John Richardson (2315) - Alexander Baburin, (2593)

4NCL, Birmingham (2), 10.10.1999

1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 Nc3 6 4 e4 b5 5 a4 b4 6 Nb1? (D)

Much better is 6 Na2, attaching the b4-pawn. Then the following wild game is interesting: 6...e5 7 Bxc4 exd4 8 Qb3 Qe7 9 Nf3 c5 10 Bg5 Nf6 11 0-0 h6 12 Bd5 hxg5 13 Bxa8 g4 14 Nd2 Be6 15 Qg3 Qd8 16 e5 Nh5 17 Qd3 Qh4. Black won after 18 Nc1 Nf4 19 Qg3 Qg5 20 Re1 Nh3+ 21 gxh3 Qxd2 22 Ne2 Qxb2 23 Nf4 Qc3 24 Qg2 b3 25 Rab1 c4 26 Rec1 Qb4 27 Bd5 gxh3 28 Qf3 Nd7 29 Nxe6 fxe6 30 Bxe6 Nxe5 31 Qe4 Bd6 32 Rxc4 Nxc4 33 Bxc4+ Kd8 34 Bxb3 Re8 35 Be6 Rxe6 in Eingorn-Kharlov, Moscow 1991. Usually Black plays 6...Bb7 7 f3 e6 8 Bxc4 c5 and then, for example, 9 Ne2 Nc6 10 Be3 cxd4 11 Nxd4 Qb6 12 Nf5 Qc7 13 Ng3 Bd6 14 0-0 Nge7 15 f4 0-0 16 e5 Nxe5 17 fxe5 Bc5 18 Bxc5 Qxc5+ 19 Rf2 Qxc4 20 Qd7 Nd5 21 Qxb7 b3 22 Nc1 with a draw in the game Schipkov-Baburin, Hungary 1990.

6...Bb7

This position is similar to the one arising after 3 e4, except that Black has a pawn on b4 here. Thus 6...e5?! won't be good now, as after 7 Nf3! exd4 8 Bxc4 Black does not have check on b4, which he has in the 3 e4 line. This means that he would seriously falling behind in development. 7 f3?

This move was played very (too!) quickly... I thought that 7 e5 was necessary.

7...e5! 8 dxe5 Qxd1+ 9 Kxd1 Nc6 10 Bxc4 0-0-0+!

Alas, nothing is new in chess nowadays! Annotating this game I found the following example: 10...Rd8+ 11 Nd2 Nxe5 12 Bb3 Bc5 13 Nh3 Ne7 14 f4 Ng4 15 Ke2 0-0 16 Bc4 Nf5 17 Kf3 Nf6 18 Ng5 Nd6 19 Bd3 h6 20 Nh3 Ndxe4 21 Bxe4 Nxe4 22 Nxe4 f5 23 Be3 Bxe4+ 24 Ke2 Bxe3 25 Kxe3 Bxg2 0-1 Levacic-Semkov, Cannes 1989.

11 Nd2

White could not play 11 Kc2? because of 11...Nd4+!. The same knight's jump would be also very unpleasant for White after 11 Ke1?! Nd4!.

11...Nxe5 12 Be2 (D)

Here my first intention was to play 12...f5, challenging the e4-pawn, which obstructs my b7-bishop. But White can play 13 Kc2. Then I asked myself - what does White want to play? Having found the answer (he needs to play Kc2 & Nc4), I played the decisive:

12...b3!

Now White cannot untie his pieces, as 13 Kc2 is no longer possible, while 13 Ke1 will be met with 13...Bb4.

13 f4

This is forced, but now the b7-bishop becomes a monster!

13...Ng6!-+ 14 Nh3 Nf6 15 Ng5 Nxe4 16 Ngxe4 Bxe4 17 Bxa6+ Kb8 18 Rf1 Bc5 19 g3 Rhe8 (D) 0-1

White's forces are in really bad shape..