The Unpredictable Certainty

Alberto David – Luca Moroni
77th Italian Chess Championship; Cosenza, December 9, 2017
Spanish Game C78

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 9. d4 Bxd4 10. Qxd4 d6 11. Bf4 0-0 12. f3 c5 13. Qd2 c4 14. Ba2 Be6. Moroni is not interested in repeating 14. ... Qb6+ 15. Be3 Qc7 which, however, after 16. axb5 axb5 17. Nc3 b4 18. Ne2 b3 19. Bb1 bxc2 20. Qxc2 d5 21. Ra7 Rb7 led him to quite a balanced game, Hráček – Moroni, 18th European Individual Chess Championship, Minsk 2017. 15. Nc3 b4 16. Ne2 b3 17. Bb1 bxc2. Not 17. ... Ng6 18. cxb3 Rxb3 19. Nd4 Qb6? as after 20. a5 Qa7 21. Be3 Black was forced to give up the Exchange for no worthy compensation, Vocaturo – Moroni, 19th Open Internacional d’Escacs de Sants, Hostafrancs i la Bordeta, Barcelona 2017. Finally, Grandmaster Aleksander Delchev’s suggestion 17. ... Qe7 18. c3 Rbd8 19. Nd4 Bd7 deserves practical tests. 18. Bxc2 Ng6!? That’s a novelty. Probably Moroni did not like 18. ... Rxb2 19. Rfb1 Rxb1+ 20. Rxb1 Qc7 21. Rd1 which, at the cost of a Pawn, leaves White with the Bishop pair and a better position, Topalov – Nakamura, 3rd Norway Chess, Stavanger 2015. 19. Be3 d5 20. e5!? Quite an interesting Pawn sac which might not be improvisation. 20. ... Nxe5 21. Nd4 Rb7 22. Rfe1 Bd7 23. Rad1 Re8 24. Bf2 a5 25. Qc3 Ng6 26. Rxe8+ Bxe8 27. Nf5 Bd7? So far, the game was dynamically balanced, but no longer after this bad error by Moroni. After ... Ng6-f4-e6 everything was fine for Black.

28. Rxd5! Rb4 29. Rd2. Here there were also other moves – possibly sharper – to be considered, such as 29. Qd4 and 29. Rd6, but David, who was already short of time, quite rightly prefers to play safely. 29. ... Qe8 30. Nd6 Qe6 31. Bf5 Qe7 32. Bxd7 Qxd7. Not 32. ... Nxd7? because of 33. Nf5 Qe5 34. Rxd7 Qxf5 35. Rd8+ Nf8 36. Qd2 and Black can resign. 33. Nxc4 Qc8 34. b3 Nf4 35. Qe3? David pays the price for his time shortage. After 35. Qc2! followed by the capture of the Pawn on a5 Black would have been left with nothing to hope for. 35. ... N6d5 36. Qc5 Qxc5 37. Bxc5 Rxb3 38. g3 Nd3 39. Nxa5 Rb1+ 40. Kg2 Rb2. The time control is reached and by now the game is manifestly drawn. 41. Rxb2 Nxb2 42. Bd4 ½ : ½.