[Event "23rd Metropolitan Chess Qualifier"]
[Site "Los Angeles, CA"]
[Date "2012.10.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Michael Cooper"]
[Black "Agata Bykovtsev"]
[WhiteElo "2068"]
[BlackElo "2008"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Najdorf, Byrne (English) attack"]
[ECO "B90"]
[NIC "SI.14"]
{Fourth game of the tournament, third Najdorf.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Nbd7 9. Qd2 b5 10. g4 Nb6 11. g5 Nfd7 12. Nd5 Rc8 13. Na5 {Judit Polgar analyzed this as giving White compensation. But I wasn't channeling Polgar - I was channeling Colonel Moreau. I missed the simple tactic.} Nxd5 {Black must win the pawn, otherwise White gets a strong knight on c6.} 14. exd5 Bxd5 15. Qxd5 Qxa5+ 16. Bd2 {Polgar gives 16. c3 Be7 17. a4. Sammalvuo analyzes this further: 17... Rxc3 18. Bd2 Rc5 19. Qxc5 Qxd2+ 20. Kxd2 Nxc5 21. axb5 Nb3+ 22. Kc3 Nxa1 23. bxa6 Kd7 with a likely draw. But after the text, White seems to lack any compensation, so 16. c3 is necessary.} Qc7 17. Bd3 Nb6 18. Qe4 Be7 {This doesn't really seem purposeful - what does Black have in mind? The freeing 18... d5 seems strong. White cannot play actively with 19. Qf5? g6! 20. Qf6? Rg8 and suddenly White's queen is about to be trapped, forcing 21. Bc3 Bg7 and Black wins a piece.} 19. O-O-O Nc4 {Black should still have played 19... d5. The drifting continues and White begins to get some compensation. Black should not be thinking of attacking, as that erases her pawn advantage and turns the game into a race, and one which White is currently a little ahead in.} 20. h4 Qc5 21. Qg4 {Supporting the push of the kingside pawns, keeping an eye on the rook on c8 (which slows down Black's queenside advance, e.g. 21... b4? 22. Bxb4), and preemptively removing the queen from being attacked by ...d6-d5. White has decent compensation.} a5 22. Kb1 b4 {This simply cannot work.} 23. h5 {White's attack is now clearly arriving first. Note that White would be happy to see 24... Nxd2, as the bishops of opposite colors only reinforce the advantage of the attacking player: White's bishop can attack the light squares, and Black's bishop cannot defend them.} Rc7 24. Bc1 {Attacking while a pawn down, White makes a patient prophylactic move. The rook on d1 is now free to roam, and White's queen is no longer tied to defending g5. We all have different strengths, and I was proud of myself for this move, as I am not usually very good at finding this sort of thing - I have a pathological tendency to seek out the most energetic moves possible.} Kd8 {Black is trying to achieve tactics based on ...Na3+, and wants to avoid White's easy defense of bxa3 and Qa4+. But this is a very unhappy square for the king to be on, in the eye of White's rook.} 25. g6 Na3+ {Both players were in difficult time pressure at this point - with fifteen moves to the time control, White had eleven minutes and Black had six. My excuse is that I was sixteen minutes late for the start of the game.} 26. Ka1 {I could not find the super-accurate refutation, 26. bxa3 bxa3 27. Qe4!, when Black will have no luck getting a heavy piece onto the b-file in a meaningful way: 27... Rc6 28. Bxa3!, or 27... Rc8 28. Qb7!, or 27... Qc3 28. h6!! Rc6 29. Bb5 Rb6 30. Qa8+ Kc7 31. Qa7+ Rb7 32. Rd3 Qb4+ 33. Rb3 Rxa7 34. hxg7! Rb8 35. gxh7! (Stockfish).} Nxc2+ {Far too tempting, but this loses on the spot. Black should try to hang on with 26... fxg6.} 27. Bxc2 Qxc2 28. gxf7 Rf8 29. Qe6 {Threatening both 30. Bg5 and 30. Rxd6+.} Rd7 {The only other move to cover both threats is 29... Rc6, but White will still reply 30. Be3 when the threat of 31. Rc1 is too strong.} 30. Be3 Qc6 31. Rc1 Qb7 32. h6 g6 33. Rc4 Rc7 34. Rxc7 Qxc7 35. Rc1 Qxc1+ {35... Qb7 36. Bb6+.} 36. Bxc1 a4 37. Be3 {I had a half-point bye in the last round in order to watch the season premiere of the Walking Dead, so with this game I clinched at least second place, with the best tie-breaks, giving me the choice of entry into an IM norm tournament, or four more qualifiers. Although luck was on my side in several games, this was nevertheless an excellent result for me, and valuable for my chess development, as free entry into more qualifiers yields valuable playing experience.} 1-0
