refutor: A nice win in ICCF which may have "refuted" the line 11.c4Opponent (Refutor's rating+400) - Refutor (1864)
Slovenia's 15th Anniversary (1) ICCF 2008
C68 - Ruy Lopez : Exchange Variation, Alapin Gambit
In December 2008 ICCF started up an open tournament to celebrate the 15th
Anniversary of Slovenia joining the ICCF. I had never joined an open
tournament for ICCF so I was eager to join. I was the lowest rated player in
my section. Here is my first win from the event v. a player who was rated
almost 400 points higher than me.
1.e4
One thing I really enjoy about ICCF is that since you have a record of
all your opponent's previous games, you can get a pretty good idea what they play and even do a little preparation. I play all sorts of things v. 1.e4 and I noticed he played the Ruy Lopez as White so in I go
1. ...e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6
I had saw previously that he played <3. ...Nf6 4.O-O a6 5.Ba4> so I *assumed* that he would not play the Exchange against me.
4.Bxc6
Of course, playing a guy who is 400 points less than you, it makes sense to play something that gives you a structural advantage. Unfortunately by this time, what little bit of prep I had done was thrown out the window.
4. ...dxc6 5.O-O Bg4
I figured go for all the piece play I could.
6.h3 h5 7.d3 Qf6 8.Nbd2 Ne7
My chess library is far from complete so at this point all I was going on was MCO, Chessgames.com and am old book on the Spanish Exchange by
Gert Iskov. A line I had looked at here was a gambit <8. ...b5?!> (Iskov) as in Piotrowski vs J Sokolow, 1971 Unfortunately, Iskov
mentioned a few improvements and even I knew after a quick a4 by White, the
doubled isolated c-pawns would be horrible. So I stuck with the mainline.
9.Re1 Ng6 10.d4 Bd6
Focus has been a problem for me. I had originally intended to play <10. ...Nf4!?> here and bring more pieces at his king. After <11.hxg4 hxg4 12.g3 gxf3 13.Qxf3 Ne6 14.dxe5 <14.Qxf6? gxf6 15.dxe5 Nd4> 14.
...Qh6 15.Nb3 Qh2+ 16.Kf1 Bc5> with interesting play for both sides.
Unfortunately I was absent minded and played the text instead.
11.c4?!
The mainline here too is sharp <11.hxg4 hxg4 12.Nh2 Rxh2 13.Qxg4 <13.Kxh2? Qxf2>>
and then i couldn't decide between <13. ...Rh4> and <13. ...Qh4>. In any case I didn't have to decide as White played an old move 11.c4 as in
Karaklajic vs E Scholl, 1972 In my megabase and
megacorr i found some other examples. Most of them involved playing an early
...c5 to stop White from playing c5 himself. I looked at it, thought that
White playing c5 and moving my bishop to e7 wasn't that bad of a concession
and decided to add one more piece to the attack.
11. ...Nf4!
If I may be so bold. All of my pieces are around his king and opening the h-file would be to his detriment.
12.c5
<12.hxg4 hxg4 13.g3 Nd3> looks good to me.
12. ...Be7 13.dxe5
<13.hxg4 hxg4 14.Nh2 Nxg2> This position is very pleasant to play from the black side. There's all kinds of opportunities to sack the king open and I am way ahead in development.
13. ...Qg6 14.Nc4
Maybe here <14.hxg4 hxg4 15.g3> was better for White than the text, but my position is still superior. He's trying to open up lines for his pieces and hope I don't mate him before he does.
14. ...Bxh3 15.g3 Ng2
It's just a matter of opening up the position and getting his king, or taking material.
16.Re2 h4 17.Nd6+
An interesting try. He's got a lot of passed pawns and now my pieces are away from the action, around his king while the pawns are coming towards me.
17. ... cxd6 18.cxd6 Bd8 19.e6=
and he offered a draw. I said "let's play on for a few more moves" because I didn't think his position would hold up for a few more moves. <19.d7+ Kf8 20.Qd6+ Qxd6 21.exd6 Bg4 22.Kxg2 h3+ 23.Kh2 Bxf3> .
19. ...hxg3 20.d7+ Kf8 21.Qd6+ Be7 22.Qxg3 Nh4
His queen is pinned to his king
and I'm going to pick up his center pawns. My plan it to trade down to a
win.
23.Nxh4 Rxh4 24.Qxg6 fxg6 25.f3 Bxe6 26.Rg2 Bc5+ 27.Kf1 Bc4+ 28.Ke1 Rd8
29.Kd2 Rxd7+ 30.Kc3 b5 0-1
My opponent was very gracious in defeat.
