Poking the Queen

Hennie Schaper  - zarema3884 (Russia)

Sicilian Defence

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bc4 Be7 7. 0-0 a6 8. a4 0-0 9. Bb3 Nbd7 10. Be3 Nc5 11. f3 Nxb3 12. Nxb3 Nd7 13. Nd4

I was not very happy with the way the opening went, but the resulting position is as one would expect from a Sicilian, overall balanced but with plenty of possibilities for both sides. Black's next move is dubious, as white gets to eliminate black's bishops pair, and leave him with the weaker of the two bishops.

13. ... b6 14. Nc6 Qe8 15. Nxe7 Qxe7 16. Qd2 Bb7 17. Rfd1 d5

Tempting but wrong. This is of course a thematic advance for black, and it looks like it's possible in spite of white covering the d5 square more than black, because after exchanges on d5 white's bishop is left unprotected leaving black with the winning Qxe3+. A simple waiting move turns the position into a winning one, as after Bf2 white exploits the fact that the N on d7 is insufficiently protected.

18. Bf2 Rfd8 19. exd5 exd5 20. Nxd5 Bxd5 21. Qxd5 h6 22. Qb7 Qe6 23. Qd5 Qe7 24. Re1 Qf6

From a material point of view, black is only one pawn done, but white has all the play: strong bishop versus knight, pawn majority on the queen side, and active pieces all around. White can now poke the black queen, as a queen exchange would only increase the values of his strong points.

25. Bd4 Qg6 26. Qe4 f5 27. Qd5+ Kh7 28. Re6 Qg5 29. Be3

Now black blunders, giving away a knight, probably only looking at the line 30. Bxg5 Rxd5. A knight down as well, black is completely lost, plays a few more moves and resigns literally one second before I can play a nice mate in one with the rook.

29. ... Ne5 30. Qxe5 f4 31. Bxf4 Qxe5 32. Bxe5 Rd2 33. Re7 Rg8 34. Rc1 Kg6 35. Bc3 Rdd8 36. Re6+ Kf5 37. Rxb6 g5 1-0