Boston Blitz beat San Francisco Mechanics 2.5-1.5

I was fortunate enough to catch the tail end of the match on ICC Wednesday evening. When I got home, Chrissy Bear had already won on board 4 and Larry Christiansen was destroying the rusty GM Patrick Wolff. I ended up spending most of my time watching the Bhat-Kelleher game. When I first looked at the position it seemed that Kelleher was doing fine, all his pieces were developed and seemed very active. Unfortunately, he reached one of these “I’ve put all my pieces on good squares now what do I do?” positions. This problem usually occurs when you put your pieces on good squares without a real plan in mind. Bhat ended up winning the game quite easily, and I’m sure Kelleher left scratching his head asking himself where he went wrong..

Later that evening, I was chillin’ on ICC when I saw IM Josh Friedel analyzing this game with my arch-enemy Ilya Krasik. I decided to put personal differences aside and analyze with them for the sake of chess truth!

Bhat,Vinay - Kelleher,William
US Chess League

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 a6 9.e4 c5 10.e5 cxd4 11.Nxb5 Ng4 12.Qa4 Bb7 13.Nbxd4 Qb6 14.0-0 Bc5 15.h3 Bxf3 16.hxg4 Bb7?! This has all been theory up to this move. According to Josh, this move is inaccurate. Better is: [16…Bd5 Which has been played by Ivanchuk and Chernin, to name a few.] 17.Nb3 0-0 18.Qf4 [18.Qxd7? Rad8=/+] 18…Rfd8 19.Qg3?! Nxe5!

20.Nxc5 [At first, Vinay thought Kelleher had blundered here, but apparently black is fine in all variations, for instance: 20.Qxe5 Rxd3 21.Nxc5 (21.Qxc5 Rxb3=) 21…Rd5 22.Na4 Qc6! (22…Qb4 23.Qc7 Rc8 24.a3! Qb3 25.Qb6+-) 23.Qe4 f5! This is the key variation to to 19… Nxe5. Black emerges here with atleast an = game since white can no longer protect the a4 knight and g2 pawn simultaneosly.] 20…Qxc5 21.Be2

I beileve this is the critical position where Kelleher started going wrong. He needs to come up with a plan rather than simply put his pieces on good squares. 21…Qd5? [21…Nc6! Suggested by Krasik. The point is the knight is really not doing anything on e5 and needs a better home. 22.Qc3!? (22.Be3 Nd4!=/+) 22…Qd6 23.Be3 Nd4 24.Bxd4 Qxd4 25.Qxd4 Rxd4=] 22.Bg5! This weakens the kingside. 22…f6 23.Be3 Rac8 24.Bb6 Rd6 25.Rad1 Qc6 26.Bd4 Rcd8 27.Bxe5 Rxd1 28.Bxd1 fxe5 29.Bb3

Rd2? The b2 pawn is basically meaningless here. Much better is: [29…Rd3! It makes sense for black to switch his focus onto the dark squares, since the light square battery on g2 isn’t doing anything. 30.f3 Qb6+ 31.Kh2 Bd5 32.Rc1 (32.Qxe5 Bxb3 33.axb3 Qd6 Leaves white with very few winning chances in the rook endgame.) 32…Qe3! And much to Josh’s chagrin, white has nothing more than a draw: 33.Rc8+ Kf7 34.Rc7+ Kg8 35.Qh4!? Qf4+ 36.Kh1 Bxb3 37.Rc8+ Kf7 38.Rc7+ (38.Qh5+ Ke7 39.Qe8+ Kf6 40.Qf8+ Kg6 41.Qe8+ Qf7=/+) 38…Kg8=] 30.Re1 e4? This loses pretty quickly, but black was in huge trouble anyways. [30…Rxb2 31.Kh2!+/- This was pointed out by Josh. The idea is to get out of the way of any back rank checks with tempo.] 31.Qb8+ Bc8 [31…Qc8?? 32.Bxe6+] 32.Qf4 Rxb2 33.Rc1 Qd7 34.Qb8 1-0