13.3.08

A Contribution from a Friend

One remarkable young man send me a game of his specially for the blog. He is only 17 but already achieved certain success in the chess scene. He is Romain Edouard from France, and here are some of his best results in brief:
IM title in September of the 2006 year (awarded in february of 2007) ;
European U16 Champion in 2006 ;
2nd place in the strong closed GM tournament of La Roche Sur Yon 2007 ;
2nd place in European & World U18 Championship in 2007 ;
1st place with my team Clichy Echecs 92 in the French Championship 2007 (1st division).


Edouard,R (2507) - Petrosian,T (2606)
24e Open de Cappelle la Grande Cappelle la Grande, France (8), 2008
[Romain Edouard]
This game was round 8 in the Cappelle la Grande 2008 open. This tournament is, to my mind, one of the best organizations of the planet, and, this year, I even had the chance to play it with a great friend, which made be in great conditions to play my games. Unfortunately a "click" missed to me to beat some GMs, as in this game, so I couldn't manage to make a GM norm.
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Nd7 6.0–0 Bg6 7.Nbd2!?


A recent idea is to put the knight on b3. The idea is that ...c5 will often be a mistake (due to too much changes on c5, leaving a great d4-square for White) and that White is going to advance with Bd2-Qe1–Bb4, or Bd2-a3-Bb4, or Bd2-Na5-b4/c4 or sometimes some Bg5 before. Sometimes White can also try Ne1 with f4 plans. [7.b3 Nh6 8.c4 Nf5 is more classical, with ideas like 9.Nc3 Bb4! then ...Qa5, and Black is near by equalizing.] 7...Nh6 8.Nb3 Be7 [8...Nf5 looks better to me : 9.Bd2 (9.Bg5 Be7 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.c3 0–0 12.Na5!? Rab8 13.Qd2 looks lightly better for White, but probably near by nothing.) 9...Be7 10.Bd3 and in this position I think White is likely to keep with g4 and soon f4.] 9.Bxh6! I think the best move. Black just stands ridiculous with those h-pawns because the Bishop already came in e7. Now ...Bf8-...Bg7-...f5 is too much slow. 9...gxh6 10.Qd2 h5 11.c3!? Now that I gave my dark-squared bishop I try to put my pawn on dark-squares and plan to play Nc1–Nd3-Nf4 in most of cases. 11...Qb6 12.Bd3?! [12.Nc1 …0–0–0!? 13.Nd3 Be4 14.a4 was my first idea and is much better than 12.Bd3.] 12...Rc8?! [12...0–0–0! with ...Rdg8 and ...Be4 ideas should equalize for Black, I think.] 13.Rab1!?White achieved slight edge


I want to protect b-pawn and get some Nc1 and b4 ideas. [13.Nc1! c5 14.Ne2! was much better, I overlooked that after 14...cxd4 15.cxd4 Bxd3 16.Qxd3 Qxb2 17.Rab1 Qc2 I had 18.Qe3! with a great position.] 13...c5 Hard decision, but what else? 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Nxc5 Bxc5 16.Kh1!? This move aims to move the Knight on f3 and to play f4. [16.b4 Be7 17.Rfe1 is also good for White but I didn't like that much weakening the c3-pawn.] 16...0–0 [16...Bxd3? 17.Qxd3 Bxf2 18.Ng5 is terrible for Black.] 17.Ng5!?

17...f6 Otherwise after f4 Black's position is very difficult. 18.exf6 Rxf6 19.f4?! Too ambitious. [19.Rbe1!? Bxf2 20.Bxg6 hxg6 21.Rxe6! Rxe6 22.Nxe6 Qxe6 23.Qxf2 with an edge] 19...Be3 20.Qe2 e5? [20...Rcf8! was the move I had underestimated, after that I have to play carefully with 21.Bxg6 (21.Rf3?! Bxf4 22.Nxh7 Kxh7 23.Rxf4 Kh6!? is at least = for Black.) 21...hxg6 22.Qd3! Kg7 23.g3 e5 24.Qxd5 exf4 25.Qd7+ Kh6 26.h4 Qc6+ 27.Qxc6 bxc6 28.Rbe1 following Kh2, and Black still has problems according to Rybka.; 20...Bxf4? is of course wrong because of 21.Nxh7! Kxh7 (21...Bxh7 22.Bxh7+ Kxh7 23.Rxf4±) 22.Rxf4 Bxd3 23.Qxd3+ with large advantage] 21.f5!


[After 21.Nxh7 Kxh7! (21...Bxh7 22.Bxh7+ Kxh7 23.Qxh5+ Kg7 24.Qg4+ White wins) 22.fxe5 Rff8 23.Qxh5+ Bh6 Black can hold the game.] 21...Be8 [21...Bxg5? 22.fxg6 e4 only move 23.gxh7+ Kh8 24.Qxh5±] 22.Ne6 e4 23.Bc2 Kh8 [23...Bb5? doesn't work because of 24.Qxh5 Bxf1? 25.Qg4++-] 24.c4?! [24.Qe1! with Qh4 and Qg3 ideas was near by immediately winning, but I thought 24.c4 was even stronger.; 24.a4!? is also simple and excellent.] 24...Rxc4 25.Bb3 Rc8 26.Qe1!± White plans Qg3-Qe5, and Black is just near by losing. [26.Bxd5? Bb5„] 26...Bc6 [26...Bb5 27.Qg3 Bh6 28.Rfc1!? Re8 29.Bxd5 is an obvious edge for White] 27.Qg3 Bh6 28.Bxd5 [28.Qe5 Bg7 29.Bxd5 is the same as the game, as 29...Rxe6? doesn't work because of (29...Qb5? 30.Nxg7+-) 30.Qxe6 Re8 31.Qf7 Rf8 32.Qxh5! Bxd5 33.f6 winning] 28...Bxd5 29.Qe5 Bg7 30.Qxd5

30...Qc6 only move 31.Qd1 e3 32.Qxh5 Rg8 33.Qf3!? Qb5 [33...Qxf3 34.Rxf3 Bh6 35.h3+- following g4.] 34.g4 [34.Qe4! wins. It's hard to understand how it's possible not to play this logical move!] 34...Qe5 35.Rbe1 Bh6 36.h4 Rc8 [36...Re8 was the only move, but: 37.g5 Rexe6 38.gxf6 Rxf6 39.Re2 and White should win easily.] 37.g5 Rc2

38.Re2?? Crazy move! I just played it automatically because of time trouble, and I didn't think Black was just losing a piece if I just avoided the mate! [Both 38.Qh3; or 38.Nf4 win] 38...Rxe2 39.Qxe2 Rxf5 40.Rxf5 Qxf5 41.Qxe3 Bg7 42.Nxg7 only move [42.Nc5 Qb1+ 43.Kg2 Qxb2+ 44.Kf3 Qxa2=] 42...Qb1+ 43.Kg2 Qxb2+


Here I just played Qf2 desperately because I thought the rest was also draw. It's a mistake but I think my thoughts were right. 44.Qf2 [44.Kf3 Kxg7 45.Qxa7 Kg6! 46.Qa4 (46.Qe3 Qxa2 47.Qd3+ Kg7 48.Qc3+ Kf7 49.Qc7+ Kg6 50.Qb6+ Kg7 51.Qxb7+ Kg6 52.Qe4+ Kg7 and I doubt White can win this.) 46...Qc3+ with ...Kh5 ideas is just draw.] 44...Qxf2+ 45.Kxf2 Kxg7 46.Kf3 b5 47.h5 b4 48.Ke4 a5 49.Kd4 a4 50.Kc4 b3 51.axb3 axb3 52.Kxb3 Kf7 53.Kc4 Ke6 54.Kd4 Kf5 After this game I had to beat GM Miroshnichenko (2647) as Black to make the norm. Quite hard! I finally lost this game and finished very far from top places. ½–½

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