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T. Jansen - M. Meijs
French Defence [C00]
GESS II-DJZ II (LiSB 1A)
(Urmond, 14/04/2002)
This game was played in the last round in class 1A of the Limburg Chess Federation (LiSB) competition for teams. I was playing with white for GESS, and my opponent played for DJZ. Neither team could reach promotion to a higher class, nor was there a possibility of being relegated to a lower class. I like this game, because it shows that a king stuck in the middle can be more than enough compensation for a gambitted pawn. Also pay attention to the black rooks.
1.e4 e6 The French is something I encounter only rarely. For some reason there are only a few players in GESS who play it. 2.d4 d5 3.Be3
This is the Alapin French (see Tim Sawyer, Alapin French, Thinkers' Press, 1995, or Tim Harding, Four Gambits To Beat The French, Chess Digest, 1998). It leads to positions similar to those in the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. 3...dxe4 4.Nd2 After 4.Nc3 black can play 4...Bb4. 4...Nf6 5.f3 This leads to Blackmar-Diemer type positions. 5...Nd5 6.Qe2 exf3 [After 6...Nb4 , attacking c2, white plays of course 7.Nxe4] 7.Ngxf3 Bd6 8.c4 Taking space, and, after black takes the bishop on e3 and white takes back with the queen, white can develop the bishop on f1. 8...Nxe3 [After 8...Nf4 white does not take the knight, but moves 9.Qf2 The knight on f4 is rather awkwardly placed. It will soon be chased away, and the white queen is then nicely placed on f2 from where she aims at f7 or she can go to h4 aiming at h7.] 9.Qxe3 c6 I don't know if this is good. It does open the a5-d8 diagonal on which the black queen might be developed, but it seems more natural for black to aim for c5 after 9...Nd7. 10.Bd3 This bishop takes aim at h7. Together with possible moves like Ng5 and Qh3 this makes it very dangerous for black to castle on the king side. 10...Nd7 This knight goes to f6 to defend the king side and allow black to castle there after all. 11.0-0 The rook on the f-file strengthens the attack on the king side. 11...Nf6 12.Ne4 Black has brought in a defender, so white tries to remove it. 12...Bc7 Black wants to retain her good bishop. [12...0-0 would not be good. After 13.Nxf6+ Qxf6 14.Bxh7+ Kh8 15.Ne5 Qh4 16.Bg6± white is much better.] 13.Nxf6+ gxf6 Castling on the king side is now no longer possible, but there was no alternative. [13...Qxf6 loses. For example 14.Ne5 Qh4 (14...Bxe5 15.Rxf6 Bxf6 and white is better) 15.g3 Qh5 16.Nxf7 0-0 17.Qg5 Qxg5 18.Nxg5 Rxf1+ 19.Rxf1 g6 20.Nxh7 Kxh7 21.Rf7++-] 14.Rad1 [I could have played 14.Qh6 This threatens the pawns on h7 and f6 and the rook on h8 after Qg7, so it would at least have won back the pawn. During the game I was afraid that my queen would be side-tracked, but that is not the case, and 14.Qh6 is probably the best move. There could have followed 14...Bb6 (14...f5 15.Rae1; 14...e5 15.Qg7 Rf8 16.Bxh7 Be6 17.dxe5 fxe5 18.b3) 15.c5 Bc7 (15...Bxc5 16.dxc5 Qxd3 17.Qxf6 Rf8 18.Rad1 Qe3+ 19.Kh1 Bd7 20.Ne5 Rd8 21.Nxf7+-) 16.Rae1 Bd7 17.Nd2 Qe7 18.Rxf6 0-0-0 19.Qg7 Rdf8=] 14...Bd7 As she cannot castle on the king side, black decides to castle on the queen side. With a pawn up and the open g-file, black would then have a very good position, so white tries to prevent this castling as well. 15.Nd2 This knight aims for f6. 15...Qe7 16.Ne4 f5 17.Nc5 This is not good. When I decide to play 15.Nd2 I thought that I could play 17.Ng5 here, but that is nonsense. Black would play 17...f4. On c5 the knight is only attacking the bishop on d7, which black doesn't mind exchanging for the knight. White cannot take on b7, because after ...Rb8 this rook penetrates on the queen side. [I should have played 17.Nd2 with the idea Nf3-e5.] 17...Qh4 Suddenly black has a nasty attack on my king. [Both, white and black, during the game thought that black could not castle because after 17...0-0-0 18.Bxf5?! black cannot take, because the black queen is hanging. However, black has the intermediate move 18...Qd6 and after 19.Bh3 Qxh2+ 20.Kf2 Rhg8 black is much better.] 18.Rxf5
I decided to allow black to take on h2. [After 18.h3!? 0-0-0 white will not be mated or lose material by force, but black is still a pawn up and has a nice attack. Worse is 18.g3 Rg8 19.Kg2 (19.Rf3 f4) 19...f4 20.Qe4 0-0-0 21.Qxh7 Qxh7 22.Bxh7 Rg7 23.Bc2 fxg3 24.h3 Rh8] 18...Qxh2+ 19.Kf1 [I took an awful lot of time to decide where to move my king. First there is 19.Kf2 but after 19...Rg8 (19...Bg3+ 20.Qxg3 Qxg3+ 21.Kxg3 exf5 22.Re1+ Kd8 23.Nxb7+ Kc7 24.Re7 Rae8 25.Rxf7 Re3+ 26.Kh2 Rxd3 27.Nc5 Rd2 28.Rxd7+ Kb8 29.Na6+ Ka8 30.Nc7+ Kb7 31.Nd5+ Kc8 32.Rc7+ Kb8 33.Rxc6 Rg8) 20.Qe4 Qg3+ 21.Kf1 Rg4 black is winning.] 19...Qh1+ 20.Ke2 [More tempting, but not better, was 20.Kf2? Black can take the rook. 20...Qxd1 21.Nxd7 Bh2 (Also possible is 21...0-0-0 22.Rxf7 Rxd7 23.Qxe6 Qd2+ 24.Be2 Qxd4+-+; Not good is 21...Kxd7 22.Rxf7+ Kd8 23.Qxe6 Qd2+ 24.Kg1 Qd1+ 25.Kf2 Qd2+ and black has only a perpetual.) 22.Nf6+ Kd8 23.Qg5 Bg1+ 24.Kg3 Qxd3+ 25.Rf3 Qxd4-+] 20...Qxg2+ 21.Rf2 Qg4+ 22.Kd2 Qg7 Black has won another pawn, but she desparately needs to develop her rooks. [The text move protects the weak pawn on f7, but a better move would have been the nasty 22...e5!? , because after 23.dxe5 Bb6 the knight is pinned.] 23.Nxd7 Kxd7 24.Rg1
This chases the queen to a more passive square. 24...Qf8 [Black cannot take the rook. After 24...Qxg1?? 25.Rxf7+ Kc8 26.Qxg1 black must resign.] 25.Rgf1 f5 26.d5 With her last move black has weakened e6, so this is an obvious choice. [I also spend some time looking at sacrifices at f5. However, after 26.Bxf5 Qb4+ 27.Kd3 exf5 28.Rxf5 Rag8 29.Rf7+ Kc8 30.Rxh7 Rxh7 31.Qe6+ Rd7 32.Qxg8+ Rd8 33.Qe6+ Kb8 white's attack has come to an end.; Also after 26.Rxf5 exf5 27.Bxf5+ Kd8 white has no good continuation.] 26...cxd5 [26...Re8 Black cannot defend the pawn. After 27.dxe6+ Rxe6 28.Bxf5 white is much better.] 27.cxd5 Qb4+ 28.Kc1 exd5 This does not look good. [Probably the best is to try hiding the king. After 28...Kc8 29.Qxe6+ Kb8 30.Qxf5 Qd6 material is equal, but black's king is still not immune to attack, and the rook on a8 might just as well not exist.] 29.Bxf5+ Kc6 This looks suicidal, but other moves are not helping either. [After 29...Kd8 I can play 30.Bh3 threatening 31.Qg5+. (After 30.Qe6 black can play 30...Qd6=; A direct 30.Qg5+ is answered by 30...Qe7 After 30.Bh3 this is not possible, because of Rf8+. ) Black is now lost. A possible continuation is 30...Bd6 31.Qe6 Kc7 32.Rc2+ Kb6 33.a3 Rae8 34.axb4 Rxe6 35.Bxe6] 30.Rc2+ Kb5 31.Rxc7 b6 [31...Ka5 to defend b7 does not help either 32.Rc5+ b5 33.a3 Qh4 34.b4+ Kb6 35.Qe6+ Kb7 36.Qc6+ Kb8 37.Qc7#] 32.Qd3+ Ka5 33.a3 Switching to attack the queen and at the same time prepare 34.b4. 33...Qd6 34.b4+ Ka4 35.Bd7+
Black has to give her queen. 1-0 |
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