Adolfo Prieto won the second game of the 2016 Watertown Chess Club
Championship playing the Black side of the Scotch Game, a favorite of Mr.
Kratzat. What was different in this game was that Mr. Prieto deviated from
the normal ECO lines on move 3.Nxd4. The slight change presented Mr. Kratzat
with the task of seeking out the best response over the board. The game
continued evenly till 10..Nd7, when 11.Bg5 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 f6 13.exf6 Nxf6
would have left White a pawn up. However Mr. Kratzat played 11. exd6, a
natural move, but it only left the game level. Eventually Mr. Prieto was
able to attack with a series of trades that left the White Kingside with
doubled pawns at f3 and f4. This weakness tied down Whites King and Bishop
to their defense and Black marched his three queenside pawns backed up by
his free Knight down the board to attack Whites two. The eventual trades
created a passed pawn that won the day.
[pgn][Event “WCC 2016 Championship Match”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2016.11.29”]
[Round “2.2”]
[White “Kratzat, Robert”]
[Black “Prieto, Adolfo”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C44”]
[WhiteElo “1710”]
[BlackElo “1906”]
[PlyCount “74”]
[EventDate “2016.11.29”]
[EventType “match”]
[EventRounds “4”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 {The Scotch Game} Nxd4 ({MCO13 and Fritz recomend}
3… exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 {or} (4… Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6)) 4. Nxe5 Ne6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6.
Bd2 Nf6 7. Bd3 d6 8. Nf3 ({Fritz suggests} 8. Ng4 O-O 9. O-O Nxg4 10. Qxg4 $11)
8… Nc5 9. e5 Nxd3+ 10. cxd3 Nd7 $2 (10… Bxc3 11. Bxc3 dxe5 12. Bxe5 O-O 13.
O-O $11) 11. exd6 (11. Bg5 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 f6 13. exf6 Nxf6 {leaving White a
pawn up} (13… gxf6 14. Be3 Ne5 15. d4 Nxf3+ 16. Qxf3)) 11… Bxd6 12. O-O O-O
13. Re1 Nf6 14. Nb5 Bg4 15. Bc3 Nd5 16. Nxd6 Qxd6 17. Be5 Qg6 18. Bg3 Qf6 19.
h3 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Qxf3 21. gxf3 {Diagram [#] the doubled ‘f’ pawns will prove
to be problematic for White} c6 22. a3 Rfe8 23. Kf1 f6 24. Rxe8+ Rxe8 25. Re1
Rxe1+ 26. Kxe1 Kf7 27. f4 $2 Ke6 28. Ke2 Kf5 29. Kf3 h5 30. h4 c5 31. Bh2 b5
32. Bg3 a5 33. Bh2 a4 34. Bg3 b4 35. axb4 cxb4 36. Ke2 a3 37. bxa3 bxa3 {
Diagram [#]} 0-1
[/pgn]
Watertown Chess ClubAdmin