White's d5 attacked by the queen's knight

Frank Albers - Anonymous, 1998

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c4 dxe4 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.f3 c5 6.d5 exf3 7.Nxf3 Be7

Be7 is usually easy to meet, but most often it is played after 7...exd5 8.cxd5. Now the situation is a bit different.

7...Na6 8.Be2 exd5 9.cxd5 Nc7 10.O-O

• 10...Nfxd5? 11.Nxd5 Nxd5 (11...Qxd5 12.Bb5+ Bd7 13.Re1+ Be7 14.Bf5 +/-) 12.Bb5+ Bd7 13.Qxd5 Bxb5 14.Re1+ Be7 15.Qxb7 Rb8 16.Rxe7+ Kf8 17.Rxf7+ Ke8 18.Qe4+!! Kxf7 19.Ng5+ +-.
• 10...Be7 11.Qa4+ Qd7 12.Qxd7+ Bxd7 13.Rd1 Bd6 14.Bg5 O-O-O 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Ne4 Bf5 17.Bd3 Bg6 18.Nxf6 Be7 19.Ng4 Nxd5 20.Nfe5 Nf4 21.Bc4 f5 22.Nf2 Bf6 23.Re1 Rhe8 24.Nxg6 Rxe1+ 25.Rxe1 hxg6 26.g3 Nd5 27.Re6 Bxb2 28.Rxg6 Ne3 29.Be6+ Kc7 30.Rh6 Bd4 31.Kh1 b5 32.Rh5 Rd6 33. Rh7+ Kd8 34.Bg8 c4 35.Rb7 0-1, Brause (2375) - KnightC (2410), ICC 1997.

8.Bd3

8.Bf4 looks strong, threatening simply 9.d6. I could only find 8...Nh5, after which 9.Bxb8+ Rxb8 10.Qa4+!? Bd7 11.Qxa7 Ra8 12.Qxb7 Rb8 13.Qa6 Rxb2 (13...Ra8 and a draw by repetition is safest) 14.dxe6 Bxe6 15.Rd1 looks OK for White.

The in-between move 10.Ne5 hardly changes anything after 10...Nf6 (forced) 11.Qa4+.

8...Na6

Idea is 9...Nb4 10 Bb1 exd5 11 a3 d4 -+.

8...Na6 sure looks interesting. The d5-pawn turns out very weak. This reminds me of the following game where Black finds another unique maneuver, namely Nbd7-Nb6:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c4 dxe4 4.Nc3 c5 5.d5 Nf6 6.f3 exf3 7.Nxf3 a6 8.Bd3 exd5 9.cxd5 Nbd7 10.O-O Nb6 11.Bg5 Be7 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Re1+ Kf8! (13...Be7 14.d6!? Qxd6 15.Bb5+ Kd8) 14.Qe2 Bg4 15.Rad1 h5 16.h3 Bd4+ 17.Kh1 Rh6, draw in 31, Heikkinen - de Vathaire, corr. 1997.

9.dxe6?!

But what else? 9.a3 Nc7 -/+.

9...Bxe6 10.Qe2 O-O 11.Bg5 Nb4!

The "trap" 11...h6 12.O-O-O? does not work because of 12...hxg5! 13.Bh7+ Nxh7 14.Rxd8 Raxd8 -+ as Black has a rook and two bishops for a queen.

12.Bb1 Re8 13.O-O Bg4 14.Qf2 Nd3?

14...Bxf3 15.Qxf3 Qd4+ 16.Kh1 Qxc4 17.b3 Qa6 -+ (17...Qe6 18.Bf5 +-).

15.Qh4 Bf5 16.Bxd3 Qxd3?

16...Bxd3 17.Rad1 +-.

17.Rad1 1-0

17...Qc2 18.Rf2 +-.

Lesson: Once Black has played c5 and White has advanced to d5, Black can attack the d5-pawn with simple maneuvers Na6-Nc7 or Nbd7-Nb6, which both seem pretty sound.