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ANNOTATED GAME
Suba Game #4
Christopher Ward (2467) vs. Mihai Suba (2530)
Annotated by: raskerino (1841)
Chess opening: English opening (A16)
Christopher Ward (2467) vs. Mihai Suba (2530)
Annotated by: raskerino (1841)
Chess opening: English opening (A16)
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1. c4 |
Here is another beautiful win by Suba as black against his own preferred opening, the English. I recommend flipping the board. I've been debating for a while how to annotate this game. I think it shows a beautiful sacrifice, and I thinks it's a pity that in retrospect it doesn't work. I'm going to attempt to show the power of the sacrifice, the power of it's complications and the strength of the compensation. I also hope to show why it loses (though it wins the actual game), why it doesn't get quite enough. Enjoy! | ||||
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1... Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 |
Instead of choosing the risky ballon gambit that I showed in the last game, in this game Suba chooses the symmetrical variation but finds excellent ways to complicate. | ||||
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3. Nf3 e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 |
And it now looks a bit like an open sicilian (maroczy bind) with the pawn still on e2. | ||||
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5... Bb4 |
A nice active move that restrains the pawn push e2-e4. | ||||
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6. g3 |
Black has good control of e4, and thus white chooses to get a powerful fianchettoed bishop instead of play for an e4 pawn push. | ||||
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6... O-O 7. Bg2 d5 8. Qb3 |
?! I think this is inaccurate, it allows black's pawns to march forward and white's pieces will soon be sidelined by black's center. | ||||
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8... Bxc3+ 9. Qxc3 e5 |
! Black pushes forward with gain of tempo, his powerful central pawns will move forward very forcefully. | ||||
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10. Nb3 d4 |
Again, the central pawns march with gain of tempo. | ||||
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11. Qa5 |
White offers a queen trade, but black has no interest in such an exchange. | ||||
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11... Qe8 12. O-O Nc6 13. Qa4 h6 14. Nc5 a5 |
cramping an eventual ...b4 advance. | ||||
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15. a3 |
Trying to push a b4 advance through, white's pieces are entirely oriented towards the queenside while black has central pawns and a little control of both sides of the board. | ||||
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15... e4 |
Suba marches his strong center forward. | ||||
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16. b4 Qe7 17. Nb3 Rd8 18. Bb2 |
Time to take stock of the position, white has the two bishops, they're both fianchettoed and they're both stuffed by whites central pawns. White's queen and knight may prove very powerful on the queenside, but they seem cut out of the play at the moment. Black, in turn has two great knights and a great central pawn duo. However, he has not yet managed to connect rooks yet, so black's play must be based around using his center and connecting his rooks. White on the other hand wants to make the queenside the battle ground. Also if white can restrain the coming flood his two bishop should prove excellent. One other major feature of the position is white's pin of the a pawn to black's rook, this will be nullified if black connects rooks. | ||||
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18... e3 |
Black pushes forward quickly, white cannot take the advanced pawn for 19.fxe3 Qxe3 wins at least the white e pawn and maybe more, as white's king looks airy. | ||||
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19. f4 |
White avoids the trade with a natural advancing move, but black will gain a potentially passed pawn without trouble via d3. Even it there is no break through the pawn on e3 seems quite menacing. | ||||
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19... Bh3 |
?!! A stunning move. How can this piece sacrifice possibly be justified? Before explaining the text move I think it's worth mentioning that the more restrained 19... Bg4 is probably strongest. Now on to the text: a) The most direct reason for the sacrifice is to connect the black rooks, now that the rooks are connected white will play ...axb4 (attacking white's queen with the now defended rook) followed by ...bxa3 again winning tempo, the pawn will be adequately defended and the b2 bishop will be attacked. This gives black a passed a pawn, and he will soon get a passed e pawn as well with a timely d3. b) By diverting the light squared bishop off the h1-a8 diagonal white wins control over the e4 square, his knight or queen can use it to great effect. There are also various tactical threats based on the squares white's pieces will soon find themselves but I'll explain that later. Now to explain the reasons for failure. As with all failed sacrifice, the sacrificer doesn't get enough for the material. In this case a bishop is a huge amount to give up. Black gets two passed pawns, but if white can survive then those two pawns will prove weak and difficult to defend, especially when white has an extra piece. The other potential problem is that white's pieces are almost completely sidelined, and the following moves open up the game, allowing white's pieces to have just enough coordination to defend. | ||||
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20. Bxh3 axb4 |
! The planned follow-up, white's queen is attacked and black's pawn will soon be passed. | ||||
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21. Qb5 bxa3 |
Again striking forward with gain of tempo against white's pieces. A constant theme of this game has been the use black's made of advancing (usually with pawns) against white's developed pieces. | ||||
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22. Bc1 Ne4 |
Utilizing the second point made by the sacrifice. The knight is superb in the center, and has threats like 23... Nc3! forking queen and e pawn (if black wins the e pawn then he'll have a duo of passed pawns). | ||||
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23. Bg4 |
White defends e2. | ||||
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