In the 2nd Round of the Holiday Swiss Tournament, I played former A-Player Laroy O'Doan, and defeated him by playing Fundamental Chess only. I was not in a creative mood last night, However, I was in the mood to 'step away' from my usual Opening Repertoire for this encounter. And so, when O'Doan played 1. Nf3, I essayed the Dutch Defense to see how he would handle it. As I mentioned above, the Dutch Defense is not part of my usual Opening Repertoire, but I know it fairly well from having seen it so many times on the White side, in addition to the fact that I do on occasion play it.
White: Laroy O'Doan 1619
Black: Eric Shoemaker 1900 Dutch Defense/The Classical Variation
1. Nf3, f5 2. c4, e6 3. Nc3, Nf6 4. d4, d5 (when I do play the Dutch Defense, I invariably choose the 'Stonewall Formation') 5. e3 (the Classical Variation for White, it hasn't been used much since 1960!), Be7 (the older set-up,these days, ...Bd6 is more often played. Here, though, I haven't yet played ...c6, so the modern move with the King's Bishop is not possible as White would play the move 'c5' himself) 6. Bd2 (this Bishop has no future on this diagonal, so it will likely have to be flanked for it's development. The move 6. Bd3 is normal here), c6 7. Be2, 0-0 8. cxd5? (an error as it frees my Queen's Bishop somewhat), exd5 9. 0-0, Ne4 10. Rc1, Nbd7 11. Ne1, N7f6 12. f3, Nxd2 (Black has the Bishop-Pair as a result of the move 6. Bd2) 13. Qxd2, Bd6 14. Nd3, Qe7 15. Rce1, Qc7 16. f4, Be6 17. Ne5, Rae8 18. h3, Bb4 (not as strong as I would have liked it to have been, I should have taken the time to look for a better move; 18...Kh8, 18...b6 followed by 19...c5 or even 18...c5 all looked stronger) 19. Bf3, Bf7 20. Qc2, g6 (20...Bh5 21. Bxh5, Nxh5 22. Nxd4 looked good for White) 21. Nxf7? (White gives up the Strong Knight for the Bad Bishop, which will not only make the 'e3' pawn very weak, but it will give Black a winning plan right away), Qxf7 22. a3? (I was going to take that Knight on 'c3' anyway, thus White loses time here), Bxc3 23. Qxc3, Ne4! 24. Bxe4 (White should probably play moves like 24. Qa5 or 24. Qc2 as the text leads to a situation where it is very easy to win a pawn by the usual methods; this is in fact how Black wins the game and is the point of my play beginning with 22...Bxc3 and 23...Ne4), Rxe4! (now, both White's 'd4' pawn and 'f4' pawn have to be watched as well as the weakling on 'e3') 25. Rf3 (as is common in such situations, the Rook behind the weak pawn is not usually defended well), Rfe8 26. g4? (an error, if 'g4' was to be played, then the Bishop on 'f3' should still be there, otherwise it should be left on 'g2'), fxg4 27. hxg4, Qe6! 28. Rg3? (28. g5 might hold; 28. f5? loses to 28...Rxg4+), Rxf4 29. Qd2, Rxg4 30. Qg2, Rxd4 31. Qh2, Rg4 (it's time to simplify as I have taken all the playable Endings away from White) 32. Kg2, Qe4+ 33. Kg1, d4 34. Qh3, Rxg3+ 35. Qxg3, dxe3 36. Qh3, e2 37. Qd7, Qe3+ 38. Kg2, Rf8 39. White Resigns. 0-1, The Holiday Swiss Tournament, Reno, NV, 2009.
The 'b7' pawn was poisoned as White gets mated. So although I handled the Dutch Defense fairly well, I didn't play all that creatively, I just stuck to fundamentals and if White had found 28. g5, the game might have even been drawn; fortunately for me, my opponent is a much weaker Endgame player. In my many encounters with O'Doan, I have only lost once.
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