<- Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next ->

The following game is my very first 1.d4 effort. I didn't quite know what I was doing, but my opponent wasn't particularly adept either.

Silman - Czerniecki
U.S. Open, 1979
1.d4 g6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 Nc6 5.Be3 e5 6.d5 Nce7 7.Bd3 Nf6 8.f3 c6 9.Qd2 cxd5 10.cxd5 h6 11.h4 Bd7? 12.Nb5! (Taking immediate advantage of my opponent's poor decision on move 11.) 12...Bxb5 13.Bxb5+ Kf8 14.0-0-0 a6 15.Bd3 a5 16.Kb1 Nd7 17.h5 g5 18.g4 (This structure is horrible for Black: he has no play on the kingside or in the center, while only White can make headway on the queenside. To make matters even worse, a White Knight can eventually leap into f5, targeting both d6 and h6 for assassination. Notice that a Black horse can't reach f4 since the jump-off points on e6 and g6 are both covered by White pawns. One final bit of horror is Black's hideous "tall pawn" Bishop.) 18...b6 19.Ne2 (It's important to dominate the b5-square. I already felt the game was won, the end being just a matter of time and patience.) 19...Nc5 20.Nc3 Bf6 21.Rc1 Kg7 22.Kc2!!

(This move, doubling on the c-file and leading with the mighty King, makes the game memorable. What's the point, you may ask? Actually, it's very logical: White's winning plan is to eventually play b2-b4, chasing Black's only well positioned piece [on c5] away. However, this idea is quite risky if the White King is living on the queenside. Thus, my monarch takes a little trip to the safe haven of g2. Once there, a green light will be given to the b2-b4 break.) 22...Nc8 (Black prepares to challenge me for control of b5.) 23.Kd1 Na7 (Intending ...Qd7) 24.Bb5 Nxb5 25.Nxb5 Qd7 26.Qe2 (The b5-square is secure, so now White can resume his King walk.) 26...Rhc8 27.Ke1 Bd8 28.Kf2 a4 (Threatening ...Ra5) 29.Bd2 (No counterplay allowed!) 29...Be7 30.Kg2 Bd8 31.Rc2 (Intending to double Rooks, when any Knight move would be met by Rc6. Because of this, Black seeks relief with an immediate exchange of all the Rooks.) 31...Nb7 32.Rxc8 Rxc8 33.Rc1 Rxc1 34.Bxc1 Nc5 (34...Qc8 35.Be3 is no improvement) 35.Be3 Be7 36.Bxc5 bxc5 37.Qc4 (It turns out that I didn't need to play b2-b4 after all. Now the a4-pawn is falling, and the material advantage, combined with the superior Knight versus the horrible Black Bishop, makes the win easy.) 37...Qb7 38.Qxa4 Qb6 39.Qc4 Bf8 40.a4 Qa6 41.Kf2 (The King heads for e2 where, in some lines, it will stop any Queen intrusions on d2 or e1. Of course, I also intend to exchange Queens and march my King to b5 and beyond.) 41...Be7 42.Ke2 Kf8 43.Kd3 (Defending my Queen in preparation for Nc3.) 43...Bd8 44.Nc3 Qa7 45.Qb5 Qe7 46.a5 Qa7 47.a6 Ke7 48.Qb7+ (Bringing an end to the battle. While Black is busy with my b-pawn, my Knight will rush to f5 and decimate his entire kingside.) 48...Qxb7 49.axb7 Bc7 50.Kc4 Bb8 51.Nd1 Kd7 52.Ne3 Kc7 53.Nf5 Kxb7 54.Nxh6, 1-0.

I mentioned in my game with Strauss that I have always had a love for "creeping" moves. As seen above, King dances also form part of this fetish. For example, when I was 15 years old I was studying this Nimzo-Indian position: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bh4 c5 6.d5 d6 7.e3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 e5 9.f3. At this point I came up with an innovation that I fully intended to play, but the opportunity never arrived: 9...Kd7!?. The point is that ...g7-g5 is often necessary, making kingside castling for Black an iffy affair. For this reason, Black's King is often happiest on c7, so why not rush him there right away?

Another case of the jitterbug King occurred in Silman - Shirazi, Los Angeles, 1987: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Bf5 4.f3 e5 5.d5 e4 6.e3 h5 7.Nge2 h4 8.Nd4 Bg6 9.f4 c5 10.Nc2 Nbd7 11.Be2 Bf5, and now I played 12.Kd2!, connecting the Queen and Rook and intending to follow up with g2-g4 (the game was eventually drawn).

<- Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next ->