Saturday, March 6, 2021

To Castle or Not to Castle

Zoltán Varga – Alexander Sergeyevich Morozevich
3rd FiNet Chess960 Open; time control: 20 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; Mainz, August 6, 2004
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Position #667

1. e4 g5 2. d4 Ne6 3. c3 Nf4. Threatening a Knight fork on e2, but maybe that’s the only good point. 4. Rd2 g4 5. Ne3 h5 6. h3!? d5?! After 6. ... gxh3 7. g3 h4 8. Qh2 hxg3 9. fxg3 Ng2 10. Nd5 White stands better, but Black can still hope to defend himself. Instead, the text soon brings Black to the verge of ruin. 7. Qh2 e5 8. dxe5 Bxe5 9. g3 Nxh3 10. Nxd5 Bd6 11. f4. 11. e5! was also very strong. 11. ... Nd7 12. e5 Bf8 13. Na3 c6


14. Ne3? As the rulebook says, in “Rook-move-only” castling the Rook always jumps over the King: 14. 0-0-0! cxd5 15. Rxd5+− with an irresistible attack. White seems to have been unaware of Fischerandom castling nuances. 14. ... f6! 15. Nac4 fxe5 16. fxe5 (16. 0-0-0! Kc7!∞) 16. ... Bf7 17. Na5?! White pursues tactical suggestions, in the hope that the rapid time control may do the rest. Either way, the bureaucratic alternative offered by 18. Qe2 Ng1 was not appealing enough to hold on his own. 17. ... Qg5. Maybe not wrong, but 17. ... Nxe5! would leave White with very few arguments. 18. Qe2. Threatening both Na5xb7 and Na5xc6. 18. ... Ng1. Of course 18. ... Nxe5! was still very good. 19. Qf2


19. ... Bc5? Black ought to play 19. ... Nxe5! 20. Rxd8+ Kxd8 21. Qxg1 Nd3+ 22. Kc2 Bg6! winning back the piece with dynamic and material interest. 20. Qxf7. White could interpolate here 20. Nxb7 since then 20. ... Kxb7 21. Qxf7 Bxe3 22. Bxc6+! forces a draw by perpetual check. 20. ... Bxe3 21. e6? (21. Nc4 Nxe5=) 21. ... Bxd2+ 22. Bxd2


22. ... Qxd2+! 23. Kxd2 Ne5+ 24. Kc2?! A little better may be 24. Ke3, though after 24. ... Nxf7 25. exf7 Nh3 it’s hard for White to claim any compensation for the Exchange. 24. ... Nxf7 25. Rxg1? This is definitely a bad idea — but 25. exf7 Nf3 26. Bxf3 gxf3 27. Rf1 Rf8 28. Rxf3 0-0-0! would not have changed the result. 25. ... Nd6 26. Re1. Maybe White is still hoping for tricks based on sacrifices on c6, but, alas for him, the e-Pawn won’t ever become a reliable candidate for queening. 26. ... Kc7! 27. Re5 Rh8 28. c4 Rae8 29. c5 Nf7 30. Re3 Ng5 31. e7 h4! 32. Rb3 b6 33. cxb6+ axb6 34. Nxc6 hxg3 35. Bd5 Rh2+ 0 : 1.

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