Meinders-Hart, WOCC at KCC 2005

White to play after 15.d5! Bc8

One of the most thoroughly well-played games in the Kenilworth-West Orange match was that of candidate-Expert (or rising A-player) Brian Meinders who showed a surprising depth of positional understanding in his game. Younger players like Brian (who is a student at Rutgers) have added a lot of depth to our club and made it possible for us to field a strong team even when we did not have Massey or Stoyko available. The following game, which you can download as a PGN file or play online as a java applet, is worth seeing even if you are likely never to face (or to try) the Schlechter Defense to the Queen's Gambit.

[Event "West Orange CC at Kenilworth CC"]
[Site "Kenilworth, NJ USA"]
[Date "2005.09.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Meinders, Brian"]
[Black "Hart, Charlie"]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2005.??.??"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. e3 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O h6 $6 { Black prepares to play ...Be6 without allowing White Ng5 in response. But Ng5 would be a wasted tempo for White, so . ..h6?! here is itself a wasted tempo and one that weakens the Black kingside.} 8. Ne5 Be6 { Typical of the Schlechter Variation.} 9. b3 Nfd7 $6 {This only make s sense if Black can follow with ...f6 driving away the Knight, but due to the weakening of the g6 pawn the ...f6 advance is no longer possible.} 10. f4 $1 $14 Nxe5 11. fxe5 dxc4 12. bxc4 Qa5 $6 ({Better} 12... c5 13. Be4 Bxc4 14. Bxb7 Bxf1 15. Qxf1 Nd7 16. Bxa8 Qxa8 17. Ba3 $5 $14) 13. Bd2 Qa6 14. Qe2 b6 (14... Qa3) 15. d5 (15. Nd5 $5 Qb7 16. Nf4 $16) 15... Bc8 (15... Bd7 16. e6 Be8 17. d6 Qa3 18. c5 fxe6 19. Rxf8+ Bxf8 20. Qg4 $18) 16. e6 $1 f5 17. e4 (17. a4 $1 $40) 17... cxd5 18. cxd5 Qa3 19. Rac1 (19. Nb5 $1 Qa4 20. e5 $1 Ba6 21. Rf4 $1 $18) 19... f4 $2 (19... Ba6 $1 20. exf5 $16) 20. Nb5 $1 Qa4 21. Nc7 Qd4+ 22. Kh1 Na6 23. Bc3 Qe3 24. Qxe3 fxe3 25. Rxf8+ Bxf8 26. Nxa8 Nc5 27. Be2 Nxe4 28. Bd4 Bb7 29. Nc7 Nf6 30. Bf3 e2 31. Bxf6 exf6 32. Bxe2 $18 1-0