Round 2: Cherniack-Glickman 1/2

This draw must be considered an upset of sorts. Black throws away a tempo in the opening, but White fails to find a way to take advantage. In spite of the two bishops, White gradually falls into a slightly inferior position. This enables Black to win a pawn, but rather than seek winning chances by retaining the tension David sues for peace.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.09.14"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Cherniack, Alex"]
[Black "Glickman, David”]
[Result "1/2"]
[WhiteUSCF "2228"]
[BlackUSCF "1937"]
[ECO "D30"]
[Opening "Queen’s Gambit"]
[Variation "Declined"]
[Sub-Variation "Systems without Nc3"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nbd2 Bd6 6.Bd3 Nbd7 7.0-0 0-0 8.e4 e5

[Alex thought this move wasn't correct. However, it is in Fritz's opening book and there are 148 games in the ChessBase On-Line Database with it including several high profile encounters: Korchnoi-Fressinet 2003, Karpov-Shirov 1995, Salov-Anand 1992, Reti-Vidmar 1926]

9.cxd5 cxd5 10.exd5 exd4 11.Nxd4

[11.Ne4 or 11.Nc4 is much more common]

11...Nb6

[And here 11...Ne5 is the typical move of choice. Karpov-Shirov, Monte-Carlo 1996 (via transposition) continued 12.Bf5 Bc5 13.N2b3 Bxd4 14.Nxd4 Qxd5 =]

12.Nf5 Bb4?!

[A nonsensical move which simply loses a tempo, Black should just get on with 12...Bxf5 13.Bxf5 Nbxd5]

13.d6 Bxf5 14.Bxf5 Bxd6 15.Nf3 Nbd5 16.g3

[In the postmortem, Alex wasn't happy with this move]

16...Qb6 17.Nd2 Qb5 18.Ne4 Be5 19.Nxf6+ Nxf6 20.Qf3 Rad8 21.Rb1 Qd5

[Alex thought Black might have more of an advantage in the middle game. He suggested 21...Rd5; Fritz likes 21...Rfe8]

22.Qxd5 Rxd5 23.Be3 b6 24.Bh3 Rfd8 25.Bg2 Rd3 26.Rfe1 Ng4

27.Bf1 R3d6 28.Bg5 f6 29.Bc4+ Kf8 30.h3 fxg5 31.hxg4 Bf6 32.a4 Rd4 33.b3 Rxg4 34.Re6 Rgd4 35.Rbe1 Rd1

[If Black wants to play for more than a draw, he needs to try 35...g4!? here or on the next few moves before the rooks are all traded off]

36.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 37.Kg2 Rd2 38.Kf1 Bd4 39.Re2 Rxe2 40.Kxe2 Ke7 ½-½

[White should have little difficulty setting up a blockade on the kingside light squares]