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Normal Topic C02: Game Analysis of 5.Be3 (with a N+B ending) (Read 3266 times)
Plyo
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Joined: 05/12/13
C02: Game Analysis of 5.Be3 (with a N+B ending)
05/14/13 at 11:39:51
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This is an analysis of a 90 60 game.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Be3

Slightly uncommon and outside of my book knowledge but when in doubt I follow the normal plan of Akobian by playing ...Bd7 and … Rc8. It’s not always best but it’s always solid and it always works.

5...Qb6

Thematic, attacking the b-pawn.

6. Qd2 Bd7 7. Nf3 Rc8 8. Be2 cxd4 9. cxd4 Bb4

I was already quite pleased with my position here. Everything flows naturally for black. White: while having slightly more space in the center and centralized pieces is being forced to stand guard on many areas: the b2-pawn, the d4-pawn, the ...f6 break and the ...Nge7-f5 knight path, ...h5 and ...g5 pawn storms (black isn’t castled yet!) and so on.
Therefore, while white appears to be fine I believe this position is slightly to black’s favor due to the strategic bind.

10. Nc3 Nge7 11. O-O Na5!



I will give this move a “!” not because it’s hard to find (it is thematic after all) but because it is correct!
Black doesn’t want to castle too early in the French (unless it is the best move or it’s tactically forced) because the king is safe behind the French structure and can be safely placed on the e7-square. That allows black to maintain the option of a kingside pawn storm.
Now, considering that the center is equally controlled and locked and considering that black has better placed pieces on the queenside it is clear that with keeping the option of advancing the pawns on the kingside (a plan that would be questionable for white) black already achieved a strategic edge.

12. Rab1!

Not without fail, white starts to place his pieces in a thoughtful manner. Indirectly eyeing the queen and now threatening to play a2-a3, white will attempt to activate the position which may allow her centralized pieces to strengthen their play.

12... Nc4 13. Qd3 Nf5 14. Bg5!??

The idea is simple but slightly dubious.
White wants to keep the bishop pair and must therefore move the bishop. White was also thinking that putting the bishop at g5 will stop ...Ke7 which is true but here black simply plays a move that she meant to play anyway...

14... h6

This move, while being good still needs to be questioned some: It does take out the h6-square as the normal retreat for the f5-knight incase white plays g4. It weakens the king side and if black ever wants to play ...f6 there will be a fatal hole on g6. On the other hand, it controls g5. stops all those nasty Ng5 ideas and allows for ...g7-g5 which is always to be considered.

15. Bc1 a6

This is the structure (all pieces omitted)...



It’s easier to imagine now why this structure is hard to break. It is, as I understood from Akobian, a better Sicilian because black has the usual pawn chain from f7 to d5 and together with the pawn on a6 it’s hard for white to penetrate through (Nb5 is met by ...axb5). Unlike the Sicilian, black already has the d5 pawn played which makes it far more solid and slightly more cramped.
For that reason one of the main ideas is to get rid of the lsb (usually by playing ...Bd7-b5) but it’s also resourceful to keep it at d7 to support the f5-knight or against white’s f2-f4-f5 ideas.

16. g4 Ne7 17. a3 Bxc3 18. bxc3

White has the bishop pair but black has very good knights.

18... Qc7 19. Qd1 b5!

While easy to spot the “!” is given for the plan of ...Nc4- b6-a4 and then ...Ne7-c6-a5-c4 with very strong knights.

20. Bd3 Nb6 21. Bd2 Na4 22. Qb3 Nc6 23. Rfc1 Na5 24. Qa2 Nc4



25. Bf4

White moves the bishop away from harm and making sure black can’t play ...Nxe5 nonsense.
At this point black is better and I’m pretty sure black literally played close to perfect for the last 24 moves but unfortunately at this point I get overly creative and instead of playing simple moves I decided to go for a weird variation where, looking back now, was really silly.

25...h5?!

Much better was 25...Qd8 or even 25...0-0 or even 25...Bc6 (though that would be a bit unnatural).

26. h3 hxg4 27. hxg4 f6?

This is the idea: I was thinking that black could put the king on f7, double rook on the h-file and create further pressure. It’s not that I didn’t see Bg6+ but I figured, that’s only to my advantage! Black will play ...Kf8 | ...Be8, exchange the LSB, put the king on f7 and all is well.
I completely misjudged the position!
The king is not safe at all on f7, the h-file works for both sides and white doesn’t have to exchange the bishops. This one silly move/plan gave white a lot of play, a lot of tactics and nearly cost me the game..

28. Bg6+! Kf8 29. Kg2! Be8 30. Bd3!! Kf7

Now black still has the lsb only white got the time to prepare the h-file for counter play and tactics (especially taking on f6) are all to white’s favor.
Considering white’s bishop pair too, white is now better!

31. Bg3! Qd8

Moving the queen and protecting f6.

32. Qe2 

Activating the queen and attacking e6.

32... Bc6?

Bad move!
Black should have played ...Qe7 or ...Qd7 to protect the e6-pawn. 

33. exf6 gxf6 34. Nh4!??

This is an ok move but white missed the best move: 34. g5!!
Some of the problems black would have: if 34...f5?? then 35. g6+ Kxg6 36. Qxe6+ Qf6 37. Nh4+ OR is 34... Qg8 then 35. Re1 Re8 26. gxf6 threatning Ne5+, etc.
After 34. g5 white is probably winning!

34... Rg8 35. f4 Be8 36. Re1?

Best move was 36. f5. Re1 was simply premature. Black had the time to take on c3 because if black plays Qxe6+ the two knights and ...Be8-d7 will simply trap the queen! 
Black took the ball and is now better again!

36...Nxc3



37. Qxe6+ Kf8 38. Qf5?! Ne4!!

I found the best move I think.
I think that with perfect play ...Nxb1 is playable but white still has a lot of play and ...Ne4 challenges white by creating more play for black. If 39. Bxe4 dxe4 40. Qxe4??? Bc6 0-1.

39. Bxe4 dxe4 40. g5!

Good move, keeping the attack going.

40... Nd6!

I can’t decide whether this or 40...Bf7 is best but either way this move actively defends and threatens from and against the white queen while still holding on to the e-pawn.

41. Qh7

Completely losing is 41. Qxf6??? Qxf6 42. gxf6 Rc3.

41... Rc2+

Houdini says that 41... fxg5 is even better but for practical reasons I still prefer my move. 
We were both under 10 minutes now and tactical play is harder to defend against when you’re short on time.

42. Kf1 Qe7 

Allegedly, 42... Qd7 is slightly better.

43. Qh6+ Qg7 44. Qxg7+ Rxg7 45. Re2 Rxe2

Another strong option was 45... Rc4 but simplifying at this stage of the game and with 7 minutes on the clock seemed like a good idea and in any rate, I didn’t see ...Rc4 during the game anyway.

46. Kxe2 Bh5+ 47. Ke1?

Definitely better was 47. Kf2 because the king would guard the g3-bishop and putting the king in the same line as the black king would make black’s attack harder.

47... Nc4! 48. a4?

The idea here is that 48. Nf5 doesn’t help white because of 48... Rf7 49. gxf6 Rxf6 and the knight is forced back to h4 whereas black got the knight to c4 and now has better rook play and can threaten ...Rd6.

The next few moves by white are bad but understandable because white had less than 3 minutes on the clock and she was simply looking for tactics.

48... fxg5! 49. Nf5 Rf7 50. axb5? Rxf5 51. b6 Na5!

The idea is to allow for 52. b7 and take with the knight instead of taking immediately where white would have Rxa6!
 
52. b7 Nxb7 53. fxg5?!? Na5 54. Rb6

After the game she told me that she was looking for ways to make this into a knight and bishop endgame which is exactly what happened in the game.

45... Nc4

Apparently I missed the idea of ...e3 but again, with several minutes on the clock it’s better to look for piece-activity rather than trying to find best moves and then lose on time.

55. Rxa6 Rxg5 56. Bf4 Rg2 57. Rh6 Bf3 58. Rh2 Rxh2 59. Bxh2 Ke7 60. Bf4 Ke6 61. Kf2 Kd5 62. Bh6 Kxd4 63. Bf4 Bd1 64. Bh6 e3+ 65. Bxe3+ Nxe3

We have reached it.... a knight and bishop endgame. Something I was sure I will never ever get in a real game!
Fortunately for me, I am studying the book fundamental chess endings and all though I’m terrible at the endgame I remembered the vertical zig-zag knight path and the white king was pretty close to the h1 -square as it is. Still I had 4 minutes on the clock now and white had less than a minute!

66. Kg3 Ke4 67. Kf2 Nc2 68. Kg3 Kf5

Better was 68...Bf3

69. Kg2 Kg4 70. Kf2 Bf3 71. Kf1 Kg3 72. Kg1 Be2 73. Kh1 Nd4 74. Kg1 Nf3+ 75. Kh1 Ng5 76. 
Kg1 Nh3+ 77. Kh1 Bf3#


This is one of the best games I have ever played.
I think I played many best moves and despite the stupid planning at move 25 I did play perfectly for 24 moves and managed to find good defensive moves and mate with bishop and a knight in less than 3 minutes.
« Last Edit: 05/15/13 at 06:02:56 by Plyo »  
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