PCC January Swiss

Round 1, chessart-Hansen, Smith-Morra Gambit
1 e4 c5 2 d4 cd 3 c3 dc 4 Nxc3 e6 5 Bc4 Nc6 6 Nf3 Be7 7 Bf4 a6 8 Qe2 b5 9 Bb3 Bc5 10 0-0 Nd4 11 NxN BxN 12 Rc1 Bb7 13 Rfd1 e5 14 Be3 BxB 15 QxB Nf6 16 f3 0-0 17 Nd5 NxN 18 BxN BxB 19 RxB 20 R1d1 ( 20 Rc7!) Rfd8 21 Rd6 a5 22 Qb6 b4 23 Qb7 Rab8 24 Rxd7 RxQ 25 RxR+ Kf8 26 RxQ+ KxQ 27 Rd5 Rc7 28 Rxe5 Rc2 29 Rxa5 Rxb2 30 h3


     Better is 30 a3, liquidating the queenside pawns and leaving me with four pawns to three on the kingside in a rook and pawn endgame.

30...Ke7 31 Ra6 (31 a3 is still good) f6 32 Kh2 h5 33 h4 Kd7 34 Kg3 Kc7 35 Kh3 Kb7 36 Ra4 Kb6 37 g4 Kb5 38 Ra8 Ke4 39 g5 (39 gh!) Kd3 40 gf gf 41 Kg3 Kd3 42 Ra4 Rb1 43 Kg7 Rb2+ 1/2-1/2

Round 3, chessart-Niamdorj, Catalan
1 d4 e6 2 c4 Nf6 3 g3 Nc6

     Usual are 3...d5, 3...c5, or 3...Bb4+.

4 Bg2 Be7 5 Nf3 0-0 6 0-0 Rb8 7Nc3 d5 8 Ne5 Bd7 9 cd NxN 10 de Nxd5 11 NxN ed 12 Bxd5

     I have won a pawn, for the relatively small price of doubled e-pawns.

Bg4 13 Bf3 QxQ 14 RxQ BxB 15 ef

Now my doubled pawns are on the f-file, which is even better for me.

Rbd8 16 Be3 b6 17 Kf1 f5 18 f4 Kf7 19 Ke2 h5 20 h4 g6 21 RxR RxR 22 Rd1 Rc8 23 a4 Kd6 24 Rd3 c5 25 b3 a6 26 Kd2 c4 27 bc Rxc4 28 Rd4 Bb4+ 29 Ke2 Rc2+ 30 Kd3 Rc3+ 31 Ke2 Bc5 32 Rd3 Rc4 33 BxB bc 34 Rd6+ Kf7 35 Rxa6 Rc3 36 a5 Ra3 37 Rf6+ Kg7 38 a6 c4 39 Rc6 c3 40 Rc7+ Kf8 41 a7 1-0

     From here we somehow managed to trade off the queenside pawns, with my rook still imprisoning his king on the 8th rank, and my king then infiltrated into his kingside and captured his g and f pawns, at which point he resigned.

Round 4, chessart-Cigan, Gruenfeld Defense
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Bg5 Bg7 5 BxN BxB 6 Nxd5

     6 cxd5 is preferred by about 6-1. I should have given it more consideration.

Bg7 7 Nf3 c5 8 e3 Nc6 9 dc

     In light of what happens, 9 Qd2 or 9 Be2 would be better options here.

9...Bxb2 10 Rb1 Bg7 11 Qd2 0-0 12 Bd3 e6 13 Nc3 Qe7

     The game I had been studying, Sachdev-Kiran, continued 12...Rb8. Jason's line here is much better for black.

14 0-0?

     It looks like 14 Ne4 would provide better resistance to black's offensive against my c-pawns.

14...Qxc5 15 Rb5 Qe7 16 R1b1 Rd8 17 Qc2 b6

     This move is now possible with the P/c5 gone, and if black can play this move, then my plan of doubling rooks on the b-file is pointless.

18 Be4 Bd7 19 R5b3 Rac8 20 Nb5 Na5 21 Rb4 BxN 22 RxB Rxc4 23 Qe2 RxB 24 h3 Qd5 25 Kf1 Qd3 26 Rd1 RxP+ 27 Kf1 Rb1 0-1