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Gary Trudeau 1 - 0 James HookerK County Shield 2018/19                       |
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Gary Trudeau 1 - 0 James HookerK County Shield 2018/19 |
Notes by Gary Trudeau
This game was an entry in the 2018 David Saqui Cup
I ordinarily continue prosaically with the usual 3.d4. I've played that a lot in Internet games and experience has taught me that in the Kan it is difficult to demonstrate a workable initiative so on a whim I decided to try something else.
I don't know that 3. ...d5 is necessarily 'better' but it does create more immediate tension in the centre and forces white to decide whether he is going to go for a French-type setup or not.
4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 Nf6!? 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Bd3 d6?
This, in my opinion, is where black goes astray in the opening. Instead, after the immediate d5 he has full equality. d6 is just too passive.
8.a3 Ba5 9.0-0 0-0? 10.e5 dxe5 11.dxe5 Nd5 12.Bxh7+!
The stem game for this sacrifice can be found in Capablanca - Molina (Buenos Aires 1911) which you can look up and play through online.
14.Qd3+ also came in for serious consideration. In choosing between the two I basically trusted Capablanca's judgement!
Of course
16.Ne6ch. remains a crunching threat hence black's next.
Only played after prolonged thought. This dissipates much of whites attacking energy. The knight check on e4 is unclear so I thought it best to claw back some of the material while the going was good.
16...Ke7 17.Nxf8 Nxc3 18.Qxe5 Nd5 19.Nh7 Qh8!
A fine defensive resource and one I'd missed in my analysis. It's becoming difficult to extricate the clumsily placed knight.
Now white may not move the knight upon pain of getting instantly mated.
Threatens 22.Rd5. It is very fortunate that white has this resource at his disposal.
21...Nf6 22.Qb4+ Ke8 23.Nxf6+ gxf6 24.Qb5+
Black resigned as Ke7 or f8 allows 25. Qc5ch. picking off the c7 bishop.
1 - 0