Round Five: Larsen's Opening
Steve Ferrero (USCF 1871) - Etan Lankri (USCF 1674), Somerset NJ 5/4/2008
1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 d6 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.e3 Nc6 6.Ne2 O-O 7.d4 Bf5
Here, my opponent offered a pawn sacrifice, if I captured on c6 first, then won the central pawn. But I would have been painfully weak on the white squares on my kingside and underdeveloped. Still, for a class B player to even contemplate such a sacrifice was a bit unnerving for me.
8.a3
This move prepares c4, without permitting the black knight to redeploy to b4 then d3.
8...exd4 9.Nxd4 Be4 10.Bxe4 Nxe4 11.Nxc6
These doubled pawns, that I saddle Black with, remain the primary focal point of White's attack throughout the rest of the game, even as we eventually head into an ending.
11...bxc6 12.O-O Bf6 13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.Qd4 Qxd4 15.exd4 Rfe8
16.f3
I played this move to allow the white king to get to f2 and to prevent any black rook incursion, until White can develop the queen knight to get the rooks connected.
16...Nf6
I indicated to Etan, after our game, that 16...Ng5 would have posed more concern since he would have retained annoying checks on h3 and would remain attacking the f3 pawn, preventing White from liquidating the rooks on e1.
17.Kf2 Re7 18.Nd2 Rae8 19.Rae1 Nd5 20.Nc4 Nc3
I had already come to the realization that I should never have allowed the black knight to post onto d5 before I could get my pawn on a4. Black is threatening the powerful 21...Re2+. Yet if White trades off all the rooks, even though the white king ends up on e1 at the conclusion of the exchanges, Black's knight redeploys to b5 with dual threats on the hanging a3 and d4 pawns. Therefore, I play for tricks and re-post the white knight on f5, only temporarily, holding my loose d-pawn and relying on the sham threat of Ne7+ and Nxc6. However, if Black simply swaps the rooks off and first chops on a3, all of the white pawns fall like a house of cards. This is Black's most critical mistake, in fearing my Ne7+.
21.Ne3 Nb5 22.Nf5 Rxe1 23.Rxe1 Rxe1 24.Kxe1 Kf8
24...Nxa3 must be near winning for Black.
25.a4 Nc3 26.Kd2 Nd5 27.c4
This may have been a bit hasty, or an outright error, since Black later should have brought his knight from b4 to a2 and back again with continuous checks to secure a draw as I pointed out to Etan after the game. I contemplated getting my knight back to c2 to trade off the black knight but assessed that, although White would probably retain some slight advantages due to the compromised black queenside pawn structure, it likely wouldn't be enough to win. I'm uncertain if my assessment is correct, however.
27...Nb4 28.h4 g6 29.Ne3 Ke7 30.g4 h6 31.Kc3 a5 32.d5 c5 33.f4 h5 34.f5 Kf6 35.g5+ Ke5 36.f6 Kf4 37.Kd2 Kg3 38.Nf5+
Etan indicated, during the post mortem analysis, that he missed this powerful shot.
38...Kg4 39.Nh6+ Kxh4 40.Nxf7 Na6
The black knight is hoping to get back in time to stop White's passer, moving quickly on the f-file.
41.Nxd6
Not if I can help it! Black cannot afford the luxury of capturing White's knight, if he is to have any hope of stopping White's passer, which makes this combination possible.
41...Nb8 42.Ne4 Nd7 43.f7 Kh3 44.Nxc5 Nf8 45.Ne6 Kg2 46.Nxf8 h4 47.Nxg6 h3 48.Nf4+, Black resigns.
