Game of the Week

I probably ought to be featuring the game between Jim Strong and Steve McWhirter, in which Steve wrested away the top spot on the ladder . . . but this is the one I have recorded. It's interesting in its own way, though, as I thought Bill Koester was maybe going to have a heart attack over it -- at least until move 17, when I managed to fumble away my winning position.

K.Ammann–W.Koester

Route 20 Chess Club

Freeport, Illinois, Nov. 3, 2009

1.d4 b6

Playing black against Bill is a predictable affair -- he always plays a variation of the English opening. Playing white against him, on the other hand, is always a surprise. Fritz categorizes this opening under "Unusual responses to 1 d4."

2.e4 d5 3.e5 e6 4.f4 f5

I was rather surprised that Bill was handing me exactly the sort of position I like to play best -- a big traffic jam -- and one in which I had more space, to boot. 3.exd5 may be better than 3.e5, and it's what Bill expected me to do, I think, but the locked-up pawn structure is much more to my liking.

5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bb7 7.Be3 Qe7 8.a3 a6 9.Be2 Nh6 10.h3 0-0-0 11.c4!?

11.0-0 is more solid, but I had a plan.

11...dxc4 12.Bxc4 b5 13.Bb3 Na5

If Bill had seen what I was up to, he might have preferred 13...Nf7.

14.Nbd2

Not so hot . . . risks losing the bishop in a piece trade. 14.Ba2 would have been better. Actually, 13.Ba2, avoiding the loss of tempo, would have been best. But now Bill gave me a gift.

14...Qf7?

14...Nxb3 15.Nxb3 would have been far better for black.

15.Ng5!

Threatening all kinds of nastiness: 16.Bxe6+ would simultaneously pick off the weak pawn and fork king and queen, while the even more unneighborly 16.Nxf7 would win a queen and a rook for a knight and a pawn. Relocating that queen is mandatory for black -- and the e6-pawn is still toast, no matter what.

15...Qg6 16.Bxe6+ Kb8

Now would be an excellent moment for some tempo-gaining counterplay, such as 17.b4 Nc6 18.Ndf3, or to execute my long-delayed kingside castling. Whichever shall I choose?

17.Bxf5?? Nxf5

And thus the game falls out of my hands and into Bill's. But even with this unexpected gift, it still takes him a while to generate a real attack. And I tend to play with a little more focus when I'm cornered.

18.Qe2 Ng3 19.f5 Qxf5

19...Nxe2?! is impossible because of 20.fxg6 Ng3 21.Nf7, forking black's rooks.

20.Qg4

Hoping to entice black into a queen trade, which I thought would be good for me, but I'd misread the sequence, as will shortly become apparent. Actually, the queen trade idea was correct, but I should have done it on f2 instead.

20...Qxg4 21.hxg4 Bd5

Whoops. So much for 22.Nf7, my planned knight fork, which was the whole reason I sought to trade off the queens. Ironically, Bill would have been quite a bit better off if he'd played the move I expected him to play, 21...Nxh1.

22.Rh3

And now things get weird for a bit, as neither Bill nor I have any real idea what to do next.

22...Be7?? 23.Rxg3 Nb3 24.Rd1 h6 25.Ngf3 Nxd2

Finally Bill cuts to the chase. I have several different ways to recapture: Rxd2, Kxd2, Bxd2 and Nxd2. Three of them are good; one leaves me vulnerable to a dirty little pin. Guess which one I choose?

26.Nxd2? Bh4! 27.Kf2 Rhf8+ 28.Nf3 Bxg3+ 29.Kxg3 g5 30.Rh1 Rh8

The necessities taken care of, my lack of a plan becomes gruesomely apparent.

31.Kf2 Rdf8 32.Rc1 c6 33.e6

My pieces aren't working together, and my king would be safer where he was two moves ago.

33...Rh7 34.Rc5? Re7 35.Ke2 Rxe6 36.Ne5

Not a bad move -- threatening a knight fork on d7 -- but easily refuted.

36...Kc7 37.Rc1 Bxg2 38.Bd2 Bh3 39.Kd3 Bf1+ 40.Ke3 Bc4 41.Ke4 Rf2 42.Ba5+ Kb7 43.b3 Re2+ 44.Kf5 Rf2+ 45.Ke4 Bxb3 46.Ke3 Rf4 47.Kd3 Bc4+ 48.Kc3

At this point, Bill clobbered me with a surprising tactic. Can you find it? Black to move. (Highlight to reveal answer.)

48...c5! 49.Nd3 cxd4+ 50.Kb4 0-1

I resigned at this point, though Jim, who was watching, tried to show that I had something left in my position with the sequence 50...Bxd3 51.Rc7 Kb8 52.Kc5 Re5+ 53.Kd6 Rfe4 54.Rd7 Re6+ 55.Kd5 R4e5 56.Kxd4 b4, after which we all made him admit he was wrong. From move 49, Fritz takes it as far as 49.Nxc4 cxd4+ 50.Kd2 Rxg4, then resigns.

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.