Annotated chess game: London vs. fianchetto with 9.Bb5

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ANNOTATED GAME

London vs. fianchetto with 9.Bb5
damalfi (1748) vs. j0st (1629)
Annotated by: damalfi (1200)
Chess opening: King's Indian (A48), London system

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1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4

My beloved London. It is not that wonderful against the king fianchetto, but still I feel confortable with it.

3... Bg7 4. c3

The solid move I like. Of course c4 is playable, but I think it gives some undeserved balance for black, weakening the black diagonal.

4... d5 5. h3

No hurry. f5 is a worderful outpost for black's lsb, so let's keep it controlled.

5... Nbd7 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Qc2

Controlling e4. I don't have a plan yet.

7... b6 8. e3 c5

Ok, black just provided me of a "hole". It is not very useful, but the alternative plan is Be2, in sight of Ne5, g4, g5, and the black knight in f6 has to retreat. But this is very unilkely to happen, since black has many tempoes to "do something" in the meanwhile. With the move I played, I intended to give the lsb some activity before black can play c4, trapping it.

9. Bb5 Bb7

If 9. ..., a6, 10. Bc6, just for fun. I have to be very careful not to have this bishop trapped. Of course, I am prepared to exchange it with the knight, since it is not likely to have a great game against the fiachetto.

10. g4

Well, this is just to make him wondering what the hell am I doing :-D. As long as the white diagonal is closed (and it will stay like that, no doubt), I can do moves like this without fear.

10... c4

Oh, well, queenside is blocked, so I can think about attacking the kingside, which is not easy. Let's make some room first.

11. Ne5 Nxe5

Hmmm... yummy. I can start to clear the kingside landscape.

12. dxe5

You will say: but you are opening the white diagonal! In fact: no risk, no gain. I thought that 12. ..., d4, 13. exN, d3!, 14. Qa4, BxRh1, 15. fxg7, Kxg7 (or Re8), 16. ...xc4 (B or Q), would have been nice to play. Too deep and rich to calculate, but funny. Probably my opponent was a little worried to take this path.

12... Nd7

I expected Ne4. The exchange is not good for me, because the pawn is supported by the Blsb. f3 is not good because Nc5 threats Nd6+, a wonderful outpost, so the game would have been even or bad for me. I think this move is intended to compell me to exchange my lsb with the knight, since if I defend it with Nf3, after e6 it would have been an easy target.

13. Bxd7

But I think it is ok to exchange this bishop, since it is doing basically nothing :-)

13... Qxd7 14. Rh2

Don't think I didn't realize the danger on the white diagonal... :-) d4 - d3 is wonderful for black. I am sure black could have had some advantage playing it before, but it is hard to review.

14... e6

Now, the position looks even to me. I don't see weaknesses in black's position, nor I see which way he has to attack me. His bishops are wonderfully placed, but obstructed. I still don't know where the game is going to.

15. O-O-O

Nf3 would have been better. But this is not so bad, since d4 is met by Nxc4...

15... f6

The logical break-in, which leaves e6 weak but opens the f column for black. Fortunately, f2 is well covered by the rook (this is the reason that Rh2 was preferred to Rg1. Now, I can have the other rook on g1, and keep all my fire power against the black king).

16. Nf3

Of course, d4 is not possible now for black.

16... fxe5

I was tempted, here, to play Bxe5, since I liked the knight to be there, in sight of Nxg6's sac or something like that. But I didn't see it clear, not more than to have a bishop on the black diagonal!

17. Nxe5 Bxe5

A mistake, I think. Now my bishop is strong and black has no knight to take it away from it.

18. Bxe5 Rf7

Trying to compensate by occupying the f column. Logical. d4 is still not possible because of the rook. Now, the logical answer would be f4. Black has to play g5 if he wants to break in... ok. But...

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