[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2000.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Santhosh Paul"] [Black "Mekki Samraoui"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C35"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "56"] [GameId "300941825444"] [EventDate "2000.??.??"] {Notes by Santhosh. An expanded version of the notes to this game was published in cc.com news at www.correspondencechess.com.} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 $5 {The opening choice calls for some comment. Why play the Kings Gambit ? Well, I wanted to avoid the heavily-analysed mainstream theory in the Ruy Lopez and the Petroff, where it seems to me that White does a lot of huffing and puffing with just a miniscule plus to show for his efforts. The KG is far from being on the cutting edge of opening theory today, which is a blessing in disguise: one can examine positions at leisure without being bombarded by a series of TN's from contemporary GM practice. At the same time, there is a kind of renewed interest in this opening today. GM's like Morozovech, Fedorov, Yuldashev, Grischuk etc. play it quite often.} exf4 3. Nf3 Be7 {The Cunningham Variation. Strangely, the Cunningham was my favourite defence to the KG during the days when I used to answer 1. e4 with 1. ..e5, based on a recommendation in an oldMCO} 4. Bc4 {The Bishop looks down the Italian diagonal, eyeing the soft spot f7: an ancient idea. 4. Nc3 is also possible} Nf6 5. e5 {Not 5. Nc3 ? Nxe4 !} Ng4 6. d4 {One of the behind the Gambit: White gets a central majority 6. 0-0 is also played} d5 7. Bb3 {A tough decision ! The regular line is 7. exd6, giving White an edge. The text is a rare, highly aggressive continuation. I first saw the text move in Fedorov-Soldatenkov Petrov Memorial 1996, 1-0, 38 moves. The idea ofmaintaining the d4-e5 wedge in the centre appealed to me, as also the idea of maintaining the tension in the centre} Bh4+ (7... Ne3 8. Bxe3 fxe3 9. O-O $14 {Fedorov-Soldatenkov Petrov Memorial 1996, 1-0, 38 moves}) 8. Kf1 b6 9. Qe2 $8 {As far as I can see, this paradoxical move that voluntarily aligns the Queen and King along the same diagonal as the enemy Bishop, is the only move. The 'c4' point} (9. Bxf4 $2 Ba6+ 10. c4 dxc4 11. Ba4+ b5 12. Nc3 bxa4 13. Qxa4+ c6 {0-1, 25 moves, Kramer-Euwe, Netherlands, 1941}) 9... a5 $1 {A finesse. The 'a6' Bishop is now protected by the 'a8' Rook, which becomes significant in some lines. Moroever, no loss of time is incurred, because of the threat of 10...a4, trapping the Bishoponb3} 10. a4 $6 {A reflex action. 10. a3 ! avoiding the hole on b4, looks correct. I thought the Queen Knight might want to emerge on a3, realising only later that 'c3' was the right square for it. I also considered here the wildly speculative 10.. .g3} Ba6 11. c4 {The centre is now in an interesting state of tension. Black cannot trade pawns, for that would mean giving up thecentre} Bg5 12. Nc3 c6 13. g3 {Time to evacuate the King to 'g2'} Ne3+ 14. Bxe3 fxe3 15. Ba2 {Essentiall y, a waiting move. I wanted to see how Black would proceed with his deployment.} O-O 16. Kg2 Bh6 17. Rhf1 Qe7 $1 18. Nh4 g6 19. Qg4 Kh8 20. cxd5 $5 {An exchange sacrifice to occupy the centre and take charge of the White squares.} Bxf1+ 21. Rxf1 Qb4 22. e6 (22. d6) 22... Qxb2+ $2 {My opponent confessed after the game that he was writing exams during this period and that this move was "too optimistic". He felt that maybe 22...Ra7 !? was winning. I think he is right. 23. Rxf7 Raxf7 24. exf7 Rxf7 25. dxc6 Rf2+ 26. Kh3 Nxc6 and here White can try 27. Nxg6+ or 27. Qc8+ or 27. Qe6, but Black seems to come out on top each time. It turns out that the Queen is ideally positioned on b4, covering e7 defensively and looking for an opportune moment to take on b2. Note that 10. a3 would have covered the'b4'square} 23. Kh3 Ra7 24. Qe4 $1 {I had thought 24. Rxf7 would give me a mating attack, but a deeper look revealed that Black's defences were adequate. The text move was the result of a new search!} f5 25. Qe5+ Rg7 26. e7 Re8 {INSERT DIAGRAM.} 27. Nxf5 $1 {Crashing through, though only for a draw !} (27. d6 $4 g5 $3 {idea 28. g4++ wins !}) 27... e2 28. Rb1 Qxc3 {The draw comes after: 29. Nxh6 Qf3 30. d6 Qf1+ 31. Kg4 Nd7 32. Qe6 Qd1 33. Nf7+ Rxf7 34. Qxf7 e1=Q+ 35. Rxd1 Qxd1+ with a perpetual. My opponent wrote afterwards that this was "the most interesting game of the tournament". Certainly, this was good, fighting chess !} 1/2-1/2 [Event "EM/M/A046"] [Site "ICCF Email"] [Date "1998.10.27"] [Round "?"] [White "Vigneron, Michel (FRA)"] [Black "Sergel, Christopher T"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D87"] [WhiteElo "2333"] [BlackElo "2126"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "98"] [GameId "2240180015497062"] [EventDate "1998.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Ne2 c5 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bxf7+ Rxf7 13. fxg4 Rxf1+ 14. Kxf1 Qd6 15. Kg1 Qe6 16. Qd3 cxd4 17. cxd4 Qxg4 18. Rf1 Rc8 19. h3 Qd7 20. d5 Nc4 21. Bd4 e5 22. dxe6 Qxe6 23. Bxa7 b6 24. Rc1 Be5 25. a4 Qd6 26. Qd5+ Kg7 27. Qxd6 Bxd6 28. Nd4 Kf6 29. Nf3 Bf4 30. Rc3 Ke7 31. g3 Bd6 32. Kh2 Rc5 33. Kg2 Kd7 34. Rd3 Kc6 35. Nd4+ Kb7 36. Nb5 Be5 37. Rd7+ Ka6 38. Rd8 Na5 39. Bb8 Nc6 40. Bxe5 Nxd8 41. Bh8 Ka5 42. Nc3 Rc6 43. Kf3 Kb4 44. Nd5+ Kxa4 45. Bc3 b5 46. Ke3 Ne6 47. Bb4 Ng5 48. h4 Nxe4 49. Kxe4 Rc4+ 0-1 [Event "WC23/EWC01-SF01"] [Site "ICCF Email"] [Date "1999.04.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Thomson, Thomas (SCO)"] [Black "Sergel, Christopher T"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D13"] [WhiteElo "2414"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "96"] [GameId "2240180014660715"] [EventDate "1999.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bf4 a6 7. Rc1 Bf5 8. e3 Rc8 9. Be2 e6 10. O-O Be7 11. Qb3 Qd7 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. Bxe5 O-O 14. Na4 Rxc1 15. Rxc1 Rc8 16. Rxc8+ Qxc8 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Nc5 Bxc5 19. Qc3 e5 20. dxc5 Qd7 21. b4 d4 22. exd4 exd4 23. Qd2 Qd5 24. Bf3 Qc4 25. h3 d3 26. Kf1 Qd4 27. Bd1 a5 28. g4 Be4 29. f3 Bd5 30. a3 a4 31. f4 Qa1 32. Qxd3 Bb3 33. Ke2 Bxd1+ 34. Qxd1 Qxa3 35. Qd8+ Kg7 36. g5 Qb2+ 37. Ke3 Qb3+ 38. Ke2 Qc4+ 39. Ke3 Qc3+ 40. Qd3 Qxb4 41. gxf6+ Kh6 42. Qf5 Qe1+ 43. Kd4 Qg3 44. Qg4 Qxg4 45. hxg4 Kg6 46. Kc4 Kxf6 47. Kb4 Ke6 48. Kxa4 f5 0-1 [Event "IECG C1.1999.0.00236"] [Site "IECG email"] [Date "2000.01.04"] [Round "?"] [White "Kharitonov, Aleksandr Alekseevi"] [Black "Tay, Junior"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B52"] [WhiteElo "2127"] [BlackElo "2194"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "78"] [GameId "2275702271825784"] [EventDate "2000.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 Nc6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nf6 8. Nc3 Qg4 9. Qxg4 Nxg4 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Bf4 Nf6 12. f3 Nd7 13. O-O-O g6 14. Kc2 Bg7 15. Be3 O-O-O 16. Rd2 Ne5 17. b3 c5 18. Rhd1 Nc6 19. Nd5 e6 20. Nc3 Nb4+ 21. Kb2 Nxa2 22. Kxa2 Bxc3 23. Rxd6 Bd4 24. Bf4 e5 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. Bc1 Rd6 27. Kb1 Ra6 28. Bb2 Kd7 29. g3 Ke7 30. Rd2 g5 31. Rd3 Rh6 32. Rd2 Rf6 33. Rd3 g4 34. fxg4 Rf2 35. Bxd4 exd4 36. b4 cxb4 37. h3 Kd6 38. Rxd4+ Kc5 39. Rd7 a6 0-1 [Event "cr"] [Site "?"] [Date "1999.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Denian, Valer Eugen"] [Black "McArthur"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Tarraco PC"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r4rk1/3qbpp1/1p2p2p/3pP3/1PbP1N2/4P2P/1R4P1/2RBQ1K1 w - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "37"] {[#]} 1. Bc2 Ra3 2. Bb1 Rfa8 3. Qg3 Qe8 4. h4 $5 Ra1 $6 5. Kh2 Qf8 6. Qf2 g6 7. h5 g5 8. Nh3 R1a4 9. Qc2 Qg7 10. Nf2 Bxb4 11. Ng4 b5 12. Qd1 Ba3 13. Rf2 Bxc1 14. Qxc1 R4a7 15. Rf6 $1 Be2 16. Nxh6+ Kh8 17. Kg3 $1 g4 18. Qe1 Bc4 19. Qf2 1-0