In a year where, through two weeks, black has scored 59% the Knights have been the outlier, scoring 3.5/4 with the white pieces. Last night continued that trend as the Knights won convincingly on boards 1 and 3, while holding draws from initially dubious positions on boards 2 and 4. Let's go to the games!
Board 4 was the first to finish as Justus Williams, making his Knight/USCL debut, introduced the league to his dynamic style with an intriguing opening pawn sacrifice against IM Richard Costigan.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. c3 Bg7 4. d4 cd 5. cd d5 6. ed!?
White transposes to a Panov-like structure. 6. e5 was another alternative.
6. ..Nf6 7. Bb5 Nbd7 8. d6
First played by the great David Bronstein in 1961 against Istvan Bilek.
8. ..0-0!
Exclaim for style! 8. ..ed promised a very dry game after 9. Qe2 Qe7 10. Qe7 Ke7.
9. de Qe7 10. Be2 Re8 11. Nc3 b5!
11. ..Ne4 held the possibility of a quick draw after 12. Ne4 Qe4 13. Be3 Nb6 14. Bd3 Qd5 15. 0-0 Bg4 16. Be2 Nc4 17. Bc4 Qc4 18. Ne5! (Arribas Robaina-Mellado Trivino, Hostafrancs 2002)
12. a3 Nb6!?
More traditional was 12. ..Bb7 denying white the e5 square. After 13. 0-0 a6, black has decent compensation for the pawn.
13. 0-0 a6 14. Ne5 Bb7 15. Bf3 Rad8 16. Nc6 Bc6 17. Bc6 Rf8 18. Bf4 Nh5 19. Be3 Nc4 20. Qe2 Qd6 21. Bf3?!
21. d5 seemed better, though after 21. ..Bc3 22. bc Ne3 23. fe Nf6 24. e4 Qe5, black's dark squared blockade ought to be enough to hold. Now the initiative passes to black.
21. ..Nf4! 22. Qc2 Bd4 23. Bd4 Qd4 24. Rfd1 Qf6 25. Rd8 Rd8 26. Rd1 Rd1 27. Bd1?
27. Nd1 offered the possibility of entangling white's queenside.
27. ..Ne6?!
After 27. ..Qd4, re-centralizing the queen, white would find it difficult to move.
28. Qe2 Kg7?!
28. ..Nd4 was more logical.
29. g3 Nd4 30. Qe4 Nd2 31. Qe3 Nc4 32. Qe4 Ne6 33. Qe2 Nd4 34. Qe4 0.5 : 0.5
Irina's game was next to finish, a smooth win and a great start to her season.
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. de d4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. a3 Nge7 6. b4 Ng6 7. Bb2 Nce5?!
Including 7. ..a5 8. b5 is a critical nuance.
8. Ne5 Ne5 9. e3 Be6 10. c5 Ng4
10. ..Nc6 11. ed Be7 seemed to offer black some counterplay on the d-file
11. Bd4 Qh4 12. g3 Qh6 13. Bg2 c6 14. b5 Bd7 15. h3 Nf6 16. bc Bc6 17. Bc6 bc 18. Qf3 Nd7 19. 0-0 Be7 20. Nd2 0-0 21. Kg2 Rab8 22. Rac1 Rfd8 23. Rfd1 Bf8 24. Ne4 Qg6 25. Nd6! Nc5 26. Bc5 Bd6 27. Ba7 Ra8 28. Bb6 Ba3 29. Rc6 1:0
Giorgi won an easy game on the white side of a Kings Indian, as Smith's pawn pushes on the queenside accelerated white's play.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 0-0 6. Nf3 e5 7. 0-0 Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. Ne1 Nd7 10. Be3 f5 11. f3 f4 12. Bf2 g5 13. Rc1 a5? 14. a3 Ng6 15. Nd3 b6 16. b4 Nf6 17. c5 ab 18. ab bc 19. bc Rf7 20. cd cd 21. Nb4 h5 22. Nc6 Qf8 23. Na4 Bb7 24. Nb6 Ra2 25. Bc4 Ra3 26. Rc2!
26. ..g4 27. Qc1 Re3! 28. Be3 fe 29. Qe3 Bh6 30. Qe1 gf?! 31. Rf3 Ng4 32. Rcc3 Bf4 33. g3 Bg5 34. Be2 Nf6 35. Bf1 Qh6 36. Nc4 Rg7 37. Rb3 h4 38. Nd6 hg 39. Rg3 Bd2 40. Qf2 Bf4 41. Nf5 1:0
Fed held the worse end of a draw against Bartell.
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. d4 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. cd Nd5 7. O-O Nb6 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. e3 Re8 10. Re1 h6!?
10. ..a5 is standard, with the idea of 11. Qe2 e5 12. Ne5 Ne5 13. de Be5 14. e4 Be6 15. f4 Bc3! (Bocharov-Nepomniachtchi, Russia Higher League 2010)
11. Qe2
Now 11. ..e5 doesn't work as h6 is exposed after an eventual e3-e4.
11. ..a5 12. Rd1 a4 13. Ne5! Bd7 14. Nd7 Qd7 15. Ne4 Qc8 16. Bd2 e5 17. de Be5 18. Bc3 Bc3 19. Nc3 Ra5 20. Rac1 Qe6 21. Ne4 Qe7 22. h4 Re5 23. Nc3 Qe6 24. Nb5 Qa2 25. Bc6 bc 26. Rc6 Nd5 27. Nc7 Nc7 28. Rc7 Rb8 29. Qc2
Black needs to find 29. ..Rd5 to hold the balance. Instead...
29. ..Ree8?! 30. Rd6! Re6 31. Rc8 Rc8 32. Qc8 Kh7 33. Re6 fe 34. Qd7 Kg8 35. Qe8 Kg7 36. Qe7 Kg8 37. Qf6 Qb1 38. Kh2 Qe4
39. f3! Qc2 40. Kh3 and white will win another pawn, though the position remains difficult. Bartell tries a different path, but Fed's careful defense holds the draw.
39. Qd4?! Qc2 40. Kg2 h5 41. e4 Qc6 42. Kf3 Kf7 43. Kf4 Qc7 44. e5 Qc1 45. Kf3 Qc6 46. Ke2 Qc2 47. Kf1 Qc1 48. Kg2 Qc6 49. Kh2 Kg7 50. Qa7 Kg8 51. Qd4 Kg7 52. Qf4 Qb6 53. Qd2 Qc6 54. Kg1 Kh7 55. Qe2 Qc1 56. Kh2 Qc5 57. f3 Qd4 58. g4 Qf4+ 59. Kg2 Kh6 60. Kh3 Qc1 61. Kg2 Qf4 62. Kh3 Qc1 63. Kg2 0.5 : 0.5
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