Sunday, December 25, 2005

Kernighan-West, Hamilton CC Quads 2005


diagram

What's White's strongest attacking move?

The recent game NM Mark Kernighan - NM James West, Hamilton CC Quads 2005, featured an interesting plan against the Classical Dutch after 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5!? This led to the exchange of dark squared Bishops, after which White adopted a Colle-like development (without the typical Colle problem of the dark-squared Bishop) with Nbd2, e3, Bd3, and Qe2 seeking to break with an early Pe4. Black stopped him with b6, Bb7, and Nf6-e4, when Mark came up with the interesting plan of Rg1!?, g4, and O-O-O with good play for White. To avoid the attack along the g-file, West castled queenside, but that proved no safe haven after Mark exchanged Bishops with Ba6 and Bxb7 and then developed a strong attack that utilized the weakened white squares around the Black King. The game ended with a nice mating attack. This is one of Mark's better games and worth a look, if only to see how Mark found the best way to attack the Black King in the diagram above...

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