Chessville - Instruction - Annotated Games -Smerden v Arkell

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IM David Smerdon
Annotates

Eighteen year old IM David Smerdon is one of Australia's brightest young stars, rated 2382 on the current FIDE rating list (October 2002), and among the top ten active Australian players. David is the winner of the recent Victorian (Australia) Championships over a field including one GM and three other IMs. View David's pivotal game in that tourney on the Australian Chess Federation site.

Here David provides some notes from a recent Internet game against the English GM Keith Arkell (FIDE 2521), from the FICS-Lancashire match.

To follow along on a javascript board, click here.

smurfo vs. GMArkell --- Fri Aug 16, 2002
initial time: 30 minutes, increment: 0 seconds.

Move smurfo GMArkell
---- ----------- ----------------

1. e4 (0:00) c6 (0:00)

2. c4 (0:15) d5 (0:04)

3. exd5 (0:00) Nf6!? (0:02)

Interesting move order. The game briefly transposes to a Scandinavian. This also cuts out white's options of taking twice on d5, though these aren't dangerous for black.

4. d4 (0:17) cxd5 (0:03)

5. Nc3 (0:01) g6 (0:04)

6. cxd5 (0:09) Nxd5 (0:03)

6...Bg7 7.Bb5+ Nbd7 7.d6 ed 8.Qe2+ Qe7 7.Bf4 Qxe2+ 8.Bxe2 Ke7 9.Bf3 is another line, resolving itself into an interesting endgame. I had a game go this way earlier this year against the Australian grandmaster Ian Rogers.

7. Qb3 (0:09) Nxc3 (0:04)

...Nb6 8.d5 Bg7 9.Be3 0-0 10.Rd1 Na6!? begins the NCO line, which finishes with black having compensation for a pawn.

8. bxc3 (0:09) Bg7 (0:03)

9. Nf3 (0:53) O-O (0:09)

10. Be2 (0:07) Nc6 (0:05)

So we have this strange position, which I guess you could call an Exchange Grunfeld with the white pawn on e4 moved to c3. Hmmm, that doesn't really clarify things much, I know, but I haven't really had much experience in these sorts of positions.

11. O-O (0:10) Bg4?! (0:05)

I don't really want to give a grandmaster's move the dubious symbol, but I can't really understand it... maybe black didn't see that b7 was on, or maybe he thought he had enough compensation. In any case, if I was black, I would have either played ...b6 and ...Bb7, or maybe even ...Qa5 with the idea of ...Be6, with a bit more compensation for the pawn.

12. Qxb7 (1:14) Na5 (0:03)

...Qd6 looks better to me. It's important to take advantage of the white queen's jaunt, instead of improving her position.

13. Qe4 (0:39) Bf5 (0:06)

14. Qh4 (0:02) Rc8 (0:04)

15. Bd2 (1:01) Nc4 (0:21)

...Qd5!?

16. Bh6 (1:08) e6 (1:27)

17. Ng5 (3:40)

Of course, Bxg7 still leaves me a pawn up, but the ending isn't all that simple after ...Kxg7 ... positionally, black's position is tenable, as my c3 pawn is pretty shaky. Besides, I had an idea.

17. ..... f6 (0:16)

18. Bxc4! (0:21) Rxc4 (0:37)

It was worth considering ...fg 19.Bxg5 and Bb3, but the e6 pawn is very weak and black's king isn't much better. Still, I think it was the best chance.

19. Bxg7 (0:05) fxg5 (0:07)

20. Qh6 (0:01) Rf7 (0:06)

21. Be5 (0:01) Rxc3 (0:20)

Getting the pawn back, but opening the crucial c-file. ...g4 may have been better from a practical point of view.

22. Rac1 (0:11) Rc2 (3:27)

...Rxc1 23.Rxc1 Be4! would have been my suggestion. This stops Rc3-f3, Rc3-b3-b8, and also Rc6-d6 - very much a multi-purpose move! The bishop could then go to b7, and suddenly the a8-h1 diagonal becomes a factor.

23. Rxc2 (1:15) Bxc2 (0:03)

24. Rc1 (0:01) Qb6? (0:07)

...Be4 would have transferred to the line before.

25. Qxg5 (0:29) Be4 (2:33)