After a frustrating opening disaster in the previous round I was not in a very good mood, and this game happened to be quite boring. And yet boring positions still take a lot of effort during the game. The fact that both of us were not terribly well familiar with the opening line was perhaps the most interesting aspect of my round 7 game.

White: Jiganchine,R (2115)    CANADA

Black: Weber,T (2062)           LUXEMBOURG

[D93]     World Youth U-18 (7), 17.10.2000
[Annotated by Roman Jiganchine]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.Rc1 [6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Nxd5 Qxd5 8.Bxc7 Nc6 9.e3 Bf5 10.Be2 Rac8 11.Bg3 Qa5+ gives Black sufficient compensation] 6...dxc4 7.e3 c5 [7...Be6 8.Ng5 Bd5 9.e4 h6 10.exd5 hxg5 11.Bxg5 Nxd5 12.Bxc4 Nb6 13.Bb3 Nc6 14.d5 Nd4 15.0-0 Qd7 16.a3 Nxb3 17.Qxb3 Rfe8= Rogers-Wolff, 1991] 8.dxc5 Qa5 9.Bxc4 Qxc5 10.Bb3 [I played 10.Nb5 in my game against Seel in round 4] 10...Nc6 [Black can also choose 10...Qa5 first, so that 11.0-0 he can play 11...Na6 but after 12.Qd2 A) 12...Rd8 13.Qe2 Nc5? 14.Bxf7+ Kxf7 15.Qc4+ Ne6 (15...e6 16.b4) 16.Ng5+ with White winning a pawn; Timman-Nijboer; B) 12...Nc5 13.Nd5 White is still much better] 11.0-0 Qa5 [11...Qh5 is another idea 12.h3 Rd8 13.Nd2 With White having some advantage, as claimed by NCO] 12.h3 Bf5 13.Qe2

13...e5 judging by the time spent by my opponent in the opening, I think he was trying to remember what the theory was in this line. He chooses the wrong move order though that gave me extra options (which I did not use though) [13...Ne4 14.Nd5 e5 is the right way of playing it] 14.Bh2?! [14.Bg5!? most active and perhaps best. This move becomes possible because the knights have not been placed yet to e4 and d5 respectively 14...Ne4 15.Nxe4 (15.Nd5? would now be bad 15...Nxg5 16.Nxg5 Qd8 NCO 17.Nf3 e4) 15...Bxe4 16.Rfd1 And I think White has a solid advantage here, as now the bishop controls the d8 square and if Black tries to complicate things with 16...Bxf3 17.Qxf3 e4 18.Qf4 Bxb2 both simple moves 19.Rd5 (and 19.Rb1 give White a serious advantage) ; 14.e4 would be a mistake 14...exf4 15.exf5 Qxf5; 14.Bg3!? was perhaps slightly better than the move that I played 14...Ne4 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.Rfd1] 14...Ne4 15.Nxe4 [15.Nd5 would now transpose to the major theoretical position 15...Nc5 16.e4 Rad8 17.Rfd1 Bxe4 18.Rxc5 Bxf3 19.Qe3 Bxd1 20.Rxa5 Nxa5 21.Ne7+ Kh8 22.Bd5 is quite unclear -this is just one of the many complicated lines in this variation] 15...Bxe4 16.Rfd1 Rad8

17.Rxd8 Qxd8 [17...Rxd8 18.Bxf7+ was the point of my previous move] 18.Rd1 Qe7 19.a3 [19.Rd2 the natural plan of doubling on the d file would most likely lead to simplifications 19...Rd8 20.Qd1 Rxd2 21.Nxd2 (21.Qxd2 Bxf3 is more risky) 21...Bf5 22.Nc4 Be6 23.Nd6 Bf8 24.Ne4 Bxb3=] 19...Bf5 20.Bg3 With an idea to possibly play Bh4 20...h6 My opponent realized what I want and is prepared to face Bh4 with g6-g5 21.Nd2 The knight is being transferred to c3, to control 'd5' 21...Rd8 22.Nb1 Rd7 23.Nc3 Qd8 24.Rxd7 Qxd7 25.Qd1 Kf8

My opponent played this very careful move and offered me a draw, which I accepted [25...Kf8 26.Qxd7 Bxd7 I. Lipnowski later commented that this position was a dead draw. I had not been so sure about this during the game, but certainly could not see any way to play for a win.; I was a bit worried about 25...Qxd1+ but it does not seem to be dangerous for White 26.Nxd1 Na5?! 27.Bd5!] 1/2-1/2