Mindgames

ammar8013 (Iraq) - Hennie Schaper

Alekhine Defence

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Nbd2 e6 7. Be2 Be7 8. h3 Bh5 9. Qb3

The first eight moves were pretty normal for the Alekhine. White now puts pressure on the queen side, in particular on the weak square b7. I have had similar positions in training matches against various levels of computer programmes at chess.com, and always struggled to equalize. Here I choose the wrong continuation: dxe5 was best. 

9. ... c5 10. exd6 Bxd6 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. Ne4 Qc7 13. Nxc6 Qxc5 14. Be3 Qa5+ 15. Bd2 Qa4 16. Qd3 0-0 17. 0-0 Bg6 18. Qc3 Qc2 19. Qxc2 Bxc2 20. Rac1 Bg6 21. c5 Nd5 22. Ne5 Nc6 23. Nxg6 hxg6 24. a3 a5 25. Bb5

White has all the play: the bishops pair, the better pawn structure, queenside majority and more active pieces. But black has knights and sometimes opponents do not see where they are going. Like here.

25. ... Nd4 (please play Ba4, please play Ba4....) 26. Ba4 Ne2+

And suddenly black is an exchange up. There is still some work to do to cash in on the advantage though.

27. Kh1 Nxc1 28. Rxc1 Rfd8 29. Bg5 f6 30. Bh4 Nf4 31. Bd1 Rd2 32. b4 axb4 33. axb4

Black has made tremendous progress after winning the exchange. The main concern is the potential creation of a passed white pawn on the c-file. But first the remaining knight does more damage.

33. ... Nd3 34. Rb1 Nxf2+ 35. Bxf2 Rxf2 36. Bf3 Rb8 37. Kh2 f5 38. Kg3 Rc2 39. Kf4 Kf7 40. Ke5 Ke7 41. g4 Rc3 42. Bg2 Rg3 43. Rb2 fxg4 44. hxg4 Rxg4

Black has of course a completely won position by now. I still had 7 minutes for the rest of the game and white could have spared himself the remaining 25 moves (should have been less, but I was less focused).

45. Bh3 Rg3 46. Bg2 g5 47. c6 bxc6 48. Bxc6 Rg1 49. b5 Rc1 50. Rd2 Re1+ 51. Kd4 Rd8+ 52. Kc3 Rxd2 53. Kxd2 Rb1 54. Kc2 Ra1 55. Kb3 Kd6 56. Kc4 g4 57. Kd3 g3 58. Ke3 Ra3+ 59. Ke2 g2 60. Bxg2 Ra2+ 61. Kf3 Rb2 (I had originally planned Rxg2 with a supposedly winning pawn end game, but I suddenly was not sure, so I played it safe) 62. Bf1 Ke5 63. Kg4 Kf6 64. Kf4 Rb4+ 65. Kf3 Kg5 66. Kg3 e5 67. Kf2 Kf4 68. Bd3 e4 69. Bf1 g5 0-1