B37 Sicilian: Maroczy Bind with 5...Bg7, sidelines (1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Nc2 d6 7.e4 Nf6 8.Be2 O-O 9.O-O b6 10.Be3)
This is one of the games I have shared before where the name of the opening has been changed. I have also added some commentary and diagrams that were not shared with the game before. The game below was played in atadros's mini-tournament V at GameKnot. This mini-tournament has gone really badly for me, I have only won one game out of the 12 that have already finished. I have drawn 4 games, so luckily that win has not been the only source of points for me. That being said 3 out of 12 is still quite grim result. I am currently on 10th place in this mini-tournament that consists of 11 players. Negotium, the player who I faced in this game, is currently on 6th place with 7.5 points. Negotium is doing much better than I am, he has actually finished one game less than me. I still need to finish eight more games, four of those have not even started yet.
The first move that I had to think a bit longer was my 9th move, up to that moment it seemed like a fairly easy game to play. That being said, I am not sure about the move 6...d6 either, now that I think about it. Maybe I could have played b6 instead. I do like the game continuation and I played 9...b6 because I thought that the bishop would be just in the way of other pieces and or pawns on the diagonal it was on and it would be better placed on the long diagonal or on the a6-f1 diagonal. I ended up playing my bishop to a6 first to pressure the c-pawn. In case of b3 to defend c4, then there might be some tricks on the h8-a1 long diagonal. Actually my 9th move already put me on some trouble. Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT thinks that White should have a clear advantage after 9...b6, or at least quite close to it. Interestingly Deep Fritz 14 still included it into the opening classification. The diagram below shows the position on the board before my 9th move.
After 11...Ne5, my opponent had to play b3 in order to protect the c4-pawn, but as the long diagonal was a bit filled with knights, there was no easy way for me to take advantage of the fact that the knight on c3 would be pinned to the rook if my knights were out of the way and the bishop could eye on that knight. I continued with 12...Bb7 as I could not find anything better to do than bring the bishop to a better square. After that I just tried to maneuver my pieces to better squares because I did not see any clear plan that involved pushing pawns. Basically any pawn move would have just made my position worse in my opinion. The next position seen in the living diagram below has been taken after the move 15.Rac1. I played 15...Nc5, which caused more problems for me. Even though the material was even, I was clearly worse because I had less space and my pieces did not really have good squares to which they could go to. Negotium had the center under control and better squares for his pieces than me, except for the light-squared bishop, which was negotium's worst piece.
I played 16...a5 in response to 16.Nb4 because I wanted to kick the knight away and cover the b4-square, so that my opponent can't play b4 so easily. However, my pawn push makes the b6-pawn quite weak and negotium put immediately pressure to it by playing 17.Nbd5. The good thing about this is that now I can trade some pieces off the board and get more space to maneuver my remaining pieces. Negotium's 17th move was a step into the wrong direction and allowed me to get back into the game. The best option for negotium was to play 17.Nc2. I replied with 17...Nxd5 and negotium continued with 18.Nxd5. At that moment negotium was only slightly better, but then I messed up and played 18...Bxd5.
I think that the move 19.cxd5 is a slight mistake by negotium, because it makes the pawn structure a bit more drawish looking. I would prefer taking with the queen or with the e-pawn, so that there would be better winning chances. Actually taking with the queen is the move I would like the best here. Well, the move 19.cxd5 does give more squares to the light-squared bishop, but it does make winning this game a lot harder in my opinion. I was on the defensive side of the board, so negotium was at least slightly better even after the move I did not like. Actually Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT likes the move 19.cxd5 best, so I might be wrong... To 19.cxd5 I answered with 19...Qd7 and then negotium played the drawish move 20.Bd4.
When negotium played 23.f4, I was somewhat worried that maybe he can win this game, but I also thought that with accurate defense, it should be still close to a draw. Unfortunately I played an awful move in reply, 23...Rac8 and I was in trouble again. Or rather I would have been, had my opponent played 24.f5. Negotium played 24.h3 instead for some reason, I do not really know the purpose behind that one. With my next move, 24...Rc7, I gave negotium another chance to play f5, but again my opponent chose a different plan. Negotium chose to play 25.b4, which gives up most of the advantage away and the position should be rougly even after that.
The game became really exciting to play after 33.f5, my kingside position seemed a lot more insecure than it had been some moves before. After 35.Rb2, I face an important decision, the outcome of the game might have been on the balance. I am not sure, but maybe I could have played 35...bxa2 in order to threaten the rook and also threaten to promote the pawn. It turned out in the after game analysis that 35.Rb2 was a blunder that could have allowed me to get a clear advantage, had I taken on a2 with my pawn.
I ended up playing 35...Rf8, so that my opponent could not so easily invade on my position via the f-file. Then negotium took on b3 and I took back with my knight, which seemed very risky, but I thought that I can hold my position. The next turning point of the game could have been seen in the game when my opponent played 37.Rd3 in the diagram position below. Negotium's 37th move could have lost the game, because I had the very nice option to play 37...Nc1. While the move should not be that hard to see, I completely missed it.
I was able to get out of the pin and it seemed that I am able to get a decent position where I am slightly better. However, negotium found the interesting exchange sacrifice on move 43 and at that point I was not sure at all what would happen. I did not take back with the pawn, because I thought that negotium would play d6 and one of the pawns are likely to promote. I could not take back with the queen because it would have lost to Rxf4, therefore I had to take on f1 first and only after Qxf1 take the rook on c5. That being said, the exchange sacrifice was a horrible idea if replied correctly.
I headed towards a drawn game, but then I took on c5 with my queen and I was on a lost position. In order to keep the position even, I needed to take on c5 with my pawn. Luckily for me, negotium did not find the path to victory and we agreed to a draw after 46.Qf4+.
[Event "atadros's mini-tournament V"]
[Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"]
[Date "2016.04.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "negotium"]
[Black "Vierjoki, Timo"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B37"]
[WhiteElo "1813"]
[BlackElo "1755"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 {English Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Two Knights
Variation} 3. Nf3 (3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. O-O O-O 7. b3 {English
Opening: Symmetrical Variation, Double Fianchetto} (7. d3 {English Opening:
Symmetrical Variation, Duchamp Variation}) (7. d4 d6 8. d5 Na5 9. Nd2 a6 10.
Qc2 Rb8 11. b3 b5 12. Bb2 bxc4 13. bxc4 Bh6 {King's Indian Defense: Fianchetto
Variation, Panno Variation, Donner Line})) 3... g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6.
Nc2 d6 7. e4 Nf6 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O b6 10. Be3 {B37 Sicilian: Maroczy Bind with
5...Bg7, sidelines} Ba6 11. Qd2 (11. Rc1 Rc8 12. b3 Bb7 13. Qd2 Ne5 14. f3 Ne8
15. Rfd1 Nc7 16. Nd4 Nc6 17. Nc2 f5 18. Bh6 Bxh6 19. Qxh6 e6 20. exf5 Rxf5 21.
f4 Qe7 22. Bg4 Rff8 23. Ne3 Rcd8 24. Re1 Nd4 25. Ned5 Qf7 {Hoensch,M (2291)
-Pinyol Clapera,D Banyoles 2001 0-1 (34)}) 11... Ne5 12. b3 Bb7 13. f3 Ned7
$146 {Black has a cramped position} (13... Rc8 14. Rfd1 Qc7 15. Rac1 Ba6 16.
Kh1 Qb8 17. Bf1 Bb7 18. Nb4 Rfe8 19. Ncd5 Nfd7 20. Bg5 f6 21. Be3 Nc5 22. Bd4
Nf7 23. Qb2 Nd7 24. Nc2 Bh6 25. Rb1 Bg7 26. Nce3 Bh6 27. Re1 Bg7 28. Rbd1 {
Salokangas,H (2221) -Pyylampi,S Finland 1999 1/2-1/2 (57)}) 14. Rfd1 Re8 15.
Rac1 Nc5 16. Nb4 a5 17. Nbd5 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 (18... Be5 19. Nc3 $14) 19.
cxd5 $16 ({Inferior is} 19. Qxd5 Bb2 20. Rb1 Ba3 $11) 19... Qd7 20. Bd4 (20.
Rb1 b5 $16) 20... h5 (20... Bxd4+ $5 21. Qxd4 b5 $11) 21. Bxg7 $14 Kxg7 {
Black king safety dropped} 22. Qd4+ (22. a3 f6 23. Qe3 b5 $14) 22... Kh7 (22...
f6 23. Rc3 $14) 23. f4 (23. Qe3 $16) 23... Rac8 $2 (23... e6 24. dxe6 Rxe6 25.
Bf3 $11) 24. h3 (24. f5 Qd8 $16) 24... Rc7 (24... e5 25. dxe6 Nxe6 26. Qe3 $11)
25. b4 (25. f5 $5 Rec8 26. Qe3 $16) 25... axb4 $14 26. Qxb4 Rb8 (26... Rec8 27.
Bb5 Qd8 28. Rb1 $14) 27. Bb5 $14 {White threatens to win material: Bb5xd7} Qc8
28. Bc6 {White can be proud of that piece} (28. a4 Qf8 $14) 28... Qa6 29. Rc2
Ra7 30. e5 {This push gains space} Qa3 {Black threatens to win material: Qa3xb4
} 31. Qe1 b5 32. Qe2 (32. exd6 exd6 33. f5 $11) 32... b4 $11 33. f5 b3 34.
fxg6+ fxg6 35. Rb2 (35. axb3 Qxb3 36. Qf2 Ne4 37. Qxa7 Qxc2 $11) 35... Rf8 (
35... bxa2 $5 36. Rxb8 a1=Q 37. Rxa1 Qxa1+ 38. Kh2 Qxe5+ 39. Qxe5 dxe5 $17) 36.
axb3 $11 Nxb3 37. Rd3 $4 {a transit from better to worse} (37. Kh2 Nc5 $11)
37... Qa1+ (37... Nc1 $142 {and the rest is a matter of technique} 38. Rxa3
Nxe2+ 39. Rxe2 Rxa3 40. exd6 exd6 $19) 38. Rd1 $11 {White threatens to win
material: Rd1xa1} Qa3 {Twofold repetition} 39. Rc2 Nc5 40. e6 {White has a new
strong pawn: e6} (40. exd6 exd6 41. Kh2 Rf4 $11) 40... Rf4 41. Rf1 {White
threatens to win material: Rf1xf4} Qb4 (41... Qg3 42. Rxf4 Qxf4 43. Qf1 Qd4+
44. Qf2 Qa1+ 45. Kh2 Qe5+ 46. g3 $17) 42. Kh2 $11 {White king safety improved}
Ra3 43. Rxc5 $4 {not a good decision, because now the opponent is right back
in the game} (43. Bb5 Qb3 44. Qe1 Rxf1 45. Qxf1 Qg3+ (45... Qxc2 $2 {seems
attractive but will lead to severe problems} 46. Qf7+ Kh6 47. Qf8+ Kh7 48.
Qxe7+ Kh6 49. Qf8+ Kh7 50. e7 $18) 46. Kg1 Qe3+ 47. Qf2 Kh6 $11) 43... Rxf1 {
Black has a mate threat} (43... dxc5 $142 {secures the win} 44. Rd1 Qb8 $19)
44. Qxf1 $11 Qxc5 $4 {overlooking an easy win} (44... dxc5 $142 {this is the
best way to fight back} 45. Qf7+ Kh6 46. Qf8+ Kg5 47. Qxe7+ Kh6 48. Qf8+ Kg5
$11) 45. Qf7+ Kh6 46. Qf4+ 1/2-1/2
