White: Peter Bereolos

Black: GM Alex Yermolinsky

Land Of The Sky, 1999

Round 5 Board 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 a6!?

A flexible move order. If White plays 7.Be2 then 7...c5 8.d5 b5 9.cxb5 axb5 10.Bxb5 White has lost a tempo compared to the line 6...c5 7.d5 b5 8.cxb5 a6 9.a4 axb5 10.Bxb5. I go for an extreme approach instead.

7.a4 Bg4

The inclusion of a6 and a4 favors Black in this line.

8.Be2 Nc6 9.d5

Before Black can play ...e5 and ...Bxf3 gaining a foothold on d4.

9...Nb4 10.Be3

10.a5 is probably the best move here, but I couldn't bring myself to make another pawn move.

10...a5

cementing the knight into b4.

11.0-0 e6 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Bxf3 c6 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.Qd2 Qc7 16.Rad1 Rfd8 17.Qf2 Rab8

18.Rd2

18. Kh1 may be slightly better as will be seen.

18...d5

Black has achieved his maximum so breaks open the center.

19.exd5 cxd5 20.cxd5 Nfxd5 21.Nxd5 Nxd5 22.Bxd5 Rxd5 23.Rxd5 exd5 24.Bd4 Rb4 25.Bxg7 Kxg7 26.f5

Threatening 26.fxg6 or 26.f6+ with a powerful attack.

26...Qb6

Had white moved his King to h1 on move 18, this would not be a pin and White could continue with f6+.

27.Qxb6 Rxb6 28.fxg6 hxg6 29.Rd1

Normally, in a rook ending you wouldn't force your opponents rook behind his passed pawn. Here, however, this maneuver lets me liquidate my pawn weakness.

29...Rd6 30.Rb1

A better way of enforcing b4 than 30.Rd4 where the rook would be exposed to ...Kf6-e5.

30...Rc6 31.b4 axb4 32.Rxb4 Rc1+ 33.Kf2 Kf6 34.a5 Ra1 35.Rb6+ Ke5 36.a6 Ke4 37.Rf6 d4 38.Rxf7 Rxa6 39.Re7+ Kd3 40.h4 Kd2 41.g4 d3 42.h5 gxh5 43.gxh5 Rh6 44.Re5 Kd1 45.Kg3 Rd6 46.Kg4 d2 47.Ra5 Ke2 48.Ra1 d1=Q 49.Rxd1 Rxd1 50.h6 Ke3 51.Kg5 Ke4 52.h7 1/2:1/2

Not a bad Sunday for me. However, Ivanov beat Hikaru Nakamura in the last round to take clear first. Yermolinsky, myself, and a couple of others had to settle for shares of second.