Sam-Saprin - Round 4 , Nf6 Invitational

Below is the 4th round clash between between draw expert - Shamsol Bahrin against former national player - Mohd Saprin Sabri in Nf6 Invitational Tournament held on 18th March 2010 at the Dato Arthur Tan Chess Center.

This game was annotated by Shamsol Bahrin (Sam)

Shamsol Bahrin vs Mohd Saprin Sabri (2141)
Nf6 Invitational, Round 4, 18.3.2010

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 e6 5. b3 Nbd7 6. Bb2 Bd6 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3 Nc5 9. Bc2 Bg4 10. Qe2 a5 11. h3 Bh5 12. g4 Bg6 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. O-O-O a4 15. b4 a3 16. Ba1 Na4 17. e4! the critical position.

Shamsol (standing) pondering his 17th move

17...Nxc3 18. Bxc3 dxe4 19. g5 Nd5 20. Qxe4+ Kf8 21. Qd4 Rh7 22. h4 Qb6 23. Qxb6 Nxb6 24. Kc2 Nd5 25. Kb3 Ke7 26. Rhe1+ Kd7 27. Re4 Rhh8 28. Bxg7 Rhe8 29. Rde1 Rxe4 30. Rxe4 Re8
31. Rxe8 Kxe8 32. Bc3 c5 33. bxc5 Bxc5 34. Bd4 Bd6 35. Ne5 35. Kc4 somewhat better  35...b5 36. Nd3 Kd7 37. Nc5+ Kc6 38. Ne4 Be7 39. Be5 b4 40. f3 Nb6 41. Bd4 Nd5 42. Be5 Nb6 43. d3? positional blunder. Kd5 

44. Bc7?!  another positional blunder by me. Suppose this Bishop must maintain on diagonal just to control all the important dark squares especially e5, avoiding Black's penetration to his king side with 44. Bg7 44... Nd7 45. Ba5 45. Bg3 Ne5 46. Bxe5 Kxe5 47. Kc4 Kf4  45...Ne5 46. Bxb4 Bd8 47. Nd2 Nxd3 48. Bxa3 Ne1 49. Bb4 Ng2 50. a4 Nxh4 51. a5 Bxg5 52. a6 Be3 53. Be7 Nf5 54. Bg5 Ba7 55. Kb4 Nd4 At this point, I'm unethically offered Mr. Saprin a draw which is strongly declined.The rules says that a draw must be offered after executing a move.I made my move after all. 56. Kc3 Now , both of us started giving smiling stare to each other, maybe a foreseeable draw in future insight. 56...Ne6 57. Bf6 Nc7 58. Ne4  A little trick in the endgame.  58...Nxa6 59. Ng5 Be3 60. Nxf7 Nc5  60... Ke6 61. Bg5 =  61. Ng5  61. Nh8 worth a try.  61...Ne6 62. Nxe6 Kxe6 63. Bh4 Kf5 64. Kd3 Kf4 65. Ke2 even if my f3 pawn disappeared, the game would still be ended in a draw. 65...Bc5 66. Bd8 and finally draw agreed. 1/2-1/2

Mohd Saprin Sabri in `deep meditation` before his game against Shamsol

Photo source - Razali Ng6`s blog

Game source - Shamsol Bahrin