Attacking The King!

I am very pleased to be able to present the following game, which was GM Daniel King's only defeat in the recent Yarm simultaneous display.

I'm sure GM won't mind too much - but the unwritten law of publishing simul victories continues a long-held tradition!

My thanks go to Matthew Cornford for the excellent notes and to Norman Stephenson instigating the annotations and for sending them to me.

GM Daniel King - Matthew Cornford

Yarm School Simul, 28.09.2007

(Notes by Matthew)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 Nbd7

This is slightly more accurate than the commonly-played 5 ...Be7 because now 6 g3 can be answered by 6...g6 and ...Bg7 which is the right place for this Bishop if White fianchettoes.

6.Bd3 Be7 7.Nge2 h5!?

I like this out-of-the-ordinary move and played it twice at Great Yarmouth, getting a good position both times.

The ideas are threefold:

1) It prepares to harrass a Ng3;

2) The coming ...h4 will assist in the possibility of a ...Nh5-f4 plan;

3) It might push White into castling Queenside...where the Black pawns are waiting!

8.f3 h4 9.Be3 a6 10.Qd2 Nf8

With the centre closed and the King safe, Black can engage in long-winded manoeuvres; this Knight will probably head for g6 but sometimes h7 can be an attractive outlet.

11.0–0–0 Bd7 12.g4

12...b5 The attack begins and looks more promising than White's on the other side because 13 g5 Nh5 would only further Black's plans.

13.h3 White intends to open the f-file but it is a rather slow plan.

13...Qa5 After the game, Danny said that he had begun to feel concerned at this point.

14.f4 b4 15.Nb1 Qxa2 16.fxe5 dxe5 17.Ng1

It's hard to suggest a decent alternative, but disconnecting the Rooks gives Black a shot.

17...Ba4 Setting up the coming combination.

18.Rf1

This is consistent with his f-file plans but he had to try 18 Re1. Black would retain his advantage in that case , but now he has a strong combination.

18...Nxe4! 19.Qg2 After 19 Bxe4 Qxc4 the loose Rook on 'f1' drops off.

19...Nd6 I thought of ...Ng3 but decided to try to use the Knight in the attack on White's Kingside instead.

20.Bxc5 Bg5+ 21.Nd2 Qa1+ 22.Bb1 Nxc4 23.Bd4 Bxd2+ 24.Qxd2 Nxd2 25.Kxd2 exd4 0–1

...and with this highly unusual final position we shall draw this column to a close!