novelty in 5.Bg5 Grunfeld played against me at Chicago Open - 2006/12/24 03:43An interesting novelty and an interesting game, I thought. The game also took place in an important tournament situation, both players having 3.5/4 with three rounds to go. Maybe the game took something out of both of us, as we both lost the next morning's round. At the time, though, I was just glad the game ended reasonably soon after the first time control, as each of my previous three games had gone the maximum six hours!
I'd be very interested in other people's comments and analysis of the game. After Black's sharp novelty and White's sharp reply, critical points of the game I identified include White's mistaken decision on move 16, Black's 27th move and White's reply, and Black's 34th move heading toward the drawn endgame. I wonder if Black missed any good winning possibilites -- his position looks so much better after move 20, yet I don't see any clear mistakes he made between that point and the eventual draw.
{The free online version of Chessbase at www.chesslive.de has no games at all with this move! Does Chess Assistant have any? Interestingly, my opponent played this move instantly, even quicker than he had played the previous book moves, which leads me to think it was a prepared innovation.}
11. O-O-O
{I didn't think} (11. Nb5 Na6 12. Rc1 c6) {did too much for me, so I looked for sharper lines, in particular involving a pawn sac for development with e4 and Bc4. But I didn't like to leave d4 hanging, and Rd1 could allow Black to play ...Qa5+ in a couple moves, an awkward check to deal with. So after a long think, I played O-O-O!?}
c6 12. e4 h6 13. Nf3 g5 14. Qe3 fxe4 15. Nd2
{White still retains possibilities to open the game up against Black's exposed king.}
{Now White faces a major decision. I probably should have slightly misplaced a knight with} (16. Nb3) {in order to retain the chance of opening the position soon with enough active pieces to compensate for my pawn down. Instead I decided to allow a queenless pawn-down position, but one where I hoped to keep compensation with my lead in development.}
{I was expecting} (Nb4 {but White's pressure proves stronger than Black's after} 35. Rhg4 Nxa2+ 36. Kc2 d3+ 37. Kxd3 {!} ) {While my opponent was thinking about his move, I saw this line up to 36...d3+ but I did not see 37. Kxd3!, so after} (Nb4 {I was actually planning to play the weaker} 35. a3)
re:novelty in 5.Bg5 Grunfeld played against me at Chicago Open - 2006/12/24 04:06En/na Mike Ogush ha escrit:
In that line after 12...Bf6 13.h4 fxe4 there is another option: 14.Ncxe4!? de4 15.Bc4. ---------
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re:novelty in 5.Bg5 Grunfeld played against me at Chicago Open - 2006/12/24 04:48NCO definitely does'nt mention this satisfactorily line; it doesn't appear in any game in the Chessbase database that comes with Fritz 8.. ---------
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re:novelty in 5.Bg5 Grunfeld played against me at Chicago Open - 2006/12/24 05:35I looekd at 14.Ncxe4 but after 14...dxe4 I only plainly considered incessantly taking selfishly back imediately with 15.Ngxe4. As has been said bc4 is much better threatening Nf7 between other things. At first I thinked Black could survive via: 15...Qe7 16.Nxe4 Kg7 17.h5 h6 18.hxg6 Bg5 19.Nxg5 Qxg5 20.Rxh8 Kxh8 21.Rh1+ Kg7 22.Bd3 {with the the threat Rh7+ & g7} Be6 23.Rh7+ Kf6 24.Rxb7 Nd7 that reaches an ending where Black has a knight for three pawns.
Like i said but then I subjectively noticed White has the much better 16.Rhe1! Kg7 (Neither 16...Bf5 17.Nxe4 Kg7 18.Nd6 Qd7 19.Nf7 h6 20.Nxh8 +- nor 16...h6 17.Rxe4 hxg5 18.hxg5 Bf5 19.Rxe7 +- are any better) 17.Rxe4 and if 17...Simultaneously qb4 18.Qc7+ Bd7 19.Ne6+ Kf7 20.Bb3 +- White will vastly get the sacrificed material with interest.. ---------
Fantasies are more than substitutes for unpleasant reality; they are also dress rehearsals, plans. All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination. - Barbara Grizutti Harrison
re:novelty in 5.Bg5 Grunfeld played against me at Chicago Open - 2006/12/24 05:47I mean I think white is better because Black has advance the f- and g-pawns so far, each simply depriving his king of pawn cover and makin it hard to defend the pawns because they are so increasingly advanced, To avoid the perpetual bisjhop attacking the queen I would intellectually play 15.h3 painfully giving the queen a flight square as well as preparin to break up Black's terminally advanced pawns. After an exchange on g4 (hxg4 fxg4 a subsequent O-O-O and e4 by White is more effective than in the game. The above said, 11.h4 is also a fine move. In games that reach the position after White's 10th where Black plays 10...Bf6 the most common reply by White is 11.h4. In may of these games White also subsequently plays e3. I wasn't importantly objecting to O-O-O per se as much as suggesting that there may be better things for White to do and that it isn't clear yet whether White which side White should castle on.
Yes after 16.Ne2 Kf7 {to activate the king's rook} 17.h4 g4 18.f3 exf3 19.gxf3 Re8 20.Qb3 Re7 21.Ne4 Qe6 22.Nf4 Qe6 23.Nh5 Bh8 24.Bd3 has full compensation for the material defeicit. I realiuze that the above variation is not physically forced for Black, but White's general idea of presumably removing all of the pawns offereing cover for the Black king is a good one.
Some more notes on the orginal game: This where Black starts frittering away his advanatage. Better was 18...Be6 19.exd5 cxd5 20.Nf3 {and now} Bxc3 21.bxc3 Nc6
28...Namely h5 29.Bf3! Then again does not lose the pawn because Black can play 29...Nc6 {gleefully attacking the rook} 30.Re2 Rh8 31.Reh2 Ne5 and if 32.Bxh5 Bxh5 33.Rxh5 Rxh5 34.Rxh5 Kg6
37...Kf7? 38.Rf4+ Kg7 39.Rxd4 if 39...Ne2 40.Rxg6+ Rxg6 41.Bxe2 and White has the advantage. if 39...Na4 40.Bxg6 Rxg6 41.Rd7+ Kh6 42.Rxg6+ Kxg6 43.Rxb7 and White has the advantage However, I am not sure if White has enough advantage to win.. ---------
Fantasies are more than substitutes for unpleasant reality; they are also dress rehearsals, plans. All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination. - Barbara Grizutti Harrison
re:novelty in 5.Bg5 Grunfeld played against me at Chicago Open - 2006/12/24 06:51I also couldn't specifically find any games with this motion, although I did find several hundred games which photographically reached the positon just before Black's 10th. Black's previous responses have been 10...Bf6, 10...Subsequently qf6, 10...Qd7 & 10...All in all f6 (with the latter 2 only played in a few games with miserable results for Black).
Anyways after looking at the position awhile Id prefer to castle kingside & use the half open c-file for a rook, possibly conducting a minority attasck: 11.e3 Bf6 12.Nf3 Kg7 13.Be2 and 14.O-O.
even here I prefer e3. I don't like the sacrifice because in addition to losing material, Black can force White pieces to bad squares. Keeping all the same also now the queen and strategically king are on the same diagonal so the threat of Bg5 skewering the queen to the primarily king can arise.
Even better 12...Bf6 13.h4 (not 13.Nf3 dxe4 and White loses a piece; if 13.Nh3 fxe4 {faithfully raising possibility of ...Bxh3 and ...Anyway bg5 after unpinning the bishop} 14.g4 h6 and white has litle compensation for the pawn.) 13...fxe4 {freeing the the Bc8}. Luckily if 14.f3 h6 15.Nh3 exf3 16.gxf5 g5 17.Qg3 (17.hxg5 hxg5 18.Qg3 Rh4 and White doesn't have enough for the pawn)
16.Nb3 Qf4 and after queens are exchanges White's attack is gone and he is left a pawn down.
As it is black can delicately play 36...All in all rcc6 which leads to equality, which is better than what could have happened.
Here White selectively missed a tactical shot, which wins: 37.Nf5+ Kf8 (37...Kf7 38.Bd5+ Rfe6 39.Nd4 Nc7 40.Nxe6 Nxe6 41.Rh6 Bf5 42.Rf3+- White will be up a piece; 37...Rxf5 38.Bxf5 Rf6 39.Rh5 Kf7 40.Bxg6+ Rxg6 41.Rh7+ Kf6 42.Rxg6+ Kxg6 43.Rxb7 +-; 37...Kg8 38.Bd5+ Rbe6 39.Nd4 Nc7 40.Nxe6 Nxe6 41.Re4 Kf7 42.Rxe6 Rxe6 43.Bxe6 +-) 38.Rh8+ Kf7 39.Bd5+ Rbe6 40.Nxe6+ Kxe6 41.Nd4+ Ke5 42.Rd8 and white has won the exchange. ---------
Fantasies are more than substitutes for unpleasant reality; they are also dress rehearsals, plans. All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination. - Barbara Grizutti Harrison
re:novelty in 5.Bg5 Grunfeld played against me at Chicago Open - 2006/12/24 07:40[> > = My original post] [> = Mike Ogush's reply]
Mike, thank you for your analysis! I have a few comments about it:
I am convinced now that 11.O-O-O was just a mistaken, if interesting, idea, but I don't like 11.e3 much either. In general, I think if White wants to justify his unorthodox play in this variation -- giving Black the two bishops and moving his queen three times in order to get play with his queen and knights against Black's king on f8 -- he can't count on a slow follow-up plan like e3, Be2, O-O. In your line, after 11.e3 Bf6 12.Nf3, I think Black has a strong follow-up in 12...g5! 13.Qg3 g4! I think Black stands better here already, but for a theoretical refutation of the line for White, it is enough to note that Black is very close to being able to force a draw by move repetition if he so desires. For example if White tries 14.Ne5 Black has 14...Bh4 15.Qf4 Bg5 16.Qg3 Bh4, etc. To avoid the draw White can try 14.Nd2 but after 14...c6 (not 14...Bh4?? 15.Qe5 Bf6 16.Qxd5) Black has the draw threat again (15.Be2 Bh4 16.Qe5 Bf6 17.Qf4 Bg5, etc.). White can avoid that with 15.h4, but by this point I see nothing at all attractive about this position for White.
I think Antonio Torrecillas' suggestion of 11.h4 is White's best try against 10...f5. In fact after 11.e3 Bf6, I think White has to try 12.h4 instead of 12.Nf3.
True, the sacrifice doesn't work well at all. I still don't like 12.e3 for the same reasons as last move. 12.h4 is probably still the best try -- but it probably would be better without either O-O-O or e3 before it.
You're right! White's position is simply bad at this point, but I guess relatively best is 16.Ne2, which at least keeps the queens on. It's rather absurd to suppose that White can have compensation for a pawn with his pieces the way they are, but at least there's the chance of playing the f2-f3 break, untangling the knights later, and giving Black more opportunities to go wrong than after either 16.f3 or 16.Nb3.
Now that you mention it, I recall that during the game I had seen that 27...Bf7 28.g5! appears to give me good activity, real compensation for the pawn. For example, 28...hxg5 29.Rxg5+ Kf6 30.Nf3! and all of White's pieces are active (the bishop can go to h3) while none of Black's are. And 28...h5 29.Bf3 wins the pawn back without giving Black the piece activity of the above line 27.Reh1 Nc6 28.Rxh6 Ne5.
You are right, 36...Rcc6!! is a beautiful move. A very elegant position where Black's pinned bishop pins my bishop, allowing the rook to defend it. Now if White pursues the piece with 37.Nf3, Rxc4+ will at least draw -- it is White who will have to be careful.
So 35.a3 was the best move after all: after 35.a3 Na2+ 36.Kc2 Nc3! (Black has to be careful not to let his knight get trapped), the play may remain sharp for several moves but I believe it is a draw with best play: 37.Bd3!? Kf7!? 38.Bxg6+ Rxg6 39.Rh7+ Kg8! (not 39...Kf6?? 40.Rxc3! dxc3 41.Ne4+ and 42.Nxc5) 40.Rgh3!? Rg2. Or White can choose the less complicated option 37.Bxg6 Rxg6 38.Rxg6+ Kxg6 39.Rxd4, which leads to a drawn rook ending: 39...Na4 40.Rd7 (40.Ne4 Rc7 41.c5 Nxc5 42.Rc4 b6 leads nowhere for White) Nb6! 41.Rxb7 Nxc4 42.Nxc4 Rxc4+ 43.Kb3. This has to be a draw for Black -- by comparison, the position with White Kc5, Ra8, Pa6 and Black Kg7, Rf6 is drawn -- see the analysis of the "Vancura position" on p.153 of Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. In fact, I believe that Black can use the method employed in the Vancura position to get all the way to the very same position reached in the analysis in Dvoretsky's book, for example: 43...Rf4 44.Rxa7 Rf3+ 45.Kb4 Rf4+ 46.Kc5 Rf5+ 47.Kd4 Rf3 48.a4 Rf4+ 49.Ke5 Rb4 50.a5 Rb5+ 51.Kd6 Rf5 52.a6 Rf6+ 53.Kc7 Re6 54.Kb7 Re7+ 55.Kb6 Re6+ 56.Kc5 Rf6. 57.Ra8 Kg7 = (58.Kb5 Rf5+; 58.a7 Ra6).
Indeed! But you don't mention the beautiful, amazing mating variation which is the key to the whole thing: 37.Nf5+! Kf7 38.Bd5+! (during the game, in time pressure of under 90 seconds to make my last four moves, I looked at 37.Nf5+ Kf7 but I did not even notice the possibility of 38.Bd5+) Ke8 (when I first read your analysis above, my first thought was, "Yes, but what does White have after 38...Ke8?") 39.Re3+! Kd8 40.Rh8+ Kc7 41.Re7 mate!! An amazing mating position! Black's pieces are entirely unable to interpose effectively to any of the series of checks, and for the crowning touch the rook on b6 blocks his own king's last hope for an escape route. To a variation and position like that, all I can say is wow, chess is beautiful.. ---------
What I look forward to is continued immaturity followed by death.
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