Braylovsky,Gregory (2434) - Jones,Craig (2286) [A46]
USCL Manhattan vs Carolina Internet Chess Club (1), 25.08.2010
1.Nf3
I expected e4. My thoughts, brief as they were, now expected 2c4 and maybe a symmetrical English of some sort.
1...Nf6 2.d4 e6 3.Bg5 c5
[3...h6 4.Bxf6 Qxf6 5.e4 A common way of playing that has been popular in the past. Black parks the bishops in the bank and deals with Whites spatial edge. ]
4.e3 h6 I just couldn’t remember the assessment of 4..Qb6 5.nbd2 Qb2 6 Bd3 though I knew Black was fine there I was annoyed at myself for not being more familiar with this basic line. After thinking for awhile I decided to throw in 4..h6 reasoning that 5Bf6 wouldn’t be as good since white has already played e3 and Black should be totally comfortable with the Bishop pair and white not having grabbed as much space as the previous line.
5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.Nbd2 What would you play as black here? The database shows that black has played the same, apparently correct, move here 83 percent of the time! The computer overwhelmingly likes this move as well. It never crossed my mind. What do you think it is?
6...d5 Though this move is fine 6..cd4! is correct now maybe someone can explain to me why that is? It must be related to the softening of the dark squares.
7.Ne5!N Black now has a big decision. Waste time on a6 preventing the seemingly annoying Bb5+ or just hand castling. It was totally unclear to me which was correct.
7...Bd6 I opt for the latter.
8.Bb5+ Kf8 9.Ndf3 g6 10.c3 Kg7 11.h4!
Braylovsky decides to burn both our bridges!
11...a6 12.Bd3 Nd7 I couldn’t decide between this and Nc6. 12..Nc6 maybe more dynamic but this is totally playable.
13.Ng4 Qe7 14.h5! f5! 15.Nge5 Bxe5 16.Nxe5 Nxe5 17.dxe5 g5 18.g4 d4!
Played fairly quickly I felt immediate disruption was needed.
19.Qd2 Rd8 20.0–0–0 b5 Obvious but good, black must hurry.
21.Rhg1! Very good white lines up on g5 immediately.
21...c4 22.Bf1 d3 23.f4 Bb7?
I felt I had been outplayed and was "desperate". As it turns out the game has been very well up until this point, at least according to the computer. The position is unclear with chances for both sides. I knew the correct idea was to get in b4 as fast as possible so why didn’t I play the correct 23..rb8! and get moving right away I don’t know.
24.Bg2 Rab8 25.gxf5 exf5 26.fxg5 hxg5 27.Bxb7 Rxb7 28.e4 after both sides playing the early part of the game so well the errors start to mount. White has much better with Rdf1 or Qg2 maintaining a nice edge.
28...Kh6? [28...f4! Black misses his chance. 29.Qxf4 Kh6!÷]
29.exf5 b4 30.cxb4 a5 31.Rde1?
Amazingly this loses. I was in time pressure and looked at the correct 31...c3 32bc ab 33 f6 Qc5 but thought Qg5 was just winning thinking the pawn was still at f5 not f6 in my analysis. What is correct? 31 Qg2 seems strong and seems to lead to a white edge but it’s very messy. [31.Qg2! apparently wins but is very difficult to see the follow up. 31...Rc7™ 32.Qe4 c3 (32...Qxb4 33.f6 Rg8 34.e6+-) 33.f6 cxb2+ 34.Kxb2 Rc2+ (34...Qxb4+ 35.Qxb4 axb4 36.e6 Rc2+ 37.Kb1 Ra8 38.f7 Re2 39.Rgf1 b3) 35.Kb1 Qf7 36.Qg6+ Qxg6 37.hxg6 Kxg6 38.Rxd3 Rxd3 39.Kxc2+-]
31...Rg8? Now White is winning again!! [31...c3!!–+ Wins!! 32.bxc3 axb4 33.f6 (33.c4 b3 34.a4 Qa3+ 35.Kb1 Kh7–+; 33.Kd1 bxc3–+) 33...Qc5 34.f7 (34.Qxg5+ I had calculated this line and thought I was mated literally in this position. Of course Kh7 and white soon runs out of checks and black wins. 34...Kh7 35.Qg6+ (35.Qg2 d2+ 36.Kb1 dxe1Q+ 37.Rxe1 Rdb8 38.c4 b3 39.a4 Qa3 40.Qb2 Qxa4 41.f7) 35...Kh8) 34...Kh7–+]
32.f6! Qe6 I thought I had very good chances here during the game, Braylovsky thought for a long time and I expected f6 I just couldnt decide where to put the queen once he played it. Qf7,Qc7, Qe6 etc all looked reasonable but the reality is Im dead lost but not knowing that may have helped? [32...Qxb4 33.Qxb4 axb4 34.e6 c3 35.Re5 b3 36.axb3+-; 32...Qf7 33.Rgf1!+-]
33.b5? Oops, now we go back the other way again. [33.bxa5! c3 (33...Qd5 34.a6 Rc7 35.Kb1+-) 34.bxc3 Qc4 35.f7 Rxf7 36.Rg3+-]
33...c3? And back again!..Ugh Black misses Rb5This is however, the next to last mistake. [33...Rxb5! 34.f7 Qxf7 35.Rgf1 Qd5 36.Rf6+ Kh7 37.Qf2 d2+ 38.Qxd2 Qxd2+ 39.Kxd2 Rxb2+ 40.Kc3 Rb7 41.Kxc4 g4 42.e6 Rg5 And black seems to hold. 43.e7 Rb4+ 44.Kd3 Rd5+]
34.bxc3 Qc4 White to move and win. 4 moves will do it. Kb2,Kb1,Rg5 or f7 all seem to do the trick.
35.e6?? [35.Kb2 Rxb5+ 36.Ka1 a4 37.e6 a3 38.f7 Rgb8 39.Rxg5]
35...Qxb5!–+ 36.Qg2
37.Kxd2 Rd8+ 38.Ke3 Qd3+ 39.Kf2 Rb2+ 0–1
