Wesley So’s secrets

Iwrote last week that Wesley So has recently authored two DVD’s in the Chessbase shop: My Secret Weapon: 1.b3, and My Black Secrets in the Modern Italian

With the kind permission of Wesley So I am presenting to our readers a game he annotated from the latter DVD. It is instructive, interesting and easy to follow. Go to www.chessbase. and click “shop.” Beg, borrow, steal, but you have got to get these two DVDs!

Note: I have had to edit down the game below due to space limitations.

Anand, Viswanathan (2782) — So, Wesley (2788) [C50] London Chess 2017 (9), 11.12.2017 [So, Wesley]

London was cold, snowy, sleety, rainy and windy. Although I fought hard in my games I couldn’t seem to create much heat. What to do? People seem to think that strong players can and should win whenever they want. My guess is the people who think that have never played the best chess players in the world in a lengthy tournament. Everyone fights to the death and more often than not, a win or loss can hang on one single move. Anyway, I had some great battles that did not end decisively and now I was at the last game. My last chance and I’m playing black against the great Anand. Hope dies hard and of course I had a flickering hope that I might crack a win this time but hey... I’m sure Vishy did too. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4

I was happy to see this move. I’d prepared mostly for 3.Bb5, but before this tournament I’d prepared a DVD for ChessBase in the Italian Game. In looking at the material for the work and familiarizing myself with the typical ideas, plans, and setups, I also noticed that it’s not easy for White to claim a clear cut advantage when Black knows what to do. 3...Bc5 4.0–0

The slow classical setup. For the time being, White just wants to castle and develop his pieces.

4...Nf6 5.d3 0–0 Here Black already has a flexible choice, with ...a6,...a5,...d6, or ...h6 all playable alternatives. I like 5...0–0, as I keep the option of going d7–d5 in one move and I am not necessarily afraid of the pin Bg5. 6.a4

Just the previous day, I’d been very impressed by Vishy’s game: 6.c3 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8. a4 ( 8. Re1 Bg4) 8... a6 9. Re1 Bg4 10. h3 Bh5 11. Nbd2 f6 12. Ne4 Ba7 13. b4 Kh8 14. Bd2 Nce7 15.b5 axb5 16.axb5 c6= with no problems. Black’s play here looks so convincing that in fact if Vishy went for this I wouldn’t have minded playing the exact same line starting with 8...a6 against him! Vachier Lagrave,M (2789)-Anand,V (2782) London 2017 ½–½ (27).

With both our kings castled short 6.Bg5 does not look dangerous, after 6... h6 7.Bh4 Black can just go 7...g5 8.Bg3 d6 9.c3 and here there are many possibilities, but I like 9...a6 to reserve a safe square for my bishop.

6.h3 is possible too. Black can play 6... d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 but it’s not the best timing, as d3 is solidly protected. So I would prefer 6...d6. 8.Nbd2 White is slightly better.

6.Re1 Ng4 7.Re2 gives Black the extra option of 7...Nd4!? (Or perhaps even better is 7...Kh8 8.h3 f5! 1–0 (57) So,W (2770)- Giri,A (2785) Bilbao 2016) 8.Nxd4 Bxd4 9.h3 Nf6 with simplifications.

6.Nbd2 is okay too, but it blocks the bishop from developing. Black can play 6... d6 7. c3 a5 8. Re1 Be6; 6. Nc3 is not scary, Black plays 6...h6 to prevent Bg5 then 7.Nd5 d6= 6...h6

A slight move-order subtlety. 6...a5 is natural, but I assume he would go 7.Bg5 which gives White extra possibilities, as now the b5 square is weak. Levon played 3 games in 2017 with 7...h6 8.Bh4 Be7 but I’m not particularly convinced and I haven’t analyzed it deeply enough either. 7.c3

[ 7. a5 is worthy of interest. White threatens a5–a6 so 7...a6 8.c3 d6 gives a slightly different pawn structure] 7...a5

I like this ...a5 setup. Black fights for every bit of space in the queenside and controls the dark squares very well. 8.Nbd2

The move 8.d4 gives Black many possible options: 8... exd4 ( 8... Bb6 9. dxe5 Nxe4) 9.cxd4 Bb6 10.e5 d5 (Or 10...Ne8 11.Nc3 d6 seems to hold out well) 8...d6 9.h3 Be6

Trading pieces is welcome for Black. 10.Re1

[10.Bxe6 fxe6 looks a little worrying to me because of the doubled-pawns. But Black controls enough space and should be able to fight successfully. 11.Re1 d5 (Or 11...Qe8 12.Nf1 Nh5) ] 10...Bxc4 11.Nxc4 Re8 12.Be3

With g5 under my control he does not have really anything better than to exchange dark-squared bishops. 12...Bxe3 13.Nxe3 Qd7

The freeing break 13... d5 does not work yet 14.Qb3! dxe4 (14...d4 15.cxd4 exd4 16.Nf5 with a slightly better game for White) 15.dxe4 Nxe4 16.Qxb7 Re6 (16...Qd7 17.Rad1 Nd6 18.Nc4±) 17.Rad1; But I considered 13...Ne7 which is fine. 14.Qb3 Ne7

I was starting to get worried over my c4–b5 light squares though closer analysis shows White is not fast enough to exploit it. Then I decided to transfer my knight to a better square. 15.Nc4 Ng6 16.Rad1

I thought this was too slow, but the position is so sterile anyway. I told Vishy after the game that I thought 16.Re3 might be a bit better for White, as he is faster on the e-file. 16...b6 17.Rae1 Nh5! 18.Kh2 (18.d4 Nhf4) 18...Nhf4 but the computer disagrees with me anyway and it turns out that he has problems with my knight on f4. 16...b6 17.Qc2

Again this looks slow. I thought his queen was just fine where it was but it might be needed to protect the kingside from Nf4 sometimes. 17.d4 exd4 18.Rxd4 Re6 gives White problems along the efile; 17.Qb5 Nf4= 17...d5

I could play other moves, such as Qc6 or Nh5 but generally if d6–d5 works I should just go for it. 18.exd5 Qxd5 19.b3

I was a little surprised with this as now it’s clear that I have no problems whatsoever. I expected 19.Ne3 Qc6 (19... Qb7 20.Nc4 draw.) 20.d4= 19...Rad8

Centralizing the rooks.

20.d4 exd4 21.Rxd4 Rxe1+ 22.Nxe1 Qa8 23.Rxd8+ Qxd8

By now I realize that Vishy is probably happy to force the draw.

24.Qd3?!

This is not the best way though as the queen can be kicked by my knights with Nf4, Nd5 etc.

24.Nd3 Nd5 might be a bit uncomfortable for White; 24.Qd2 Qxd2 25.Nxd2 Nf4; I thought 24.b4 is the simplest, to trade pawns and weaken my queenside. 24...Qe7!

It is wise for Black to keep queens for now. I calculated this long line: 24... Qxd3 25. Nxd3 Nd5 26. b4 Ngf4 ( 26... Nxc3 27. bxa5 bxa5 28. Nc5) 27.bxa5 bxa5 28.Nc5 Ne6 29.Ne4 (29. Nxe6 fxe6 30. Nxa5 Nxc3 leaves me a pawn up.) 29... f5 30. Ng3 g6 31. Ne2 Nef4 32.Nxf4 Nxf4. But then it turns out I am not even winning a pawn: 33. Ne5! Ne2+ ( 33... Kg7 34. c4) 34. Kf1 Nxc3 35. Nxg6 Nxa4 36. Ne7+ Kf7 37.Nc6 is equal. 25.Nc2 Nf4 26.Qd2 N6d5 27.Kf1 <D>

[27.Kh2 Qe2 28.g3 Qxd2 29.Nxd2 Ne6 30.c4 Nb4 31.Nxb4 axb4 Black is only slightly better] POSITION AFTER 27.KF1 27...Nxc3 28.N4e3?

The losing mistake. He still had a lot of time here. Obviously on a good day he would have surely spotted 28.Nxb6, but in London, Vishy and Michael Adams were a bit out of form. 28.Nxb6! might be enough for a draw. 28...cxb6 (28...Qg5 29.Ne1) 29.Qxc3 Qe2+ 30.Kg1 Qd1+ 31.Kh2 Ne2 32.Qc8+ The point of the knight sacrifice. 32...Kh7 33.Qf5+ is equal. 28...Ne4 29.Qd4 c5 30.Qd1 Qf6

Being quite low on time, I chose a logical looking move. Black wins right away after 30...Qh4! 31.Ng4 Nxh3! (31...f5 32.Qd7 Qh5 wins too, albeit a more complicated one) 32.gxh3 (32.g3 Qg5) 32...Qxh3+ 33.Kg1 Nc3 34.Qd8+ Kh7 and White’s king has no defense. I spotted 31...Nxh3! but I just couldn’t believe that it wins on the spot! Maybe I need to have more belief in myself. 35.Nh2 Ne2+ 36.Kh1 Qf5–+. 31.Ng4

Resistance could’ve been much tougher with 31.Qd7 threatening Qe8 check. 31...Kh7 32.f3 Ng3+ 33.Kf2 Qh4 34.Qg4; 31.f3 Ng3+ 32.Kf2 Qh4 is a bit different as White has no Qg4. 31...Qc3 32.Nce3 h5 33.Nh2 Qb2 0–1

Here Vishy had to resign, as he will inevitably lose a second pawn. An unexpected win for me! It’s quite difficult to win with the Black pieces against players of this caliber. You need to be in really good form, or your opponent in really bad form. As I missed chances against Nepomniatchi and Aronian earlier in the tournament, this win was received with a big sigh of relief!

I have said many times that a good exercise for self-improvement is to annotate your own games. As you can see from the above this is a skill that Wesley So has mastered very well. BOBBY ANG is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant, he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies. bobby@cpamd.net