2006 Michigan Class Championship, 1.14.2006
King's Gambit Accepted: Becker Defense [C34]
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 h6
I hadn't really had much luok with the Becker Defense to the King's Gambit, but I thought I would give it a try since my loss with it came against expert Manis Davidovich.
4.Bc4
I wasn't familiar with this response, since the book line is d4. When I went to look it up in MCO, I found that GM deFirmian neglects to write about the Becker Defense. Similarly, Nunn only includes one column for the Becker defense with d4 as the move to be played here by white. A footnote has b3 marked as interesting. Finally, I found a reference to the line that Waller plays in Gallagher's Winning with the King's Gambit. He states that Bc4 g5 leads to the classical defense.
4...d6 5.d3 g5 6.0-0 Bg7 7.Nc3 Ne7 8.Bd2 Nbc6
Black could ask for a better position out of the KGA. He has gained a pawn, and found homes for nearly all of his minor pieces. He will be able to finish his development and castle soon. Furthermore, the position, while ripe with tactical potential for white, is completely playable for black with the added bonus of the gambit pawn as an advantage.
9.g3
White has a lead in development, and he wants to open some lines to begin his attack. However, this move weakens all the light squares around the king and gives the black light squared bishop an opportunity to develop with tempo. Qe1 or Qe2 would have been preferable.
9...Bh3 10.Rf2 Ng6
In hindsight this move was clearly inaccurate. Black has an opportunity to dispense with the bishop on c4 that is causing tactical complications by playing Na5-Nxc4. 11.Ne2 fxg3
The line that I played was clearly inferior to 11. ...g4 12. Ne1 f3
12.hxg3 Nge5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Bc3 0-0 15.Bb3 Qd7 16.Nd4 Qg4
Rather than merely trade off pieces, black should continue to gain tempo with a move like Bg4 or Ng4.
17.Qxg4 Bxg4
Nxg4 gains tempo.
18.Nf5 Bxf5 19.Rxf5 Rae8 20.Raf1 Re7 21.a3 Ng4
Threat of Ne3 forking the rooks.
22.Bxg7 Kxg7 23.R5f3 f6
Black will methodically seek to place all of his pieces on the dark squares, negating much of the threat of the white bishop.
24.c3 Kg6
This move was made because the idea Rd5, followed by d5 had occurred to me. Obviously, this is a mistake because it is a plan that takes much preparation, yet white has only to play d4 to prevent this. Now, if the whole point of the exrcise was to weaken the e4 pawn by forcing d3, then that would be another matter.
25.d4 Kg7
Recognizing my mistake and negating the threat of Bc2.
26.Bc2 c6 27.b4 c5 28.bxc5 dxc5 29.d5
A strategic mistake. White has moved the wrong pawn and now he has minimized the scope of his bishop by placing his pawns on the squares of the same color as his bishop. Furthermore, black will now have targets all over the board that his knight can attack.
29...Rd7 30.Rb1 b6
Another pawn leaves the dreaded white squares.
31.Rd1 Rd6 32.Kg2 Ne5
The black knight dominates the board. White's long-range pieces are blackaded by pawns, meanwhile the knight eyes squares and pieces on both sides of the board.
33.Rf2 Nc4 34.Ra1 Ne3+ 35.Kg1
The king had to move to f3 to help hold the position together. Now white loses a center pawn by force.
35...Nxc2 36.Rxc2 Re8 37.Rf2
Waller meant to put this rook on e2, but her didn't realize that he still drops a pawn to Rxd5 exd5 Rxe2.
37...Rxe4
White resigns. 0-1
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