Tournaments / Chicago Open
Nimzo-Indian Defense, Classical Variation (E32) IM Daniel Ludwig (2529) GM Yury Shulman (2656) 21st Chicago Open (5), 05.26.2012 Notes by Robert Hess and Ludwig
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 0-0 5. a3 Bxc3 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 c5
This is the Rozentalis Variation, not so
popular but not to be underestimated. White has to be precise with piece place- ment and timing.
8. dxc5 bxc5 9. e3 d6 10. 0-0-0!? This move has only been played five
times before, but two of those games were by Kasparov. I wanted to avoid the stan- dard positions after 10. Bd3 and kingside castling. Black is scoring well in these positions, so I wanted to avoid well-known territory and test my opponent with a more obscure move.
10. ... Nbd7?! This position is really safe for White, so
I had the luxury of putting my pieces exactly where I want them. White’s dream setup is Qc3, Rd2, Nf4, Be2-d1-c2.
17. ... Rad8 18. Rxd8 Rxd8 19. Nf4 Though I temporarily conceded the open
file, there are too few pieces on the board to cause me any problems.
19. ... Bc6 20. Be2 Rb8 Black cannot exchange the last pair of
This move is playable, but Black has no
reason to give up a pawn. 10. ... Ne4 11. Qd3! Nxf2 (The continuation 11. ... Nxg5 12. h4 f5 13. hxg5 Qxg5 14. Qxd6 gives White the initiative) 12. Bxd8 Nxd3+ 13. Bxd3 Rxd8 14. Be4 d5 15. cxd5 Bb7 16. Ne2 exd5 17. Nc3 Nc6 18. Bxd5 Na5 19. Bxb7 Nxb7 led to a draw in Garry Kas- parov-Jan Timman, 1998.
11. Rxd6! Qc7 12. Rd1 Ne4 13. Qc2 This position demonstrates the virtue of
playing 10. 0-0-0 instead of 10. Rd1. After 10. Rd1 Nbd7 11. Rxd6 Qc7 12. Rd1 Ne4 13. Qc2 Qa5+! gives Black the advantage.
13. ... Nxg5 14. h4 This nice motif regaining the piece,
seizes kingside space and also creates future possibilities against Black’s king.
14. ... Ne4
Though it takes another tempo, Black is wise to keep the h-file closed. 15. Qxe4 Bb7 16. Qc2 This is a critical position. Both sides
have flexible positions with lots of decent plans. White lags in development so Black
30 August 2012 | Chess Life
(see diagram top of next column) Despite weakening the light squares on
the kingside, ... f7-f6 allows Black to improve the position of the queen. Here I was really upset with myself for not play- ing 27. g4. It was difficult to block out this mistake and focus on the current
When I first saw this move, I thought “no
way,” but amazingly it is the black king that is in danger, not White’s! This counter intu- itive move closes the lines just long enough for White to get to the black king first. 31. Rd7? looks good at first, but fails due to 31.
rooks, otherwise White can start the b2- b4 advance, utilizing the extra pawn without king safety issues.
21. Rd1 Qa5 22. Qd2 Qb6 23. Qc3 Qc7 Thanks to Black’s inability to trade
heavy pieces, White begins to control the entire board.
24. Rd2 Ba4 25. Bd1 Bxd1 26. Rxd1 h6 This is another key moment. I developed
exactly as I wanted and secured some favor- able trades. Thus far I have been reacting to Black’s play, now I have to come up with my own plan while Black waits.
27. Nh5? Thanks to the threat of f4, this move
does provoke a weakness, but I wish I had instead played 27. g4. This move is more direct and doesn’t take as long.
27. ... f6 28. Nf4 Qc6
can consider a queenside attack. Dou- bling on the b-file seems the most threatening to White, but White should have no problems defending.
16. ... Ne5 I like this move. It restricts the logical
moves Nf3 and Bd3, while prepares to control the d-file.
17. Ne2
position. Now Black has ideas like ... Qa4 and ... Qa6. I immediately started to think about 29. Qc2, but I knew my advantage would quickly deteriorate.
29. Qa5! One of my biggest weaknesses has been
lack of killer instinct. In general, I possess a classical and conservative style, and I enjoying constructing aesthetically pleasing positions. Unfortunately, often my position will look pretty, but I won’t do anything with it. I knew that if I played it safe, this would be just yet another game where I got a pretty position, but only a draw to show for it. If I do not find a way to trade either queens or rooks off the board, my extra pawn will be worthless. I played Qa5 after nearly 30 minutes of calculations. I feel as though I could have easily spent thirty more minutes calculating, but at some point I just have to trust my intuition.
29. ... Nxc4 This is the critical test, but Black has
many moves here; one key variation is 29. ... Qe4 30. Rd8+ Rxd8 31. Qxd8+ Kh7 32. b3! and everything is holding together perfectly for White.
30. Qxa7 Qb5
Ideas like 30. ... Rb7 always fail to 31. Qa8+ Kh7 32. Rd8. 31. b4!
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