[Event "Coventry League"] [Site "?"] [Date "2000.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Hall, M."] [Black "Donnelly, M.J."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B22"] [Annotator "MJDonnelly"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "2000.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2008.05.10"] {[%evp 0,68,28,36,65,11,34,-29,-35,-27,-26,-29,-43,-17,-19,-10,-18,-41,-17,-28, 5,19,15,5,24,-34,46,23,50,-16,-12,-80,-76,-64,-67,-54,-46,-85,-80,-117,-117, -200,-272,-272,-282,-305,-325,-296,-175,-146,-171,-184,-214,-191,-199,-199, -199,-258,-398,-711,-831,-1022,-350,-1143,-1340,-1506,-1897,-2630,-1790,-29991, -2491]} 1. e4 c5 2. f4 Nc6 ({Alternative approaches are firstly} 2... d5 { envisaging the pawn sacrifice} 3. exd5 Nf6 4. Bb5+ {and White follows with c4.} ) ({or} 2... g6 {retaining flexibility as to which central pawn set up Black will adopt but}) (2... d6 {a typical move for Najdorf players, for instance, allows White to choose from several systems that are easy to play, such as the Grand-Prix Attack (with Bc4 or the more modern Bb5), the Closed Sicilian with g3, or switching to an Open Sicilian unfamiliar to one's opponents. Examples are} 3. Nc3 a6 (3... Nc6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bb5 a6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. O-O d5 8. d3 Bd6 9. e5 Bc7 10. b3 {Donnelly-Glinton, Joe Soesan Memorial Cup, Coventry 2001.}) ( 3... e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 a6 7. Qf3 Nbd7 8. Be3 Qc7 9. O-O-O b5 10. Bd3 Bb7 11. Rhe1 {Donnelly-Whitemore, Joe Soesan Memorial Cup, Coventry 2000.}) 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. O-O e6 8. d3 Nge7 9. Be3 Nd4 10. Qd2 O-O 11. Rae1 {Donnelly-James, 4 NCL 1998. For players interested in these lines, these particular games are analysed in detail, and provided for download, in the archive section of this web site for April-May 2000, October-November 2001, and December 2013-January 2014.}) ({and finally} 2... e6 {aiming for a French pawn structure with d5.} 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. d4 Bg4 7. Qe2+ Qe7 8. Qxe7+ Bxe7 9. dxc5 Bxc5 {Elliot-Donnelly, Teesside Schools Jamboree 1967.}) 3. c3 {An interesting idea which may threaten d4-d5 forcing the Black knight back. More commonly White plays Nf3 or Nc3 often transposing to the variations described earlier.} Nf6 ({Central action with} 3... d5 {is another option for Black which leads to unclear play, for example} 4. exd5 (4. e5 Bf5 5. d3 {Blatny-Stangl, Brno Morava 1991.}) 4... Qxd5 5. Nf3 {Torres Calle-Maldonado, Ibague open 2011.}) 4. d3 {The opening switches direction once more as White selects the line recommended by Lawrence Day and known as the "Big Clamp"-White attempts to dominate the centre with a mass of pawns.} ( 4. e5 {drives the knight to the centre but Black is OK after} Nd5 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 {an example being Flom-Felgaer, Paris Open-A 2011. The strong player Flom often plays this line which could arise from the Alapin variation (2.c3) of the Sicilian.}) 4... d6 5. Nf3 (5. Be2 {is another way, playing Be3/Nd2 before castling, used by Day several times so after} g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. Nd2 O-O { White may play the hyper-aggressive} 8. g4) 5... g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2 {Whilst this has been played by the strong player, and noted opening theorist Timothy Taylor, it seems better to select from other White options here eg} (8. Qe1 {an aggressive line with the intention of playing Qh4/f5/Bh6/ Ng5 has (without c3 being played) been chosen by McShane. However, in this exact position Black has the central blow} c4 {-one example being Bernadskiy-Zubarev, Lutsk Sotnya Memorial rapid 2016 slowing down the White attack.}) (8. Kh1 {a waiting move favoured often by the 2600+ elo player Kovalev; or the most popular move, retarding Black's b5-b4 counter-play by}) ( 8. Na3) 8... Bg4 9. Be3 (9. e5 {is premature as Black is better after} Nd5 { Abraham-Fox, Olympiad final 19, 1970.}) (9. h3 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Rc8 11. g4 { is similar to the main game but White obtained a good form of the kings-side pawn storm after} Nd7 12. Qg2 Qc7 13. Na3 a6 14. Nc4 b5 15. Ne3 { Martin-Sorcinelli, Nichelino open 2005 as Black has not yet put any obstacles in White's way and has little prospect of attacking the White king behind the advanced pawns.}) 9... Rc8 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 b5 ({Or} 11... Nd4 12. Bxd4 ({ instead} 12. Qd1 Nxf3+ 13. Qxf3 {is about level.}) 12... cxd4 {and Black is better as in Weimer-Wolff, Ruhrgebiet VK1 1997.}) 12. g4 {White begins the process of a pawn storm by advancing his pawn cover in front of his king. As before this is less risky than if the Black queen's bishop had not been swapped off.} b4 {Pressuring the c3 square.} 13. Nd2 Nd7 {So that if White continues the pawn storm with f5 then Black retains control of f6 whilst at the same time allowing for one, or other knight, to occupy the ideal square e5. } 14. g5 Nd4 {In contrast to the Martin game given earlier this gives White something to think about.} 15. Bxd4 {This allows Black to intensify the pressure on c3 so the defensive} (15. Qc1 {was a little better.}) ({Note that here} 15. Qd1 {does not lead to equality as Black can win a pawn with} bxc3 16. bxc3 Nxf3+ 17. Nxf3 Bxc3) 15... cxd4 16. c4 e5 {This strike in the centre is very strong and is played before White can advance his pawn further with h4-h5 (perhaps with hxg6 included), or f5, and at some point perhaps a sacrificial f6 or again exchanging on g6. Thus Black avoids the critical situations that arose in the other two annotated games given this month where the White pawns advanced as far as the Black King's defences on the second rank.} 17. Bg4 exf4 18. Nf3 (18. Bxd7 {is no use as the Black queen arrives behind the advanced pawns with a winning attack after} Qxd7 19. Rxf4 Qxh3 {due to the possibilities of Rc5 or f5.}) 18... Rc5 19. h4 {Securing g5 so an attempt can be made to recover the pawn on f4.} Ne5 20. Nh2 h6 {The simplest. Black destroys the g5 outpost thus, as before, enabling the Black queen to enter the White king-side behind the remnants of the advanced White pawns. This expoits the gaps in White's game caused by these advances.} 21. Rxf4 (21. gxh6 { does not help due to} Bxh6 22. Qf2 f3 23. Qxd4 Qxh4 24. Bxf3 Bf4 {with a winning attack noting especially that no advanced White pawns are extant whilst the Black king is perfectly secure behind his hardly moved king-side pawns.}) 21... hxg5 22. hxg5 Qxg5 23. Raf1 Nxg4 24. Rxg4 Qe3+ {So the queen enters the heart of the White position and the rook on c5 can now join the attack. Note that at the start of the game and before the pawn advances, the White pawns at f2, g2 and h2, protected the e3 and g3 squares in particular and an attack down the h-file may have been met by h2-h3.} 25. Kh1 Rh5 26. Qd1 Be5 27. Rg2 Qh6 28. Qe2 (28. Qd2 {also loses to} Qe3 29. Qxe3 dxe3 30. Re1 Kg7 31. Rxe3 Rfh8 32. Ree2 Rh3 33. Kg1 Rxd3 {with Bd4 to follow which wins easily.} ) 28... Kg7 29. Rff2 Rh8 30. Qf1 {White, in serious time trouble, just manages to makes the first time control but plays on for a few moves in a lost position.} f6 {Also winning was} (30... Rxh2+ 31. Rxh2 Bxh2 {as the check} 32. Rxf7+ {achieves nothing since Black has} Kg8 33. Rf8+ ({or} 33. Rb7 Bf4+) 33... Qxf8) 31. Qe2 Qc1+ 32. Rg1 Qe3 33. Rgg2 ({If} 33. Qxe3 dxe3 {attacks both f2 and h2.}) 33... Bxh2 34. Rxh2 Rxh2+ (34... Rxh2+ 35. Rxh2 {fails to the curious pin} ({and} 35. Kg1 {leads to mate after} Rh1+ 36. Kg2 R8h2#) 35... Qxe2 {In this game, in contrast to the previous two annotated games given this month , the attacker was only able to advance pawns to the fourth and fifth ranks. The defender was able to nullify the attack and prevent any further advance by taking action to open the centre of the board. Later the originally defending pieces were then able to penetrate behind the advanced pawns, exploting the weakened defences, and generate a serious and in the end fatal attack against the now more exposed opponent's king.}) 0-1