Just cause I’m bored and don’t have anything else to do I’ll throw up another game. This one is from the final round of the Cork congress from a year and a half ago. This was a money game in that the winner was guaranteed joint first and a prize of between 500 and 700 euro if memory serves. The loser would get nada, zip, zilch, diddly squat, I guess you get the picture!
Bogdan Lalic G.M. – Rory Quinn
Cork Congress (30/03/2008)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6?! (this is not the most accurate move order, however I always used to play this way, better is 3..dxc4 which can transpose to the game or take a different path if white plays 4.d5 . White can now pose Black problems by playing 4cxd5 Nxd5 5 Nf3! Black is then more or less forced into a pawn sac with e5 or has to go in for Bf5 both of which should be better for white. After the game I asked my opponent and he was of the opinion that Black is ok in the pawn sac line but lets just say I dont trust that line! Bg4 is a mistake as I found out in a game against A Baburin catching a bullet after just 14 moves!) 4.Nf3 (slightly more accurate might be 4.cxd5 followed by Nf3 but the text is good aswell.) …dxc4 5. Bg5 (Stuart Conquest had played this line against me the year before at the same tournament and I didnt really know what I was doing and got smashed. I had 20 mins or so to prepare for this game and just decided to follow Scheerers recommendation in his Nc6 book.) … a6 6. d5 Na7 7.e4 Nb5 8. Qa4 (Lalic is following Ivanchuks play from his game against Arencibia however I’m not sure that it is the most accurate as black seems to be ok. Apparently both Schandorff and Avrukh recommend the Bg5 line for white against the Chigorin in their recent books on d4. I think they recommend an improvement here for white though but since I dont have either book I dont know what that is!) … Bd7 9. Qxc4 Nxc3 10 bxc3 (around here I was more or less out of prep already. Scheerer doesnt have a whole lot to say about this position and I used up quite a lot of time coming up with the plan of Qc7-d6 which may not be best. Black should probably just play b5, c6 and exchange on d5 as in the game and then play immediately g6 and castle and forget the faffing about with the queen) …b5 11 Qd3 (Qd4) … c6 12. Be2 Qc7?! 13. 0-0 cxd5 14. exd5 Qd6 15. a4 (here I started panicking for a second thinking I was busted already as my opponent was bashing out the moves without hardly thinking however I started to calm down after analysing a bit. I was using up a lot of time though which cost me later in the game.) … bxa4 16. c4 g6 17. Bc1 (he was still playing more or less instantaneously! Fritz prefers 17 Qd4 here.) … Bg7 18. Ba3 Qf4 19. Rfe1 0-0 20. Bxe7 Rfe8 21. g3 Qc7 22. d6 (I’m not sure if I am qualified to call this move bad or not but I would be reluctant to play it) Qc5! 23 Bf1 (over the last couple of moves my opponent finally started to think. Black pieces are becoming quite active and the bishop on e7 is a spectator) …Ng4 24. Ra2 Rab8 25. h3 Ne5 (I also considered Nh6 here but wasnt sure about the consequences of 26 g4 f5 27 g5 Nf7. It also looks fine for black but I decided to choose the simpler line given the time situation.) 26. Nxe5 Bxe5 27. Bg2 (and here there were two candidate moves screaming to be played Rb3 and Bxd6. Unfortunately I miscalculated and chose the wrong one!)
… Bxd6?? ( If I had played Rb3 as I originally intended then I think white is struggling in most of the lines. At worst Black will be on the better side of a draw e.g 28 Qd1 Rxg3 29Rxe5 Rxg2+ 30Kxg2 Qxe5. The move played just loses.) 28 Bxd6 Rxe1+ 29. Kh2 Rb3 30. Qd2 Qb6 31. c5! Qb4 32. Qh6 Re8 33. Re2! 1-0
Afterward I was a bit annoyed with myself as although I didnt have high expectations going into a game against a professional player and strong grandmaster it was frustrating to let him off the hook when I did get the chance to take the initiative. This game was subsequently published in the Sunday Independent newspaper.
