[Event "Reykjavik op"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "2015.03.18"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Navara, David"]
[Black "Danielsen, Henrik"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C41"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2514"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "78"]
[EventDate "2015.03.10"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[SourceTitle "CBM 166"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2015.05.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{48-year-old Henrik Danielsen defeated his much younger and much higher rated
opponent by employing one of the most solid openings from the black side - the
Philidor.} 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 (4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 {
Black players who play the Philidor are usually pretty happy when this
position arises on the board.}) 4... Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. a4 $5 {Usually White
castles first. But here he goes for the move a4. It doesn't make a huge
difference here but theoretical experts do think that after 6.0-0 0-0, the
most accurate move for White is 7.a4 and not 7.Re1 because with a4 you can
prevent Black from going 7...a6 as that is met with 8.a5!} O-O 7. O-O c6 8. Re1
{The reason why the Philidor is preferred by many players is because of the
number of setups that Black can choose at this point.  He can go for the move .
..a5 securing the c5-square for his knight. ...b6 is the main move developing
the bishop on b7 and later going ...a6 followed for ...b5 and ...c5 breaks.
Also possible is to play ...Qc7 followed by ...h6, ...Re8, Nf8-g6. Danielsen
goes for another approach which includes ceding the centre.} exd4 9. Nxd4 Ne5
10. Ba2 (10. Bb3 {The reason why White sometimes prefers Ba2 to Bb3 is to keep
Black from winning a crucial tempo if his knight comes to c5 or the pawn
advances c5-c4. But usually it doesn't make such a huge difference and both
the bishop moves are made interchangeably.}) (10. Bf1 {is equally popular.})
10... Re8 {White has a space advantage thanks to his pawn on e4 as compared to
the black pawn on d6. He has his pieces excellently placed. His bishop on c1
will come to e3 and then he will start to expand with f4. Also the bishop on
a2 is a monster! The same cannot be said about the black pieces. They are
clumsily placed. The rook on a8 and bishop on c8 do not have any good
prospects and the knight on e5 will be pushed away by the pawn on f4. But this
is precisely what Black wants. He wants White to overextend his position
before striking back.} 11. h3 a5 $6 {This move is inaccurate when Black goes
for the plan with exd4 followed by Re8. Usually his counterplay is linked to
placing his B on d7 followed by the Q going to a5. As you can see in the game,
he is soon left without any counterplay.} ({An illustrative game to show you
how Black should actually play:} 11... Bd7 12. Bf4 Qa5 13. Bb3 Bd8 $1 {The
bishop is relocated to a better diagonal.} 14. Bd2 Qc5 15. Nf3 Be6 16. Be3
Nxf3+ 17. Qxf3 Qb4 18. Bxe6 Rxe6 19. Bd2 Ba5 20. Qd3 Rae8 {0-1 (39) Vorobiov,E
(2592)-Khismatullin,D (2667) Kavala 2010. All of Black's pieces are
co-ordinating to perfection and he is better.}) 12. Be3 Bf8 13. Qd2 Ng6 14. f3
{White would have preferred to expand with f4 but due to the pressure on e4,
he has to make this consolidating move. But on the agenda is Bf2 followed by
f4.} Be6 {Not really something that Black would have preferred to do.} 15. Nxe6
fxe6 16. f4 {Navara sees nothing wrong in advancing his pawns and at this
point in the game he definitely has quite a substantial edge.} Kh8 {Henrik
Danielsen continues with his policy of playing solidly and letting Navara take
the initiative to do something in the position. That's quite a risky strategy
when you face a strong player like David but here it works pretty well.} (16...
d5 {was possible but after} 17. f5 (17. e5 Nd7 $132) 17... exf5 18. exd5 $14 {
The position is opening up for the white bishops.}) 17. f5 exf5 18. exf5 Ne5 {
If it were Black to play here, he would be completely fine with the move d5!
Navara of course stops it.} 19. Bd4 {Now ...d5 is not possible.} Ned7 20. Rxe8
Qxe8 21. Re1 Qh5 22. Be6 $1 {White had to make this move or else his bishop
would have been locked out of the game after the move d5.} d5 {The point to
note here is that Black has done nothing much in the game. He made no real
plans. Many of his moves were just reactions to White's threats. Yet he is not
worse by much. He has an extremely compact pawn structure. This is the reason
why players prefer the Philidor. It's a really solid opening.} 23. Qe3 $6 {
Navara tries to prevent the exchange of bishops on c5 but this is a small
inaccuracy and it is enough for Black to start creating his counterplay.} ({
A better try would have been} 23. Qf4 Bc5 24. Bxd7 $1 Bxd4+ (24... Nxd7 $2 25.
Bxc5 Nxc5 26. f6 $1 $18) 25. Qxd4 Nxd7 26. Re7 Nf6 27. Qf4 $14 {White keeps
his edge here.} (27. Rxb7 $6 Qxf5 $11)) 23... Qh4 $1 {The threat is to take on
d4 and then play ...Bc5.} 24. g4 $6 (24. Kh1 Bd6 $132 {Black has already
snatched the initiative.} 25. Rf1 Re8 $15) (24. Rf1 Qxd4 25. Qxd4 Bc5 $11)
24... Bc5 $1 {The relatively undefended position of the rook on e1 makes this
move possible.} 25. Re2 $2 {White is now destroyed by a simple albeit powerful
sacrifice.} (25. Rd1 Bxd4 26. Rxd4 c5 $1 27. Rxd5 Nxd5 28. Nxd5 {White has
excellent compensation and should be able to maintain equality here.}) 25...
Nxg4 $1 {This is precisely what I was talking about. White's over-extended
position gets ripped to shreds.} 26. f6 (26. hxg4 Qxg4+ 27. Rg2 Qxd4 $19) 26...
Qxf6 $1 27. Bxf6 Ngxf6 (27... Bxe3+ {was a tad more accurate.} 28. Kg2 Ngxf6
29. Bxd7 (29. Rxe3 d4 $19) 29... Bc1 30. Re7 Bxb2 $19) 28. Bxd7 Nxd7 29. Qxc5
Nxc5 {Black is simply two pawns up without any compensation and Henrik
Danielsen finishes off the game without any difficulty.} 30. Re7 Kg8 31. Ne2
Kf8 32. Rc7 Re8 33. Kf1 Re3 34. c3 Rxh3 35. b4 axb4 36. cxb4 Nxa4 37. Rxb7 Rh4
38. Kf2 Nb2 39. Kf3 Nd3 {A perfect game for the adherents of this quiet but
not venomless opening called the Philidor.} 0-1

