(90) Hoekstra,M (2409) - Shahade,J (2318) [A00]
USCL Week 5 Game of the Week (5), 28.09.2005
[Jennifer Shahade]



1.d4
I gave up on preparing for this game, because I couldn't figure out what Hoekstra would likely try against the Grunfeld- and sometimes he plays the Trompowsky anyway. It's harder to prepare with black- you need to just know your stuff.

1...Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3
I was happy to see this move. I love playing Benoni structures against the finachetto. I also had some good games with the Grunfeld against g3- but I would prefer to have refreshed my memory before playing those sharp theoretical lines.

3...Bg7 4.Bg2 c5 5.dxc5
this is not a theoretical line as far as I know.

5...Na6
[5...Qa5+ I wasn't in the mood to get my queen out early in this particular game, although it's just as playable as Na6. 6.Nc3 Qxc5 ]

6.a3 Nxc5 7.b4
I was frankly surprised by this highly ambitious move- I expected Matt to wait a bit and develop some more pieces before expanding on the Q-side. As a lifetime e4 player, I can't relate to the lust for space that Queen pawn players seem to share.

7...Nce4 8.Ra2 0-0 9.Qd3?!
I was surprised by this move, because it seems to invite black to blast open the position and take advantage of white's undeveloped pieces and exposed queen. [While Hoekstra was thinking about his ninth move, I was trying to figure out what to do against c5- torn between playing d6 and sacrificing two pieces for a rook and playing the slightly pathetic looking h6. I was kind of annoyed because I felt the position after c5 should hold more resources! 9.c5! cutting off the Knights only escape square and threatening the simple f3. 9...d6 (9...h6 10.f3 Ng5 ) 10.f3 Be6 11.Rc2 Nxc5 12.bxc5 Bb3 13.cxd6 exd6 14.e3 Bxc2 15.Qxc2 Rc8 16.Qd2 Nd5! Black has to seize the moment or white will castle and have a better game. 17.Ne2 Nxe3 18.Qxe3 Re8 19.Qd2 Qb6 ]

9...d5!
Now or never

10.f3 Nd6 11.cxd5 e6 12.e4
At some point, I had to stop calculcating and trust that my edge in development would show in critical variations. This move is an example of a choice i hardly analysed; it just looked so disgusting to me to open the files and diagonals for my already active pieces. [12.dxe6 was what i spent most of my time analysing- I was worried that white could force a queen trade here, thus tempering my time-advantage. 12...Bxe6 13.Rd2 Qc7 (13...Nc4 Trading queens is sad in this position, with white's open king and black's lead in development. I probably wouldn't do it, even though black is doing fine in these variations. 14.Qxd8 Rfxd8 15.Rxd8+ Rxd8 16.Nh3 Nd5 17.0-0 Bd4+ 18.Kh1 Nde3 19.Re1 Bf5 And black has full compensation for the pawn, but probably not much more. ) 14.Rc2! (14.Qxd6 Qxc1+ 15.Rd1 Qe3 16.Qd3 Qb6 17.Qd4 Qa6 18.e4 Bb3 ) 14...Bc4? this was my idea during the game, but the surprising (14...Qe7 15.e4 Rfd8 ) 15.Bf4! found by Fritz gives white a big advantage. ]

12...exd5 13.e5 Bf5 14.Qb3 Re8 15.Re2!
The clever point to e4. Most likely, Hoekstra missed my next move, without which it's not clear if black has enough comp.

15...Nb5!
A rare landing square for the Knight and an unusual in between move. White is already in big trouble here. [15...Rc8 I considered throwing in Rc8 here, but didnt like the ugly but practical move, 16.Kd1 I'm still winning here, but I didnt want to give white a free chance to unpin his king. (16.Bg5 is another worry, although this also turns out to be good for black after nb5. ) ]

16.exf6 Nd4 17.Qd1
[17.Rxe8+ Qxe8+ 18.Qe3 fails to nc2, which is a major point of the variation. ]

17...Bxf6
During the game I was sure that Bf6 was better than ne2 immediately, which I didnt like cause white becomes one move closer to castling. At this point, it was my nightmare for white to give up a small ammount of material and pull off a big O-O. But according to Fritz, Ne2 is just as strong because after Nxe2 ne2 Qf6, the b1 knight is in take, and there is no graceful way to develop it- Nd2 loses to bd3, and the c3 square is a landmine- Nc3- Qxc3 and the e2 knight is pinned. [17...Nxe2 18.Nxe2 Qxf6 19.Bf4 Qb2! 20.Nd2 Bc2 ]

18.Nc3 Nxe2 19.Ncxe2
Here I was sure i was winning, but I still nervous. I've always been a little jealous of players who are so confident of victory that they can enjoy themselves at the home stretch, screwing the pieces slightly into the squares, stretching their arms in exageratted exhuastion at the effort, thus drawing attention to their beautiful positions. Me, I was worried here- which was better rc8 or d4, and what if i chose the wrong move? (Of course, both win)

19...Rc8 20.Kf1 d4 21.Bd2 d3 22.Nf4 Bc3 23.Bxc3 Rxc3 24.Bh3 d2 25.Nge2 Bc2
This wins of course, but i might have given my teammates a bit of a scare by allowing my opponent to briefly restore material equality to the board. Luckily, Hoekstra resigned quickly after the ensuring transition, so there was no panicky recollecitons of the fact that "Three pieces are usually better than a Queen." (But not one queen and soon to be Queen on d2.) [25...Bxh3+ 26.Nxh3 Qd3 27.Nf2 Rc1 28.Nxd3 Rxd1+ ; 25...Rxf3+ 26.Kg2 Rxf4 27.Nxf4 Be4+ 28.Kg1 Bxh1 ]

26.Nxc3 Bxd1 27.Nxd1 Re1+
My opponent resigned as if 28.Kg2 g5!, followed by 29...Qd3, and white cannot stop black's invasion. I was still tense here, totally unsure if the Knights would pull off a win. Jay Bonin had already lost to Kaminsky an hour ago. Meanwhile, Lew Eisen was down a pawn, but with compensation and Braylovsky, on board two was involved in a crazy melee against Lev Milman. Lewis managed to show the power of two bishops and win within only twenty minutes, and Braylovsky had traded a rook for four (!) pawns.Gregory had a winning position at the end of his game, but he only had a couple of minutes, so he accepted a draw to clinch the match in our favor. Ironically, this may have cost him "Game of the Week"!, although his inspired play keeps him in contention as a possible league MVP. 0-1