Thursday 6 September 2018
White: Keith Nevols (163) - Black: Anthony Fletcher (86)
Pirc Defence with 4. Bg5
1. e4 d6
2. d4 Nf6
3. Nc3 g6
The Pirc Defence. Not one of my most familiar openings but I do know one line which prepares for aggression and development.
4. Bg5
A system introduced by the American Grandmaster Robert Byrne in the 1960s.
4. .... Bg7
5. Nf3 O-O
6. Be2
I did not know where to put this bishop for now so e2 is as good a place as any. It reminded me of a Mike Basman audio tape from the 1970s where he recommended Be2 after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6.
6. .... c5?!
Perhaps premature. I studied 7. dxc5 dxc5 8. Qxd8 Rxd8 9. e5 Nfd7 (9. ... Nd5? 10. O-O-O) 10. Bxe7 Re8 and did not like it. Black will get his pawn back and my king is still in the centre. But I did not see the stronger 10. Nd5! with 10. .. Nc6 11. Rd1 with pressure.
After 7. dxc5 better for Black would be 7. ... h6 and 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 dxc5 or 8. Be3 Ng4.
Instead I keep developing.
7. O-O b6
I thought this did not look right as it blocks the squares b6 and a5 for the queen. Black is planning to fianchetto the other bishop.
8. Re1
This is to pre-empt Bb7 in allowing Bf1 to drop back and defend the e4 pawn.
8. ..... Nc6
Now I started thinking about the e5 push. If 9. e5 dxe5 10. dxe5 Ng4 did not promise much. Also 9. e5 Ng4 10. exd6 Qxd6. So I decide to prepare it once more.
9. Bb5
I expected 9. ... Nxd4 10. Nxd4 cxd4 11. Qxd4 where I could not see anything useful for Black.
9. ..... Bb7
A big think here - I looked at 10. d5 Ne5 11. Nxe5 dxe5 with a future f4 in mind.
But 10. e5 just looked right through instinct. I thought he could not exchange and might instead play 10. .. Ng4 where I considered 11. e6? (which is bad because Black has a good piece sacrifice in 11. .. Nxd4 12. Nxd4 Nxf2! 13. Kxf2 cxd4) and did not see the better 11. Nd5.
10. e5 dxe5
11. dxe5
Black must now play 11. ..Ng4 where I intended 12. h3 Ngxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Qxd8 Rfxd8 15. Bxe7 with an equal position. Fortunately for me, Black goes wrong.
11. Ne8?
I could see how I could win the exchange and a pawn but it meant giving up one of my bishops - but material is material.
12. Bxc6 Bxc6
13. Qxd8 Rxd8
14. Bxe7 Nc7
15. Bxf8 Kxf8
OK, now what? I wanted to see if I could get rid of one of those bishops - because with those three pieces acting with the rook, Black could put up quite a spirited defence. So relocating the knight seemed a good start.
16. Ne4 Ne6
If I play 17. c3 - to stop any idea of Nd4 or Rd4 - then Black has 17. ... Nf4 with a possible Nd3 causing problems. I wanted to exchange the knight and saw a way I could do that.
17. Neg5 h5
18. Nxe6+ fxe6
Another big think. I did not want the two Black bishops to combine and make life hard for me. I was happy to sacrifice the e5 pawn to exchange off one of them (e.g. after Bxf3) but a second pawn and/or an active Black rook should not be allowed.
19. c4
The purpose of this move was to take a pawn away from the second rank (in case Black gets his rook down there), to cover the d5 square from a Black rook or bishop, and to hinder any counter attack ideas revolving around a Black b5.
19. ......Bh6
Releasing the pressure from e5 allows me to challenge the d-file and swap off a pair of rooks.
20. Rad1 Ke7
21. Rxd8+ Kxd8
22. Rd1+ Ke7
23. Rd3!
I was pleased to find this move. The intention is to sweep over to the left hand side.
23. ...... Bc1
24. Ra3 Bxb2
25. Rxa7+ Kd8
26. h3
Planning to march the king forward. Black feels compelled to exchange off one of his bishops to get a pawn back, which is what I had hoped for.
26. .... Bxf3
27. gxf3 Bxe5
28. a4
Both to advance a pawn and also to stop any counter ideas based around b5 and c4.
28. ..... Bc7
29. Ra8+ Ke7
30. Kf1 Kf6
Any counterplay thoughts for Black has to come from the advance of the king - does he head for the h3 pawn or to the c4 pawn? Either way, though, I have time.
31. Rc8
The Black b-pawn will fall and the a-pawn can be advanced. Black decided to resign.
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