SicilianB30

Daaim Shabazz
Arnold Fuchs

World Open (U2200) (6)
Philadelphia, USA, 2001


This is purely a positional crush. A far cry from my tactical days as a junior.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nxd4 cxd4 5. O-O g6 Bad system. The e5 pawn stunts the g7 bishop. 6. a4 6.c3 Bg7 7.d3 Qb6 8.Qa4 6... Bg7 7. d3 a6 8. Bc4 e6 9. Bf4 The idea is to attack weaknesses on the dark squares given his move order. 9... d6 10. Qe1! Flexible square for the queen... has access to both queen and king sides via b4 and g3. The idea is to pressure dark squares and force weakness on light squares. 10... Qc7 11. Qb4 Bf8 12. Qb3 Ne7 13. Bg5 Bg7 14. Bxe7! Knights will be more useful than bishops in this position. 14... Qxe7 15. Nd2 O-O 16. Nf3 Aiming at d4. 16... h6 17. Qb6 Trying to force e5. 17... Qd8 18. Qb4 Kh7 19. Bb3 b6 20. a5 20.Nxd4? a5 21.Qc3 Bb7 20... Rb8 21. axb6 Rxb6 22. Qa5 Bb7 23. Ra4 Bc6 24. Rb4 Rxb4 25. Qxb4 White never releases the pressure. 25... a5 26. Qa3 Qc7 27. Ra1 Now white will attack another weakness. 27... Ra8 28. Ba4 Bb7 29. Re1 With the a5 blockaded, white will answer d5 with e5. 29... e5 Finally! 30. Bb3 f5 31. Nd2 Bf8 32. Qa2 Ra7 33. f3 Bg7 34. Bc4 Bc6 35. Be6 fxe4 36. fxe4 The idea all along has been to create the good knight vs. bad bishop scenario. 36... Be8 37. Bg8+ Kh8 38. Bc4 Qd8 39. Nf3 g5 40. h3 Bh5 41. g4 Bg6 42. Rf1 Bf6 43. Kg2 Kg7 44. Nd2 Bf7 45. Bxf7 Rxf7 46. Qd5 h5 47. Nc4 Black's position is like a house of cards and will soon collapse. 47... Rc7 48. Rf2 hxg4 49. hxg4 Kg6 50. Qe6 Qe7 Black could no longer defend the d6 pawn. 50...Rc6 51.Nxe5+; 50...Rd7 51.Rxf6+ 51. Qxd6 Qxd6 52. Nxd6 Be7 53. Nc4 Rc5 54. Kf1 King will march to queen-side... the rest is technique. 54... a4 55. Rf5 Bf6 56. Ke2 Kf7 57. Kd2 Ke6 58. Kc1 Be7 59. Kb1 Rb5 60. Ka2 Rc5 61. Rf2 Rc8 62. Nb6 Rh8 63. Nxa4 Rh4 64. Rg2 Bb4 65. Kb3 Be7 66. Nb6 Rh8 67. Nd5 Rb8+ 68. Ka2 Ra8+ 69. Kb1 Bd8 70. Rh2 Kf7 71. Rh7+ Kg6 72. Rd7 Kh6 73. Rd6+ 1-0 [Shabazz]

Game(s) in PGN