Opening of the
Future
Have trouble with the Sicilian? How about taking a leaf out of the book one of the club's best players Steve Berry BCF 200+. Here he annotates for us a 30 move win against another strong player in the National Club Knockout tournament which is always highly competitive.
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| National Club Championship v London Central | ||
| White: | S Berry | |
| Black: | S Le Blanq | |
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1. |
e4 |
c5 |
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2. |
d3 |
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A "high class waiting move". Fischer discovered that one of the best methods of countering the King's Gambit was 1 e4 e5 2 f4 ef 3 Nf3 d6!, basically waiting to see what White is going to do. I have discovered that White too can just hang around in the opening until his opponent declares his intentions. Then White can select a suitable riposte. This is the opening for everyone who after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 ... any 3 d4 does not know the theory of the Najdorf, Dragon, Taimanov etc. and finds that after sacrificing pieces on b5, d5, e6 etc., they win neither the brilliancy prize nor the game. 2 d3 has (at least) three ideas. (a) I used to play the Closed Sicilian with 2 Nc3. All my opponents replied at some point with ... Rb8, ... b5, ... b4 and I then had to move the knight. Some readers have probably had this annoying experience. If the Sicilian buffs carelessly repeat this plan against 2 d3 they find (too late!) that the knight is not on c3. (b) White sometimes plays the plan of 2 Nf3 3 g3 4 Bg2 5 d3 against the Sicilian - the so-called Kings Indian Attack. The problem is that White has prevented the move f4 which is very useful in the Closed Sicilian. 2 d3 cleverly keeps this option open. (c) White can transpose into the Kings Indian a move ahead. This must be good because Kasparov plays this opening with Black. Now back to the game. |
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2. |
... |
g6 |
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3. |
g3 |
d5 |
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4. |
Nd2 |
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| We are now in plan c | |||||
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4. |
... |
Bg7 |
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5. |
Bg2 |
dxe4 |
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6. |
dxe4 |
Nc6 |
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7. |
Ngf3 |
Nf6 |
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8. |
O-O |
O-O | |||
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9. |
Re1 |
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So White has reached a standard Kings Indian position. Unfortunately, he was not yet sufficiently familiar with this opening. 9 c3 was correct. Le Blanq now found some good moves |
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9. |
... |
Ng4 | |||
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10. |
h3?! |
Nge5 | |||
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11. |
Nxe5 |
Bxe5 | |||
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12. |
c3 |
Bg7 | |||
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13. |
Qc2 |
Ne5 | |||
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14. |
Bf1 |
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Not a nice move, but the only one. If 14 Rd1 Qd3! is uncomfortable |
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14. |
... |
g5! | |||
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15. |
f4 |
gxf4 |
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| 16. |
gxf4 |
Ng6 |
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| 17. |
Nf3 |
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At this point I was thinking how strong 17 ... Qc7 would be when Le Blanq flashed out |
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| 17. |
... |
e5?? |
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An absolute shocker. At a stroke Black kills both his bishops. |
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| 18. |
f5 |
Nh4 |
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| 19. |
Qf2 |
Nxf3+ |
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| 20. |
Qxf3 |
Kh8 |
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| 21. |
Bc4 |
b6 |
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22. |
Kh2 |
Bb7 |
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23. |
Rg1 |
Qe7 |
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Something else was better but would not have saved the game. |
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24. |
Rxg7! |
Kxg7 |
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25. |
Bh6+! |
Kxh6 |
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| 25 ... Kh8 26 f6 and 27 Bg7+ | |||||
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26. |
f6 |
Qd7 |
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27. |
Qe3+ |
Kh5 |
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| 27 ... Kg6 28 Rg1+ Kxf6 29 Qg5 mate | |||||
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28. |
Rg1 |
Rg8 |
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29. |
Be2+ |
Kh4 |
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| Le Blanq was a fighter | |||||
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30. |
Qh6 ++ |
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After the game the old Kings Head member Dave Tarbuck told me that 27 Be2 was a quicker win. He was right. |
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1-0
