US Chess Championship 2010: Gata Kamsky v. Ray Robson

US Chess Championship: Gata Kamsky v. Ray Robson




1. Nf3

A fairly flexible opening move. I will post my discussion on the various possibilities this move allows soon.

1...d5



Entering into the Queen's Gambit/Slav type games.

2. g3

Taking advantage of the flexibility that 1. Nf3 allows. White decides to fianchetto his light squared bishop, and will do this before he makes any decisions regarding the center.

Despite hiding his central plans for a bit, though, White gives Black valuable information about the placement of his light squared bishop.

2...c6

And Black takes advantage of this information by solidifying his pawns on the long diagonal. For me personally, I prefer to play either g6 or c5 in this type of position. I usually find myself getting passive positions when I play to minimize the Light Squared Bishop's influence.

3. Bg2

Continuing with his fianchetto plan.

3...Bg4



Black wants to develop this bishop so he can play Nd7 and continue with the development of his Queen side. If Black were to delay the development of his light squared bishop, it may become difficult to develop the Bishop or his Queen Side Knight later on. This is because his Queen side Knight wants to go to d7, which blocks the Light Squared Bishop's diagonal.

Moving the Bishop to g4 puts a bit of pressure on White's King side, and though Black is unlikely to want to trade his own Light Squared Bishop for White's f3 Knight, it is a possibility that may come into play. Black also has the ability to play Qd7 or Qc8 at some point, and then play his Bishop to h3 to trade off White's light squared bishop. This would leave White's King Side light squares fairly weak.

4. 0-0

White plays his most obvious move on the board. He still leaves open a fairly wide range of central pawn possibilities, which may allows him to make different central pawn plans depending on Black's moves.

4...Nd7

Black develops his Queen Side Knight. He is also taking some control of the e5 square, which can help him avoid an annoying Ne5 attacking the g4 Bishop by White.

5. d3



White finally plays in the center, and plays to take control of the central light squares. It is helpful to look at how the d5 pawn and the d3 pawn relate to each other. Both fight for the squares e4 and c4.

This move also works fairly well with the fianchetto of the Light Squared bishop. White can try to undermine Black's d5 center pawn from the flank by the move c4. This would increase the scope of White's Light Squared Bishop. White can also, as he does in this game, attack the center directly with e4. This move in conjunction with f4 can create a very powerful King side attack, as is often seen from Black's perspective in the King's Indian Defense. Incidentally, White's opening is called the King's Indian Attack.

5...Ngf6

This is the best square for Black's King side Knight.

6. h3

Playing this move forces Black's Bishop to decide where to go. Depending on where it goes, White can make various plans. Kh2 may also be a helpful move at some point. A common strategy in this type of position is to exchange of the fianchettoed bishop. Black could achieve this by playing Qd7 and then Bh3.

The downside of this move is that White's King side is somewhat weakened, especially the g3 square. Also, if White wants to move his light squared bishop, the h3 pawn can become a liability.

6...Bh5

Be6 would have been bad because of the move Ng5. Bf5 is possible, but the Light Squared Bishop isnt doing much on the h7-b1 diagonal, as the d3 pawn blocks its way. Maybe Black can delay White's e4, but after Re1 it seems more likely that White will be able to play e4 with tempo if Black moves his Bishop to f5.

From h5, the Bishop still puts pressure on the f3 Knight, the e2 pawn and the Queen on d1.

7. Nbd2



White gives extra defense to his f3 Knight, and now he can recapture Nxf3 if Black decides to play Bxf3. White blocks in his Dark Squared Bishop, but it doesnt really have anywhere to go at this point.

7...e5

Black creates a two pawn center with d5 and e5. This can be very powerful, as it will significantly reduce the ability of White's pieces to get to good, active squares.

This move also allows Black to complete his King side development by moving his Dark Squared Bishop.

8. e4



White's center is now more or less set, and his next moves will try to improve his pieces and other pawns in harmony with this central set up. The simple Ne1/Nh4/Nd2 followed by f4 can create a very strong attack. White also has good potential to play against Black's center.

Black's move c6 may hinder his ability to counter attack on the Queen side. In the normal King's Indian, the majority of White's play comes from the c5 pawn push, which is facilitated by his early c4. By contrast, here Black is not only moving after White, he will also have to achieve c4 by three pawn moves instead of two (c6-c5-c4 as opposed to c4-c5).

On the other hand, Black has not committed himself to such a large center as White does in the normal King's Indian. In the normal King's Indian, Black harasses White's d4 pawn, usually forcing it to advance and sometimes forcing it to exchange on c5 or e5. This is largely possible because White, by creating his large 3 pawn center (c4, d4, e4) has had to play the moves c4 and e4. When White plays both of these moves, he relinquishes all pawn control of the d4 square.

In the current position, Black has not done this. His c6 pawn retains control of the d5 square, and it will be more difficult for White to force Black to push or exchange his d5 pawn.

Truth be told, I hate the King's Indian Attack when I play Black and usually over press and lose or get a very passive position and lose. My main weaknesses opening wise are usually these hyper modern type openings, where one side delays central pawn moves. One of the reasons I switched from d4 to Nf3 is that I wanted to make it impossible for me to spend the first 3 or 4 moves pushing pawns. The central control is nice, and I do still win some games with the big center, but it must be accomplished through subtlety and tactical precision. At the same time, if you play too timidly, you will lose your chance at that big center. It is a very difficult thing to balance, and something I am still working on.

As for any players out there who have similar problems, the best suggestion I can make is to study a wide variety of openings. By getting a good handle on the ideas of most of the various openings, you will be better able to understand how chess openings in general work. Anecdotally, a while back I spent about a month or two going over the book Staring Out: The Caro-Kann. I didnt then, and never have since then used the Caro-Kann! I dont even actually like the Caro-Kann.

However, going through that opening gave me a good deal of insight into how to harmonize your pieces in the opening, and my opening play, and overall play, improved a great deal from studying that book. One last thought and I will end this tangent. In chess, very often the things you do that you think will improve your chess has no effect or makes you worse, and things you do that you think will not help your chess that much are the things that improve your chess a great deal. Why this is, I have no idea, but I have found when I study chess I dont improve, and when I have fun with chess I do improve.

Back to the game!



8...Bd6

Black wants to 0-0, but must move his Dark Squared Bishop first. He can move it to e7 and d6. From e7, the Dark Squared Bishop prevents the pinning of his f6 Knight to his Queen by White's move Bg5. However, White's Knight is in the way of his Dark Squared Bishop at the moment, so this pin is not that scary. Further, Black's Knight on d7 allows Black to move his Queen out of the pin if White plays Bg5 without his pawn structure getting messed up. So, there is little reason to move the Bishop to e7 on account of the pin.

On d6, the Bishop is more active as it defends the important e5 pawn, and it puts pressure on the f4-g3-h2 squares. Also, if necessary, the Bishop can retreat to b8. If Black has played Rc8, then the Bishop would not hinder the development or activity of Black's other pieces in any way. One mild problem with the Bishop on d6 is that Black's Queen is no longer defending the d5 square. With a pawn on c6, this is not such a big deal though.

On account of all of the above, Black decides to move his Bishop to the d6 square as opposed to the e7 square.

9. c3

White takes control of the d4 and b4 squares, and has prepared a d4 breakthrough or b4 Queen side attack.

9...a5



Black wants to prevent White from expanding on the Queen side. With b4, a4, b5 White could assault Black's Queen side position with something similar to the minority attack. In the minority attack, the idea is usually to isolate a Black c or b pawn and then put pressure on that pawn. This kind of attack can be especially deadly in this position, as White's Bishop is on the g2 square, putting pressure on d5-c6-b7-a8. Black's move prevents b4, because after axb4 cxb4 White's a2 pawn would be somewhat of a liability.

10. a4

White wants to stop Black's a5 pawn on a5. White also wants to stop b5, where Black could gain a great deal of space on the Queen side and start up his own type of minority attack.

10...0-0

Black takes this time to get his King out of the center.

11. Qc2

White breaks the pin on his f3 Knight. White's Queen doesnt have too many squares to go to, but she also wants to move somewhat soon. The earlier you can break a pin, usually the better. From c2, the White Queen defends the d3 pawn, which was undefended by the ninth move c3. From c2 the Queen also supports White's center strong point, e4. Finally, the Queen aims down the c file, so after a future d4, exd4, cxd4 the White Queen will be on an semi-open file.

11...Re8

This is a very natural move. Black's rook is doing little to nothing staring at his f7 pawn, which is currently under no danger. Black's other pieces are already developed fairly well, so there is not much point in moving them again. Black's a8 rook might be best placed on a8, and it is unclear if moving the Rook to b8 or c8 is better. The a8 Rook might also be best placed on d8, after Black moves his Queen. Because there is a good deal of uncertainty regarding the best placement of his a8 rook, and very little uncertainty regarding the placement of his f8 rook, it makes sense for Black to move his f8 rook. He can move the a8 rook after he has more information about White's intentions, in other words, after White has to make more moves.

12. Re1

For patzers like me, the idea of keeping the Rook on f4, moving the other rook to e1 and then blasting open the position with f4, f5, e5, d4 etc. is somewhat irresistible. This kind of blood lust often ends poorly for the attacker, though. With Re1, White more calmly develops his Rook for many of the same reasons Black did on the previous move.

12...Nc5



Black's Knight was not doing much on d7, so he advances it to the c5 square. A good rule of thumb is find your worst placed piece and improve its position. From c5, the Knight does quite a lot, and Black should be very happy with his Knight there. However, the Knight is somewhat vulnerable to attack.

Notice, though, how the Black's ninth move a5 works to support the Knight's position on c5. The pawn on a5 makes White's b4, forcing the Knight off the c5 square fairly difficult. White's a4 pawn would be weakened by this move after axb4 cxb4. That is not something I even thought about.

Harmony among the pieces is great, but need to have harmony among your pieces and pawns. Probably too often, I fall into the trap of looking at pawns as either static things to work around, or battery rams to thrust forward willy nilly. Pawns can preform very important, but simple, functions to promote the activity of your pieces though, and this a5-Nc5 relationship shows how simple but powerful this combination can be.

The Knight on c5 is attacking the d3 pawn, which ties White's Queen to the c2-b1 squares, and also attacks the e4 pawn, which brings a great deal of pressure on White's center. The Knight also can move to b3, where it might be very annoying. If possible, the Knight may be able to maneuver to b4 by the a6 square. The Knight can also move to the e6 square, where it is ready to move to the Kingside, and puts pressure on the center.

13. Nh4

White's Knight does a few things on h4. First, it can go to the f5 square, where it will harass Black's position fairly well. It will attack the Bishop on d6, it will prevent Black's use of the e7 square, and it will put some pressure on the g7 square. From f5 it can also reroute to the e3 square, and it defends the d4 square.

Black has difficulty ejecting the Knight from f5 because of his Bishop on h5. If Black plays g6 to eject the Knight, his Bishop is trapped. White can play simply e3 or h4, and threaten g4, trapping the Bishop. Black will either have to sacrifice his Bishop or play g5.

There are some problems with moving the Knight to f5 though. White gives up control of the g6 square, and allows Bg6. From there, the Bishop threatens to capture the White Knight, and mess up White's pawn structure. White would especially have a difficult time undermining Black's d5-c6-b7 pawn structure.

On the positive side, the Knight move also gives White's Light Squared Bishop a breath of fresh air. Moves that undermine Black's pawn structure on the d5-c6-b7 diagonal are not as far away on the horizon.

The Knight move also frees up the f pawn. The f pawn can march forward to undermine Black's center on e5 if desired. This is not possible at the moment though because Black's Dark Squared Bishop is putting pressure on the f4 square, and White is not defending it. It is always nice to have options though.

Finally, the Knight effectively prevents Black from moving his Light Squared Bishop to g6. If Black moves his Light Squared Bishop to g6, White can trade it off. White doesnt have to trade it off, as depending on circumstances the Bishop may not be very good on g6, but the possibility creates difficulties for Black. He will have to account for either a somewhat poorly placed bishop on g6, or no bishop on g6. It will take time to think about both of these possibilities.

13...dxe4 14. dxe4



A good rule of thumb is when the pawn structure changes, take some time to get used to the new pawn structure's strategic implications. I have lost a few games because of miscalculations involving changes in pawn structures. As a somewhat static feature of the game, it is very easy to get your brain to believe the pawns will always be there, even if your calculated line has you capturing something with a pawn!

Here, the most obvious change is that the d file is now open. Both sides will be wise to account for the tactical and strategic possibilities of controlling this d file.

The e4-e5 pawns are now locked together, which has fairly broad implications for White's Light Squared Bishop and Black's Dark Squared Bishop. Basically, both Bishops need to move.

Black's Bishop is doing little good and possibly some bad by being on the d6 square. It is defending the c5 Knight, which is important, but it is also staring at the e5 pawn, which is never good. Finally, it is blocking the only open file, which is usually a bad spot for a Bishop to be.

The Light Squared Bishop is defending the e4 pawn and the h3 pawn, but White should look for the Bishop to do more.

Finally, all the d4 push ideas for both sides are now gone. Depending on the outcome of the game, this would be a great place to look for improvements. If you find yourself not liking the position you get, looking at the positions after big pawn structure changes for either side might be worthwhile, as they will be very different.

14...Bc7

Black wastes no time getting his Bishop off of the d file and to a better square. Here, it is defending both the a5 and e5 pawns, and can move to b6 to put pressure on White's weak f pawn.

15. Bf1

White likewise wastes no time getting his Light squared bishop to a better square. The f1-a6 diaganol is unobstructed, unlike the h1-a8 diagonal.

15...Qd7

Black aims to control the d file. The Queen also is controlling the c8-h3 diagonal, and is aiming at White's somewhat weak h3 pawn. The Light Squared Bishop is tied to the f1 square unless White defends the h3 pawn somehow.

16. Nb3



Black's Knight on c5 is undefended, and fairly well placed. As the a5 pawn makes a b4 pawn push difficult, White attacks the Knight with one of his own Knights. If Black takes the b3 Knight, the Queen will retake and be fairly well placed on b3. She will be attacking the weak b7 pawn as well as pinning the f7 pawn to the King. The f7 pawn would not be in immediate danger, but these types of pins can be very annoying. For instance, if Black plays h6 to prevent Bg5, then White can play g4, and if Bg6, Nxg6 wins the Bishop because the f pawn is pinned.

Black can take the e pawn, but there are some tactical things involved that I will talk about after Black's next move.

16...Ncxe4



Black takes the e pawn with his attacked c5 Knight. This gives White the threat of (V1) 17. g4 Bg6 18. Nxg6 hxg6 19. Rxe4 Nxe4 20. Qxe4



and White has a Light Squared Bishop and a Knight for his rook. As we will see, Black has another option though. Before moving on to that option, it may be helpful to see a few other variations to get a better idea of how this tactic works.

(V2) 17. g4 Bg6 18. Nxg6 hxg6 19. g5?



Does not work so well because of 19...Bb6 with a fairly annoying threat on the f2 pawn. 20. Rxe4 Bxf2+ 21. Kg2 Nxe4 22. Qxe4 Bb6. Note that if 21. Kxf2 then 21...Qf5+ causes White some difficulties.

White has a Light Squared Bishop and Knight for his Rook, but is also down two pawns instead of one pawn.

(V3) 17. Rxe4?



This move does not allow Black to do what he actually does in the game, but is not tactically possible because of 17...Bd1 18. Qd2 Bxb3 19. Re1

Black is up a nice center pawn and is better developed.

(V4) 16...Nfxe4?



Does not work because of 17. Rxe4 Bd1? 18. Nxc5 Bxc2 19. Nxd7 Bxe4 20. Nc5

White has two Knights for a Rook and pawn.

As can be seen from reviewing the above, all of the tactics deal with White getting two pieces for a Rook and Black's ability to interrupt this by Bd1. In the actual game, Black plays something that is better for him than all of the above, assuming White does not blunder.

Back to the game.



17. g4

White has to play this move or else Black can play Bd1 as noted above. Now White is threatening to win two pieces for a Rook.

17...Bxg4

Black sacrifices his Bishop for two pawns. This is a really nice move that leads to some very interesting play. Black gets three pawns for the Bishop, which is somewhat even material, though evaluations of these types of positions can be very volatile. Black also decimates White's King Side, which gives Black a decent attack. It is difficult to say whether Black has an advantage here or not, because a few nice and hard to spot Defensive moves can lead to Black's demise, but it sure seems like he has an advantage. If nothing else, at least he has the initiative!

18. hxg4

It doesnt make much sense to play anything else.

18...Qxg4+

Again, it doesnt make much sense to play anything else.

19. Ng2



Here Bg2 can be considered, as it attacks Black's Knight on e4. The problem for White is that Black's Knight can suicide itself on c3 and win a pawn. After bxc3, Black is up four pawns, which is a lot of pawns for the Light Squared Bishop.

19...Rad8

This move brings one of Black's least active pieces to the open d file, where he hopes it can either directly engage in the attack on White's King or interfere with White's defense of his White King by keeping White's pieces off the d file.

There are tons of other moves that could be played here. 19...b6, 19...Red8, 19...h5, 19...Bb6, 19...Ng5 all dont seem to lose immediately. There may be some sneaky move hiding out there that does seem to lose immediately but actually wins! That is the nature of complicated positions in chess. There may even be a move that doesnt seem to do anything at all, but has some small subtle winning or drawing point later on in the game. That is the nature of modern chess! I am not going to go through all the possibilities here, as that is somewhat beyond the scope of this blog.

I will briefly go through one side variation though: 19...Ng5

(V) 20. Bxg5 Qxg5 21. Bd3

(V1) 21...Rad8 22. Nc5 Bb6 23. Ne4 Nxe4 24. Rxe4 Re6 25. Rd1



(V2) 21...Qh6 22. Be4 Ng4?! [Rad8 might be better] 23. Ne3 Qh2+ 24. Kf1 Nxe3+ 25. Rxe3



As can be seen from the variations above, Rad8 seems to be an important part of Black's attack, so maybe it makes a good bit of sense to play it immediately. On the other hand, maybe Black can eliminate White's Dark Squared Bishop by creating threats with Ng5, after which Rad8 becomes more powerful.

Back to the game.



20. Qe2

White wants to trade Queens so that Black's attack is less powerful. Than White can go to work trying to handle Black's three pawn advantage. Black does not want to trade Queens, so White's move effectively forces Black off the g file, which also helps White's defense.

20...Qe6

Black moves his Queen so as to avoid the trade. From e6, his Queen still is threatening White's King side and also is attacking White's b3 Knight.

21. Qc4

White has to defend his Knight, and still wants to trade off Queens.

21...Qf5

Black still does not want to trade Queens, and from f5 she attacks the vulnerable f2 pawn.

22. Be3



White has to defend the f2 pawn, and doing it along with finally developing his Dark Squared Bishop is a nice two for one. I get the feeling that White is through the worst of it at this point. Black's attack is fizzling out, but Black still has three extra pawns for the endgame.

22...Qh3

Black moves his Queen very close to White's King. He is trying to set up some sort of mate involving the h2 square. White wont fall for it, but Black still wants to go to as good an endgame as he can. This move more or less forces White to give up his light squared bishop, and eliminating White's bishop pair gives Black better chances in the endgame.

23. Be2

Black is threatening Ng4 and mate on h2 or h1. With this move, White plans to exchange off the Knight if it goes to g4. White could try to get a draw by repetition by playing 23. Nf4 (the Queen is attacked by Bishop and Knight) Qg4+ 24. Ng2 Qh3 25. Nf4 etc. but what fun is that. Black also doesnt have to accept the repetition, and can play with his Queen on the g4 square.

23...Ng4

Black threatens mate by Qh2+, Kf1, Qh1#.

24. Bxg4

White eliminates the mate threat, but has to give up his Bishop pair to do so. With one less pair of pieces though, Black's attack is all but over.

24...Qxg4

Forced.

25. Nd2



White challenges the Knight on e4 which is pinned to the Queen on g4. This move effectively forces off the Queens.

25...Nf6

This is more or less forced. The exchange sacrifice Rxd2 is not very good for Black.

26. Qxg4 Nxg4

27. Nc4

White's Dark Squared Bishop is the only thing guarding White's d2 Knight right now, and it is under attack. White has to take care of his d2 Knight. Rad1 is playable here, but Nc4 gets the Knight more active right away.

27...Nxe3

Two Knights are usually the least feared of all the two piece combinations because two Knights cannot mate a King by themselves. The Knights also can have trouble finding enough good squares to stay on, and as the game goes to the end game, the Bishops ability to attack Queen side and King side at the same time can be very helpful. Bishops also tend to be better at chains of passed pawns, so it makes sense for Black to trade off White's last bishop for his Knight.

28. Ngxe3

There is no reason to move his c4 Knight backwards or to move his pawn to e3 where it will be weak and in the way.

28...h5



Black begins to push his King side pawn majority. The game has clearly gone to the endgame.

29. Rab1

White does not want to have a backward b pawn, as well as a weakened a4 pawn. White also wants to play on the Queen side, as he has nothing to really play against on the King side. His only hope is too delay Black's King side pawn pushes with Queen side play, and then try and turn a hard right to fight against Black's King side. It is funny how this play resembles the normal King's Indian style play!

29...Rd3

Black is threatening to double up on the d file, which will cause White a lot of problems. On top of that, Black will have a Rook on the 3rd rank, which he hopes will deter any Queen side pawn pushes because of the weakness of c3.

30. Red1

White doesnt want to allow Black to double his Rooks on the d file.

30...Red8

Black doubles his Rooks on the d file. Another funny thing to note, the King side rooks for both players have exactly mirrored each other up to this point with 0-0, Re8/Re1 and now Red1/Red8.

31. Rxd3

White isnt in danger of losing material at the moment, because his Knight on e3 is protecting the d1 square. At the same time though, there is a lot of pressure on the d file, and White will be able to play better if he alleviates this pressure now rather than later.

31...Rxd3

Black does not want to lose a Rook.

32. b4



White is not concerned about his c3 pawn. If Black takes this pawn, White plays bxa5 threatening to invade with his Rook by Rxb7. This is exactly what Black does not want to have happen.

32...axb4

Black wants to keep the b file closed, so he gives White two less than ideal options. White can play cxb4, which keeps his pawns connected but the b file closed, or he can play Rxb4, which opens up the b file but disconnects White's Queen side pawns.

33. Rxb4

White chooses to open the b file.

33...b5

Black does not want to sit around and let White take his pawns at leisure. Instead, he plays this move with the idea of exchanging off all of the Queen side pawns.

34. axb5 cxb5 35. Rxb5 Rxc3



In many ways, this is such a great endgame. As noted before, Bishops are usually better than Knights in an endgame. The one time when that is absolutely not true, though, is when all of the pawns are on one side of the board. Then, the fact that Bishops can only reach half of the squares, in this case the dark squares, can really hinder the Bishops ability to contribute.

On the other hand, Black has to be feeling pretty good at this point about his drawing chances. If he can just capture that incorrigible f2 pawn and trade off Rooks, there is little to no way for Black to lose this game. Two Knights by themselves cannot checkmate a King. Amazingly, though, Black is unable to capture that f pawn.

36. Rb7

White invades the 7th Rank and attacks Black's Bishop.

36...Bd8

Black has to move his Bishop and this is its only safe square.

37. Rb8

White pins the Bishop to the Black King.

37...Rd3

Black has to defend his Bishop and this is the only way to do that.

38. Nxe5

White has won a pawn. Now, Black has only two pawns for the piece, and things are starting to look a bit grim for him. White's f pawn is very difficult to get at. Also, Black's Rook is under attack.

38...Rd6

The Rook has to stay on the d file to defend the Bishop. The Knights guard all the available squares except d2 and d6. Rd2 is not possible, because White is also threatening Nc6 attacking Black's Bishop. After Nc6, the Black Bishop cannot be defended anymore and is still pinned, so Black would be lost.

39. Kg2

I am not sure if this is especially necessary right now. White does not want to give Black extra moves by allowing Rd1+ or other similar moves, so he moves his King off the 1st rank. Also, the King is going to want to advance at some point. Black is in a bind and cannot do much, so the White King may as well advance now. On the other hand, Nf5 might have been worth looking at so as to get the Rook off the critical d6 square.

39...g6

Black wants to keep the White Knight off of f5.

40. Rb7



White voluntarily lets the Bishop get unpinned, but now attacks Black's f7 pawn. The last few moves have been a great example from Kamsky of using tactics in the endgame to improve his position. The White pieces and Rook forced the Bishop to the d8 square, where it was pinned to Black's King. This in turn forced the Black Rook to the d6 square. After getting Black's pieces into these awkward positions, White turns his attention to a new target, one that he is much better able to attack than Black is able to defend.

At the same time, though, Black may let a draw slip out of his hands with his next move. It might have been prudent of Kamsky to continue to take advantage of the bind Black's pieces were in by protecting his f pawn. By playing f3, the pawn is moved to a light square, where Black will have a much more difficult time attacking it.

40...Rf6

Black defends the f7 pawn and attacks the f2 pawn. This might have been Black's chance to eliminate the f2 pawn with Bh4.

(Vs) 40...Bh4 and 41. f4 Rd4 42. Kf3 g5 43. fxg5 White has no more pawns; 41. N3c4 Rd4 42. Nb2 (the White Knight is threatened, Ne3 could lead to a draw by repetition) 42...g5 43. Nxf7 Rd2 and the f2 pawn is lost; 41. f3 Re6 42. N3c4 Re7 43. Rxe7 Bxe7 and Black should be able to trade his Bishop off for White's f pawn.



This analysis is not complete by any means, but 40...Bh4 looks very good as far as Black's drawing prospects are concerned. Perhaps if Black knew how the game would turn out, he would have played this move instead. The game did end in a somewhat incredible manner.

41. N3c4

Because the Rook cant go to d4, this move is much more effective.

41...Rf4

Attacking the White Knight.

42. Nd6

This is why the Rook is better on the d file. Recall how in the above 40...Bh4 variation, the Knight had to repeat with Ne3 or go to the b2 square.

42...Bh4

Attacking the f2 pawn.

43. f3

This move is possible because White's Knights are in much securer positions than they are in the 40...Bh4 positions. With this move, White will preserve his pawn, and Black is in trouble.

43...g5

The f7 pawn is lost, and the g6 pawn is in danger from the e5 Knight. Black pushes it to defend it and also to get counter play.

44. Ndxf7

Taking the pawn.

44...Rf6

White was threatening 45. Nh6+ Kf8 46. Ng6+ and all of Black's pieces are forked.

45. Rb8+ Kg7 46. Rh8

Threatening the h5 pawn. Black can play Rxf7 winning both Knights, but it leads to a lost Rook v Bishop endgame for Black.

46...Rf5

Confusing at first, but the idea is that Black is trying to simplify down to a Two Knights and King v King endgame, which is drawn. This move is designed to defend the g pawn, so that if White plays Rxg5 Black can trade off Rooks. Then Black will try and use his Bishop to capture White's f pawn if it ever gets to a dark square.

47. Rxh5 Be1 48. Rxg5+ Rxg5 49. Nxg5



49...Kf6 50. Nd3 (attacking the Dark Squared Bishop) 50...Ba5 51. Ne4+ Kf5 52. Kf2 Bc7 53. Ke3 Bb6+ 54. Nec5 Bc7 55. Nb3

The Knight is rerouting to d4, where it can push back the Black King and block the Bishop from harassing the White King.

55...Bd6 56. Nd4+ Kf6 57. Ke4 Bg3

Black wants to make sure the pawn cannot advance without being captured. If 57...Bc7 then 58. Nf4 Bd6 59. Nc6 Kg5 60. Ne5 and the Bishop's access to the f file is being blocked by White's Knights.

58. Nf4

The Bishop has only four possible moves at this point. Only Bh2 can keep the pawn from moving forward. For instance, 58...Be1 59. Nd5+ K__ 60. f4 __ 61. f5

58...Bh2 59. Nde2

The Bishop cannot return to g3 now. It must leave the h2-b8 diagonal and let the pawn advance, or Black must move his King.

59...Ke7 60. Kf5

Black moves his King, and his Bishop can still prevent the advance of the f pawn. But White has gained a great deal with his King moving to f5.

60...Kd6 61. Kg4

The White King will support the Knight on g3, and the pawn will advance.

61...Ke5 62. Nh5



Black Resigned in this position. White will play Nhg3 and Blacks bishop cannot move. It is blocked off from the f pawn, which will march to f7. If this were King v King, Black's King is in a good position and it would be a draw. However, instead of White playing his King to f6 behind the f7 pawn, he can defend it from the side, g6 or e6 will do, leaving Black's King a space to move too. At this point, he can move his g3 Knight, and can work to get the King off of the f8 square and Block the Bishop from the f8 square with his Knights.

Kamsky played a great game, but Robson also deserves a lot of credit. He played very well, and probably could have drawn with 40...Nh4 instead of 40...Rf6. Despite that, this game showed a lot of interesting endgame possibilities between three pawns v a piece.