[Event "Meridian Invitational"] [Site "Meridian, ID"] [Date "2012.06.23"] [Round "3"] [White "Niro III, Frank A"] [Black "Roland, Jeffrey T"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1700"] [BlackElo "1706"] [ECO "C68"] [Opening "Spanish: Exchange, 4...dxc6"] {(Notes by Jeff Roland)} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 {(Frank played the Exchange Variation against me in the WCCC First Saturday Quads played in West Chester, Pennsylvania on October 1, 2011! In that game, Frank played beautifully and won a very pretty and artistic game. In the present game, I knew that Frank was a connoisseur of this variation and that he has played it frequently for over 40 years. I was not likely going to catch him make any opening mistakes, not even in Game/30!)} dxc6 5. Nc3 f6 6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 Qxd4 8. Nxd4 Bd7 {(This is where the game deviates from our previous encounter. There I played 8...Bd6.)} 9. Be3 O-O-O 10. f3 Ne7 11. Kf2 {(Frank jokingly called this the "Niro Variation". He said he's won about 23 out of the last 25 games with it! So I knew the challenge was on!)} g6 12. Rad1 Bg7 13. f4 {(This is logical. When Black castles Q-side, White can often win an endgame where the K-side pawn majority takes advantage of the fact that the Black K is too far away.)} Rhe8 14. Rhe1 Bg4 {(Black is a little bit cramped and this move is played to give him some breathing space. However, it is only a temporary situation, and soon the Bishop is chased back to c8).} 15. Rd2 Kb8 {(I felt that this was needed because I did not want to have to move my Bishop to d7 when all that would have been accomplished is a strengthening of White's position and no gain for Black after he doubled on the d-file. I needed to be able to exchange on the d-file, so needed to be able to tuck my Bishop in to c8.)} 16. h3 Bc8 17. Red1 c5 18. Nde2 Rxd2 19. Rxd2 b6 20. Nd5 Nc6 {(Well, at this point, I felt pretty good because my position seemed pretty solid and well defended and my pieces were poised for counter-attack, even though no solid outpost presented itself to me. But I still felt that White was slightly better at this point due to his nice development and well placed Knight on d5. I couldn't help but think that in an ending, White still has a plus on the K-side. How can Black get into White's position? I could not yet see how!)} 21. Nec3 f5 22. e5 Be6 23. Kf3 g5 {(Finally I saw a way to make some progress! The central pawns are blockaded and there is a chance to break in on the K-side.)} 24. g3 g4+ $1 25. hxg4 fxg4+ 26. Kg2 {(If 26.Ke4, I thought 26...Rf8 and lots of threats based on ...Bf5+! Certainly this position is encouraging for Black who has until now not seen any chances to create any threats. Now my mood became stimulated and encouraged, and I felt that now I did have some counter-play! And white's Q-side pawns are becoming potential targets thanks to my united Bishops. But reality check...Frank is "in his element" in the Exchange Ruy Lopez, and he does still have the K-side pawn majority, a strength that is ever present in my mind and almost always a permanent endgame advantage! The Black pawn at g4 is nice, however, because it does kind of keep White's K at bay. And it will be hard for White to ever push f5 given how d4 is so solidly held by Black so White will likely never have a Knight there!)} Kb7 27. Ne4 Rd8 28. Ndf6 {(This is an important move and decision in the game. The whole character of the game from here on rides on this move. Black has weaknesses in his K-side pawns and with Black's K way over on b7, White might very well have a hey-day over there! And White has some weakness in his Q-side pawns, or at least that's that it "looks" like. There could be some poison in those pawns, but pawns are pawns too! After the coming exchange of rooks, the resulting minor piece ending is critical. The "fine point" is that after Black puts his Knight on d4 (which happens next move), then f3 is a great outpost for it! And for the first time in the game, Black will have something that is in White's territory. Plus, if I put my Bishop on d5 instead of taking the a2 pawn, then there are tactical threats involving the pin of the e4 knight.)} Rxd2+ 29. Bxd2 Nd4 $1 {(For the first time in the game, Black's knight gets to a good square!)} 30. c3 Nf3 31. Nxh7 $2 {(I thought at the time that 31.Be3 was absolutely required in light of my threat of ...Bd5 followed by ...Nxd2. But this was Game/30. Frank told me after the game that he was only looking at what I could do on the Q-side.)} Bd5 $1 {(Black is now simply winning a piece.) } 32. Nhg5 Nxd2 {#R} 0-1