Thomas Schwenkreis (2041) - Oliver Uwira (2286)
Rhein-Main-Open 2009 (Round 2, Board 11)

1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. e5

Usually, White should play 2.Nc3 before 3.f4 if he wants to play the Grand Prix attack. The reason is 2...d5 after which White has crappy choices only:

1. 3.exd5 is probably best. Black will play a gambit now which promises good play: 3...Nf6 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.Bxd7+ Qxd7 6.c4 e6 7.dxe6 fxe6 and Black will clamp down on d4 and the d-file in general.
2. 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 always looked a bit ridiculous to me. As Petrosjan would say: The best move in this position would be f4-f2...
3. 3.e5 was played in the game and yields a useless French advance where Black's light-squared is not locked in and White has committed f2-f4, restraining his dark-squared bishop even more than usual.

4. ... Nc6 4. g3 h5

I want to punish 4. g3 by immediately trying to get the rook into play. The pawn also serves to hinder white g4, thus securing f5 for my pieces.

5.c3 Bf5 6. d3 e6 7.Nf3 h4 8.gxh4 Rxh4



An exchange sacrifice. It cannot be accepted directly, because 9.Nxh4 Qxh4+ 10. Kd2 Qxf4+ 11.Kc2 Qxe5 is devestating as Black collects two pawns and a better position for the exchange. However, White could play the zwischenzug 9.Qb3 when after e.g. Rb8 10.Nxh4 Qxh4 11.Kd1 the pawn on f4 is protected. I believe Black must have sufficient compensation here, though.

In the game, White declines the offer without much thinking about.

9. Be3 Rh8 10. Rg1 Nh6

I spent quite some time on my 10th because it is not entirely clear how to proceed. Black has created weaknesses on the white kingside, but there is no direct way to approach them. 10. ... d4 would be tempting in light of the knight hop to d5, but White does also have a route for his knight: Nb1-d2-e4. I eventually decided to just reorganize my pieces and build slowly.

11. h3 Bg6 12. Bf2 Bh5 13. Nbd2 Nf5 14. Qb3 Qc7 15. Nh4 Nxh4 16. Bxh4



White has set up a nasty trap here. Tempting would be 16. ... Nxe5? 17.fxe5 Qxe5+ when the Bh4 is picked up after 18.Kf2?? Qf4+. However, White wins with 18.Ne4! when dxe4 loses to the surprising 19.Qb5 mate.

Now, despite of the fact the the Bh4 is technically the bad bishop, it must go because it prevents Black from castling. So I decided to swap the bad bishops and continue to go after the weak f4 and h3 pawns.

16. ... Bd1 17. Qxd1 Rxh4 18. Qf3 g6 19. Qg3 Rh8 20. Bg2

I thought White would do better if he plucked the knight to g5 in order to lock out my bishop. I haven't analyzed this to deeply yet. Maybe he was afraid of my swapping on g5 and doubling in the h-file, where he still has a backward pawn.

Instead, he tries to launch an attack but see what my bishop has done to him by the next diagram.

20. ... O-O-O 21. O-O-O Ne7 22. c4 Nf5 23. Qf2 Be7 24. cxd5 Bh4!



A very important zwischenzug that ensures that White will really have to worry about the bishop showing up on g3 or e3 when the f4-pawn will be in real danger. I think White should have backed down and played Nf3 at some point before, but I guess he had made up his mind about bringing the knight to e4 or c4.

25. Qf3 exd5 26. Kb1 Kb8 27. Rc1 Nd4 28. Qg4 Bf2 29. Rgf1 Be3

Here is the bishop. White's position is very critical now.

30. Rcd1 Nf5 31. Qe2 Rh4



White is outplayed and about to lose the f4-pawn. He now resorts to the usual desperate sacrifice, requiring accurate play for me to bring home the loot.

32. Ne4 Bxf4 33. Rxf4 Rxf4 34. Nf6 d4 35. Rc1 Ne3 36. Ne4 Qxe5 37. Nxc5

This looks dangerous, but my next move should make my day because the invasion on f2 is too much to bear for White. This isn't yet engine-checked though.

37. ... Qf6 38. Qd2 Rf2 39. Qb4

This loses a piece in addition to the sacrificed exchange.

39. ... Qb6 0-1

White resigned because after 40.Qxb6 axb6 two pieces are hanging and 41.Nxb7 Rd7 doesn't help anymore.

A quick update here: Fritz confirmed that the sacrifice is sound. White cannot even accept it afer 9.Qb3 Rb8 because he's dead after 10.Nxh4 Qxh4+ 11.Kd1 c4! 12.dxc4 Be4 winning the Rh1. Also possible is 9.Qb3 Qe7 10.Nxh4 Qxh4+ 11.Kd1 O-O-O with a huge advantage for Black.

Now it is engine-checked. White is completely lost.

I don't understand why you kept your knight on d2 for the entire game. It seems like in that position you're not protecting or threatening any squares. I guess having a pawn on c3 was more important to you?

Or someone else could respond and help me out since posting here is like me posting in a NL 300/600 thread...

Edit, whoops you were black. Well I don't get why white did that.

Well, I'd already written that in my opinion White should have placed the knight on f3, from where it prevents the Black invasion via h4 that happened in the game. If the time is right a Nf3 could also become an active rather than a defensive piece by jumping to g5.

As played I believe that my opponent wanted to bring the knight to e4 or c4 once he has forced the black d5-pawn to move. But after Black retook with 25...exd5 there really was no use for knight on d2 anymore and he should have redeployed it somewhere else, most naturally f3, of course.

PS: Nevermind asking a simple question. This is not the NL 300/600 forum (-: