[Event "Bunratty Masters 2008"]
[Site "Bunratty IRL"]
[Date "2008.02.24"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Baburin, Alexander"]
[Black "Jones, Gawain"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2542"]
[BlackElo "2562"]
[ECO "A58"]
[Annotator "Baburin, Alexander"]
[ICUid "28913"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 { I expected the King's Indian Defence, but I was aware
that the Benko used to be Jones' main weapon against 1.d4. } 3. d5 b5 4.
cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 { The main idea of the Benko gambit is pressure on
White's queenside along the a1-h8 diagonal and semi-open a- and b-files.
Sometimes Black gets more than enough for a pawn, but sometimes he ends up
without any compensation. } 6. Nc3 Bxa6 7. g3 d6 8. Bg2 Bg7 9. Nf3 Nbd7 {
This is considered to be the most accurate move order. } ({ In case of }
9... O-O 10. O-O Nbd7 { White can play } 11. Qc2 Nb6 12. Rd1 { - this setup
(Qc2 and Rd1) is considered the optimal for him. }) 10. O-O ({ Currently
the move } 10. Rb1 { is very much in fashion. The idea is to prevent ..
.Nb6 and ...Bc4. Max Notkin covered this line in CT-1377 while annotating
the game Rowson - G. Jones, British Ch, 2004. I was among the first
explorers of this line. but for this game I decided to deviate from it - in
case Gawain spent some time on this line before the game. }) 10... Nb6 11.
Re1 ({ Now } 11. Rb1 $6 { isn't good because of } 11... Bc4) 11... O-O 12.
Bg5 (12. h3 Nfd7 13. Qc2 Nc4 14. Nd2 Nde5 15. b3 Qa5 16. Ndb1 Nb6 17. Bd2
c4 18. Na4 cxb3 19. axb3 Qb5 20. Na3 { 1-0 Baburin-Rovid, Budapest 1992 })
({ More common is } 12. Bf4 { for example } 12... Nc4 13. Qc1 $1 (13. Qc2
Nd7 14. Nd2 Nde5 15. Ndb1 Bc8 16. b3 Na5 17. Nd2 Bf5 18. e4 Bg4 19. h3 Bc8
20. Kh2 Ba6 21. Bxe5 Bxe5 22. Nf3 Bg7 23. e5 $16 { Baburin-Dunnington,
Scarborough 1999. }) 13... Qa5 14. Nd2 Rfb8 15. Nxc4 Bxc4 16. Bd2 Nd7 (
16... Ba6 17. h3 Bc8 18. Qc2 Bf5 19. e4 Bc8 20. a4 $16 {
Miladinovic-Panagopoulos, Kavala 1999 }) 17. b3 Ba6 18. Na4 Qd8 19. Bc3 Qf8
20. Bh3 f5 21. Bg2 Nf6 22. Bb2 c4 23. Bd4 Ne4 24. Qe3 Bxd4 25. Qxd4 Qf6 26.
Qe3 $16 { Nikolic-Vaganian, Sarajevo 1987 }) 12... Ne8 $6 { I do not like
this move - the plan with ...Ne8-c7-b5 is rather slow. } (12... h6 13. Bf4
Nh5 14. Bc1 Nf6 15. Rb1 Bc4 16. e4 Nfd7 17. a3 $16 { Baburin-Rogers,
Birmingham 2001. }) 13. Qc1 $1 Nc7 14. e4 Bc8 $6 { Another dubious idea. }
15. Bh6 { Exchanging the g7-bishop usually benefits White in the Benko. } (
{ Also possible was } 15. h3) 15... Bg4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Nd2 $5 ({ I felt
that it was good to keep the knight alive, though White is also better
after } 17. a4 Bxf3 18. Bxf3) 17... Qd7 18. e5 Ra7 19. b3 $1 { White wants
to play Nc4 - after the exchange of knights on that square the remaining
black knight will be rather limited in its movements. } 19... Bf5 20. Nc4
Rb8 21. Qf4 Nxc4 22. bxc4 Rb4 23. Re3 $1 h5 24. Rae1 Ra3 { This is one of
those examples in the Benko when Black is just a pawn down... } 25. h3 $1 {
White creates a threat of g3-g4 - Black won't be able to take on g4 twice
as then e5-e6! would win the bishop. } 25... dxe5 { This is capitulation,
but Black was lost anyway. } 26. Qxe5+ Kg8 27. Qxe7 Rxc4 28. d6 $1 ({
During the game I also considered } 28. Qf6 Ra6 29. d6 Rxd6 30. Nd5 $18)
28... Rcxc3 29. Rxc3 Qxe7 30. Rxe7 Rxc3 31. dxc7 Rc1+ 32. Kh2 { this is
where the move h2-h3 comes in handy! } 32... Kg7 33. Bd5 $1 Kf6 34. Rxf7+
Ke5 35. Rxf5+ 1-0
