Interclub Highlights - Interesting Openings

Alexei Kulashko "AK_NZ", Auckland Chess Centre vs Nicolas Croad "SouthernChessPlayer", Wellington Chess Club  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.Qe1

Avoiding the pin. An interesting sideline, a kind of delayed exchange variation, but not aiming for the queenless middlegame or the endgame with a healthy majority v crippled majority   7...Bd6 8.d3 c5 9.Nbd2 h6 10.Nc4 Qe7 11.Ne3 O-O 12.b3 Bg4 13.Nxg4 Nxg4 14.h3 Nf6 15.Nh4 Nd7 16.Nf5 Qf6 17.Qe2 Rfe8 18.Bb2 Qg6 19.Rae1 Nf8 20.Qd2 Ne6 21.Re3 Qg5 22.Qd1 Kh7 23.Rg3 Qd8 24.Bc1 Rg8 25.Qh5 Qf6 26.h4 Bf8 27.Bg5 Qg6 28.Qg4 f6 29.Be3 Qxg4 30.Rxg4 b6 31.h5 Rd8 32.g3 Rd7 33.Rg6 a5 34.a4 Rd8 35.f4 exf4 36.gxf4 Rd7 37.Kf2 Nd4 38.Bxd4 cxd4 39.Rfg1

White has steadily developed a winning attack  39...Bb4 40.Nxh6 Rf8 41.Nf5 Rff7 42.h6 gxh6 43.Rxh6# 1-0

Nicolas Croad "SouthernChessPlayer", Wellington Chess Club vs Timothy Ha "timothyha", Auckland Chess Centre  1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qa4+

I hope we can all agree that there's nothing better in chess than the annoying Grunfeld defence succumbing to an interesting anti-Grunfeld in general, and a massive central pawn avalanche in particular  5...c6 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.e4 Nxc3 8.bxc3 O-O 9.Be2 c5 10.O-O cxd4 11.cxd4 Nc6 12.Be3 Bd7 13.Qa3 b6 14.Rfd1 Bg4 15.e5 Na5 16.Rac1 Rc8 17.Rxc8 Qxc8 18.Qxe7 Re8 19.Qxa7 Qc2 20.Qa6 Qxa2 21.h3 Bf5 22.Qb5 Rc8 23.d5 Bf8 24.d6

24...Rd8 25.Bxb6 Ra8 26.d7 Bxd7 27.Rxd7 Qa1+ 28.Kh2 Qc3 29.Qd5 1-0

Ben Hague "wtfai", Auckland Chess Centre vs Laurens Goormachtigh "Laurens_G", Hamilton Chess Club  1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 7.Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8.Be2

This is the (other) Marshall Gambit, a really fun opening   8...Qxg2 IM John Cox in "Starting out 1.d4" says that "8...Qxg2 is generally frowned upon, although naturally it is a critical move and I doubt it is actually as bad as its reputation"  9.Bf3 Qg5 10.Ne2 Na6 11.Bc3 Nf6 12.Rg1 Qh6? ( According to Cox theory (leading to good positions for White) is 12...Qf5 13.Nd4 Qe5+ 14.Kf1 O-O (14...Qc7 15.Rxg7 e5 ) 15.Nxc6 Qf4 16.Qd4 ) 13.Qd6 Bd7 14.b4 O-O-O 15.b5 cxb5 16.Bd2 Qh4 17.cxb5 Bxb5? (17...Bc6! ) 18.Rc1+ Now White has a field day  18...Bc6 19.Rxc6+ bxc6 20.Qxc6+ Nc7 21.Qb7+ Kd7 22.Bc6+ Ke7 23.Bb4+ Qxb4+ 24.Qxb4+ Rd6 25.Qb7 Nd5 26.Bxd5 Rxd5 27.Qxc7+ 1-0

Ryan Winter "RyanWelly", Wellington Chess Club vs Paul McAvoy "Theteachershere", North Shore Chess Club  1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2

I hope we can all agree that there's nothing better in chess than the annoying Grunfeld defence succumbing to an interesting anti-Grunfeld in general, and a massive central pawn avalanche in particular (part 2!)  5...Bg7 6.e4 Nxc3 7.Bxc3 c5 8.d5 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 e6 10.c4 Qa5+ 11.Qd2 Qxd2+ 12.Kxd2 exd5 13.cxd5 O-O 14.Nf3 Re8 15.Bd3 Nd7 16.Rhe1 a6 17.a4 Nb6 18.a5 Nd7 19.Kc3 f6 20.Nd2 Ne5 21.f4 Nxd3 22.Kxd3 Bd7 23.Rec1 Rac8 24.Re1 Bb5+ 25.Kc3 Rcd8 26.Nc4 f5 27.e5 Rxd5 28.Nd6 Re6 29.Rad1 Rxd1 30.Rxd1 Bc6 31.g3 Kf8 32.Kc4

32...Ke7 33.Kxc5 h6 34.Rb1 Kd7 35.Nxb7 Kc7 36.Nd6 g5 37.Rb6 Be4 38.Rxa6 gxf4 39.gxf4 Bd3 40.Nb5+ (40.Nb5+ Kd7 41.Rxe6 Kxe6 42.a6 Be4 43.Nd4+ Kd7 44.e6+ Kc7 45.e7 Kd7 46.Nc6 Bxc6 47.e8=Q+ Kxe8 48.Kxc6 ) 1-0

Ryan Winter "RyanWelly", Wellington Chess Club vs Grayson Po'e-Tofaeono "Maskalibu", Auckland Chess Centre  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.c3

5...dxc3?! 6.Bxf7+! Kxf7 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 cxb2 9.Bxb2 Qe7 10.Qe3 Nf6 11.Nc3 d6 12.O-O Bg4 13.Rfe1 Bxf3 14.Qxf3

Black would be more than fine if castling now was legal (I decided to check this glib assertion - Stockfish rates this position as approx +1.00, but the same position with Black's castling privileges restored is indeed -0.50)  14...Nd4 15.Qd1 Nc6 16.Nd5 Qf7 17.Qb3 Nxd5 18.exd5+ Ne7 19.Qxb7 Kd7 20.Qb5+ Kd8 21.Rad1 Rc8 22.Ba3 Rf8 23.f3 Qf6 24.Re6 Qg5 25.Qa5 Qf5 26.Bxd6 Nxd5

27.Rxd5! Qb1+ ( or 27...Qxe6 28.Bxf8+ Ke8 29.Re5 ) 28.Re1 Qb2 29.Bxf8# 1-0

Francois-xavier Podvin "saganista", New Plymouth Chess Club vs Dylan Piwari "DylanPiwari", NZCF  1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.e5 Ng4 8.e6 Bxb5 9.exf7+

9...Kf8 (9...Kd7 has traditionally been the move here with a complicated struggle as Black argues his king is safe and holds the centre together. But ...Kf8 has achieved a certain amount of popularity as an interesting sideline ) 10.Nxb5 Qa5+ 11.Nc3 h6? ( Nakamura (2769) - Carlsen (2843), Stavanger NOR 2018, 1/2-1/2 in 38 moves 11...cxd4 12.Nxd4 Kxf7 13.Qxg4 Bxd4 14.Bd2 Qf5 15.Qxf5+ gxf5 16.Nb5 Bb6 17.O-O-O Nd7 18.Rhe1 a6 19.Nc3 Nf6 20.Be3 Bxe3+ 21.Rxe3 Rad8 22.Nd5 Nxd5 23.Rxd5 e6 24.Rd2 h5 25.Rde2 Rh6 26.Rc3 Rd7 27.a4 h4 28.b4 Kf6 29.b5 axb5 30.axb5 Rh8 31.Kb2 Ra8 32.Rh3 Rh7 33.Rhe3 Re8 34.Rd3 Rd8 35.Rde3 Re8 36.Rd3 Rd8 37.Rde3 Re8 38.Rd3 ) 12.h3 (12.Nh4! metes out more immediate punishment ) 12...Nf6 13.O-O Kxf7 14.d5 Re8 15.Re1 Na6 16.Qe2 Kg8 17.Qe6+ Kh7 18.f5 g5

19.Bxg5 hxg5 20.Nxg5+ Kh8 21.Qf7 Qb4

22.Re4! A brutal finish   22...Nxe4 23.Qh5+ Kg8 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.Ne6+ 1-0