1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 The Nimzo Indian always leads to interesting positions and it has been my main defence against 1.d4 for many years. The play normally leads to strategic play where god positional knowledge decides upon the result instead of tactics like in the sicilian.
4. Qc2 The idea with Qc2 is to avoid the double pawn on c3.
4... O-O 5. a3 Whites plan is to gain the bishop pair that could be a long term advantage.
5... Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 Black on his side tries to use the time that white has spent in the oppening on capturing the dark squared bishop. He wants to attack the white center and particulary c4 with the idea of b6- Ba6- d6- Nbd7- c5 and Rc8
7. Bg5 d6 8. Qf3!? c6 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 10. Qxf6 gxf6 An interesting endgame have arisen. By first look one might believe that white stands clearly better due to the black double pawn on the f-file but this is not true. Black has alot of flexibility in his position and the double f-pawn can advance to f5 where it will control the important e4 square. And to white it is not really clear what black will do which makes it difficult for him to find the optimal setup.
11. Nf3?! It is better for white to develop the knight to c3 through e2 where it stands better since from c3 the knight controls the d5 and e4 squares which is more important than the e5 and d4 squares.
11... Bb7 Blacks main plan is to play Bb7- Nd7- f5- Rfd8-Rac8 and c5
12. e3 Nd7 13. Be2 Rac8 14. O-O Now the white king is far away from the center which is an important factor in endgames.
14... Rfd8 Black wants to keep his flexibility as long as possible. White should all the time be guessing which pawn move black finally will play. Sometimes black wants to play d5, sometimes c5 and sometimes Ba6 followed by d5.
15. Rfd1 15. e4?! is a good illustration of how blacks flexible approach works out. 15... d5! (15... c5 would be met by 16. d5! taking space and closing the b7 bishops diagonal.)
16. Nd2 (16. exd5 cxd5 17. cxd5 Bxd5 18. Rfc1 Nb8! Gives black the advantage due to whites isolated pawn on d4.)
16... c5 17. exd5 cxd4 18. Ne4 Nc5 19. Nxf6+ Kg7 20. Nh5+ Kh6 21. Ng3 exd5 22. Nf5+ Kg5 23. Nxd4 dxc4 with an advantage to black because his pieces are more active.
15... f5! 16. Rac1 Kf8! Before black comits any actions the king is brought closer to the centre where it should be in the endgame.
17. b4 c5! Now it is time for action and to stop white from playing c5.
18. dxc5 dxc5 19. Rd2 Ke7 20. Rcd1 DIAGRAM what should black do?
20... Bxf3! A good exchange of minor pieces. Blacks plan now is to get a god knight against a bad bishop. There is good chances for this scenario to happen since whites bishop already have problems to find a good diagonal. The white pawn on c4 is restricting its movability.
21. gxf3 cxb4 22. axb4 Ne5?! Blacks plan now is to exchange both rooks and create a passed pawn on the a-files which together with the more active king and superior knight will be enough to win the game.
22... a5! Was the move to create a passed pawn on the a-file. 23. bxa5 (23. Rb2 Ra8 also give black the advantage. He could continue with exchanging on b4 and than transfer the king to c7 where it safeguards the b6 pawn. Than put the knight on c5 and activate the rooks.)
23... bxa5 24. Ra1 Rc5 gives black the advantage due to his passed pawn and the superity of his knight compred to whites bishop.
23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Rxd8? A very bad exchange. White had to keep the rooks on and to attack blacks a-pawn.
24. Ra1! Rd7 (24... Ra8? 25. f4! with the idea Bf3)
25. c5! bxc5 26. f4! Nc6 27. Bb5 Rc7 28. Bxc6 Rxc6 29. Rxa7+ Kf6 30. bxc5 Rxc5 leads to a drawn rook endgame.
24... Kxd8 25. Kf1?! 25. b5! was a better try 25... f4! 26. Kf1 (26. exf4 Ng6 27. f5 exf5 28. Bd3 Kc7! 29. Bxf5 Kd6 30. Kf1 Kc5 31. Bd3 h6 32. Ke2 Ne5 and black wins since he will be able to capture whites queenside pawns.)
26... Kd7 27. Ke1 Kd6 28. Kd2 Kc5 29. Kc3 f5! a so called prophylactic move that prepares the fixation of the white double pawns. 30. Kb3 h6! to get the tempos right and keep the white king on the worse b3 square when Nf7 is comming. 31. Kc3 h5 32. Kb3 Nf7! 33. Kc3 (33. exf4 Nh8 34. Kc3 Ng6 35. Bd3 Nxf4 36. Bf1 h4 37. Bd3 Nh3 and black wins)
33... Ng5 34. Kb3 (34. Kd3 e5 35. exf4 exf4 36. h4 Nf7 37. Kc3 Ne5 38. Bd3 Ng6 39. Bxf5 Nxh4 40. Be4 Kd6 41. Kd4 Ke6 42. Bd5+ Kf5 43. Bc6 Kg5 44. Ke4 Nf5 45. Bd7 Nd6+ 46. Kd5 Nb7 47. Kc6 Nc5 48. Bh3 h4 and black wins due to the weaknesses of the f2 pawn)
34... Nh3 and black wins
25... a5! Finally! now black has a clear advantage in the endgame due to the passed pawn and the knights superity over the lights squared bishop.
26. bxa5 bxa5 27. Ke1 Kc7 28. f4 DIAGRAM what should black play?
28... Ng4! using the fact that the pawn endgame is easily winning for black due to his passed pawn.
29. h3 29. Bxg4 fxg4 30. Kd2 Kc6 31. Kc3 Kc5 32. Kb3 f5 33. Kc3 a4 34. Kd3 Kb4 35. Kd4 a3 36. c5 a2 37. c6 a1=Q+ and black wins
29... Nf6 30. f3?! After this move black never have to worry about any Bh5 moves.
30... Kc6 31. Kd2 Kc5 32. Kc3 Ne8 33. e4 Now a new target is created, the f4 pawn!
33... Nd6 34. Bd3 f6 35. exf5 35. Bc2 fxe4 36. fxe4 e5 37. fxe5 fxe5 38. Bd3 h6 39. h4 a4 40. Bc2 a3 41. Bd3 a2 42. Kb2 Kd4 43. c5 Kxc5 44. Kxa2 Kd4 45. Bc2 Nxe4 46. Kb2 Ng3 47. Kc1 Ke3 48. Kd1 Kf2! And the e pawn wins the game for black.
35... Nxf5 36. Bc2 h6 All pawns are now put on black squares so that whites bishop can not target them.
37. Ba4 Nh4 38. Bd1 f5! The f4 pawn is beeing fixed so it can not advance. This is normally how to handle double pawns. First fixate them so they can not advance and than capture them.
39. Kb3 Ng2 40. Be2 Nxf4 41. Bf1 h5 intending to fix the white h-pawn on h3 with h4.
42. Ka4 Kb6 43. Kb3 h4 44. Kc3 Kc5 45. Kb3 e5 46. Ka4 e4! the e-pawn is enough for winning so black sacrifies the a5 pawn.
47. fxe4 fxe4 48. Kxa5 e3 49. Ka4 e2 50. Bxe2 Nxe2 51. Kb3 Nf4 52. Kc3 Nxh3 53. Kd3 Nf4+ 54. Ke3 h3! and white resigned since any king move is answered by h2 when the pawn can not be stopped.
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18... Rfc8 19. Bc4 Rxc4 20. Qxc4 Qxb2#
17... Qc6! This was my new and well prepared move. The idea is to get the queen to the dark squares from where it can start to penetrate whites position.
17... Rbc8 Was the popular move at this time and there was a game between Ivanchuk and Fedorov that my opponent were trying to copy. 18. Bxf5 gxf5 19. Rd3 Qc6 20. c4 Qf6 21. Rhd1! was the continuation of that game and black did not manage to prove compensation for the pawn.
18. Bxf5 DIAGRAM What should black play?
18... Qc3!! The point with Qc6 black sacrifies a piece for the attack. I think that many dragon experts had found this move probably more or less at the same time. Then when you have found a good novelty like this you just wait for someone to fall into the trap. The first one that got to play it was the German IM Polzhin. I on the other hand had to wait until 2005 before I could use my analysis.
19. Bd3 Rbc8! to stop Qc5
20. Bf2 with the idea of Be1 to chase the queen away.
20. Rhf1! Rfd8 21. Rf2 Rxd3! 22. Rxd3 Qxd3 23. Qxe7 (23. Qxa7 Qc3 24. Kd1 Qa1+ 25. Ke2 Rxc2+ 26. Bd2 Bd4 27. Qb8+ Kg7 28. Qf4 (28. Rf1 Rxd2+! 29. Kxd2 Qxf1 and black wins)
28... Bxf2 29. Kxf2 e5 30. Qe3 Qd4 wins for black)
23... Bf8! 24. Qg5 h6! 25. Qf4 Ba3+ 26. Kb1 Qd1+ 27. Bc1 Re8! with the idea of Re1 28. c3 (28. Qd2 Re1 29. Qxd1 Rxd1 and black wins)
28... Re1 29. Rc2 g5
Revelj O.
Ringdahl-Hansen T.