It is clear that both players here know a fair bit of theory on the Dutch Stonewall, although there are moves late in the opening stage which a titled player, over the board, would recognise as slightly inaccurate (thereby pointing to one of the reasons why we amateurs tend to get poor results against the pros!). A nostalgic feature for me is the transfer of black's so-called 'bad bishop' from c8 to h5. I played this plan a lot in the mid-70s ... and christened the manoeuvre "Moscow to
Vladivostok"!
1.Nf3
d5
2.g3
Ten or more years ago, I started to dabble in an early -Bg4. You can see the point from my game against Yorkshire Champion Jim Burnett: 1 Nf3 d5 2 g3 c6 3 Bg2 Bg4 4 0-0 Nd7 5 d4 e6 6 Nbd2 f5 which could be called "Moscow to Beijing" ... not quite as long a journey for the bishop and much quicker
2...f5
3.Bg2
c6
4.0-0
e6
Very direct play from black, who is not going to be denied his Stonewall set-up
5.d4
... but white could cut across the normal scheme of things with 5 d3 when black would have to watch out for e2-e4 even at the cost of a pawn to white
5...Nf6
6.c4
Bd6
7.b3
This move is favoured by many world-class positional players but I never thought it too troublesome for black at an amateur level
7...Qe7
Some theorists are keen for white to swap dark-squared bishops but insisting on it by 8 a4 runs into 8 -a5 wrecking white's chances of a Q-side pawn advance and securing a nice home for a black knight on b4
8.Bb2
0-0
Personally, I would prefer 8 -b6 these days
9.Qc2
I think this is possibly a wasted move with the queen at this point. It was possible to play 9 Qc1 and exchange bishops on a3 but that would cost even more time. I believe the right idea here is 8 Ne5
9...Ne4
This is a bit too early and loses black the possibility of meeting Ne5 by -Bxe5/-Ng4. It is better to start the bishop-trek straight away. The alternative development -b6 is no longer so good
10.Nbd2
Bd7
11.Ne5
Be8
12.e3
Nd7
13.Ndf3
Bh5
There was a case for -Bf7 because white empties the h5-d1 diagonal
14.Nxd7
Qxd7
15.Ne5
Qe7
16.f3
Ng5
17.Rae1
White plans e3-e4 detonating black's centre
17...Bxe5
18.dxe5
Bg6
19.cxd5
cxd5
20.Qd2
Be8
21.Rc1
Bc6
22.Bd4
Rfc8
23.Rc3
Nf7
24.Rfc1
a6
Black has played quite nicely but doesn't seem to have any active plan
25.f4
Qe8
26.Bf3
Bd7
27.a4
Rxc3
28.Rxc3
Rc8
29.Bb6
Rxc3
30.Qxc3
Qc8
31.Bc7
Bc6
32.Qa5
g6
33.Kf2
h5
34.Be2
Qd7
35.Bb6
Kh7
36.Bd4
Kg8
37.Qc5
Qe8
38.Bc3
Kh7
39.Bb4
Kg8
40.h3
Kh7
41.Bd3
White stands better here because he is the one whose active prospects look the more promising - but black's weaknesses are not easy to exploit. Perhaps a Rubinstein might look into the possibility of bringing his king to d4, playing a5, swapping queens on e7, then penetrating further to b6 with his king and playing Bxa6. A Tal might more likely be looking at the breakthrough with g2-g4.
41...g5
Black isn't going to sit around while white makes up his mind and starts active play of his own. It could be self damaging, though. Another factor is that the players may have entered the 'dreaded allegro' ... the place where good games can very quickly go bad!
42.Qc2
White threatens Qd1 etc
42...g4
43.hxg4
hxg4
Unfortunately for black, white has a combination here ...
44.Bxf5+
exf5
45.Qxf5+
Threats against the king by white's queen, maybe together with Bc3, combined with the advance of the passed Pe5 are just too strong for black to survive.
45...Kg8
46.Qg6+
Kh8
47.e6
Ne5
The only move to stave off a quick mate
48.Qf6+
Kh7
49.Qxe5
Qg6
50.f5
Qh5
51.Kg1
d4
52.e4
52 Qc7+ finishes things sooner ... perhaps white was short of time and he is winning anyway
52...Qg5
53.Qxd4
Qc1+
54.Kf2
Qc2+
55.Ke3
Qc1+
56.Bd2
Qg1+
57.Kd3
Qb1+
58.Kc4
Qf1+
59.Kb4
Qf3
60.Bc3
Qxe4
61.Qxe4
Bxe4
62.f6
Kg6
63.f7
1-0