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Mark Hassall 0 - 1 Gary Trudeau A. W. Busby Cup - Carrick v Liskeard, Bd.1, 09/11/2016                       |
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Mark Hassall 0 - 1 Gary Trudeau A. W. Busby Cup - Carrick v Liskeard, Bd.1, 09/11/2016 |
Notes by Gary Trudeau
I've noticed that members of the Cornish chessplaying elite seem to be less comfortable playing against the French than they are against other defences so this felt like the right option to pick against Mark with his classical style.
Capablanca once wrote that of all the variations of the French defence this one was the one that he regarded as giving black the best chances of assuming the initiative.[4...Be7 is the solid and very playable alternative.
For a discussion of why making the more natural looking recapture with the bishop is bad for white see Bobby Fischer's "My 60 memorable Games".
Not surprisingly most players prefer (8)...g6 here as it goes against the grain to voluntarily play a move that involves permanently relinquishing k-side castling rights. I know of at least one game where Capa famously lost as black after playing this variation but he also won others in this line so it must be playable.
Some players play thiss with a view to attacking after some such manouevre as Rh3 then Rg3 etc. but I think a maturer understanding of this position is that this move also stops black getting a comfortable game quite easily after trading knight for bishop on d2 and then following up with the queen check on g5.
I don't see the point of this and it does seem a tad time-wasting. 10.Bd3 seems more natural.
10...Qb6 11.Bd3 Qb2 12.Rc1 Nxd2 13.Kxd2 Bd7
To have an answer to the impending Bg6.
Threatening to swing the rook over to b1 and follow up with a capture on b7 that would be pretty crunching for white. Good enough but that said I think that f3 is a better square for the knight in this position.
15...Qxa2?? 16.Ra1 Qc4 17.Bd3+-
17...Qxa2 18.dxc5 Nc6 (18...bxc5 19.Rb7 Nd7 20.Rxd7+-) 19.cxb6 Na5 20.Rb4 Nc4+ 21.Rxc4 Qxc4 (21...dxc4 22.b7 Rb8 23.Be4+/-) 22.Ra1 (22.b7? Qxf4+ 23.Nxf4 Rb8 24.Bd3 Rxb7-+)
18.dxc5 Qxc5 19.Nd4 Ke7! 20.Bh5
It's hard to decide if this is dubious or not. Maybe Bd3 is but perhaps Mark was hoping to provoke an injudicious ...g6?? Who knows?
20...Rf8 21.Re1 Nc6 22.Rb5 Qa3 23.Rb3 Qxa2 24.Be2 Na5 25.Rb4 Rc8 26.Qg3 Rg8 27.Reb1 Nc4+ 28.Ke1 Qa5?
29.f4 Qc5 30.f5 Bd7 31.Bxc4 dxc4 32.Qf4 Qd5 33.f6+ Kf8 34.Rd1! g5! 35.hxg5 hxg5
36.Qe3 Qxg2 37.Ne2! 37...Qc6 38.Qd4 Qh1+
It's not clear why white resigned here. White is better but the position is not an easy win.
0 - 1