A Solid Game vs. the Gruenfeld

A game featuring wild fluctuations between one side and the other may be more interesting to play over, but I prefer a game featuring solid play by both sides, even if there are no wild tactics. Here is a solid game I played today, in which I never was at a serious disadvantage.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cd Nxd5 5 e4 NxN 6 bc Bg7 7 Bc4 0-0 8 Ne2 c5 9 0-0 Nc6 10 Be3 Qc7 Here black declines to go into the main line with 10...Bg4. His move, 10...Qc7, is played almost as often these days as the "main move".

11 f3? This pointless move is not even in the database! The usual move here is 11 Rc1. The engine says that my move gives black a half-point advantage.

11...cd 12 cd a6? Black keeps a slight edge with 12...Nxd4!

13 Rc1! I now have a one-point edge.

13...Qd7 14 d5 Ne5 15 Bb3 b5 16 Qd2 Bb7 17 Rc2? (f4) Rac8 18 Rfc1 RxR 19 RxR Rc8 20 Qc1 RxR 21 QxR Qc8 22 QxQ BxQ 23 Bd4 I am quite comfortable in this minor piece ending.

23...Nd3 24 BxB KxB 25 Nd4 Kf3 26 Kf1 Bd7 27 Kd2 Nf4+ 28 Kf2 Nd3+ 29 Ke3 Nc5? 30 g3 h5? 31 f4! Kg7 32 e5 a5 33 Nc6 a4 34 Bc2 Bh3? 35 Nxe2 Bf1 36 Nc8 Bc4? 37 Bb1? Bxd5 38 Kd4 Bb7 39 KxN! BxN 40 Kxb5 From here the win is easy.

40...Bd7+ 41 Kb4 f6 42 ef+ Kxf6 43 Bc2 g5 44 fg+ Kxg5 45 Bxa4 Bf5 46 Bd1! This key move prevents the black king from attacking the P/h2.

46...h4 47 a4 gh also wins, but I didn't want to risk getting into the drawn ending of K+B+RP vs. K, when the queening square is the wrong color.

47...hg 48 hg Be4 49 a5 Kf5 50 a6 Ke5 51 Kc5! Ke6 52 Ba4 Bd3 53 a7 1-0 Black resigns