Friday, January 06, 2006

January Match (1)

C-K
January Match Internet Chess Club (1), 05.01.2006
D15 - Slav : Geller Gambit

First game of the New Year. Happy new year to everybody. 1.d4 I was sick of playing Najdorfs and I had a little bit of preparation here 1...d5 This was unexpected. He almost never plays 1.d4 d5 or 1.d4 Nf6 because he wants to avoid the Colle and the Tromp respectively. I was counting on him playing the Slav so I was hoping for [1...c6 . I had looked at 2.e4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 c5 7.h4 but it was wild. On the other hand, Kirk likely isn't comfortable in these types of positions (as Black). It's irrelevant though because he played the 1.d4 d5 move order] 2.c4 When I played this I had a horrible feeling that he would play the QGA (which I hadn't looked at for weeks and weeks) but he played the expected 2...c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 I think he was a little surprised that I didn't play the Slav exchange. 5.e4!? This is my preparation. I was thinking about trying [5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 e6 7.f3 but he had actually got that line before, and I don't imagine he got the Geller Gambit] 5...b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.a4 e6 8.Be2!? All theory up to here. The "mainline" is either [8.axb5;
or 8.Ng5 -- with the idea of 9.Nge4 . The line I was following was one of the first Geller gambits by Geller himself ] 8...Bb4!?



A novelty according to Chessgames.com but not the Megabase. [The mainline is developing with 8...Bb7 and then playing for opening the diagonal was ...c5 etc.] 9.0-0? Playing in gambit style but losing. [9.Bd2 was playable;
or even 9.Qc2 as in Annakov-Dolinskij, Moscow Open 1995 9...Qa5 10.Bd2 Bxc3 11.bxc3 Bb7 12.0-0 Qc7 13.Ng5 Nd7 14.Nxh7 a6 15.Ng5 N7b6 (15...Nxe5 16.dxe5 Qxe5 17.Nf3 -+) 16.Ne4 0-0-0 17.Nc5 1-0] 9...Bxc3 10.bxc3 Nxc3 11.Qc2 Nxa4?? [Horrible blunder. I have little/no compensation for my troubles after 11...Nxe2+ 12.Qxe2] 12.Bxc4 He obviously overlooked this. His queenside is going to fall apart pretty quickly. Even if I didn't pick up a pawn there, he can't be happy with his position. Sure he's got a couple pawns, but look at his development, and all the lines are open to his king 12...0-0 [12...bxc4 13.Rxa4 may have been better. The text leaves his crappy knight on the rim away from the action] 13.Bd3 h6 [If 13...g6 I was going to try 14.h4] 14.Be3 Fritz didn't like this particularly, but I'm happy enough, freeing up the knight from defending the d-pawn. The trouble is that how are my rooks going to come into the attack? The third rank is pretty clogged, so i was going to move the knight (not sure where yet) and then push f4 and come in that way. [14.Ba3 Re8 15.Bd6 was Fritz's idea. I guess this guards the d-pawn by blocking the queen's access to it.] 14...Bb7 15.Rfb1 c5? [Maybe even 15...Nb6 was stronger, now that the c-pawn was defended. I have to prove my attack is worth two pawns. Maybe his position holds up tactically etc, but he should be worried about developing and not forcing the issue with moves like c5 for now.] 16.Bxb5 Bxf3!? [16...cxd4 17.Nxd4 Nb6 was stronger. Sure the a-pawn will possibly fall, but my e-pawn is weak, and after 18.-- N8d7 i think his position is good] 17.Rxa4! I found out where my rook is going to invade, along the fourth rank 17...cxd4?! [17...Bc6 was stronger I think. Maybe not, his position is just about ready to fall apart.] 18.Rxd4 Bd5 19.Rg4 Nd7? 20.Bxd7? [Kirk resigned but the immediate 20.Bxh6 was better 20...Kh8 (20...g6 21.Rxg6+) 21.Bxg7+ Kg8 22.Bf6#;
20.Bxd7
Apparently after 20...h5 21.Rg3 h4 22.Rg4 Qxd7 23.Bh6 f5 the position is defendable but 24.Rxg7+ Qxg7 25.Bxg7 Kxg7 looks better for White to me.

Anyways I was glad to get some preparation in and get a good aggressive gambit. Of course if he would've played properly after 9.O-O? it would have been a different story. Oh well, maybe next time] 1-0

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