This game versus David Koenig took place in January 1991 at the Dumont Deep Freeze Quads.*
Steve Ferrero
David Koenig (USCF 1807) - Steve Ferrero (USCF 1916), Dumont NJ 1/1991
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Bxf3 Nc6
Better is 8...Nfd7 9.d5 Na6 10.Bd2 Nac5 11.O-O a5 12.Rc1 e5 = (ECO), as in Ser-Kocijev, USSR 1976. [West]
9.Be3
Instead Smyslov-Saharov, USSR 1960 went 9.d5 Na5 10.Be2 Nd7 11.Bd2 c5 12.O-O a6 13.a3 Qc7 14.Qc2 b6 15.Nd1 +/= (ECO). [West]
9...e5 10.d5 Ne7 11.Qd2 Nd7 12.Bh6 f5 13.h4 f4
I played this move with the intention of restricting White's bishop pair by forcing 14.Bxg7. Black gains time with the king recapture. White soon finds that Black has at least as much play on the h-file, since rooks and queen can easily swing to the kingside. Black's king is quite safe on g7. [Ferrero].
14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.h5 g5 16.h6+
This move is questionable in light of what happens. [Ferrero]
16...Kh8 17.O-O-O Rf6 18.Rh5 Rg6 19.Rdh1 Qf8?!
Black is working to pick up the h-pawn. However, it is imperative that the final capture on h6 be made with the rook. Otherwise White's attack could become dangerous with the doubled rooks. I also considered 19...Nf6 to restrict the white bishop. Another possibility was 19...a6 to keep the white knight at bay on the queenside. Note that 19.Bg4 loses the exchange to 19...Nf6. [Ferrero]
Your first suggestion of 19...Nf6 combined with your second idea of 20...a6 followed by 21...Qf8 is better than the immediate 19...Qf8?!, but the game transposes to this line anyway. [West]
20.Nb5 Qd8 21.Nc3 Nf6 22.R5h2 a6 23.Kb1 Qf8
I was also considering the idea of ...g4 at some point. [Ferrero]
After ...g4, Black's g-pawn might come under attack after Be2, Rh4, and Qd1. [West]
24.g3 Neg8 25.gxf4 gxf4 26.Qd1 Nxh6
Notwithstanding your comment after Black's 19th move, it was better to relieve the pressure on the h-file by swapping off a pair of rooks with 26...Rxh6. [West]
27.Bh5 Rg5
This seems safer than 27...Nxh5 because the knight on f6 is needed to defend the h7 square. [West]
28.Qf3 Qg7 29.Ne2 Rag8 30.Kc2
White doesn't have time for this mistake. His plan appears to be to walk his king to d3, so his queen can participate in the kingside play without dropping the e-pawn. [Ferrero]
30...Qd7 31.Be8
White cleverly trades off his weak bishop for one of Black's strong knights. Black is willing to allow this to bring about a favorable ending. [Ferrero]
31...Qxe8 32.Rxh6 R8g6 33.Nc3 Rg2
Black threatens 34...R6g3. The rest of the game needs no comment. [West]
34.R1h2 Rxh2 35.Rxh2 h5 36.b3 Rg5 37.Ne2 Qg6 38.Kd3 c6 39.Nc3 Kg7 40.Ke2 Rg1
41.Rh1 Rxh1 42.Qxh1 Qg4+ 43.Qf3 Kg6 44.a3 cxd5 45.cxd5 b5 46.b4 Kg5
47.Qxg4+ Kxg4 48.f3+ Kg3, White resigns.
*{Today David Koenig is a FIDE master, and Steve Ferrero is editor of Atlantic Chess News where this article originally appeared in 1992}
