Game of the Week - Knox vs. Qin

[Event "North American Youth Chess Championship"]
[Site "Toronto"]
[Date "2013.08.17"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Knox, Christopher"]
[Black "Qin, Joey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E71"]
[WhiteElo "2074"]
[BlackElo "2286"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 {The King's Indian almost guarantees an
exciting game} 5. Bd3 {Not the most popular way of combating the KID. Nf3, Be2,
f3, f4 are all played at least twice as often as Bd3} O-O 6. Nge2 e5 (6... Nc6
7. O-O Nh5 {is apparently theoretical, but the moves look suspicious somehow})
7. d5 c6 8. h3 {This moves serves a dual purpose. It allows 9.Bg5 and then for
the Bishop to come back to h4-g3-h2 if necessary (after ...h6, g5, Nh5) and it
also prepares a future g4} Na6 {The knight is eyeing the c5 square} 9. Bg5 Nc5
10. Bc2 (10. b4 {White may have wanted to consider giving up his 'bad' light
squared bishop just to stop black from cementing his knight on c5} Nxd3+ 11.
Qxd3 h6 12. Be3 {and White's space advantage ensures him at least a small edge}
) 10... a5 {according to plan} 11. Qd2 cxd5 12. cxd5 $6 {This is certainly a
case where capturing towards the centre was not the right decision.} (12. exd5
a4 $11) 12... Bd7 $1 {and this is why White made the wrong recapture. Black
prepares a powerful queenside attack which will come before White can create a
real attack on the kingside.} 13. g4 $2 {Ambitious, but White had to slow
Black down with a move like a4 or Be3} b5 14. Ng3 b4 15. Nce2 Qb6 {It is safe
to say that the opening has gone extremely well for black. White is in serious
trouble already} 16. Rg1 $2 {This move doesn't really make any sense at all.}
b3 $6 {Joey tries to cash in. It was probably better to prepare this move with
...a4} 17. axb3 Nxb3 18. Bxb3 Qxb3 19. Ra3 Qc4 20. Rc3 Qa2 21. b3 {White
offers the queen trade. It's tough to say whether he needs to trade queens,
but I can understand why he would like to do so. The pressure on b2 would have
become too much quite quickly} Qb1+ 22. Qc1 Qxc1+ 23. Nxc1 Rfb8 {The moves
since 16...b3 have all followed logically from the position. It seems that
White's problems aren't as serious as they were earlier. His pieces are sure
in strange places though} 24. f3 a4 25. bxa4 Rb2 {Seemingly to stop Rg2} 26.
Nce2 (26. Nge2 $1 {The knight wasn't doing anything on g3. It's better here
where it blocks the second rank and acts as extra defense}) 26... Rxa4 27. Kf2
h6 28. Bc1 Rb7 29. Be3 Ra2 30. Rcc1 {White is playing good moves. He has very
good drawing chances and gets it under control} Rab2 (30... Bf8 {this move is
a bit prophylactic. On f8 the bishop defends h6 and d6}) 31. Ra1 Bf8 32. Ra8
Rb8 33. Rxb8 Rxb8 34. Ra1 Rb2 35. Ra8 Ne8 36. Rd8 Bb5 37. Rb8 {This really
should be drawn now. White is no longer worse. He is even slightly better} Kg7
38. Rb7 Nf6 (38... Kg8 39. Rb8 Kg7 {is one way the game could have ended}) 39.
Bxh6+ $4 {This is a bad blunder from Christopher. It's tough to say what he
missed. Perhaps he became overconfident after having solved his earlier
problems} (39. Bc1 $1 Rb3 40. Nf1 Bc4 41. Rxb3 Bxb3 42. Nd2 Bc2 (42... Ba4 43.
Nc3 Bd7 44. Nc4 $14) 43. Ke3 Nd7 44. Ba3 $14) 39... Kxh6 40. Rxf7 Bg7 41. g5+ (
41. h4 Kh7 $19) 41... Kxg5 42. Rxg7 Bxe2 43. Nxe2 Nh5 44. h4+ Kf6 45. Rd7 Nf4
46. Rxd6+ Ke7 47. Re6+ Nxe6 48. dxe6 Kxe6 49. f4 {This simplifies Black's task}
Rb3 $1 $19 {The rest requires no comment.} 50. Kg2 Re3 51. Kf2 Rxe4 52. Kf3
Rxe2 53. Kxe2 exf4 54. Kf2 Ke5 55. Ke2 Ke4 56. Kf2 f3 57. Kf1 Kf4 58. Kg1 Kg3 {
I really enjoyed this game for the way in which Black got such a commanding
position out of the opening. He lost his way, however, and White could have
come back and even taken the advantage. Instead, he played a very speculative
sacrifice which led to a losing position.} 0-1