Unpolished improvisation

The sixth-round game pitted me against Nick Burton (1953) and - it seemed - a replay of my previous black game against a system man. I duly had a pleasant morning preparing for the King's Indian Attack, but this was actually a re-run of the black game before last: Burton wanted to take me on in a Najdorf!

Showing a bit of practicality, I improvised at the board and soon we were both on our own. What followed was perhaps my greatest regret from Torquay:

[Event "Major Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2022.08.18"] [Round "6.20"] [White "Burton, Nick"] [Black "Young, Daniel J"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "1953"] [BlackElo "2020"] [Annotator "Young,Daniel J"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] 1. e4 {(1:30) Already a surprise - he mostly plays the King's Indian Attack, but said afterwards he avoids it against lines where Black can play ...e5 in one move - and indeed I was going to meet it with a Botvinnik formation. That said, he did show a tendency to very occasionally go into deep theoretical lines, which I assumed meant only with careful preparation.} c5 {(1:30)} 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 {Now I was very suspicious - the English Attack isn't the most common nowadays, so to meet it again, so soon after my round 2 game, seemed like more than a coincidence.} e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 h5 $5 {On the spur of the moment - I knew that this move existed and is quite trendy, but that was it. I didn't want to discover what he had prepared for 8... Be7, and preferred to trust in my general understanding of the Najdorf to see me through an original position.} 9. Qd2 (9. Nd5 Bxd5 10. exd5 Nbd7 11. Qd2 g6 12. O-O-O {is the other key continuation for White; Black can now try a delicate pawn grab (12... Nb6) or continue developing (12... Bg7).}) 9... Nbd7 10. a4 {(1:18) Trying to restrain Black's queenside, but seldom played as it arguably commits White to castling short, which isn't without risk following 8. f3.} Be7 {(1:28)} 11. Nd5 {And now theory is all but left behind. I played} Bxd5 $6 {with little hesitation - in this structure Black almost always captures with the bishop in order to avoid losing a tempo after exd5. However, with kingside play being restrained thanks to my eighth move, this is one of the almosts.} (11... Nxd5 $142 $1 12. exd5 Bf5 13. Bd3 $6 { This was what I feared, but groundlessly since} Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Rc8 15. O-O O-O $15 {, followed by ...Bg5 to liberate the bad bishop, offers Black counterplay - White's king position is weakened too, and the typical Sicilian play down the c-file is present and correct.}) 12. exd5 Nb6 $6 {Tarrasch's old mantra that a knight on N3 always stands badly isn't without a grain of truth. I wanted to provoke c2-c4 in order to provide a target for counterplay (White's knight on N3 isn't helping either!) but my knight will soon have to waste time returning to safety.} 13. c4 e4 {Black needs to find counterplay before he is flattened. This makes e5 available to my knights and gently reminds White that his king is still in the centre.} 14. a5 Nbd7 15. Be2 {(49) I could tell from Burton's uncertain body language (and repeated cigarette breaks) that he did not feel comfortable, and correctly guessed how he intended to continue. That is just as well, since I may have come to a dead end against a more assertive opponent.} exf3 {(1:02)} 16. Bxf3 $2 {The prettier capture, but now Black's play is justified: White gives up all influence over the central dark squares. I was much more scared of 16. gxf3!, keeping his share of the board.} (16. gxf3 $142 $1 Ne5 17. Nd4 Qd7 18. O-O Rc8 19. b3 $16 {Black has no counterplay on the queenside, and always has to watch out for his centralised knight being driven off by f3-f4. In this position I'd very much want to play ...h5-h7.}) 16... Rc8 17. Rc1 O-O 18. O-O Ne5 19. Bb6 {Pushing the queen onto a square reserved for my knights, but the inconvenience is only temporary; the bishop will not be able to remain here.} Qd7 20. Qd4 $6 {(24) Occupying the knight's best square, which Black promptly attacks with tempo.} Qa4 {(39)} 21. Nd2 Nfd7 $1 {I was very proud of this move - Black is playing for domination of the dark squares and attaches no importance to the h-pawn in furthering this goal.} 22. b3 $2 {(White draw offer)} (22. Bxh5 {Black's compensation for this pawn is not in dispute, but Stockfish doesn't suggest any better move.} Bg5 23. Be2 Nxb6 24. axb6 Qb4 {As usual in middlegames with opposite-coloured bishops, the position greatly favours the side with the initiative.} 25. Rc2 f5 $5 {An eccentric computer suggestion, restraining White's kingside.} 26. Nf3 Bd8 27. Kh1 Ng4 28. h3 Bxb6 29. Qc3 {29... Ne3 was on the cards.} Qxc3 30. Rxc3 Nf2+ 31. Kh2 Ne4 $15 {Black successfully installs his knight in the middle of the board. White cannot seek counterplay with} 32. Rb3 $6 {because of} Bf2 33. Rxb7 $2 Rb8 34. Rxb8 Rxb8 {and the b-pawn falls with deadly consequences;} 35. Rb1 $2 {is no good because of} Bg3+ 36. Kg1 Nc3) 22... Qb4 {I took the draw offer as a sign of weakness. After the game he said he was scared of the clock, and that I was right to play on. I was very optimistic at this point, and not without cause.} 23. Qe3 Nxb6 24. axb6 g6 $2 {As I realised soon after, this was needlessly squeamish - I should have been consistent with my previous play and ignored the h-pawn. 24... Bd8 would be unanswerable.} (24... Bd8 $142 25. Kh1 Bxb6 26. Qe2 Nxf3 {Securing Black's kingside and preparing to exploit Black's material advantage.} 27. Nxf3 Rce8 28. Qd3 g6 $19) 25. Ne4 $2 {(11)} Bd8 $2 {(21)} 26. c5 $2 {Here and on the last move, White should have evacuated his king to h1, so that the loss of the b-pawn is not so ruinous - after all, if Black loses the initiative, his king is not so safe either.} dxc5 $4 {The more I analyse my Major Open games, the more I start to think I was simply in a terrible run of form at the time, because they are littered with oversights and hallucinations far below a player of my strength. So desperate was I not to miss an awkward discovery that I made a point of checking every knight move one by one... the problem is that I imagined my queen still covered d6 after the pawn captures! What makes it even more annoying is that I considered the real winning move, but deemed it unnecessary.} (26... Rxc5 $142 $1 27. Nxc5 Bxb6 {As mentioned previously, I distrust flashy sequences when simpler alternatives (apparently) exist - "once bitten; twice shy". But Black clearly regains his piece, with two pawns and all of the dark squares in return for the exchange.} 28. Kh1 Bxc5 29. Qe1 Qd4 $19) 27. Nd6 Nxf3+ $6 { Throwing an exchange overboard with 27... Bf6 was the best chance of resisting. } 28. Qxf3 Qd4+ 29. Kh1 Rb8 30. Rcd1 $6 {(5)} Qg7 $6 {(14)} 31. Nc4 {I am a pawn up, but it's hard to tell - I am being suffocated and could hardly find a move. There was just one saving grace - by inertia, White was still happy to draw.} Rc8 32. Nd6 $2 (32. d6 $142 {I thought that I could try to hold with} Rc6 {but} 33. d7 {leaves Black with no good defence to White's big idea of} Kh7 34. Qxc6 $1 bxc6 35. b7 Bc7 36. d8=Q Rxd8 37. Rxd8 $18) 32... Rb8 33. Nc4 Rc8 34. Nd6 $2 {A lucky escape in the end. Despite three depressing losses, if I could change one game into a win it would be this one - I found some interesting ideas and played the position in the right way, but as so often the accuracy was sorely missed.} 1/2-1/2

I would dearly like to go back and fix the final quarter of this game, for then it could stand proudly amongst my successes in the Najdorf. At the risk of grossly oversimplifying, playing Black in the Open Sicilian (and especially the Boleslavsky structure with ...e5) boils down to dark-square strategy: White buys time and space at the high price of exchanging off his d-pawn and weakening the central dark squares. Once White allowed ...e5-e4 (clearing e5) and recaptured on f3 with his bishop, I was able to seize the initiative, capped by the pawn sacrifice 21... Nfd7! - the dynamic understanding is apparently still there.

Unfortunately, so is the ability to destroy hours of good work with one inattentive move, and this time 26... dxc5?? was the culprit, after which I soon discovered that my control of d6 was but a mirage. On this occasion my habitual belief that the flashy moves never actually work betrayed me, for 26... Rxc5! would have been a glorious and consistent way to crown the dark-square strategy. Unfortunately these things happen when you are on bad form, and for whatever reason the sharpness wasn't there on that week in August.

As I was still mired on 3/6, round seven was my last chance of breaking out of the midfield, and it was a chance I tried hard to take. But in such circumstances there is never a guarantee.