Annotated chess game: Kansas Open, Lindsborg, KS

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ANNOTATED GAME

Kansas Open, Lindsborg, KS
Holmes, Dan (1515) vs. Rolfe, Adrian (1609)
Annotated by: kansasjayhawk (1666)
Chess opening: Pirc defence (B07)

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The following game was a critical 4th round encounter in the Reserve Section of the 2007 Kansas Open. It shows that winning material early on does not automatically win itself, and that one must stay calm in such a position.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. f3

An unusual move; Nf3, f4, or Be3 are far more common here.

4... Bg7 5. Be3 Nbd7 6. Qd2

Aiming to trade off Black's fianchettoed bishop with Bh6.

6... h5

This prevents that trade, but at what cost? Black's kingside is severely weakened, and suddenly castling seems a lot less safe. Moves like h4 and g4, seeking to pry open files on the kingside, are suddenly in the offing after White castles queenside.

7. O-O-O b6

This is a mistake. Black does not have time to take this liberty.

8. e5

I actually had one of my 2006 tournament games, in which I was also White against the Pirc, analyzed by GM Lev Alburt, analyzed in the May 2007 issue of Chess Life. There, Alburt pointed out that I could have repeatedly gotten an advantage by playing the e5 pawn push because my opponent had allowed it. He said that this move is thematic in this opening and that White should play it. I wasted no time, seeing that Black's knight doesn't really have any good squares.

1 comment

8... Ng8

Maybe h7 would have been a better square for the knight, seeking to castle.

9. e6

Seeing that I am much superiorly developed, I decided to sacrifice this pawn to weaken his kingside.

9... fxe6 10. Bb5

This may not have been as good of a square as d3; I'm not sure. I didn't want Black moving his knight to f8 to defend the e6 pawn, and to subsequently start pushing his center pawns. No doubt that would have been very weakening, but I don't like being material down, and I was most interested in trying to regain my pawn by aiming my forces at g6. Thus, this pin.

10... Bb7 11. Qd3 Kf7 12. Nh3

This is a better launching point for the knight than e2 because of the move ...e5, which robs the knight of the f4 square. Here, the knight can also go to g5.

12... Bf6

As horrible as it looks, I have to wonder about ...Nf8 here instead, defending the g6 pawn. Now, White has a chance to snap the knight off.

13. Bxd7 Qxd7 14. Nf4 Ke8

This gives up the pawn without a fight. Since Black ends up sacrificing the exchange with Rh6 the next move anyway, if he was going to do this, this move would probably have been a much better time to do so, because it is not so easy to win an exchange that way, seeing that White's knight cannot safely advance any further.

15. Nxg6

Some of my friends thought that I should have captured with the Queen instead, but I would rather win the Exchange here than have my Queen deep in the position and worry about getting it trapped.

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15... Rh6 16. Bxh6 Nxh6

My next plan was to get this knight out. In retrospect, perhaps it was unnecessary to do so, as it was very strong in its position. Still, 17.Nf4 looks very good here. However, I was sidetracked by a cheap trap that I tried setting.

17. Nh8

This is a bad move because of my opponent's excellent follow up. Obviously, I had been hoping for 17...Bxh8?? 18. Qg6 , and if 18...Nf7??, 19.Qg8#. It's tempting to try to cash in quickly after winning material, but it's not that simple here. Nf4 would have been a much better square for the knight.

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17... Nf5

Now how is the knight going to get out?

18. Ng6

An admission that the past move was a horrible mistake, and that I have wasted two moves.

1 comment

18... Bg5+

This cuts out f4 as a retreat square for the knight with tempo.

2 comments

19. Kb1 Kf7 20. Rhe1

If 20...Rg8, 21.g4 regains the piece, albeit probably at the cost of a pawn.

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