[Event "Western States Open"]
[Site "Reno, NV USA"]
[Date "1997.10.24"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "1"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Eric Schiller"]
[Black "Walter Shawn Browne"]
[ECO "A41"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "82"]

1.Nf3 {Notes by Eric Schiller. A game in which Browne
demonstrates his originality in the opening, and strength in
the middlegame. After the dubious exchange sacrifice, I am
positionally lost. -- Damn swisses! No time to prepare. Five
minutes with Najdorfmeister Danny Olim and I would have raced
into Browne's favorite defense, looking forward to an
interesting theoretical duel. Against a GM, mainline thoery is
the best plan. Use the mighty power of Grandmaster experieces
to present the GM with the need to improve on existing theory,
or sidestep it with an inferior line.} d6 {A last chance for
me to go to the Sicilian, and I thought about it - for a split
second.} 2.d4 {Well, we may go into a Torre after 2...Nf6
3.Bg5. I know a little something about that.} Bg4 {The Wade
Defense!? True, it is now respectable, but still has an
unorthodox flavor which I thought was unappealing to Browne's
rather converntional palate.} 3.c4 {What would Tisdall do? I
recall that he likes the plan with Qb3. Why this entered my
head, I do not know, but I didn't really consider the
immediate e4.} Nd7 4.Qb3 Rb8 {# Now we are getting weird.}
5.g3 {I felt the bishop would be useful at g2. Browne's move
is by no means original, strange as it may appear. With White
commited to the fianchetto, Black may be able to use a break
with ...b5. There are plenty of alternatives, and perhaps
hitting the bishop is best. 5.h3 Bxf3 (5...Bh5 invites
aggression. 6.g4 and after Bg6 , 7.Bf4!? is an interesting
line. h5 [7...e6 8.Bg2 Ngf6 9.O-O Be7 10.Qe3 O-O 11.Nc3 Re8
was agreed drawn in Shcherbakov-Vaulin, Katowice 1991, but
surely White enjoys more space here.] 8.g5 e5 9.Qe3 f6 10.Nh4
Ne7 11.Nxg6 Nxg6 12.Bh2 f5 13.Nc3 c6 14.Rg1 Qe7 was a bit
better for White in Sherbakov-Khomeriki, Mlada Boleslav 1994,
but why not just 14...Be7?) 6.Qxf3 [gives up the bishop pair
but here] g6 [is one of several good defenses.] 7.Nc3 Bg7 [and
White must somehow support the weakling at d4.] 8.e3 [is the
most logical move. Black can now add to the pressure at d4 by
advancing either the c-pawn or the e-pawn.] c5 (8...e5 9.d5
gives Black great opportunities, for example f5 10.e4 Ne7
(10...Nh6 11.g4 fxg4 12.hxg4 Nf7 13.Qe3 h6 14.Qxa7 Nc5 15.Qa5
O-O 16.Be3 Rubinetti,J-Paglilla,C/Buenos Aires FMDAsup
1993/0-1 [31]) 11.g4 O-O 12.gxf5 gxf5 13.Be3 Ng6 14.O-O-O
where Hodgson played the fascinating Nc5!? 15.exf5 e4 16.Nxe4
Nh4 17.Qg4 h5! in Naumkin-Hodgson, France 1992.) 9.d5 Bxc3+
10.bxc3 Ngf6! 11.g4 Qa5 12.Qd1!? h5 [12...Qxc3+ 13.Bd2 Qa3
14.Qb3 Qxb3 15.axb3 a6 is interesting.] 13.gxh5 [13.g5 Ne4]
Rxh5 14.Qb3 Ne4 15.Bb2 Rh4 16.Be2 [with a complicated positin
in Miles-Adams, Tilburg 1993.]} g6 6.Bg2 {6.Nbd2 c5 7.dxc5
Nxc5 8.Qc3 Nf6 9.b4 Bg7 10.Qa3 [10.bxc5?! has been criticized,
but it is not so clear. Nh5 11.Nd4 dxc5 12.Qa3 cxd4 13.Qxa7 d3
14.Rb1 Bd4 15.Qa4+ Bd7 16.Qb3 dxe2 17.Bxe2 Bf5 18.Qb5+ Bd7
19.Qb3 is one way to end the game.] Nce4 11.Nxe4 [11.Bb2?!
Bxf3! 12.Nxf3 O-O 13.Bg2 is Lautier-Adams, Manila Interzonal
1990. Instead of 13...Qc7, Black should play aggressively on
the queenside. a5! 14.bxa5 Ra8 15.O-O Qxa5 16.Qe3 and the
weakness at c4 and a2 is more important than the bishop pair.]
Nxe4 12.Bb2 Bxb2 [12...Qb6? 13.c5 dxc5 14.Bxg7 cxb4 15.Qe3
Qxe3 16.fxe3 Rg8 17.Bd4 a5 does not give Black enough for the
piece.] 13.Qxb2 O-O 14.Bg2 Qc7 [looks acceptable for Black,
for example] 15.Nd4! Ng5! 16.h3 Bd7 17.Rc1 Rfc8 18.Qd2 Ne6}
Bg7 {6...c5 7.e3 Qa5+ 8.Nbd2 Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Bg7 10.Qd3 Ngf6
11.O-O O-O 12.Bg2 b5 13.b3 led to obscure complicaitons in
Olafsson-Kosten, Hastings 1990.} 7.Be3 {# 7.Nbd2 c5 8.e3 [did
not appeal to me, but after] Ngf6 9.a4 [9.O-O has been solved
by Jansa's b5! 10.cxb5 a6 11.Ng5 O-O 12.f3 Rxb5 13.Qd3 cxd4!
14.Nxf7 Rxf7 15.fxg4 dxe3 16.Qxe3 Nxg4 gave Black a great game
in Blatny-Jansa, Munster 1992.] O-O 10.O-O e6 (10...Qa5 11.h3
Bxf3 12.Nxf3 Ne4 13.Qd3 f5 14.Nd2 Nef6 15.d5 a6 16.Ra3 Nh5?
[16...Nh5 17.Kh2 Nhf6 18.Qc2 and the game is level,
Razuvaev-Jansa, Prague 1992.] 17.Kh2 Nhf6 18.Qc2) 11.h3 Bxf3
12.Nxf3 d5 [! Black managed to equalize.] 13.Rd1 dxc4 14.Qxc4
Rc8 [gave Black good counterplay in Polak-Jansa, Czech
Republic 1995.] 7.d5 allows Black to have fun on the long
diagonal. c6 8.Nc3 Ngf6 9.Be3 Qa5 10.Nd4 c5 11.Nc2 a6 12.Bd2
b5 13.cxb5 axb5 14.f3 b4 15.Nd1 Bf5 16.e4 forced Black to take
desperate measures. Ne5 17.exf5 c4 18.Qe3 Nxd5 19.Qe2 Nd3+
20.Kf1 Nxb2 21.Nxb2 Bxb2 with some pawns for the piece but
White gets the initiative with 22.Re1 O-O 23.Qxc4 Rfc8 and
here by retreating the queen to b3, White would have had no
difficulty in warding off Black's threats. Instead, he gave up
the a-pawn and lost in Pfleger-Jansa, Germany 1994.} Nh6
{7...c5 can be played immediately, and usually play
transposes. But my next move takes the game into new
territory. 8.Nbd2 Nh6 9.dxc5 Nxc5 10.Bxc5 dxc5 11.O-O O-O
12.Ne4 Qa5 13.Rfd1 b5! 14.Nxc5 Rfc8 15.Nd7 bxc4 forces White
to accept a miserable game after 16.Qe3 Nf5 or go for broke
here: 16.Qxb8 Rxb8 17.Nxb8 Bxb2 18.Nc6 Qa4! 19.Rab1 c3 and
Black won without difficulty in Scarella-Bezold, 1992 World
Junior Championship.} 8.Ng5 {I wanted to try to trap the
bishop. 8.Nbd2 c5 leads to the previous note.} c5 {! 8...Nf5
9.h3 Nxe3 10.Qxe3 Bf5 11.Nc3 was what I had in mind.} 9.dxc5
Nf5 {! 9...Qa5+ 10.Bd2 Qxc5 11.h3 Bf5 12.e4 Be6 13.Nxe6 fxe6
struck me as a position with more potential for White.} 10.h3
{# Here I sacrifice the exchange at a1, hoping to mount an
attack that never really materializes. 10.cxd6 Nxe3 11.Qxe3
Bxb2 is also nothing for White, for example 12.Bd5 e6 13.h3
Bxa1 14.hxg4 Qa5+ 15.Nd2 Qc3!} Nxe3 11.Qxe3 Bxb2 12.hxg4 Nxc5
13.Qf4 f6 14.Nxh7 Bxa1 15.Nd2 Qa5 16.Bd5 Kd7 17.Kf1 Be5 18.Qe3
Qc3 {! White is already lost. #} 19.Qxc3 Bxc3 20.Ne4 Nxe4
21.Bxe4 g5 22.Kg2 b5 23.Rc1 b4 24.f4 gxf4 25.gxf4 Rbc8 26.Bd3
Rc5 27.Rh1 Rg8 28.Kf3 Ra5 29.Bb1 Rc5 30.Bc2 Ke8 31.g5 f5 32.e4
fxe4+ 33.Bxe4 e6 34.Rd1 Ke7 35.Bd3 d5 36.cxd5 Rxd5 37.g6 Rxg6
38.Ng5 Rf6 39.Nh7 Rh6 40.Ng5 Rh2 41.Ke3 Bf6 0-1