Author: Pete R.
Date: 16:10:06 07/15/99
Hello all,
In order to elicit more analysis, or just provide some for people who might
be interested, this is an analysis of the game recently posted by Dr. Hyatt.
For convenience the PGN is repeated here first:
[Event "ICC 5 3"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "1999.07.13"]
[Round "-"]
[White "crafty"]
[Black "KingLoek"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "3118"]
[BlackElo "2956"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Najdorf, Poisoned pawn variation"]
[ECO "B97"]
[NIC "SI.08"]
[Time "00:00:49"]
[TimeControl "300+3"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8.
Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. f5 Nc6 11. fxe6 fxe6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. e5 dxe5 14.
Bxf6 gxf6 15. Ne4 Be7 16. Be2 h5 17. Rb3 Qa4 18. Nxf6+ Bxf6 19. c4 Bh4+ 20.
g3 Be7 21. O-O h4 22. Bd3 Rg8 23. Qf2 Rg7 24. Bg6+ Rxg6 25. Qf7+ Kd8 26.
Rd1+ Bd7 27. Rxd7+ Kxd7 28. Rd3+ Kc7 29. Qxe7+ Kb6 30. Rb3+ Qxb3 31. axb3
hxg3 32. c5+ Kb5 33. Qb7+ Kxc5 34. Qxa8 gxh2+ 35. Kxh2 Rg4 36. Qxa6 Rb4 37.
Qa5+ Rb5 38. b4+ Kc4 39. Qc7 c5 40. bxc5 Rxc5 41. Qd6 e4 42. Qxe6+ Kd4 43.
Qf6+ Kd5 44. Kg3 Rc2 45. Qd8+ Ke5 46. Qh8+ Kd5 47. Qh5+ Kc4 48. Kf4
{Black resigns}
1-0
The only obvious mistake on GM van Wely's part is 31...hxg3. The interesting
thing about this game is that the variation is booked to move 23 or so. This
was the first move out of book for Crafty. This line has the interesting
feature that between book and 31...hxg3 there are a number of forced moves
and variations that transpose back to the line played in the game. So the
first question is what the picture looks like at black's 31st move if we pick
something other than hxg3. Call this The Position, for easy reference.
A few candidates: (any * after a move indicates that it is essentially forced)
A) 31...Rag8 32. Qxh4 +0.87 @ 13/34 (means Fritz 5.32 evaluates the position
at +0.87 at a brute depth of 13 with selective depth of 34 ply)
B) 31...Rgg8 32. Qxh4 +0.75 @ 13/13
C) 31...c5 32. Qxh4 +1.19 @ 14/32
D) 31...Rh8 32. c5+ Kb5* 33. Qc7 Kb4* 34. Qxc6 Rhg8 35. Qa4+ Kxc5 36. Qxh4
+0.78 @ 13/35
I have done more detailed analysis on these lines, but I'm pretty sure the best
black can hope for is a draw, and that seems unlikely given his exposed king and
white's queen. Certainly open to being proved wrong. The rooks are not that
active in many lines, and they have to tread on eggshells due to the ever
present threat of a queen fork.
At this point I welcome further analysis to see if black can make a draw, but
for the sake of continuation I will assume at this point that he can't do any
better and will lose, so that reaching The Position here is not desirable
for black.
So now we have to back up and avoid this position. Since the moves from 29.
Qxe7+ to this position are forced, we have to back up to black's 28th move and
find something other than 28...Kc7. The only other legal move is 28...Kc8.
28...Kc8 29. Qe8+ Kb7 (29...Kc7 is the only other move here 30. Qxe7+ Kb6*
31. Rb3+ Qxb3* 32. axb3 is a forced line transposing back to move 31 of the
actual game, which of course leads to The Position) 30. Qxe7+ same as
the 29...Kc7 line and another transposition back to the game's main line. So
we have to go back even further to avoid The Position.
Once again we have a forced line from 24. Bg6+ to black's 28th move above,
so we have to go all the way back to black's 23rd move 23...Rg7, which is
probably still in book for many books. 23...Rg7 leads to The Position out at
move 31, so if you are satisfied that The Position is bad for black, strike
23...Rg7 out of your opening book. So now we have to look at alternatives
for black's 23rd move, which is surprising since black seems substantially
ahead here at first blush.
A) 23...Rg4 24 Bg6+ Rxg6 transposes back to the game's main line
Without getting into all of it, the most promising line for black based on
my analysis so far is 23...Kd7 24. Rd1 Qa5 25. Bh7+ Kc7 26. Bxg8 Bc5 27. Re3*
Bd7 with black still showing roughly a 2 pawn advantage. Analysis continues
to see if white has anything better.
The main point is that if The Position after 31. axb3 can be shown to be
good for White, then 23...Rg7 should be tossed out of the opening books.
Even if black can hold to a draw it's likely that 23...Kd7 is easily better.
But with more analysis it may be possible to go back even further in this
variation. If anyone wants a PGN file with more detailed analysis, please
send me an email. Thanks to Dr. Hyatt (and GM van Wely) for an interesting
game.
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Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
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