The Classic 80s Part 9: Albany NY St Ch 1989

The NY State Championship in 1989 featured Kamran Shirazi, Larry Christiansen, and other notables. Here is a sample game.

Mark Ginsburg vs NM Alexander Sidelnikov
Albany NY St Ch, 1989

King’s Indian, Saemish Bg5

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bg7 5. f3 O-O 6. Bg5!?

This line is quite dangerous. White aims for a space advantage.

6…Nbd7?! 7. Nh3! Seizing upon the fact the B on c8 is temporarily blocked.

7…e5 8. d5 h6 9. Be3 Ne8 10. g4 f5

11. Nf2!

The knight is really well placed here.

11…f4 A bit of a concession; black does not have very good counterplay now.

12. Bd2 Bf6 13. Qc2 Bh4 14. Be2 Ndf6 15. Rf1 c5 16. dxc6 bxc6 17. c5! A thematic disrupting move; black’s pawn chain falls to ruins.  The normally desirable response 17…d5? fails to 18. exd5 and the pawn on g6 unfortunately hangs.

17… Be6 18. O-O-O Bxf2?! With the disappearance of this important piece black has a very gloomy outlook but of course it was bad anyway.

19. Rxf2 Nh7 20. Na4 Qc7 21. Bc3 Rd8 22. Rff1 Rf7 23. cxd6 Rxd6 24. Rxd6 Qxd6 25. Rd1 Qc7 26. Nc5 Nf8 27. b3 Re7 28. h4 Bc8 29. Bc4+ Kh7 30. Qd2 Kg7 White has played cat and mouse for a while, and now it’s time to cash in.

31. Qxf4! Sometimes simple motifs like this (pin motif) are enough to win a technical game.

31…Nf6 32. Qd2 N6d7 33. Nd3 Kh7 34. Qe3 Qb6 35. Bd2 Qxe3 36. Bxe3 a5 37. Bd2 a4 38. bxa4 Nb6 39. Bb3 c5 40. a5 c4 41. axb6 cxb3 42. Bb4 bxa2 43. Kb2 Re8 44. Bxf8 Rxf8 45. Nc5 1-0

 

A nice, rather holistic game. This is the kind of enounter 6. Bg5!? advocates enjoy – when the black pawn break …f7-f5 doesn’t mean much.