The
game that (finally!) put me over 2000
by
Damian Nash, USCF “Expert” and Senior TD, Moab, Utah
For six months prior to the
New Mexico Memorial tournament in January, 2009, I had finally gotten serious
about studying chess, dedicating at least an hour every day to watching
grandmaster videos and tournaments, or solidifying my opening systems with the
help of my coach, Scott Thiele. I also played
at least one rated tournament every month and carefully analyzed all my mistakes
with Fritz. Further, I reviewed all my
major blunders since 2000 as a way of eliminating my habitual blind spots. As a psychology teacher, I had read every
book on the subject of chess psychology, and in 2008 the wonderful book The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, by Scottish
Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson, gave me a very practical
way to apply that psychology. In the
two weeks prior to the tournament I added an extra hour to my training each
night at the fantastic Chess Tactics Server hosted by the Berlin Chess Club (http://chess.emrald.net).
In the
third round, on board one, I faced the top-rated player in the tournament: USCF
Master Gary Simms of Texas. I had seen
his games from the previous year’s tournament and knew that he was a powerful and
resourceful attacker, but not invulnerable to tactical blunders and excessive positional
optimism while defending. Feeling
rested and ready to rumble, but coming off a sloppy, time-scramble win in round
two, I vowed to watch my clock and use my opponent’s time for “talking to my
pieces” (Rowson’s clever way of analyzing a position
and planning ahead) and “prophylaxis” (discovering the opponents plans and
shutting them down). What resulted was
a beautiful, 22-move miniature. It propelled
me over the 2000 USCF rating mark – a goal that had tantalized and eluded me
for 25 years.
Simms, Gary (2211) - Nash, Damian
(1980)
NM
Memorial, Albuquerque, NM (Round 3), 18.01.2009 [Fritz 8 (180s)]
B00: Kings Indian Attack, Nimzowitsch
Defence
1.e4 Nc6 Black encourages 2. d4 which can be met with either 2... d5
or my favorite 2... e5. 2.d3 A tame
move, not in a hurry to mix things up in the middle. 2...g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3
d6 5.Bg2 e5 6.0–0 White now dominates the light squares in the center,
black dominates the dark squares. 6...Bg4
7.h3 putting the test to black's bishop and avoiding lines like 7. Nc3, Nd4
where black can trade off white's kingside pieces or 7. c3, Qe7 where black can
invade on h3. 7...Bxf3 8.Bxf3 Nd4 The knight is
heading for e6 where it can support the advance of the f and g pawns for a
kingside attack. 9.Bg2 Qd7 Preparing to
castle long, and then the game will become an exciting race to see whose
pawn-storm will break through the opponent's king's defenses first. 10.c3 Ne6 11.Be3 A strong move preparing to conquer the
center with d4, and threatening to open up both bishop's diagonals to attack a7
and b7. But nothing is happening
immediately in the center or on the queenside, so black decides to launch a
pawn storm right away. 11...h5! 12.Na3?! "A
knight on the rim is dim," but this one could have a future on c2,
supporting the d4 pawn push, or eventually b5, supporting the attack on black's
castled king. The problem with this plan
is that black's attack is already starting to roll. 12...h4 13.d4 hxg3
14.fxg3 0–0–0 Fritz prefers to concede the center to white with 14...exd4!?
15.cxd4 Ne7. Despite Fritz's analysis, I think black
is worse in this position than in the actual game because white's bishop pair
will dominate on the open board. 15.d5 After
this move Fritz gives advantage to white.
However, white has just locked the center, keeping his g2 bishop out of
the queenside attack, and now black's attack is going to arrive first. 15...Nc5 16.b4? (Diagram) With this move white
launches his own assault on the opponent's king, expecting Na6, then maybe Nb8
to support the king. However, the pawn
thrust was premature, and sets up a beautiful combination for black. If instead 16.Bxc5? then …dxc5 would solidify the safety of black's king on the
queenside, allowing black's attack on the kingside to define the future course
of the game. The quiet move 16.Qc2 was
best for white, over-protecting the e4 square, helping defend the 2nd
rank, eyeing the black king on the c-file, and preparing for b4 and a strong
attack on the queenside.
Black to move and win
In
this position white has just launched his queenside offensive, and all of his
pieces appear to be playing useful roles.
Meanwhile, black’s bishop and g8 knight are still waiting for a useful
jobs, and black’s only advanced piece, the c5 knight, appears to be heading
back to the stable. But black has an
open h-file, an aggressive diagonal for his queen, and kingside pawns that are
ready to launch with f5. In addition, white
has an important tactical weakness: His
bishop on g2 is overworked, defending both e4 and h3. Now a piece sacrifice clears the path for
Black's queen and other pieces to invade:
16...Nxe4!! 17.Bxe4 Qxh3 18.Kf2? Under
pressure white misses the best move. The insecure king makes a bolt for
freedom, apparently holding the g3 pawn along the way, but at what price? Accurate defense is difficult to find when
you are in a dense thicket of complex variations, leading to what Kasparov
calls “the attacker's advantage."
The more obvious move 18. Bg2 gives up a third pawn for the knight, but
leads to safer variations: 18...Qxg3 19.Qf3 Qh2+ 20.Kf2 Qh4+ 21.Ke2 f5 22.Qf2 where
white's king has escaped certain death, but black's advancing kingside pawns
will probably decide the game because white’s king and pieces look like targets
to them. 18...Nf6 Black's last
undeveloped piece enters into the fray, tipping the scales with the devastating
threats of Nxe4+ and Ng4+ 19.Bf3 19.Qf3 holds the position a little
longer, but it turns out that white's misplaced knight on a3 decides the game
in what Fritz calls the main variation: 19...Ng4+ 20.Ke2 f5 21.Rh1 fxe4 22.Qxe4
Qxg3 23.Rag1 Nf6 24.Rxh8 Rxh8 25.Rxg3 Nxe4 26.Rxg6 Nxc3+ 27.Kd3 Nxd5 28.Rxg7
Nxe3 29.Kxe3 Rh3+ 19...e4 20.Rh1 20. Nc4 was white's best hope, but
still falls to the following line: 20.Nc4 exf3 21.Qxf3 Qh2+ 22.Ke1 Nxd5 23.Qxd5
Bxc3+ 24.Kd1 Bxa1 25.Bxa7 Rhe8 with a winning attack. 20...Qf5 wins the piece back. 21.Bf4
exf3 21...g5 also wins a piece, and actually wins more convincingly
by further exposing white's king to the advancing pawns and pieces: 22.Bh5 gxf4
23.g4 22.Qxf3 Nxd5 and white resigns in view of 22...Nxd5 23.Bd2 Qxf3+
24.Kxf3 Bxc3 25.Bxc3 Nxc3 when black's three extra pawns make the endgame a
simple win. 0–1
