2017 Land of the Sky XXX Round 4 Anton Taylor, 1916 - Ali Shirzad, 1695 Open Sicilian (B40)

2017 Land of the Sky XXX Round 4
Anton Taylor, 1916 - Ali Shirzad, 1695
Open Sicilian (B40)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 a6 is the more common move and probably more cautious (if not to say more accurate) 5. Bd3 Bc5? This move is not dubious but I don't like it on a principle level. Nc6 develops a knight first. I also see that Black will have to move the Bishop twice at least and White will trade his Bishop for it in one move potentially (Be3) 6. Nb3 Bb6 Be7 is more common in the position and probably is better BUT It is better to play Be7 before Bc5 because the knight is exposed on d4 but now is safe on b3. 7. Nc3 a6?

I completely missed that 8.e5! clearly wins in this position. I'm in robotic development mode. 8. Qf3 d6 9. Be3 Nbd7? Placing the knight here locks in the Bishop to the back rank and the threat of Ne5 is not that critical. 10. Be2 Preserving the Bishop pair (at least for the moment). In spite of the equal evaluation this move is given I much prefer White here. 10. ... Ne5 11. Qg3 Ng6? 11. ... Bxe3 12. Qxe3 Neg4 seems to be the most accurate line for Black. 12. f4 h4 is the better way to go about a kingside attack but I felt like it was more commital than this move (because here I preserve the idea h3-g4. 12. ... Bxe3 13. Qxe3 O-O 14. g4 e5 15. f5 Nf4 16. O-O-O b5 17. Bf3 This move turns out to give Black's counterplay a little more bite. The immediate g5 turns out to be the winning idea. I felt like Ne2 trading off the knight was necessary before the pawn storm to give open lines for the rooks.17. ... Bb7 18. Ne2 When I envisioned this position in my mind four moves earlier I did not see that the pressure black could have along the c-file keeps the balance. 18. ... Nxe2+ 19. Qxe2 Qb6 20. g5 Nd7 21. f6 g6 22. Bg4 Rfd8 23. Bxd7 Rxd7 24. Qg4 Qd8 25. Rd2 a5 26. Nc5 Rc7 27. Nxb7 Rxb7 28. Rhd1 Rb6 29. Qh4 Raa6 30. Rd5 b4 31. Rxe5 b3 32. Qh6 Qf8 33. Re8! 1-0