B19: Classical Caro-Kann: 4...Bf5 main line

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bf4 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Also possible is c3 if white wants to keep his bishop on f4. 12... Qc7 13. O-O-O Ngf6 14. Qe2 O-O-O 15. Kb1 A quiet, but solid move, this avoids any embarassing attacks along the c1-a6 diagonal, vacates the c1 square for a rook, and prepares for c4 without exposing the king. 15... Bd6 16. Ne4 Nxe4 An interesting alternative for black is Bf4. 17. Qxe4 Nf6 18. Qe1 Qe2 is more common, but I like the threat of Ba5 provoking a further weakening of black's castled position. 18... Rd7 Preparing to double the rooks, black now has Qc7 available if Ba5. 19. Bb4 White offers the exchange of bishops, but also interesting is 19. Ne5!? Bxe5 20. dxe5= 19... Bxb4 20. Qxb4 Re8 20... Rhd8 21. Ne5 Rde7 21... Rd5 22. Rh4 Nd7?! 22... Rd8!? is the best option Black has 23. Nc4 c5 23... Kb8 24. Nd6 24. dxc5 Kb8 25. Nd6 Rd8 Black is looking for counterplay based on the weakness of white's back rank. 26. Rc4 I missed this simple variation that makes things much easier for me. 26. Nb5!? Nxc5 27. Rhd4 Rxd4 28. Qxd4 Rd7 29. Nxc7 Rxd4 30. Na6+ Nxa6 31. Rxd4 Kc7 26... Ne5 27. Rc3 Red7 28. Rb3 An interesting way to counter black's backrank threat might be 28. Rd2!? Qc6 29. f4 Qa6 28... Qc6 29. f3 Qa6 30. Qe1 Simply creating the luft via a3 should have been considered. 30... Nc4 31. Rbd3 Nxd6 32. Qg3 Kc8 33. cxd6 f6 34. Qf2 Kb8 White's d-pawn cannot be taken in light of 34... Rxd6 35. Qc5+ 35. Qc5 Qc6? Seeing this move, I felt the win was in hand. The simple Rc8 was needed. 36. Qxc6 bxc6 37. b4 Kb7 38. c4 Kb6 38... c5!? 39. b5 Rg8 39. c5+ The point! White's protected passed pawn must win. 39... Kb5 40. a3 a5 41. Rb3 a4 41... e5 42. Re3 e5 43. Kc2 Looking for counterplay. 43... Rg8 44. Kd3 A subtle move. On the surface it simply keeps the black king out of c4. But, white is really ensuring that black must be very wary of opening the e-file when the threat of R-e8-a8-a5 can be a serious mate threat. 44... g6 45. hxg6 Rxg6 46. g4 Ka6 47. Rh1 Kb7 48. Rh5 Rh7 49. Ke4 Rg5 50. Rxg5 hxg5 51. Kf5 And black's position is crumbling very quickly. 1-0 [J Todhunter]