Grob Chess Club

Annotations by Gerald Roberts

This game was played between myself and a man named Tom Smith, who has been playing the game for over half a century. Thus, while his calculating abilities may not be up to par with a younger mind, his intuitive feel for the game gives him an advantage at certain stages of the game. It just so happened that this was played in the last round of the 2007 Elkhart County Club Championships. I was in first place before the game started with 5/5, but Tom was right behind with 4.5/5. Thus, I needed at least a draw to clinch the first prize. Before this game, I had never beaten Tom in a tournament game, but had managed a draw once. This game proves very instructional not only for the tactical ideas, but because it shows that while brute calculation is necessary at times, sometimes it is more fun to display a great intuitve feel for the game against an opponent who supposedly knows the ropes better than you do.

Caro-Kann (B12)
Gerald Roberts (1345)
Tom Smith (1500)

1. e4 c6
2. d4 d5
This opening, known as the Caro-Kann Defense, is known round the chess circles as being very drawish. I want a win, of course, so this upsets me.

3. Nd2 e6
Here, Tom transposes into what I expected him to play, a French defense. However, I don't think Tom has ever read a book on the French and doesn't know the correct structures, as you will soon see.

4. e5! Ne7 (see diagram)
Okay, my move wasn't that great, but here I considered some very important ideas. The problem with the Advanced variation of the French Defense (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5) is that white ends up being a tempo down for awhile because he's invested time moving the same pawn twice. In this position, however, I can waste a tempo playing e5 because black's typical freeing maneuver in this position, a quick ...c5, involves him moving a pawn that has already been moved. Thus, if he were to play a correct c5 later on to break up my powerful center, white would be better than he normally would in the advanced French because I've already moved one of my knights out to a post where it can later have more control of d4.

5. Ndf3 g6?
Here, he intends to fianchetto the bishop, which I believe is a mistake. His dark squared bishop is definitely supposed to be a strong piece in the French and Caro-Kann, and by fianchettoing it, he kills its power for a long time to come. Better would have been c5, but black is already losing a little bit because, as aforementioned, he is a tempo down.

6. Ne2 Bg7
7. Ng3 Nd7
8. Be3 Nb6?
Better for black here was ...Qb6, counterattacking the b2 pawn. The knight maneuver steals the best square for the queen in these kind of structures and puts the knight far away from the action that is about to ensue on the kingside.

9. Qd2 0-0? (see diagram)
My moves up to this point were mostly intuitive, but here I decided to take a few minutes of time. It is very important after the opening to take stock in the position and find a useful plan. Here, I created a very simple one. First, I will trade off the dark squared bishops. Then, I will open up the h-file so my rook can get in on the action. Soon thereafter, a mate might be in the works. Suprisingly, this plan didn't take very long to come up with because the structure of the pieces reminded me of a Sicilian Dragon, particularly the Yugoslav attack. Bobby Fischer once said to beat the dragon, it was as simple as prying open the h-file, and then "sac, sac, mate". It's strange, the game started as a Caro-Kann, transposed to a French, and now has the makings of a Sicilian Dragon.

10. Bh6! Nc4?
Perhaps classified as a blunder, black's move does eliminate my good bishop, but at the price of weakening his pawn structure.

11. Bxc4 dxc4
12. Bxg7 Kxg7
The first part of my plan is complete. Next, I will bring my rook into the attack.

13. h4! h5 (see diagram)
Black's plan here is simple, he wants to prevent my plan. However, it is important to note here that white has 4 pieces in the vicinity of black's king, while black only has 2 to defend (the knight and rook). If I give Tom the chance, he will close the position up as much as possible and try to create a drawn situation. While that would give me first place in the tournament, I have a winning position here and I know it. Thus, after taking that all into consideration, I play without calculating anything---

14. Nxh5!!
Objectively, this is not the best move on the board. However, I believe the best moves are those that cause your opponent the most trouble. Chess is a game where you and your opponent create problems for eachother to solve and if you can't solve them, it's game over. Fritz liked 14. Qg5 best here, but it does concludes that my knight sac is sound and says that white is better even if black accepts the knight.

14...Kg8
Black's best try here was to accept the knight. A likely continuation may have been ...gxh5 15. Qg5+ Ng6 16. Qxh5 Rh8 17. Qg4 Rg6 18. 0-0-0 f5 19. f6 Qxf6 when white will get three pawns for his sacrificed piece and still be on the attack. Instead, black spent about twenty minutes here, most likely scaring himself out of taking the knight after seeing things like ...gxh5 15. Qg5+ Kh8 16. Qxh5+ Kg8 17. Ng5 with mate to follow.

15. Nf6+ Kg7
Otherwise, it's mate in one after Qh6#.

16. h5 Rh8
I continue with my original plan to open up the h-file and bring my rook into the attack.

17. h6+ Kf8
18. h7 Nf5
Again, I threatened mate at h6.

19. g4 Ng7 (see diagram)
My pawn move may have looked a bit silly and like it weakened my kingside, but it is a very logical move. I don't plan to ever castle kingside here, since my rook is doing such a nice job where it is. Later, if I castle queenside, my pawn on g4 will be more like a battering ram if I can play, for instance Rdg8. Here, I thought a mate or an extremely powerful move must be in the position, but I could'nt find anything. Thus, I decided the best I could do would be to take stock and trade down to a favorable endgame.

20. Qb4+ Qe7
21. Qxc4 Ne8
Trying to get rid of my superb f6 knight.

22. Ng8! Qd8 (diagram)
I was very amused by this position. Aside from being two pawns down, black here is completely immobile. All of his pieces are committed to the back rank while all of mine are on the verge of invading.

23. Qc5+ Kg7
24. Qe7 Qxe7
25. Nxe7 Rxh7
26. Rxh7+ Kxh7
27. Nxc8 Rxc8
28. Ng5+ Kg7
29. 0-0-0 Nc7
30. Rh1
Now, what has happened in these last seven moves? Well, most importantly, we have now reached an endgame. And while I am still a pawn up, I must be careful here. If black can manage to trade the knights and a few pawns, my extra pawn might not be enough to win the game. However, I have more going for me in this position than just my extra pawn. Even though I've traded everything off, I'm still on the attack, and if black doesn't do something, I am threatening to win his f7 pawn with two moves, Rh7+ and Rxf7.

30...Rh8??
And now black is finished. Aside from dropping his pawn at f7 anyways, black has now conceded two extra pawns to me in an endgame where he has almost no chances of drawing. A better move here would have been the simple Rf8, but then of course, black is horribly passive.

31. Rxh8 Kxh8
32. Nxf7+ Kg7
33. Nd6 b5
34. g5! Kf8
My pawn move was nothing spectacular, but it closed the position on the kingside, where his king placement may have been able to generate some counterplay against my weak pawns. Now, black is forced to move queenside while I continue to dominate.

35. b3 a6
My plan now is to shut down black's knight by taking away all of his possible outposts, an idea first explored by former world champion Wilhelm Steinitz.

36. c4! Ke7
Notice how confined the black knight is here. Also, it is worth noting that black had to play a6 before Ke7 because otherwise Nc8+ would've netted a third pawn.

37. a4 bxa4 (see diagram)
Now, I could take back with the pawn and win this game in another 30-40 moves, but I felt that there must be something better. Upon inspection, I found my next move, which I didn't really analyze, but I knew that it must be good. That's the greatest part about becoming a better chess player: knowing the good moves without even trying.

38. b4!! Kd7
The difference now is that I still have only one pawn island compared to if I took back with the a-pawn.

39. Kb2 Na8
40. Ka3 Nb6
41. c5 Nd5
42. Kxa4 Nc3+
43. Ka5 Nd5
Now, if i take the pawn at a6, I'm still winning, but then he takes one of my pawns with check, something I'm not fond of. The key to winning these types of games is never settling for the second best move. As the old chess adage goes, "when you find a good move, find a better one".

44. Ne4 Ke7
I was threatening to force the trade of knights and effectively end the game.

45. Nf6! Nc7
46. Kb6 Nb5
There's no hope for black here.

47.Kxc6! Nxd4+
Here, I made my final calculations and knew that victory was no further than ten moves away.

48. Kb7 Nc2
49. c6!! 1-0
And there is no stopping the pawn. From this position, it is mate in 6. While I don't think Tom saw that far ahead, he did realize that I would queen way before he would on the a-file. Thus, here he resigned. With this victory, I clinched first prize and a 150 point rating increase. Aside from that, this brought my rated games winning streak to ten straight games.

The key difference between this game and some of my other games is that I never, not for one move, let my advantage slip away. Then, through clever tactics and great intuitive skill that can only be obtained with much experience, I crushed an opponent who was both higher rated and had much more experience than me.

after 4. e5!

after 9...0-0?

after 13...h5

after 22...Qd8

after 19...Ng7

after 30. Rh1

after 37...bxa4

FINAL POSITION
after 49. c6!!