Australian Team at the U/16 Chess Olympiad

Thu, 2013-08-08 10:00 -- IM Max Illingworth

[pgn][Event "Chongqing World Youth U/16 Olympiad"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.07.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Cheng, Bobby"]
[Black "Asgarizadeh, Ahmad"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D22"]
[Annotator "Illingworth,Max"]
[PlyCount "105"]
[EventDate "2013.07.??"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]

{Last week I analysed some of the games played in the World Youth Olympiad by
overseas teams, but this week we'll concentrate on the play of Australia's top
team! First of all, our Board 1 Bobby Cheng had a good tournament, beating the
players he was supposed to beat and drawing with most of his higher-rated
adversaries - here's his very controlled win against a strong Iranian player.}
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. e3 Bg4 {I dabbled with this system several
years ago, but White achieves a slight advantage with normal play.} (4... e6 5.
Bxc4 c5 {is the main line, which will often lead to an IQP position.}) 5. Bxc4
e6 6. Nc3 (6. Qb3 {tries to exploit the vulnerability of the b7-pawn, but
Black can sacrifice it with} Bxf3 7. gxf3 Nbd7 $1 8. Qxb7 c5 {, obtaining a
lead in development and some initiative as compensation.}) 6... a6 {Black
wants to play ...Nc6, ...Bd6, ...0-0 and then break in the centre with ...e5,
but White cuts Black off with some forceful play.} 7. h3 Bh5 8. g4 $1 Bg6 9.
Ne5 {White's threat is to play h4-h5 and pick up the g6-bishop, so Black needs
to react quickly.} Nbd7 10. Nxg6 hxg6 11. Qf3 {The exchange on g6 has left
White with the bishop pair and a space advantage. It's not clear what Black
has gained in return.} (11. Bf1 $5 {and Bg2 is an interesting way to improve
the bishop's position, but I prefer Bobby's continuation.}) 11... c6 {Nearly
all of Black's pawns are on light squares, making his remaining bishop (on f8)
quite mobile. If Black could play ...e5 he might be able to equalise, but he
never seems to get time for it in the game.} 12. g5 $5 Nd5 13. h4 {White could
also have deveoped his queenside on move 12 with something like 12.Bd2, but I
like the forcefulness of this approach. When White finally plays e4, the black
knights will be left without any good squares. Additionally the opening of the
kingside with h5 and g6 will help open the position for White's unopposed
c4-bishop.} Be7 (13... Bb4 14. Bd2 Qe7 {looks better, but I'd still rather be
White after} 15. a3 $1 Nxc3 16. bxc3 Bxa3 17. Rb1 {with wonderful positional
compensation for the pawn.}) 14. Kf1 $5 {A creative way to avoid a ...Bb4 pin,
but again the simple} (14. Bd2 {would also favour White.}) 14... Nc7 $6 {This
doesn't help the knight's prospects.} (14... Nxc3 15. bxc3 Qa5 16. e4 {on the
other hand will give White central domination to go with his bishops.}) 15. Bb3
{This prophylactic move gets the bishop out of the range of Black's pieces.}
Nb5 16. a4 {While the sequence initiated by this move proves good for White,
more prosaic would have been} (16. Kg2 Nd6 17. e4 {when White is ready to
break in the centre with d5, or he can even keep his centre as is and leave
Black in a bad way.}) 16... Nd6 17. a5 Nf5 18. h5 gxh5 19. g6 $1 {This pawn
sacrifice causes Black a lot of problems as the light-squared bishop becomes a
monster with Black's light-squared pawn chain broken up.} (19. Rxh5 Rxh5 20.
Qxh5 g6 21. Qh8+ Nf8 {is solid for Black.}) 19... fxg6 20. Bxe6 {Black's king
is still stuck in the centre and his kingside pawns are prone to be captured.}
Rf8 21. Qg2 Nh4 22. Qe4 $1 (22. Rxh4 Bxh4 23. Qxg6+ Ke7 24. Bc4 Rxf2+ 25. Kg1
Rf6 26. Qxg7+ Kd6 27. Ne4+ Kc7 {is very unclear with White's king wide open -
I think Bobby's move is the better practical option.}) 22... Nf5 23. Ke2 {
Avoiding the cheapo ...Ng3.} Rf6 $6 {The rook is just misplaced here.} (23...
Qc7 24. Bd2 Qd6 {followed by ...0-0-0 completes Black's development, when the
position is still complex.}) 24. Bb3 $1 {White will now play Qg2 and Ne4 to
break down Black's light-squared defences.} Qc7 $6 {Now this doesn't work.} (
24... Nf8 {looks passive but would avert an immediate calamity.}) 25. Qg2 $1 {
The follow-up Ne4 will win material.} O-O-O 26. Ne4 Rff8 27. Qxg6 {White has
regained his pawn and will pick up h5 as well. However his a1-rook and
c1-bishop are still out of play so he has to be a bit careful before he can
begin his conversion process.} Nd6 28. Nxd6+ Bxd6 29. Rxh5 Nf6 (29... c5 $5 {
looks weakening but might have been the best try.}) 30. Rg5 Bb4 {At the very
least this wasn't the stiffest defence.} 31. Qxg7 Qh2 32. Rf5 Nd7 33. Be6 Rxf5
34. Bxf5 Qh1 {Black finally gets some counterplay; it shouldn't be anything
but, possibly in mutual time trouble, Bobby doesn't defend in the best way.}
35. Qg3 $2 (35. Qg4 Qe1+ 36. Kd3 Qxf2 37. Ra4 c5 $1 {is not so clear, but}) (
35. Qh7 $1 {was very strong to strengthen the pressure on the d7-knight and
tie up Black's remaining pieces; now} Qe1+ 36. Kf3 Qd1+ 37. Kg2 {sees White's
king run to safety, with a winning position.}) 35... Qe1+ 36. Kd3 Qd1+ 37. Kc4
Bxa5 $1 {A nasty trick to have to face with the clock ticking down.} 38. Rxa5 (
38. b4 b5+ 39. Kc3 Qe1+ 40. Kc2 Qxb4 41. Ra2 $1 {might still give White
something, but the position is totally unclear.}) 38... b5+ 39. Kc3 $2 {This
should have lost the game.} (39. Kb4 Qxc1 {gives White a valuable extra tempo
and} 40. Bxd7+ Rxd7 41. Qg8+ Kb7 42. Kb3 {followed by Ka2 should hold - White
can bring his rook into play with Ra3-c3.}) 39... Qxc1+ 40. Kb3 Qc4+ 41. Ka3
Kb7 $2 {A blunder, but keep in mind that in this tournament the players didn't
receive an extra half hour when they reached move 40. So they were relying on
the 30 second increment for the rest of the game once they were down to their
last minutes.} (41... c5 $1 {brings a key piece into the attack:} 42. dxc5 ({or
} 42. Qd6 b4+ 43. Ka4 Qa2#) 42... Qxc5+ 43. Ka2 Qxf5 {and White's game is up.})
42. Qd6 $1 {Now the game should end in a draw, but strange things happen in
this game...} Nb6 $2 {A blunder - Black no doubt missed White's next.} (42...
Kb6 {could lead to a draw in a number of ways, including} 43. Bxd7 Rxd7 44.
Qxd7 b4+ 45. Ka4 Qa2+ 46. Kxb4 Qxb2+ {with a perpetual check.}) 43. Qe7+ $1 (
43. Qxd8 b4# {was Black's idea.}) 43... Rd7 44. Bxd7 {White's king will escape
from the checks, after which the rest is easy.} Qd3+ 45. Ka2 Qc4+ 46. Ka3 Qd3+
47. b3 b4+ 48. Qxb4 Qb1 49. Bxc6+ Kxc6 50. Qc3+ Kb7 51. Rg5 a5 52. Rg7+ Ka6 53.
f4 {A very exciting game! Bobby outplayed his opponent in the first half of
the game, but allowed extremely strong counterplay against his king, only to
win anyway when Black was the last to blunder.} 1-0 [/pgn]

[pgn][Event "Chongqing World Youth U/16 Olympiad"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.07.28"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Markoja, S."]
[Black "Smirnov, Anton"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C82"]
[Annotator "Illingworth,Max"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2013.07.??"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]

{Australia's Board 2 Anton Smirnov struggled somewhat on his way to a 50%
score, but came very close to beating a very strong Russian junior with Black
in the last round. But rather than show that game (which will be in the ACF
Newsletter) I want to look at a model win in the Open Ruy Lopez.} 1. e4 e5 2.
Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O ({In this year's Australian Open I played}
5. d3 {against Anton to avoid the Open Ruy Lopez, but failed to achieve much
out of the opening.}) 5... Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 {The evaluation
of this position revolves around who can control the central dark squares (e5/
d4/c5). At the moment White's extra space (the e5-pawn) is offset by the
active e4-knight but both these pieces can be undermined.} 9. c3 Bc5 (9... Be7
{is the other square for the bishop.}) 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Bc2 Nxf2 $5 {This line,
the Dilworth Variation, is quite a practical option as Black gets a very
strong attack if White doesn't play the best moves but even if White plays
perfectly Black can hold the arising endgame. In this game White makes it to
the ending but still doesn't survive!} 12. Rxf2 f6 {Black normally keeps the
pin on the rook for another move, though} (12... Bxf2+ 13. Kxf2 Bg4 $5 {with
the idea of ...Nxe5 (with ...Re8 first if necessary) is an interesting idea
that as far as I know hasn't been tested.}) 13. exf6 Bxf2+ 14. Kxf2 Qxf6 15.
Nb3 $6 {This move misplaces the queen's knight, which is needed to defend the
kingside.} (15. Nf1 Ne5 16. Be3 Rae8 {is the main line, when an example of the
endgame I'm referring to is} 17. Kg1 Nxf3+ 18. Qxf3 Qxf3 19. gxf3 Rxf3 20. Bf2
{, with approximate equality, though Black has a small plus score in my
database.}) 15... Ne5 16. Kg1 Rae8 $1 {Black rightly brings his last piece
into action.} (16... Nxf3+ 17. Qxf3 Qxf3 18. gxf3 Rxf3 19. Nd4 Rf6 20. Bg5 {
doesn't work for Black anyway!}) 17. Be3 Nxf3+ 18. Qxf3 Qxf3 19. gxf3 Rxf3 {
Black has the advantage as his pieces are very active, he has a small material
advantage and White's king is weak.} 20. Bd2 Bh3 21. Nd4 Rf6 22. b4 {White
tries to establish a positional advantage on the queenside, but Black's
kingside attack is going nowhere.} Ref8 23. Bd3 Rf2 24. Be3 Rb2 $1 {Black's
rook on the 2nd rank stops White consolidating.} 25. a3 Re8 (25... h6 {is the
engine's move, arguing that White doesn't have a useful move anyway.}) 26. Re1
$2 {White collapses.} (26. Bf2 Rf8 27. Bg3 {might be okay for White as he's
succeeded in getting his dark-squared bishop out of harm's way.}) 26... Rg2+
27. Kh1 Ra2 28. Bc2 $2 {Missing a tactic, but White was already in trouble as
he's about to lose a third pawn.} Rxe3 {White resigned. A very clinical win by
Anton.} 0-1 [/pgn]

[pgn][Event "Chongqing World Youth U/16 Olympiad"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.07.29"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Tan, Justin"]
[Black "Alekseenko, Kirill"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B67"]
[Annotator "Illingworth,Max"]
[PlyCount "120"]
[EventDate "2013.07.??"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]

{Australia's Board 3 Justin Tan was out of form in this event, but he at least
finished the tournament on a high note, swindling one of the very strong
Russian juniors in the last round.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f3 {This English Attack approach
is White's main alternative to the main line with 9.f4 (often followed by e5).}
b5 10. Be3 {White sometimes retreats his bishop to be able to play g4-g5, but
here it feels a bit slow - normally we should wait to be provoked with ...h6
which can weaken Black's kingside.} (10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. Ne2 {followed by Nd4
improves the position of White's pieces, and then a Be3 retreat is more
purposeful.}) 10... Ne5 $1 {This is the important difference - now ...Nc4 will
pick up a White bishop.} 11. Bd3 (11. g4 b4 $1 12. Nb1 h6 {leaves White's
queen's knight in a suspect position.}) 11... Qc7 12. Kb1 Be7 13. g4 {The
kingside pawn storm begins, although Black finds a pretty effective counter in
the game.} O-O 14. g5 Nh5 15. Nce2 Nxd3 (15... g6 16. Ng3 Ng7 {is passive.})
16. cxd3 f5 $1 {A strong central counterattack, also bringing the f8-rook into
play.} 17. exf5 (17. gxf6 Bxf6 {activates the kingside pieces, and now} 18. Ng3
Nxg3 19. hxg3 Rac8 20. Rc1 Qb8 {is about equal - Black has the bishop pair but
White has one pawn island less.}) 17... e5 $1 18. Ne6 (18. f6 gxf6 19. gxf6
Nxf6 20. Nb3 Kh8 {is messy, but the black king is fairly secure on h8.}) 18...
Bxe6 19. fxe6 Qc8 {Black regains the pawn on e6, and White must even play
accurately to equalise as his pawns are a trifle weak.} 20. f4 Qxe6 21. Rdf1 (
21. Rhe1 {bringing the last piece into play might have been more warranted.})
21... Qh3 $1 22. Ng3 $5 (22. Rf2 {looks natural but} d5 $1 23. fxe5 Rxf2 24.
Bxf2 Qg2 25. Qe1 Qf3 $1 {leaves White with a lot of vulnerable pawns and
passive pieces to boot.}) 22... exf4 23. Bxf4 Rxf4 (23... Nxf4 24. Rxf4 d5 {
was a lot stronger, when Black's bishop outguns the White knight in an
otherwise levelish position.}) 24. Rxf4 Nxf4 25. Qxf4 Qe6 26. Qf5 {Perhaps
White wanted to keep the position unbalanced to retain winning chances, but
Black ends up with all the chances.} ({White had to bail out with} 26. Nf5 Rf8
({or} 26... Bf8 27. Nd4) 27. Nxe7+ Qxe7 28. Qg3 {and a draw is a very likely
result.}) 26... Qxf5 27. Nxf5 Bxg5 28. Nxd6 Rf8 29. Ne4 Be3 {White's knight
looks nice on e4 but Black can fairly easily play around it, and Black's
kingside pawn majority proves a lot more important than the passed d-pawn
which can be well blockaded with ...Bd4.} 30. Re1 Rf3 31. Kc2 Rh3 $1 32. Re2
Bg1 {White loses the h2-pawn.} 33. Kc3 h6 34. Rd2 Rxh2 {With two connected
passed pawns on the kingside Black should be winning, but White makes an
impressive comeback.} 35. Rd1 Bb6 36. d4 $1 {Pushing the passed d-pawn is the
only chance to swindle the game.} Rh4 (36... h5 37. d5 Re2 $1 38. Ng5 h4 {is
winning for Black as the bishop can blockade the d-pawn with ...Bd8 if
necessary, but understandably Black wanted to win without allowing any White
counterplay.}) 37. Kd3 Rh3+ 38. Kc2 Re3 $6 {This is the first mistake that
leads the win to slip away. Pushing the passed h-pawn was again correct.} 39.
Nc3 Re8 40. a4 $1 {Every pawn exchange increases White's drawing chances.} bxa4
41. Nxa4 Ba7 $2 (41... Rc8+ 42. Kd3 $2 Bxd4 43. Kxd4 Rd8+ {would be a nasty
trick, though 42.Kb3 keeps slim drawing chances.}) 42. Nc5 {White has managed
to turn his knight into a match for the bishop and with Black's connected
passed pawns a long way from queening this should already be drawable for
White.} Rc8 (42... a5 {tries to hang on to the pawn but after} 43. Ra1 Bb6 44.
Kd3 {White still has real counterplay with Nb7 next.}) 43. b4 h5 {Finally
Black pushes the pawn, but it's a case of too little, too late.} 44. Kd3 Bb8
45. Nxa6 (45. Rh1 g6 46. Nxa6 {is slightly more accurate but should still be a
draw with best play.}) 45... Bg3 46. Nc5 Kf7 47. Rf1+ Ke7 48. Rg1 h4 49. Ne4
Rb8 50. Nxg3 hxg3 51. Kc4 Rc8+ 52. Kb3 Rd8 53. Rxg3 Rxd4 54. Rxg7+ {White has
done well to end up a pawn ahead considering his position a while ago, but
this is a fairly simple draw (Philidor's position).} Kd8 (54... Kd6 $4 55. Ka4
Kc6 56. Ka5 {wins for White as the Black king is cut off and can't stop the
White b-pawn.}) 55. Ka4 Kc8 56. Kb5 Kb8 57. Kc5 Rh4 58. b5 Rh5+ 59. Kb6 Rh6+ {
Even passive defence with 59...Rh8 draws here.} 60. Ka5 Rf6 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

[pgn][Event "Chongqing World Youth U/16 Olympiad"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.07.27"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Dale, Ari"]
[Black "Seyed Khalil, Mousavi Palatkaleh"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D34"]
[Annotator "Illingworth,Max"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2013.07.??"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]

{Australia's Board 4 Ari Dale was probably the happiest member of the team!
His first half of the tournament was fantastic and even two losses near the
end didn't stop him achieving a silver medal for Board 4. Well done! Here's
his Round 7 game from the event, against Iran.} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 {
The Tarrasch Defence experienced a small revival after the publication of
'Grandmaster Repertoire 10' but despite studying that book I'm not enamoured
by the opening. Black has to play accurately in every single line and even
when he does finally equalise White's position still seems easier to play.} 4.
cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 (6. dxc5 $5 {might be the most critical line,
intending to play with the bishop pair in an open position after} d4 7. Na4
Bxc5 8. Nxc5 Qa5+ 9. Bd2 Qxc5 10. e3 {. This is all covered in depth in GM
Repertoire 10 if you're curious.}) 6... Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. dxc5 d4 $6
{This gambit isn't 100% sound but it once caused me problems in a weekender.} (
9... Bxc5 10. a3 $5 {with the idea of playing b4 and Bb2 is probably what
White intended and even if Black can somehow equalise it's a venomous idea.})
10. Na4 Bf5 11. Bf4 $1 {Ari continues to develop actively.} Be4 12. Rc1 Qd5 13.
Qb3 $1 Qh5 $6 {This is very ambitious but objectively can't be good.} (13...
Qxb3 $1 14. axb3 Nd5 {might give Black some compensation but it's clear that
he is playing for a draw in this position.}) 14. h3 {White prepares a g4 break
should Black wheel out ...d3.} Nd5 (14... d3 15. Rfe1 dxe2 16. g4 Qd5 17. Rxe2
{is a solid extra pawn for White.}) 15. Bd6 {The bishop is very annoying here,
and if Black takes a white knight or rook can infiltrate via. c5.} d3 16. Rfe1
Bxd6 17. cxd6 Ndb4 18. Nc3 $1 {This refutes Black's attacking attempts.} Bxf3
19. Bxf3 Qxh3 20. Red1 a5 (20... dxe2 21. Bxe2 {leaves the material balanced,
but White is winning because Black's knights are so lousily placed.}) 21. e3
Ne5 22. Bg2 Qh5 23. a3 Nbc6 24. Na4 $6 {After playing very strongly, White
gives Black a chance to get into the game again.} (24. Nd5 $1 {is clearly a
much better square for the knight, and then} Rad8 25. Nf4 Qf5 26. Qxb7 g5 $1
27. Bxc6 gxf4 28. exf4 Nxc6 29. Qxc6 {should be just a matter of technique.})
24... Rad8 $2 {Black makes the classic 'wrong rook' error.} (24... Rfd8 $1 {is
correct, though even here White has fantastic play for the exchange after} 25.
Rxd3 $1 Nxd3 26. Qxd3 Rab8 27. Nc5 {.}) 25. Rxd3 $1 Nxd3 26. Qxd3 {The key
difference is that now Black's rook on f8 is out of the game.} Qe5 27. Bxc6
bxc6 (27... Rxd6 28. Qb5 {saves the bishop.}) 28. Rxc6 {With two pawns for the
exchange and a very tight positional grip, White should win.} h6 29. Nc5 Qxb2
30. d7 Rb8 31. Kg2 Qc1 32. Qd6 Qb2 (32... Rb1 $2 33. Qxf8+ Kh7 34. Rxh6+ $1
Kxh6 35. Qh8+ Kg6 36. d8=Q {wins for White, but this sharp line had to be
calculated some moves back.}) 33. Na6 Rbd8 34. Nc7 Qb7 35. Kh2 Qb2 36. Kg2 Qb7
37. Qd5 a4 38. Qd6 Kh8 39. e4 Qb1 40. Qe7 Qb7 41. Ne8 Rg8 42. Qxd8 1-0[/pgn]

[pgn][Event "Chongqing World Youth U/16 Olympiad"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.07.25"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Yang, Wenyi"]
[Black "Liu, Yi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[Annotator "Illingworth,Max"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2013.07.??"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "CHN"]

{Australia's Board 5 Yi Liu (to clarify: each match was a four board match)
performed creditably; at one stage he was in contention for a board medal but
tripped up at the finish line. His game against one of the Chinese teams shows
just how important determination is in chess.} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 {
The Exchange French isn't that scary but might be used by weaker players to
play for a draw. Yi shows a good way to deal with such intentions.} 4. Bd3 Nc6
{Black immediately breaks the symmetry.} (4... c5 {is another decent way to
avoid the symmetry.}) 5. Ne2 Bd6 6. c3 Qf6 {Black exploits the fact that the
White knight is committed to e2 to place his queen more actively.} ({On the
other hand I've been taught that} 6... Qh4 {is the most accurate response,
using the fact White can't play Nf3 to kick the queen away. Then
Winter-Alekhine is a model example that every serious chess player should know:
} 7. Nd2 Bg4 8. Qc2 O-O-O 9. Nf1 g6 10. Be3 Nge7 11. O-O-O Bf5 12. Nfg3 Bxd3
13. Qxd3 h6 14. f4 Qg4 15. h3 Qd7 16. Rhf1 h5 17. Ng1 h4 18. N3e2 Nf5 19. Nf3
f6 20. Nh2 Rde8 21. Bd2 Re6 22. Ng4 Rhe8 23. Rde1 R8e7 24. Kd1 Qe8 25. Qf3 Na5
26. b3 Nc4 27. Bc1 Nce3+ 28. Bxe3 Nxe3+ 29. Nxe3 Rxe3 30. Qf2 Qb5 31. Nc1 Rxc3
32. Rxe7 Bxe7 33. Qe1 Kd7 34. f5 Re3 35. Qf2 g5 36. Re1 Re4 37. Rxe4 dxe4 38.
Kd2 Bd6 39. Kc2 Bf4 {0-1 (39) Winter,W-Alekhine,A Nottingham 1936}) 7. Qc2 Nge7
8. Ng3 g6 (8... h5 $1 {gets straight to the point - Black doesn't need to
waste time with ...g6 like Alekhine did.}) 9. O-O h5 10. f4 $2 {If you've
played through the Winter-Alekhine game you'll know why this is a mistake!
White kills his entire position with this move - the e4-square is irrevocably
weakened and the c1-bishop has no scope!} h4 11. Ne2 Bf5 {Black exchanges the
light-squared bishops to accentuate the weakness of the e4-square, a la
Alekhine.} 12. Nd2 O-O-O (12... Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Qf5 14. Qxf5 Nxf5 {was a good
alternative, but Yi tries to extract the maximum he can with the queens on.})
13. Nf3 Qg7 14. Ne5 Bxd3 15. Qxd3 {Despite showing a large deficiency in chess
culture earlier on, White has played the last few moves well and is almost
okay again.} f6 16. Nf3 $6 (16. Nxc6 Nxc6 17. Bd2 {is now quite okay for White,
as the c6-knight is a long way from the pivotal e4 square.}) 16... Nf5 17. b3
Rhe8 {Now Black is back in full control.} 18. Bd2 Re7 19. Rfe1 Rde8 20. Kf2 Nd8
$2 {This move gives White the opportunity to generate counterplay.} (20... Qh6
{steadily builds up the pressure, and something along the lines of} 21. Rad1
Kb8 22. Kg1 Qh5 23. h3 Re4 {will pick up material sooner or later.}) 21. c4 $1
{White takes his first chance to break out, and Black has to win the game all
over again.} dxc4 22. bxc4 c6 {Black had to do something about c5 trapping the
d6-bishop.} 23. Nc3 $2 {This critically weakens the f4-pawn.} (23. Kg1 {is
only slightly worse for White.}) 23... Ne6 24. Re4 Nexd4 $1 {This tactic
should have ended the game, but some strange occurences took place...} 25. Nxd4
Bc5 26. Be3 Nxe3 27. Qxe3 f5 28. Re5 Rxe5 29. fxe5 Rxe5 30. Qd3 Re4 31. Nxe4 {
Black could now have forced resignation with 31...Bxd4 and 32...Bxa1, but
instead he hallucinated with} Qxd4+ $4 32. Ke2 $1 {only to find that ...Qxa1
now runs into Nxc5! Qe5 Qe3!. Black is very lucky to even be okay here.} Qb2+
33. Qd2 Qe5 34. Re1 Qxe4+ 35. Kd1 Qb1+ 36. Ke2 Qe4+ 37. Kd1 Qb1+ 38. Ke2 {Now
Black should probably take the draw by perpetual check, but he bravely plays
on in Solomonesque style, outplaying his opponent from a worse ending!} Qb4 39.
Qxb4 Bxb4 40. Rd1 Kc7 41. Kf3 Bd6 42. Rd3 $2 {Giving up the h2-pawn for no
reason.} (42. g3 {would keep some winning chances for White as his rook is
better poised for activity than Black's bishop and two pawns.}) 42... Bxh2 43.
Re3 Kd7 44. Rd3+ Kc7 45. Re3 Kd7 46. Rd3+ Ke7 47. Rb3 b6 48. Ra3 Bb8 49. Re3+
Kd7 50. Rd3+ Ke7 51. Re3+ Kd7 52. Rd3+ Bd6 {The white rook has no entry points
whereas Black's pawns are almost ready to begin the grand march.} 53. Re3 $6 g5
54. Rd3 Ke6 55. Re3+ Kd7 56. Rd3 g4+ 57. Ke2 Ke6 58. Re3+ Be5 59. Ra3 a5 60.
Rb3 Bd4 61. Rd3 Ke5 {Now it's over as the White rook is dominated and the
space invaders are nearing the bottom of the screen.} 62. Rb3 Ke4 63. a4 f4 64.
Ra3 h3 65. g3 f3+ 66. Kd2 h2 {White resigned. I hope you liked the games!} 0-1[/pgn]