Remembering Richard Part II
White: Andrew Karklins( 2255) Black: Richard Verber( 2304)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd 4. Nxd Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 The so-called " Poison Pawn Variation " of the Najdorf Sicilian-- seen less and less these days, not because of a refutation, but because its main lines have been analyzed to death in recent years. 8. Nb3 Be7 9. Qe2 h6! 10. BxN BxB 11. e5 dxe 12. fxe Be7 An interesting plan is 12.... Bg5!? 13. Ne4 Qe3 14. Nd6 + Ke7. 13. 0-0-0 Nc6 Perhaps Black should instead continue Nd7, Qc7, b5, and Bb7, as in Greg DeFotis ' 7th round game with Erik Karklins-- and although Black ' s kingside is a bit loose, his pieces are poised for immediate action. 14. h4! Qc7 15. Re1 Bd7 16. Rh3 b5?
Too aggressive. The more modest 0-0-0 is called for, but at this point I was nurturing fanciful dreams about my invading hoards arriving at lightning speed. 17. Qg4 g6 18. Rhe3 b4 30 minutes of thought can be a very sobering experience. Just 2 moves earlier I had been perfectly happy with my game, but by now I could see enough of the future to be convinced that I was hopelessly busted. Finally, I decided I had no choice but to continue my attack as though I really believed in it. 19. Nd1 a5 20. Kb1 a4 21. Nd2 Na5 h5 is another possibility, after which White cannot retreat his Queen to g3 because of Nd4! 23. Bd3 Nf5 24. BxN gxB with a plus for Black. 22. Bd3 h5 23. Qg3 b3 24. Rf1! bxa + 25. Kxa Ka1 doesn ' t work because of Nb3 +! 25.... Bc6! 26. Rxf! Bd5 + 27. Kb1 a3!
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Illinois Chess Bulletin
" up to no good " Richard with GM Robert Byrne.
To quote Larsen from his new book: " My center is broken, my flanks are retreating, I attack!" 1K1N4 ] 28. Bxg? This looked quite strong at the time, but in retrospect Qxg was more forceful( with the threat RxB + followed by Qg7 +. 28.... axb!! Black must keep cool and continue his own attack if he is to make things difficult for White-- now both kings are exposed and the position extremely double-edged. With less than 3 minutes for the rest of the game, I was more worried about the clock than what was happening on the board. 29. Rh7 +? A very good move-- for Black! White is trading off his most active piece and allowing the Black king to escape to safety. At the time I was happy for another, purely psychological, reason: namely, this type of move indicated that White didn ' t have a concrete plan, but was merely trying to simplify, in order to make his extra material count. With the White king so dangerously open, I didn ' t believe that such a passive strategy could possibly work( Incidentally, Qf4 was probably best for White, with the verdict unclear.). 29.... Kd7 30. RxR RxR, 31. Rc3 Qb6 32. Qd3 Ra8, 33. Nxb The threat was Nc4! with a forced mate. 33.... Nc6 Things have certainly changed! True, Black is still two pawns down, but his King is in a snug little haven and all of his pieces enjoy maximum activity. 34. Ndc4 Qg1 +!