(1) Rensch,D (2388) - Nakamura,A (2164) [C45]
High School National Champ. (5), 17.04.2004
[Rensch,Daniel]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 I chose the Scotch because I had done some serious preparation on it leading into the tournament. 3...exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 [ 5.Nxc6 This is the main line Classical Variation and the line I choose most often; however, as I mentioned above, I have done some work lately and I am in love with the new line I employed in this game.] 5...Qf6 6.Nb5!? Here it is! The Blumenfeld variation of the Scotch. Unfortunately, this is not a page on opening theory so I will not be going deeply into the line, but I will say that this interesting 6th move by white is a "hot topic" right now in high level chess. 6...Bxe3 The only move really... 7.fxe3 Qe5 The safest move and the move that most people seem to play who don't know the theory of the variation. 8.N1a3!? Up until this moment my oppenent played fast and tried to pretend that he was on top of my preparation. After the game I found out that the extent of my oppenent's knowledge on this line was little to none. In fact, the only thing he knew was that his younger brother (the young American prodigy: Grand Master Hikaru Nakamura) had recently crushed a very strong player with the line I employed here. [ 8.Qd5 This is the move more commonly played here by white and I recently tried it against local International Master Rogelio Barcenilla at the March 13th Master Trek. The game continued: 8...Kd8 only move. ( 8...Qxb2 9.Bc4! ( 9.Nxc7+ This move is slightly worse for white because of 9...Kd8 10.Nxa8 Qxa1 11.Qb3 Qf6 and after black retreats the queen it is not clear how white will continue to gain an edge.) 9...Kd8 ( 9...Qxa1 10.Qxf7+ Kd8 11.Qf8# ) 10.0-0 Qxa1 ( 10...a6 11.N5c3! ( 11.Nd4 Nxd4 ( 11...Qxa1 12.Qxf7 Nf6 13.Qxg7 Re8 14.Qxf6++- ) 12.Qxf7?? ( 12.Qxd4 Qxd4 13.exd4 f6 ) 12...Nh6!-+ ) 11...Qxa1 ( 11...Nf6 12.Qg5 Re8 13.Qxg7 Nh5 14.Qxh7+- ) 12.Qxf7 Nh6 ( 12...Nge7 13.Qf8+ Rxf8 14.Rxf8# ) 13.Qxg7 Re8 14.Qf6+ Ne7 15.Qxh6+- ) 11.N1c3 Qb2 12.Qxf7 Nh6 13.Qxg7 Re8 14.Qxh6+- ) 9.Qxf7 Nh6 10.Qf4 Re8 11.N1c3 a6 12.Qxe5 Nxe5 13.Nd4 b5 14.h3 Bb7 15.0-0-0 Nef7 16.Nb3 Bxe4 17.Nxe4 Rxe4 18.Rxd7+ Kxd7 19.Nc5+ Kc6 20.Nxe4 Nf5 21.Bd3 Nxe3 22.Nc3 Nd6 23.Bxh7 Nxg2 24.Rg1 Rh8! 25.Be4+ Nxe4 26.Nxe4 Nf4 27.Rxg7 Rxh3 and the game was eventually drawn after about 70 moves.] 8...a6? Black needed to play Kd8 in order to defend the c7-pawn. Because my opponent wasn't sure what to do here, he opted for the only forced line he could see (8...a6?). Unfortunately for him, this line is bad and he quickly finds himself in a very ugly position. [ 8...Kd8 9.Nc3 followed by Nc4 with a slightly better position for white.] 9.Nc4! Qxb5 10.Nd6+ cxd6 11.Bxb5 axb5 12.Qxd6 Generally, the most important thing in "unbalanced material situations" (an unbalanced material situation is one where the points of the material are equal, for example two pieces vs. a rook and a pawn both equal six or three pieces vs. a queen both equal nine, but the two pieces play completely different than the rook and pawn, as does the queen play differently than the three pieces) is to keep the initiative. In chess the person who has the initiative is the person who is on the attack, creating threats, improving his position, etc. In this game, I was able to keep the initiative as white. I never allowed his three pieces to get coordinated which enabled me to target his weak king position as well as his weak pawns. 12...Nf6 [ 12...Nge7!? 13.0-0 0-0 14.h4 b6 ( 14...Ng6 15.h5 Nge5 16.h6+- ) 15.h5 h6 16.Rf3 and white will continue his attack on the black king with moves like Rg3 and Raf1.] 13.0-0! This was a very good move because white recognized that the most important thing in this position was not to keep the pawn on e4 but keep the initiative! 13...Nxe4 14.Qf4 Nf6 15.Qg5 We now see the point of white's combination started by castling. I have prevented black from castling for good, which will also keep the black rook on h8 out of the game indefinitely. 15...Kf8 Only move. [ 15...Rg8 16.Rxf6!+- ; 15...0-0 16.Rxf6+- ; 15...g6 16.Qxf6+- ] 16.e4! Once again white is keeping the threats coming. I cannot stress the importance of this idea, or mindset if you will, enough. White is threatening to kick the knight from f6 by moving his pawn to e5. Taking the pawn on e4 for black would be suicide as you can see in the variations given below: [ 16.Rxf6 this was the other move that I strongly considered. However, I chose against this line because I could not see a way to continue the attack after: 16...gxf6 17.Qxf6 Rg8 18.Rf1 Rg7 19.h4! h5! and black will bring his rook on a8 over to g4 where it is now white who will have to defend. It situations where you have an attack it is very important to see a clear win or at least a sizeable advantage before you sacrifice more material, which is exactly why I didn't play 16.Rxf6. ( 19...Ra4 20.h5 Rag4 21.h6 Rxg2+ 22.Kh1+- ) ] 16...d6 [ 16...Nxe4 17.Qf4 Nf6 18.Rae1 d5 ( 18...Rxa2 19.Qd6+ Kg8 20.Rxf6 gxf6 21.Re8+ Kg7 22.Qg3+ Kh6 23.Rxh8+- ) 19.Qd6+ Kg8 20.Rxf6 gxf6 21.Re8+ Kg7 22.Qg3+ Kh6 23.Rxh8+- ] 17.Rad1 Once again white is bringing his pieces into the game with threats... Every single one of his last few developing moves have been strong threats. White now threatens to capture on d6 with his rook. 17...Be6 Black must continue developing and he has done a good job of that thus far. White now realizes that black has succesfully defended the threats against his king. So, white finds a way to keep threats going and take advantage of black's other problem in the position: his out-of-play rook on h8. 18.Qxb5 Notice that white never grabbed this weak pawn earlier because it wasn't going anywhere. It was more important that white achieve the things he did, like preventing black from castling. Now black has a big problem because his bishop, although undeveloped on c8, was defending b7. If white is able to win the b7-pawn and start marching down his queenside pawns, black will not have enough pieces on the queenside to defend. (Notice that black is having this problem because of his stuck rook on h8.) [ 18.Rxd6? Nxe4! ] 18...Ke7! This was black's hardest to find and best move of the game. Asuka realized that even if he is putting his king right back in the fire, he had to get his rook on h8 in the game. 19.Qxb7+ Bd7 Here I faced my first critical choice of the game. Black had defended his much worse position very well and he was ready to get his rooks into the game via. Rhb8 and Rxa2 where white would start having problems. However, black's king position is still very weak, and I was able to find another target to attack: the d6-pawn. Here I had a couple of choices of how to continue the attack of the king and the d6-pawn: 20.Rxf6! This is the move I played in the game. The other way to continue the attack was 20. Qc7 immiedately. Please see the variation below. [ 20.Qc7 Ne8! attacks the queen and defends d6. However, white has the shot 21.Rxf7+ but this move wasn't enough for me after 21...Kxf7 22.Qxd7+ Ne7 23.Rf1+ Nf6 24.Qxd6 Rhd8 25.Qc7 where although white has a queen and three passed pawns for the two rooks and a knight, I didn't see anyway to keep my initiative aftter black plays 25...Ke8! now the e4 and the a2 pawn are hangning, and it is white who will have to pary black's threats.] 20...gxf6 21.Qc7 Rhd8 22.Qxd6+ Ke8 23.a3! White is much better here. I have managed to create three passed pawns and still keep black's king in the center. Note that it would have been a huge mistake to grab the pawn on f6 immediately because black pieces would have been able to come to life after Rxa2. 23...Rac8 24.Qxf6 Be6 25.Rxd8+ Nxd8! Capturing on d8 with the knight allows black's rook to attack the c2-pawn. 26.c3 Rb8 27.b4 Ra8 Black has managed to win one of his pawns back as well as slow down and blockade white's passed pawns. How should white continue? Well, when one advantage is not enough, create two! Principal of Two Weaknesses is something I have been preaching in my Strategy Sessions since their creation. Here I used that principal to its full strength by creating a second passed pawn on the kingside. Covering both sides of the board proved to be too much for black and he was quicly lost after: 28.h4! Rxa3 29.h5 Ra1+ 30.Kh2 Re1 31.Qh8+ Ke7 32.h6 [ 32.Qxh7 This move was also possible but I didn't was to give black the entrance into g4 with his knight after Nc6-e5.] 32...Rxe4 [ 32...Nc6 would be silly now because of 33. b5 and the queen still has her eye on the e5 square.] 33.Qxh7 Rg4 34.b5 White is starting to shift his focus again to the other side of the board. 34...Rg6 35.Qh8 f6 36.h7 Nf7 37.Qg8! The game should have been quickly over after: 37...Rh6+ 38.Kg1 Bf5 39.b6 Bxh7 40.Qg4! [ 40.Qxf7+!? Kxf7 41.b7 and white is winning.] 40...Bd3 [ 40...Nd6 41.Qg7+! Nf7 42.b7+- ] 41.b7 Rh8 42.Qb4+ Ke6 43.b8Q Rxb8 44.Qxb8 And the rest should have been an easy matter of technique for white, but... 44...Ne5 45.Qb6+ Kf5 46.Qd4 Bc4 47.g4+?? My only bad move of the entire game comes at a time when I can least afford it!! All I had to do was show a little more patience and activate my king first. I rushed this move because I figured the pawn on g4 was uncapturable due the the hanging bishop on c4. But, as you will see in the game, black is saved by a lucky tactic. 47...Kg5 I now realized that my king can not come forward without allowing the knight to capture on g4 and retreat to e5. 48.Kg2 [ 48.Kf2 Nxg4+ 49.Kg3 Ne5 ; 48.Kh2 Nxg4+ 49.Kg3 Ne5 ] 48...Nxg4 49.Kf3 [ 49.Qxc4 Ne3+ and it is now black who wins.] 49...Ne5+ 50.Ke4 Kg6 Now, I just want to make it clear that white is still completely winning in this position, but I made my second mistake of the game: I lost my head! I should have remained calm and figured out exactly what I would have to do in order to force the win of the f6 pawn (note that winning the f6-pawn would be white's only way to break this fortress that black has setup). But, I played too fast and wasted too many moves before I spent the time to figure it out. Then when I finally did reach a winning position, he was able to claim the 50-move draw rule. 51.Qd8 Bf7 52.Qc8 [ 52.Qh8+- followed by the transfrering of the white king to e7.] 52...Bc4 53.Qf5+ Kg7 54.Kd4 Please excuse the fact that I do not have much more analysis for the next 50 moves of the game. I do mention a few times where white had his chances to win and I hope that is enough... 54...Bf7 55.Qe4 Be6 56.Kc5 Bf7 57.Kd6 Bc4 58.Ke7 Ng6+ 59.Ke8 Bf7+ 60.Kd8 Ne5 61.Qg2+ Kf8 62.Qb7 Kg7 63.Ke7 [ 63.c4 Nxc4 64.Ke7 Ne5 65.Qg2+ Bg6 ; 63.Qb6! Bc4 64.Qc7+ Bf7 65.Qb7! Kf8 66.c4! Nxc4 67.Qf3 Kg7 68.Ke7+- ] 63...Ng6+ 64.Kd6 [ 64.Kd8! Ne5 65.Qb6 Bc4 66.Qc7+ Bf7 67.Qb7 Kf8 68.c4!+- ] 64...Ne5 65.Qg2+ Kf8 66.Qg1 Nc4+ 67.Kd7 Ne5+ 68.Kd8 Nc6+ 69.Kd7 Ne5+ 70.Kd6 Nc4+ 71.Kc5? The next 15 moves were a total waste. White must keep his king behind the pawn and manouver his queen to b7 as mentioned in the lines above. 71...Ne5 72.Qg3 Bg8 73.Kd4 Be6 74.Ke4 Kf7 75.Qg1 Bc4 76.Kf5 Be6+ 77.Kf4 Bc4 78.Qh1 Kg7 79.Qg2+ Kf7 80.Qh3 Kg7 81.Qf5 Bf7 82.Qc8 Bc4 83.Kf5 Bd3+ 84.Ke6 Bc4+ 85.Ke7 Ng6+ 86.Ke8 Bf7+ 87.Kd8 Ne5 88.Qh3 Nc6+ 89.Kd7 Ne5+ 90.Ke7 Ng6+ 91.Kd8 Ne5 92.Qh1 Bc4 93.Qg1+ [ 93.Qb7+ this would have been my last chance before he reaches 50 moves. Although my opponent blundered with Kf7, he was still able to draw because of the claim. 93...Bf7 94.c4+- ] 93...Kf7? This move allows white to force the king away from the pawn. [ 93...Kf8 ] 94.Qa7+! Kg6 [ 94...Kf8 95.Qe7+ Kg8 96.Qxf6 ] 95.Ke8 Bf7+ 96.Kf8 Bc4 97.Qg1+ Kf5 If you had given me two more moves to play Kg7 and Qf2+ I would have been able to win the f6 pawn. But... I ran out of moves... 1/2-1/2