Black's spike on queenside

Jyrki Heikkinen - Joseph Tanti, DDGA'97

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c4 dxe4 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Be3 Bb4 6.Qc2 O-O 7.O-O-O Bxc3 8.Qxc3 b5!?

W

I have played the position after 8.Qxc3 tens of times, but 8...b5 is something very unique, and I really did not know how to react.

9.cxb5?

So I panicked.

• 9.Bg5 would be simple but effective; for example, 9...Nd5? is met by 10.Qg3 Nf6.
• 9.f3 c6 would transpose to game Heikkinen - Siikonen, 1997, which continued 10.Qc2 Bd7 11.fxe4 a5 12.Bg5 Qc7 13.Bxf6 (13.e5) Qf4+ 14.Kb1 Qxf6 15.e5 Qe7 16.Bd3 h6 17.c5 b4 18.Nf3 a4 19.h4 b3 20.Qe2 bxa2+ 21.Ka1 a3 22.b3 Na6?? 23.Qe4? g6 24.h5 Nb4 25.hxg6 Nxd3? 26.g7! Kxg7 27.Qg4+ Kh7 28.Rxh6+ 1-0.

9...a6 10.Kb1 Nd5 11.Qd2 axb5 12.Bxb5 Nxe3 13.Qxe3 Qd5 14.Qb3 Qxb3

White is completely busted.

15.axb3 Rd8 16.Ne2 Bb7 17.h4 Ra5 18.Bc4 Nc6 19.h5 Rf5 20.h6 Rxf2 21.hxg7 Na5 22.Ng3 Nxc4 23.bxc4 e3 24.Rhe1 Rd2 0-1

The spiky 8...b5 was a perfect knock-out.

PGN version.