Mabe, Chris (2130) - McCartney, Patrick (1989)
NC Open, 2006
Round 2 [McCartney,P]

04/17/2008 - This week's game comes from the 2nd round of the 2006 NC Open against Chris Mabe. Mabe decides to try to play safe in the beginning by playing a very passive move at move 5, but Black defends well, and takes what looks like a kingside attack for White, and turns it into a kingside attack for himself. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 I would neve r condone such a move for White. In effect, White is admitting to defeat, and Black should have very few problems equalizing. Better is 5.O-O, after which Black has a choice. He can play the Open Ruy Lopez with 5...Nxe4, after which best play typically results in a slightly better endgame for White. Another option is to play 5...Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3, after which Black has another decision to make. He can play 7...O-O intending to play the Marshall Gambit with 8...d5 in response to 8.c3. However, with many White players not caring to deal with such dangerous lines for a mere pawn, various lines of the Anti-Marshall are very popular. The third option is to play the main lines of the Closed Ruy with 7...d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3, after which Black has many options, in which at the time this game was played, my personal favorite was 9...Nb8, known as the Breyer Variation, which typically is a slower, but safer line than some of the others. Black will have to defend a cramped position for a long time, but survival also often leads to victory in that line. Back to 5. d3. 5...Be7 6.c3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.Nbd2 O-O 9.Nf1 White may be better off castling or playing 9.h3 here, avoiding 9...Bg4, since in the normal lines, White either avoids this possibility, or else counters it with an immediate blow to the center with 9.d4, but with 5.d3 already played, d4 is now a waste of a tempo. 9...Na5 While 9...Bg4 may also be ok, this move virtually removes all pressure off of f7. 10.Bc2 c5 11.Ng3 Nc6 12.O-O Re8 13.d4 Bg4 Let's now compare this to the main lines of the Ruy Lopez. In return for taking 2 moves to play d4, and not playing h3 and allowing Black's bishop to pin the f3-knight, white has gotten his queenside knight to g3. Black should be very happy about this tradeoff, and has already equalized. 14.d5 Nb8 15.h3 Bxf3 Black should also consider preserving the bishop with 15...Bd7 or 15...Bc8, which are probably slightly better than trading off. 16.Qxf3 g6 17.Bd2 Nbd7 18.b3 Bf8 19.Ne2 Better is 19.a4 Qb6 20.axb5 axb5 21.b4 Bg7 22.Be3 with perhaps a slight pull for White. 19...Bg7 Black should consider 19...Nb6 as then he can answer 20.a4 with 20...bxa4 without having to worry about a fixed weakness on b5 via a trade on b5, or a weak a6 pawn on an open file via White recapturing on a4 with the rook if Black were to take himself on a4. 20.a4 Qc7 21.g4 c4 22.b4 Rf8 23.Ng3 Kh8 24.h4 a5 25.h5 Better is 25.axb5 axb4 26.cxb4 Qb7 27.Rfc1 Rxa1 28.Rxa1 with an advantage to White. 25...Kg8 26.g5 Nxh5 27.Nxh5 gxh5 28.Qxh5 Again, 28.axb5 with a similar idea as before would at least preserve some advantage for White. 28...axb4 29.cxb4 c3 30.Be3 Qc4 31.Kg2 Rfb8 32.a5 Qxb4 33.Rh1 Nf8 34.a6 Qc4 35.a7 Rb7 The last few moves has lead to a drastic change of events. At first, it looked as though White had an advantage by penetrating on the queenside. Now, instead, after White tried to attack Black's King and failed miserably, and then advanced his a-pawn to a7 where it sits as a weak pawn and nothing else, Black is the one that is about to penetrate. 36.Ra6 b4 37.Rc6 Qb5 38.Rb1 f5 39.gxf6 Bxf6 40.Rxc3?! White should instead play 40.Rxd6, holding the balance. 40...Rg7+?! Black answers back with an error of his own. The position is better for Black after 40...bxc3! 41.Rxb5 Rxb5 42.Qh6 Ng6 41.Kf3? 41.Kh1 regains the advantage for White. Now Black's winning. 41...Ng6!! 42.Rcb3 White had to try 42.Rd3, but then 42...Qc4 43.Rc1 Bh4 44.Bb1 Rf7+ is still winning for Black. The move played loses immediately. 42...Nh4+ 43.Qxh4 Bxh4 44.Rxb4 Black now has a forced mate in 6. 44...Rf8+ 0-1