[Event "Mon"] [White "TJ Weaver"] [Black "Jamshed Ahmed"] [Site "RCC"] [Round "1"] [Annotator ""] [Result "1-0"] [Date "2021.05.24"] [WhiteElo "1917"] [BlackElo "1777"] [PlyCount "71"] [TimeControl "90"] 1. e4 {This was a relatively brief game I played against Jamshed, a frequent rival of mine who I've had mostly good results against} c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 {Jamshed usually plays openings that are less mainstream in my experience with him, stuff like the Philidor defense, so I was a bit surprised to see him play the Najdorf. Here I often play the English attack but I felt like playing something different.} 6. Bg5 {This is a mainline but I don't know as much about this move as I probably should to play the resulting positions accurately, in retrospect I should have just played Be3. In general in sharp Sicilians its not a good idea to play unfamiliar positions out of the opening.} e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 Nbd7 9. 0-0-0 Qc7 {So far the position is still quite standard} 10. Kb1 {My idea is to just get the king out of harms way, off of the c-file and the c1-h6 diagonal, before proceeding on the kingside or center. Perhaps proceeding more energetically with the immediate g4 might have been more accurate because I will almost always play g4 eventually but Kb1 may or may not be necessary. The difference probably isn't very significant though.} b5 11. f5 $6 {I spent a lot of time on this position because I was unfamiliar with the ideas i should be trying for here, I really wanted to exploit the hanging rook somehow with e5 and win tactically but I just couldn't make it work out. Eventually I settled on this f5 move, the idea is to compel black to play e5 (because I am threatening to take the pawn on e6 and open the center) removing a defender of the e5 square, but after e5 my pawn on e4 becomes very weak because it can never advance and black can attack it with Bb7 and Nc5. Black also has the option of Ne5. As a result this f5 move probably isn't that great, just g4 preparing to attack the kingside might be better.} (11. Bxf6 {I really wanted to make this idea work, my thinking was this} Bxf6 (11... gxf6 {This is just good for white as the black king is stuck in the center and won't be safe on the kingside} )(11... Nxf6 {This was the problem move} 12. e5 Bb7 {Nxb5 no longer works because the bishop covers d6 so the Qxb7 Nxd6+ trick no longer works} 13. Qg3 dxe5 14. Qxg7 (14. fxe5 Nd7 {And the e5 pawn is very weak} )Rg8 {Loses a piece} )12. e5 Bb7 13. Ndxb5 axb5 14. Nxb5 Qb8 (14... Bxf3 15. Nxc7+ Kd8 16. exf6 Bxd1 17. Nxa8 {With a winning endgame} )15. Qxb7 Qxb7 16. Nxd6+ )e5 12. Nb3 Bb7 13. g4 0-0-0 $6 {The Black king doesn't belong on the queenside where it has no pawn cover by any stretch of the imagination. After this Jamshed's position deteriorates very quickly. He ought to have simply continued attacking on the queenside with something like b4 and eventually castled kingside. Even left in the center the black king would be better than where it is now because at least in the center there aren't as many open lines toward the king. In my experience Black should almost never castle queenside in the sicilian.} 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 $2 {This allows a tactical shot because the Bishop on f6 no longer protects the imporant d6 pawn.} 15. Bxb5 $1 {I was very pleased with myself to find this strong sacrifice, now Blacks position is probably already lost, down a pawn and with a very vulnerable king.} Nb6 {This loses, but so does taking the bishop and so does any other move} (15... axb5 16. Nxb5 Qb6 17. Nxd6+ Kb8 18. Nxf7 {It's good enough to just win material} Rhf8 19. Nxd8 Rxd8 {White now has four pawns and a rook for two pieces, this is completely lost for Black.} )16. Be2 Rhe8 17. Qf1 d5 18. Bxa6 Bxa6 19. Qxa6+ Qb7 20. Qxb7+ Kxb7 21. Nxd5 Nxd5 22. Rxd5 Rxd5 23. exd5 {Even though Jamshed didn't resign here, the game is basically over.} e4 24. Re1 e3 25. c3 Kb6 26. Kc2 Bh4 27. Re2 Bg5 28. Kd3 Kc7 29. Nc5 Bf4 30. b4 Kd6 31. c4 Rb8 32. Na6 Re8 33. c5+ Ke5 34. b5 Bg5 35. b6 Ra8 36. b7 1-0