2017 Lutz, Get Out Round 4 FM Matt Hassen, 2292 - Anton Taylor, 1928 Reti: King's Indian Attack (A05)

2017 Lutz, Get Out Round 4
FM Matt Hassen, 2292 - Anton Taylor, 1928
Reti: King's Indian Attack (A05)

1. Nf3 As with our previous encounter I had expected 1.e4. I'm uncertain what this change of repertoire means. I prefer to think that Matt is taking me more serious than in our first game but it may just be that he likes to play a lot of different things. 1. ... Nf6 Before this tournament I had been meeting Nf3 with f5. I have lost a little faith in the Dutch defense in many of its forms and that includes those positions arising in this move order. So, I keep my options open. 2. g3 b6 There are many Black moves in this position. I choose a counter fianchetto. It's hard to say what possessed me to adopt this. I do have some experience in the Queen's Indian. But I cannot say that it makes sense here or has some edge over the other options. The simple d5 could signal an even slower game with fewer tactical issues to consider (it is possible in some central exchanges to lose the bishop on b7 if it is unguarded whereas White's bishop is always protected by his king). 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O e6 5. d3 Be7 It is worthwhile to note that in the almost 500 games in the database for this move it seems to swing generally in white's favor. c5 and even d5 fair much better. This leads me to the conclusion that my previous note is correct. b6 runs into a lot of tactical problems that make the fight for the center awkward for black. 6. e4 c5 7. Nbd2 Nc6 8. Re1 d6 9. c3 O-O 10. h4 This strange looking move makes some sense grabbing the space but d4 and a3 are the more common alternatives. In any case it is made to provoke a black response at some point to weaken his king (with moves like Ng5, etc.) 10. ... Ne5 This move could be a future key to uncorking Black's structure at some future time but here it allows the white knight to gain a tempo off attacking the undefended pawn and makes Qc7 awkward (because of the threat of Bf4 in some lines). In retrospect here is where things started to go wrong for me in this game. 11. Nxe5 dxe5 12. Nc4 Nd7 13. a4 Keeping his annoying knight there on c4 for one extra move. 13. ... Rc8 I played this move to deter d4 and move off the diagonal. However, there is no readily available plan for black and white is gaining more and more ideas and plans. That is why I think this position is completely lost. Komodo seems to think black is fine but as a human give me white here any day above black. 14. Qg4 f5?? A drastic overreaction that just leads to pawn weaknesses in all variations. Kh8 is a much cleaner solution to the threat of Bh6. 15. Qh3 Qc7 16. exf5 Bxg2 17. Qxg2 exf5?? I made this move automatically because I had calculated the variation on move 14. The problem is that in my mind's eye I did not see the queen able to give a check (as she is on g4 when I looked at it). Rxf5 creates a sharp struggle and had to be tried after committing to f5. 18. Qd5+! Kh8 Rf7 is recommended by komodo but is still fairly lost. The main drawback of that move is that it leads to a greater number of exchanges and I preferred to have a worse position with the pieces on. The rest of the game has a little sharpness to it but white's technique is clear enough to win. 19. f4 e4 20. dxe4 Nf6 21. Qxf5 Rcd8 22. Qe6 Rd3 23. Be3 Qb7 24. Bf2 Nh5 25. Ne5 Nxf4 26. gxf4 Rd6 27. Nf7+ Rxf7 28. Qxf7 Rg6+ 29. Kh2 Qd7 30. Rad1 1-0