[Event "Open de Sants A"]  [Site "Barcelona"]  [Date "2013.08.26"]  [Round "4"]  [White "Bruzon Batista, Lázaro"]  [Black "Hillarp Persson, Tiger"]  [Result "1/2-1/2"]  [ECO "B12"]  [WhiteElo "2698"]  [BlackElo "2529"]  [Annotator "Tiger"]  [PlyCount "58"]  [EventType "tourn"]  [SourceDate "2011.03.24"]   1. e4 c6 {The Caro Kann is not exactly my main defence against 1.e4. However I have played it five times during the last twenty years, so I'm not a complete beginner. ;) } 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 {Andreikin's handling of this variation in the World Cup has inspired me.} 4. Ne2 {I was not prepared for this. Time to think.  The first move seems rather obvious:} Nc6 5. c3 {...but now I took my time. I  do not want to play 5...e6 as that would land me in a French Defence Advance  variation, where I have wasted an important tempo with my c-pawn (although Ne2  is not perfectly placed either). Then I started thinking about alternatives  and in the end I decided on a move that I believed could not hurt me.} g6 $5 {  I am extremely surprised to find that this has only been played once before.} (  {I also thought about} 5... Bf5 6. dxc5 e6 7. b4 {when I did not like the  position of the bishop on f5 as White will be able to play Nd4 and attack it.  Still this is one of the main lines.}) (5... a6 {is another move that I  considered before deciding on 5...g6. It is not too bad, but I was not too  sure how I would continue if White just played something non-committal.}) 6. Nf4  $1 {After my last move I took a short walk around the playing hall and when I  came back I immediately realized that this is the best move for White. For one  thing; 6...f6 can be met with the annoying 7.Bb5. As I stared pondering the  consequences of this, my opponent moved.} ({Another standard idea in these  lines} 6. dxc5 {doesn't work at all here as} Nxe5 7. Nd4 a6 8. Bf4 Bg7 {is  very nice for Black. The g6-move turns out to be of great use.}) ({In the  other game where 5...g6 was played; Vachier Lagrave - J.Degraeve, Nimes 2009,  White tried a similar plan to our game:} 6. h4 h5 7. Nf4 {Apart from  sacrifice hovering over g6 in the future I do not see that the insertion of h4  and h5 favors White. Rather; the h4-pawn might turn out to be weak.} e6 8. Bd3  {I find this to be a bit speculative, but as the author of this move is  currently in the World Cup semifinals, I'd better keep my criticism to a  minimum.} (8. Bb5 Bd7 9. Bxc6 Bxc6 {and White will have to do something about  the h4-pawn before castling short.}) 8... Qb6 (8... Nge7 9. Be3 Bg7 10. Na3 a6  11. O-O O-O 12. Nc2 c4 13. Be2 Nf5 14. g3 b5 15. Bd2 Rb8 $13) 9. O-O Bd7 (9...  cxd4 $1 {and it hard to believe in the White position...} 10. cxd4 Qxd4 11. Nc3  a6 12. Re1 Nge7 {Houdini supports my conclusion that this is good for Black.  Not to everybody's taste though.}) 10. Re1 (10. dxc5 $5) 10... a6 {I'll show  the game in it's entirety because Vachier Lagrave makes a great show of it:}  11. Nd2 cxd4 12. c4 $1 {Suddenly the Black pieces are in the wrong places. Try  to find a decent move for Black!} dxc4 13. Nxc4 Qc7 $2 (13... Qa7) 14. Nd5 $3  Qb8 (14... exd5 15. Nd6+ Ke7 16. Bg5+ f6 17. exf6+ Kxd6 18. Bf4+ $18) 15. Ndb6  Ra7 16. Bg5 Nh6 17. Qf3 Rh7 18. Rad1 Ng4 19. Qf4 Bc5 20. f3 Ne3 {and black  resigned. One way to win is:} 21. Rxe3 dxe3 22. Be2 Bc8 23. Nd6+ Bxd6 24. exd6  Bd7 25. Qxe3 {when every single black piece is passive.}) 6... e6 $5 {White is  considering dxc5 and my bishop on c8 cannot get on the outside of the pawn  chain (6...Bf5 7.g4!). Also the knight is not optimal on f4, so I thought it  was time to play the "French" move.} (6... Bg7 {can also be considered, but  maybe - like in the game - I prefer to have the c5-pawn protected in the near  future.}) 7. Bb5 $1 {White has to do something about the pressure against d4.}  Bd7 $1 {during the game I thought this to be virtually the only move for Black,  as the pawn structure after Bxc6 - bxc6 would be very awkward for me. It is  not easy to prove though:} (7... a6 $5 {This is worse than some of the  alternatives, but it illustrates the difficulties.} 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. O-O a5 $1  10. Nd3 Ba6 11. Re1 cxd4 12. cxd4 Qb6 (12... Nh6 13. Bxh6 Bxh6 14. Nc5 O-O 15.  Nc3 {and the knights dominate the bishops, while the weak c6-pawn will come  back and haunt Black later.}) 13. Be3 Qb5 14. Nc5 Qxb2 15. Nxa6 Rxa6 16. Nd2 {  and White till follow up with Rb1 and Qa4, with a strong initiative.}) 8. Bxc6  Bxc6 9. dxc5 $1 Bxc5 10. O-O h5 $5 {This might be a bit too much, but I did  not like} (10... Ne7 11. Nd3 Bb6 12. Bg5 {when it seems to me that my king  will soon be in trouble.}) 11. b4 Bb6 $6 {This is somewhat counter intuitive,  considering that I have built a perfect little nest for the bishop on g7. I  was carried away by the narrative: "my two strong bishops are calibrated  towards the White king".} ({After} 11... Bf8 12. a4 a6 13. Be3 Bg7 14. Bd4 Ne7  15. Nd2 Nf5 16. Nf3 O-O {the position is beyond exact evaluation.}) 12. a4 Nh6  13. Nd2 Nf5 ({I spent some time evaluating} 13... Ng4 14. Nf3 d4 {, but  decided that} 15. a5 $1 Bc7 16. cxd4 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Nh6 18. Qa4+ Kf8 19. Be3 {  is clearly worse for me.}) ({and} 13... a6 $5 {seemed to slow, as} 14. Nf3 Nf5  15. Ne2 {, intending Bg5 and Ned4, makes me wish I had gone with the bishop to  the kingside.}) 14. Nf3 ({Here I feared the consequences of} 14. b5 $1 Bd7 15.  c4 $1 Bd4 $1 16. Ra3 Bxe5 17. Nf3 {I had not decided how to continue here, but  it seems that Black is very close to equality after} Bxf4 18. Bxf4 O-O 19. cxd5  a6 {Still, there is plenty of play left.}) 14... g5 $5 {Played after a long  thought. I came to the conclusion that the alternatives were no better and  more passive:} (14... d4 15. c4 $1 (15. a5 Bc7 16. Nxd4 (16. cxd4 Bxf3 17. Qxf3  Qxd4 {is fine for Black.}) 16... Bxe5 17. Nxc6 bxc6 18. Qc2 {is unclear.})  15... g5 16. Nd3 g4 17. Ng5 {and Black has walked into a tactical dead end,  where the road behind is falling apart.} Nh4 18. f3 $1 {No, I did not see this  during the game, but it proves my evaluation to be correct.} Rg8 19. Nh7 gxf3  20. g3 Rg6 21. b5 Be4 22. Bg5 $1 Rxg5 23. Nf6+ Kf8 24. Nxe4 Rg7 25. Nf6 Rc8 26.  Kh1 {and as the last active Black piece has to retreat, the Black position  becomes hopeless.}) ({Maybe the best was} 14... a6 $1 15. Ne2 O-O 16. Bg5 Qd7  17. Ned4 Nxd4 18. cxd4 $14) {Considering the lack of good moves for Black here,  I believe an improvement has to be looked for on move 11.} 15. b5 $1 ({Somehow  I managed to miss that} 15. Nd3 d4 16. c4 g4 17. Ng5 {leads to the same  position as 14...d4.}) 15... gxf4 16. bxc6 bxc6 17. a5 $6 ({Here} 17. Bxf4 Rg8  18. Kh1 $1 Rg4 19. Qc1 $1 Bc5 20. h3 Rg7 21. Bg5 {leads to a small, but clear,  advantage for White.}) 17... Bxa5 $1 18. Qa4 Bb6 19. Qxc6+ Kf8 20. Qa4 Rc8 21.  Ba3+ $6 {My opponent is getting into time trouble and plays another inexact  move.} Kg7 22. Qxf4 Rxc3 ({Another way to a nice advantage for me is} 22... Rc4  23. Qd2 Rh6 24. Rab1 Rg6 25. Kh1 Qc7 {, but I felt materialistic and grabbed  the pawn.}) 23. Rfc1 Rxc1+ ({I considered} 23... Re3 $5 {but failed to see how  to continue after} 24. Bc5 Re4 25. Qd2 Bxc5 26. Rxc5 {Even here Black is a bit  better after} Nh4 27. Nxh4 Qxh4 28. Rc7 a5 $1) 24. Rxc1 {Now g2-g4 seems like  a threat.} Rh6 $1 25. h4 Rg6 26. Ng5 Qd7 27. Qb4 Qd8 $6 ({I was down to a few  minutes on the clock and was too happy with a repetition to consider:} 27... Qe8 $1 28. Rb1  (28. Qf4 Bd8) 28... Bd8 29. Bc1 Be7 30. Qf4 a5 {which would have kept some  winning chances.}) 28. Qf4 Qd7 29. Qb4 Qd8 {Draw by repetition.} 1/2-1/2