Ge Whizz

The final round of the Istvanyi Open took place on Monday and I had black against 12-year-old Anthony Ge, rated 1974. Anthony and I were the only two players on 4.5/5 going into the last round so we both knew the victor would win the tournament outright. Equally, we also knew that a draw would guarantee us both a tie for first.

Although I was the favorite in theory, Anthony and I had drawn our last game (where he'd had a significantly better, if not winning, position at one point). Anthony had also beaten Raoul Crisologo, a high expert, in round 5 and had drawn Dave Bassett (2300) in round 4. Additionally, I had the black pieces again, which was unfortunate because it gave me four blacks out of six for the tournament. Normally, the higher rated player would get due color so I had initially expected to have the white pieces. However, this would have given Anthony three blacks in a row, so the WinTD pairing software correctly gave him white and me black.

Last week, Raoul had lamented how Anthony was getting up and playing with his friends in the back room frequently during their game. He wasn't saying it was distracting; rather, it was just galling that Anthony had beaten him despite hardly being at the board! He would play with his friends, come back to the board, make a strong move quickly, and then go back to playing. It's quite impressive really and I wonder how much potential Anthony has, especially if he takes his games more seriously.

I did some brief preparation for Anthony and I's game over the weekend but it was difficult because I'd only had black against him once. The other three times we had played I was white. Also, in our last game I had played the Scandinavian against him, which is not an opening I play too often. I had played this because I suspected he was one of those "Alapin kids", as I have started to call them. I have noticed that a number of the kids in Arcadia play the Alapin and I don't think it's a coincidence. Most all of them have been coached by WIM Sarah Lu and perhaps Sarah likes the Alapin. It's by no means bad for white but, equally, it's hardly the most testing response to the Sicilian either.

Luckily, I knew that Dave Bassett was black against Anthony in their round 4 encounter, so I messaged him on Facebook to ask what Anthony had played. Dave was kind enough to send about the first 10 moves of their last two games and I determined that Anthony probably plays the exact same moves against almost any Sicilian move order. Sure enough, the first seven or eight moves of our game followed that trend.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6

I very rarely play 2. ... d6  in the Open Sicilian but was confident Anthony would avoid 3. d4  and would play the same way he had against Dave Bassett. Sure enough, he did. Even if he hadn't, I would have gone into a Najdorf or Dragon if needs be.

3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 g6 5. O-O

This was the same move order as the two games Dave had shown me. I don't think it's anything for black to worry about. In fact, Fritz thinks black is already slightly better after white's third move!

5. ... Bg7 6. Re1 O-O 7. Bf1 Bg4

This was a slight improvement over the way Dave had handled this against Anthony. Dave had played 7. ... Nc6  but Fritz prefers 7. ... Bg4  (although it thinks 7. ... Nc6  is fine too).

8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Nc6 10. d3 Qb6

The computer thinks that 10. ... d5!  is better. This was what Dave had played against Anthony earlier this year, albeit in a slightly different position where black hadn't exchanged his bishop for the f3 knight. Certainly, the d5 pawn push is very thematic for black in a number of Sicilians (not least in my favorite Hyper-Accelerated Dragon!) but I felt 10. ... Qb6  would keep white tied up for a bit. After the text move, Fritz says the position is equal.

11. Nd2 a6 12. Nc4 Qc7 13. Bg5 b5 14. Ne3 Ne5 15. Qf4 Nh5

This was a tricky decision. I was slightly concerned about the activity of white's queen, knight and bishop over on the kingside. I felt I needed to take immediate action to deter white from any further nonsense. The main drawback of putting the knight on h5 is that it's a bit out of play. I also had to be sure that white couldn't somehow trap it. As it turns out, 15. ... Nh5  is a very good move and Fritz's number one choice.

16. Nd5

This caught me by surprise and here I had my only really long think of the game. The sequence I came up with seems to be just fine for black and even contains a nasty trap at the end if white isn't careful.

16. ... Nxf4 17. Nxc7 Ra7 18. Bxf4

Probably best. Anthony looked as if he was reaching for the knight and then he saw the trap. If 18. Nd5?  there is a rude awakening after 18. ... Nxh3+! 19. gxh3 Nf3+  followed by capturing the bishop on f4 and suddenly black has won a pawn.

White could try the desperado 18. Nxb5  but then black can play his own desperado with 18. ... Nxh3+  and then capture on b5. The position would be essentially equal.

18. ... Rxc7 19. Bxe5 Bxe5 20. Rad1 Rb8 1/2-1/2

Here I offered draw because I couldn't see how black could win against any reasonable play by white. True, I have the slightly better bishop but his rooks are as active as mine and swapping them would lead to an obviously drawn opposite colored bishop endgame. Anthony accepted the draw offer without hesitation, meaning we both finished on 5/6 and shared a five way tie for first place. Anthony's rating went over 2000 for the first time, so congratulations to him. My rating went from 2124 to 2133, my highest rating ever by one point.

Here is the game PGN:

Ge,Anthony (1974) - Hayes,Matthew (2124) [B50]

Istvanyi Open Arcadia (6), 06.10.2014

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Be2 g6 5.0–0 Bg7 6.Re1 0–0 7.Bf1 Bg4 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Nc6 10.d3 Qb6 11.Nd2 a6 12.Nc4 Qc7 13.Bg5 b5 14.Ne3 Ne5 15.Qf4 Nh5 16.Nd5 Nxf4 17.Nxc7 Ra7 18.Bxf4 Rxc7 19.Bxe5 Bxe5 20.Rad1 Rb8 ½–½