TWO RED KNIGHTS
The Kelantan Closed 2012 had successfully ended. Nik Ahmad Farouqi had defended his title brilliantly, which include a win against our IM Mas Hafizulhelmi and of course, against Yours Truly. Our game was the highlight of Round 6, where most of the games had already finished.
Kelantan Closed 2012
Date: 28.01.2012
Round 6
White: Nik Ahmad Farouqi
Black: Yours Truly
1.e4 d6
I took 5 minutes to register this move, merely because I wanted to surprise Nik Ahmad Farouqi (NAF). It was not prepared specially for him, just that I nearly lost many of my games in this 45-minutes-to-the-finish tournament that I chose The Pirc to test his attacking ability.
2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6
Not a true Pirc with a Kingside Bishop fianchetto, where NAF would probably storm my castled position with his foot soldiers like many of his wins in this tournament.
4.h3 Nbd7 5.Nf3 e5 6.Be2 Be7 7.O-O O-O
Both sides had castled. The centre was still fluid as White did not state his intention of either to close the position or to open it up, yet.
8.Be3 Qc7 9.Re1 Rd8 10.Bf1 Nf8 11.a3 Ng6 12.Qc1 Nh5 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.g3
White stopped Black from infiltrating with a Knight at f4 square.
14... Be6 15.Rd1 f6 16.Rxd8+ Rxd8 17.Qe1 b6 18.Rd1
It was clear that White's intention was to simplify the game by exchanging the heavy pieces. Therefore, I tried to find something to play with the minor pieces after the imminent exchanges.
18... Bf8 19.Rd2 Ne7 20.Qd1 Rxd2 21.Bxd2 g6 22.Kh2 Nc8 23.Be3 Nd6
My plan was easy. Exchange as many pieces as I could, starting with the Bishops. This Knight jump was to exchange a pair of Bishops at c4 square.
24.Nd2 Nf7 25.Bc4 Qd7 26.Bxe6 Qxe6 27.Qe2 Bh6 28.Nc4 Bxe3 29.Nxe3 Ng5
After swapping all the Bishops, Black started the attack with his Queen and Knights. However, this plan was short lived as the King position was dreadful where White managed to tame the attacking Queen.
30.Qc4 Ng7 31.Kg2 Kf7 32.h4 Qxc4 33.Nxc4 N5e6 34.Nd6+ Kf8 35.Nc8 Ke8
NAF told me after the game that he did not want to calculate the consequence of taking a pawn at a7 where his marauding Knight might be trapped.
36.Nd6+ Kd7 37.Nc4 Nd4 38.Ne3 Nge6
Black Knights started to take centre positions to influence the game.
39.Na2 h5 40.Nc1 Nc5 41.f3 Kd6 42.Kf2 b5 43.c3 Nde6
44.g4 Nf4 45.gxh5 Nxh5 46.b4 Na4 47.c4 a6 48.Nb3 Nf4 49.c5+ Ke6 50.Na5 Kd7 51.Ng4 Nh5 52.f4
NAF started to play aggressively after seeing that I had not much time left. True enough, this move forced me to pause and think even though I was already in severe time trouble.
52... exf4 53.e5 fxe5 54.Nxe5+ Ke6 55.Nxg6 Kd5 56.Ne7+ Kd4 57.Naxc6+ Ke4 1-0
The game actually went on for some more moves before my flag was up.
Maznie playing at board 1 in MSSK last year
