SPIKE RYBKA Beta
15th IPCCC 2005 Round 2
Nimzowith
Defence E39
GM Bartlomiej Macieja
Topic: How much time is a pawn worth?
1.d4 Sf6 2.c4 e6 3.Sc3 Gb4 4.Hc2 c5 5.dxc5 00 6.a3 Gxc5 7.Sf3
BLACK TO MOVE
7
Sc6 I consider 7...b6 to be more precise, as after 8.Gg5
Gb7 9.Wd1 Ge7 10.e4 h6 11.Gh4 black can equalize by playing 11...Sh5 8.Gg5
BLACK TO MOVE
8
b6?! Black should play in this position 8...Sd4 9.Sxd4
Gxd4 10.e3 Ha5 11.exd4 Hxg5 12.Hd2 Hxd2+ 13.Kxd2 with slightly better endgame
for white, as in Kasparov-Kramnik, Tilburg 1997. 9.Wd1 Gb7 10.e4 h6 11.Gh4
BLACK
TO MOVE
11
g5?! Black was already encountering some problems, however
I would try not to weaken the position of a king. Black could play either by
11...e5 and only after 12.Sd5 g5; or by 11...Ge7. 12.Gg3 Sh5 13.b4 If 13.e5 then 13
g4 14.Hd2 gxf3 15.Hxh6
Sg7 16.Se4 Sf5 17.Hh5 Ge7 13...Ge7
WHITE TO PLAY
14.b5? A serious positional mistake. In such positions, to
obtain a counterplay, black is forced to play a5 and after b5 to come back with
a knight to b8. After 14.b5? black doesn't need to lose a tempo and
additionally a knight is much better placed on a5 than on b8. After simple
14.Ge2 white would get advantage; Interesting is also immediate 14.e5 with a
strong initiative. 14...Sa5 15.Se5 d6 16.Sg4 Hc7 17.Sxh6+ Kg7 18.Sg4 Sxg3
19.hxg3 Wh8 20.Wxh8 Wxh8
WHITE TO MOVE
White indeed won a pawn, but lost precious time,
weakened pawn structure and lost control over the only opened file. Was it
really worthy? 21.Sb1 Hc5 White c4 pawn is very well protected, thus I
would consider 21...Ga8 with an idea Na5-b7-c5. 22.Hc3+ f6 23.f3
BLACK TO MOVE
23
Wh1?! A very strange move. I would recommend 23...a6 as a
change 24.a4 axb5 25.axb5 favors black due to a weak b4 square. 24.Se3 Now,
black's rook is well placed on h1, however I wonder where Rybka wanted to go
with a rook to after 24.Sf2. 24...a6 I am not sure if it is useful now,
as a rook is already on h1, thus black is not threatening to take on b5 (axb5
cxb5 favors white), while a pawn on a6 will be hanging in all lines. 25.a4 A
bit useless move, as weakens b4 square, while white should aim to retake on b5
with a "c" pawn anyway.
BLACK TO MOVE
25...g4 26.Wd3 gxf3 27.gxf3 Hg5 28.g4 Kg6? It looks like Rybka lost a
thread. Again, moving a knight to c5 was very strong. 29.Sd2
BLACK TO MOVE
29
He5?! Not a human decision. Black is a pawn down and
proposes to change queens himself. Once more black should have thought about a
knight, for instance 29...Gc8 30.Hd4 Sb7 31.Hxb6 Sc5 32.Wa3 He5 with
compensation. 30.Hd4 Hxd4 31.Wxd4 White is again better. 31...Wh8
32.Wd3 Kf7 33.f4
BLACK TO MOVE
33
axb5 I would choose 33...Gc8 with an idea Na5-b7-c5 with
good chances for a draw. 34.axb5 Wh2 35.f5 Gc8 36.Gg2 Gb7 Rybka clearly
doesn't know what to do and loses the game convincingly.
BLACK TO MOVE
37.fxe6+ Kxe6 38.Kf2 Wh8 39.Sd5 Gd8 40.Wc3 Kf7 41.Sf1
Ke6 42.Sg3 Ga8 43.Sf5 Gb7 44.Wd3 Gxd5 45.exd5+ Kd7 46.Wc3 Ge7 47.Gf1 Gf8 48.We3
Sb7 49.Wa3 Sa5 50.Sd4 Wh2+ 51.Kg3 Wh1 52.Kg2 Wh4 53.Ge2 Ge7 54.We3 Gd8 55.We6
Wh8
WHITE TO MOVE
56.Sc6 Sxc6 57.bxc6+ Kc7 58.Gd3 Wf8 59.Gf5 Wf7 60.We8
We7 61.Wf8 We3 62.Ge6 b5 63.Wf7+ Kb6 64.Wb7+ Kc5 65.c7 Gxc7 66.Wxc7+ Kb4
67.cxb5 Kxb5 68.Wf7 Kc5 69.Wxf6 10