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(1) Short,N (2663) - L'Ami,E (2603) [C48]
Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 19.01.2009
1.e4
e5
2.Nf3
Nf6
Erwin usually defends the Spanish, often using the Berlin Wall, but in last year's Wijk aan Zee B Group, Short demolished him with the Evans' Gambit. L'Ami therefore heads for a Petroff, but is soon surprised by another 19th century weapon. 3.Nc3
Nc6
4.Bb5
Short was the first contemporary GM to revive the Four Knights, during the early 1990s. 4...Nd4
Rubinstein's Defence, which was largely responsible for killing off the Four Knights in the early 20th century. However, it soon becomes apparent that L'Ami is not too familiar with its finer points. 5.Nxe5!?
The least popular choice for White in this position. The 1990s revival of the Four Knights concentrated on the moves 5.Ba4, 5.Bc4 and 5.0-0. 5...Nxb5?!
[Already a perceptible inaccuracy. Theory recommends 5...Qe7
6.f4
Nxb5
7.Nxb5
d6
8.Nf3
Qxe4+
with equality. Speaking to reporters after the game, Short made a very interesting point about the cause of Black's defeat in this game. As he explained, many players nowadays, especially young players, are so used to rattling out huge amounts of pre-game opening preparation, that they are simply not used to thinking at a very early stage of the game. Here, after barely five minutes' play, L'Ami was already out of his book knowledge, and needed to start thinking deeply about the position. Instead, he played a couple of plausible-looking moves rather quickly, but they proved to be errors. In addition, the position is rather more critical than it appears, and by the time L'Ami started really thinking about the position, it was too late - he was already practically lost.] 6.Nxb5
c6
[Black already has problems regaining his pawn, since 6...Nxe4?
7.Qe2
is obviously terrible.] 7.Nc3
Qe7
8.Nf3
Nxe4
9.0-0
Nxc3
10.dxc3
d5
11.Bg5
The position is already a disaster for Black. As Bobby Fischer pointed out, annotating his game against Celle in My Sixty Memorable Games, " A mistake in these open games is always much more serious". Short goes on to dispose of his opponent in thoroughly convincing style, but his task was not especially difficult. 11...Qd6
12.Re1+
Be6
13.Nd4
c5
[Played after long thought, but the position is already gone. The main point is that the natural 13...Be7
walks into the cruncher 14.Nf5!
eg. 14...Bxf5
15.Rxe7+
Kf8
16.Rxb7
with an extra pawn and an overwhelming position.] 14.Nxe6
fxe6
15.Qh5+
g6
16.Qg4
Kf7
[16...e5
17.Rad1
Bg7
18.Qf3
is equally hopeless.] 17.c4
d4
18.Qf3+
Kg8
19.Bf6
L'Ami had had enough punishment for one day. 1-0
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