[Event "Clichy"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2001.06.26"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Hebden, Mark"]
[Black "Degraeve, Jean-Marc"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Hartwig,Th"]
[BlackElo "2589"]
[ECO "A43"]
[EventDate "2001.??.??"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[WhiteElo "2560"]

{ The following game is hard-fought, and, please bear in mind that I will get a lot of things wrong in a hard-fought game between GMs, especially since I haven't used anyone else's notes as a benchmark. Nonetheless, hopefully my impressions are interesting, if only for their mistakes... Regarding the game (from now on the caveat "as I see it" is implicit), the opening features an original rook maneuvre which leads to crushing pressure on the queenside. His opponent puts every obstacle in the way, offering a pawn to organize his pieces. White declines the pawn on the first pass and black gets a barely playable game, but after black misses his chance to break out, white goes into "technical mode" and achieves a pleasant win. } 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 $5 { This could be just a move-order trick, or a signal that white is going to play one of the systems without c2-c4, for example the Torre (3.Bg5) or the Zukertort (3.e3, 4. Bd3, 5. b3,...). As a generality, if white is just going to play c4 later, I think this move loses more flexibility than it gains.  However, once you know your own and your opponent's repertoire this may not be the case. For example black cannot get a Benko proper now if white doesn't want to co-operate. This may have been what black had in mind, because he isn't happy to let white transpose to one of various standard openings, so the game goes down a relatively original path. } 2... c5 ( 2... d5 $5 3. c4 e6 { This is an important nuance to be aware of. By going into the QGD after white has played Nf3, black more or less avoids the Exchange variation, for example: } 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 c6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. e3 Bf5 $1 { and black has equalized.  Black is never able to get in ...Bf5 so painlessly in the QGD Exchange proper. } ) 3. d5 b5 $5 { Bravo! This is the "I'm not going to let you get back into a normal opening" move. } ( 3... d6 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 exd5 6. cxd5 g6 { was also possible, and would be another of the lines that aims to "punish" white for an early Nf3. At the moment, the most dangerous line against the Benoni involves an early f2-f4. } ) 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bf4 Bb7 6. a4 Qa5+ $2 { A thematic looking idea which doesn't work, but Hebden's continuation was not so easy to foresee. It takes a lot of courage to explore these variations that are off the beaten track, and for that Degraeve gets my respect. I remember annotating some of my own games a couple years ago that reached distinctly messy positions, and it was incredible to me how many mistakes and outright blunders were made in such games. Even 450 points up the rating ladder, I suspect that it isn't easy. } ( 6... Nf6 $5 { looks bizarre but it is probably the right move. The "point" is that 7.Nc3 b4 is not possible for white. } ) 7. Nbd2 Bxd5 8. axb5 Qd8 9. Ra4 $1 { This is the sting. Without this move, black is behind in development, but had good prospects with a grip on the center, and a better pawn structure. Now he is losing the fight in the center, coming under pressure on the queenside, falls further begind in development (e4 hitting the bishop), and is fighting to stay alive. } 9... Nxd2 ( 9... f5 { can only be justified if black keeps the knight in the center, so } 10. e3 e6 11. Bd3 Nxd2 12. Nxd2 { is good for white: } 12... Bxg2 $2 13. Rg1 Bb7 14. Qh5+ ) 10. Nxd2 d6 11. e4 Bb7 12. Qa1 { There is no way to defend a7, so white has a big advantage after only 12 moves. Impressive, but now black digs in. } 12... e5 ( 12... Qb6 { doesn't help after } 13. Nc4 ) 13. Bg5 $5 { A very nice shot, but 13. Be3 was also strong, when there remains nothing for black to do to avoid 14. Rxa7. } ( 13. Be3 Nd7 ( 13... f5 $5 14. exf5 d5 15. Rxa7 Nd7 { might be an idea, but it looks pretty desperate after: } 16. Rxa8 Bxa8 17. Be2 Bd6 ( 17... d4 18. Bh5+ ) 18. Bg5 { and white must be winning. } ) 14. Rxa7 Be7 15. Bd3 Nb6 { is a similar idea to the game, when black can put up some resistance. } ) 13... Be7 ( 13... Qxg5 { has a clearcut refutation: } 14. Rxa7 Bxe4 15. b6 $1 ( 15. Nxe4 $2 Rxa7 16. Qxa7 Qc1+ ) 15... Bc6 ( 15... Bxg2 16. Rg1 ) 16. Rxa8 Bxa8 17. Qxa8 Qd8 18. Bb5+ { is winning for white. } ) 14. Bxe7 Kxe7 $1 { Both sides splay some originality this game. In this case it all comes to a disappointment for black, but 14...Kxe7, increasing co-ordination along the back rank, is nonetheless a nice motif to remember. 14...Qxe7 15.Rxa7 was simply losing, but now he is ready to meet 15.Rxa7 with 15...Nd7 and 16...Nb6.  Of course white is still much better here and black doesn't have any active compensation for the pawn, but the extra pawn is on the queenside where black has a sturdy blockade, and he just might be able to hold. } 15. Bd3 Nd7 16. O-O $2 { An interesting moment, which brings up the point that it doesn't always pay to be super-sophisticated. Instead of taking the pawn, white prefers to triple pieces on the a-file and simply maintain the pressure. In some ways leaving black's pawn on the board doesn't make his position any easier to play, but I wonder nonetheless, did Hebden just assume he could triple pieces and pick up the a7-pawn at his leisure? It turns out this isn't the case. } ( 16. Rxa7 { looks better, just to point out the obvious. } ) 16... Qb8 17. Qa2 Nb6 18. Ra5 Qc7 19. Ra1 Rhd8 20. Bc4 $1 { It isn't possible for white to just win the pawn, for tactical reasons. Therefore he uses his pressure to regroup. } ( 20. Rxa7 $4 Rxa7 21. Qxa7 Ra8 ) 20... Kf8 21. c3 $1 { The purpose of this move is not so easy to guess, even after you have seen it. What do you think? } 21... h6 22. Qb1 { Aha! } 22... Bc8 23. Qd3 Be6 24. Bd5 Bxd5 $2 { After this move white completes the regrouping and gets his strong queenside pressure back. It seems like black should have a chance to recover after white shunned the a-pawn, and this looks like that one chance. } ( 24... c4 $1 25. Qf3 Bxd5 26. exd5 Kg8 { and it looks like white is only a little better. } ) 25. exd5 Kg8 26. Nc4 $1 Nc8 27. Ra6 Rb8 28. Na5 Rb6 29. Nc6 Rxa6 30. Rxa6 Rf8 31. Nxa7 $1 { Finally white takes the pawn. } 31... Nxa7 32. b6 Qb7 33. bxa7 Ra8 34. Rxd6 { Having seen the conclusion of the game, I can state here with relative confidence that white is winning, due to the d-pawn and the weakness of black's king. But I'm not sure that, given this position to look at, I would know anything beyond "white is better". What about you? Anyway, the rest of the game makes a lot of sense to me, which is not to diminish the fact that Hebden played it well, so the final commentary will be sparse. } 34... Qxb2 35. g3 Qa1+ 36. Kg2 Qxa7 37. Qf5 Qe7 38. Rd7 Qe8 39. Rc7 Rd8 40. Rxc5 Qe7 41. Rc8 Rxc8 42. Qxc8+ Kh7 43. c4 g6 44. c5 e4 45. d6 Qf6 46. Qg4 Qd4 47. Qf4 Qd5 48. Qe3 g5 49. h3 f5 50. Kh2 Kg6 51. Qc1 Qd4 52. Kg1 Kf7 53. c6 $3 { The beginning of a nicely calculated finale. In queen endings, as a general rule, general rules do not suffice, and in order to win white has to give his opponent some play, which presumably Hebden had seen through to the end. } 53... e3 54. c7 ( 54. fxe3 $4 Qxd6 55. c7 $2 Qxg3+ 56. Kf1 Qxh3+ 57. Ke2 Qh2+ 58. Kd3 Qd6+ { is a draw. } ) 54... Qd2 55. Qc4+ Kf6 56. fxe3 Qxe3+ 57. Kg2 Qd2+ 58. Kf1 Qd1+ 59. Kf2 Qd2+ 60. Qe2 Qd4+ 61. Kf1 Qa1+ 62. Kg2 Qa8+ 63. Kh2 { Ahhh } 63... Qc8 64. Qb2+ Kf7 65. Qb3+ $1 ( 65. Qb8 Qe6 66. c8=Q $4 Qe2+ { still is not so easy. } ) 65... Kf6 66. Qc3+ ( 66. Qc3+ Ke6 ( 66... Kg6 67. d7 Qxd7 68. c8=Q ) 67. Qc6 { wins. } ) 1-0