Martin Hill - Nicolas Croad
Summer Cup, Wellington 2008
1.f4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.e4 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.g3 d6 6.Bg2 e6 7.O-O Nge7 8.d3 O-O 9.Be3 Nd4 10.Qd2 Rb8 11.Nd1 b6!?
Up till this point we have been following the main-line of the Closed Sicilian. I was happy with this transposition from the Birds opening as I know this opening reasonably well and considered it gives Black good prospects to play for a win without taking considerable risk. My last move however perhapse requires some comment. I did spend some minutes trying to find a less passive looking alternative. The move itself is prompted by the variation 11...b5 12.c3 Nxf3+ 13.Bxf3 b4 14.c4 and here I thought Black lacks counterplay having closed the queenside while the d6-d5 break is made difficult by the poorly defended c5 pawn. Now if White plays 11.c3 then after 11...Nxf3+ 12.Bxf3 d5 13.e5 d4 Black is certainly no worse. This was my plan however since Black could also play 12...f5 here with some pressure on the White centre it may be that 11...b5 12.c3 Nxf3+ 13.Bxf3 f5 was a quite reasonable alternative though here I would still prefer to have the pawn back on b6. I certainly feel that with White playing moves such as 11.Nd1 b6 can't be a poor move despite it's relative lack of speed.
12.h3?
Martin goes wrong immediately. Maybe he was trying to follow up using ideas with which he was familiar but 12.g4 is possible immediately, so why not get on with it. Black will respond with 12...f5 to be followed by Bb7, Qd7 and Rbe8 as necessary putting more pressure on the White centre.
Another decent alternative would have been to play along the lines of 12.Ne1 Bb7 13.c3 Nc6 14.d4 cxd4 15.cxd4 d5 16.e5 when Black is equal but probably no better.
12...f5 13.Nh2 e5 14.c3 Ne6 15.Nf2
15...d5?
I was trying for too much from the position and ended up throwing away most of the advantage. Instead 15...exf4 16.Bxf4 Nxf4 17.Qxf4 fxe4 18.Qxe4 d5 gives Black a slight advantage because of the Bishop pair.
The best move however was 15...Bb7 after which the White centre is close to collapsing while Black has nothing to stop him adding more pressure with ...Qd7 and ...Rbe8 as necessary. For example 16.fxe5 Bxe5 leaves White with problems over his g3 pawn because 17.g4 f4 wins a piece for Black while 17.Nf3 Bxg3 18.Nh1 fxe4 19.dxe4 Bf4 leaves White with more weaknesses than Black's d6 pawn can compensate for. Meanwhile after 16.Nf3 exf4 17.gxf4 Qd7 black piles on the pressure and it is not clear how White is going to resist.
This is an excellent example of why it is a good idea to include all your pieces in an attack whenever possible.
16.fxe5 Bxe5 17.Bh6 Rf7
The exchange sacrifice 17...Bxg3 18.Bxf8 Nxf8 provides Black with quite a lot of compensation for a minimal material investment but can hardly be justified from a practical viewpoint.
18.g4! f4
Also quite reasonable was 18...dxe4 19.dxe4 Qxd2 20.Bxd2 f4 with a nice endgame for Black however with only an advantage on the board it is probably better to keep as many pieces as possible on the board for the moment.
I was not entirely happy about the move 18...f4 because though it does gain a strong pawn on f4 it also shuts down most of my play but it does have one major advantage. White is forced to undertake something here or simply be left with a bishop shut out of play at h6. Another alternative was 18...fxe4 19.dxe4 Bf4 20.Bxf4 Nxf4 21.Bh1 but here I thought Black has no tangible advantages and so it is not clear what to play for.
A friend has pointed out to me that activity counts for something and that is exactly what Black
has here, a whole pile of activity. He took this last variation a little further and discovered that my intuition was right. I should have been suspicious of the move f4. It just didn't feel like my advantage was being increased by it. His variations 18...fxe4 19.dxe4 Bf4 20.Bxf4 Nxf4 21.Bh1 Ba6! 22.Re1 dxe4 23.Qxd8+ Rxd8 24.Bxe4 Rd2 25.Rb1 Ne2+ 26.Kg2 Rxf2+ 27.Kxf2 Nxc3+ and Black comes out a pawn ahead. The alternative 22.Rd1 Ne2+ 23.Kg2 Qc7! 24.Nf1 Rbf8 seems to be winning as well.
I was in fact looking at the start of this variation during the game but didn't look further than the move 21.Bh1 which is not nearly far enough to decide between this and the game move. Of course with this new information in mind it is possible to improve the defence for White as well.
Instead of 21.Bh1 White should play the bettern 21.Bf3 when the bishop covers the knight check on e2 so 21...Ba6 22.Rfd1. The white pieces are still precariously placed but I don't see a way to increase the activity ratio of the Black to White pieces so it looks like White will consolidate eventually.
19.Nf3 Bc7 20.d4!
Definitely not 20.Ng5 Nxg5 21.Bxg5 f3 22.Bh1 Qd6 and the weakness of the White king position rears it's ugly head suddenly. If White does nothing however Black will play d4 with the simple follow up Nc6 and g5 so White must act sharply.
20...cxd4 21.cxd4 dxe4 22.Nxe4 Nd5
23.Nfg5 Nxg5 24.Bxg5
24.Nxg5 Re7 25.Ne4 Qd7 was an equally decent alternative. It is clear that the knight sitting on d5 and the threats produced by ...Ne3 will eventually provide Black with an advantage so Black will simply look to quell the White initiative waiting for that moment to arrive. It should be mentioned that I was on the verge of time-trouble here with my opponent having 40+ minutes still on his clock. I had been using my time and he had not been thinking too long to this point in the game.
24...Qd7 25.Rae1?!
White needs to increase or maintain the initiative to stay in the game at the moment and this move doesn't create any more threats but allows Black to complete his development. Better was 25.Nc3 Ne3 26.d5! Bb7! 27.Be4 and the game remains highly unclear and interesting.
25...Bb7
Finally I develop the light squared bishop. Note that 25...Ne3 26.Nf6+ Rxf6 27.Bxf6 Nxf1 is not a very good exchange as I lose my blockader on d5. I noticed here that there was virtually no danger of White setting up a fork (with Nf6+) because in order to oust my knight on d5 he must first move his own from e4.
26.Rf2 Kg7 27.Bh4 Ne3 28.Nf6 Qe6
There are many traps around here.
28...Qd6?? 29.Bxb7 Rxb7 30.Ne8+ wins the queen.
28...Qd8?? 29.Nh5+ wins the queen.
28...Rxf6?? 29.Bxf6+ Kxf6 30.Rxe3 wins the exchange.
29.d5 Qd6 30.Qd4 Qe5 31.Qxe5 Bxe5 32.g5
32...Bd4?Throwing away lots of the advantage. If I had more time here I might have acted more calmly and realised that the knight on e3 and weakness of the white isolated pawn are not temporary factors. Black can take some time and play 32...Rd8 when 33.Rd2 Bd6 34.Ne4 Bb4 35.Nc3 Nc4 is a good indication of how difficult the White position is.
33.Rd2?!
Much better was 33.Rxf4 Nc2+ 34.Rxd4 Nxd4 when Black has the exchange but for a pawn less than during the game. I got the impression that Martin missed by reply here.
33...Nc2+ 34.Rxd4 Nxd4 35.Bf2 Nf5 36.Be4 Nd6?
Here it was a good time to relieve the pressure by returning the exchange. 36...Rxf6 37.gxf6+ Kxf6 38.Bxf5 Kxf5 though there are basically no winning chances provided by Black's extra pawn here.
37.Bd4 Kf8 38.Bf3 Rd8 39.Bg4 Ne8 40.Be6 Re7 41.Bc3 a5 42.b4 Nc7
43.Re5?
43.bxa5 Nxd5 44.Nxd5 Bxd5 45.Bb4! is winning for White so Black is forced to play 44...Rxe6 45.Rxe6 Bxd5 46.Rf6+ Kg8 47.axb6 with a very difficult endgame, probably losing for Black.
43...Nxe6 44.dxe6 Rd3 45.Nd7+ Ke8 46.Nf6+ Kd8 47.Be1 Re3
Exchanging White's last rook leaves him with no hope of saving the game. Notice how the un-opposed light squared bishop does multiple 'defensive' chores. It stops both the White queenside passed pawns and limits the knight's choice of movement. The opposite colored bishops actually make the exchange much easier for Black to realise here.
48.Rxe3 fxe3 49.bxa5 Rxe6 50.axb6 Ke7
Of course not 50...Rxb6 51.Ba5
51.Bb4+
The move 51.Ba5 is no better because of 51...Re5 winning the pawn on g5.
51...Kf7 52.Ng4 Rxb6 53.a3 Re6 54.Nh6+ Ke8 55.Ng4 Ba6 56.Nf6+ Kd8 57.Nxh7 Rc6 58.Nf6 Rc1+ 59.Kg2 e2 60.Ba5+ Kc8 61.Nd5 Bb7
This is even more clear than the alternative 61...e1=Q 62.Bxe1 Rxe1 63.Nf4 Re5 64.h4 and White captures Black's last pawn.
62.Kf2 Bxd5 63.Kxe2 Rh1 0-1
Lessons from this game:
a) If your attack is not quite there yet and one piece is not participating then it is a good idea to find a way to introduce that piece as well. It doesn't really matter what the target of the attack is (queenside, kingside, attack on the centre). This is of course a variation on the rule, 'Include all your pieces in the attack'. Try giving Black the move 15...Bb7 and then playing through the variations which follow to see multiple examples of this being true.
b) Unless there is some way to drive them away well placed pieces constitute a significant and durable advantage. During this game I under-estimated and then over-estimated my position with the moves 32...Bd4 and 36...Nd6 because I failed to appreciate this. There was no need to rush in the first position because of these advantages and I should have acted immediately in the second because of White's increasing threats.
c) A well placed and un-challenged bishop can perform several duties at once. Here the light squared bishop acted as both defender and attacker in the endgame making it extremely easy for me to realise my exchange advantage (after 47...Re3). In this particular situation my rook was free to roam the board creating threats all over because the bishop easily handled all the defensive duties leaving the rook with none.
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