A grand battle

Hello from the Oxonian wilderness! I write from a strange land where you have to drive everywhere, none of the streets are lit, BT have needed a month and counting to switch the internet on and - more than anything - it is so much quieter. With nothing else to do I've been giving chess my undivided attention in a way that I just haven't in the last five years. I've now caught up with all my unannotated games, and am making a big dent in my library; in recent years I've been rather better at buying books than reading them, but now I can say it was preparation for this moment! Whether this burst of interest will last is another matter, but I'm making hay whilst the sun shines. So let's get back to some blogging.

As I alluded to in the previous post, the hiatus between the end of the league season in April and my annual trip to the British Championships in July wasn't so much a gap as a yawning chasm. I only played two serious games in that time, one of which was against a 1247-rated opponent, and it told against me in the early rounds of the Major Open. Coming into this fifth-round game, I really ought to have had 3½/4 but instead was two points shy of that mark. I had the white pieces against Anum Sheikh (1940) and wanted to get back into the running. I fell short yet again, but this game is well worth showing in any case - full-throated battles waged across every phase of the game are the ones you really remember:

[Event "British Championship Major Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2023.07.26"] [Round "5.24"] [White "Young, Daniel J"] [Black "Sheikh, Anum"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B48"] [WhiteElo "2007"] [BlackElo "1940"] [Annotator "Young,Daniel J"] [PlyCount "127"] [EventDate "2023.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2023.07.30"] {I'd played Sheikh once before in a rapid game and won with a mating attack straight out of the opening. So I was feeling quietly hopeful. Time control: 40 moves in 1 hour 30 minutes + 30 minutes to completion + 30 seconds/move.} 1. e4 {(1:30)} c5 {(1:26)} 2. Nf3 {In round 3 I had played the Smith-Morra Gambit in a standardplay game for the first time in over 10 years, and got a won position out of the opening. I'd have been happy to try it again but Sheikh would merely have transposed into an Alapin, and besides I'm happy to take on the Taimanov.} e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qf3 Nf6 8. O-O-O h5 {I wasn't familiar with this rare move, although from 94 games White scores only 51 percent which is markedly worse than the more popular alternatives. Black prevents any g2-g4 thrusts whilst also securing a spot for the f6 knight, and waits to see how White reacts before committing any of the other pieces.} 9. Be2 $6 {A straightforward reaction, developing the last minor piece, but not very good - indeed one could argue that Black's last move was aimed against this.} (9. Nxc6 $142 {has been favoured in practice and also gets the nod from the engine. As in the game, this exchange is connected with the e4-e5 advance. The most popular continuation from here has been} dxc6 (9... Qxc6 $143 $2 10. e5 $1 {gives White a huge initiative even with queens gone and split kingside pawns, since Black suffers on the queenside dark squares.} Qxf3 11. gxf3 Ng8 12. Bb6 {A plausible line could be} Ne7 13. f4 Ng6 14. Rd4 Be7 15. Rg1 O-O 16. Bd3 $18 {and Black struggles to play the game without her queenside.}) (9... bxc6 {is just about playable, but I'm not sure there is much point since} 10. Bc4 d5 $6 {is not what Black wants to do, letting her queen get kicked about.} 11. Bf4 Bd6 12. Bxd6 Qxd6 13. Rhe1 Qb4 14. Bb3 O-O 15. e5 Ng4 16. h3 Nh6 17. Ne2 $16 {Even better than Qxh5 - Nf4 is coming and White has good kingside attacking chances thanks to that drunken h-pawn.}) 10. h3 b5 11. e5 Nd5 {this leap is unavailable in the game, but it's not the panacea I thought it was for Black - the knight is great but the rest of her position is miserable.} 12. Bf4 Qa5 (12... Nxf4 $146 {This is a piece I'd be pleased to remove, and it is the engine's top choice, but that's not saying much - as we'll see in the game, White's space and development are worth a great deal even without the dark-squared bishop.} 13. Qxf4 g6 {The engine offers the amusing} 14. Qh2 $5 {, an original way to unpin, then} f6 15. exf6 Qxh2 16. Rxh2 Kf7 17. g3 Kxf6 18. Bg2 $14 {, with Catalan-esque pressure on the long diagonal.}) 13. Bd3 b4 14. Nxd5 cxd5 15. Kb1 Bd7 {If Black only had time to finish her development she wouldn't stand badly, however it isn't going to happen.} 16. Bg5 {(Han-Koudounis, Paracin 2022) If, for example, Black tries} Bc5 $146 {then} 17. Qg3 Qb6 (17... O-O $143 $4 18. Bf6 $18 {wins instantly}) 18. Rhf1 a5 19. Bh4 $14 {and Black has to deal with her vulnerable kingside.}) 9... b5 $6 {A rash move to play with so many undeveloped pieces, and giving me a chance to repair my omission.} (9... Ne5 $142 $146 10. Qg3 h4 {makes sense of 8... h5, driving the queen offside - White would usually have had time for f2-f4, a much more useful move here than Be2.} 11. Qh3 b5 12. f4 {Nevertheless, maybe White can set some problems with} Nc4 13. Bxc4 Qxc4 14. e5 b4 {(forced, or White is given time for 15. f5 to break up Black's centre)} 15. exf6 bxc3 16. b3 Qb4 17. Kb1 gxf6 18. Bc1 $14 {- Black is a pawn up (as long as c3 holds out) but where her king can find refuge remains to be seen.}) 10. e5 $6 {(1:13) An exotic choice, played after 17 minutes. I decided that now was the time to force a crisis in the position, since the pawn can't be taken and Black has wasted time with a provocative pawn move whilst far behind in development. By using this move order I was hoping to deny the knight the d5 square, and the game line ends up as an excellent advertisement for my idea, however it falls short for tactical reasons. Therefore I should have contented myself with 10. Nxc6 dxc6 11. e5 Nd5, with similar play to 9. Nxc6 above - as I wrote there, I overvalued Black's centralised knight.} Ng4 {(1:10)} (10... Bb7 $5 {As Sheikh mentioned in the postmortem, Black could have played this even here - in fact it turns out that White is forced to give up his queen (admittedly for a lot of material in return) to stay afloat.} 11. Ndxb5 {A desperado.} (11. exf6 $143 $2 {winds up losing a pawn to} Nxd4 12. Qh3 (12. Bxd4 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Rc8 14. fxg7 Bxg7 15. Bxg7 Rg8) 12... Nxe2+ 13. Nxe2 gxf6 $17 {, and with the e-pawn gone White has nothing to oppose Black's strong pair of bishops or her central pawn mass.}) 11... axb5 12. exf6 Nd4 13. Bxd4 $1 {Strictly the only move.} (13. Qh3 $143 $2 {keeping the queens on only leads to pain after} Nxe2+ 14. Nxe2 gxf6 {- material is equal but White's queenside is too lose, for example} 15. Kb1 Qc4 16. Nc1 Be4 $19) 13... Bxf3 14. Bxf3 Rc8 15. fxg7 Bxg7 16. Bxg7 {White briefly has three pieces for the queen, however with ...b4 coming this can't last. Still, White does get an exchange for his troubles after} Rg8 17. Rd2 Rxg7 18. Nxb5 Qf4 19. Nd6+ Kd8 20. Nxc8 Kxc8 $13 {, which results in a strange position. White has rook, bishop and two pawns for the queen, and the queenside passed pawns are a long term asset. Is this enough to fight against Black's strong centre and the superior coordination of the queen? The engine evaluates this as about equal, but all results remain possible.}) 11. Nxc6 dxc6 $4 {Sheikh played this quite quickly, however now she gets the worst of all worlds since her knight remains offside and I am in time to avoid any trickery on the long diagonal. She saw the right move, and if you sent her a postcard of her position in 5 moves' time I'm sure she'd want nothing to do with it, so she must have underestimated the danger.} (11... Bb7 $142 {is now essential. The engine finds some unlikely looking resources for White that I definitely didn't consider, and even then White is struggling for equality.} 12. Bb6 $1 (12. Qh3 {(the pin against h5 makes this more forcing than Qg3) is more mundane and probably what I would have played if it had come to it.} Nxe3 13. Qxe3 Bxc6 14. Bf3 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Rd8 16. Rhe1 d5 17. exd6 Bxd6 $11 {This is tenable for White, who has at least neutralised the long diagonal, however Black is in no danger and will likely develop pressure down the c-file later on - any Sicilian player would be happy as Black here.}) 12... Qxb6 13. Rxd7 $1 {Fantasy chess! Alas this is only the prelude to an exchange sacrifice out of desperation, and not to a deadly attack.} Nh6 (13... Kxd7 {forces the king to go for a walk -} 14. Qxf7+ Kxc6 15. Rd1 Kc5 $8 16. Qf4 Kc6 17. Qf7 Kc5 $13 {and White can either repeat moves or dare to play on (rook and bishop down!) with 18. a3!?.}) 14. Rxb7 Qxb7 15. Rd1 Rc8 16. Nd4 Qxf3 17. Bxf3 $44 {White has a pawn and very active minor pieces for the exchange, however with the queens gone can only aspire to hold the balance.}) 12. Bf4 Bb7 13. Qg3 Nh6 $6 {An unaffordable luxury - Black doesn't have time for this! 13... c5 was the relatively best chance, seeking a little counterplay on the long diagonal. Now I went into the tank for fully 27 minutes, eventually coming up with the counterintuitive - but very strong -} 14. Bxh6 $1 {White's dark-squared bishop is often his most important minor piece in Open Sicilians (because 3. d4 weakened the central dark squares), and giving it up for a knight on the rim didn't come easily to me. However, besides depriving Black of castling rights, this exchange gives me time to invade on d6 and prevents any counterplay with ...Nf5. Her undeveloped position has now become critical; my only worry was the clock, but I was hoping I wouldn't need to play 40 moves...} (14. Bxh5 {was the move I wanted to play, however I wasn't sure how to deal with} Nf5 {and indeed White needs to find a study-like move to make sense of his play - the beautiful shot} (14... g6 $2 {at once, hoping for 15. Bxg6 Rg8, is crushed by} 15. Ne4 $1 Ng8 16. Bf3 $18 {and Black's position can be dismissed without analysis}) 15. Qg6 $3 {, sacrificing the queen on an empty square! White threatens Qxe6+ but believe it or not his real prize is the loose bishop on b7.} fxg6 (15... Rxh5 {is the computer's try, however} 16. Qxh5 c5 17. f3 $18 {closes down Black's only avenue of counterplay, after which White wins on material.}) 16. Bxg6+ Qf7 (16... Ke7 17. Bg5# {is the pretty point of this amazing idea}) 17. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Rd7+ $18 {, winning back the piece with two pawns in the bank. Oh, to be an engine...}) 14... Rxh6 15. Ne4 {(26)} h4 {(30) Trying anything to disrupt me. It took me much too long on move 14 to realise that if 15... Rg6 16. Qf4 Rf6, I can take with the knight.} 16. Qg5 $18 {Keeping g7 under observation. Now Black can't stop my knight getting in, in response to which she is forced to trade off her dark-squared bishop.} Rd8 17. Nd6+ Bxd6 18. exd6 Rxd6 {Sheikh took 8 minutes on this move - I couldn't understand why but she said afterwards she was considering 18... Qc8 to keep lines closed, overlooking that 19. Qe7# would be good for White...} 19. Qxg7 Rxd1+ 20. Rxd1 {(17)} Qf4+ {(17) Avoiding immediate calamity, but Black's position should be too open.} 21. Kb1 Ke7 22. Qg8 Qc7 23. Qg5+ Rf6 {Once I got to this position I found it hard to believe there is no immediate kill for White, so I played} 24. Qxh4 $6 {with a strong sense that there had to be something better. And indeed, this allows Black undeserved counterplay.} (24. Bf3 $142 {should be the priority, preventing Black from activating her bishop. My desire to land a haymaker meant I failed to appreciate the strength of this quiet move - I can take my time without needing to find something straight away, since Black is paralysed. For instance,} Qf4 (24... a5 25. h3 {- 25. Qxh4 is fine now too -} a4 26. a3 $18 {is as good as zugzwang}) 25. Qc5+ Ke8 26. Qb6 $18 {and White invades.}) 24... c5 25. g4 $2 {(9) I was getting nervous in the face of time trouble - there is no justification for letting Black activate all her pieces like this.} Qf4 {(11)} 26. Qh8 Bd5 {I had overlooked this defence. Suddenly Black's pieces have all come to life.} 27. h4 $2 {A meaningless move, since the pawns are too far back to bother Black and my pieces are not doing anything.} (27. g5 $142 {at least recognises that things have gone wrong, diverting the queen so that I can try to cause some mischief on the queenside.} Qxg5 28. Qc8 c4 29. Qxa6 Qe5 $44 {Black can't be in danger since her pieces are actually playing the game, but at least White's queen is doing something now.}) 27... Rh6 $4 {Played quickly - this phase of the game clearly suffers from all the time spent early on by both sides. Now I get an improved version of the variation above, for my queen is able to take the more central c-pawn instead of the a-pawn.} (27... Qe4 $142 {is virtually winning for Black, for her pieces are too active - even if the queens are exchanged.} 28. g5 Rxf2 29. Bd3 Qd4 {Forcing the exchange, after which White's kingside pawns are ripe for the taking.} 30. Qxd4 (30. Qc8 $143 $2 Be4 $19) 30... cxd4 31. Rg1 Rh2 $17 {White loses a pawn, and I doubt he can survive the march of Black's central pawns.}) 28. Qc8 Rxh4 29. Qxc5+ Kf6 30. Qc3+ {(4)} Kg6 {(2)} 31. Bd3+ Be4 32. Bxe4+ $6 {The allure of simplification, and a check, in time trouble!} (32. a4 $142 {rips up Black's queenside, and solves the problem of the back rank. To illustrate, if} bxa4 $6 {now} 33. Bxe4+ Qxe4 34. f3 Qf4 35. Rd8 $18 {is possible, unlike in the game, and Black's king is back under the spotlight.}) 32... Qxe4 33. f3 Qe2 $6 {Missing my reply, after which this move proves to be a waste of time.} 34. Re1 (34. Qd3+ $143 $2 {I would have dearly liked to exchange the queens, however I rightly judged that} Qxd3 35. cxd3 Rh3 $11 {didn't offer me any winning chances.}) 34... Qg2 35. Qd3+ {(2) Still, getting a staircase of checks with which to reach the time control was some consolation.} Kg7 {(1)} 36. Qd4+ Kg6 37. Qe4+ Kg7 38. Qe5+ Kg6 39. Qe4+ Kg7 40. Qd4+ {(3)} Kg6 {(1)} 41. Qd3+ $16 Kg7 42. b3 {Now the battle is resumed. With an extra pawn and the safer king, White has serious winning chances.} Rh3 {Now I had an idea, which very nearly became one of the deepest combinations I've ever played.} 43. Qd4+ Kg6 44. f4 $1 {White is able to get this advance in thanks to the unfortunate position of Black's king. However, it all depends on accurate calculation...} Qxg4 $4 {Black's desire to accept the challenge is understandable, but if this looks risky that's because it is!} (44... Rh1 $142 {is preferred by Stockfish, however} 45. Rxh1 Qxh1+ 46. Kb2 Qg2 47. g5 {looks extremely promising to me; Black's king will find no peace in this life, and} Kh7 48. a4 bxa4 49. Qxa4 $18 {gives her plenty to worry about on the other flank too.}) 45. Rg1 $4 {(19) So close and yet so far. I had the right idea, decoying Black's rook into position for a fork, but I needed to flip the move order - my rook still had work to do on the g-file.} (45. f5+ $142 $1 {The difference is revealed after} Kg5 (45... Qxf5 46. Rg1+ {leads to mate:} Kh6 47. Qg7+ Kh5 48. Qh8+ $18) (45... exf5 {fails against either move order, losing a rook to} 46. Rg1 Rg3 47. Qd6+ $18) 46. Qg7+ {and this time 46... Kf4 loses to 47. Re4+.} Kh4 (46... Kxf5 47. Qxf7+ {and the king can't flee to the e-file, so the queen is lost after} Kg5 48. Re5+ Kh4 49. Qf6+ Kg3 50. Rg5 $18) 47. Qf6+ Qg5 (47... Kh5 48. Qxf7+ Kg5 49. fxe6 $18 {is a trivially won ending for White}) 48. Re4+ Kh5 49. Qxf7+ Kh6 50. Rxe6+ $18) 45... Rg3 {(18)} 46. f5+ Kg5 $1 {When I played my last move I thought it was all over, but now it gradually dawned on me that there is no win. Other moves all lose.} (46... exf5 47. Qd6+ $18 {was mentioned above}) (46... Kxf5 47. Qf2+ Rf3 48. Qc5+ $18 {wins the queen.}) 47. Rxg3 {Back on move 45 I had convinced myself that this let me skewer the royals, but my rook moved up a rank when it captured Black's one! However, there was no longer anything more for White than the drawn pawn ending that results.} (47. Qg7+ Kf4 {As mentioned above, if I had played the right move order Black's rook would still be on the h-file and I could win her queen here with Re4+. White can still go down this path if he's desperate to play on, however} 48. Qh6+ Kxf5 49. Rf1+ Rf3 $44 {covers everything. Black will struggle to win with her king so open, but other than that White is simply a pawn down.}) 47... Qxg3 48. Qg7+ Kf4 49. Qxg3+ Kxg3 50. fxe6 {(4)} fxe6 {(4)} 51. c4 $11 {It's strange that, being so scared of pawn endings usually, I go into one where I'm the only side at risk of losing. With time once again running short I'd deluded myself that there could be chances here, however Black need only run back with her king.} bxc4 52. bxc4 Kf4 53. Kc2 Ke5 54. Kd3 Kd6 55. Kd4 {(4)} a5 {(5)} 56. c5+ Kc6 57. Kc4 e5 58. a4 e4 59. Kd4 e3 60. Kxe3 {(1)} Kxc5 {(3)} 61. Kd3 Kb4 62. Kc2 Kxa4 63. Kb2 Kb4 64. Ka2 {(White draw offer) The game carried on so long, and there was so much to analyse, that we got kicked out of the building before we could finish our postmortem. This was probably my most hard-fought struggle of the year, but definitely an opportunity lost.} 1/2-1/2

The lack of a sure touch in Open Sicilians was a big driver in my diversification away from 1. e4, which is a pity as they lead to exciting and imbalanced games. Thankfully I can still be tempted sometimes, and I think I got close to grasping the opening on this occasion. 10. e5?! shouldn't quite work, but it leads to sharp play and is the sort of thing White should be looking at - in the Sicilian, Black's prospects improve the longer she is left in peace. I redeemed myself with the unnatural (to me) 14. Bxh6!, staking everything on time and realising that the looming check on d6 is calamitous for Black.

Unfortunately in the next stage of the game everything went wrong for me, and Sheikh took the opportunity to get back into the game starting from 24. Qxh4?! - a revealing mistake. A large part of what we all shorthand as "good technique" in favourable positions is controlling counterplay, and here this should have taken priority over winning a pawn. Just like in the game against Basson from a few posts ago, the presence or absence of even one minor piece (the b7 bishop here, or the b1/c3 knight in the earlier game) makes a big difference to the defender's chances. I also failed to adjust to the new situation over the next few moves - I've hardly been afflicted with the time trouble demon this year, but here was a (justifiable) exception and I lost my grip in the face of the sudden turnaround. Compare the positions after 23... Rf6 and 26... Bd5. If she'd continued consistently with 27... Qe4 it would have been very difficult to save the game.

Instead, time trouble intervened fairly on both sides and I was able to reach the safe harbour of move 40 with a clean extra pawn. I nevertheless had to be content with a draw thanks to my ever-weak calculating ability. As 44. f4! shows, I understood the dominant feature of the position - Black's exposed king, however when the chance came to show the proof I bungled the move order. I spotted the Rg1 and f5+ resources when calculating separate variations on move 44, and in my excitement at realising they could be combined (cf. 46... exf5) I didn't pay much attention to move order. I think I wanted it to work so badly I allowed myself to hallucinate that 48. Qg7+ won the queen. Dizziness due to success, as the Soviet masters would undoubtedly have called it - and a reminder that you have to slow down in such moments. After that I was the only one at risk of losing, but managed to reach a draw without any further incident. A game full of lessons then, despite the frustrating outcome.

In round six I finally got my second win, continuing my remarkable King's Indian rebirth, and immediately followed up with a third in round seven. Though I still consider myself well prepared, I can't build a career on it any more and frankly it's no longer special - everyone from my generation is used to preparing their openings with computers, and our elders have been hammered enough times as a result that they've been forced to adapt too. Even so, round seven is where we will head next, as I showed that in 2023 it is still possible to win games in the opening.