It's been a while since I blogged last. My apologies, but things have been busy here. It's true what everyone says, once you have a kid, most of your spare time is gone. In any event, I want to share some of my games from the Canadian Open in Toronto because it was a very successful event for me.
There was some confusion over my first round opponent which I described on ChessTalk (the site seems to be down at the moment, so I can't provide a link). Essentially, I was supposed to play David Itkin, a very talented junior rated approximately 1950 at the time. David was fresh off the CYCC where he almost won clear first in the U14 boys group, performing at a master level. My opponent appeared to be much younger than 14, but he wrote his name as Davy on his score sheet, and I had no reason to believe he wasn't David Itkin. In the end it turned out that my opponent wasn't Itkin after all, but some kid with a name I can't pronounce. Jack suggested I call him N.N., and that title still seems appropriate. The game continued:
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Bd6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.0–0 Nge7 8.Re1 Qd7 9.b4
Even though I don't think the exchange variation is how white should handle the French, after his dubious decision on move 3, Davy has played the opening perfectly. 9.b4 is an excellent move that stops me from castling long as white could then play 10.b5 and my knight does not have a good square to go to.
9...O-O 10. h3 Bf5 11. Bb2?!
This was my first indication that my opponent was not David Itkin. No master-strength player would even consider this move.
11...Ng6 12. Qc2 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Nf4 14. Qc2
It's time for black to find a plan. I'm not convinced that the plan I chose was the correct one (probably safest was to contest the e-file), but I wanted to avoid routinely exchanging pieces because I wanted to win. In any case, I think my idea is interesting and no worse than the alternatives. I'm curious to know what you would have chosen for a plan - feel free to leave a comment.
14...Qd8!? 15. Nbd2 Qf6 16.a3 Ne7
The point of my preceding play. This knight now heads for the kingside to support black's attack. White has been steadily trying to justify the bishop's position on b2 and now executes his pawn break.
17. c4
A critical middlegame position has arisen. Black to move - what to do about the threatened c5? Is this a threat at all? Does black have a mating attack?
17...c6
In hindsight, the really funny thing about this move was that there were three people watching my game as I played it, and all three of them were lined up in a row directly behind my opponent. I'm pretty sure that two of the people were Davy's parents, and the other guy might have been his coach. As I played ...c6 all of them nodded in agreement, as if they were playing a game of "guess the move" and all got it right. Ironically, their sense of danger was about as strong as my killer instinct at the time. Rybka points out that black's attack is very dangerous after 17... Nf5. For example, 18.c5 just loses to Qg6 when black has a nasty discovered attack on the unprotected queen on c2. Therefore 18. Ne5 is called for, but 18...Qg5 19. Ng4 Nh4 is just devastating. Sadly, I didn't play this line because I couldn't find a mate. I also missed the rather important point of being able to win white's queen. Having said that, the nice thing about c6 is that it doesn't really change the position - black is still much better and the attack isn't going away. I was able to wrap the game up rather quickly after my initial oversight.
18. c5 Bc7 19. Rab1 Nf5 20. Nf1 Nxg2 21. Kxg2 Qg6+ 0-1
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