Our Canadian Game of the Week is the final round board 1 pairing at the 2018 Charlottetown Open between top seeds Robert Sasata (2336) and Jason Manley (2157). How about an Evans Gambit to decide first place bragging rights? Jason Manley annotates...
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[Event "Charlottetown Open"]
[Site "Moncton"]
[Date "2018.05.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Manley, Jason"]
[Black "Sasata, Robert"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C52"]
[WhiteElo "2157"]
[BlackElo "2336"]
[Annotator "Jason Manley"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
{Board one in the last round of the Charlottetown Open was not a place I'd
expected to find myself the day prior. After overpressing in an equal ending
against Richard Bowes in the second round, I was at 1/2 and didn't expect to
have a shot at a tournament victory. However, after two comfortable wins,
combined with Fred McKim holding the tournament favourite, NM Robert Sasata,
to a hard-fought draw in the third round, I found myself in a three-way tie
for second, half a point behind the leader, heading into the last round. I
wasn't familiar with Robert; I don't believe we'd ever played in the same
tournament before, much less against each other. However, I'd gathered from
watching his earlier games that he was a very aggressive player, so I steeled
myself for a highly combative game in what was a must-win situation for me.} 1.
e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 {The first surprise. I'd taken a quick survey of
what games of Robert's that I could find, and noticed that the Two Knights'
Defence was part of his repertoire. After a minute's reflection, I resolved to
put him on the back foot with an opening where White is undoubtedly the
aggressor: the Evans Gambit.} 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 {So far, so good. It
had been a couple of years since I'd last essayed the Evans in a serious
tournament game, but everything had felt natural thus far.} d6 $6 {Now this
was unexpected. For a start, d6 offers to immediately concede the pawn back
(see variation on seventh move). Simplifying the position like that didn't
attract me, though; I'd played the Evans, I wanted to keep up the pressure. So
I instead played:} 7. Qb3 {With the target on f7, Black is left with a choice:
to defend the pawn and hinder his development, or to strike in the centre and
allow his king to be displaced?} (7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8+ {and Black must
concede either f7 or e5.}) 7... Nxd4 {Perhaps unsurprisingly, Robert opted for
the more agressive option, though his king's placement would suffer.} (7... Qd7
{was the other option, as leaving the e8-a4 diagonal unprotected would leave
Black vulnerable to d5.}) 8. Nxd4 exd4 9. Bxf7+ Kf8 10. O-O Bb6 11. Bc4 Qf6 {
Now let's take account of the position. Black is up a pawn, though White's
development appears freer. White's domination of the a2-g8 diagonal will make
it tough to develop his kingside, though Black's pressure on the long diagonal
will make it difficult for White to develop his queenside properly. I elected
to try to solve the problem of my queenside knight by immediately shifting it
to f3.} 12. Nd2 $6 Ne7 13. Nf3 Nc6 {And here I paused to think. ...Na5 is none
too pleasant of a move for me to meet. Capturing on d4 would crystallize the
position, with Black dominating the diagonal and keeping key lines, like the
e-file and the a3-f8 diagonal, closed. I took a deep breath, told myself that
if I was going to play the Evans I couldn't be afraid to sacrifice a few pawns,
and played:} 14. e5 $5 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Qxe5 {Robert opted to keep the diagonal
closed in lieu of the e-file. Now I had a clear cut goal: to take that file
and entomb his king.} 16. Bd2 Bd7 17. cxd4 $1 {This move opens up the third
rank, as well as providing a key square on e3 for bringing White's rooks into
the fray, while also putting the question to Black's queen.} Qf5 $2 {The
question was asked, and I do not think this was the right answer: f5 has the
same disadvantage as f6 in terms of potential pins against the king, while also
limiting the range of the light squared bishop and removing an attacker from
d4. Instead, ...Qf6 or ...Qxd4 must have been better, although White is
noticeably better either way.} 18. Rae1 g5 {Understandable, as after either ...
Bxd4 or ...Re8, Re3 is still powerful, as the capture of the rook would allow
for a winning pin by the f1-rook after fxe3. However, now Black's fate is
sealed.} 19. Re3 g4 20. f3 g3 21. Re4 Qh5 22. hxg3 {Safety first. With Rfe1
followed by Rf4+ a devastating threat, Black must relinquish material.} Re8 23.
Rf4+ Ke7 24. Bf7 Bxd4+ 25. Be3 (25. Rxd4 {is actually possible, as after} Qxf7
26. Re1+ {followed by the activation of the dark squared bishop is deadly. The
text is sufficient, however.}) 25... Bxe3+ 26. Qxe3+ {And with material loss
inevitable, Robert resigned.} 1-0
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