Hanrahan, Nigel (1723 CAN) - Fromme, Simon (1891 GER)
1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nc3
This knight would have been fine on d2 once I'd made some space for it. However, I blitzed through the opening half a dozen moves or so to see if my "unrated" opponent could keep up. "That was your first mistake," said Joseph Van Wyk after the game. I still managed to get into time trouble anyway. D'oh!
5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Nb6 (6... Be7 7. d4) 7. d3 Be7 8. Nbd2 !? Tony Kosten.
5... Nb6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. b3 O-O 9. Bb2 Be6 10. h3 Qd7 11. Kh2 f5 12. d3 Rad8 13. Rc1 a6 14. Nb1 ?! Bf6 15. Nfd2 Nd5 16. Nc3 ...proving the pointlessness of 14. Nb1. 16... e4 17. Na4
17. dxe4 ?? Nxc3 18. Bxc3 Bxc3 19. Rxc3 Qxd2 -+
17... Bxb2 18. Nxb2 Ndb4
Interesting, but perhaps not as strong is 18... e3 19. Bxd5 Bxd5 20. fxe3
19. Ndc4... giving up the pawn. 19... Nxa2 20. Ra1 Nc3 21. Qd2 Qd4 22. e3 Qf6 23. d4 Nb5 24. Na4 ??
A terrible blunder. The two knights never found good homes and now they're done for. This is what happens when you don't have a plan, boys and girls.
24... Nbxd4 Black is simply winning now.
25. exd4 b5 26. Nc5 bxc4 27. Nxe6 27. Rxa6 I looked at this and decided against it.
27... Qxe6 28. bxc4 (28. Rxa6 could have been played here, however.) 28... Rxd4 29. Qa2 Nb4 30. Qb3 Qxc4 31. Qxc4+ Rxc4 32. Ra4 c5 33. Rd1 Rc2 34. Kg1 Nd3 35. Rxa6 Nxf2
36. Rd7 If I can get "pigs on the 7th" and somehow get the bishop in play, then I may manage a swindle yet. Certainly, the old swindler himself, Albert Boxer, would have approved of such an effort.
36... Kh8 37. Raa7 Rg8 38. h4 My last hope. 38... Ng4 39. Bh3 Ne3 40. h5 h6 41. Rf7 Rd8 42. Rad7 Rxd7 43. Rxd7 c4 44. Rd8+ Better to have checked and lost than never to have checked at all. Ha ha. 44... Kh7 45. g4 $4 fxg4 46. Bxg4 Rg2+ 47. Kh1 Why am I playing on? Shpan would, that's why.
47... Rxg4 48. Rd4 ?? My last mistake and now there is no hope for a furious rook to force a draw. 48... c3 49. Kh2 c2 0-1
Nigel Hanrahan
4 comments:
I am interested in these lines as I spent many an hour looking for something to play as Black against the great English Opening expert Trevor Vincent (He has 2 (maybe 3) draws with GMs as White.
Your Nc3 was fine..Kosten likes to play the Nd2 to avoid all sorts of Black systems.
In Watson's English 1...P-K4, he calls your 8. b3 "Simagin's move", but Raetsky and Chetverik don't mention it. Hansen gives a game stem in a footnote - Serper-A.Sokolov, Moscow 1990.
Kotronias (Beating the flank openings) say 8. b3 is harmless.
8. d3 and 8. Rb1 appear to be popular. Anyway, there is lot of theory, so go with Kosten next time .
Thanks for the advice. I played very passively in that game but hopefully I can learn from the experience. And maybe I can return the favour.
I understand Trevor plays a symmetrical 1. c4 c5 when he is faced with the English. Why not play his own line, or something similar, against him?
I am no longer concerned with finding a line; my search had started about 4 years ago, and in the interim I had looked at and played many, many different schemes.
Yes, your suggestion is interesting; see how a player reacts against his own favorite variations.
I recall checking to see what Kosten played against his system (don't ask me what is was, I can't remember)!
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