White: Bruce Leverett Black: Jim Booth Exhibition game October 24, 2000 1 Nf3 f5 2 d4 Nf6 3 e3 3 g3 is just better. Even by the turn of the century, before fianchetto openings caught on, everyone knew that White should fianchetto his king bishop against the Dutch. Sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me. 3 ... e6 4 c4 b6 5 Nc3 Be7 6 Bd3 O-O 7 O-O 7 e4 would be logical. By the same token, Black should have prevented this by 6 ... Bb7. Also, if White didn't plan to play 7 e4, he might as well have played 6 Be2 instead of 6 Bd3, since the bishop would have more scope. 7 ... Bb7 8 a3 A waste of time; 8 d5 immediately was better. 8 ... Qe8 9 d5 exd5 10 cxd5 Qh5 11 Nd4 Because of the lost tempo at move 8, White can no longer afford to keep queens on. For instance, 11 Be2 Bd6 12 h3 Ne4 13 Bd2 g5 shows that he has no obvious way of stopping Black's incursion on the kingside. 11 ... Qxd1 12 Rxd1 g6 It's a standoff; either side will find it hard to mount serious threats. 13 b4 a5 14 bxa5 Rxa5 15 Nb3 This wasn't immediately necessary. 15 Bb2 can be played, since after 15 ... Nxd5 16 Bc4 Rc5 17 Ba2, Black will not be able to hold on to his booty. To win against strong players, you have to see tactical finesses like this one. By missing it, I lost time with the knight, since it returned to d4 two moves later. 15 ... Ra8 16 Bc4 d6 17 Nd4 Rfc8 18 Bb2 Na6 19 Ne6 Nc5 20 Rac1? This is an elementary blunder. 20 Nd4 or 20 Nf4, admitting the error of the previous move, still leaves the position about equal. 20 ... Nxe6 21 dxe6 c6 Not only is the e6 pawn a goner, but more importantly, Black's queenside pawns are about to become huge, and White's a-pawn is in jeopardy too. 22 Bb3 d5 23 Na4 Ra6 24 Bd4 c5 25 Be5 Black now has several different ways of starting his queenside rolling. The one he chose somehow did not work out. We looked at some more convincing variations in the post-mortem, but now, analyzing the position several months later, I have not been able to reconstruct or remember them. 25 ... Ng4 26 Bg3 c4 27 Bc2 b5 28 Rb1 Bc6 29 Nc3 Bxa3 30 Nxb5 Bxb5 31 Rxb5 Rxe6 32 Rbxd5 Be7 White should be OK now, but in time pressure I made a few dubious attacking moves, and forgot to take care of my back rank. 33 Re7 Nf6 34 Rb7 Nh5 35 Bc7 Kf8 36 Rd7 Nf6 37 Rd4 Rc6 38 Bf4 Ra8 39 g3 Ra2 40 Bb1 Ra1 The game was broken off at this point. Black has strong pressure because of his active rooks and advanced passed pawn. However, it may be that White can hold. After 41 Kg2 c3 42 Bc2, White threatens 43 Bh6+ and 44 Bb3+ with a mating net. To win, Black would have to find a way to advance his c-pawn without allowing something like this.