Undoubtedly one of the most dramatic games of the final round was British IM Brandon Clarke’s win against Indian IM Siva Mahadevan who had impressed everyone at the tournament with his strong play. White needed just a draw for a GM norm but he was faced with an opponent who put the whole board on fire with fine preparation!
Siva Mahadevan (2385) – Clarke,Brandon G I (2498) [B75]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 a6 8. Qd2 h5
In the good old days, we might have thought that Black was reading from 3 different opening books! This hybrid of the Dragon and Najdorf is now called the Dragodorf!
In my professional days I often reverted back to a Dragon structure when White played a calm system against my beloved Sicilian Najdorf. For example, after 5… a6 and now the restrained 6. Be2 I often played 6…g6. However, it’s much braver to calmly tack on a Najdorf element to the Dragon when White has played the most aggressive setup with Be3, f3 and Qd2. Moreover on top of 7…a6, Black has also thrown in the move 8…h5! …h5 is well-known in the main lines of the Dragon but more to stop the advance h4-h5. Here Black is using it Najdorf-style to prevent g4 while also preventing Bh6 to weaken Black’s kingside by exchanging off dark-squared bishops.
Black’s opening systems is full of non-developing moves that may or may not turn out to be useful which is always confusing. The big point to them is that Black is very flexible: depending how White develops, Black can still react in a variety of ways.
9. Bc4
The second-most popular move and it’s a very aggressive one.
9…b5 10. Bd5
10.Bb3 is most popular but this move has been played a fair amount recently. The black queenside – particularly on the dark squares – is pretty airy and White’s next move highlights this.
10…Nxd5 11. Nxd5 e6
Extremely provocative! Brandon however was still very much in his preparation and White has a difficult choice to make. In the commentary room, we soon identified 4 candidate moves:
- 12.Bg5 which most likely just fails due to 12…f6,
- The quiet 12.Nc3 which isn’t totally stupid as Black’s d6-pawn is a little sensitive after 11…e6 and then the two tactical options
- 12.Nxe6 and
- 12.Nb6.
I got very excited – somewhat overexcited you might argue 😉 – about the possibility of} 12. Nb6
My point here was not to meet 12…Qxb6 with 13. Nxe6 because I wasn’t totally wowed by 13…Qxe3+ 14. Qxe3 Bxe6 but rather by 13. Nf5
This seemed pretty dangerous: my knight on g7 will of course be trapped but I will have lots of porous dark squares to attack and I’ll be facing an opponent with virtually no development! “Just winning” I said, with maybe a touch of hyperbole 😉 When we discussed the game with Brandon afterwards, he said this was part of his preparation and gave the line 13… Qd8 Obviously the best move is to undevelop what might have been your only developed piece! (13… Qxe3+ 14. Nxe3 is the point) 14. Nxg7+ Kf8 15. Bh6 Kg8
which is indeed the engine’s best line and is … a slight advantage for Black! Brandon mentioned that the position after 12.Nxe6 Qxe3+ 13. Qxe3 Bxe6 was the engine’s best line and gives White a clear advantage objectively. However, the fight between queen and 3 pieces is a very tricky one in a practical game and Brendon was very much looking forward to it!
It only remains to mention that the engine’s best option is to meet 12.Nb6 with 12… Ra7 I’d rejected this out of hand, but – as always happens – once I saw the engine thought it was playable, I suddenly spotted the tactical justification! 13. Nxc8 (13. a4 bxa4 14. Nxa4 is the engines’ best line which they consider to be a little better for White due to the general looseness of White’s position.) 13… Qxc8 14. Nxb5 axb5 15. Bxa7
Looks like a lot of material but… 15…Bxb2 We will also see this tactic in the game! The bishop attacks the rook on a1 and thanks to the black queen on the c-file, also threatens …Bc3 winning the white queen! 16. Bd4 Bxa1 17. Bxa1 O-O 18. Qxd6 Qxc2 19. O-O
This still looks somewhat uncomfortable for Black due to the weak kingside dark squares but the engines only give it 0.40-0.50 which equates to a slight advantage for White. It’s not a whole lot of fun for Black though and I can imagine Brandon preferring the queen against 3 pieces position!
Back to the game, White played the other option we’d spent some time examining!
12. Nxe6 Bxe6 13. Bb6 Qc8 14. Nc7+ Kf8 15. Nxa8
15…Qc6
This novelty of Brandon’s was a significant improvement on the previous 15… Nd7 which led to a quick White win after 16. Nc7 Nxb6 17. Qxd6+ Kg8 18. Qxb6 Bxb2 19. Rd1 Bc4 20. Nxb5 Bxb5 21. Rd8+ and quickly 1-0 in Eliseev,U (2480)-Harutyunian,T (2308) World ol U16 11th Istanbul 2012. It had a huge impact as White went wrong on the very next move!
16. Bc7
16. O-O-O Qxa8 17. Qxd6+ Kg8 18. Bd4 is the engine line and considered to be best play for both sides after 12.Nxe6. I think we also reached this line in our analysis in the commentary room. Exchanging the dark-squared bishops stablises White’s position by eliminating Black’s 2 bishops. The resulting position after 18…Bxd4 19. Rxd4 Kh7 20. f4 Rc8 21. Re1 Nc6 is balanced but far from drawn in a human game!
16… Bxb2
This nasty tactic once again, the rook on a1 and threatening …Bc3 winning the queen.
17. O-O
17. Bxd6+ Kg7 18. O-O Qxa8 19. Rad1 Bf6 should have transposed into the game, but there was a little twist! Black’s 2 bishops and White’s weak queenside pawns give Black a decisive advantage at the engine level but there would still have been some challenges for Black in a practical game.
17… Bxa1
Brandon decided to exploit White’s move order but this was actually a mistake! 17…Qxa8 or 17…Kg7 were better, both transposing to 17.Bxd6+ above.
18. Bxb8
A final blunder most likely missing Black’s unexpected next move. 18. Bxd6+ Kg8 19. Rxa1 Qxa8 20. Be5 is again something I think we found in the commentary. Black cannot keep his extra piece due to the threat of Qd8+ and after 20…Nc6 21. Bxh8 Kxh8 22. a4 liquidating the weak a-pawn, the engines expect White to be able to hold the draw.
18… Ke7
A horrible shock, leaving the a1-bishop en prise but defending the d6-pawn and preparing to snaffle the White pieces on the 8th rank!
19. Nc7 Rxb8 20. Nxe6 Bc3
A first key Zwischenzug! (Patent pending Natasha Regan ;))
21. Nd4 Qc5 0-1
And a second! Black wins a piece so White resigned, securing Brandon shared first place in the tournament!