4NCL - The Four Nations League - www.4ncl.co.uk/pre2010

Terry Chapman annotates

Chapman,Terence - Arkell,Keith C [A09]
4NCL 2009, 04.05.2009

I haven't turned the computer onto this yet. I thought it might be more interesting to record what I was thinking during the game, (and in the brief post mortem) at the risk of looking silly later... 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.e3 dxe3 4.fxe3 c5 5.b4 Kasparov gave this a '!' in My Great Predecessors. My other attempt with it yielded a promising position, which I wrecked by playing too timidly. So I had a reminder not to wimp out this time. 5...cxb4 6.d4 Nd7 [6...g6 7.Bd3 Bg7 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Qe2 0-0 10.Bb2 Bg4 11.Nbd2 Nbd7 12.a3! bxa3 13.Rxa3 Qc7 14.h3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 e5 16.Rb3 Rab8 17.Ba3 exd4 18.exd4 Rfe8 19.c5 Nf8 20.d5 N8d7 21.d6 Qc8 22.Qf2 Ne5 23.Bb5 Nfd7 0-1 Chapman,T (2251)-Kalezic,B (2460)/Budva 2009/Mega2009 Update 10 (36)] 7.Bd3 Ngf6 8.0-0 e5 9.Ng5 [9.Nbd2 exd4 10.exd4 Be7 11.Bb2 0-0 was a sound alternative. Keith thought white had full compensation for his pawn, but not more. I think white has scored quite well in the variation. However, the sequence I played looked seductive, and with fresh memories of losses from 'opting out,' I went for it.] 9...h6 10.Ne6 and not [10.Nxf7 Kxf7 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Qh5+ Kg8 13.Qxe5 Qxd3-+] 10...fxe6 11.Bg6+ Ke7

board

12.a3 I did wonder about just shuffling a pawn on the side of the board. How often has a3 been the follow-up to a knight sac on e6? On the other hand, it seems to give black more to think about, than, say, Qd2 Qc7 Q:b4+ Kd8 12...h5! 13.Qe1 and not [13.axb4 Rh6 14.Qc2 e4 15.Bxe4 Nxe4 16.Qxe4 Nf6 when black is solving his development problems. I felt the bishop was the lock on black's position, and must be kept in place if at all possible.] 13...Qc7 14.c5 b6 [14...Rh6 15.Qg3 Kd8 was what I expected, given 12...h5, threatening ed, when I hoped to cause enough trouble with 16. e4 ed, 17. Bf4] 15.axb4 Bb7 16.Nc3 a5

board

I had half expected this, assuming that black would be successful in collapsing my formidable pawn structure, but hoping the opening of lines, and especially the a3 f8 diagonal, would still give me chances, with the black kingside still at home and the king in the centre. Not very concrete, I confess. As it turned out there seemed to be a good reply though. 17.e4! Freeing the QB; defending the h1 a8 diagonal, so preparing Nb5 with tempo which wasn't immediately possible due to Qc6; introducing d5 and Nd5 ideas; How much can you ask of one move? 17...axb4 [17...exd4 18.Nb5 Qc6 19.Nxd4] 18.Nb5 Qc6 19.Na7 Rxa7 Would I have taken the draw after Qc7 Nb5? Of course! 20.Rxa7 Not just some material back, but a pretty useful rook 20...bxc5 21.dxe5 Nxe5 22.Qg3 After playing this, I wondered if I might be better - not that the objective assessment seemed all that relevant in such a position 22...Ned7! [22...Nxg6 23.Qxg6 Qxe4 24.Rxf6 Keith missed this earlier. I had intended (24.Rxb7+ Qxb7 25.Bg5 when black's f6 point collapses but he is nonetheless better. Perhaps I would have found R:f6 on the move) 24...Qd4+ 25.Rf2] 23.e5 The post mortem looked at h4. The black pawn advance ...h4 ...h3 looks annoying. 23...h4! 24.exf6+ Perhaps white's natural and materialistic last two moves, which give black the diagonal and the g-file, were wrong. Did white need to hurry so much to get a further tangible reward for the attack? Black's king-side remains unconvincing. 24...gxf6 25.Qf3 Qxf3 26.gxf3 Bd5 I had only seen [26...Rg8 27.Rxb7 Rxg6+ when white's active rooks embarrass the king and knight. Now we both assumed black was better, and he may well be, but it seems that white's rooks and bishops can still create many threats. ] 27.Be4 Bxe4? [Examples of other wrong paths for black: 27...f5 28.Bxd5 exd5 29.Re1+ Kd6 30.Bf4+ Kc6 31.Rc7+; 27...Kd6 28.Rd1 Rh5 29.f4 Bh6 30.Bg6] 28.fxe4 Bg7 29.Be3 Rd8 30.Bxc5+ Ke8 31.Bxb4 Bh6 32.Ra6? [32.Kf2] 32...Be3+? Mutual errors. The pressure! We were both short of time, of course. Keith in particular was down to a minute or two. [32...Kf7 33.Rd1 Rg8+ would have resulted in an ending where White has any winning chances. How good they are I'm not sure, especially in practice.] 33.Kh1 Kf7 34.Rd1 Kg6? [34...Nb8] 35.Ra3! [Black was ready to uncork 35.Rad6 Rb8 or; 35.Be7 Nc5] 35...Bb6 36.Rad3 1-0

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