal day. Robert used on average a minute per move
this game.
19. Qc3+!
Game over because of 19 ... Ne5! 20 Q:c7!
1-0 Robert Ramirez resigns
OK, I got lucky, but playing
the White side of an Open Sicilian
still feels insanely risky.