Bulletin 63

1.d4 f5 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Nf3 d6 7.0-0 c6 8.Re1 Qc7 9.d5 e5 10.dxe6 Bxe6 11.Bf4 Rd8 12.c5 Ne8 13.Ng5 Qe7 14.Nxe6 Qxe6 15.e4 Qf7 16.cxd6 Na6 17.exf5 gxf5 18.Re7 Qxe7 19.dxe7 Rxd1+ 20.Rxd1 Bf6 21.Nd5 Bxb2 22.Ne3 Bf6 23.Nxf5 Kf7 24.Re1 Nc5 25.Bd6 Nd7 26.Bf3 Kg6 27.g4 Nb6 28.Bg3 Nd5 29.h4 h5 30.Nd6 hxg4 31.Bxg4 Nxd6 32.Bxd6 Re8 33.Bd7 Rxe7 34.Bxe7 Bxe7 35.Be8+ Kf5 36.h5 Bg5 37.Rb1 Nb6 38.Kf1 Ke5 39.Ke2 Kd4 40.Rg1 Bc1 41.Rxc1 1-0

On January 29th the Elementary School Preliminary, the first stage of the 2005 B.C. Interschool Team Championship, was held at St. John s School, which generously donated its facilities for the event. Thirty-eight teams and almost two hundred players attended, almost exactly the same as last year s total.

The support of St. John s School was an important factor in the success of this event. The event took place in the St. John s School gym, which is an excellent site which we were fortunate to have for the GM Fest events last summer. Classrooms were opened as analysis and skittles rooms, and one room was provided for adults as a welcome sanctuary from the tumult of the event. Door prizes and coffee were provided. Most of all, Suhkbir Bolina, the St. John s teacher who is the driving force behind his school s rising chess power, provided invaluable assistance both prior to the event and throughout the day of the tournament.

As for the tournament itself, six teams qualified for the finals. Queen Mary "A" and St. George s "A" (the "A" signifies two teams from the same school) tied for first with 17.5 points, which was one and a half points more than the top finisher from last year s event. Our Lady of Perpetual Help A and St. George s B had 15 points, followed by host St. John s A with 13.5 points and surprising York House with 13 points. Our Lady of Perpetual Help B and Braemar just failed to qualify with 12 points. Last year the cut was 13.5 points.

Curiously, four of these same teams made the finals last year. St. George s A and B and Our Lady of Perpetual Help A have therefore qualified for the finals in each of the last three years. Judging from the preliminaries, Our Lady of Perpetual Help A will have its work cut out for it to hold on to its title, but we ll soon see. The finals will be held at West Point Grey Academy on February 19, 2005, in conjunction with the Secondary School Championship.

Here are three games from the event:

Joe,C - Hapchina,M [A04] Elementary School Prelimaries Vancouver (2), 29.01.2005

1.Nf3 Nc6 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Nc3 0-0 6.b3 e5 7.e3 d5 8.d4 The opening has been a little bit hypermodern, or maybe post-hypermodern. But now both players stake out their share of the centre and the tactics begin. 8...e4 9.Nh4? Be6? Developing a piece and controlling an important central square. But there was a better move - 9...g5! wins White's h4-knight. This "unprincipled" move shouldn't come as a surprise, as it was White who put the knight on the wrong square with 9.Nh4?, and when one player does something strange, the right answer often may seem strange as well. 10.Ba3 Re8 10...g5 is still pretty strong. 11.f3 Had White noticed the possibility of 11...g5, he would have played 11.f4. 11...Bh6 11...g5 is still right, but 11...Bh6!? is the next best move 12.fxe4!? Bg4? Inconsistent - having attacked White's e3-pawn last move, why not take it? 13.Bf3 Bxf3?! 14.Rxf3? Interestingly, Black is also better after the more natural 14.Qxf3 dxe4 15.Qxf6 Qxf6 16.Rxf6 Bxe3+ 17.Kg2 Bxd4 18.Rxc6 bxc6 19.Bb2. 14...dxe4 15.Rxf6 Qxf6 16.d5? Now Black gets a crushing material advantage. But something interesting happens in a few moves. 16...Qxc3 17.dxc6 Bxe3+ 18.Kg2 Rad8 19.Qf1 Rd2+ 20.Kh3 Rf2 21.Qb5?! Qxa1 22.cxb7 This is the position that attracted my attention when I walked by this game. Black is ahead two rooks for a knight, and of course is winning. But White threatens Black's e8-rook , and if he gets to take it, then White might make up for his shortage of rooks by getting a second queen... Tactical genius that I am, I saw 22...Qf1+, which forces a trace of queens and kills whatever counterplay White might have generated. But Malina saw something even better... 22...Rxh2+! Mate in 7, according to Fritz! 23.Kxh2 Qg1+ 24.Kh3 Qh1+ 25.Kg4 Qd1+?! A harmless repetition - let's ignore it. 26.Kh3 Qh1+ 27.Kg4 h5+! Malina sees all of it! Now 28.Qxh5 gxh5+ 29.Kxh5 Re5+ 30.Kg4 Rg5 is mate! 0-1

Milner,A - Hui,C [B54] Elementary School Prelimaries Vancouver (4), 29.01.2005

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 g6 So far Black is playing about three different variations of the Sicilian - a risky way to start the game! 7.Be3 Qb6?! 8.Rb1?! 8.Nd5! (violent) and 8.Bb3 (calm) both refute Black's last move, which really can only work if White has played f3, so his e3-bishop is undefended (and often not even then). 8...Nf6 9.f3?! And here 9.Ne6, followed by 10.Nxf8, gives White the advantage. White isn't taking into account his opponent's moves. 9...e5!? I think now Black is playing four different variations of the Sicilian! 10.Bg5! Nxe4!? Black is absolutely fearless. But objectively the position is better for White. 11.Nxe4 Qxd4 11...exd4 12.Nf6+ 12.Nf6+ Kd8 13.Nd5+ Be7 14.Qxd4 exd4 15.Bxe7+?! Both players have played well over the last few moves. It is not as easy for White as it looks. Best was 15.Nxe7 Nxe7, and now either 16.Rd1 Be6 or 16.Bxf7, both of which give White a small advantage. After 15.Bxe7+?! Black is at least equal. 15...Nxe7 16.Nxe7 Kxe7 17.Kd2?! Black's extra pawn is ugly and doubled, but it's still extra, and that's important. 17...Bf5 17...Be6 immediately was probably slightly better. 18.g4?! Be6 19.Rhe1 Kd7 20.Kd3 Bxc4+ Both 20...Rac8 and 20...h5 were good alternatives. 21.Kxc4 Rac8+ 22.Kd3 b5 Here 22...Rc5, with the idea of ...h5, would have taken better advantage of White's impulsive 18.g4?! 23.Re4 Here White offered a draw, which Black accepted. Neither team wanted to miss the finals, not that that was a very likely possibility in the circumstances. Both players played well and a draw was a fair result, as neither made the most of his chances. The rematch should be interesting... ½-½

Dauvergne,D - Zhao,D [C47] Elementary School Preliminaries Vancouver (4), 29.01.2005

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 Nf6 Probably the less said about the opening the better, although things turn out well for Black. 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qd3 d5!? 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.dxe5? Black's hyper-aggressive opening now pays off. 7...Nxc3 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.a3 Ba5 10.Bd2 Re8? White has played a standard maneuver (9.a3, 10.Bd2), but since Black's a5-bishop is defended, 10...Nd5 just leaves Black a piece up. Black must have overlooked the fact that his c6-knight defends his a5-bishop, and so now the players enter an interesting ending. 11.Bxc3 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 Nxe5 13.0-0-0+ Bd7 14.Bb5 c6 15.Be2 Kc7 Black is better because of White's doubled c-pawns. But will it be enough? 16.Rhe1?! Bf5?! Returning the favour - 16...Ng4 steals a pawn. 17.Nxe5 Rxe5 18.Bd3 Rxe1 Also possible was 18...Rae8. 19.Rxe1 Bxd3? This is wrong, because it improves White's pawn structure. 19...Be6! was better (20.Bxh7 Rh8). 20.cxd3 Rd8 21.Re7+?! Unnecessarily entering a king and pawn ending, in which both sides make some instructive errors. 21...Rd7 22.Rxd7+ Kxd7 23.Kd2 Ke6?! 24.Ke3 c5?! 25.Ke4?! f5+ 26.Ke3 g5? After 26...b5!, Black is winning. Looking at the position after 26.Ke3, without worrying too much about how it arose (White should have played c4 or a4 earlier), at first it's not obvious what's going on. Material is equal, but Black has the positional advantage of a potential outside passed pawn. This is easier to see if you ignore the a- and c-pawns, so that Black has a passed b-pawn and White has a passed d-pawn. When I went through the game with Donovan afterwards, he saw right away that Black was winning that position, because his King will be closer to the kingside pawns. But how do you get to that position? The basic rule is to advance the "candidate" pawn, which in this case is Black's b-pawn. In effect, you worry about how far you can advance it later - the important point is not to let the potential passed pawn get stuck. So here the right move is 26...b5!, followed by ...a5 and, at the right moment, ...b4. It's possible to calculate everything out (the variations are about 20 moves long), but at this point it is only necessary to know this very helpful rule, and everything else follows. 27.g3?! a5? 28.c4 Ke5 29.f4+ gxf4+ 30.gxf4+ Ke6 31.a4 b6 Both players squander their reserve tempi, but the game should still be a draw. 32.h3 h6 33.h4 h5 34.d4 The only chance to win. 34...cxd4+? This reflex capture doesn't lose, but after the simple 34...Kd6, the position is a dead draw - after 35.d5, White's protected passed pawn looks nice but does absolutely nothing. 35.Kxd4 Kd6 36.Kd3 Ke6?! 36...Kc6 is simpler. 37.Kc3 Kd6 Here 37...Kd7! is an easy draw. We can talk about the principle of the "opposition," but really this is an example of the concept of "corresponding squares", which scare most players because they loathe and fear king and pawn endings. But it's easy - when White moves his king to d4, Black wants to answer by moving his king to d6. So when White's king is next to d4, Black wants his king to be next to d6. Since Black has made things difficult for himself by moving his king to e6 (instead of c6), 37.Kc3 should be met by 37...Kd7 (not 37...Kd6), because then 38.Kd4 can be answered by 38...Kd6, blocking any further progress by White (since 39.c5+ bxc5 40.Kc4 Kc6 fails). 38.Kd4 Ke6? The final mistake. After 38...Kc6 39.Ke5 Kc5, both sides queen, and White wins Black's remaining pawn. Then the players could have played on for another 40 or 50 moves! 39.c5 Kd7 40.cxb6 Kc6 41.Ke5 Kxb6 42.Kxf5 Kc7 43.Ke6 Kd8 44.Kf7 Kd7 This game was a good example of how king and pawn endings are played (and misplayed) in real life - although the books are full of similar misadventures. It turned out that this was the only decisive game in the match between Queen Mary A and St. George's A. 1-0

1.d4 g6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Bg7 Bruce Harper has helped me come to appreciate the Rat! 4.Bg5 h6 5.Be3!? An odd move that I had seen Matthew play before. 5...Nf6 6.h3 0-0 7.Qd2 Kh7 8.f4 This seems to be an integral part of his idea. It could now be possible to play a delayed four pawn attack!? 8...Nc6? A stupid, clumsy move. Two moves later I was absolutely disgusted with it. I wanted to play e5, but this simply does not achieve it in a reasonable way. 9.Nf3 Nh5 Ridiculous, but it was the only way to continue with my plan. 10.Bf2 e5 11.e3 exf4 12.exf4 Nf6 13.0-0-0± My position is incredibly cramped. 13...d5 Getting some space but giving up an important square. 14.Ne5 Ne7 15.g4 dxc4 16.Bxc4 Nfd5 17.Rhg1 f6?! I should have just suffered that knight. The resulting square weaknesses from this makes my kingside indefensible. 18.Nf3 Nxc3 19.Qxc3 Nd5 20.Qd2 Qd6 21.f5!+- g5 My position is totally busted now. In the long term I won't be able to survive the combination of open e- and h-files and a weak a2-g8 diagonal. 22.Kb1 c6 23.Bg3 Qd8 24.h4 Around here I was starting to get very demoralized. I had been in a terrible slump at the end of the summer - losing 70 rating points in my two previous tournaments! Because of my slump I had taken a little break from chess just to recover. This was my first tournament back, and here I have a position like this in the very first game! Arrrgggh! 24...Re8 25.Rde1 Bd7 26.hxg5 hxg5 27.Qh2+ Kg8 28.Rxe8+ Qxe8 29.Re1 Qf7 30.Rh1 Qe7 This is grim: I not only don't have any defences, but I am relegated to playing "only" moves just to avoid losing immediately. 31.Nd2! Matthew is smartly using all of his pieces in the attack. 31...Be8 32.Qh7+ Kf7 32...Kf8 33.Re1 Qd8 34.Ne4+- 33.Re1 Qb4 34.Ne4 Rd8 35.Nd6+ 35.Bxd5+! cxd5 36.Nd6+ Kf8 37.Re7! leads to forced mate. 35...Kf8 35...Rxd6 36.Qg6+ 36.Nxe8 36.Bxd5 will again be mate, as in the previous note. 36...Rxe8 37.Rxe8+ Kxe8 38.Bxd5 cxd5 39.Qxg7 Qxd4 And I am left a piece down with no real compensation. I was thinking about resigning, but the sudden death second time control left me a crumb of hope. 40.Qg8+ Kd7 41.Qe6+ Kd8 42.Qe2 Kd7 I was having day dreams that my king could get active enough to survive with the queens off. This was not realistic, but you gotta have dreams. 43.a3 Qg1+ 44.Qe1 44.Be1 and repositioning the bishop on c3 is one clear winning idea. There are a lot of winning methods here so I won't cover them all. 44...Qd4 45.Qe6+ Kd8 46.Bd6? This gives me some hope. 46...Qd3+! I think that Matthew just overlooked this check. 47.Kc1 Qc4+ 48.Kd2 Qd4+ 49.Ke1 Qg1+ 50.Ke2 Qxg4+ 51.Kf2 Qd4+ 52.Kf1 52.Qe3+- 52...Qd3+ 53.Qe2? The sudden death time control was starting to reap rewards. Having to calculate all of my tricks Matthew starts to get low on time and make mistakes. Giving me this third pawn lets me back in the game. Now I should be able to hold on. 53...Qxf5+ It was an absolute miracle that I had even survived to this point. 54.Kg2? White should avoid letting the queens come off. 54...Qe4+ 55.Qxe4 dxe4 56.Bc5? White needs to get his king in quickly to hold back the pawns. 56...b6 I didn't want to affix my pawns on the same coloured squares as the bishop, but the tempo was vital as my king needed to get active quickly. 57.Be3 Ke7 58.Kg3 Kf7 So I can control the g5 and h5 squares. 59.Kg4 Kg6 60.Bd4 f5+ Now that the pawns are rolling White is in big trouble. 61.Kg3 Kf7 62.b4 Ke6 63.b5 Kd5 64.Bf6 f4+ 65.Kg4 65.Kh3 Kc4! 66.Bxg5 f3 67.Kg3 Kxb5 68.Be3 Kc4. 65...f3 66.Kg3 g4 67.a4 67.Kf2 Kc4 68.Ke3 Kxb5 69.Bh4 Ka4 70.Kxe4 Kxa3 71.Kf4 b5. 67...e3 68.Bg5 f2 68...Ke4. 69.Kg2 Kd4 70.Bh4 Kd3 71.Bg3 Ke2 A freaky result. 0-1

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 Qb6 5.Nf3 e6 6.Be2 We have now transposed into a Short System which is normally reached by 4.Nf3 Bf5 5.Be2 e6. 6...Nd7 [More macho is... 6...c5. To Lucas's credit he has had this more agressive line several times before: A) 7.Be3 This is the main line of theory. 7...Qxb2 (7...a6!? Bouvier-L. Davies, WCO 2004) 8.Nb5 c4!; B) 7.0-0 B1) 7...Nc6 B1a) 8.Na4 Qa5 9.b3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Ne7 12.Qb2 Rc8 13.c4! dxc4 14.Bd2 Qa6 15.Rfc1 b5 16.Nc3 Nc6 17.a4 Nd4 18.axb5 (18.Bf1! with the initiative) 18...Nxe2+ 19.Nxe2 Qxb5 20.Nd4 Qb7 21.Qc3 - Yoos-Orlov, Keres Memorial 2000; B1b) 8.b3 8...cxd4 9.Nb5 Bc5 10.Bb2 d3 11.Bxd3 Bxd3 12.Qxd3 Nge7 13.Nd6+ Bxd6 14.exd6 Nf5 15.d7+! Kxd7 16.c4 Kc7 17.Ng5 dxc4 18.Qxc4 Raf8 19.Rad1 with the initiative, Yoos-L. Davies, Keres Memorial 2004; B2) 7...Nc6 ] 7.0-0 Ne7 8.b3 c5?! It seems to me that Black's last two moves have made him a bit clumsy for the position to open up. Maybe Lucas should have stayed on his conservative path. [8...h6] 9.dxc5 White is happy to rip open the position. One big theme is that with the bishop away on f5 there is a weakness of the a4-e8 diagonal. 9...Nxc5 10.Be3 Nc6 11.Nd4 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 a6 Keeping my pieces off of b5. 13.f4 Qc7 14.g4 Be4 15.b4 Nd7 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.c3 xe4 17...f5? This leaves Black helpless to defend his lightsquares. [17...Nb6 Lucas rejected this natural move because he hallucinated a non-existing tactic. Black still has problems though... 18.Qb1 e3 (18...Nc4 19.Bxc4 Qxc4 20.Qxe4; 18...Nd5 19.Qxe4 Nxc3 20.Bxc3 Qxc3 21.Qxb7) 19.Qd3 (19.b5!?) 19...Nd5 20.f5] 18.Qb3 Ke7 19.Bc4 Qc6 20.gxf5 exf5 21.Bd5 Qc7 22.Be6 g6 23.Bxd7 1-0

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 Ian usually plays a lot of closed positions, so I thought it would be good to open it up. 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.0-0 Be7? A silly move order error. [6...Nb6] 7.d4! Now I have to grovel for a while. 7...exd4 8.Nxd4 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 With White's lead in development and raking bishop on g2, he dominates the open position. I have to be very cautious and patient over the next few moves just to avoid getting rolled off of the board. 9...Nf6 10.Qa4+! There is no comfortable block for this check. 10...Qd7 I hate having to play moves like this. 11.Qb3 c6 12.Nc3 Qe6 13.Qc2 0-0 14.Bf4 Bd6 15.Bxd6 Qxd6 Phew! I was feeling like I had wrestled my way out of this a bit. 16.Rad1 Qc5 17.Rd2 h6? Arrggh! And I had been so careful up to this point. Now I fall for a simple tactic which wrecks my pawn structure. [17...Bf5 18.Qb3 Qe7 and White has a little bit of an edge, but nothing too exciting.] 18.Nd5 Qxc2 19.Nxf6+ gxf6 20.Rxc2 Rather than test my technique, Ian made a practical decision to save his energy for the last round. And congratulations to Ian who did win his last round and shared first place. ½-½

1.e4 e6 A surpise and not a surprise at the same time. A while back Harry Moore had played a French Defence against me in a Victoria tournament. After the game Dan was very critical of the way Harry had played it against me. Harry responded "well, why don't you play it against him then?" Well, Dan agreed and true to his word, in this the first Black he has had against me since then, he played the French. I heard Dan when he promised a French but I wasn't sure if he would go through with it. Well, I have to hand it to Dan, he is a man of his word. 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 Nh6 This is a deviation from what Harry played. Harry chose 6...c4. And I have to give Dan credit again - I think that this is a more effective line than 6... c4 which tends to be on the passive side. 7.b4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Bb2 9.Be3?! f6! 9...Bd7 9...Be7 is reasonable, but the downside is it allows White to develop his bishop to d3, as the pawn is poisonous on d4 because of the ending tactic of Bb5+. 10.Qd2!? Anticipating the idea of Na5 and planning on shoring up the d-pawn by Be2, 0-0, Rd1 which prepares the development of the queen knight. Last week at the team tournament here in Vancouver, Bruce Harper also played this line against me. This time I tried... 10.g4 Nh6 (10...Nfe7!? 11.Nc3 Na5 12.Na4 Qc6!) 11.Rg1 f6 12.exf6 gxf6 13.Nc3 unclear, and I got decent pressure and probably an advantage, but I was unable to clearly tip the balance and the game ended in a draw. 10...Be7 10...h5 with the idea of ...g5 and xNf3. 11.h4 g6 12.Bc3 Bh6 13.Qb2; 10...g5 11.g4. 11.Be2 Nh4!? A new idea and a very interesting one! In regard to the d-pawn, these two knights already cancel each other out, so you might be wondering why Dan would want to spend a couple of tempi just to exchange them. The idea is actually to clear the f-file. Dan had anticipated the plan of 0-0 & Rd1 and by clearing the f-file my f2 square will become vulnerable after ...f6. Very clever! 12.Nxh4 Bxh4 13.0-0 Be7 14.Bc3? Worried about f6, I thought I should take a plodding route of develpment Bc3-Qb2-Nd2. Unfortunately it simply does not work because I missed that in the end I will have a problem with my bishop getting trapped on c3. [14.Rd1! I simply did not see far enough down this line to realize it was good for me. 14...f6 15.Nc3 fxe5 16.Na4 Qc7 17.dxe5 Nxe5 18.Rac1 Qb8 19.Nc5 Bxc5 20.Rxc5 (with the initiative) and it seems that Dan's plan ultimately does not work out. Because White gets developed just in time and Black is still behind because of the two tempi he lost, there are now tactics in the opened up position. Black does not have a way to defend g7. 20...0-0? 21.Qd4 Rf5 22.f4] 14...a6 Preventing any bail out of the pressure on d4 with b5. 15.Qb2 f6!-+ And here I realized my terrible mistake. 16.Bh5+ Okay this is ugly, but I was now in survival mode. My plan was to hold on to the e-pawn with Re1 while my bishop blocked the f-file on f3. [16.Nd2? fxe5 17.dxe5 d4; 16.exf6? Bxf6 xd4] 16...g6 17.Bf3 0-0 18.Re1 Rac8 18...fxe5 19.dxe5 Rxf3!? 20.gxf3 Rf8 is also promising. 19.Ra2 fxe5 [19...Qc7] 20.dxe5 d4 21.Bd2 Rf5 I won't criticize this because I know that Black's position is still very good. However I was very happy to see this move. Dan is cashing in for a pawn and that will mean he will have to let go of the strangle hold he has on me. I was happy just to be able to breathe again. 22.Be4 Rxe5 23.Bf4 Rb5 23...Rh5 24.Bd3 Rd5 25.Nd2 Hooray! Finally! 25...Qd8 26.Qb1 Kg7?! Around here Dan was starting to get a bit low on time, which helped my situation a great deal. [26...Qf8] 27.Be4 Rb5 28.Nf3 Qf8? This allows a tactic. [28...Bf6] 29.Bxc6 Now White has the advantage as Black's extra d-pawn is falling, whereas White will still have an initiative and Black will be left with a clumsy backward e-pawn. 29...Rxc6 30.Qe4! It goes against instinct, but sometimes it is very important to be patient when you have an initiative. In other words, further activating your pieces can often be better than direct threats. 30...Rd5?! In his time pressure Dan does not find the best defences. [30...Bd6] 31.Nxd4 Bf6?! [31...Bd6] 32.Nxc6 Bxc6?! [32...bxc6] 33.Qe3 [33.Qxe6 I didn't think I could take this because I missed the following "Fritz" tactic. 33...Bc3 34.Bh6+! Kxh6 35.Qh3+] 33...Bd4? [33...Qf7] 34.Bh6+ Kg8 35.Qxe6+ 1-0

1.e4 c6 The Caro Kann was Tony's mainstay during the last 20 years of his playing days. Tony was always a counterpuncher and the Caro lends itself to that sort of style. 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 In the mid-80's this was the fashionable line. Nowadays 4.Nf3 and Be2 is more common. 4...e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 c5 7.Be3 The major alternative is 7 h4. 7...Nc6 8.Qd2 8 dxc5 is considered best. After 8...Nxe5 9 Nd4 Nf6 10 f4 Nexg4 11 Bb5 Ke7 11 Qe2 a5, Timman rates the position as unclear. Fullbrook no doubt had visions of castling long and blasting open the centre with f4-f5, but Tony finds a way to take the sting out of this. 8...Qa5 9.f4 0-0-0 In most of these lines the king stays in the centre or castles short, but it turns out the monarch is quite safe on the queenside. Fullbrook shifts gears, but starts to drift into a poor position. 10.Bg2 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Bb4 12.0-0 Nxd4 Black is of course quite happy to see exchanges as White's endgame will be difficult thanks to his overextended kingside. 13.Bxd4 Ne7 14.a3 Bc5 15.b4 It can't be good to create more pawn weaknesses in this position, but it's not easy to find anything else. Perhaps 15.Bxc5? 15...Bxd4+ 16.Qxd4 Qb6 17.Qxb6 axb6 18.Nb5 Kb8 19.Rac1 My original thought in replaying this game was White must try 19 Nd6 and after 19...Nc8 20 f5 exf5 21 gxf5 Bh5 22 Nc8 Kxc8, he has a playable position. But 19...f6 seems to be better as White's centre starts to crumble. 19...h5 Not so much with the aim of opening the h-file but to free up the f5 square for the knight. White perhaps should prevent this with 20.h3 but life isn't easy for him here either. After the text move though, Black takes control. 20.g5 Rc8 21.Rf2 Rc6 22.c3 Rhc8 23.Rf3 Be4 24.Rh3 Bxg2 25.Kxg2 Nf5 26.Rxh5 White won't keep his extra pawn for very long, he has too many weaknesses. 26...Rc4 27.Kf3 d4 28.Rh3 dxc3 29.Kg4 c2 30.Rf3 Rh8 Reminding White he has problems on the kingside as well: the threat is Rh4 mate. Fullbrook displays his usual flair for the dramatic, but it's not enough. 31.g6 Rh4+ 32.Kg5 Rxh2 33.Rg3 Desperation. Unfortunately 33 gxf7 is met by 33...Rg2 34 Kh5 g6 mate. 33...Nxg3 34.gxf7 Ne4+ 35.Kg6 Rg2+ 36.Kh7 Rc8 37.Nd4 Rf8 38.Nxe6 Perhaps time trouble? 38.Rxc2 would prolong resistance. Rxf7 39.Kg8 Rd7 40.f5 Rd1 0-1

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5 4.c4 c6 5.Qb3 Qb6 6.Nc3 Qxb3 7.axb3 e6 8.c5 Nbd7 9.b4 b5 10.Ra6 Nb8 11.Rxc6 Nxc6 12.Bxb5 Rc8 13.Ne5 Be7 14.Nxc6 Kf8 15.Nxa7 Ra8 16.Nc6 Nd7 17.0-0 f6 18.f3 Kf7 19.e4 dxe4 20.fxe4 Bg6 21.d5 Rhc8 22.dxe6+ 1-0

1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ gxf6 6.Bc4 Bf5 7.d4 Qc7 8.Qe2 e6 9.Nh4 Bg6 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.g3 Bd6 12.Bd2 Nd7 13.0-0-0 0-0-0 14.h4 Rh7 15.Qf3 Rdh8 16.Bb3 Rh5 17.Rhe1 R8h7 18.Kb1 Kb8 19.c4 c5 20.d5 e5 21.Bc3 f5 22.Qg2 a6 23.Rc1 f6 24.Bd1 R5h6 25.Bd2 f4 26.gxf4 exf4 27.Re6 Re7 28.Bxf4 Bxf4 29.Rxe7 Bxc1 30.Ba4 Bxb2 31.Kxb2 Qb6+ 32.Kc2 Ne5 33.Bb3 Rxh4 34.Qg3 Rd4 35.Qh2 Qb4 36.f4 Nxc4 37.Qh8+ Ka7 38.Qxf6 Qd2+ 0-1