This game was played in the fourth round. After my first defeat in the previous round, I was hoping to take revenge and return to a 50% score. The game happened to be quite dense: after I slightly misplayed the opening, I still had a good position. However, a passive plan that I chose at move 17 (18) lead to a worse endgame. After my opponent wrongly traded all 4 rooks, I was OK again. Timetrouble led to a tricky position after White's 42nd move. Analysis shows that Black has good drawing chances after both 43...ef+ and 43...Kd7 In the end, a intuitive knight sacrifice gave me a draw and a rather optimistic mood for the rest day that followed this round.

White: Borchgrevink (2175)                  NORWAY

Black: Jiganchine,R (2115)                    CANADA

 [D18]         World Youth U-18 (4), 14.10.2000
[Annotated by Roman Jiganchine]

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nh4 Nbd7 Up to this point I played rather quickly, as all the moves had been familiar to me; my opponent's next move, however, came as a total surprise for me. 10.f3 This is one of the main lines, but [I had expected 10.Nxf5 ] 10...Qa5 [10...Nd5 11.Nxf5 Nxc3?? does not work: 12.bxc3 Bxc3 13.Ra3 Bb4 14.Rb3+-; Theory recommends 10...Bg6 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.e4 e5 13.Be3 Qb6 14.Kh1 Rad8 15.Ne2 a5 16.Qb3 Qc7 17.Rac1 exd4 18.Nxd4 Qe5 19.Rfd1 Nh5 with an unclear position in I. Sokolov-Horvath, NCO] 11.e4 Bg6 12.Nxg6 hxg6 13.Na2 Be7 14.Bd2 Qc7 [14...Qb6 was perhaps a bit more natural, but Black does not achieve anything special either 15.Bc3 e5 16.Kh1 and White is perhaps slightly better] 15.b4 The purpose of this move is to prevent Black from playing c5. The knight on a2, however, now has to guard the 'b4' pawn. Also, by playing b2-b4 White anyways does not prevent Black from striking in the center. 15...e5 16.dxe5 [16.Be3 exd4 17.Bxd4 c5!] 16...Nxe5 17.Be2

At this point I sank into thought and came up with a fairly artificial maneuver: the rook frees up f8 for knight which comes there from e5-d7, to later come to e6, to control the d4 square. This is slow, and White manages to consolidate his position meanwhile. 17...Rfd8 [17...c5!? 18.b5] 18.Qc2 Ned7 [18...Rd7!? would have been more active and natural 19.f4 is an attempt to exploit the fact that my knights are running out of squares (19.Kh1 Rad8 20.Be3 Nd3) 19...Neg4 20.e5 Qb6+ 21.Kh1 Nf2+ (21...Nd5 22.Bxg4) 22.Rxf2 Qxf2 23.Be1 Qxf4 24.exf6 Bxf6 25.Rb1 Re8 Black has a good game, White's pieces are not well coordinated] 19.Be3 Nf8 20.g3 White covers the 'f4' square in advance [20.Bc4 looks a bit more natural, but I think this is a matter of taste.] 20...Ne6 21.Bc4 Qe5 22.Qb3 b5 This forces White to exchange on e6; otherwise he would have consolidated with Nc3 and f4 23.Bxe6 Qxe6 [23...fxe6 is a bit too risky] 24.Qxe6 fxe6 25.a5 [25.axb5?! cxb5 and Black gets rid of a weakness on 'c6'] 25...Rd3 I win a tempo for doubling my rooks on the 'd' file, but the possession this file is not very important, as White controls 'd2' and 'd4' [25...a6 26.Rac1 Rac8 27.Rfd1 Rxd1+ 28.Rxd1 c5 29.bxc5 Bxc5 30.Bxc5 Rxc5 31.Nb4 Rc3 32.Nxa6 Ra3 33.Nc7 Rxa5 34.Nxe6 and White has better chances due to his extra pawn] 26.Kf2 a6 27.Rfd1?! By trading rooks White fails to exploit the weakness of my c6 pawn [27.Rfc1!?

27...Rb3 (27...Rc8 28.Rc2 Rb3 29.Bd2±) 28.Rxc6 Rb2+ 29.Kg1 Bxb4 30.Nxb4 Rxb4 31.Rxe6 and White has an extra pawn] 27...Rad8 28.Ke2 Rxd1 29.Rxd1 Rxd1 30.Kxd1 Nd7 31.f4 Nf6 [31...c5 32.bxc5 Nxc5 33.e5 Nb7 34.Bb6 g5 35.fxg5 Kf7 36.h4 Kg6 37.g4] 32.e5 Nd5 33.Bd2 c5 34.bxc5 Bxc5 Black has eventually even gained some initiative, however, in timetrouble I fail to find a right plan 35.Ke2 Kf7 36.Nc1 Ke8 [it was probably worth considering 36...g5!? 37.fxg5 Kg6 38.h4 Bb4!? This paradoxical exchange of White's 'bad' bishop is quite logical: with bishops on it is hard to attack the White pawns on a5, e5 and g5. (38...Kf5 39.Nd3 Bd4 40.Kf3 Bxe5?? 41.g4++-) 39.g4 Bxd2 40.Kxd2 Nb4 41.Nb3 Nc6 42.Nc5 (42.Ke3 Nxe5 43.Kf4 Nd3+ 44.Ke4 Nf2+ 45.Kf3 Nd3 46.Ke4= with repetition) 42...Nxa5 43.Nxa6 Nc6=] 37.Nb3 Ba7 [37...Be7 38.Be3 Kd7 39.Kd3 (39.Nc5+ Bxc5 40.Bxc5 Kc6 41.Bf8 b4 42.Bxg7 b3 43.Kd3 Kb5 44.Bf8 Kxa5 -black is better here) ] 38.Kd3 Bg1 39.h3 Ba7 In time trouble I make some rather senseless moves [39...Ne7 40.g4 Kd7 41.Ke4 Nd5 42.f5 gxf5+ 43.gxf5] 40.g4 Kd7 41.Ke4 Kc6 42.f5 By pushing the 'f' pawn my Norwegian opponent allows me to get rid of weak pawns, but it is not quite clear what else can he do.

After this move I sank into deep thought; I had two reasonable options: to take on f5 twice or only once... 42...gxf5+ 43.gxf5 exf5+ [43...Kd7 A) Among other lines I was worried about 44.fxe6+?! Kxe6 45.Nd4+?! Bxd4 46.Kxd4

And now I was concerned about White being able to penetrate to my a6 pawn with his king. This was an illusion as Black has a his own trumps: 46...b4! This is the point! I failed to see that White has no time to march to the a6 pawn with the king and has to stop the 'b' pawn. Black has some winning chances now, as the 'a5' pawn is quite weak. 47.Kc4 (47.Bc1) 47...Kxe5 48.Bc1 Nonetheless, with careful defense White probably can hold the position; B) 44.h4 44...b4 (44...exf5+?? 45.Kxd5) 45.h5 Nc3+ 46.Kf4!? (46.Bxc3 exf5+ and Black is OK) 46...Ke7 47.Kg5] 44.Kxf5 Kd7 45.h4 Borchgrevink wants to fix the pawn on g7 by playing h4-h5, but this seems to be too slow [45.e6+ Ke7 46.Bg5+ Kd6 47.Kg6 (47.h4 Ne7+ 48.Bxe7+ Kxe7 49.h5 Be3 50.Kg6 Kxe6 51.Kxg7 Kd5 52.h6 Kc4) 47...Kxe6 48.Kxg7 Kf5 49.h4 Bf2 50.Kh6 Be1 51.h5 Bf2 52.Bd8 Be3+ 53.Kg7 Nf4!?³ and Black wins the h5 pawn, thus gaining an extra pawn; During the game I was panicking as I could not see whether or not I had a draw after 45.Kg6!? Ke6 A) 46.Bg5 Kxe5 47.h4 is another try, but Black now has enough time to march to the queenside 47...Ke4 48.Kxg7 Kd3 49.h5 Kc2 50.Nd2 Bd4+ 51.Kf7 (51.Kg8 Bf6!) 51...b4 52.h6 b3 53.h7 b2 54.Nc4 and the position seems to be drawish; B) 46.Kxg7 46...Ne7! and Black seems to be OK, his knight from 'd5 has controls a lot of squares and can jump to the right square at the right moment! ] 45...Ne7+ 46.Ke4 g6 47.Be3 Interesting sacrifice, but it gives White only practical winning chances; with proper play Black can certainly draw. By giving up the 'h' pawn White is risking too. [47.Nd4 with the threat e6+ 47...Bxd4 48.Kxd4 Here Black has a clear draw: 48...Ke6 49.Kc5 Kxe5 50.Kb6 Kd5 51.Kxa6 Kc6 52.Ka7 Kc7 53.Bf4+ Kc8 54.Bd6 Nd5 55.Ka6 b4 56.Kb5 b3 57.Be5 Kb7 58.Kc4 Ne3+ 59.Kxb3 Nf5 60.Bf6 Nxh4=] 47...Bxe3 48.Kxe3 Nf5+ 49.Kf4 Nxh4 50.Kg5 Nf3+ 51.Kf6! [51.Kxg6? Nxe5+ 52.Kf5 Kd6 53.Ke4 Nc6 54.Kd3 Kd5µ Black has good winning chances here]

51...Nxe5 Both of us were quite low on time by this point, I did not calculate till the very end the consequences of this countersacrifice, but I felt my 'b' and 'g' pawns would not let me lose this endgame. [Being greedy is dangerous in this position: 51...g5? 52.e6+ Ke8 53.Nc5 g4 54.Ne4+-] 52.Kxe5 Kc6 53.Kd4 g5 54.Nc5 b4 [54...g4?? 55.Nxa6 g3 56.Nb4+ Kb7 57.Ke3+-] 55.Kc4 g4 56.Ne6 g3 [At this point most moves lead to a draw: 56...b3 57.Nd4+ Kd6 58.Kxb3 Kd5 59.Kc3 g3 60.Ne2 g2 61.Nf4+ Kc5 62.Nxg2 Kb5=] 57.Kxb4 g2 58.Nd4+ Kd6 59.Nf3 Kc6 60.Kc4 Kd6

1/2-1/2

A tough battle. My opponent was struggling really hard to squeeze a full point out of this endgame. The lack of material (pawns) on the board in my opinion contributes to the drawish tendencies of this endgame after the exchange of rooks. It is quite hard to evaluate precisely the positions that appear after various transpositions in analysis; I believe that most of them are drawn with precise play.