Battle at the Border, Sasata-IM Bae
Robert Sasata (2350) - IM Torsten Bae (2383)
Battle at the Border (4)
Lloydminster 2007
D70
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O
Does White not have the ideal attacking formation against the king’s fianchetto? It feels like the position plays itself…
9… f5
As recommended by Rowson in his Understanding the Gruenfeld. Personally, I think Black is struggling to maintain equality now.
10. h4 e5 11. d5 Nd4 12. h5
I was secretly hoping for 12…fxe4 13.fxe4 Bg4 with a transposition into my Haessel game. Bae increases the complexity and tosses another
pawn lever into the mix.
12… c6 13. hxg6 hxg6 14. exf5
Psychological draw offered by me here. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t accept it, at such a complex position at an early stage of the game. So why offer? Sometimes the draw offer has interesting secondary effects, such as:
- making the draw refuser bear the conscious or subconcious burden of having to justify his non-acceptance by demonstrating their position to be ‘more than equal’
- making the opponent use valuable thinking time contemplating possible tournament placings, prize money distributions, etc.
- giving the opponent the false impression of ‘fear’ on my part. Offering the draw may make him think that I don’t really like my position that much (a usual reason for offering a draw) and perhaps cause him to overestimate his chances.
Or, none of the above. Obviously, this ‘parlour trick’ should have little effect against a seasoned veteran, but one must not underestimate the cumulative effect of subtle psychological ploys such as these. Back to the board and pieces. The preponderance of captures make this position very complex and difficult to evaluate without a deep and extensive analysis, the time for which I don’t have, so I’ll just resort to the standby of giving the engines’ suggestions and evaluations:
14. dxc6 bxc6 15. exf5 Bxf5 16. g4 Bc2 17. Bxd4 exd4 18.Kxc2 dxc3 19. Qxd8 Raxd8 20. Rxd8 Rxd8 21. bxc3 +/= {0.23/15}
14. Bg5 Qd6 15. Bh6 f4 16. dxc6 bxc6 17. Qf2 Bxh6 18. Rxh6 Qe7 19. Bd3 Kg7 20. Rh1 Be6 {0.02/15}
14. Nge2 Nc4 15. Qd3 Nxe3 16. Qxe3 c5 17. exf5 gxf5 18. f4 e4 19. Qg3 Qb6 20. Kb1 Bd7 {0.01/15}
14. f4 fxe4 15. dxc6 Qe7 16. Nxe4 exf4 17. Bxd4 Qxe4 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19. cxb7 Bxb7 20. Qc3+ Rf6 {0.00/14}
14. Bh6 f4 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Nge2 c5 17. Nxd4 cxd4 18. Nb5 Bd7 19. Kb1 Bxb5 20.Bxb5 Qd6 {0.27/15}) 14… cxd5
14… cxd5
More number-crunched variations for the fanatics:
14… Bxf5 15. dxc6 bxc6 16. g4 Bc2 17. Bxd4 exd4 18. Kxc2 dxc3 19. Qxd8 Raxd8 20. Rxd8 Rxd8 21.bxc3 {0.26/14}
14… cxd5 15. fxg6 Bf5 16. Bd3 Nc4 17. Bxc4 dxc4 18. Nge2 Bd3 19. Bxd4 exd4 20. Ne4 Qe8 21. Rh4 {0.35/14}
14… Nxd5 15. Nxd5 cxd5 16. fxg6 Bf5 17. Bd3 Qf6 18.Bxf5 Qxf5 19. Qd3 Qxd3 20. Rxd3 Rac8+ 21. Kb1 {0.38/14}
14… Rxf5 15. dxc6 Qc7 16. Bd3 Rf6 17. cxb7 Bxb7 18.Nge2 Rd6 19. Bh6 Bf6 20. Qe1 Nf5 21. Kb1 {0.50/14}
14… Qf6 15. g4 gxf5 16. g5 Qg6 17. f4 c5 18. Qg2 exf4 19. Bxf4 Bd7 20. Nf3 Rfe8 {0.63/14}
14… Nxf5 15. Bg5 Qd6 16. dxc6 Qxd2+ 17. Kxd2 Ng3 18. Rh4 Nxf1+ 19. Rxf1 bxc6 20. Ne4 Nd5 21. Ne2 {0.15/15}
15. g4!
It takes over 10 minutes for Rybka to agee that this is White’s best move. It took me far less :) The second rank gets opened for Qh2.
15… gxf5!
Anything else is inferior.
16. Qh2 Qf6?!
Bae responded with this move rather quickly. Interestingly, this move is also Rybka’ first choice, but given time to get to 15 ply, it drops to fourth place, with a 0.68 evaluation. Offered as best play is 16… Qe7 ! 17. Qh7+ Kf7 18. Qh5+ Kg8 (only move) 19. Re1 Nc6 (only move) 20. Qh7+ Kf7 21. gxf5 (21. Rh6 Ke8! - Black deftly sidesteps White’s kingside forces, and takes temporary shelter behind the central preponderance.
(21… Rh8 is not as good, as depicted in this tortuously complex, variation: 22. Qg6+ Kf8 23. Rxh8+ Bxh8 24. Nh3 Qf7 (24… d4 25. Ng5! Qe8 26. Nh7+ Ke7 27. Bg5+ Kd7 28. Nf6+ Bxf6 29. Qxf6 a6! {Preventing a deadly Nb5+ in various lines.} 30. gxf5 Kc7 31. Ne4 +/-) 25. Bc5+ Ke8 26. Qd6 Qe7 27. Nb5 Kf7 28. Bd3 Qxd6 29. Nxd6+ Kf6 30. gxf5 +/-)
22. Rg6 Bf6 23. Qh5 Kd8 with balanced chances in a highly complex position.) 21…Qf6 (only move) 22. Qh5+ Kg8 23. Bxb6 axb6 24. Nxd5 Qxf5 =. Just in case there’s any confusion, I should explain that I did not see any of this stuff at the board. I was mostly playing by intuition, trying to keep my tempo brisk, for practical purposes.
17. Qh7+ ?!
Since this forcing move peters out to eventual equality, it must be adorned with a ?! diacritical. Given sufficient time, Rybka demonstrates that the sophisticated knight-undermining 17.f4! keeps an advantage, depicted here in this long complex variation difficult for normal humans to find: 17. f4! fxg4 18. Qh7+ Kf7 19. fxe5 Qxe5 20. Bxd4 Qg5+ 21. Rd2 Rh8 22. Qxg7+! Qxg7 23. Rxh8 Qg5 24. Rh7+ (+/-) Kf8 25. Bd3 Bf5 26. Rg7 Qf4 27. Nge2 Qf3 28. Bxf5 Qxf5 29. Ng3 Qf3 30. Rg5 Qxg3 31. Rf2+ Ke8 32. Rg8+ Ke7 33. Rg7+ Ke8 34. Bc5 +-.
17… Kf7 18. Rh6! Rh8 (only move)
If 18… Qe7? 19. Qg6+ Kg8 20. Bg5 Qc7 21. Qh7+ Kf7 22. Rg6 wins.
19. Rxf6+ Kxf6 20. Qxh8
The alternative 20. g5+ Kf7 21. g6+ Kf8 22. f4 Rxh7 23. gxh7 Nc6 is just equal.
20… Bxh8 21. Rxd4
White can try to recycle the f4 idea, but it also leads to equality: 21.f4 Kf7 22. fxe5 Nc6 23. gxf5 d4 24. Bxd4 Nxd4 25. Rxd4 Bxe5 26. Re4 Kf6 27. Nf3 Bxc3 28. bxc3 Bxf5 29. Rd4=.
21… Be6!
When I first played Rxd4, I thought I had the advantage and anticipated something like 21… exd4 22. Bxd4+ Kg6 23. Bxh8 fxg4 24. Bd4 with good chances for the full point after a long endgame grind. As I sat there thinking, it dawned on me that …Be6 was a very good move, and that the game complexion would shift towards equality. It cost him about half an hour on the clock, but he found it.
22. Rd1
Weaker is 22. g5+ - White must be careful to not press to ambitiously - Kf7 23. Rh4 d4 =/+. It is important that the strength of Black’s pawn center be dissolved by returning the piece.
22… d4 23. gxf5 Bxf5 24. Bxd4 exd4 25. Rxd4 Ke7
Black two bishops and better coordinated pieces perfectly compensate for the pawn deficit. I was happy to agree to Bae’s draw offer.
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