Morphy's Law

A few days after Dennis Monokroussos posted his second un-PCG (as in un-Philidor Counter Gambit) blog entry, I played in a game/30 Swiss at the Marshall Chess Club. I had little time to review Monokroussos's analysis, but I was not overly concerned. What are the odds, I thought, that someone will play Monokroussos's line against me before I have researched it? So, of course, the following game took place in the very first round, once again proving Morphy's Law (the chess equivalent of Murphy's Law: anything that can go wrong, will!).

Justin Karp (USCF 1883) - Jim West (USCF 2200), Marshall Chess Club 4/8/2007

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Neg5 exd4 7.Nxd4 Qe7+ 8.Be2 h6 9.Ngf3 c6

For the alternative 9...c5, see my analysis in Virginia Chess Newsletter.

10.O-O Qf6 11.Re1 Bd6

This is where Monokroussos improves upon my 12.Bd3+ Ne7 13.Bd2 O-O 14.Bc3 Qf7 with 12.Ba6+!. Apparently it was mere coincidence that my opponent played into the game position because he now varies from Monokroussos's line.

12.c3

You may wonder what I would have played on 12.Ba6+!. Over the board, I probably would have gone into 12...Ne7 13.Bxb7 Bxb7 14.Re6 Qf7 15.Rxd6 O-O, reckoning that I might make something of White's offsides rook on d6. But now that I have spent more time analyzing this position, it seems that White is clearly better after 16.Qe2. A possible improvement on Monokroussos's 12...Kf8 13.Bd3 Ne7 14.c4 is 12...Kf7 13.Bd3 Ne7. And if White tries to harass the enemy queen by 14.Bd2, Black counters with 14...c5 15.Nb5 Nbc6 16.Bc3 d4 17.Bc4+ Kf8 18.Nxd6 Qxd6. Next, Black will follow with moves like ...Qf6, ...g5, ...Kg7, and perhaps ...Rf8 as well, with a reasonable position.

12...Ne7 13.Be3 O-O 14.Bd3 Nd7 15.Bc2 Nc5

I played this last move to forestall 16.Qd3.

16.b4 Ne4 17.Qd3

Instead 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.Nfd2 Qg6 would give Black good attacking chances against White's king.

17...Nf5 18.Bb3 Kh8 19.b5?

White is too intent on continuing his "attack". Now I obtain the absolute bishop pair.

19...Nc5 20.Qc2 Nxe3 21.Rxe3 Nxb3 22.Qxb3 c5 23.Ne2 c4 24.Qc2 Bf5 25.Qd2 Bd3 26.Re1 Rae8

Anytime Black can complete his development with ...Rae8 in the PCG, as in the game position, he is doing well. Black stands better here.

27.Nc1 Rxe3 28.Rxe3 Be4 29.Ne2 Qg6 30.Ned4?

White's last move is a blunder, allowing me to win the exchange. Probably he had to play 30.Ne1, but his position is not enviable.

30...Bf4 31.h3 Bxe3 32.Qxe3 Bxf3 33.Nxf3 b6 34.Kh2 Qd6+ 35.g3 Qc5

Ordinarily White might have resigned here. But he had more than five extra minutes on his clock, and I was running short of time.

36.Qe2 Qxb5 37.Kg2 Qe8 38.Qc2 Qe4 39.Qd1 Kg8 40.g4 g5 41.Kg3 Rxf3+

This is the simplest path to victory, giving back the exchange to obtain a winning king-and-pawn endgame.

42.Qxf3 Qxf3+ 43.Kxf3 Kf7 44.Kg3 d4 45.Kf3 d3 46.Ke3 Kf6 47.Kf3 Ke5 48.Ke3 b5 49.a3 a6 50.f3 a5 51.Kf2 Kf4, and Black won.