1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 (<The Italian Game, The Two Knights, 3...Nf6, is also a popular choice.>) 4.c3 (<The Evans Gambit, 4.b4, is an alternative.>) Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.O-O d6 7.Nbd2 O-O 8.Bb3 Ba7 9.h3 Ne7 (<According to the Opening Explorer , other popular tries have been 9...h6, 9...Be6 and 9...Nh5. 9...Ne7 aims for 10...Ng6 and the following occupation of the f4 square, as we'll see in the game.>) 10.Re1 Ng6 11.Nf1 Nh5 (<11...h6 has also been tried.>) 12.d4 Nhf4 13.Bxf4 (< L Mkrtchian vs K Kachiani, 2001 featured 13.Be3, 13.Ng3 has also been tried in the database, e.g.: Kramnik vs Campora, 1989, S Smagin vs A Aleksandrov, 1999 >) Nxf4 (<Following Waitzkin vs Acs, 1997. 13...exf4: Opening Explorer >) 14.dxe5

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Bxh3 15.gxh3 Nxh3+ 16.Kg2 Qc8 (<Deviating from the Waitzkin-Acs game. There, Acs chose 16...Nxf2 17.Qd5! Qc8 18.e6! Kh8 19.Ng5! and Waitzkin went on to win. As a curiosity, the game is featured in the Chessmaster tutorial.>)

17.Ne3

(<Preventing Qg4. Rybka considers it best as well (+0.86 at 17ply, suggesting 17...Bxe3 18.fxe3 Qg4 19.Kf1 etc.). Another try may be 17.e6 Nf4, but it seems fine for black.>)

Bxe3

(<I was also looking at 17...Nf4 18.Kg3 Qh3 19.Kxf4 dxe5 20.Nxe5 Qh2 and Qxe5 but black doesn't have enough. The materialistic 20.Kxe5 is also possible, with the following position:

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Black doesn't have mate, but after 20...Kh8! white has to be very careful to escape, eventually it ends in a perpetual.

>)

(<To me the natural recapture. My reasoning was that of conserving the pawn structure for a possible endgame, however, 18.fxe3 deprives the black knight of the important f4-square, a consideration I wasn't taking into account.>)

Qg4+ 19.Kh2 (<The alternative, 19.Kf1 dxe5 20.Qd5 Nf4 21.Qxe5 Qg2 22.Ke1 Qh1 23.Kd2 Rad8 24.Kc2 Qxa1 25.Re1 (25.Qxf4?? Qd1 mate) Qxb2! 26.Kxb2 Nd3 and Nxe5 is already slightly better for black, but white could probably hold.>)

Nf4

(<19...Nxf2 was a possibility, as was 19...Rad8. Let's look at both:

19...Nxf2 20.Qe1 Qh3 21.Kg1 Ng4 22.Rd3 dxe5 23.Rad1 (+0.76 at 17ply)

19...Rad8 20.Nd4 Nxf2 21.Qe2 dxe5 22.Qxf2 exd4 23.cxd4 Rxd4 might be black's best try (+0.31 at 17ply)

>)

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20.Qf1

(<20.Ne1! was correct. There follows 20...Qh4 21.Kg1 Nh3 22.Rxh3 Qxh3 23.Qf3 (+0.88 at 17.ply). Now, both sides are pretty much forced into taking the ensuing perpetual check.>)

Qh5+ 21.Kg3 dxe5 22.Qh1 Qg6+ 23.Kh2 Rad8 (<Or 23...Qg4 24.Ng1 Rad8 25.Qf3>) 24.Rg1 Qh5+ (<With perpetual check. A fair result in the end, I think. The final position:

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>) 1/2-1/2

I've made a habit of visiting Player's pages of some of the "old" masters from the old country. By this I still mean Yugoslavia, no matter the state doesn't exist any more. Or, who knows, maybe just for now.

I do it once a week, chronologically, starting with Dr.Vidmar and B.Kostic and ending with Ljubojevic. A.Planinc is one of them. About a dozen all in all.

So when I went through the process a couple of days ago, it finally occurred to me to check the Collections' page to see if there are any Planinc collections.

I was not really been familiar with his games, although I had known of his style and reputation, but not of many games.

It was a revelation indeed, and a real treat.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.O-O-O Nbd7 10.g4 h6 (<10...b5 is also possible: Opening Explorer and then 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 12.g5 Nd7 13.f5 with a dangerous attack. I've lost in that variation before and don't like it, so I tried something else, but even here I got in trouble.>)

11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.h4 Qb6

(<In retrospect I don't quite like this move, though it's the most common in this position and seems adequate: Opening Explorer . Another try may be 12...Qc5 with a similar idea (attacking the well posted d4 knight), but not hindering the b-pawn's advance. However, 13.Nb3 (13.Nde2!?) is with tempo, so maybe it's not really that different from 12...Qb6. The immediate 12...b5 isn't so good, because of 13.Bxb5!>)

13.Nb3 Nc5

(<13...Qc7!?, 13...Be7 has been tried in Hracek vs R Kempinski, 2007 and 13...g6 in F Espinoza vs A Agnelo, 2008 >) 14.Nxc5 Qxc5 (<Following R Robson vs A Adly, 2008 >)

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15.e5 (<! A very good move, clearing e4 for the knight's intrusion. White has a significant advantage here. This indicates the 13...Nc5 idea is bad.>)

dxe5 16.Ne4 Qc7 (<The best retreat. Rybka already gives a significant advantage to white here, +1.04 at 17 ply, recommending 17.Nd6 Kf8 18.Qa3! Kg8 19.Ne8 and Nxf6. 16...Qc6 isn't so good because of 17.Bg2!>)

17.Nd6+ Kf8 18.g5 e4 (<An important in-between move, giving back the pawn. Black mustn't allow fxe5, strenghtening the knight's position.>) 19.Qxe4 (<In the above game, Robson played 19.Nxe4 and got a winning attack, but couldn't convert. But this recapture is also good.>) Be7 20.Nc4 Rb8 (<20...Bd7!?>) 21.Ne5 b5 22.Qd4 Bb7 23.Nd7+ Kg8 24.Nxb8 Bxh1

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25.Nd7 (<?? A tragic mistake by white who played nearly flawlessly so far. The simple 25.Nxa6 should mop up.>)

Bd5 (<! Suddenly the tables have turned. Rybka scores it as +0.96 in black's favor at 15 ply. 25...hxg5 first was also possible.>)

26.Ne5 hxg5 27.hxg5 Rh2 (< I should note that I didn't feel I actually had an advantage here. I was hoping for 28.Rd2 Rh1 29.Rd1 Rh2 etc. here.>)

28.Bd3 (<As so often happens, mistakes don't come alone. 28.Rd2 is best here and after that I'd surely have gone for the repetition. However, 28...Rxd2 is even better. 29.Kxd2 (29.Qxd2 Bxg5) Qa5 and the a pawn will fall.>)

Bc5 (<Suddenly black is winning and white resigned here. An undeserved defeat, but sometimes it happens, I feel sorry for crawfb5, I've experienced such scenarios many times myself, especially OTB. This time I was lucky for a change.

The final position:

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Here, 29.Qc3 Be3 30.Kb1 Qxc3 and Bxf4 gives black a winning position.>)

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 (<A very common variation in the Caro-Kann.>) Ngf6 11.Bf4 Qa5+ (<11...e6 is also popular.>) 12.Bd2 Qa4 (<!? An unusual move, 12...Qc7 is more common: Opening Explorer >)

13.a3 (<Following A Moskalenko vs I Popov, 2007 , other tries have been 13.Rh4, 13.O-O, 13.b3 (Curt Hansen vs S Pedersen, 2005) and 13.Qb3 (H Glauser vs Z Medvegy, 2004)>) e6 14.b3 Qb5 15.c4 Qb6 (<Deviating from A Moskalenko vs I Popov, 2007, where 15...Qa6 was played.>)

16.O-O Qc7 17.c5 (<Preventing Bd6, but at the same time giving the d5-square for the black knight>) Nd5 18.Ne4 (<Pretty much resigning myself to the loss of the h5-pawn.>) N7f6 19.Nxf6+ Nxf6 20.b4 (<My only chance here was some kind of queenside play.>) Be7 21.b5 O-O 22.a4 Rad8 (<Threatening Bxc5.>) 23.Rfc1 (<Preventing the aforementioned threat.>) Rd5 24.a5 Nxh5 (<24...e5! was stronger (25.Nxe5 Qxe5!).

However, after the text move white gets a chance.>) 25.b6 axb6

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26.axb6 (<?! Gaining control of the a-file, but 26.cxb6 was better. After 26...Qd8 27.Rcb1 white is already threatening to play a5-a6.>)

Qd7 27.Qe4 (<27.Qe2 right away might be better.>) Nf6 28.Qe2 Nh7 29.Ne5 Qc8 30.Bc3 Bf6 31.f4 Bxe5 32.fxe5 Qd8 33.Ra7 Rd7 34.Rca1 Qe7 35.R1a4 Rfd8 36.Ra8 Rxa8 37.Rxa8+ Rd8 38.Ra7 Rb8 39.Qa6

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Nf8 (<Of course 39...bxa6 is out of the question.>) 40.Qa4 (<Threatening Qxc6.>) Qg5 (<! Black's winning chances lie in attacking the white king.>) 41.Ba1 Ng6 42.Ra8 Qc1+ 43.Kh2 Qf4+ 44.Kg1 Qe3+ 45.Kh2 Qf4+

(< The final position:

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Black's choice of going for the perpetual check is understandable, as after 45...Rxa8! 46.Qxa8 Kh7 47.Qxb7 the following position arises

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I suspect black saw this and didn't like it. But here, after 47...Qf4 48.Kh2 Qxa1! 49.Qd7 Qe1! 50.b7 Nf4 black is winning, since after 51.b8=Q Ne2!

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black has a mating attack.

Again, I swindled crawfb5, instead of 0/2 I got 1.5/2. What can I say, sometimes Lady Luck smiles upon us.>

1/2-1/2

I'll

"Send an instant karma to you...

In the loss, I was just about to play 26 Nxa6 when I suddenly let myself be frightened by 26...Qa5. Maybe I was seeing ghosts behind trees that weren't there, I don't know. I haven't tried to look at it. As far as the unfortunate Bishop move, well, that's a blitz-type move you make when you think you've already spoiled your position and you don't adequately check for your opponent's threats...

In the draw, after the penultimate diagram, I think you've left out a couple of plies (48. Kh1 Qc1), otherwise the moves you propose are not legal. I had seen the position after 47. Qxb7 and did not like it, but I did not like it because I thought after Qxc6 (instead of Qd7) White would be able to bring the Queen back to the Kingside and I'd no longer be able to build a mating net.