TOO LITTLE TOO FAR

We are behind the current 3rd placing contender by 1.5 point (Price waterhouse) after Round 8 in the 2nd DATCC League. NUSA MAHKOTA tied 2-2 to the EON BANK. The critical board, Samsol Bahrin failed to appear after having trouble with his motorcycle on his way to the board! Muhd Izz secured our point and it were up to me and NM Kamalarifin to decide the final outcome. Having reaching the board, as expected, it was the Blackmar Diemer gambit on the encounter of NM Kamalarifin and the imaginative Norilhamudin. As for me, I had to face my old friend and foe, the solid Aziz Shukor. Interestingly, it was me who had to take the defensive role while absorbing Aziz fearsome assault. I was actually lucky to win only after Aziz commited a blunder by leaving his King to his own defending the indefensible position.

[Event "2nd DATCC League"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2009.12.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rizal A Kamal"]
[Black "Aziz Shukor"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15 Caro Kann"]
[PlyCount "95"]

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3!?
As planned. I just wanted to add some elements of joke as a small surprise.This did not really affect my opponent.

2...d5 3. d4
Back to the main line business

3...dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6!
This, however, was not anticipated by me in my pre game preparation. I had to refer a book in my stock for sale to recall the correct name of this variation.




(For sale - The Dynamic Caro Kann - a very instructive and highly recommended for the Caro Kanners with 4...Nf6 - RM 80.00)








After the correct 4.Nxf6+ it may lead to Bronstein Larsen variation after 4.. gxf6 or the original Caro Kann variation after 4..exf6. Aziz also mentioned about 5.Ng5!? which seemed absurd. But when refering The Dynamic Caro Kann, I discovered that, this is also covered in the book!

I was actually hoping for 4...Bf5 which I had prepared (by reading) the classic book of Gary Kasparov and Shakarov for 7 days




(For sale - in my stock RM 80.00 a very good classic reference for every Caro Kanners (Bf5) )







5. Ng3?!
The good news is that, I had sidestepped my opponent's preparation but the bad news is that, I know nothing myself about 5.Ng3. This was in fact also mentioned specifically in The Dynamic Caro Kann. I did not want to play 5.Nxf6+ as I had 3 personal bad experience (the result was 0-3) in this variation.

5..g6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Be2 Bg7 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Nbd7 11. O-O e5!
The important key move in many lines after 5.Ng3

12. Re1 Re8 13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Be3 Qc7 15. Be2 Nd5 16. Bd2 Rad8 17. Qc1 f5 18. Bg5?!
18.Bh6 may be more to the point

18.. Rd7 19. Qc2 Nf7 20. Bd2 Nf4 21. Bc4 Red8 22. Rad1 Nd5 23. a4 Kh8 24. h4 Ne5 25. Bf1
I was considering between the text and 25.Be2. In the end I choosed the text because I thought I need to mantain the Rook control on the e-file

25..Ng4 26. c4 Ndf6 27. Be2 Qb6 28.c5 Qc7 29. Bf3 Ne5 30. Be2 Nd3
Now I simply could not keep the Bishop pair

31. Bxd3 Rxd3 32. Nf1
We analysed 32.. Ne4 33.Rde1 Nxd2 34.Nxd2 Rxd2 35.Rxd2 Qxd2 36.Re8+ [pointed by Hairulov and stopped here, missing the brilliant 36...Bf8!! when black is better and may be winning as well.

32..Qd7 33. Re2



















32..Bh6?!
Not an outright blunder, but this unnecessary provocation gave me a hope to play on. However, it was very difficult to offer any better advise.

34. Bc3
34..Bxh6 does not win as the Queen may block on d4 thus negating the possibility of "permanent pin" along the a1-h8 diagonal.

34..Rxd1 35. Bxf6+ Bg7
Over the board it was difficult for me to evaluate the potential of 36.Re7, therefore for practical purposes, I opted for the text which keeps at least a draw in hand

36. Bxd8 Qxd8 37. Qb3 Qd7 38. Qe3 Rb1 39. g3 h5 40. Kg2 Qd1!
This turned out to be a very unpleasant surprise. Luckily I could defend my King which looked desperately unsafe.

41. Nh2
The only move

41..Qxa4??
Only this fatal blunder lost. Otherwise, white simply has no dangerous attack whatsoever

42. Qe8+ Kh7 43. Re6
Suddenly white wins out of nothing

43..Qe4+ 44. Rxe4 fxe4 45. Qxe4 Rxb2 46. g4 hxg4 47. h5 Rd2 48. Nxg4 1-0