Annotated chess game: An indefatigable Knight

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ANNOTATED GAME

An indefatigable Knight
nyctalop (2107) vs. laurelhill (1993)
Annotated by: nyctalop (2166)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B96), Najdorf, 7.f4

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16. Qh3

The double threat on e6 and h7 recovers the pawn.

16... Bxe4

Removing the dangerous White Bishop.

17. Qxe6+

Here I looked at a few lines and decided that this was the most promising one, keeping the Queens on the board and playing this simplified middlegame where my Knight will be very strong on d5. After 17. Nxe4 Bf4 18. Qxe6+ Qf7 19. Qxf7+ Rxf7 20. Nxd6 Bxd6 21. Rxd6 Rf2 22. g3 Re8, Black can easily hold this endgame.

17... Qf7

Forced or else Nxe4 is too strong.

18. Qxe4

This was the position I was aiming for. Material wise, things are even, but I think I have a solid positional edge. My pawn structure is very good, I have a good blockade point on d5, Black's King can come under a form of attack if Queens are on the board, plus the d6 pawn is weak. Black's trumps are his Bishop which has a lot of open space to roam but nothing to bite at, his command of the f-file and the central spot e5 for his Bishop.

18... Bf6

Aiming for Be5.

19. Nd5

Centralizing the Knight. If things get bad, I can always blunt out the Bishop with c3. You can't say the same about a Knight as there isn't really a way you can blunt out a Knight.

19... Be5

Carrying on with the piece placement plan.

20. Qd3

Overprotecting the Knight and preparing to contest the f-file.

20... b5

I think Black could very do without this move. At least not until I was forced to play c3 so that the threat of opening lines with b4 would be more concrete.

21. Rhf1 Qb7

Perhaps this was the point of b5?

22. h4

Here I intended of playing h4-h5 and g4 and if Black would allow it, putting a Knight on f5, which would a true dream square in this position. Of course such a plan can only work with the Queens on the board otherwise the pawn would be pretty weak in the endgame.

22... Rae8 23. h5

Putting Black's K-side under pressure. It's not easy to find a defensive plan against the threat of advancing the pawns. Anything creates weak points that my Knight, combined with a Rook and Queen can quickly create a strong attack.

23... Rxf1

So it's understandable that my opponent wanted to exchange material in order to tone down my initiative.

24. Rxf1 Rf8

This really surprised me. I saw that the pure piece endgame is better for because despite the open position and the relative advantage of the Bishop over Knight, Black's pawn structure doesn't compensate it.

25. Rxf8+ Kxf8 26. Qf3+

Maybe 26. Qf5 would be more clean-cut but this is enough for me.

26... Qf7

Black is forced to exchange Queens because of the discovered Knight check, winning the Qb7.

27. Qxf7+ Kxf7 28. c3

A quiet move. Black's Bishop is blunted and my King can come into play. Trying to win a pawn outright with Nc7 would have given Black good drawing chances. For example 28. Nc7 d5 29. Nxa6 Bd6 30. c3 Kf6 31. Kc2 Kg5 32. Kd3 Kxh5 33. Kxd5 Bf4 34. Kd4 Kg4 35. Nc5 Kg4 36. c4 bxc4 37. Ne6 g5 38. a4 Bd2 39. Kxc4 Kxg2 and Black is still hanging on. Lines like this show the dangers of pressing to hard and trying to win at once in the endgame. Don't rush if you can wait is a basic rule of the endgame. There is not point in compromising your position if you don't see a clear win. Just play solid moves and wait.

28... a5

There is a saying in chess and it's very true, the threat is more dangerous than the execution. I'm sure you've seen many GM games where they would delay executing a basic recapture almost to the point it wasn't possible anymore. This is done for a good reason. If you have a threat and your opponent can't do anything about it, don't rush. Taunt him. It's very infuriating and difficult to play from a psychological point of view. You're expecting your opponent to execute his threat but he doesn't. You begin to wonder why he doesn't. Maybe you calculate everything again, believing you have compensation. You can't find any. Then you look at the move he just made. It doesn't threaten anything. So you decide to remove the threat, seeing as your opponent has given you an unexpected breather. Then you make the fatal blunder and see what it was that your opponent was really threatening.

29. b4

Such is the case here. My opponent wanted to get rid of the Nc7 threat and decided that he can only defend the pawns by pushing them. But that turns out to be a serious mistake for a very simple reason. The pawns are now fixed and easy to be munched by the Knight. Also, by advancing his pawns he's helping me create a distant passed pawn much sooner than I would have expected.

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