FM Ben Dean-Kawamura Annotates!

[Event "Marchand Open"][Site "Rochester"][Date "2016.03.18"][Round "4"][White "Ben Dean-Kawamura"][Black "Bryan Smith"][Result "1-0"][EventDate "2016.03.18"]{Going into this game, I couldn't help but think back to my final game of the 2014 Marchand. That tournament was probably my best chess performance and it ended with my first victory against a GM. The story of that game was: 1) I played questionable, but playable, opening. 2) Followed it with some nice active play. 3) I was able to capitalize on a mistake by my opponent and get a winning position. 4) Immediately after, I threw away most/all of my advantage trying to reach a "safe" position. 5) However, my opponent needed a win, and decided to play extremely risky rather than accept a draw. 6) I was able to make my way out of it and walked away with the win. Would lightning strike twice this Marchand? As Barry Davis puts it, probably but the question was: who would be struck?} 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.O-O-O Bd7 9.Bxf6?! {(D) Step one complete! This is definitely a questionable choice. I wasn't very comfortable playing this line against GM Smith, who I've always thought of as a Sicilian aficionado. I simply forgot to play f4 first before capturing. Black can capture with the g-pawn and get a normal position, but my opponent goes for more. For an example of how to play this position correctly, check out the fantastic Karjakin-Caruana game in the final round of the candidates tournament.} 9...Qxf6 10.Nxc6 Bxc6 11.f4 Qd8 {Black gets out of the way of any kingside pawn advances.} 12.Kb1 {I thought a lot about playing this like a Sozin with some combination of Bc4, f5, Qe1, etc. However, I couldn't find a clear way to get that to work and I didn't like giving him b5 with tempo. So instead, I decide to play solidly.}12...Be7 13.Bd3 b5 [{After O-O, I thought a pawn storm on the king side could be threatening, and apparently GM Smith did too. However, after some analysis, this seems like Black's best option. White's pawns reach black's side faster, but the missing dark squared bishop really hurts the attack. For example:} ( 13...O-O 14.g4 b5 15.h4 Qb6 16.h5 b4 17.Ne2 a5 18.g5 d5 19.e5 Bc5 20.Rh3 a4 =+ )] 14.f5 Bf6 {The start of a questionable plan. O-O was still possible and probably best.} 15.fxe6 fxe6 16.Be2 Be5  {The logical follow-up to Bf6, but Black now has problems on the f-file. Stockfish recommends the tricky Rc8.} 17.Bg4 Qe7 18.Rhf1  {Step 2: Active play. If black can consolidate he would have a great position, but in the meantime he has to deal with his king position and also some issues on the light squares.} 18...Rb8  [{the computer preferred h5 to prevent my next sequence of moves. This would result in a pretty insane position. As in the game Black's king gets stuck in the center, but in this line he gets much more activity.} ( 18...h5!? 19.Bh3 g5!? 20.g3 )] 19.Qe3 Bf6 20.Qh3 Bd7 21.e5!?  {After this sacrifice, White gets to keep black's king in the center and activate all his pieces. The computer prefers Ne2-f4, which seems to win the e6 pawn. Maybe that's objectively better, but I'm happy I was able to play actively and put pressure on my opponent. Step 3 complete.} 21...Bxe5 22.Ne4 Rb6?  [( 22...g6 {black needs to prevent the check on h5. After g6 the position seems completely unclear. Some sample variations:} 23.Rfe1 ( 23.Qe3 Rc8 24.Ng5 Rf8 25.Rxf8+ Qxf8 26.Bxe6 Bxe6 27.Nxe6 Qf7 28.Nd4 Qc4 ) 23...Rb6 24.Nc5 dxc5 25.Rxe5 )] 23.Nc5! {This flashy move secures an advantage.} 23...dxc5 24.Qh5+ Kd8 25.Rf7 Bd6  ( 25...g6 26.Rxd7+ +- ) 26.Rxe7 Bxe7  {Some sharp play has netted me a winning advantage. Time to move to step 4: giving it back.} 27.Qe5 Rf8 28.Bxe6?  {Completely missing my opponent's resource. There were many ways to win, a4 might be the cleanest.} 28...Rd6 29.Bg4? [{Just like in my 2014 game, I try to play "safe." However, it was much better to keep the tension.} ( 29.Kc1 Rxd1+ 30.Kxd1 Bxe6 31.Qxe6) {white should win easily thanks to the queen on a wide open board. I didn't play this because of a fear of some back rank attack, maybe associated with Bg5+. But that was simply impossible.}] 29...Rxd1+ 30.Bxd1 Rf1 {Passive play has allowed black to develop some real attacking chances. White is still winning and if you check with an engine it seems quite simple. But it felt much different for me in the game and I wasn't able to find a clean path to victory.} 31.Qe2 Rh1 32.a3 Be8 33.Qd2+ Kc7 34.Ka2 Bf7+ 35.b3 Bf6 36.c3 Be6 {So far so good. White's king is a bit shaky, but I should have been able to develop play of my own.} 37.Qf4+?  [( 37.Bf3! {followed by a couple accurate moves would have put the game away} 37...Bd7  ( 37...a5 38.Qf2 Kd6 39.g3 ) 38.Qd5 Re1 39.Qb7+ Kd8 40.Qb6+ Ke8 41.Qxc5 )] 37...Kd7 38.Bg4?  [{I felt the thread of the game slipping, so I more-or-less made a draw offer with this move. I wasn't happy that I gave up a win, but at least I would walk away with a good tournament result and some rating points. However, I could and should have forced an advantage with the cold-blooded:} ( 38.Qf3 Kd6 39.Be2 Bd5 40.Qe3 Be5 41.Bf3 )] 38...Bxg4  [{And we move on to step 5. This is objectively losing, but my opponent decided he had to go for it because a draw netted no prize money.} ( 38...Bxc3 {and white needs to force a perpetual to avoid mate} 39.Qf7+ Kd8 40.Qf8+ Kd7 41.Qf7+ = )] 39.Qxg4+ Ke7 40.Qg3 Kf7 41.Qc7+ Kg6 42.Qxc5 Rxh2 43.Qc6 Rh1 44.a4 bxa4 45.bxa4 Rc1 46.Qe4+ Kh6 47.Qe3+ Bg5 48.Qh3+ {At this point, I think I had about 3 minutes to my opponent's 2 and stopped keeping score. Fortunately, my position was not only objectively winning, it was also much easier to play. Black has many more issues to worry about than white here. I played with decent technique, slowly getting ready to win a pawn race, then was able to sneak in a fork against his king and rook to secure the game. All-in-all, I'm pretty happy with my play. It's always nice to be able to put pressure on a strong opponent and I feel good about my middlegame play in that regard. However, it seems I still haven't learned the lesson I should have taken away from the last Marchand: if you're lucky enough to have a winning position against a strong opponent, don't let up! I think I wanted to achieve an easy/obvious win without calculating, but that was absolutely the wrong mindset. Still, it was a very nice end to a great tournament. Thanks to everyone who helped make it great: Ron, Ken, Dave, and everyone else involved. 1-0} 1-0