Yellow Submarine

Nigel David Short – Alexander Anatolyevich Motylev
European Rapid Chess Championship; Minsk, December 20, 2015
Caro-Kann Defence B12

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3. Of course, Sir Short is faithful to his system. 4. ... e6 5. a3 Ne7 6. Nc3 Ng6. For 6. ... Nd7 7. Be3 Bg6 8. Nh4 c5 9. dxc5 Nc6 see L. Vajda – Vedmediuc, Romanian Team Chess Championship, Mamaia 2015. 7. Bd3 Bxd3 8. Qxd3 c5 9. 0-0 Nc6 10. Re1 cxd4 11. Nb5 Bc5 12. b4 Be7 13. Nbxd4 Rc8 14. g3 Nf8 15. c3 Nd7 16. h4 0-0 17. Bg5 h6 18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. Kg2 a6 20. Re2 Rc7 21. Qe3 Rfc8 22. Rd1 Nxd4 23. cxd4 Nf8? A surprisingly passive move. Much better looks 23. ... Nb6 intending ... Nb6-c4. 24. Rd3 Qd7

25. g4!! Maybe not the best move in absolute terms, but from a practical point of view it turns out to be the decisive turning-point. White creates out from nothing a metaphorical attack against the enemy King. 25. ... Qb5 26. h5 Nh7 27. Red2 Rc1 28. g5 hxg5 29. Nxg5 Ra1 30. Nh3! Prophylaxis combined with attack. 30. ... Rcc1 31. h6 g6 32. Rc3 Qf1+ 33. Kg3 Qh1! With the terrible threat of ... Nh7-g5. Now Short must walk the tightrope. 34. Rxc1 Rxc1 35. Rd3! Re1 36. Qf3 Qxf3+ 37. Rxf3 Rc1 38. Rb3 Rc4. 38. ... b5 39. a4! is also very unpleasant for Black. 39. b5! a5 40. b6! White’s main idea is Rb3-b5-c5. 40. ... Rxd4 41. Rb5 Rd3+ 42. f3 f6. If 42. ... Rxa3 then 43. Rc5! (the pointe) and Black cannot hold the endgame anyway. 43. Rxa5 fxe5 44. Ra8+ Kf7 45. Ra7 g5 46. Rxb7+ Kg6 47. a4 Nf6 48. h7 Nxh7 49. a5 Nf6 50. a6 Rd2 51. Nf2 Nh5+ 52. Kg2 g4 53. a7 Ra2 54. Rb8 Nf4+ 1 : 0. A splendid game.

David Nigel Short (@nigelshortchess)