Never believe your opponent's version of reality
20 Feb '16 00:2012 editsHi all,
This was a nice attacking game I had in the US Amateur Team Tournament (South) in round 3. I am trying to get the pgn thingie to work, and it may take me a bit. i was black.
Until I get it right, I will just point out that 25. ... Rxh3 is only good for a draw- although I thought it was crushing when I played it!
This was a nice attacking game I had in the US Amateur Team Tournament (South) in round 3. I am trying to get the pgn thingie to work, and it may take me a bit. i was black.
Until I get it right, I will just point out that 25. ... Rxh3 is only good for a draw- although I thought it was crushing when I played it!
| EVENT | USATS |
| SITE | ? |
| DATE | 2016.02.13 |
| ROUND | 2 |
| WHITE | Sam Sokhanvari |
| BLACK | Paul Leggett |
| RESULT | 0-1 |
| WHITEELO | 1948 |
| BLACKELO | 1813 |
| ECO | D00 |
[Event "USATS"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.02.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Sam Sokhanvari"]
[Black "Paul Leggett"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "1948"]
[BlackElo "1813"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.18"]
1. d4 d5 2. e3 {Before we proceed further, please play through the game below.
I could not remember the game exactly when I was playing, but I remembered the
ideas, and that is what directed my play. GM Nick Pert gets the "shout out"
for including the idea in his Slav repertoire DVD!} (2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3
Bf5 {This move was once considered to be a blunder due to white's next two
moves, but that thinking has changed in the last 5 years.} 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Qb3
{White's point- both d5 and b7 are attacked.} Nc6 7. Qxb7 Bd7 $1 {Diagram [#]
This is black's counterpoint. The variation is referred to as the "Glasgow
Kiss", as it was apparently discovered in some Scottish games around 2012.
The idea is that black will treat the loss of the b-pawn as a gambit, with
faster development and time gained against white's queen as the compensation.}
8. Qb3 Rb8 9. Qd1 e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Be2 Bd6 {Diagram [#]Black's lead in
development is substantial, and the compensation is obvious.} 12. Nf3 O-O 13.
O-O Qe7 14. Nd4 Rfc8 15. Ncb5 Bc5 16. Bd2 Nc4 17. a4 Nxb2 18. Qe1 Ne4 19. Ba5
Nc4 20. Nb3 a6 21. Nxc5 Rxc5 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. f3 axb5 24. fxe4 Rg5 25. Bc7 Rc8
26. Bf4 Rg6 27. axb5 Qxe4 28. Bg3 Bxb5 29. Qc3 Bc6 30. Ra2 h6 31. Rd2 Re6 32.
Re1 Ba8 33. h3 Rg6 34. Kh2 Rc5 35. Qa3 Rxg3 36. Rd8+ Kh7 37. Qxa8 Rxg2+ 38. Kh1
Qxa8 39. Rxa8 Rd2 {0-1 (39) Horvath,C (2509)-Brunello,S (2587) Arvier 2012})
2... Bf5 {This has become my stock response when white does not play 2. c4. I
will take what they give me.} 3. Bd3 Bxd3 $11 {My thinking is not
sophisticated- I am trading my bad bishop for white's good one, and I know I
will find good squares for my remaining pieces.} 4. Qxd3 Nf6 ({Relevant:} 4...
e6 5. Qb3 b6 6. Nf3 c6 7. c4 Bd6 8. Nc3 Nf6 9. Bd2 O-O 10. O-O Qe7 11. Rfc1
Nbd7 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Rc2 Rad8 14. a4 Nb8 15. a5 b5 16. Be1 Rfe8 17. Na2 Ne4
18. Nb4 Qf6 19. Rac1 Re6 20. Nd3 Qh6 21. Nde5 Ng5 22. Nxg5 Qxg5 23. Nxc6 Bxh2+
24. Kf1 Nxc6 25. Rxc6 h5 26. Rc8 a6 27. Rxd8+ Qxd8 28. Rc5 Rd6 29. Qc2 Qf6 30.
Rc8+ Rd8 31. Rxd8+ Qxd8 32. g3 Bxg3 33. fxg3 Qf6+ 34. Kg2 {Abdulla,A (2514)
-Minhazuddin,A (2325) Dhaka 2008 1/2-1/2}) 5. Qb5+ {I am embarrassed to say
that this move surprised me. I was shocked and angry for about 30 seconds,
but then I decided that I was going to play in gambit style and move forward.
All the jokes about not taking the queen's knight pawn with the queen exist
for a reason, I kept telling myself.} Nbd7 6. Qxb7 e5 {I was thinking of
Brunello's idea, although I regret that I did not remember his name at the
time, or exactly where I had seen it. I will not forget his name going
forward!} 7. Ne2 $146 {I understand why Sam played this- he was worried about
e5-e4- but it plants the seeds for a kingside attack, and plays into black's
plans.} ({Predecessor (4):} 7. dxe5 Nxe5 8. Ne2 Bd6 9. b3 O-O 10. O-O Qd7 11.
Ng3 Rfb8 12. Qa6 Nc4 13. Nd2 Rb6 14. Qa4 Qxa4 15. bxa4 Ra6 16. Nxc4 dxc4 17.
Bb2 Nd5 18. Ne4 Rxa4 19. Nc3 Nxc3 20. Bxc3 Rb8 21. g3 Ra3 22. Bd2 c3 23. Bc1
Ra4 24. a3 Rb6 25. Rd1 g6 26. Rd3 Be5 27. f4 Bf6 28. Kf2 Kf8 29. Kf3 Ke7 30. e4
Bd4 31. Be3 c5 32. Ke2 Rb2 33. Kd1 Kd7 34. Kc1 Kc6 35. g4 Rb7 36. g5 Re7 {
Papp,J (2070)-Vass,V (2154) Budapest 2000 1/2-1/2}) 7... Bd6 {Diagram Black
has already achieved a sizable development advantage, and has compensation for
the pawn. It has to be used before the shelf life expires.} 8. Nbc3 Rb8 {
I was waiting for the b1 knight to develop before I seized the b-file and
moved the white queen. My idea is that I wanted to make sure that the queen
had fewer good squares available, and that the path back to the kingside would
be harder.} 9. Qc6 Rb6 10. Qa4 O-O 11. O-O {Now that white's king is committed,
it is time to strike in the center.} exd4 12. Qxd4 $2 (12. exd4 $11 {is safer.
The black rook on b6 can still make it to the kingside, but some other black
pieces will need to move first.}) 12... Rb4 {Diagram [#] The idea behind
exchanging in the center. The white queen will have to retreat to an inferior
square, and the black rook will swing to the kingside. It is rare for a
queen's rook to be active in a kingside attack by move 15, but I think Bent
Larsen would have approved- he's getting the credit for the idea, in any event!
} 13. Qd3 Bxh2+ $19 {The knight on e2 opened the door to this.} 14. Kh1 (14.
Kxh2 {is slightly preferred by Komodo 8, but neither Sam nor I thought it was
a serious consideration at the time.} Ng4+ 15. Kg3 Nge5 16. Qd4 $8 Qg5+ 17. Kh2
Qh5+ 18. Kg1 Ng4 19. Qxg4 Rxg4 {and white is still busted anyway, whereas
Sam's move was a much more practical defensive chance, giving me lots of
opportunity to go wrong.}) 14... Rh4 15. Ng1 Ne5 {William Bowman liked the
idea of ...Bxg1 immediately, which also wins, but the game move is Komodo's
first choice. At several points in the game, I could not see a clear
resolution of the attack, so I defaulted to moving more pieces into the attack,
and trying to find good squares for them to move into.} 16. Qe2 Qd7 $1 {
I spent a lot of time here, and I still was not sure about this move when I
played it, but I am very happy that the Fish says it is best. I wanted to set
the stage for an exchange sac on h3 if the white knight ever landed there. I
did not have anything definite worked out, but I was basically trying to make
sure I had all the right clubs in my golf bag, so I could properly address the
ball no matter where it fell on the course.} 17. f3 {Diagram [#] All I can say
is that defense is tough, and I know from painful personal experience.} Bg3+ $2
({The game move is still winning, but} 17... Nh5 $1 {wins immediately. No
excuse for missing that!}) 18. Nh3 g5 $1 {I spent some 20 minutes before I
found this move, and it works, but Komodo found it instantly, of course. Oh
well.} 19. Kg1 g4 20. fxg4 Nfxg4 (20... Nexg4 {is preferred by Komodo, because
it leaves the other knight to control e4. I wanted to leave the e5 knight
contesting the f3 square, and it works out well, but I was as much lucky as
anything.}) 21. Bd2 {Diagram [#] Sam had 1 hour and 22 minutes left after this
move, while I had 56 minutes left after my response. Sam would spend almost
an hour on his next 4 moves.} Nh2 $1 {I believe this came as a surprise. Sam
is forced to either abandon the f-file (especially the f3 square) or passively
sacrifice the exchange.} 22. e4 {The computer prefers to save the rook (as
computers are wont to do), but I personally agreed with Sam's idea-at least
it's what I would have done.} Nxf1 23. Rxf1 dxe4 24. Nxe4 $6 {The pawn is
poison.} (24. Bg5 {This move had been a threat in the position for many moves,
and it contributed to my burning lots of time in the game, and now it is best,
but not enough.}) 24... Qd4+ ({I thought the game move was best ( a
straightforward double attack with a sting at the end), but Komodo says} 24...
Rxe4 25. Qxe4 Qxd2 26. Qf5 f6 {is the best in the position.}) 25. Nef2 {
The best of several bad choices.} Rxh3 $4 {I thought this was a beautiful move,
but it does not work!} 26. Be3 $4 ({After} 26. gxh3 Qxd2 27. Qxd2 Nf3+ {
Sam and I figured black wins, but} 28. Kh1 Nxd2 29. Rg1 $1 {is dead equal!
Computers make losers of us all!}) 26... Qxe3 $19 {Sam missed this. I think
we were both tired from calculating so much.} 27. Qxe3 Bh2+ 28. Kh1 Rxe3 29.
Kxh2 Rd8 30. Nh3 Ng4+ 31. Kg1 Rd2 0-1
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.02.13"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Sam Sokhanvari"]
[Black "Paul Leggett"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D00"]
[WhiteElo "1948"]
[BlackElo "1813"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[SourceDate "2016.01.18"]
1. d4 d5 2. e3 {Before we proceed further, please play through the game below.
I could not remember the game exactly when I was playing, but I remembered the
ideas, and that is what directed my play. GM Nick Pert gets the "shout out"
for including the idea in his Slav repertoire DVD!} (2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3
Bf5 {This move was once considered to be a blunder due to white's next two
moves, but that thinking has changed in the last 5 years.} 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Qb3
{White's point- both d5 and b7 are attacked.} Nc6 7. Qxb7 Bd7 $1 {Diagram [#]
This is black's counterpoint. The variation is referred to as the "Glasgow
Kiss", as it was apparently discovered in some Scottish games around 2012.
The idea is that black will treat the loss of the b-pawn as a gambit, with
faster development and time gained against white's queen as the compensation.}
8. Qb3 Rb8 9. Qd1 e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Be2 Bd6 {Diagram [#]Black's lead in
development is substantial, and the compensation is obvious.} 12. Nf3 O-O 13.
O-O Qe7 14. Nd4 Rfc8 15. Ncb5 Bc5 16. Bd2 Nc4 17. a4 Nxb2 18. Qe1 Ne4 19. Ba5
Nc4 20. Nb3 a6 21. Nxc5 Rxc5 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. f3 axb5 24. fxe4 Rg5 25. Bc7 Rc8
26. Bf4 Rg6 27. axb5 Qxe4 28. Bg3 Bxb5 29. Qc3 Bc6 30. Ra2 h6 31. Rd2 Re6 32.
Re1 Ba8 33. h3 Rg6 34. Kh2 Rc5 35. Qa3 Rxg3 36. Rd8+ Kh7 37. Qxa8 Rxg2+ 38. Kh1
Qxa8 39. Rxa8 Rd2 {0-1 (39) Horvath,C (2509)-Brunello,S (2587) Arvier 2012})
2... Bf5 {This has become my stock response when white does not play 2. c4. I
will take what they give me.} 3. Bd3 Bxd3 $11 {My thinking is not
sophisticated- I am trading my bad bishop for white's good one, and I know I
will find good squares for my remaining pieces.} 4. Qxd3 Nf6 ({Relevant:} 4...
e6 5. Qb3 b6 6. Nf3 c6 7. c4 Bd6 8. Nc3 Nf6 9. Bd2 O-O 10. O-O Qe7 11. Rfc1
Nbd7 12. cxd5 exd5 13. Rc2 Rad8 14. a4 Nb8 15. a5 b5 16. Be1 Rfe8 17. Na2 Ne4
18. Nb4 Qf6 19. Rac1 Re6 20. Nd3 Qh6 21. Nde5 Ng5 22. Nxg5 Qxg5 23. Nxc6 Bxh2+
24. Kf1 Nxc6 25. Rxc6 h5 26. Rc8 a6 27. Rxd8+ Qxd8 28. Rc5 Rd6 29. Qc2 Qf6 30.
Rc8+ Rd8 31. Rxd8+ Qxd8 32. g3 Bxg3 33. fxg3 Qf6+ 34. Kg2 {Abdulla,A (2514)
-Minhazuddin,A (2325) Dhaka 2008 1/2-1/2}) 5. Qb5+ {I am embarrassed to say
that this move surprised me. I was shocked and angry for about 30 seconds,
but then I decided that I was going to play in gambit style and move forward.
All the jokes about not taking the queen's knight pawn with the queen exist
for a reason, I kept telling myself.} Nbd7 6. Qxb7 e5 {I was thinking of
Brunello's idea, although I regret that I did not remember his name at the
time, or exactly where I had seen it. I will not forget his name going
forward!} 7. Ne2 $146 {I understand why Sam played this- he was worried about
e5-e4- but it plants the seeds for a kingside attack, and plays into black's
plans.} ({Predecessor (4):} 7. dxe5 Nxe5 8. Ne2 Bd6 9. b3 O-O 10. O-O Qd7 11.
Ng3 Rfb8 12. Qa6 Nc4 13. Nd2 Rb6 14. Qa4 Qxa4 15. bxa4 Ra6 16. Nxc4 dxc4 17.
Bb2 Nd5 18. Ne4 Rxa4 19. Nc3 Nxc3 20. Bxc3 Rb8 21. g3 Ra3 22. Bd2 c3 23. Bc1
Ra4 24. a3 Rb6 25. Rd1 g6 26. Rd3 Be5 27. f4 Bf6 28. Kf2 Kf8 29. Kf3 Ke7 30. e4
Bd4 31. Be3 c5 32. Ke2 Rb2 33. Kd1 Kd7 34. Kc1 Kc6 35. g4 Rb7 36. g5 Re7 {
Papp,J (2070)-Vass,V (2154) Budapest 2000 1/2-1/2}) 7... Bd6 {Diagram Black
has already achieved a sizable development advantage, and has compensation for
the pawn. It has to be used before the shelf life expires.} 8. Nbc3 Rb8 {
I was waiting for the b1 knight to develop before I seized the b-file and
moved the white queen. My idea is that I wanted to make sure that the queen
had fewer good squares available, and that the path back to the kingside would
be harder.} 9. Qc6 Rb6 10. Qa4 O-O 11. O-O {Now that white's king is committed,
it is time to strike in the center.} exd4 12. Qxd4 $2 (12. exd4 $11 {is safer.
The black rook on b6 can still make it to the kingside, but some other black
pieces will need to move first.}) 12... Rb4 {Diagram [#] The idea behind
exchanging in the center. The white queen will have to retreat to an inferior
square, and the black rook will swing to the kingside. It is rare for a
queen's rook to be active in a kingside attack by move 15, but I think Bent
Larsen would have approved- he's getting the credit for the idea, in any event!
} 13. Qd3 Bxh2+ $19 {The knight on e2 opened the door to this.} 14. Kh1 (14.
Kxh2 {is slightly preferred by Komodo 8, but neither Sam nor I thought it was
a serious consideration at the time.} Ng4+ 15. Kg3 Nge5 16. Qd4 $8 Qg5+ 17. Kh2
Qh5+ 18. Kg1 Ng4 19. Qxg4 Rxg4 {and white is still busted anyway, whereas
Sam's move was a much more practical defensive chance, giving me lots of
opportunity to go wrong.}) 14... Rh4 15. Ng1 Ne5 {William Bowman liked the
idea of ...Bxg1 immediately, which also wins, but the game move is Komodo's
first choice. At several points in the game, I could not see a clear
resolution of the attack, so I defaulted to moving more pieces into the attack,
and trying to find good squares for them to move into.} 16. Qe2 Qd7 $1 {
I spent a lot of time here, and I still was not sure about this move when I
played it, but I am very happy that the Fish says it is best. I wanted to set
the stage for an exchange sac on h3 if the white knight ever landed there. I
did not have anything definite worked out, but I was basically trying to make
sure I had all the right clubs in my golf bag, so I could properly address the
ball no matter where it fell on the course.} 17. f3 {Diagram [#] All I can say
is that defense is tough, and I know from painful personal experience.} Bg3+ $2
({The game move is still winning, but} 17... Nh5 $1 {wins immediately. No
excuse for missing that!}) 18. Nh3 g5 $1 {I spent some 20 minutes before I
found this move, and it works, but Komodo found it instantly, of course. Oh
well.} 19. Kg1 g4 20. fxg4 Nfxg4 (20... Nexg4 {is preferred by Komodo, because
it leaves the other knight to control e4. I wanted to leave the e5 knight
contesting the f3 square, and it works out well, but I was as much lucky as
anything.}) 21. Bd2 {Diagram [#] Sam had 1 hour and 22 minutes left after this
move, while I had 56 minutes left after my response. Sam would spend almost
an hour on his next 4 moves.} Nh2 $1 {I believe this came as a surprise. Sam
is forced to either abandon the f-file (especially the f3 square) or passively
sacrifice the exchange.} 22. e4 {The computer prefers to save the rook (as
computers are wont to do), but I personally agreed with Sam's idea-at least
it's what I would have done.} Nxf1 23. Rxf1 dxe4 24. Nxe4 $6 {The pawn is
poison.} (24. Bg5 {This move had been a threat in the position for many moves,
and it contributed to my burning lots of time in the game, and now it is best,
but not enough.}) 24... Qd4+ ({I thought the game move was best ( a
straightforward double attack with a sting at the end), but Komodo says} 24...
Rxe4 25. Qxe4 Qxd2 26. Qf5 f6 {is the best in the position.}) 25. Nef2 {
The best of several bad choices.} Rxh3 $4 {I thought this was a beautiful move,
but it does not work!} 26. Be3 $4 ({After} 26. gxh3 Qxd2 27. Qxd2 Nf3+ {
Sam and I figured black wins, but} 28. Kh1 Nxd2 29. Rg1 $1 {is dead equal!
Computers make losers of us all!}) 26... Qxe3 $19 {Sam missed this. I think
we were both tired from calculating so much.} 27. Qxe3 Bh2+ 28. Kh1 Rxe3 29.
Kxh2 Rd8 30. Nh3 Ng4+ 31. Kg1 Rd2 0-1
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