Game of the week December 29, 2019 by Robert Huntington Both sides had their chances in this struggle of a piece vs. three pawns. [Event "National Open 2003"] [Site "Las Vegas, NV"] [White "Benjamin Finegold"] [Black "Melikset Khachian"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D95"] [Annotator "ATH"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "2003.06.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "USA"] [SourceTitle "StarBase 4.56"] [SourceDate "2004.11.04"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2004.11.04"] [SourceQuality "2"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 Bg7 5. Qb3 c6 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Bd2 Qb6 (7... e6 $11 {is the main line}) 8. Bd3 (8. Qxb6 axb6 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Nxd5 cxd5 $11) 8... Bf5 $6 (8... dxc4 $11) 9. Bxf5 Qxb3 (9... gxf5 $5) 10. axb3 gxf5 11. Ke2 ( 11. h3 $1 $14) 11... Nbd7 (11... e6 $5) 12. h3 Nb6 $6 (12... h5 $1 $14) 13. Ne5 (13. cxd5 $1 cxd5 14. Ne5 $16) 13... Ne4 14. cxd5 (14. c5 $5) 14... Nxd2 15. Kxd2 Bxe5 16. dxc6 $2 (16. dxe5 Nxd5 17. Ra4 $14) 16... Rad8 $1 {Did White overlook this pin or somehow overestimate the value his pawns would have vs. Black's extra piece?} 17. Rxa7 bxc6 18. Rxe7 Bf6 (18... Bd6 {is a bit stronger} ) 19. Rb7 ({as is} 19. Rc7 {(not possible if the bishop is on d6)}) 19... Rb8 ( 19... Nd5 $1 $17) 20. Rxb8 Rxb8 21. Ra1 Nd5 (21... f4 $1 $15) 22. Ra5 (22. Nxd5 $1 cxd5 23. Ra5 f4 24. Kc3 fxe3 25. fxe3 Re8 $15) 22... f4 (22... Ne7 $1 $15) 23. e4 $2 (23. Nxd5 cxd5 24. b4 $1 Rd8 $15) 23... Nxc3 $2 (23... Nc7 $1 $19) 24. bxc3 Rxb3 25. Rf5 Be7 26. Kc2 Rb6 27. Rxf4 c5 28. d5 Bd6 29. Rf6 c4 $1 { The only move. Black has to be careful here as a misstep could be fatal, e.g.,, } (29... Bc7 $2 30. Rxb6 Bxb6 31. Kb3 Bc7 32. Kc4 Bd6 33. Kb5 Kf8 34. Kc6 Ke7 35. c4 $18 {and the pawns will soon overwhelm the bishop}) 30. e5 Bc7 31. d6 ( 31. Rf4 $5 $11) 31... Bd8 32. Rf5 $6 (32. Rf4 f6 $11) 32... Rb5 33. f4 $6 (33. Kc1 Rc5 $15) 33... Rd5 34. g4 Rd3 35. Rh5 Kg7 36. e6 $6 (36. Kb1 $1 Rxc3 37. f5 Re3 38. f6+ Kg8 39. d7 h6 40. Kc2 (40. Rxh6 $2 Rxe5 $19) 40... Re4 $15) 36... fxe6 37. Rc5 Rxd6 38. Rxc4 Rd7 $2 (38... Bb6 $1 $17) 39. Rd4 $11 Rd5 40. Rxd5 exd5 41. c4 dxc4 1/2-1/2 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts