Speelman's Agony: A twofer from the 4NCL

by Jonathan Speelman
1/19/2020 – In this week's column, GM JON SPEELMAN, brings you two of his own instructive games against grandmasters, played in a recent weekend of the Four Nations Chess League. | Send in your own games! Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!
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Agony & Ecstasy #114

Stephen GordonI thought this week that I'd show my two games from last week's 4NCL and, as requested by the survey last year, make the column more didactic. I haven't used ChessBase's training annotation format before but there are a number of questions dotted through the two games.

The season started with a match between my team Wood Green and 3Cs who had Stephen Gordon on top board. [Gordon, pictured, recently annotated games from the Tata Steel Masters -Ed.] I believe we'd drawn all five of our previous games but this time he murdered me!

The second game is against Scottish Champion GM Colin McNab.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 Well, I thought, at least nothing untoward has happened up to here and we're in an ancient position which I know fairly well. 10.Bd2 This is Gena Sosonko's pet move. 40 years ago it was hot stuff and nobody quite knew how to react but nowadays it's the main line. Be4 11.Qc1 c6 They used to play Bb7 here offering a repetition, but c6 is an excellent move. 11...Bb7 12.Be3 12.Rd1 Bxf3!? wins the d-pawn but people have generally played 12...Nbd7 anyway 13.Bxf3 Qxd4 and White has very decent compensation for the exchange but probably not more. 14.a4 b4 15.Be3 Qe5 16.Bf4 16.Nd2 Nd5 17.Nc4 Qc7 18.Bd4 Nd7 19.e4 N5b6 20.Nxb6 Nxb6 21.Bc5 Bxc5 22.Qxc5 a5 23.Rd6 Rac8 24.e5 Nd7 25.Qe3 f6 16...Qf5 17.Nd2 e5 18.Be3 Nd5 19.Bc5 Qe6 20.Ne4 Rd8 20...f5 21.Ng5 Bxg5 22.Qxg5 Re8 23.e4 fxe4 24.Bxe4 Nd7 25.Rac1 N7f6 26.Bf5 Qf7 21.Bxe7 Qxe7 22.Qc5 12...Nbd7 12...Nd5 13.Nc3 Nxc3 14.Qxc3 Nd7 was also playable and he wondered about Nd5 Nbd2 13.Nc3 13.Nbd2 Bd5 is a pretty good version for Black who looks very comfortable. 13...Bg6 14.Rd1 Rc8 15.Bg5 I was in far from great form and only started analysing b4 and c5 after playing Bg5! In fact, 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Nd5 17.Ne4 Might be about equal. 15...Qc7 15...b4 16.Na4 Qa5 17.b3 c5 18.Ne5 18.Nb2!? 18...cxd4 19.Nc6 Rxc6 20.Bxc6 Rc8 21.Bxf6 gxf6! looks a bit better for Black. 21...Nxf6 22.Rxd4 White is at least okay. 21...Bxf6? 22.Bxd7 Rxc1 23.Raxc1 Be7 24.Rc8+ Bf8 25.Rxd4 Qe5 26.e3 and White should win 22.Rxd4 22.Bxd7 Rxc1 23.Raxc1 Qe5 22...Ne5 23.Rc4 Nxc4 24.Qxc4 Black is at least a bit better. 16.Qe3?? 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Qe3 c5 18.Ne4 18.dxc5 Nxc5 19.Rac1 Qb8 18...Bxe4! 19.Qxe4 cxd4 20.Nxd4 Nc5 at least =+ 21.Qb1 Na4 The knight is extremely annoying here. My engine only gives this as =+ but I would have been very unhappy. 22.e3 Qa5 23.Be4 g6 24.Bc2 Rfd8 25.Bxa4 25.b4 Qb6 26.Bxa4 bxa4 25...bxa4 16.Nh4 Bh5 17.a3 h6 18.Bf4 Qa7 19.Bxh6 gxh6 20.Qxh6= 16...b4! is very strong because the intended Na4 simply loses the exchange to Bc2 but I should perhaps have tried this anyway because at least I keep my position intact. 17.Nb1 17.Na4 Bc2 18.b3 17...c5 With my knight back home and the position opening I'm in big trouble.
How would Black answer d5?
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Speelman,J-Gordon,S-0–12020E054NCL2
McNab,C-Speelman,J-0–12020A104NCL2

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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