North Carolina Open, 2004
Round 4 [McCartney,P]
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04/24/2008 - This week's game comes from the 4th round of the 2004 North Carolina Open
where a breakthrough sacrifice by White wins in what puts the nail in the coffin of what looks like a
static, positional advantage for White. 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 Nbd7 Considered the "main line" in response to the Veresov Attack. Black's other well-known possibilities include the agressive 3...c5 (which has been giving White headaches as of late and may actually be Black's best move), 3...Bf5, 3...c6, and 3...e6 (which will usually transpose to the French Defense). 4.e3 The Veresov has often been viewed as not being very good because of statistics. However, the reason for the low numbers for White isn't because the Veresov is unsound. The reason is because of the approach White players have taken in the past. The most popular responses are by far 4.f3, in which 4...c5 has given White nothing but problems. The game is full of wild tactics, and is therefore often viewed as "more fun to play" than other lines. However, theory favors Black here. The other popular response is the more positional 4.Nf3, but that gives Black an equal game in just about all cases. Instead, White has better ways to treat the opening than what was always played in the past. He can try 4.Qd2, which isn't for the faint-hearted, and should only be played by those who aren't afraid to sacrifice material. The other option is the move played in the game, entering calmer waters (at least temporarily), and White often follows up with an f4 push in the near future, where the game takes on a Stonewall-like position with White's bad bishop outside the chain. It has the advantage of White ridding himself of his bad bishop, but also the disadvantage that e3 is even weaker than it is in the stonewall attack, and White must try at all costs to keep Black from opening the e-file. 4...h6 Probably not Black's best. More normal are 4...c6 or 4...g6. The problem with 4...h6 is that with f4 coming by White, it will make f5 easier to achieve, as pushing ...g6 now makes the Kingside weak. If Black opts to push ...f5 before White gets the pawn move in, the Kingside, and especially the light squares on the g- and h-files, will be very weak. 5.Bh4 c6 6.f4 g6 So Black ends up playing ...g6 anyway. 7.Bd3 White immediately starts his initial plan of eying the weakened g6-square. 7...Bg7 8.Nf3 Nb6 9.Qe2 Bf5 Black decides to compromise his pawn structure in order to attempt to keep a stranglehold on the light squares, and prevent an e4 push. 10.Bxf5 gxf5 At initial glance, it looks as though Black's biggest problem is the hole on e5. However, it's not the hole on e5 that Black has to worry about. It's the light squares that a knight sitting there would control. Seeing that White is still after an attack on the light squares, his next move makes perfect sense. 11.Bxf6 White trades off his worst piece, the only piece on the board that can never contribute to the light squares directly, and eliminates Black's main defender of the light squares on the Kingside. This concept is covered heavily in the book "Bishop vs Knight, The Verdict". It's a concept known as "Changing the Color of the Bishop", where in this case, the dark-squared bishop has influenced the light squares. 11...Bxf6 12.Ne5 h5 This advance prevents Qh5 ideas by White, but it now becomes a long-term weakness, and an additional thing that Black has to keep covered at all times. 13.g3 Bxe5 14.fxe5 The correct way to recapture. White can use the f4 and h4 squares to invade the kingside when and if the time is right. Taking with the d-pawn simply allows Black to penetrate quicker on the queenside. 14...e6 15. 16...Nc4 17.Nd1 Qb4 This is very premature. The 2 pieces are not enough to bother White, and Black should be completing his development instead. White is better as it is, but Black needs to either play 17...O-O-O, or else attack the center at once with 17...c5. 18.c3 Qa5 19.Kb1 b5 20.Ka1 Qd8 So the Queen now retreats to where it started. What has Black achieved here? Not much. White, on the other hand, has gotten his King to safety, and his a1 rook now sits on the Kingside where he intends to attack. 21.Rf4 Qg5 22.Rhf1 Ke7 23.Nf2 This move has multiple purposes to it. White can set up an attack on the weak h5 pawn with Nh3, Rh4, and Nf4. However, Black's next move gives White an even better plan. 23...Rh7 24.e4! With the rook on h7, White is able to execute this sacrifice in order to rip open the center due to an upcoming fork of the h7-rook and c6-pawn. Black is in serious trouble. 24...dxe4 25.Nxe4 fxe4 26.Qxe4 Qg6?  Black's
only legitimate attempt is to play 26.. .Qg8 so that after 27.Qc6, Black can at least attempt to eliminate
the attack on his King with moves like 27...Qe8 .27.Qxc6 Rd8 28.Qc5+ This move forces the win of the knight as any king move here allows Black to take on b5 with check and fork the king and knight. 28...Nd6 29.Qc7+ Another finesse move to make it so that Black can't even think about recapturing the pawn with the rook when the knight is taken. 29...Rd7 30.exd6+ Ke8 31.Qc8+ Rd8 32.d7+ White is going to force Black to take the d-pawn with the king instead so that the b-pawn can be taken with tempo. 32...Ke7 33.Qc5+ Kxd7 34.Qxb5+ Ke7 35.Qc5+ White now nets the a-pawn. Black has had enough. 1-0 |