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Israel League 1999-2000
[Event "Israeli League"] [Site "Ramat Aviv ISR"] [Date "2000.01.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Nor,I"] [Black "REBEL CENTURY"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2271"] [BlackElo "?"] [ECO "E41"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 d5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4 cxd4 9. exd4 b6 10. Bg5 Bb7 11. Qd3 Nbd7 12. Rad1 Rc8 13. Bb3 Qe7?! (I don't like this move. I think I would have considered 13 ... Bxc3 14 bxc3 Qc7 here, attacking c3 and following up with ... Ng4!? setting up the threat ... Bxf3) 14. Ne5 Rfd8 15. Qh3 h6 16. Bh4 g5 (The consequence: Rebel has to play this very weakening move to get rid of the annoying pin) 17. Bg3 Qf8 18. f4! Bxc3 19. bxc3 Nxe5 20. fxe5 Nd5 21. Be1!? (Very brave to play this against a computer! Still White has to use sacrifices to get through to the black king) 21. ... Nf4 22. Qg4 Nxg2 23. Bd2 Nh4 24. Rf6 Bd5 25. Bc2 Qg7 26. Rdf1 (White must be winning here) 26. ... Rd7 27. Qh5 Rdc7 28. R1f2 (But this is certainly not the right way. After Rebel's next a lot of pieces are exchanged, getting the sting out of White's attack) 28. ... Nf5 29. R2xf5 exf5 30. Bxf5 Rc6 31. Bxc8 Rxc8 32. Rxh6 Bxa2 33. Qxg5 Rxc3 34. Qxg7+ Kxg7 35. Rxb6 Rd3 36. Bh6+ Kh7 37. Rd6 Be6 (White is a pawn up, but Black's a-pawn turns out to be a problem. From a psychological point of view White has a difficult choice: He just blew a winning position, is still a pawn up, but it should be a draw. Play on, or head for the draw? The second option should be better, but White lets it slip and finally loses!) 38. Bf4 a5 39. Kf2 a4 40. d5 Bxd5 41. Ke2 Rd4 42. Be3 Bc4+ (White's pawn sac was not very convincing and Black is now slightly better. Clearly the turning point in the game: The human is angry, while the computer will now spot every chance it gets) 43. Kf3 Rh4 44. Rd4 Rh3+ 45. Kg2 Be6 46. Bf2 a3 47. Bg3 a2 48. Ra4 Kg6 49. Be1 Re3 50. Kf2 Rxe5 (Rebel is one up now and the a2-pawn is a monster. With careful play Rebel brings the game home) 51. Bc3 Rc5 52. Bd4 Rh5 53. Kg3 Rh3+ 54. Kf4 Rxh2 55. Ra5 Rh4+ 56. Ke3 Rh1 57. Kf4 Rf1+ 58. Ke3 Rd1 59. Ra6 Kg5 60. Ra3 f5 61. Bg7 f4+ 62. Kf2 Bc4 63. Ra4 Rf1+ 64. Kg2 Rc1 65. Ra3 Kg4 66. Bd4 f3+ 67. Kf2 Rc2+ 68. Kg1 Rg2+ 69. Kh1 Bd5 70. Ra4 Kg3 white resigned, an excellent ending by Rebel after a shaky opening. 0 - 1 [Event "Israeli League"] [Site "Ramat Aviv ISR"] [Date "2000.03.10"] [Round "?"] [White "REBEL CENTURY"] [Black "GM Har Zvi,R"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "2507"] [ECO "B96"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qc7 8. Qf3 b5 9. f5!? (A very double edged line, but probably not very attractive for White if Black knows the theory well) 9. ... b4 10. Ncb5 axb5 11. Bxb5+ Bd7 12. fxe6 Bxb5 13. Nxb5 Qc5 14. Bxf6 fxe6! (This stuff is all known, but John Nunn's book about the Najdorf has only a brief mention of this move. More common is 14 ... Qxb5, but the text move is stronger) 15. Nd4 gxf6 16. Nxe6 Qc4 17. Qxf6 Nd7 18. Nc7+ Qxc7 19. Qxh8 Qc5! (Well, what can I say: I discovered this strong move in a correspondence game I played some years ago. Of course I gave the Rebel-book all the analysis of this line, but now Har Zvi is using it against Rebel! In other words: I am countered by my own invention) 20. Qxh7 Qe3+ 21. Kf1 (21 Kd1?? Bh6! -+ was played in the corr. game Chorfi-Noomen. I also won that game quickly) 21. ... O-O-O! (A strong novelty. I played 21 ... Qf4+ against Van der Velde and won after 22 Ke2? Of course 22 Kg1 was stronger. Still, the move played by Har Zvi might be the end of this line for White. I think Black is better now) 22. Qh5 Bg7 23. Qe2 Qf4+ 24. Ke1 Bxb2 25. Rb1 Rf8! (White has big problems: His pieces are not cooperating, while the black ones have optimal squares) 26. Kd1 Bc3 27. g3 Qg5 28. a3! (The only way: Rebel has to give some material to get rid of the awsome bishop) 28. ... Nc5 (Could 28 ... bxa3 be played? If yes, this might be the right course for Black!) 29. Rxb4! Bxb4 30. axb4 Qe5 31. bxc5! (Securing the draw. Black cannot escape perpetual check) 31. ... Qa1+ 32. Kd2 Qxh1 33. Qa6+ Kd7 34. Qxd6+ Ke8 35. Qe6+ Kd8 36. Qd5+ Ke7 37. Qe5+ Kf7 38. Qf4+ Kg8 39. Qg4+ and a draw was agreed. A very important game for theory. Another 6. Bg5 line can be put into the refrigerator! 1/2 - 1/2 [Event "Israeli League"] [Site "Ramat Aviv ISR"] [Date "2000.01.28"] [Round "?"] [White "REBEL CENTURY"] [Black "GM Golod,V"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "2566"] [ECO "C00"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 c5 (This is not supposed to be a solid line... Did Golod wanted to avoid a theoretical discussion?) 3. d5 exd5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Qe2+!? (Surprisingly irritating!) 5. ... Qe7 6. Nc3 d6 7. Bf4 a6 8. O-O-O Qxe2 9. Bxe2 Be7 10. Nf3 O-O 11. Rhe1 (With simple moves Rebel has reached an overwhelming position. Sometimes chess is simple!) 11. ... Re8 12. Nd2! b5 13. Nde4 (Couldn't White sac something on b5 here? It looks pretty tempting) 13. ... Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Rd8 15. Bf3 Kf8 16. Re2 Bf5 17. Rde1 Bxe4 18. Bxe4 (White is still clearly better, but at least GM Golod has avoided immediate disaster) 18. ... h6 19. Bf5 Ra7 20. h4 a5 21. a3 Na6 22. g3 c4 23. c3 Nc5 24. Kc2 Rb7 (Rebel lacks a plan, and in the following phase not much changes) 25. h5 Nb3 26. g4 Rc7 27. Bg3 Nc5 28. f3 Nb7 29. Re3 Bf6 30. R1e2 a4 (A strange move, giving up any counterchance based on b5-b4) 31. Re4 Re7 32. Rxe7 Bxe7 33. Kd2 Bg5+ 34. f4 Bf6 35. Ke3 Nc5 36. Kf3 Na6 37. Bf2 Nc5 38. Be3 Re8 39. Bg1 Bd8? (Underestimating White's next) 40. Bxc5! dxc5 41. Rd2 Bf6 42. d6 (Rebel has a strong passed pawn and the black pawns on the queen's side could become very vulnerable) 42. ... Rb8 43. Rd5 b4 (Finally trying to get some counterplay!) 44. Rxc5 bxa3 45. bxa3 g6 46. hxg6 fxg6 47. Bxg6 Rd8 48. Rc6 Bxc3 49. Bc2 Bb2 50. Bxa4 c3 51. f5 (Rebel is 2 pawns up and has no problems in converting this into a win) 51. ... Kf7 52. Rc7+ Kf6 53. d7 Bxa3 54. Rxc3 Be7 55. Rc6+ Kg7 56. Rg6+ Kh7 57. f6! Bf8 58. Bc2 Kh8 59. Bf5 Ra8 60. f7 Ra3+ 61. Ke2 Ra2+ 62. Kd3 Ra3+ 63. Kc2 Ra2+ 64. Kb1 Ra1+ 65. Kxa1 Bg7+ 66. Ka2 1 - 0 [Event "Israeli League"] [Site "Ramat Aviv ISR"] [Date "2000.03.03"] [Round "?"] [White "Haimovich,T"] [Black "REBEL CENTURY"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2276"] [BlackElo "?"] [ECO "A06"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O (The other try here is 8 ... 0-0) 9. Qe2 (According to Matthew Sadler, 9 Nh4! is the best move here) 9. ... Bg6 10. Rd1 (If White wanted to play Ne5, this was the right moment to do it) 10. ... Nbd7 11. Ne5? (I am not very keen on White's position after this one. But the problem is that e3-e4 is simply costing a pawn. The opening is a success for Rebel) 11. ... Nxe5 12. dxe5 Nd7 13. f4 Qc7 14. Bd2 Rad8 15. Be1 Nc5 (Taking control of 3 possible weak squares: e4, d3 and b3) 16. Bh4 Rxd1+ 17. Qxd1 Qa5 18. Na2? (Missing Black's reply and therefore the losing mistake. But Rebel had a nice position anyway) 18. ... Bd2! 19. Qe2 Nxa4 20. b3 Nb2 21. Be7 Re8 22. b4? (Overlooking another shot) 22. ... Bxe3+! 23. Qxe3 Nxc4 24. Qd4 Qd5 25. Qxa7 b6 26. Rf1 Ne3 27. Rf3 Qd2 with a winning attack. White resigned. A simple and straight game by Rebel Century. 1-0