This was one of the round 8 games from the 3rd Cambridge International which attracted a lot of attention together with a sizeable crowd that had gathered in the commentary room!
Wells,Peter K (2350) – Bosiocic,Marin (2511) [E06]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O a5 7. Nc3 c6 8. b3 b6 9. Bf4 Ba6 10. Rc1 Nbd7 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. Bxe5 Nd7 14. Bf4 Bb4 15. Re1 f5 16. Bd2 Rc8 17. Na4 Kh8 18. Bxb4 axb4 19. Qd2 Qe7 20. Rc2 Bb5 21. Rec1 Rce8 22. e3 g5 23. Nb2 f4 24. exf4 gxf4 25. Nd3 fxg3 26. hxg3
Peter said that he felt that he hadn’t played particularly well as White until now. I understand why he said that as Black somehow seems to have been making the running, starting with the aggressive choice of an unbalanced structure with 11…exd5 above symmetry with 11…cxd5. However, the engine is completely satisfied with Peter’s play and gives him a slight advantage in this position. And indeed as we noted in the commentary room, we are right in the middle of a critical period as Black’s active play has left a number of weakness in his position most notably the b4- and c6 pawns. He definitely needs to start making some gains of his own to compensate for the vulnerability of these static weaknesses.
If you permit me a slight digression, it reminded me very much of how Michael Adams described his last round game against Sergei Tiviakov when he came into the commentary room to talk about his tournament.
Tiviakov,Sergei (2536) – Adams,Michael (2661) [C77]
We’ll start off here at move 17.
17…Qg6 18. Kh2 Qh5 19. Ng1 Qg6 20. Qe1 Bb6 21. Ne2 f5 22. exf5 Bxf5 23. f3 Qf6 24. Ng3 Bg6 25. Be3 d5 26. Qf2 Bd4 27. Rae1 c5 28. Qd2 Qd6 29. Re2
Between the 17th move and this position, it felt from the commentary room as if Mickey was bossing the show, making steady gains while White remained passive. I was even a little surprised by his next aggressive move 29…h5 as I felt Mickey would most likely strengthen his grip on the position with consolidation like 29…h6 and 30…Kh7 before taking further action. However Mickey was much more cautious in his judgement. He felt that Black needed to keep on playing with great energy or he might easily regret placing his pieces and pawns so aggressively. It’s an example of that strange phenomenon that making the running doesn’t mean that you are objectively better at all. Sometimes, you end up in a situation where you are compelled to keep on taking ever greater measures because you’ve imperceptibly gone past a point where stopping just isn’t an option anymore! The game ended 29…h5 30. Bxd4 exd4 31. Rxe8+ Rxe8 32. f4 c4 33. bxc4 dxc4 34. dxc4 h4 35. Nh1 Qc5 36. Rd1 Qxc4 37. Qxd4 Qxd4 38. Rxd4 Re4 39. Rd8+ Kh7 40. Rd5 Rxf4 41. Rxa5 Rc4 42. Rg5 Rxc2 43. Rg4 c5 1/2-1/2
Back to Peter’s game now!
26…Qg7
This definitely looked like a logical approach. The queen attacks the d4-pawn and moves off the e-file meaning that
27. Nxb4 can be met by 27…Re2 28. Qc3 Rfxf2 29. Rxe2 Rxe2
What could possibly be wrong with trading the doubled b-pawn for the f2-pawn – loosening greatly White’s pawn protection around his king – and a rook on the 7th rank? Well Peter’s quick reply certainly put the cat among the pigeons!
30. a4
White assesses that Black’s kingside threats lack concreteness and focuses on decimating Black’s queenside defences in the most rigorous way: the bishop on b5 will be captured and afterwards the c6-pawn! We briefly looked at 30…c5 (also a major engine suggestion, though also very good for White) before switching to Black’s choice in the game which spends 2 tempi placing the knight in a threatening attacking position.
30…Nf6 31. axb5 Ng4
Finally Black has some concrete and very dangerous threats. Black’s primary idea is to play …Qh6 threatening …Qh2+. Moreover the black queen’s attack on the d4-pawn stops White from counterattacking by capturing the pawn on c6 with his queen. We spent a lot of time with the crowd sacrificing both players’ pieces until Natasha came up with the best idea!
31… Qh6 is an engine suggestion that we also looked at briefly in the commentary room. The engine gives White a huge advantage in any case after both 32. Kf1 and 32. Rc2 nudging the rook from the 7th rank.
32. Ra1
After this move, Black finds a clever way to a draw. 32. Qd3 was the key idea.
This is quite a tricky idea to spot in the heat of battle as it unprotects the rook on c1 which in principle only makes Black’s …Qh6 seem stronger. However this nudge to Black’s rook on e2 neutralises Black’s threat of …Qh6 for one move (32…Qh6 is met simply by 33.Qxe2 Qxc1+ 34.Bf1) while freeing the white rook to capture on c6. It’s the ideal division of labour: the white queen protects lots of dark-squares while the white rook goes king-hunting! The key point is that after 32…Re3 White has the excellent f5-square for the queen 33. Qf5
And 33…Qxd4 is met by 34. Qf8#
Peter’s move had also been suggested in the commentary room, but by now we had worked out Black’s subtle way of continuing his attack.
32… Qf6
This creeping move threatening …Qf2+ is extremely unpleasant for White to meet. 32… Qh6 is powerfully met by 33. Qf3 Qh2+ 34. Kf1 Rf2+ 35. Qxf2 Nxf2 36. Kxf2 Threatening to trap the black queen with Rh1 36…Qh6 when White has a decisive material advantage though White’s open king and loose knight on d4 means that the conversion is far from trivial in a time-trouble plagued human game!
33. Ra8+
33. Rf1 Qh6
33. Nd3 was my original thought but after 33…Qh6
White no longer has the defence Qf3! 34. Nf4 Qh2+ 35. Kf1 Rf2+ 36. Ke1 Qg1+ is a rather lovely mate!
33. Bf3 Qh6 is another lovely riposte when White can decide to risk a little more with 34. Kf1 Rf2+ 35. Ke1 Qh2 before giving perpetual check with 36. Ra8+ Kg7 37. Ra7+
Peter took the far more logical practical choice of forcing this perpetual immediately.
33… Kg7 34. Ra7+ Kf8 35. Ra8+ Kg7 36. Ra7+ Kf8 37. Ra8+ Kg7 1/2-1/2
A really interesting finish!