Welcome to my English Opening game (ECO A36) with Ankit Aggarwal page!

On this page I have posted one my chess games in which I played the White side of the English Opening . The game includes analysis and diagrams. This game is Round 2 of a tornado in which I went 2.5 out of 4. This is the first time that I have played someone rated this low since I was in high school! The drawback to playing someone rated this low is that I only get one or two rating points for a win and anything other than a win will cost me a ton of rating points! I put this game on my site to give credit to my opponent for playing much better than his rating and to show how to patiently win with the Botvinnik system. My opponent's inexperience hurt him in that he kept forgetting to punch his clock after making a move and it cost him about ten minutes. Also, his inexperience hurt him in how he played the endgame. I don't know for sure how old Ankit is but he looks to be about 8 years old and I am told that he is from India. He looks like he is from India.

Tampa Chess Club Tornados
Round 2, Board 7
Game Played 14 October 2007
White: Mike Serovey (1500)  Black: Ankit Aggarwal (723)

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Nf6

Up to this point we have a symmetrical English. My opponent breaks symmetry here. I have never had anyone play symmetrically for more than 10 moves. I'm not sure what I would do if someone did copy all of my moves beyond move 10.

4. Bg2 e6 5. e4 Be7 6. Nge2 O-O 7. O-O b6 8. d3 Bb7

Sometimes my opponents will fianchetto opposite of my Bishop of g2. I could play 9. f4 here but I am following the move order taught to me by USCF Life Master Tom Stiers. I decided to play the Botvinnik system before the game even started. I can't help but wonder if I would have gotten a faster win with a different opening. Black's next move is often played against me and can be annoying but it is no biggie really. I just continued with my normal development.

9. h3 Nd4 10. Be3 Nxe2+ 11. Qxe2 Bd6

Black's last move is a minor positional error because it blocks Black's d pawn from advancing and e5 is playable without that move. Right here I wanted to play 12. e5 forking the Bishop and Knight but that just gives a pawn away after 12... Bxg2. So, I played 12. f4 to prepare for 13. e5. My opponent wisely prevented me from playing e5 but he didn't thwart my overall plan. Normally, someone rated this low would have handed me a free piece by now. Although Ankit is making minor errors he is playing better than I expected for someone with his low rating. By playing his pawn to e5 Black has given me the d5 square for my Knight. I don't mind the doubled pawns after Black captures on d5 and I always recapture with the c pawn because theory says to capture towards the Center.

12. f4 e5 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. cxd5 exf4 15. Bxf4 Bxf4 16. Rxf4 Qg5

The material is still even but Black's fianchettoed Bishop is biting granite. Black is now trying to get some counterplay by threatening the White pawn at g3. I had considered playing 17. Qg4 in order to trade off the queens but decided to play the Queen to f3 and then triple up on the f file. Right now the Black pawn at f7 is a target for White to attack.

17. Qf3 Rac8 18. Rf1 Qg6 19. b3 Ba6

Black has safely guarded his pawn at f7 and now puts some pressure on the White pawn at d3. Now I decided that I wanted to either force the Black Queen away from the Kingside or to exchange queens hoping to trade down into a won endgame. I played my Queen to e3 so that after 21. Rg4 h6 is not a safe square for the Black Queen and I can capture there doubling Black's pawns and weakening his King's position.

20. Qe3 b5 21. Rg4 Qd6 22. e5 Qe7

I accomplished the goal of getting the Black Queen off my kingside pawns and now I need to stop the Black pawn from advancing to c4. White's next move not only attacks Black's Queen but it also gives the long diagonal to the Bishop at g2 and 24. Rc1 stops the Black pawn from going to c4.

23. d6 Qe8 24. Rc1 f6 25. Rxc5 Rxc5 26. Qxc5 fxe5 27. Qxa7 Bc8

Twenty seven moves into this game and Black finally blunders away a pawn! Ankit is playing much better than I expected him to! I actually expected Black to play 27... Qc8 protecting the Bishop and leaving the Bishop to protect the Black pawn at b5. The Queen on c8 also threatens Qc1+.

28. Qb6 Qe6 29. Qxb5 Qxd6

White is only up a pawn here but he has connected passed pawns on the Queenside and is thus winning. White now forces the exchange of queens in order to simplify the position and make winning easier.

30. Qd5+ Qxd5 31. Bxd5+ Kh8 32. Kg2

The King was played to g2 in order to keep the Black Rook off f3. Now it is about time to start advancing those passed pawns.

d6 33. Rc4 Ba6

White is still up only a pawn. I considered playing 34. Rc6 exchanging pawns on the d file but decided to protect that pawn at d3 instead. Black's next two moves allow me to win another pawn.

34. Rc3 g6 35. Be4 Rb8? 36. Rc6! Bb7 37. Rxd6 Bxe4+ 38. dxe4 Ra8

Thirty eight moves into this game and White is up only 2 pawns. However, those are two connected passed pawns! It was about this time that I decided to use my Rook to keep the Black King away from the Queenside and to use my King to help those passed pawns advance. Black's lack of experience showed again because he failed to keep my King away from those passed pawns.

39. a4 Rb8 40. Rd3 Kg8 41. Rf3 Kg7 42. Kf2 Kg8 43. Ke2 Kg7 44. Kd2 Kg8

The Black King has nowhere to go. But, instead of moving the King back and forth between g8 and g7 he could try advancing his kingside pawns and trade them off so that his King could come after my Rook. Another option here is to play 44... Rc8 cutting my King off from those passed pawns. In that case I would probably have played 45. Rc3 and if 45... Rd8+ then I would have played 46. Kc2 Rd4 47. Rc4 and White can now advance his passed pawns without any problems.

45. Kc2 Kg7 46. Kb2 Kg8 47. Ka3 Kg7

Now White has the winning position that he wanted. The Black King is cut off from the Queenside and the White King is now able to help those passed pawns to advance. Black's only chance for counterplay is to advance his kingside pawns and to try to trade them off. After that he could try to win the White e pawn and then to advance and queen his own e pawn. Black never considered this plan due to his inexperience. At move 50 Ankit asked the tournament director something and let his clock run while he was doing it. It couldn't hear the conversation but I am guessing that it had something to do with the 50 move draw rule.

48. b4 Kg8 49. b5 Kg7 50. Kb4 Kg8 51. a5 Kg7 52. b6 Kg8 53. Kb5 Rb7 54. a6 Rxb6+??

Black is losing anyways but giving the Rook away for a pawn only made the win faster for me! Black needs to move his kingside pawns in order to give his King an escape square after I queen my a pawn.

55. Kxb6 Kg7 56. a7 Kg8 57. a8=Q+ Kg7 58. Qf8# 1-0

At this point Black had about a minute left on his clock so I was going to win no matter what. Black would have escape squares for his King if he had moved his g and h pawns.

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