Biel 2010 (3)
Prodigy Negi struggles
IM Malcolm Pein - Saturday 24th July 2010
Malcolm Pein discusses the start to the Biel tournament where Indian prodigy Negi has started badly.
The Indian prodigy Parimargan Negi has started with three defeats at the Biel Young Masters. This was his round three game where he went badly wrong from a quiet position.
The Closed Sicilian, where White plays d3 as opposed to the Open Sicilian where he plays d4, can be played aggressively. Here Negi has played Nge2 as opposed to Nf3 and this makes the standard attacking plan of Be3, Qd2, Bh6, f2-f4 and f5 a little less potent as the knight cannot reach g5. White could still try and attack here but he has a quieter plan in mind which works up to a point.
P Negi - F Caruana
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2 Nf6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.d3 d6 7.0-0 Rb8 8.h3 b5 9.a3 0-0 10.Rb1 Bd7 11.Bg5 a5
(Black pursues the standard plan of queenside expansion, intending b5-b4)
12.a4 bxa4
(12...b4 13.Nb5 intending c4 was White's idea when the knight is hard to dislodge)
13.Nxa4 Ne5 14.Nec3 Bc6 15.b3 Re8
White's knights are a little awkward but if he could get one to c4 then a5 might be vulnerable
16.Qd2 Qc7 17.Nd5?!
(17.Nb2 Qb7 18.f4 Ned7 19.Nc4 looks quite good)
17...Nxd5 18.exd5 Bxa4 19.bxa4 Rb4! 20.Ra1 Reb8 21.Rfe1 c4! 22.Ra3
(22.d4 c3! 23.Qe3 Rxd4 24.Qxd4 Nf3+)
22...cxd3 23.cxd3 Rb2 24.Qe3 Rc2 25.Raa1 h6! 26.Bxh6? Bxh6 27.Qxh6 Rbb2 28.Rab1
How did Black force an immediate win ?
Fabiano Caruana
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P Negi
Position after 28.Rab1
Answer: 28...Qb6 attacks b1 and f2 in fact 28...Qa7 was also good enough 0-1
