[Event "Aus Open 2019"] [Date "2018.12.31"] [Round "9"] [White "Ruari Coffey"] [Black "Dillon Hathiramani"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1400"] [BlackElo "1911"] [FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 0"] [ECO "A45"] [Opening "Indian: 2.Nd2"] {Note: for a challenge, see if you can find the endgame plan (move 32). Hide the moves with training mode. (R.C)} 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nd2 {A curious chess opening with some surprise value. It looks odd, however it is quite flexible as white can still decide on how to continue such as a c4, e4 push or even g3 in some other lines. (R.C)} d5 3.e3 Bf5 4.Ngf3 e6 5.Be2 Bd6 6.c4 c6 7.Qb3 {Taking advantage of the fact that blacks light-squared bishop is no longer able to protect the b7 pawn. Also supports the c-pawn, building up pressure on d5. (R.C)} Qc8 {A possible plan for black is to continue developing the queenside pieces and push e5, controlling more light squares. If a move like h3 is made and the issue with the light squares not dealt with, a bishop sacrifice could prove devastating. As it stands though, Black is more passive. (R.C)} 8.Nf1 {Freeing the d2 square for the bishop. Also saves a tempo prior to castling (as the rook would also have to move. (R.C)} Nbd7 9.Ng3 Bg6 10.Bd2 O-O 11.Rc1 Qb8 {Blacks queenside is looking a bit cramped. The knight on g3 also reduces the effect of the queen and bishop battery. (R.C)} 12.cxd5 (12.Bb4 c5 {The variation I was concerned about (R.C)}) 12...exd5 13.Bb4 {Pinning the strong bishop. Note that the rook is now supporting the c5 square as well (R.C)} Bxb4+ 14.Qxb4 Re8 15.O-O Ne4 16.Nxe4 Bxe4 17.a4 {As there are no immediate threats, white can advance the a and b pawns to prevent Nb7-c4 ideas} Re6 {A simple plan, Black wants to play Rh6 and remove the defender of the h2 square. (R.C)} 18.Ng5 Rh6 19.f4 {Closing the queens diagonal and gripping the e5 square. g3 was also playable but weakens the light squares a bit too much (for my tastes at least). If black became slightly desperate, c5 dxc and Ne5 would start to create issues. (R.C)} Rd6 20.Nxe4 {The e-pawn can now only be attacked by the knight or an infiltrated rook/queen. (R.C)} dxe4 21.Bc4 Nf6 22.h3 {Taking the g5 square from the knight (R.C)} h5 23.Ba2 {Keeping pressure on the f7 pawn as well as having the potential to attack the e pawn from b1 (R.C)} Rd7 24.Qc5 Qd6 25.b4 {Rf2 was also an idea however, there isn't any hurry to do so. Blacks position is a bit passive and white has most of the play. (R.C)} a6 {Moving the a8 rook would have been better as black's a-pawn ins not as important as white's b-pawn} 26.Rf2 Nd5 27.Bxd5 Qxd5 28.Qxd5 Rxd5 29.Rc5 Rxc5 30.bxc5 f5 {Personally, a5 may have been better, to allow a b-pawn breakthrough later. White will now exploit that. (R.C)} 31.Rb2 {The engine (Stockfish 10+) suggests g4 instead with at least a +1 advantage. Rb2 will still be played however then king can have a straight walk into the position. (R.C)} Rb8 32.a5 {With the closing of the position, white's idea is simple, to at some point push d5. (R.C)} Kf7 33.Kf2 {Kg3 would be quite strong as there are currently two weaknesses that black would have to deal with: king infiltration and the weak b-pawn (R.C)} (33.d5 cxd5 34.c6 Rc8 35.Rxb7+ Ke6 36.Rb6 Kd6 {and this position is better for black (comparatively) (R.C)}) 33...h4 {Closing the kingside. Is the d5 push the only idea for white though? (R.C)} 34.Ke2 Ke6 {Black offered a draw. I wanted to see if I could make progress though. (R.C)} 35.Kd2 Kd7 36.Kc3 Kc7 37.Kc4 {Threatening d5. The engine suggests d5 instead, this move allows black to draw. (R.C)} Rd8 {g5 is the only move that allows black a chance at drawing. (R.C)} 38.Rd2 Rd5 {This gives white an important tempo. The engine gives that white is completely winning with at least +2 (R.C)} 39.g3! hxg3 40.Rg2 Rd7 41.Rxg3 Rf7 42.Rg6 {Limits the g-pawn's help as well as allowing white to push the h-pawn where is is unable to be threatened. (R.C)} Rd7 43.h4 Rf7 44.h5 Rd7 45.Re6 Rf7 46.Re5 {Supporting d5 idea, as well as threatening the f5 pawn. Blacks' rook is almost helpless (R.C)} Kd7 47.d5 cxd5+ 48.Kxd5 Kc7 49.Ke6 {Not a particularly useful move overall but I soon spot the main idea. The original idea was to play Ke7 but wasn't overly convincing however the engine agree with this. (R.C)} Rf6+ 50.Kd5 Rf7 51.Re6 Kd7 52.c6+ {Breaking open the queenside (R.C)} Kc7 53.cxb7 Kxb7 54.Kd6 {White's king and pawns are closer to promoting. once the rooks are swapped, the game becomes a bit easier (R.C)} Rc7 55.Re7 {White wins. 6 moves till white promotes, 9 moves for black. (R.C)} {#r} 1-0