23 . Rxe5 ? During the game we both thought that 23 . dxe5 Nh5 24 . Qh4 ( 24 . Qe3 Bxg2 ! 25 . Kxg2 Rxd3 !) 24 ... Bxg2 favours Black , but the computer shows that after 25 . Be2 ! Bd5 26 . Bxh5 gxh5 27 . Kh2 ! h6 ( worse is 27 ... f6 28 . exf6 Qd6 + 29 . Kg1 ) 28 . Rg1 + Kh7 29 . Qxh5 Black is struggling to survive . In the approaching time-trouble I didn ' t even seriously consider to give up the pawn g2 , but this was the right way to continue , keeping White ' s advantage . 23 ... Kg7 =/+ Now the situation changed completely , as it became obvious that Black has little to fear and can try to play for more than equality . With the last move Alex correctly rejected my draw offer , since his position is very safe and he had considerably more time on the clock . 24 . a3 Qd6 25 . Qh4 Be6 26 . Ne2 b6 27 . b4
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27 ... a5 !? Alex is trying to play as complicated as possible , using his advantage on the clock . But now the position becomes very sharp and Black is also taking risk . 28 . bxa5 Qxa3 29 . Nf4 Qc1 + Again the strongest continuation is spotted by the computer : 29 ... Bg4 ! with the idea Qc1xf4 . ALex saw the idea , but chose the wrong move order . After 29 ... Bg4 objectively speaking Black is probably better , but the position remains very sharp and double-edged . 30 . Kh2
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30 ... Bg4 ? Here Black should have already gone for the draw : 30 ... Ng4 + 31 . Kg3 Nxe5 32 . Nxe6 + fxe6 33 . Qxd8 Nxd3 34 . Qe7 + Kh6 35 . Qh4 + Kg7 =. 31 . Qg5 ! Not only protecting the knight on f4 , but also creating a threat of a knight check , winning the queen from c1 . Here we both realized that White is winning . Alex calculated only 31 . Re3 Rxd4 but here White is actually winning as well thanks to the nice move 32 . Ne2 using the pin of the bishop g4 . 31 ... Qd1 32 . hxg4 Nxg4 + 32 ... Qxg4 would have put up more resistance , although it would have hardly changed the result , since after 33 . Be2 ( 33 . axb6 h6 !) 33 ... Qxg5 34 . Rxg5 Rxd4 35 . g3 White is technically winning . 33 . Kg3 Nxe5 34 . Qxe5 + Kg8 35 . f3 Creating the idea 35 . Nh5 + gxh5 36 . Qg5 + ( 35 . axb6 Qb3 seemed less clear to me during the game , although it is also completely winning after 36 . Qc7 Rf8 37 . Kh2 g5 38 . Qe5 gxf4 39 . Qg5 + Kh8 40 . Qh6 .) 35 ... Qa1 36 . Ne6 ! Here 36 . Nh5 ?? would have been a big mistake , since 36 ... Qxd4 protects against the mate on g7 and Black is suddenly winning ! 36 ... fxe6 37 . Qxe6 + Kf8 38 . Bc4 Rd5 39 . Bxd5 cxd5 40 . axb6 Qb2 41 . Qxd5 1-0
Game reproduced with the kind permission of the Galway chess club . www . galwaychess . com
Cafolla , P - Rochev , Y [ B23 ] Galway Masters ( 2 ) [ Notes by Peter Cafolla ] 1 . e4 c5 2 . Nc3 e6 This is quite a good way of meeting the Closed Sicilian as long as you don ' t mind playing the French Defence . 3 . g3 d5 4 . exd5 exd5 5 . d3 I ’ ve struggled in this line before so decided to follow a Nigel Davies recommendation this time . 5 ... Nf6 6 . Bg2 d4 7 . Ne4 Nxe4 8 . Bxe4 The alternative dxe4 is probably a bit more ambitious but against Rochev I was happy to keep things quiet . 8 ... Nd7 9 . Ne2 Nf6 10 . Bg2 Be7 11.0- 0 0-0 12 . Re1 = a5 13 . c3 I was already well up on the clock but I thought for quite a while here as I have a number of plausible options Qc2 , h3 , Nf4 , a3 , Rb1 , Bd2 , Bg5 13 ... a4
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14 . c4 ?! I thought that by taking control of d5 and b5 that I might have some hope of an advantage but Fritz seems to think that all the aforementioned moves were slightly better . I can ' t honestly say that I can see what ' s wrong with c4 , perhaps it weakens d3 . 14 ... h6 15 . a3 Ra7 16 . Nf4 b6 I assessed the position as being slightly better for me here because of my nice Bishop and the d5 square . Philip Short said afterwards that he thought Black better because he had more space . Fritz thinks it ’ s dead level . Take your pick .
7 | P a g e I r i s h C h e s s J o u r n a l