When great players follow your games

In the year 2000 I won the New Zealand Junior Championship mostly as a result of the strongest junior (and now second strongest adult) player in the country catching a cold and not playing. As a result of this I was eligible to play in the World Junior Championship in Yerevan Armenia. It was an amazing trip to the other side of the world where I ended up competing in a tournament along side many young stars of today. My opponent in this game was at the time only a FIDE master but has since gained the GrandMaster title.

Recently I noticed a game where a real star of junior chess follows an idea and game which I played there. Notably of course with a better result than I could achieve. I have somewhat mixed feelings about this because this is one game from the tournament where I might have won. Who knows who might have beaten me in the subsequent rounds if I had won this game.

FM Morteza, Mahjoob - Croad, Nicolas

World Junior Championship (2), Yerevan Armenia, 2000

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5 Be7

Though I tried my best to prepare for the tournament it was a hopeless task and my openings were sorely under done. The result of this was that I had to think about my move here 5...Be7 which is however a good and known book move. I think that the time I took to decide on this move may have helped to get my creative juices flowing.

6.Nxd4 O-O 7.Nb5?! Nxe4?

Here David Howell played the move 7...Bc5 which is significantly stronger however the game transposes back shortly.

8.Nbxc7?

The better move 8.Bd3 would have completely refuted my idea. This is why Howell's move is significantly more accurate. After 8.Bd3 I am forced to essay the dubious piece sacrifice 8...Nxf2 9.Kxf2 Bc5+ 10.Kf1 or allow White to secure a significant and stable advantage after 8...Nf6 9.Nbxc7 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 += (and if 10...Qa5+ 11.c3). Now we reach the same position by transposition.

8...Bc5!

9.Qf3?

David Howell's opponent H Toufighi found an interesting resource, which indicates he is a good player in his own right. That game went 9.Bd3? Nxf2! 10.Bxh7+ Kxh7 11.Qh5+ Kg8 12.Bg5 and it looks like the Black queen is trapped however 12...Re8+ 13.Kf1 Re5 0-1. While most of Howell's moves here were forced I would suspect that many of them were found before he played 9...Nxf2 or even 7...Bc5.

An annotation of that game gives 9.Be3 Bxe3 10.fxe3 when the position could probably be judged unclear. I think that now Black must play 10...Rb8 because he doesn't gain sufficient compensation for the piece sacrifice after 10...Qh4+ 11.g3 Nxg3 12.hxg3 Qxh1 13.Nxa8 +-. In this position with both White knights in this precarious position and the White king vulnerable I would certainly rather take the Black side however.

9...Nxf2 10.Be3

Instead with 10.Nxa8 Nxh1 White must follow up with 11.Be3 transposing because 11.Nac7 loses to 11...Nd4! 12.Qd3 Qh4+ -+.

10...Bxe3 11.Nxe3

White loses a queen after 11.Qxe3 Nxh1 12.Nxa8 Re8 -+

11...Nxh1

Maybe clearer though weaker here was 11...Qxc7 12.Qxf2 and Black is a pawn up and has already castled. I think that given the difference in our ratings I was not confident about holding onto the advantage of just one pawn and decided to try for the maximum. The choice is more a matter of style or ability. I think my move in the game was more correct but I didn't really complete the calculation requirements to actually justify playing it so in a sense I was gambling on my positional intuition.

12.Nxa8 Qh4+ 13.Kd2 Qb4+ 14.c3 Qxb2+ 15.Nc2 d5

White's last couple of moves have been forced and Black's moves clearly strong but now there is no straight killer blow so it is time to stop and decide how to follow up. Obviously White has a slightly easier time of it extracting his knight than I will.

16.Bd3 d4?

I think after 16...Ne5! I would have secured the whole point. White must choose between 17.Qf4 Nxd3 18.Kxd3 g6 where both 19.g4 Bxg4 and 19.Nd4 Nf2+ leave a position which Black should win without difficulties, and the alternative 17.Bxh7+ Kxh7 18.Qh5+ Kg8 19.Qxe5 Nf2 -+ where Black has both the safer king and more material.

The move I missed here in my calculations was 18.Qe4 attacking the knight and threatening mate on h7, though this is really because my calculating ability was rather limited at this time and I was becoming confused and tired of calculating variations even at this stage in the game. The major lesson I learned from my games at the World Junior was that it is always possible to put up resistance, no matter how bad your position is and often to win. Many of my opponents did exactly this to me throughout the tournament even when I was better or winning against them.

17.cxd4 Nxd4 18.Qe4 Nf5

Trying to keep as many pieces as possible on the board. The alternative 18...Bf5 19.Qxd4 Qxd4 20.Nxd4 Bxd3 21.Kxd3 +- leaves White with a piece for two pawns regardless of how I follow up. White is clearly winning in either case.

19.Rxh1 g6 20.Nc7 Bd7 21.Re1 Rc8 22.Nd5 Be6 23.Qe5!

Once the queens are exchanged there are fewer chances for White to slip up even with his king in the centre.

13...Qxe5 24.Rxe5 Kg7 25.Nc3 Rd8 26.Rc5 Ne7 27.a3 Nc6 28.Ne3 Nd4 29.Rc7 Nc6 30.Ke2 Nd4+ 31.Kf2 Nb3 32.Bc4 Rd2+ 33.Kf1 Bxc4+ 34.Nxc4 Rc2 35.Nd6 1-0