South Carolina Championships, 2006
Round 2 [McCartney,P]
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3/27/2008 - This week's game comes from a miniature in the 2nd round of the 2006 South
Carolina State Championship against Patrick Harley where it may appear as though Black fell into an opening
trap, but rather, it's what he did afterwards that cost him the game. 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nxe4 Nd7 4.Bc4 Ngf6!? 5.Bxf7+ Initial instict would say that Black just blundered, but in reality, he's still very well in the game. 5...Kxf7 6.Ng5+ Kg8 Forced as 6. Kg6? 7.N1f3! is very strong for White. For example, after 7...e5 8.Nh4+! Kxg5 9.d3+ Kxh4 10.h3, mate follows. 7.Ne6 Qe8 8.Nxc7 Qg6 9.Nxa8 Now we have the key, critical position in the game. 9...Qxg2  The
move mo st likely to be made in this position, but actually, it's not Black's best. Better is 9...b5!
with the following possibilities: A) 10.Nc7? Qxg2 11.Qf3 Bb7 -+ B) 10.Qe2 Bb7 11.Nf3 Bxa8 12.d3 e5 is
favorable for Black. C) 10.Qf3 Nc5 11. d4 Bb7 12.Qe2 Qxg2 13.dxc5 h6 is good for Black, but 12.Qg3!?
is interesting and unclear. The Queen on g3, Queen on g6, Rook on h1, Knight on c5, and Knight on a8
are all likely to be removed from the board in the near future, but it's not clear where Black should
start as 12...Bxg2, 12...Bxa8, 12...Qxg3, and 12...Ne6 are all viable options. D) 10.f3 is interesting.
The idea is to anger 10...Qxg2 with 11.Qe2 and the mating idea Qe6#. That said, the position becomes
highly unclear after 10...Nd5 11.Qe2 Nf4 12.Qxb5 Qxg2 13. Qc4+ e6 14. Qxf4 Qxh1. E) 10.Nf3!? Bb7 11.O-O
Bxa8 12.d3 is interesting, and White may have the slightest of an edge.10.Qf3 Qg6?? The losing . Better is 10...Qxf3 11.Nxf3 Ne8! 12.a4! b6 13.a5 Bb7 14.Ke2 Bxa8 15.axb6 Bxf3+ 16.Kxf3 axb6 17.Re1 Kf7 18.Ra7 Nef6 19.d3 and now, instead of 19...e5?, as in Herms - Iraeta, Bellvitge 1998, Black should play 19...e6! where 20.Be3 Be7 21.Rb7 Rc8 22.Re2 Rc6 and 20.Bg5 Be7 21.Bxf6 Nxf6 22.Rb7 Rc8! both lead to tense positions. After the move played in the game, White's winning. 11.Qb3+ Qf7 12.Nc7 Nb6 13.Qxf7+ Kxf7 14.Nf3 a6 The only purpose I can see for this move is to try to trap the Knight. However, if White wanted to get the Knight out of the enemy camp, he would have played 14.Nb5 previously. The purpose for the move 12.Nc7 was to attempt to keep the King from escaping to the Queenside by controlling the e8 and e6 squares. 15.Ng5+ Kg6 16.Rg1 Kf5 17.Nf7 Black now has two options. Give up the rook, or be mated. 17...Rg8 Black decided to go with the latter. 18.Rg5+ Ke4 Or 18...Kf4 19.d3+ Kf3 20.Rg3 is mate. 19.d3+ 19...Kd4 20.Be3 is mate. 1-0 |