Tom Beckman (2018) - Alex Barnett (2239)

NIH Championship Rd. 2, Bethesda 2004

Annotated by Tom Beckman

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 (a) c5 (b) 3.d5 g6 (c) 4.Nc3 (d) Bg7 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 (e) 0–0 7.0–0 Nbd7 (f) 8.h3 (g) Rb8 9.Re1 a6 10.a4 b6 11.Bf4 Ne8 12.Qd2 (h) Nc7 (i) 13.Rab1 (j) Ne5?! (k) 14.b4 (l) Bd7?! (m) 15.Rb3? (n) f5? (o) 16.Ne5 (p) de 17.Bg5! cb 18.Rb4?! (q) Ne8? (r) 19.ef?! (s) a5 20.Rh4?! (t) gf? (u) 21.d6! Nd6 22.Nd5 Nc8 (v) 23.Bc4! Kh8 24.Qe2? (w) Qe8 25.Bh6 e4? (x) 26.Bg7 Kg7 27.Qd2 (y) Qg6?! (z) 28.Qd4 Rf6 29.Re3! Be6 30.Rg3?! (aa) Bd5 31.Qd5 Nd6 32.Qe5 Rb7 33.Bd5 Rd7 34.Rg6 hg 35.g4 g5 36.Rh5 Kg6 37.Rh8 1-0

(a) The logic behind 2.Nf3 can be found in my forthcoming book, Our System: A Complete Chess Opening Repertoire for the Rest of Us, Volume 2: Play White with 1.d4: Indian and Other Defenses. This book provides a complete opening repertoire for both White and Black (French, Nimzo, and QID with the Benoni preferred against the Catalan). One advantage of 2.Nf3 is that it avoids the Benko Gambit and other unusual Black options while giving up alternatives for White that are mostly harmless.

(b) If Black prefers a normal Benoni, then 2…e6 followed by 3.c4 c5 4.d5 is the way to go.

(c) 3…b5 is considered more challenging to White, although Kasparov has played the White side with good result as in Kasparov-Miles, Basel 1986.

(d) Apparently the Schmid Benoni was not a surprise for Alex as he played the opening quite rapidly, even for game in 2 hours. In my youth I used to play the Black side of this opening with reasonably good results.

(e) White has several alternatives to the main line here, including 6.Bb5 and the interesting 6.Bg5. After 6.Bb5, Nbd7 is fine because White will eventually lose a tempo with the KB.

(f) More normal continuations are 7…Bg4, 7…e6, and 7…Na6. 7…Nbd7 likely prematurely commits this N, and is not given in any opening book. Two months later at the Millennium Chess Festival Alex ventured 7…Bg4, but I retained a comfortable edge after 8.Nd2 Bxe2 9.Qxe2 Nbd7 10.Nc4 b6 (10…Nb6 11.Ne3 +/= is Stein-Bilek, Moscow 1967) 11.h3 a6 12.a4 Ne8 0.34/10

(g) This was my first decision point. Probably either 8.Bf4 or 8.Bg5 first is better, since h3 may not always be necessary.

(h) Fritz came up with the interesting 12.Ra3 f5 13.ef Rf5 14.Qd2 (+.44) which also looks promising, hoping for a K-side R loft.

(i) With 12…Nc7 Alex has managed to transpose into A43/25, 40/73, Beliavsky-Stoica, Lucerne 1985. That game continued 13.Bh6 b5 14.Bg7 Kg7 15.ab ab 16.b4 cb 17.Na2 Bb7 18.Nb4 Nf6 19.Qe3 e6 20. Nd4 Ra8 Unclear.

(j) Another good continuation for White is 13.Bd3 f6 14.Be3 Ne5 15.Nxe5 (0.47/12).

(k) Alex misses a chance to nearly equalize with 13…f5 14.ef Rf5 15.Bh6 Bh6 16.Qh6 Qf8 (+.28).

(l) Also good is 14.Bh6 Nf3 15.Bf3 Ne8 16.Bxg7 Nxg7 17.b4 cxb4 18.Rxb4 f5 19.Reb1 Qc7 0.56/11

(m) This is an error that clogs up Black’s position, and permits the strong 15.Be5. Alex should have tried 14…Nf3 15.Bf3 e5 16.Be3 f5 17.Bg5 Qd7 18.bc dc 19.ef gf 20.d6 (+.38) with chances of survival.

(n) Here I got too fancy, passing up the obvious and strong 15.Be5! de 16.bc bc 17.Qe3 Rb1 18.Rb1 (+1.16)

(o) Alex passes up his last chance for a reasonable game with 15…Nf3 16.Bf3 Bc3! 17.Qc3 Ba4 18.Bh6 f6 Unclear.

(p) Ok, no more second chances. 16.Be5 is also strong.

(q) Even better is 18.d6! bc 19.Rc3 Nd5 20.ed Bf6 21.de Qe7 (+.94).

(r) Better is 18...a5 19.Rb3 (+.53), but White still has a pleasant edge.

(s) Getting too fancy again. Simply 19.Ba6 is winning. 19.d6 is also strong, but I didn’t see this shot yet.

(t) Strangely, 20.Rh4 is not as strong as it looks. Better is 20.Rb3 Bf5 21.Be3 Rf6 22.Reb1 Nc8 23.Ba6 e4 24.Bc8 Qc8 (+.88)

(u) After 20…Bf5 0.50/15 21.Nb5 Nd6 22.Bg4 Nxb5 23.axb5 Rc8 0.53/15, Black is still alive.

(v) If 22…Ne4, 23.Re4 fe 24.Ne7

(w) Here I missed the killer shot 24.Re5!! (decoying the sole defender of the K-side) (if 24…Bxe5 25.Qe2 Bg7 26.Rxh7+ Kxh7 27.Qh5+ Bh6 28.Qxh6+ Kg8 29.Nxe7#) b5 25.Ne7 Qe8 26.Qf4 Ne7 +3.00. Unfortunately, by reversing the move order I allowed Alex the opportunity to equalize on the next move.

(x) The last chance, missing 25...Qg6 26.Bg7 Qg7 27.Qe5 Qe5 28.Re5 Ba4 29.Bd3 with only a slight edge for White.

(y) 27.Qe3 is slightly stronger, keeping the Q on the e-file.

(z) 27...f4 puts up more resistance, but is also hopeless. The Black square weaknesses resulting from e4? are overwhelming.

(aa) 30.Nf6 is resignable for Black. This was my most satisfying game from the tournament, although there were serious errors made on both sides.