[Event "TCh-ESP CECLUB Div Honor 2011"]
[Site "Melilla ESP"]
[Date "2011.11.26"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Giri, A."]
[Black "Bacrot, E."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[PlyCount "169"]
[EventDate "2011.11.21"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[Source "Mark Crowther"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.29"]
[WhiteTeam "CA Sestao Naturgas Energia"]
[BlackTeam "Gros Xake Taldea"]

1. e4 {Recently I came back to my favourite 1.e4, as I realized that this way
it's actually easier to mate your opponent. But to be serious the most popular
first move choice on the top level is periodically changing from e4 to d4 and
vice versa. It goes in a wave like movements and I feel now the e4 wave is
gonna get higher and higher.} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 {I managed to get a nice
edge against Navara in European Team with the Scotch, but I decided to give
some credits to old Italian masters as well. In fact with Bacrot I already had
one Italian. This time I was much better prepared and expected to get more
from the opening than the last time, when I drew.} Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6.
Nbd2 {before Black played d6 there is no need to prepare for Na5. Once he will,
moves c3 and Bb3 will be neccesary.} d5 {I felt it wasn't right that Black can
equalize this way. At the end he shouldn't forget who started the game.} (6...
d6 {is a soild but passive alternative-} 7. c3 a6 8. Bb3 {and Black has to be
ready for a long game. White doesn't have much, but can hope to outmaneuvre
his opponent slowly. Nice examples are Radjabov-Harikrishna from World Team
and Carlsen-Nakamura from London Classics 2011. In both games White players
played brilliantly.}) 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Ne4 $1 {very strong novelty ("novelty",
as it has been played by the lower rated players) that I found during my long
pre-restday preparation. The move looks premature, but in fact the knight is
more than comfortable on e4, as f5 is almost always too early for Black.} Be7 (
8... Bb6 {is just odd. White has few ways to get better position, but the trick
} 9. Bxd5 $2 Qxd5 10. c4 {which worked in some amateur game, unfortunately
doesn't work-} Qd7 $1 11. c5 f5 $1) 9. Re1 {I tried h3 as well, but at the end
I decided that there was no need to prevent Bg4 anyway as eventually I will
prepare h3 and then the desired Bh5 will fail to Ng3.} Bg4 10. c3 $1 {h3 is
too early due to Bxf3 and Nd4 followed by a very strong b5!.} Nb6 {Black has
to prevent h3.} 11. Bb3 Qd7 {other move are possible too, but again, h3 was a
positional threat.} 12. a4 $1 {useful inclusion} a5 13. h3 Be6 (13... Bf5 {is
a little unnatural, but possible. White remains slightly better obviously.})
14. Be3 {preparing Nc5 as well as Bxb6!?. All the moves so far were more than
natural, but somehow I was already nearly an hour up on the clock by this
point.} Nd5 $2 {this loses a pawn. Black is already clearly worse, but he
should have considered putting one of the rooks on d8, though in that case I
could have made a few more moves without thinking.} 15. Nc5 Bxc5 (15... Nxe3 {
just doesn't work-} 16. Nxd7 Nxd1 17. Bxe6 $1 {and white is winning.}) 16. Bxc5
Rfd8 (16... Rfe8 {is no better-} 17. Nxe5 Nxe5 18. Rxe5 b6 19. Qf3 $1 {a neat
move, which leads to huge edge for white.}) 17. Nxe5 Nxe5 18. Rxe5 Nf4 19. Re4
$1 {I was very happy with this move, that took me quite some time to find.} (
19. Bxe6 Nxe6 20. d4 {gives it away-} b6 21. Ba3 c5 $1 22. d5 Qd6 $1) 19...
Bxb3 20. Qxb3 Ne6 (20... Nxd3 21. Re7 Qf5 22. Be3 {was what I had expected and
here I thought Black could have gone} Rab8 23. Rxc7 b5 {but I missed that he
can't even do that due to a cute tactic-} 24. axb5 Rxb5 25. Rxf7 $1) (20... Qf5
{comes down to the same-} 21. Be3 Nxd3 22. Re7) 21. Ba3 $6 {a little
inaccurate, but I a little bit overestimated the position I got in the game.} (
21. d4 $1 {was better. I was worried about my opponent getting some miracle
chances in the heavy pieces position after Nxc5, but in fact it's just totally
lost. The best he can do here is} b6 (21... Nxc5 22. dxc5) 22. Ba3 c5 23. dxc5
bxc5 {and I think this is an even better version of what I got in the game.})
21... c5 {now I can slowly consolidate having an extra pawn in the pocket.} (
21... Qxd3 22. Qxb7 {is also a solid pawn up.}) 22. Rd1 Qc6 23. Qc4 Rd5 24.
Rde1 Rad8 25. R1e3 h6 26. Re5 $1 {changing one rook felt right.} Rxe5 27. Rxe5
b6 28. b3 {intending to bring the bishop back via c1..} Qd7 29. Re3 Rb8 30. Qb5
Qc7 31. Bc1 Rd8 32. Qc4 Qf4 33. g3 Qf5 34. Kg2 Ng5 35. h4 Ne6 36. Bd2 Qg6 37.
Re4 Nc7 {so far not much has been changing, besides that I improved my pieces
a little more. Now I decided that it's the time to open up a little-} 38. b4
Qc6 39. bxa5 {I got a little worried about the counterplay on the b-file, but
I was worried that after b5 I will not be able to make much progress.} bxa5 {
Till here I everything went fine, but now I started to lose track pretty badly}
40. Kh2 Ne6 41. Re3 $6 {I realized that I have the Re5-Qe4 idea already after
I played this move.} ({Obviously the move I wanted to make already in the time
trouble-} 41. Be3 {was much stronger-} Rb8 42. Re5 $1 Rb1 43. Qe4 {and White
is on his way to convert the advantage.}) 41... Qb7 42. Qb5 Qa8 {I was
calculating only the endgame after Qxb5 and this move just escaped my
attention, as I missed that after c4 Black isn't forced to go Nd4.} 43. Qc4 (
43. c4 $2 Rb8 $1 44. Qxa5 Qc6 $1 45. Bc3 Rb1 46. Re1 Rb3 $1 {and white is
unable to make any progress, and Qf3 and Ra3 are coming.}) 43... Qb7 44. Qb5 (
44. Be1 $1 {with idea d4, suggested by Bacrot was indeed stronger.}) 44... Qa8
45. Qb1 $6 {Bacrot said he was shocked with this move. Well, it isn't that
aesthetically pleasing indeed, but I think it's exaggeration, white still
keeps the pawn and Black's counterplay is in fact rather limited.} Rb8 46. Qa2
Rb6 47. Bc1 Qb7 48. Re2 {intending to swith to b2 maybe.} Qf3 $6 {objectively
it's strong, but as both, me and Bacrot didn't see the follow up, it's a
mistake.} (48... Qd7 {would get me upset, as now I would have to go} 49. Qc2 {
getting pretty passive again. Eventually it's still possible to maybe
rearrange the pieces somehow, but Black has extremely good drawing chances
here already.}) 49. Be3 {I was relieved that I could finally regroup, now I am
already threatening d4 and if d3 pawn is going to be attacked I can go Rd2.}
Qb7 $4 {terrible mistake. Now Black is in trouble again. In fact I felt that
g5 was an option and it was even asking to be played, but I just couldn't
believe that it would work here-} (49... g5 $1 {now I thought that after} 50.
Rb2 Rxb2 51. Qxb2 gxh4 52. gxh4 {Qb8+ is coming and it looked good to me, but
just two more moves-} Qg4 53. Qb8+ Kh7 {and it turns out that I can't protect
both the h- and the a-pawns.}) (49... Rd6 $1 {was even more interesting now
after} 50. Rd2 g5 51. Qc4 {It seemed to me that Black's play doesn't work as I
can answer Rb6 with Qe4, but in fact he has a very strong reply-} gxh4 (51...
Rb6 52. Qe4 Qxe4 53. dxe4 Rb3 {is maybe also holding, but not this is already
not that clear-} 54. hxg5 hxg5 55. Rd5 $1 Rxc3 56. Bxg5 Rc4 57. Bf6 Kh7 $1 58.
Re5 (58. f4 Rxe4 59. f5 Ng7 60. Rxc5 Rxa4 61. Kh3)) 52. Qxh4 Ng5 $1 {just
brilliant. Now Rb6 is a threat so only move is} 53. Rb2 $1 Qxe3 {with a draw.}
(53... Kg7 {is even tricky for white, but it should be a draw somehow- for
example-} 54. Bxc5 Qc6 55. Bd4+ Kh7 56. Qh5 Nf3+ 57. Kh3 Ng1+ 58. Kh2 Nf3+ 59.
Kh3)) 50. d4 $1 {now it starts to go smooth as the second time approached just
at the right time.} cxd4 51. cxd4 Rb3 52. Rc2 $1 {taking away the c7 square.
It becomes clear that Black isn't able to hold grip on the white square and
d4-d5 is inevitable.} Nf8 (52... Rd3 {was the only move-} 53. Rd2 Rxd2 54. Qxd2
Qd5 55. Qd1 $1 {with idea Qh1! and nearly winning advantage.}) 53. d5 $1 Ng6 (
53... Qxd5 54. Rc3 Rb5 {doesn't help-} 55. Qxd5 Rxd5 56. Rc8 $1 {followed by
Bc5 winning.}) 54. Rc8+ (54. Rc5 $1 {was more exact, but I wanted to keep it
simpler.}) 54... Kh7 (54... Qxc8 55. Qxb3 {must be technically lost too, but
black can try to create som tricks with his knight.} Qf5 $1 (55... Ne5 $2 56.
Bd4 $1)) 55. Qc2 {now it's hopeless-} Qxd5 56. Rc5 Qd3 57. Qxd3 Rxd3 58. Rxa5
Ne7 59. Ra7 Nf5 60. Bb6 {I thought the rook endgame after Rxf7 would lead to a
position I saw in a Dvoretzky manual, after I put my rook on the 4th rank and
get g4, but obviously there is no need for it, moreover I am not sure that
this is the same case, as in that position the pawns were g4 vs g5 making it
really static for black. Here he can maybe hope to exchange both of them.} Kg6
61. a5 Ra3 62. a6 Ra4 63. Ra8 Nd6 64. a7 {fortunately the fact that we both
have a pair or light pieces on board makes a difference.} Nb5 65. Be3 ({
Fortunately I wasn't as careless as to allow} 65. Rb8 $4 Nxa7 66. Ra8 Rb4 $1 (
66... Ra6 67. Be3 $1) 67. Bc5 Rc4 $1 68. Bxa7 Ra4 {which is probably a draw.})
65... Ra3 66. Kg2 (66. g4 $1 {was fixing it, but I didn't see any need and
decided to win more conceptually and to avoid calculating a single line.})
66... h5 67. Kf1 f6 68. Ke2 Kf5 69. Kd2 g6 70. Kc2 (70. Rc8 Nxa7 71. Rc7 {
would be a nice way to show the sharpness, but it just wasn't there at that
hour...}) 70... Kg4 71. Rf8 {I decided that it's too risky to advance my king
as a fork could be blundered.} Nxa7 72. Rxf6 Nb5 73. Rxg6+ Kf3 74. Rg5 Nd6 75.
Bc5 {I hoped Bacrot would forgive me for my miserable approach of converting
the advantage, but I still followed my principle of minimizing the
calculations.} Ra2+ 76. Kb3 Rd2 77. Bxd6 Rxd6 78. Rxh5 Kxf2 79. Rg5 {I liked
this construction as with the king cut of I can advance my pawns without my
king.} Ke3 80. Kc4 Ke4 81. h5 Rc6+ 82. Kb5 Rc1 83. Kb6 Kd4 84. Kb7 {a little
sadistic.} Ke4 85. g4 1-0

