Welcome to my English Opening game with Stanislav Szabo 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 is one of the games that I played at Stan's Net Chess.

[Event "Game 311864"]
[Site "Stan's NetChess"]
[Date "2005.06.10"]
[Round "?"]
[White "mserovey"]
[Black "Stano"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 d6 2. c4 Nc6 3. h3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. g3 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Nge2 e5 8. O-O
Be6 9. d3 Qd7 10. Kh2 a6 11. f4 exf4 12. gxf4 g6 13. Be3 Bg4 14. hxg4 Nxg4+ 15.
Kh1 Nxe3 16. Qd2 Nxf1 17. Rxf1 Qg4 18. Nd5 Bd8 19. Rf3 Re8 20. f5 Ne5 21. Rg3
Qh4+ 22. Rh3 Nf3 23. Rxh4 Nxd2 24. Rg4 c6 25. Ndf4 g5 26. Nh5 d5 27. cxd5 cxd5
28. Nc3 dxe4 29. Nxe4 Nxe4 30. Bxe4 Rc8 31. Bxb7 Rc1+ 32. Rg1 Ree1 33. Rxe1
Rxe1+ 34. Kg2 Re2+ 35. Kf3 Rxb2 36. Bxa6 Rxa2 37. Bc4 Rh2 38. Ng3 Rh4 39. Bd5 h5
40. Be4 Rh2 41. Nf1 g4+ 0-1

Correspondence Game
Stan's Net Chess
Game Ended 10 June 2005
White: Mike Serovey  Black: Stanislav Szabo

I played this opening with the Botvinnik System in mind. I altered my move order so that Stanislav would not recognize the opening that I was playing. This was the third or fourth time that I had played Stanislav so I wanted to confuse him about the opening because he had seen this system before.

5. g3 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Nge2 e5 8. O-O Be6 9. d3 Qd7

Now I have a position that is typical of the Botvinnik System. Black is threatening to capture the pawn on h3, so I played what I normally play here to protect the pawn. Playing 11. f4 was an attempt to trap the Black Bishop on e6 and win it for a pawn. Black prevented that so playing Be3 and Nd5 before f4 might have been better.

10. Kh2 a6 11. f4 exf4 12. gxf4 g6 13. Be3 Bg4!

I didn't look at this position long enough before accepting the Bishop sacrifice! It was about 10 seconds after taking the Bishop that I realized that taking the Bishop was a blunder. Better here would have been 14. Qd2 breaking the pin on the Knight at e2 and protecting the Bishop at e3. Then the Bishop sacrifice can be accepted!

14. hxg4?? Nxg4+ 15. Kh1 Nxe3 16. Qd2 Nxf1 17. Rxf1 Qg4

White is now down a Rook and pawn for a Knight. The game is pretty much lost from here but I played on anyway.

18. Nd5 Bd8 19. Rf3 Re8 20. f5 Ne5 21. Rg3 Qh4+ 22. Rh3 Nf3

I normally don't want to trade queens when I am down material! Here I don't have much choice. I cannot capture the Knight on f3 with the Rook because it is pinned to the King and I cannot capture it with the Bishop because then I will lose the Rook on h3. So, I either have to trade queens or move my Queen to safety. The best square for the Queen is probably b4 threatening to win the pawn on b7.

23. Rxh4 Nxd2 24. Rg4 c6 25. Ndf4 g5 26. Nh5 d5!

Black is still up material but his Queen's Rook and Bishop are not well placed. Black has connected passed pawns on the Kingside and now opens the Center to get his pieces more room to move. White's best chance to draw would be to keep the position closed and to blockade the passed pawns on the Kingside.

27. cxd5 cxd5 28. Nc3 dxe4 29. Nxe4 Nxe4 30. Bxe4 Rc8

Black finally gets his Queen's Rook into the game! At this point all that White can hope to do is to trade off the pawns for a draw.

31. Bxb7 Rc1+ 32. Rg1 Ree1 33. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 34. Kg2 Re2+ 35. Kf3 Rxb2

White is getting the queenside pawns off the board but still has a difficult game because of the passed kingside pawns.

36. Bxa6 Rxa2 37. Bc4 Rh2!

If now 38. Kg4?? then Rh4+ winning the Knight at h5. Now, the only way to stop the advance of the h pawn is to sacrifice the Knight for it.

38. Ng3 Rh4 39. Bd5 h5 40. Be4 Rh2 41. Nf1 g4+ 0-1

White resigned because he has no good squares for his King. If 42. Kf4?? then 42... Rf2+ wins the Knight at f1. If 42. Kg3?? then 42... Bc7#. If 42. Ke3 then 42... Bg5+ 43. Kd4 Rf2 and White cannot stop the passed pawns from advancing.

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