14-year-old Sam Schmakel already has two national titles to his credit. This modest young man, a freshman at Chicago's Whitney Young High School, is acutely aware of how much he has to learn. He realizes that there was a degree of luck in his recent win over IM Florin Felecan, allowing him to tie for first with Felecan in last month's 1st North American Amateur Open, held at the North Shore Chess Center in Skokie. Felecan escaped from an inferior position to fully equalize, then sacrified two pawns to go for the kill and Schmakel's centralized queen. (Did I mention that Florin had two bishops and Sam had two knights in this wild middlegame?)
Enjoy this wonderful fighting game!
Schmakel,Sam (2079) – Felecan,Florin (2415) [B06]
1st North American Amateur Open
Round 5, February 2, 2011
Annotations by Sam Schmakel and Bill Brock [RR].
I was honored to play both Florin Felecan and Jon Burgess in this event, and I appreciate titled and higher-rated players putting their rating and reputation on the line to play lower-rated players.
1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Be3
[4.f4 is another major line]
4...a6 5.Qd2 b5 6.f3 Nd7 7.h4
[Or 7.Nh3 Bb7 8.Be2 c5 9.Nf2 cxd4 10.Bxd4 Ngf6]
7...h5 8.Nh3 Ngf6 9.0–0–0 Nb6 10.Ng5 e6 11.Be2 Bb7
Here it finally dawned on me that his intention was to castle queenside after I pushed my pawns.
12.a3 Qd7 13.Qe1 d5 14.e5 Ng8 15.g4 Nc4 16.Bxc4 bxc4 17.Qg3 Rb8
18.Nh3 Bf8 19.gxh5 gxh5 20.Bg5 Bc6
[RR 20...c5!? is very interesting. It's not natural for Black to want to open the position with his king in the center, his kingside totally undeveloped, and his queenside castling rights lost. But Black's central pawn chain is very impressive, and undermining the White center is positionally logical. 21.f4 (21.Ne2 allows Black to crack open the queenside: 21...cxd4 22.Nxd4 c3) 21...cxd4 22.Rxd4 Bc5 23.Ne2! A unchallenged knight on d4 is so powerful that White can sac the Exchange. 23...Ne7 24.Bxe7 (24.Bf6?! Nf5! 25.Qc3 Rg8) 24...Qxe7 25.f5 Bc8!? (25...Bxd4 26.Nxd4 and Rybka thinks that White has more than enough for the Exchange....) 26.Rf1÷]
21.Qf4 Qc8 22.Rhg1 Qb7
White to play
23.Kd2!
RR Forced but strong.
23...Qa7!
[RR 23...Qxb2?? 24.Rb1 wins material.]
24.Rb1 Ba8 25.Ne2 c3+
26.bxc3
It was probably better to take with the knight here because I don't see any way that Black can exploit my loose king.
[RR 26.Nxc3 c5 27.Ne2 Bc6 28.Bf6 Nxf6 29.Qxf6 does seem pleasant. But White seems to be doing well in the game continuation, too.]
26...Bxa3
[RR 26...Rxb1 27.Rxb1 Bc6 28.Bf6 Rh6 29.Bd8! Rg6! (29...Kxd8?? 30.Qxf7 wins the house) 30.Bg5 and the chances are all White's in this bizarre position.]
27.Rxb8+ Qxb8 28.Bf6
Here I think that I can take advantage of the undeveloped kingside.
28...Nxf6 29.Qxf6 Rf8 30.Qh6 Be7 31.Qxh5 Kd7
32.Nhf4
[RR 32.Rg7 to be followed by 33.Ng5 was very strong.]
32...Bc6 33.Rg7 Qe8 34.Qg4 a5
RR The central pawn chains determine the spheres of influence. White has total domination over the kingside. The Black bishops control key queenside squares.
35.h5
I missed 35.c4 breaking open the center and giving me a big advantage. RR But psychologically, this is a very difficult move to make. We're taught that bishops are stronger than knights in open positions, and it seems counterintuitive for the player with the knights to open the position. Here, however, White also has the initiative.
35...Rh8 36.Qg1
I thought I would have something better, but I couldn't see any advantage. So I opted to swing my queen around to stop the a-pawn. RR But queens are not put on earth to blockade rook pawns. [RR 36.c4! dxc4?! 37.d5! is still very powerful.
36...Bb5 37.Qa1 a4 38.Qa2 c6
39.c4!
I wanted to make sure that he didn't have time to play ...Qa8, and then ...bxc4, so I sacked a pawn. RR Here, c3-c4 is played under much less favorable circumstances, but it's still strong.
39...dxc4 40.Ke3!
RR A nice consolidating move.
40...Qf8 41.Rg4 Bb4 42.Ng3
42...f6?
RR The IM goes for the jugular in his opponent's time pressure, but chooses the wrong pawn break. RR 42...c5! 43.d5 and it's an exciting game with chances for both sides.
43.exf6 e5
RR 43...Qxf6 is better, but the Bb5 is just a "tall pawn" after 44.Ne4 Qd8 45.c3.
44.dxe5 Qc5+
45.Ke4!
I was in time pressure and my intuition told me that my king would be safer in the center and would also defend the e5 pawn. [RR 45.Ke2 The following variations prove the correctness of Sam's intuition: 45...c3+ (45...Bd2! 46.Kf1! Black still has the discovered check, but it's more important for White to control g1. (46.Kxd2?? c3+ 47.Ke1 Qg1+ 48.Nf1 Qxf1#) 46...Bxf4 47.Rxf4 Qxe5 48.Rg4 Qxf6 49.Kg2 and it's a game) 46.Nd3 Qxe5+ 47.Ne4 Qd5 (47...Qxh5 48.Rg7+ Kd8 49.Ke3) 48.Rg7+ Kd8 49.Qxd5+ cxd5 and here's a sample of the insanity that could follow: 50.f7 (50.Ng3 a3 51.Ra7 Kc8! and now 52.Ra8+?? Kb7 53.Rxh8 a2 queens and wins) 50...dxe4 51.Rg8+ Kd7 52.Rxh8 exd3+ 53.cxd3 c2 54.f8Q Bxf8 55.Kd2 Ke7 56.Kxc2 a3 and this bizarre ending looks roughly equal.]
45...Bc3 46.Rg7+ Kc8
47.Rc7+?
I was just trying to gain time by playing Rc7+ before playing Re7. [RR 47.Re7 immediately was much better, however. The point is that the defense 47...Bd2 48.Nf5 Qg1 now fails to 49.Nd6+ (the check wins a tempo for attack and defense!) 49...Kb8 50.Qa3 As in the game continuation, transferring the queen to dark squares is crucial. 50...Qh2 51.Ne6 Ba5 52.Rb7+ Ka8 and now the sham queen sacrifice 53.Qc3! is the cutest way to win 53...Qe2+ (53...Bxc3?? 54.Nc7#) 54.Kf4 Qh2+ 55.Ke3 Qg1+ 56.Ke4 Bb6 57.f7 wins quickly.]
47...Kb8
[RR 47...Kxc7?? 48.Ne6+]
48.Re7
48...Rd8?
RR 48...Bd2! threatening 49...Qe3+ was a stronger defense. 49.Nf5 Qg1! (threatening 50...Qe1+) 50.Qa3 Qe1+ 51.Ne3 Bb4 (forced) 52.Qb2 Bc5 53.Nfg2(forced) Qd2! with a delightfully obscure position.
49.Nge2 Bd2
RR One move too late!
50.Kf5 Rf8 51.Rd7 Bxf4
I was happy to see this move because I felt that I would soon be able to get my queen back into the game.
52.Nxf4 Qe3
53.Qb2!
With the idea of Qb4-d6. I now felt that I was winning.
53...Kc8 54.Rg7 a3 55.Qb4 Re8 56.Qd6 1–0