Game of the Week

K.Ammann–J.Strong

Route 20 Chess Club

Freeport, Illinois, Oct. 20, 2009

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.Nc3?

Playing the Queen's Gambit all the time as I do, I should have remembered that the book move was 4.e5.

4...e6?

4...e5 would have been more forceful.

5.e5

Too late now, as 4...e6 gave black's knight an outpost.

5...Nd5 6.a3

I was trying to forestall ...Bb4, but 6.Bxc4!? Bb4 7.Nge2 would have been more assertive.

6...Nxc3 7.bxc3 Bd7 8.Bxc4 c5 9.f4 b5 10.Be2 Bc6 11.Nf3 Nd7 12.0-0 c4

13.g4

In my lust for space on the kingside, I'm missing a golden opportunity: 13.a4! would have been a timely ram. 13...Qa5 14.axb5, and black has to capture the pawn (14...Qxb5) to prevent a cascade failure.

13...Nb6 14.f5 Qd5 15.fxe6 fxe6

Now I realize I've gotten myself into a pickle. My plan was to create a weak pawn on e6 and attack it with 16.Ng5. But after 14...Qd5, I've left myself vulnerable to 16...Qg2#. How to wriggle free?

16.Rf2

Not this way. Now I've just changed the threat, from ...Qg2# to Qh1#.

16...h6 17.Bf1 Qe4

I wracked my brain to figure out what Jim was aiming at. "If you can't see it," he said, "then I must be one step ahead of you!" Well, I couldn't, and he was.

18.Bg2 Qxg4!

Dang.

19.Kh1? Be7! 20.h3 Qg3 21.Be3?

I was worried about my rook, but I could have rescued it with the deft discovered attack 21.Ng1 Bxg2+ 22.Rxg2.

21...Nd5 22.Qd2 Nxc3??

A stroke of luck that put me back in the game.

23.Qxc3 0-0 24.Raf1 g5? 25.Nd2??

Oops. Too soon. 25.Bd2 might have allowed me to keep the upper hand.

25...Rxf2 26.Rxf2 Bxg2+ 27.Rxg2 Qxh3+

26...Qxh3+! 27.Kg1 Bxg2 would have been even better for black.

28.Rh2 Qg3 29.Ne4??

Argh. Stepping right into a fork. If there was nothing good to do on the kingside, there was always 29.a4.

29...Qf3+ 30.Kg1 Qxe4

My pawns are no match for Jim's. From here, it's all downhill for me.

31.Rxh6 Rf8 32.Bf2 Qg4+

The cheeky attack 32.Rf3! would have been tough to fight off.

33.Kf1 Qd1+ 34.Kg2 Qe2 35.Qg3 Rf4 36.Rg6+??

Given my already suffering position, it's striking just how bad this move turns out to be.

36...Kf7 37.Rxg5 Bxg5 38.Qxg5 Rxf2+ 0-1

Game of the Week

Turnout tonight was scant, but I can't complain: I swept the field tonight and took the top spot on the Route 20 Chess Club ladder from Steve McWhirter. I played the French Defense, he chose the Advance Variation, and I played an unusually error-free game with a lot of initiative. I traded off light-square bishops early, took space on the queenside and established a knight on a fifth-rank outpost which was a thorn in Steve's side for the rest of the game.

This position occurred late in the middlegame, when Steve decided he'd had enough of the knight:

S.McWhirter–K.Ammann

Route 20 Chess Club

Freeport, Illinois, Sept. 29, 2009

White has just played 1.Bf2. Black to move.

Highlight to reveal answer:

Black's best move is 1...Rd8. If 2.Rxc5??, then 2...Nxf3+ 3.Qxf3 Rxf3 4.gxf3, and black has a queen against a rook and a bishop, better pawn structure and dominance over the d-file. White's best shot at even chances is 2.f4.

In the actual game, I played the second-best 1...Rxb2. Steve initiated the exchange on d4 with 2.Bxd4 cxd4 3.Rxc8 Qxc8 4.Qxd4, and I launched a mating attack with 4...Qc2 (threatening 5...Qxg2#). Steve could have obtained a draw by repetition with 5.Qxa7+, but instead he played 5.Qd6+?? and resigned after 5...Ke8.