[Event "Brasschaat 2024"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2024.08.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Grochal, Joey"]
[Black "Sadkowsky, Daniel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D85"]
[WhiteElo "2251"]
[BlackElo "2204"]
[Annotator "Grochal,Joey"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[SourceVersionDate "2024.08.17"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2 {Another Grunfeld. All my
recent tries ended in draws in which i got absolutely nowhere. This time i
decide to repeat the line i played in KNSB first round this year. My opponent
had no games past 2019 and had never played this before. Turns out there were
some Belgian games that were online somewhere but not in megadatabase yet, so
i missed them.} Bg7 6. e4 Nxc3 7. Bxc3 O-O 8. h4 $5 {Modern chess. Again it
works wonders.} (8. Bc4 c5 9. Ne2 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Qc7 11. Qb3 Nc6 12. Nxc6 Bxc3+
13. Qxc3 Qxc6 14. O-O Be6 15. Bxe6 Qxe6 16. Qe3 b6 17. a4 Rfc8 18. Rfc1 {
1/2-1/2 (18) Grochal,J (2241)-Verhaeren,G (2060) KNSB 3F 2023-2024 2023 [JG (
Landau - Goes 3 - 5 )]}) (8. Qd2 c5 9. d5 e6 10. Bc4 exd5 11. Bxd5 Nd7 12. Bxg7
Kxg7 13. Ne2 Nb6 14. Nc3 Be6 15. O-O-O Qf6 {1/2-1/2 (44) Tomashevsky,E (2701)
-Kasimdzhanov,R (2706) Baku 2014}) 8... c5 9. d5 Bxc3+ 10. bxc3 e6 11. d6 e5 (
11... Qf6 12. Qd2 Nc6 13. h5 Rd8 14. Rd1 e5 15. hxg6 hxg6 16. Nf3 Bg4 17. Qh6
Rab8 18. Bc4 Rd7 19. Rd3 b5 20. Bd5 Nd8 21. Ng5 b4 22. c4 Rxd6 23. Rg3 b3 24.
axb3 Ra6 25. O-O Be6 26. Rf3 Qg7 27. Qxg7+ Kxg7 28. Bxe6 fxe6 29. Rd1 Kh6 30.
Rxd8 {1-0 (30) Shirov,A (2702)-Maletin,P (2582) Loo 2014 CBM 160 [Schulz,Andre]
}) 12. h5 Qf6 $2 (12... g5 $142 $1 13. h6 Be6 14. Qd2 Nd7 15. Ne2 f6 16. Ng3 c4
{might be smarter.}) 13. Qd2 Rd8 14. hxg6 hxg6 15. Qh6 $1 $18 {and white is
winning according to the engine...} Nc6 16. Rd1 (16. O-O-O $1 Qf4+ (16... Qg7
17. Qg5 Be6 18. Rh6 Rd7 19. Bb5 f6 20. Qh4 $18 {[%CAl Gg1e2,Gd1h1,Gh6h8] while
white has a winning advantage there is no immediate win so plenty of
opportunities for humans to mess up. Nge2 Rh1 is the plan as it arrows do not
appear when i publish a game online for whatever reason.}) 17. Qxf4 exf4 18.
Ne2 g5 19. f3 Be6 20. g3 $18) 16... Qg7 17. Qe3 Be6 {It is adamant that black
controls the diagonal. If white can play Bc4 it's basically over. As mentioned
in the comments of the Shirov game white has this simple plan of Nf3-g5 with a
winning attack.} (17... b6) 18. Nf3 f6 19. Qxc5 Qf7 {another important
defensive move by black. I certainly did not evaluate this position as +2. To
me it appeared black had weathered the storm and i would have to switch to
winning positionally.} 20. Rd2 (20. Bb5 $142 Bxa2 21. Nh4 $1 Rac8 22. Qe3 $18 {
[%CAl Gh1h3,Gh3g3] with a winning attack.}) 20... Rac8 21. Qa3 $6 {During the
game i more or less realized Qe3 is the right move. It makes the most sense.
The white pieces return to the kingside. I did not like allowing Na5 though so
that is why played Qa3 with the intention of Be2/b5 and 0-0.} (21. Qe3 $1 Qg7
22. g4 $1 g5 23. Rh5 Kf7 (23... Kf8 24. Nxg5 $1 fxg5 25. Rxg5 $18) 24. Rxg5 $3
Qh6 25. Rh5 Qxe3+ 26. fxe3 $18) 21... g5 $1 $11 {the engine still gives white
a small advantage but realistically this position is roughly equal but equal
chances.} 22. Bb5 $6 {Weird move since it allows the a6-Na7 idea which my
opponent was thinking of anyway with tempo.} (22. Be2 Kg7 23. Rd3 (23. O-O $2
Rh8 $40)) 22... a6 23. Be2 Na7 $6 (23... Kg7 $142) 24. O-O {Now white is in
time to defend the king if need be.} (24. c4 $1 {The next few moves the engine
wants to play c4 no matter what. It makes sense.} Nc6 (24... Bxc4 25. Nxe5 $3
fxe5 26. Qh3 {never occured to me.}) 25. c5 $16) 24... Rc6 25. Rfd1 {Again...}
Qd7 26. Qb4 {And here i actually considered it.} (26. c4 $1 Bxc4 27. Bxc4+ Rxc4
28. Qb3 b5 29. Rc2 Qf7 (29... Rdc8 30. Rdc1 Qxd6 31. Rxc4 Rxc4 32. Rxc4 bxc4
33. Qxc4+ $11 {Is what i saw... Nd2 would be slightly better haha.}) 30. Rxc4
bxc4 31. Qb6 $18 {that Nd2 exists after Rc2 never occcured to me hence why i
did not go for this.}) 26... Rdc8 27. Rc2 (27. Nd4 $3 {A crazy computer move.
I actually saw this move... and discarded it after 3 seconds or so!} exd4 (
27... Rxc3 28. Nxe6 Qxe6 29. d7 $18) 28. Qxd4 $1 Nb5 (28... Kf7 29. Qxa7 Rxc3
30. Qd4 $18) 29. Bxb5 axb5 30. Qxf6 $18 {naturally i missed the knight was
hanging on a7...}) 27... Bc4 $2 {A losing error. Nb5 actually should draw.} (
27... Nb5 $1 28. Bxb5 axb5 29. Qxb5 Rxc3 30. Qxd7 Bxd7 31. Rxc3 Rxc3 $11 {
and with the terrible knight on f3 black has no issues.}) 28. Bxc4+ Rxc4 29.
Qb3 Kg7 30. Nd2 {Ironically now i had seen the Knight move coming up. White
reroutes the knight to f1 and then d5 or f5. Suddenly white is a healthy pawn
up.} R4c6 ({Surely a better try was:} 30... Qxd6 31. Rcc1 $1 ({and now of
course i intended the greedy Qxb7+...} 31. Qxb7+ $2 R4c7 32. Qb1 Nb5 33. Nf1
Qc6 34. Qb4 a5 35. Qa4 Nxc3 36. Qxc6 Rxc6 $11) 31... R4c6 32. Nf1 Qe7 33. Ne3
Qf7 34. Nf5+ Kg6 35. Qxf7+ Kxf7 36. Nd6+ $18) 31. Nf1 Rxd6 32. Rxd6 Qxd6 33.
Qxb7+ $6 {Again! Taking the pawn with check is not the best move!} (33. Rd2 $1
Qc6 34. Ng3 Re8 35. Rd6 $1 {white simply wins in the attack...}) 33... Rc7 34.
Rd2 Rxb7 35. Rxd6 $16 {Now white has to win an endgame instead.} Nb5 36. Rc6
Rc7 37. Rxc7+ Nxc7 38. Ne3 Kf7 39. Nd5 $2 {Actually a very bad move. Black
always threatens Ke6 and f5 to kick the knight. It is better off at e3 for the
time being.} Ne6 40. f3 (40. g4 $1 $18 {locking the structure. I was hesistant
to do this also cause i was afraid to lose my f3 and g4 pawns quickly if i
ever got active on the queenside. White does not even have to play f3 though
it seems!}) 40... Nc5 (40... g4 $1 41. Kf2 gxf3 42. gxf3 Nc5 43. Ke3 $14 {
and black should hold this with a pawn exchanged.}) 41. Kf2 Ke6 {again g4....}
42. Ne3 $18 {Ironically the threat of f5 forces me back where white also
protects against g4.} Nd7 (42... Na4 43. Nd1 Kd6 44. Kg3 $1 Kc5 45. Kg4 $18)
43. Ke2 Kd6 44. Kd3 Kc5 45. Kc2 Kb5 46. Kb2 a5 47. Ka3 Nb6 48. Kb3 a4+ {
Advancing the pawn this far can not be a good idea.} 49. Kc2 Nd7 50. a3 $1 Kc5
51. Kd3 Nf8 (51... Kb5 52. c4+ Kc5 53. Nd5 Kc6 54. Kc3 Kc5 55. g3 $22 {
zugzwang!}) 52. c4 Ne6 53. Nd5 Kd6 54. Kc3 Nc5 55. Nxf6 1-0
