CDN Open Round 2

I was very pleased to be paired against IM Lawrence Day in the second round of the 2010 Canadian Open. Not only is Lawrence a legend in Canadian chess, he is also someone I felt I would have a good game against. Plus, I had the white pieces, which is usually a pleasant advantage.

I was staying with Jack Yoos in Toronto, and in the first round he had gained a winning advantage against a young 2200 player, only to turn that advantage into an equal position, spurn his opponent's draw offer and ultimately lose. As a result, Jack was getting paired down in round 2 and he saw no need to prepare. I, on the other hand, was very interested in preparing for Lawrence, so Jack helped me with that.

I prepared for Lawrence for about an hour and I began by trying to guess which opening he would play and then looking at grandmaster games in that line. When Jack realized what I was doing he immediately scolded me, "You can't look at GM games in Lawrence's openings because no one else plays like Lawrence! You have to look at how Lawrence plays his own openings to understand what you'll be up against." As it turned out, Jack was completely correct.

I didn't succeed in anticipating Lawrence's opening choice, even though in retrospect it should have been obvious - Lawrence has been playing The Rat for years.

1. d4 d6 2. e4 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nd7

Jack: "The Nd7 rat is even more passive than the Nc6 rat." Jack, as you can probably tell, is a Nc6 rat guy.

5. Be3 e5 6. Nge2 Nh6 7. f3 f5 8. Qd2 Nf7 9. O-O-O O-O 10. Kb1 Nb6 11. Nc1

When I showed my game to Jack after it was over, I found his comments on the opening to be quite enlightening, so I'll share them here.

Jack: "You have played the opening poorly. First, you played f3 too soon and you castled queenside too early. Second, if you're going to play f3 early, why not play d5? You're a Samisch player - every Samisch player wants to establish the d5-e4-f3-g2 pawn chain." Jack then went on to show me a very interesting line where white plays an early h4 against the rat, which I will watch out for in the future. As the game stands now, Jack is right: I have played the opening poorly and black has uncomfortable pressure on my centre. If given time I would love to play d5 and c5 on my next two moves, with typical queenside play. Of course, Lawrence does not allow that.

11...fxe4 12. Nxe4 Bf5 13. d5 c6 14. g4 Bxe4+ 15. fxe4 cxd5 16. cxd5 Qh4

Black's queen is annoyingly placed on h4. I would have liked to play h4 to stop this, but the last sequence of moves was fairly forced and I just didn't have time. Rybka points out that white still has a slight advantage, though, as long as he plays his next move carefully. Therefore, I consider this to be the first critical middlegame position.

17. h3? Bh6!

Excellent play by Lawrence. I cannot avoid the exchange of bishops and my dark squares now become weak. Instead of 17.h3, Rybka points out that I should have played Qg2 when I can answer Bh6 with Bf2, retaining an advantage.

18. Bd3 Bxe3 19. Qxe3 Ng5 20. Rdf1 Nd7 21. Nb3

Another critical middlegame position has arisen, but this time it's Lawrence's turn to err. Black can force white's bishop to passively defend the h-pawn after swapping rooks on the f-file. 21...Rxf1! 22.Bxf1 is forced, and after ...Rf8 23.Bg2, white's bishop is looking very much like a pawn. This would have given black a practically winning advantage because white's pieces are tied down.

21...b6? 22. Bb5! Nc5 23. Nd2 a5

Black still has the advantage, but it's not overwhelming. However, we have reached another critical position and white cannot afford to make any more mistakes.

24. b3!

Preparing to evacuate the knight a la Petrosian. White can't play the straightforward 24.a3 because black will play 24...a4, clamping down.

24...h6 25. a3 Rxf1+ 26. Rxf1 Qxh3 27.Qxh3 Nxh3 28. Rf6 Rd8 29. Rxg6+ Kh7 30. Rf6 Kg7

A really important point of the preceding tactical sequence is that black can't play 30...Ng5 and expect to win the e-pawn. Can you see why?

31. Rf3 Ng5 32.

Re3 Ra8 33. Kb2 Rf8 34. b4 axb4 35. axb4 Nb7

I've finally been able to evict the powerful c5 knight and now it's my turn to improve my position. On the other hand, it's not so easy to see how black can do the same.

36. Nc4 Rf4 37. Bc6

b5!

This is the only move that keeps black in the game.

38. Nd2 Nd8 39. Bxb5 Rxg4 40. Bd7 Rf4

Lawrence reached the time control with only 3 seconds remaining on his clock.

41. Kc3 h5 42. Kd3 Rf7 43. Bf5 Rb7

Lawrence offered a draw here, and I gave his offer some serious thought. Objectively speaking, this position is equal, and I realized that at the time. One thing that went through my mind was that I felt I would draw Rykba from the white side of this position, which lead me to believe the computer evaluation was close to equality; however, I felt that white's position was much easier to play and I didn't see any way that I could lose. I also wasn't willing to give Lawrence the benefit of the doubt. Sure, maybe Rybka could draw this game as black, but Lawrence isn't Rybka.

The psychological draw offer is a powerful weapon in the hands of the higher rated player, and while its affect can not be underestimated, one has to wonder why the higher rated player made the offer in the first place.

44.

Kc3 Kf6 45. Nc4 Ndf7 46. Re1 h4 47. Rh1 h3

48. Nd2! Nd8 49. Bxh3 Rh7

50. Rf1+!

Ke7 51. Bf5 Rh8 52. Ra1 Nb7 53. Ra7 Rb8 54. Nc4 Kd8

55.Nxd6! 1-0

I am particularly fond of this game for two reasons. First, I defeated an IM who also happens to be a Canadian chess legend. Second, with the exception of move 17, in all of the other critical positions I chose the best plan when there were several available options.

In the past I have often told myself that in order to improve my rating I need to work on my calculation. While I have no doubt that my rating would sky rocket if I could calculate like Nakamura, equally important is the ability to evaluate complex middlegame positions at the critical moments. Accurate calculation will be a part of this, but so too will an understanding of piece placement, pawn structure and the subsequent plans for both sides.

My remaining games at the Open proved this point. Even though I was paired up three more times, once against a GM, I was never out-calculated. I lost two of those games (and drew the third) because I made a wrong choice at a critical moment.