Zhao Eyes Zonal Win

Games between Zhao and Smerdon are always full of excitement but today's round 7 dogfight between them in the ongoing Oceania Zonal is probably the sort of game that Smerdon would rather forget very soon. He's probably now regretting 18...b5.

2011 Oceania Zonal
Zhao, Zong Yuan
Smerdon, David C
B29

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nxd5 exd5 6. d4 Nc6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qxd5 Qb6 9. Bc4 Bxf2+ 10. Ke2 O-O 11. Rf1 Bc5 12. Ng5 Nd4+ 13. Kd1 Ne6 14. Ne4 Be7 15. Bd2 Qxb2 16. Bc3 Qa3 17. Rf3 Nc7 18. Qd4

Position after 18. Qd4

18...b5? Such a terrible move. With a white's bishop and queen lined up like that, it's pretty clear what Zhao is cooking. 19. e6 f6 20. exd7+ bxc4 21. Qxc4+ Kh8 22. Bxf6 Qb4 23. Qxb4 Bxb4 24. d8=Q Rxd8+ 25. Bxd8 Nd5 26. Ba5 Bg4 27. Bxb4 Nxb4 28. c3 Nc6 29. Ke2 Kg8 30. Rb1 Ne5 31. Rb5 Re8 32. Ke3 Bxf3 33. gxf3 h6 34. a4 Kh7 35. Rc5 Re7 36. h4 Kg6 37. a5 a6 38. Rd5 Kf7 39. h5 Re6 40. f4 Ng4+ 41. Kd4 Nf6 42. Nxf6 Kxf6 43. c4 Rc6 44. c5 Ke6 45. Re5+ Kd7 46. f5 Rc8 47. Kd5 Rf8 48. c6+ Kd8 49. Kc5 Kc7 50. Re7+ Kd8 51. Rxg7 Rxf5+ 52. Kb6 Rb5+ 53. Kxa6 Rb1 54. Rb7 Rc1 55. Kb6 Rb1+ 56. Kc5 Ra1 57. Rh7 Rc1+ 58. Kd6 Rd1+ 59. Ke6 Rc1 60. Kd6 Rd1+ 61. Kc5 Rc1+ 62. Kb6 Rb1+ 63. Ka7 Rc1 64. a6 Kc8 65. Rxh6 Kc7 66. Rg6 1-0

And with that Zhao raises his tally to seven points, well clear of the nearest chaser, Bobby Cheng who's on 5.5 points.

By the way, hat tip to the Kiwi organisers of this event. It's a bit confusing that the 'official site' doesn't have results or any links to the results, but the website with actual results is very current and games are up rapidly.