Edd's Chess Analysis
Time 2021-11-10 07:08:22Web Name: Edd's Chess Analysis
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keywords: description: Edd's Chess AnalysisSunday, 27 November 2011 GAME 038 - Shan Conrad WolfEdward Davies vs Shan Conrad WolfWinchester College vs Passed Pawn B
Position after 3.e5
Position after 27.Red1
Position after 30.Ba4
Position after 37...Rbd8 (white can mate with Rg8+)
Position after 42.Be6
Position after 60.Bh5
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nf6? searched in db and this has seldom been played, and usually white plays the critical line e5, although in some games wimped out and played another move to allow black to transpose and undo his incorrect move order. Although the move has been played ostensibly on purpose (not by some momentary lapse) by GMs a couple of times, I believe it is poor enough to deserve a full? The rarity of the move implies that it is occasionally played by black by accident if the player is new to the sicilian and hasn't learnt any theory. 3.e5 A shock that on move 3 I could retreat his knight to g8; I checked in case the line had any independent significance, (i.e. such as the e5 pawn becoming a target), but judged that white is doign well whatever black tries 3...Ng8 Fritz already gives white a pawn advantage in evaluation. I was very happy with how the game had started and wanted to develop quickly and actively 4.Bc4 in hindsight this this bishop caused me quite a lot of trouble in the game with threats of being trapped by b5 c4 and cluttering development of the queenside, and because it can have no realistic threats to the f7 square due to the obvious e6 from black, it purely looks strong but has no real threat in building up an attack. However it does develop the piece and bring white closer to queenside castling. I believe due to these considerations that Nf3 would have been better and maybe the bishop could even have been fianchettoed. [4.Nf3 probably the best, after which white can be very happy with the opening few moves; 4.f4 is possible but not necessarily the best as the f4 pawn may not be ideal once e5 is traded and if white wants to castle kingside] 4...Nc6 logical attacking pawn and best way to start sensible attempt at developing 5.Nf3 [I considered 5.f4 but decided again that the f4 pawn may be badly placed after the e5 pawn is traded] 5...Qc7?! This could probably have a ? instead of ?! but I was unable to find the correct refutation over the board; it is clearly a dangerous move to allow more loss of tempo after the very slow start [5...e6 was logical, nullifying any threats to f7 and facilitating development] 6.Nd5?! not terrible but ultimately it does not win any time as it is forced to retreat after e6 [6.Nb5 is a better way of attacking the queen and the bishop is still eyeing f7 6...Qb8 7.00 e6 (7...Nxe5? can have severe consequences if white knows how to repond 8.Nxe5 Qxe5 9.d4! crushing according to Fritz. The black queen has to continue to protect c7 (9.Re1 is still a big advantage for white but not crushing) 9...cxd4 (9...Qb8 10.Qf3 Nf6 11.Bf4 d6 12.Rfe1 white has ferocious development and is threatening to take on d6 12...Kd8 proving the hopelessness of the position 13.dxc5 and white should have no trouble making black's life a misery) 10.Re1 Qc5 threatening bishop on c4 11.b4! Reminiscent of the Evans Gambit or a Sicilian Wing Gambit. Not the easiest move to find by any means, and not so easy to find tenable alternatives; I will look at the alternatives too since there is no guarantee of seeing this kind of move. NB: an important point is the bishop is poisonous because Nd6+ will win the queen a) 11.Qe2?? is a bad mistake and black gets a good game 11...a6 e.g. 12.Na3 Nf6 13.Bf4 b5 14.Qf3 d5 15.Bd3 Be6; b) 11.Bf1 is kind of ok for white; he is a pawn down with good development 11...a6 12.Nxd4 Nf6 13.g3 h5 14.Nb3 Qc6 and white has squandered the advantage, though still has reasonable development in compensation for the pawn; c) 11.Na3? a pretty dismal move after white should have got an advantage without difficulty from the opening 11...e6 12.Bf1 better for black according to F; d) 11.Qd3 looks a bit odd but is actually alright for white 11...a6 (11...d5 12.Bxd5! the bishop is poisonous 12...Nf6 13.Bf3 Bd7 14.Nxd4 Rd8 15.Be3 white has very good development indeed for the pawn, and black is still some way from castling) 12.Nxd4 likewise white has very good development advantage for the cost of a pawn; e) 11.Bf4! A move that Crafty points out, and is very strong 11...e6 (11...d6 loses to 12.Nxd6+; 11...Qxc4 loses the queen to 12.Nd6+ Kd8 13.Nxc4) 12.Nc7+ Kd8 13.Bb3 Rb8 14.Nxe6+ fxe6 15.Bxb8 and white wins a clear exchange; f) 11.b3 white is still doing pretty good after this 11...e6 12.Bb2 a6 13.Nxd4 Nf6 slight advantage to white according to F; 11...Qxb4 (11...Qc6) 12.Ba3 the pieces corrdinate beutifully and this looks crushing; white has three minor pieces and a rook all developed very aggressively on the black king, and all of the black's pieces are in their initial positions apart from the queen; sometimes pieces can defend well from their inital positions but in this case it is just a farcical contrast in piece development between the sides (12.c3 fritz at first liked this the most) 12...Qa4 13.Qxd4 (crafty also suggests 13.Qh5 ; 13.Qe2) ) ; 6.00 is probably the best 6...e6 (6...Nxe5 7.Nd5 Nxf3+ 8.Qxf3 Qc6 9.Nc7+! with a revealed attack on the f7 square 9...Kd8 (9...Qxc7 10.Qxf7+ Kd8 11.Qxf8#) 10.Nxa8 Qxf3 11.gxf3 clearly winning for white a full exchange up) ] 6...Qb8 [6...Qa5 is iffy and apparently no better; 6...Qd8 possibly better than Qb8 but surely can't be much better in any case] 7.Qe2 Choosing move 7 was difficult; I wanted to play 00 as I was I could make the most of my lead in development if black won the pawn, but it wasn't clear to me precisely how I could go about this and I was worried I would squander the development lead and end up a pawn down stupidly. I felt it was a cop out to play Qe2 but ultimately I played the move I believed in and just wasn't confident about giving up the pawn in this position. [7.00 I should really have trusted my intution and played this, and even if I messed up the initiative a pawn down I could analyse the game afterwards I would get practical experience with such a line and could analyse my play afterwards even if it didn't go to plan 7...Nxe5 (7...e6 would apparently have been black's best response anyway 8.Nc3) 8.Nxe5? in fact white can get a fairly crushing advantage if black takes the pawn 8...Qxe5 9.Re1 (9.f4 Qd4+ 10.Ne3 Nf6 11.c3 Qd6) 9...Qd6? a) 9...Qd4 10.Nc7+; b) 9...Qb8 10.d4 e6 (10...cxd4 11.Qxd4) 11.Bf4 (11.Qh5 b6) 11...Bd6 (11...d6 12.Nc3 cxd4 13.Qxd4 e5 14.Bxe5 dxe5 15.Rxe5+ Be7 16.Rae1 Qc7 17.Nd5) ; 10.d4 Nf6 11.Bf4] 7...e6 8.Nc3 I felt a bit gutted at this point; I felt that after my opponent had played such dubiuos moves early in the openign (Nf6 back to Ng8 and Qc7) that I should have a big advantage, but it goes to show unless you are prepared to go into critical lines a pawn down for development etc then the defending side can more or less catch up in development and take the sting out of the position. [8.Nf4 f6 9.Nd3 (9.exf6 Qxf4 10.f7+ Qxf7; 9.d4 cxd4 10.Nd3 b5 11.Bb3) 9...b5 10.Bb3 c4] 8...d5 I was fairly happy after this move as I don't have to worry about defending the e5 pawn [8...f6 9.00] 9.exd6 Qxd6? this looks very dubious and Fritz changes the evaluation from +0.5 to about +1.2. I cannot understand the logic of this at all; capturing with the bishops aids development of the kingside pieces and even coordinates well with the queen on b8, whereas the queen capturing is just a target and does not help with developing the pieces. I felt again that I should have a clear advantage after this move. [9...Bxd6] 10.Nb5?! although not bad, this knight is none the less made to retreat again before long. Fritz suggests the best move is d3 continuing development and the queen is pretty misplaced on d6 [when I got home after the game I analysed the game briefly without the computer and this was one move I looked at 10.Ne4 Qc7 11.c3 I suggested this, starting to work out how to make sure the light bishop is active (F 11.b3 Nf6 12.Bb2 Be7) 11...Be7 (11...Nf6 12.00) 12.00 Nf6 13.d4 the move I suggested is ok but maybe not the best (F suggests 13.Nxf6+ Bxf6 14.d3) 13...cxd4 14.cxd4 Nxd4? would be a blad mistake (14...Bd7) 15.Nxd4 Nxe4 I now looked at both Qx and Bb5+ 16.Qxe4? is wrong (16.Bb5+! Bd7 17.Bxd7+ Qxd7 18.Qxe4 is easily winning for white; I'm glad I reached this far into the analysis with the computer aggreeing with me mostly) 16...Qxc4 e.g. 17.b3 Qd5 18.Qxd5 exd5 19.Re1 white doesn't have enough compensation for the pawn; 10.d3 Qd7 (10...Nf6 11.Nb5 Qb8 12.00) ] 10...Qd8 11.00 a6 [or 11...Nf6 ] 12.Nc3 Nf6 again the knights is forced to retreat so I never really gain any tempo from attacking the queen on c7 (either of the two times). Again I was left with a slight annoyance that although I'm not doing too badly, I failed to get a substantial advantage out of the opening despite several punishable looking moves committed by my opponent. In this position the feature that bothered me was that my light bishop does not fit very well into the position and black has threats of b5 c4 potentially trapping it, and at the least the bishop seems to encumber development of the queenside and in getting some central control with my pawns. 13.a4 not a move I was that happy about playing, given the hole it creates on b4, but it does do a good job of nullifying threats of b5 on the bishop which at least takes that stress away so that I can concentrate on other things [in hindsight 13.d3 was perfectly playable and it would have been sensible to speed up the dark bishop development and central pawn control; For example if 13.a3 which does not create a hold on b4, there is a big drawback 13...b5 14.Bb3 c4 15.Ba2 actually fritz has a clever way of activating the bishop again 15...Be7 16.Rd1! preparing d3 and recapturing with the rook 16...00 17.d3 black has to take or loses a pawn 17...cxd3 18.Rxd3 Qc7] 13...Bd6 this move is ok, as is Be7 14.d3 I prefer this to 14.b3 14...Qc7 a decent enough move with a threat in mind; naturally of Nd4 attacking the queen and knight which leads to the loss of a pawn due to Bxh2+, so white has to meet this threat. The main choises appear to be g3 and h3. I preferred h3 in this position as it also covers g4, but admittedly it has a drawback of a potential attack down the g file by black hitting the g4 square. There are actually other options to meet the threat too: Bg5 and Be3; things can get pretty complicated as can be seen. [F prefers 14...00 ] 15.h3 [15.g3 is perfectly sound (I think) but the fianchetto structure without the bishop is slightly compromising long term, and black still has options of complicating with h5 and h4; 15.Bg5 00 (the main point is showing why 15...Nd4 doesn't work 16.Nxd4 cxd4 (16...Bxh2+ 17.Kh1 cxd4 18.Bxf6 dxc3 19.Bxg7 Rg8 20.Bxc3 Bd6 and white emerges clearly better) 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Ne4 f5 (18...Bxh2+ 19.Kh1 Bf4 20.Nxf6+ is complicated but it has to be nicer for white) 19.Nxd6+ Qxd6 20.Qh5 and white's position is clearly nicer with much greater king safety) 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Qe3 is pretty good for white; 15.Be3 I should have considered this, as not only does it parry the threat but does not commit to any pawn moves in front on the king. On the other hand my f3 knight is still effectively 'pinned' due to the threat of Bxh2+ so it's probably not a bad idea to remove this threat of Bxh2+ permanently 15...00 16.h3 here Fritz suggested h3 anyway; naturally the plan is g5 is no longer on for black after committing to castling kingside] 15...Ne5?! a questionable move; black's c6 knight was strong controlling b4 d4 and e5 and trading it is nice for white [15...00 probably better to start with] 16.Nxe5 I'm more than happy to trade it off, plus all other moves that I can think of look silly here [16.Bg5 is possible but just seems pointless 16...Nxf3+ 17.Qxf3 Bh2+ 18.Kh1 Be5] 16...Bxe5 17.Re1 I was happy with this move; it develops the rook to a logical strong position on e1 with tempo 17...Bh2+ Fritz aggrees with this intermezzo, moving the king. I'm not entirely sure why but admittedly the king may not be as well placed on f1 or h1 as on g1. 18.Kh1 Fritz at first suggests Kf1 but I think that is a case of the computer lacking positional common sense in some cases, and after processing for longer agrees with Kh1 18...Bd6 [F seems to prefer 18...Bf4 e.g. 19.Bxf4 (19.a5 Bxc1 20.Rexc1 Bd7) 19...Qxf4] 19.Bg5 The natural move, and by now I was feeling fairly upbeat about my position after the initial stresses of working out the development of the queenside and potential problems of the light squared bishop 19...Be7 [F suggests castling straight away, although it could be wrong as the lines following BxN and gxf are sharp and could easily lead to problems for black 19...00 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Qh5] 20.Bh4 I'm happy with this plan, preparing Bg3 with a strong positioning of the bishop 20...00 21.Bg3 actually Fritz says that a5 was better here [21.a5] 21...Qb6? it looks like a clear mistake to allow the white bishop to have the run of the diagonal. None the less I have to meet the threat on the b2 pawn. I considered a5, which Fritz says is the best move, but not all variations were clear to me so I decided against risking something I couldn't calculate to the end clearly [21...Bd6 22.Bxd6 Qxd6 trading off the strong white bishop is the best option] 22.Bb3 a little anti position perhaps but it does the job and white still has a positional advantage [22.b3 doesn't look very nice; 22.a5 apparently the best move 22...Qc6 (22...Qxb2? 23.Na4 I looked at this but thought after Qd4 the black queen escapes having snatched a pawn, but there is more to it: 23...Qd4 24.Nb6 Ra7 25.Bb8! winning the exchange. A good example of why it is important to be able to calculate forced lines as far as possible in order to seize good opportunities) ] 22...Bd7 Fritz aggrees with this; it is logical to develop the remaining minor piece 23.Be5 I think this is quite a nice positional move, (it seems immediate a5 would have been technically stronger though); the main point of it is it removes the pin on the b3 bishop as the b2 pawn is defended now, and it also does quite a nice job of putting an at least temporary positional cramp on black. It seems that in this position black has to play quite carefully. 23...Bc6 quite a good practical move, with an uncomfortable attack xray attack on the whtie king. I was considering whether to move my king straight away but saw that a5 prodding the queen was good positionally. [F suggests 23...Qa5 ] 24.a5 Fritz aggrees this is the best move. After playing this I none the less admonished myself for not properly looking at the Bxg2 sacrifice; it is unlikely to be any good but I felt I should have looked at it at least briefly 24...Qd8 25.Ne4 F aggress with this. Instead of making a time losing king move when my king is not even in immediate danger I prefer to unravel my position further at the same time as blocking the diagonal attack 25...Nxe4?! Fritz says this is a mistake. [25...Nd5 and white only has a slightly better position] 26.dxe4 So after all the drama of the opening and early middlegame we now reach a position with all heavy pieces but only bishop pairs left, so it's the kind of time to clear your head and reassess the position. (There wasn't a lot of time to kill in the game though as it was 75 minutes for 36 moves and a 15 minute rapid play finish, so I had to ration myself to about two minutes per move and if a move took much longer than that there had to be a good reason, but I managed to keep the clock situation so that I had the equivalent of two minutes per move right until the time control). In this position black really does have to be very careful as white has quite a cramp on the position and the black queen has very limited options. 26...Bf6?! This lead to a nasty intermezzo, which although was still tenable for black, it required accurate and calm play. I at first looked at BxB QxB and then maybe e5, but realised that left white with little chance of any advantage, (in fact is may worse for white). It then struck me to look at Rfe1, attacking the queen rather than parrything the threat of black winning the bishop on e5, and looking through the responses I was happy with what I was seeing; they all seemed to be somewhat detrimental to black whatever he plays. I had a strong feeling I was likely to win the game after Rfe1. [F suggests 26...Bb5 e.g. 27.Bc4 Qe8 and F gives white about half a pawn advantage] 27.Red1! In this position my opponent needed to think calmly about any possible tenable defence, but instead he played a losing tactical move. Qc8 or Qe8 was necessary. 27...Bb5?? this made me wonder if I had made a mistake for a second or so, but then I realised my opponent had essentially given up and that c4 totally refutes this [27...Qc8 28.Bxf6 gxf6 29.Qg4+ is not pleaseant for black at all 29...Kh8 30.Qh4 Kg7 31.Qg3+ Kh8 32.Qf4 f5 and he looks in trouble (Fritz +1.9); 27...Qe7? is naturally no good because of the skewer 28.Bd6 winning a clear exchange; 27...Bd7?? is obviously unplayable 28.Bxf6 gxf6 (28...Qxf6 29.Rxd7) 29.Ba4 Qxa5 (29...b5 30.axb6 Qxb6 31.Rxd7) 30.Rxd7; when originally analysing I thought this was the best option for black, allowing BxB gxf 27...Qe8 28.Bxf6 gxf6 where it is not entirely pleasant for black but white has work to do to prove his advantage; also black can play Kh8 Rg8 and use the g file for counterplay. I think practically speaking this was the best move for black, (it is psychologically easier than giving up the queen for a rook and piece unless the latter is clearly good). 29.c3 (NB: the queen play such as 29.Qg4+ is not as good as after Qc8 because the black queen can support f6 with Qe7, and this is why 27...Qe8 is better than 27...Qc8 by the look of it 29...Kh8 30.Qf4 Qe7) ; 27...Bxe5 according to Fritz this is the best move for black, although it is difficult for black to give up his queen like that 28.Rxd8 Rfxd8 black could have good drawing chances. Although not pleasant for black, it certainly looks like white has a lot of work to do to try and win the position. this is reminiscent of the analysis of my game against Mark Broom in September 2011 where Fritz showed an actual (apparently dead drawn) fortress with Q+R+B vs R+R+B+B.] 28.c4 Bd7 there is nothing better 29.Bxf6 gxf6 30.Ba4 the crushing refutation of 27...Bb5. The only doubt I had was b5 but I saw that after axb6 the pin is still on, (it's important to note that Ra7 cannot help defend as the a7 square is attacked by the b6 pawn.) [At first I had looked at 30.Qd2 seeing that Bc8 and Be8 lose a whole rook, but saw that Bc6 is fine for black. Then I saw the crushing move Ba4.] 30...Qxa5 [30...b5 doesn't help 31.axb6] 31.Bxd7 This is fine, but F still slightly prefers taking with the rook [31.Rxd7 b5 I was concerned about this, losing the rook on a1 if the bishop moves, however it is harmless after cxb 32.cxb5 (32.Qg4+ is even stronger 32...Kh8 33.Qh4 bxa4 34.Ra3 is forced mate (in my own analysis I looked at 34.Qxf6+ Kg8 35.Rd3 which is also crushing but not a forced mate) 34...Qe1+ (34...Rad8 35.Qxf6+ Kg8 36.Rg3#) 35.Kh2 and there is no sensible way to avoid mate, for example: 35...Rg8 36.Qxf6+ Rg7 37.Rg3 Rag8 38.Qxg7+ Rxg7 39.Rd8+ Rg8 40.Rdxg8#) 32...axb5 33.Qxb5 Qxb5 34.Bxb5 Rxa1+] 31...Qb4 black has no good moves; maybe he can play to make it difficult for white to retrieve his bishop somehow. I now stalled a little. I had won a piece and got a totally winning position as a result, however I was unhappy about my bishop's position and was looking for the cleanest way to bring it back to base. 32.Ba4 I think this is a fair move practically speaking, although Fritz drops the evaluation from 5 pawns to 3 pawns for white. I wanted to avoid complications and stay a good piece up, (actually I'm a pawn down but have good compensation in play against his king etc too). After this I only had about about 4 or 5 minutes left to make the last few moves before the time control, which should be plenty, but after the time control there is only 15 minutes for the rest of the game. [32.Ra4 Qb6 33.Qg4+ Kh8 34.Qh4 Qd8; Fritz says the following is the best 32.Qg4+ Kh8 33.Qh4 Qxb2 34.Bxe6 Rg8 (34...fxe6 35.Rab1 Qxb1 (35...Qc3 leads to forced mate 36.Rxb7) 36.Rxb1) 35.Bxf7; 32.Ra3 Rad8 33.Qg4+ Kh8 34.Qh4 (34.Rad3 Qxb2) 34...Qxb2] 32...Qb6 [32...b5 33.cxb5 axb5 34.Bxb5 Rxa1 35.Rxa1 Rb8 36.Rd1 Kg7 (36...Rxb5 37.Rd8+ Kg7 38.Qg4+ Kh6 39.Rg8 mates) 37.Qg4+ Kh8 38.Be2 Qxb2 39.Rd7 Rf8 (39...Rg8 40.Qf4 f5 (40...Qxe2 41.Qxf6+ Rg7 42.Rd8#) 41.Bd3 Qg7 42.g3 fxe4 43.Bxe4 and white easily wins) ; F1: 32...Rfd8 ] 33.Ra3! not messing about this time; with the ruthless threat of Rg3+ 33...Rab8? I can only think this is a passing move in order to keep the game on white's clock time [F1: 33...Kh8 ] 34.Rg3+ strong but there was a much better move according to F [34.Qg4+ Kh8 35.Rb3 (35.Rg3 is obviously pointless after Rg8 35...Rg8) 35...Qxb3 (35...Qc7 36.Qh4 Rg8 (36...Qe5 37.f4 Qxe4 38.Qxf6+ Kg8 39.Rg3+ Qg6 40.Rxg6+ hxg6 the position is trivial) 37.Qxf6+ Rg7 38.Rbd3 Fritz gives white +12) ] 34...Kh8 35.Qf3? I'm very unhappy about this move and class it as a blunder, although white is still winning after black's best reply it gives black unnecessary chances to get back in the game with 3 pawns vs one on the queenside and my bishop currently being awkwardly placed on the queenside on the a file. Obviously this hangs the b2 pawn and after black takes it with the queen he covers f6. I noticed this within a coupld of seconds of playing it but was extremely relieved when I could see my opponent was not taking much time on his move and was about to play something else. 35...f5? now after the slight slip white can breathe a sigh of relief [35...Qxb2] 36.Qc3+ the position is now in the territory of forced mates 36...f6 37.Rd7 now there is no defence to a forced mate for black (providing white can find it) 37...Rbd8 in this position I was sure there had to be a mate but just couldn't find it. I would like to think given more time to think, (e.g. in a tournament game with 30 or 45 minutes added at the time control), that I would have found it soon after, but I only had five or ten minutes to finish the game so after a while I reluctantly traded the rook and got on with winning the game that way. 38.Rxd8 [38.Rg8+ a neat little mate which really shouldn't have been difficult to see in this position 38...Kxg8 (38...Rxg8 39.Qxf6+ Rg7 40.Qxg7#) 39.Qg3+ Kh8 40.Qg7#] 38...Qxd8 39.exf5 e5 40.Rd3 seizing control of the middle file with the rook. Of course the game should objectively be a formality now, but I still wasn't happy to relax yet 40...Qc8 threatening the f5 pawn, but this allows me to make a very favourable repositioning of my bishop which makes the win very easy 41.Bd7 Qc7 42.Be6 now my bishop is in the perfect place and there is little left to worry about 42...Rd8 43.Rxd8+ [the machine says 43.Rg3 is better, however computers don't understand the concept of blundering because they look at everything, and in this position it is the best human strategy to trade pieces and reduce any chance of counterplay for the defender] 43...Qxd8 44.Kh2 again a good human move in this kind of situation, taking away any chance of black checking the king; white is in no hurry (in a chess sense, although I was playing my moves pretty fast as I only had a few minutes left) and can methodically convert the win 44...Qf8 45.Qd3 Qb8 this looks like a clever trick, with the 'threat' of e4+ checking and attacking the queen with the pawn, however Qg3 intercepts it and moves the queen; a nice attempted trick by my opponent while I was fairly short of time however it didn't actually have any substance 46.g3 parrying the perceived threat, (again I would like to think given a bit more time on the clock I would have seen it was a harmless threat, but none the less it is a good idea to remove any chances of a swindle out of the position 46...b6 47.Qd7 preparing to trade queens 47...a5 48.Qf7 I thought for a second I had a mate, but obviously Qd8 parries this 48...Qd8 49.Qd7 enough is enough and it's time to trade queens and get this over with 49...Qf8 50.Qc8 Qxc8 51.Bxc8 although the endgame is technically trivial, it is still good practice to maintain good form in moves played and plans. I waste no time in walking my king straight up the diagonal g2-f3-e4-d5 51...Kg7 52.Kg2 h6 a pointless pawn move but the position is nevertheless defenceless 53.Kf3 Kf7 54.Ke4 Ke7 55.Kd5 Kd8 Fritz now suggests Ke6, but in a practical situation it would be cocky to play like this and give up the piece as it could backfire unless it is and extremely simplified position, especially when there are only a few minutes on the clock 56.Be6 [56.Ke6 Kxc8 57.Kxf6 Kd7 58.Kg7 b5 59.cxb5 e4 60.f6] 56...Kc7 57.f4 as good a way as any 57...exf4 58.gxf4 a4 59.Bf7 clearing space for my king to come to e6 and queen the f pawn 59...Kd7 The white king is blocked for now, but there are three ways that I can see of creating an immediate zugzwant for black: h4, Bg6, and the move I played Bh5 60.Bh5 Looking at the game now I like this move the most out of the options; it is a clear zugzwang as the a and b pawns will be lost for black if either move, and white has the opposition so if black moves his king, the white king can proceed and win 60...Kc7 [60...Ke7 61.Kc6 is just as bad for black] 61.Ke6 Kc6 62.Kxf6 b5 this allows a nasty bishop check that removes even the faintest hope of black getting a passed pawn. White would have to go out of his way here to give black a chance of saving the game, e.g. 63.Be8+ [63.h4 b4 64.Ke6 a3 65.bxa3 bxa3 66.Ke7?? a2 letting black queen] 63...Kb6 64.Bxb5 after this my opponent played on until checkmate, which from a practical point of view was sensible as I was down to a couple of minutes on the clock so it's possible for someone to blunder and allow a stalemate for example in that situation, however having 'grown up' on a diet of playing thousands of blitz chess games, (not that I am recommending blitz as it can be bad for your form, although it is good if you are not used to time trouble and want practice at converting technical wins quickly), I did not feel any doubt whatsoever about finishing the game sensibly. 64...h5 65.Ke6 h4 66.f6 Ka5 67.f7 Kb4 68.f8Q a3 69.bxa3+ Kxa3 70.Qa8+ [of course 70.Qxc5+ was the obvious move] 70...Kb3 71.Qa4+ Kc3 72.Qa3+ Kd4 73.Qb2+ Ke4 74.Qe5+ Kd3 75.Qxc5 Ke4 76.Qe5+ Kd3 77.c5+ I managed to write down most of my moves until about two minutes were left on the clock, (so I could analyse the moves later), but I now put the pen down and concentrated on finishing the game. I pushed the c pawn and promoted to a rook, checking carefully on each move that there was no chance of a stalemate, then checkmated with the queen and rook. I worried myself a couple of times in this final conversion of the game with a few minutes left as a couple of times I forgot to press the digital clock and gave me opponent ten or twenty seconds each time; naturally he did not tell me as he probably hoped I would lose on time, and the fact I did this twice was a bit silly; in any case drama was avoided and the game was converted cleanly. Overall an odd game in the opening which still leaves me pretty baffled, (then again the opening is the most subtle and difficult part of the game according to top players), since I was sure there was a way of getting a clear advantage, but this seemed to mostly disappear into the middlegame. None the less I still had an advantage into the middle game and apart from the slight lapse of 35.Qf3? giving black a slight chance of counterplay, (and missing a pretty simple checkmate, although I can forgive myself this as I had given myself a time limit to spend looking for a checkmate and needed to get on with winning the game), I'm very happy with how I played both positionally and tactically, as well as in the endgame conversion of the win. 1-0
No comments: Monday, 21 November 2011 Blitz games vs Baadur Jobava!Oligarckh 3049 vs UltraMarathon 1774
On the 5th of March this year I played three blitz games (3 minutes +1 second increment) on the Playchess server against Baadur Jobava of Georgia, ranked at the time 37th in the world with a FIDE rating of 2707, (and a recent win against world number one Magnus Carlsen in the chess olympiad). All three games were Friendly (do not effect ratings) and Jobava (Oligarckh) had a rating of 3049 and my (UltraMarathon) rating was 1774.
Game 1Oligarckh vs UltraMarathonPosition after 20.b4
The first game against Badur Jobava. 1.d4 This was the first of 3 games against Baadur Jobava (aka Oligarckh on Playchess); I had been talking to him and he sportingly challenged me to a few blitz games. There were dozens of spectators watching. I will just give brief comments as these games are just included for fun to show how easily a super GM kills a club player in blitz. 1...c6 2.c4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Bf5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Qb3 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Qb6 8.Nd2 Qxb3 9.axb3 a6?! why did I play this? It doesn't serve any purpose at the moment. [9...Nd7] 10.e4 Bg6 11.Bd3 Fritz gives white a pawn advantage 11...e6 Fritz says Nd7 or e5 were better [11...Nd7 12.f4 f6 13.f5 Bf7; 11...e5 12.Nc4 exd4 13.Nb6 Ra7 this looks messy for black so Nd7 was probably better than this] 12.Nc4 Nd7 13.Bf4 Be7 [F says 13...b5 is better 14.Na5 Nf6] 14.Nd6+ Bxd6 15.Bxd6 Nf6?! [15...f5 may have been better] 16.f3 h5 Fritz agrees, but by now it gives white 1.4 pawns advantage 17.Ke2 h4 18.Ke3 Ng8?! looks time wasting; Kd7 was less pointless [18...Kd7] 19.c4 Ne7 20.b4 white has the mother of all pawn centres 20...Nc8 21.Bf4 f6 22.b5?! a dubious move according to Fritz which drops evaluation from 1.5 to 0.8 [22.g4] 22...Ke7? Black had to play accurately with c5, but I didn't and the computer evaluation is 2.3 [22...c5 23.bxa6 bxa6 24.Rhb1 (if 24.dxc5? e5 25.Bxe5 fxe5 26.Ra5 and black is a bit better) 24...cxd4+ white's problem is threats to trap the dark squared bishop 25.Ke2 (25.Kxd4? e5+ 26.Bxe5 fxe5+ 27.Kxe5) ] 23.bxc6 bxc6 white now easily infiltrates 24.Rhb1 Ra7 25.Bb8 Ra8? at least I should have kept it on the 7th rank [25...Rd7] 26.Rb7+ Kf8 27.Ra5 Be8 28.c5 Kg8 29.Bc4 Bf7 30.Rxa6 Rxa6 31.Bxa6 Be8 32.Rc7 h3 33.g3 Kh7 34.Rxc8 resigned 1-0
Game 2UltraMarathon vs OligarckhPosition after 18..Nxa5
Game two, this time I had white. 1.e4 d6 2.d3 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 00 6.Nge2 c5 7.00 Nc6 8.h3 Rb8 9.Be3 b5 10.Qd2 [10.a3 may have been better] 10...b4 11.Nd1?! [F says 11.Nd5 was better] 11...a5 12.Bh6 a4 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.Ne3 a3 15.bxa3 bxa3 16.Rab1 Be6 Actually I have done pretty well so far and Fritz evaluates it as about equal 17.c4 Qa5 18.Qxa5 Nxa5 19.Nd5? [apparently after 19.Rb5 the position is still about equal] 19...Nxd5 20.exd5 It comes to mind that this game is a good example of how futile it is when club players focus their training on learning openings, (which I have always thought a ludicrous thing), because here I had an equal position against a super GM up until move 19 but once we get properly into the middle game the class of the stronger player immediately becomes apparent, (this is only a blitz game but still serves to demonstrate that principle). 20...Bf5 the d pawn is hard to defend 21.Be4? this blunders a pawn (in an admittedly already very bad position) - a better defence could have been player though [even so after 21.Rbd1 black can get a totally dominating position even with simple positional moves 21...Rb2 22.Rfe1 Rfb8] 21...Bxe4 the rest is trivial 22.dxe4 Nxc4 23.Rxb8 Rxb8 24.Rc1 Rb2 25.Rxc4 Rxe2 26.Rc3 Rxa2 27.Kg2 Ra1 28.Kf3 Kf6 29.h4 h5 30.Kf4 e5+ 31.dxe6 fxe6 32.f3 e5+ 33.Ke3 a2 resigns 0-1
Game 3Oligarckh vs UltraMarathonPosition after 14.Bd2
1.d4 The third blitz game against Jobava. 1...c6 2.e4 Caro Kann this time instead of Slav 2...d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 6.Bc4 Be7 7.Ne2 00 8.00 Bf5?! Fritz doesn't like this, allowing Ng3 followed by h4, and gives white +1 pawns evaluation 9.Ng3 Bg6 10.Bd3?! Fritz drops evaluation from +1 to +0.2 [10.h4 F +1] 10...Nd7 11.Re1 Re8 12.Bf4 Nb6 13.c3 [13.Nf5 was stronger according to Fritz] 13...Nd5 Fritz actually gives black a slight edge here (0.2) 14.Bd2??! Hanging the d3 bishop and white instantly resigned before I even knew why (and before I had a chance to take the d3 bishop)! At the time and in the intervening months I was almost certain Baadur had thrown the game on purpose to be a good sport and that may be the case, but having analysed the game I can see it is quite likely he really did blunder, (remembering that this is only a blitz game). Fritz suggests 14.Ne2 giving up the bishop for the knight, which white naturally would not be keen to acquiesce to, and Be3 and Bc1 look positionally unpleasant places to put the bishop, so it looks like he has put the bishop on the natural square d2 almost instantly without thinking and has overlooked that the d3 bishop is en prise. 0-1
No comments: Sunday, 20 November 2011 GAME 037 - Mark BroomMark Broom vs Ed DaviesFareham Congress Premier 2011
Position after 16.Bb1
Analysis diagram after 21..Qxe5!! 22.Qxe5 Rxd7 showing the apparent fortress where the position is a draw
Position after 33.Kf1
1.c4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 Transposition into slav 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Be7 [5...Nbd7 is the main line] 6.b3 I get the feeling this is comfortable with black; the only games in the Fritz openings book are from two 2600 odd players and it scored 100% with white 6...00 7.Bd3 b6 [7...c5 was the most critical reply by the look of it. It looks like there are a lot of possible replies, but dxc is poor so black only needs to worry about cxd or 00 8.00 a) 8.cxd5 cxd4 9.Nxd4 exd5 (9...Nxd5 may be ok too 10.Nxd5 Qxd5 11.00) 10.00 Nc6; b) 8.dxc5 is questionable 8...dxc4 9.Bxc4 (9.bxc4 is visible poor 9...Nbd7) 9...Qxd1+ 10.Kxd1 Bxc5; 8...Nc6] 8.00 Bb7 9.Qe2 it seems quite logical to put the queen here controlling a6 to e2 diagonal and if Nf3 moves it has access to the kingside, and it supports e4 9...Nbd7 [it probably would have been better again to contest the centre with 9...c5 ] 10.Rd1 Qc7 continuing development; I'm not sure if it is good or not but looks playable 11.Bb2 well placed for long term x ray effect on black's king 11...Rac8 expecting my opponent to put a rook/rooks on c file, I don't want my queen anoyingly stranded there when things open up; I was struggling to find a better plan and didn't want to play planlessly 12.Rac1 Qb8?! I was concerned about tactical threats to the queen, but maybe this is too passive; Fritz edges the evaluation a little further in favour of white. I supposed it looks a little like black was psyched out about nothing with this move [e.g. 12...g6 13.h3 (13.cxd5 exd5 and there are no immediate threats to the queen(of course not 13...cxd5 14.Nxd5 which was the kind of tactic I was concerned about) ) ] 13.e4 logically pushing e4 13...dxe4 14.Nxe4 Nxe4 [it may have been better not to trade knights, e.g. 14...Rcd8 ] 15.Bxe4 Nf6 [or 15...g6 ] 16.Bb1 a very nice move I think; Bc2 would have been similar but it seems logical not to block the rook; now white's bishops look very nicely placed; maybe the problem is that some of black's pieces (queen and light bishop) are similarly placed but whereas all white's pieces lend themselves to an attack on the opponent's king, black has no similar threats of a coordinated attack so his pieces should serve some other purpose like specifically setting up to defend the potential white attack 16...Rfe8?! F doesn't like this, and indeed it seem a little bit slow; I think I was preparing a possible bf8 then there is an Xray effect of the rook on the white queen as well as the bishop being a good defensive piece [16...g6 probably would have been better] 17.Ne5 White increases his positional advantage to pretty much it's full potential and will want to strike soon 17...c5 I think this is the correct move for black 18.dxc5 Bxc5 19.Nd7 Nxd7 20.Rxd7 Re7 both white and black have chosen the best moves in this sequence according to Fritz 21.Be5? Amazingly Fritz says this allows a forced draw 21...Qa8? it is understandable that I thought this was the only move; white still has a significant advantage now. To be fair I have given myself a ? too for missing it. [21...Qxe5!! if this really does lead to a dead draw then I think it deserves two ! 22.Qxe5 Rxd7 I don't know if Fritz is serious about this being a draw, or if the position is just beyond the horizon of the computer; it seems like white should be able to find a way through; 'on paper' he is a point up in material with a queen for bishop and rook, but admittedly the bishops are extremely solid 23.a4 F shows this 23...Rcd8 mate threat 24.Rf1 (24.g3?? Rd1+ 25.Rxd1 Rxd1+; 24.h3?? Rd1+ 25.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 26.Kh2 Bd6) 24...Rd2 25.Qc7 R2d7 26.Qf4 remarkably the black position is apparently an impenetrable fortress! I may investigate this in more detail another time to test if it is really true. In any case, maybe this apparent draw indicates that white's move Be5 was too good to be true.] 22.Rxe7?! Fritz thinks this takes away quite a lot of the pressure and simply Rcd1 doubling rooks was strong [22.Rcd1 athough after 22...Bc6 it is beaten back anyway 23.R7d2 Bb4 24.Rd3 f6 25.Bb2 (25.Bd6?! Bxd6 26.Rxd6 Bxg2 27.Rxe6 with quite a complicated position) 25...Bc5] 22...Bxe7 23.Qg4 In this position I felt under a lot of pressure; amazingly my queen has no squares to move to at all; maybe my opponent can be credited with skillfully forcing it into the corner in this way, and I have to defend with less defenders than attackers. I would like to play Be4 here but it is impossible because e4 is controlled by white's queen and bishop. I can see Rf3 to Rh3 or Rg3 etc coming too so I know without accurate play I will be doomed 23...Bf8 This is the best move in this position I think. At first Fritz recommends g6 but then sees the brilliant sacrifice Bxg6 is very good for white [23...g6 24.Bxg6 hxg6 (if 24...fxg6? 25.Qxe6+ Kf8 26.Rd1 Bc6 27.Rd4 Qb7 28.Rf4+ Ke8 29.Qf7+ Kd8 30.Rd4+ Bd5 (30...Bd7 31.Qg8+ Bf8 32.Qxf8#) 31.Rxd5+ Qd7 32.Qg8+ Bf8 33.Qxf8#) 25.Qh3 this looks like inevitable mate but black can avoid it at a cost 25...f6 the only try (e.g. 25...f5 26.Qh8+ Kf7 27.Qg7+ Ke8 28.Rd1 Bd5 (28...Rd8 29.Qg8+ Bf8 30.Qxg6+ (or 30.Qxe6+ Be7 31.Qxg6+ Kf8 32.Bg7+ Kg8 33.Bh6+ Kh8 34.Qg7#) 30...Ke7 31.Bf6#) 29.cxd5 exd5 30.Bf6 Rc7 31.Qg8+ Kd7 (31...Bf8 32.Re1+ Re7 33.Rxe7+ Kd8 34.Qxf8#) 32.Qxa8) 26.Qxe6+ Kf8 27.Bxf6 Rc7 28.Be5 none the less this requires accurate play from white 28...Rc6 29.Qh3 Qc8 30.Qh8+ Kf7 31.Qg7+ Ke8 32.Qg8+ Kd7 33.Rd1+ Rd6 34.Qxc8+ Bxc8 35.Bxd6 Bxd6 probably not the best line for white, but he may have good odds of winning the endgame] 24.h4 looks like a reasonable way to proceed. F says it gives away some of the advantage though [simply 24.Rd1 was better according to Fritz] 24...Rc5?! it's understandable that I would want to assist the king's defence with the rook, but seeing as there are no unattacked squares due to the bishops, this is futile and putting the rook on the open file is better [24...Rd8 Fritz says this is basically a draw with only a tiny edge for white; practically speaking white can drum up some nasty threats though so I'm not sure I agree, but none the less it is clear this was black's best move] 25.Bd4 [F also suggests 25.Re1 ] 25...Rc7 26.h5 continuing with the plan; I think the computer struggles to evaluate the game because of the type of position and black has a difficult defensive task 26...Qe8?! inaccurate according to F. It is visibly unnatural; I presume I felt forced into this move looking through various possibilities, but if I had kept my cool there would have been more chance of holding the position [26...Rd7 is the best move according to F] 27.Re1 I am quite proud of how I defended so far against a strong opponent who has been pushing a material advantage in a jiu jitsu kind of way, but my following move is a mistake 27...Bc8? The primary proble of this is now the light diagonal is not occupied by the black bishop and white can put the queen on e4; this was a bad positional slip [27...Qd8 28.Bc2 (28.h6?! g6 29.Be3 Rd7 F says black is slightly better) 28...Rd7 black is pretty solid] 28.Qe4! f5 appears to be the best option for black 29.Qxf5 exf5 30.Rxe8 Kf7 31.Re3 g6 32.hxg6+ hxg6 after 28.Qe4 black's play has pretty much played the best moves under the circumstances and white still has a job to do in order to win 33.Kf1 Bg7 [F suggests 33...Rd7 and maybe keeping all the material on - the bishops in particular, is the best plan for black] 34.Bxg7 Kxg7 35.f4 Kf6 36.Bd3 Bb7 37.Be2 Rh7 at least trying to present white with problem to make his job difficult (Fritz only evaluates this +0.65 so I had done well to salvage this position despite the original loss of a pawn in the middle game when things looked very unpleasant for black. Of course black could have played better in that middlegame and played on to draw. Fritz does not criticise any of the moves from either player in the endgame hitherto. It seems to me in this example and in other games, oftentimes the more moves are made in an endgame, the more it benefits the side trying to draw and the advantage can slowly reduce, (another example is my game against Andy McDougall in the Hampshire Congress where I also went down a pawn in the middlegame but the evaluation started to get closer to a draw in the endgame) after a while. 38.Rh3 Rd7 [F seems to prefer 38...Re7 ] 39.Rd3 Re7?! a mistake according to Fritz [39...Rg7 e.g. 40.Rd6+ Ke7 41.Rd2 Kf6] 40.Bd1?! F thinks white has missed a strong opportunity [40.Rd6+ is good according to F, beating the king back; e.g. 40...Kg7 41.g3 Be4 42.Kf2 Kf7 43.b4] 40...Re4?! [40...Rg7 was more solid according to F] 41.g3 Re7 42.Rd6+! Kf7 43.Kf2 This time Mark does exactly as Fritz recommended in the note before, and now the black king is cut off 43...Be4 [apparently 43...Kg7 was more solid] 44.Bf3 [Fritz says that 44.b4 is the strongest 44...Kg7 45.Ba4] 44...Bb1 trying to cause some kind of problems for white; Fritz prefers BxB marginally [44...Bxf3 45.Kxf3 Kg7 white should win according to the computer 46.g4 Kf7 47.g5 Kg7 48.Rc6 Rb7 should be a relatively easy win for white] 45.Bd5+ Kg7 46.a3 Bc2 47.b4 Bd3? I was starting to feel pretty hopeless about any prospect of drawing, but white can win clearly after this [47...Bb3 was the way to keep playing for a draw according to Fritz, e.g. 48.b5 Bd1 49.Be6 Bc2 50.Ke3 Kh6 51.Kd4 Kh5 things could have stayed somewhat interesting] 48.Be6 Kf6?? a blunder is an already lost position; I'm not happy with it but at the same time I realised I was 99.99% sure to lose the endgame against Mark by now and lost the plot [48...Be4 49.Bd7 Kf8 50.c5 bxc5 51.bxc5 Rg7 52.Ke2 a5 53.c6 Ke7 54.Rd4 Rg8 55.c7 Bb7 56.Bb5 Rc8 57.Rd7+ Kf6 58.Kd3 Rf8 59.Kd4 Bc8 60.Kc5 Ke6 61.Rd6+ Ke7 62.Rxg6 a4 63.Ba6 Bxa6 64.Rxa6 Kd7 65.Kb6 Rc8 66.Rxa4 Rg8 67.Rd4+ Kc8 68.Rd8+ Rxd8 69.cxd8Q+ Kxd8 + -] 49.Bc8+ Kf7 50.Rxd3 All in all I was happy with how I played in this game; I feel that it was far from a total annihilation by my very strong opponent and I made him work hard to convert the positional grind into a win. There was a spectacular possibility of a fortress in the middlegame (according to Fritz but I'm still not totally convinced) and the computer insists I could have made white's task tougher in the later middlegame with some simple principled moves such as moving the rook to the open file. I also seem to have somewhat swindled the position closer to a draw than it necessarily should have been in the endgame but I'm also not 100% sure about this. In any case the level of play was quite good from both players and I think I can take some valuable lessons from this game. 01
Position after 15.Nxf4
Position after 31..Qxf2
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 Nf6 6.Nge2 e5 7.00 00 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bxf6 Fritz agreed with this 9...Bxf6 10.Nd5 Bg7 11.a4 [F suggests 11.Bh3 which looks a little odd to me] 11...d6 12.Qd2 Be6 13.c3 F isn't keen on this and gives black an edge; my idea was to control the d4 square but I guess it restricts the movement of my knights too [13.h4 in hindsight I can see that this would have been a good move] 13...Rc8 14.f4 exf4 [it was apparently better to do 14...Bxd5 15.exd5 Na5 is strong (15...Ne7 16.fxe5 (not 16.c4 exf4 17.Nxf4 Qb6) 16...dxe5 17.c4) 16.Qe3 fork of rook and queen was threatened 16...c4 positional pressure on white 17.f5 may be the best (17.dxc4 Nxc4 18.Qxa7 compicated; 17.fxe5 cxd3 18.Qxd3 Bxe5 not bad for black; 17.Nc1 exf4 18.Rxf4 a6 19.Re4) 17...cxd3 (17...gxf5 18.Rxf5 cxd3 19.Qxd3 Nc4 (or 19...Qb6+ 20.Rf2 Nc4 21.Be4 Nxb2 looks bad for white) ) 18.Qxd3 gxf5 (18...Nb3 19.Ra3 the knight is shooed sraight away 19...Nc5 20.Qe3) 19.Qxf5 Qg5 even position according to F] 15.Nexf4 this is quite pleasant for white [after the game my opponent said I should have played 15.gxf4? quoting a saying "every schoolboy knows you take with the g pawn", but I replied that after Bxd5 exd5 the f pawn is isolated and the position is horrible for white and I think he agreed. 15...Bxd5 16.exd5 Ne7 17.Be4 it isn't an immediate disaster for white but positionally horrible] 15...Bd7 This looks a bit obsessive, that my opponent is worried about losing his 'advantage' of the bishop pair [F prefers 15...Qd7 ] 16.Rf2 [F says 16.Bh3 would have been stronger. It look a bit wrong to trade off my fiachetto bishop but maybe it's good 16...Bxh3 e.g. 17.Nxh3 Ne5 18.Qe3 Qd7 19.Nhf4 F gives white just under half a pawn advantage] 16...Ne5 17.h3 Fritz doesn't like this and now gives black an edge [17.Bh3 better according to F 17...Ng4 (17...Bxh3 18.Nxh3 Ng4 19.Rff1 F still prefers white) 18.Bxg4 Bxg4 19.Ne3 Bd7 20.Nfd5 a very interesting prospect with 2 knights vs 2 bishops] 17...Bc6 An odd looking move and looks a little bit pointless [F: 17...Re8 18.Rff1 Qa5 19.b3] 18.Raf1? ridiculously I leave the a4 pawn en prise. I think I was frustrated around this time in the game as I couldn't really think of a plan [18.Ne3 would be fine] 18...b5? my opponent return the favour and doesn't take it [18...Bxa4 19.Ra1 b5 black can hang onto the pawn but at the cost of putting the bishop out of the game slightly; Fritz gives under half a pawn to black, but still black should be better here; F prefers first to play 18...h5 19.h4 Bxa4 20.Ra1 b5] 19.axb5 Bxb5 20.c4 F is not keen on this [F1 20.Ra1 a5 (after 20...a6 loses the h pawn e.g. 21.c4 Be8 22.Rxa6) 21.b3 h5 22.Qe3 about equal according to F] 20...Bd7 [F prefers 20...Be8 and I'm not sure why exactly] 21.b4 cxb4 [F says 21...a6 is better, e.g. 22.bxc5 dxc5 black has a passed pawn and defence of the d3 pawn is a bit of a liability for white] 22.Nxb4? a mistake, although it is quite hard to see that Qx is the only good move as I was worried about g5 moving the f4 knight and leaving the d3 pawn hanging if I moved the queen. [the threat to the d6 pawn is a major factor 22.Qxb4 Bc6 (e.g. 22...a5 23.Qxd6; 22...g5 the move I was worried about 23.Nh5 Nxd3 24.Qxd6 this is actually perfectly alright. Sometimes it is best to go into variations which are somewhat unclear if you judge them to be the best option based on intuition as well as analysis) ] 22...a5 23.Nbd5 Nc6 [23...Rb8 would have been a lot stronger according to F] 24.Kh2 [F 24.Ne2 looks good, heading to c3 and then maybe b5 and help] 24...a4 [24...Bd4 would be a blunder after 25.Nxg6; or 24...Rb8 ] 25.Qa2 Ne5 26.Qa3 I was happy with this move as it has three clear purposes, 1.blockading the advance of the h pawn, 2.attacking the en prise d6 pawn, 3.adding a defender to the weak d3 pawn [Fritz in typical computer fashion suggests this move with wild possibilities: 26.Rb2 g5 for example 27.Nh5 Nxd3 28.Ndf6+ Bxf6 29.Rxf6 Qe7 (or 29...Nxb2 30.Qxb2 Qe7 31.Rxd6 threatening mate on g7) ] 26...Bc6 27.Rb1 [apparently 27.Nb4 was better 27...Bd7 28.Nbd5 would be repeating moves; the position is fairly equal but maybe black is better because of the passed pawn and white weak d3 pawn] 27...Rb8? this is a mistake and turns the advantage to white; the forcing sequence means the h pawn is lost. I think both players were in moderate time trouble by now [F: 27...Re8 28.Ne3 Nd7 29.Nfd5 Bd4 etc and F gives black half a pawn advantage] 28.Rxb8 Qxb8 29.Ne7+ Kh7 30.Nxc6 Qb6?? Objectively this should lose the game without question, but as will be seen I managed to throw the win, (equally my oppoenent managed to trick me well) [Objectively black had to be prepared to give up the a pawn 30...Nxc6 31.Qxa4 Bd4 32.Rf1 for example; F gives white half a pawn advantage] 31.Nxe5 Qxf2! a very clever trick which enabled me to blunder the game. Now white has to play accurately [31...Bxe5 32.Rf3 makes it too easy for white] 32.Ng4?? Throwing away the win. At first Fritz says white is totally dead, but after processing for longer it drops the evaluation to under half a pawn. The position is so deep due to the passed pawn, threats of Rb8 Rb2 and Bd4 and white's counterplay that it is hard for the comptuer to analyse it; things should have been relatively easy after Qxd6 though by the look of it [32.Qxd6 should win without much trouble; the only definitely good move I can find; 32.Nd7 is muddy; I will try not to get side tracked on it; 32.Nf3 also loses 32...g5 33.Nd5 (33.Nh5 loses 33...Rb8) 33...Rb8 34.Nb4 Qc5 loses a piece] 32...Qe1?? apparently white is winning again after this. (Note that this whole section of the game was in at least moderate time trouble for both players before the time control). 33.Qxa4?? I was happy to remove the threat of the passed pawn, but missed a winning move [33.Qxd6 the main point being the threat of Nf6+ 33...Qa1 e.g. if this then 34.e5 h5 35.Nf6+ Kh8 (35...Bxf6 36.Qxf8) 36.d4 white is very clearly winning] 33...Bd4! I had overlooked this and realised it was bad news; this illustrates well the middle game principle of opposite bishops that attacks can be much more dangerous and harder to stop. Although the position is unclear Fritz initially evaluates only a very slight edge for black 34.h4 correct according to F 34...g5?? evaluation goes from and edge for black to a win for white 35.Nh5 good as well according to Fritz (+3) 35...gxh4 36.Nhf6+?? I'm tempted to give this three question marks as the evaluation goes from +4 to -5! A number of queen moves would win for white, as well as Kh3. Somewhat infuratingly looking at it now, there were lots of moves which would still have kept the win objectively. The main problem appears to stem from white's queen being out of the game at the moment, and the tempo should be spent on getting the queen back in the game, or a similar move [e.g. 36.Qd7 Qa5 37.e5 Bxe5 all of these positions are very sharp and there are plenty of opportunities to blunder 38.Kh3 (38.Nxe5 may give black hopes of drawing after 38...Qxe5 39.Be4+ Kh8 40.Qf5 Qxf5 41.Bxf5 hxg3+ 42.Kxg3 doesn't look very easy for white to win this endgame) 38...Bg7 39.Bd5 Kh8 40.Qf5 Qa2 41.Nhf6 Bxf6 42.Qxf6+ Kg8 43.Nxh6+ Kh7 44.Be4#; 36.Qb5 hxg3+ 37.Kh3 and white threatens Qf5+ 37...f5 38.Ngf6+ a clever tactic 38...Bxf6 39.Qxf5+! Kh8 40.Nxf6 Rf7 41.Qg6; 36.Kh3 Qd2 37.Qd7 with the idea again of going to f5; 36.Qa6 hxg3+ 37.Kh3 f5 38.exf5 Qe8 39.Qxd6; 36.c5 even this wins 36...hxg3+ 37.Kh3 Qa1 38.Qd7; 36.Qc6 hxg3+ 37.Kh3 Qa5 38.e5! letting the queen into the game on e4] 36...Bxf6?? Fritz says it is now a draw. This gives up a key component of black's attack; black's king was in no immediate danger but it was a very sharp position. [36...Kg6 it isn't easy to see this is the only move to win 37.Qd7 e.g. is mate 37...Qxg3+ 38.Kh1 Qe1+ 39.Kh2 Bg1+ 40.Kh1 Be3+ 41.Bf1 (41.Kh2 Bf4+ 42.Kh3 Qg3#) 41...Qxf1+ 42.Kh2 Bf4#] 37.Nxf6+ Kg6 38.Nd5? The evaluation changes from draw to a win for black now. Nd7 would have threatened to take the f8 rook with check which may have saved the game [38.Nd7 is unclear but maybe white can draw 38...Qxg3+ 39.Kh1 Qe1+ (39...h3 black cannot do the same thing as in the game because the f8 rook is en prise 40.Nxf8+ Kg7 41.Qa1+ wherever the king moves the queen comes in to a1; a very nice detail 41...Kxf8 42.Bf1 and white is winning) 40.Kh2] 38...Qxg3+ 39.Kh1 h3 I remember that I knew this was coming but couldn't find anything else when I played Nd5 40.Ne7+ [40.Qa2 was more resourceful, at least with an ending of N vs R, but would be none the less hopeless objectively] 40...Kh7 41.Bxh3 everything loses badly 41...Qxh3+ 42.Kg1 Qg3+ 43.Kf1 Qxd3+ 44.Kg1 Rb8 45.Qd7 Rb1+ In the critical positions in time trouble both sides blundered with evaluation shifting rapidly several times. I had got a better position and would have been a pawn up in an endgame, however my opponent played an unsound but tricky tactical idea which caused serious complications and was ulitmately successful, so it may well have been a good idea by him, (rather than trying to play on hoping to draw a pawn down). 01
No comments: GAME 035 - Oliver GillOliver Gill vs Ed Davies Fareham Congress Premier 2011
Position after 10..Nc5?
1.e4 c6 The first otb move I had made for nearly two years. My playing strength was a bit of an unknown to me as I hadn't played for so long, but I was confident in my game because of reasonable results in the games I had played previously and a feeling that my playing strength had increased slightly over the intervening years from all the incessant internet blitz playing and reading etc, so I went straight in for the open section of the tournament. In hindsight I think I probably would have played just as rustily against slightly lower graded players than I faced anyway, so being shown my errors by some strong players was probably a good way of kicking me back into form. 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 e6 6.d3 Nd7 7.Bf4?! This makes things pretty comfortable for black and I think more or less equalises. 7...e5 8.Bd2 [8.Bh2 would look visibly pants] 8...d4 9.Ne2 Qb6 [F 9...Ngf6 ] 10.000 Fritz agrees 10...Nc5? I was overconfident with what I thought was an advantageous start for me and overlook the basic analytics of the position. I think I can put this partly down to it being my first over the board game for nearly two years so I was a bit out of touch with the reality of the position. [10...Bb4 is ok 11.Qg3 Bxd2+ 12.Rxd2 g6; 10...Ngf6 is ok 11.g4 Bb4 12.Bxb4 (12.g5 Bxd2+ 13.Rxd2 Ng8 14.h4 Ne7) 12...Qxb4 13.g5 Ng8 14.h4 Ne7] 11.Qg3 Now the position is quite problematic for black and F gives white about one pawn. 11...f6 [11...Nd7 may have been better: a lame move to have to make of course, but only because it was a lame move to start with 12.f4 exf4 (12...f6 13.c3 (13.fxe5 fxe5 14.c3 dxc3 15.Nxc3 Ngf6 not great for black but he has solved some of the problems) 13...000 a) 13...exf4 is not good 14.Bxf4 dxc3 15.Nxc3 000 16.Kb1 and Rf8; not a happy position for black, white has a huge attack; b) if 13...dxc3 14.Bxc3! taking with bishop and adding to the woe of the d4 square for black 14...000 15.d4 (15.fxe5 cashing in the pawn immediately is not as good for white 15...fxe5 16.Bxe5 Nxe5 17.Qxe5 Qe3+) 15...Nh6 developing is the best chance 16.fxe5 (16.d5? would be wrong and allow 16...Nc5) 16...fxe5 17.dxe5 Nc5 black has been resourceful but it is very good for white; ) ] 12.f4 black is a long way from creating legitimate threats against the white king so white can happily open the position up and attack the black king 12...Na4? though not an immediately losing blunder, this is delusional, and a simple analysis of the continuations will show it to be futile. [12...exf4 was better; maybe I was concerned about the number of different recaptures and assumed I would lose a pawn, however all three captures on c5 allow black to castle queenside fairly soundly, although it is still exposed 13.Bxf4 (13.Nxf4 000 similarly is holding for black for now; 13.Qxf4 000 again this is alright for black for the time being) 13...000 isn't too nice but black is holding (fritz gives under half a pawn to white)] 13.b3 000? an attempt at being tricky but this was just burying my head in the sand against a strong player (rated in the 180s) [13...exf4 was much better 14.Bxf4 000 (also 14...Ba3+ 15.Kb1 (not 15.Kd2 Qa5+ 16.c3 Nxc3 when black is winning) 15...Kf7 the king is actually fairly safe for the time being on this light square 16.e5 Re8 an unclear position; the computer doesn't know what to make of it) 15.Qg4+ (15.bxa4? Ba3+ 16.Kd2 Qb4+ 17.c3 dxc3+ 18.Nxc3 Qb2+ 19.Ke1 Qxc3+ and black is better) 15...Rd7 F actually just gives white a very slight advantage here] 14.fxe5 the game is essentially over by now [obviously 14.bxa4 Ba3#] 14...fxe5 [14...Ba3+ does nothing; 14...Nc5 was a better defence 15.Qg4+ Kb8 16.Bf4 Ka8 17.Kb1] 15.Qxe5 Bd6?! [15...Nc5 16.Qf5+ Kb8 17.Nxd4 still hopeless for black; the white knight obviously would come at the cost of the black rook] 16.Qa5 a good practical move removing practically any chance of black swindling [. 16.Qxg7 a classic computer move, Fritz greedily munches the g7 pawn. There was actually no way of black objectively getting any threatening counterplay, but there is no point in white risking complications when an easy win is in hand] 16...Qxa5 17.Bxa5 Ba3+ 18.Kb1 Nb6 [18...b6 doesn't really make any difference 19.Bd2 (19.bxa4?! would have been dubious 19...bxa5 20.c3 dxc3 21.Kc2 Kc7 22.Nxc3 Rb8 23.Rb1 Nf6 24.Be2 where white's technical task is not necessarily trivial against good defence, although ultimately the win should not be a problem) 19...Nc5] 19.g3 Nh6 I think I was planning on Nc2 Nd4, Fritz prefers immediate Nf6 20.h4 I guess preventing g5, further controlling the position 20...Ng4 I stupidly thought my opponent had accidentally left a hole and allowed my knight to d6, but obviously there is a catch; even so there wasn't really anything better 21.Bh3 h5 22.Rdf1 Be7 23.Nf4 Kb8 24.Bxg4 hxg4 25.Ng6 Rhe8 26.Nxe7 Rxe7 27.Rf4 g5? 28.hxg5 Rg8 29.Bxb6 axb6 30.Rxg4 A well played game by white who easily mopped up after my overambitious opening play. I can see a lot of sketchiness and rusty play from me in this game as with the other games in this tournament, (Fareham Congress Premier 2011), which were the first otb games I had played for some time. 10
19..Rxg5 exchange sacrifice
36..d4
1.e4 I played Joe a few years ago at the same tournament but this time colours were reversed so I didn't really know what to expect. 1...c6 2.f4 d5 There are not a lot of high level games in this line but there are some examples, e.g. Short rolling it out against a lesser GM; it looks like a reasonable sideline for white. 3.e5 Bf5 [3...Nh6] 4.d4 e6 [4...Nh6] 5.Nf3 Nd7 6.Bd3 g6 Fritz is sceptial of this, preferring Nh6. I think it is fairly interesting though. [6...Nh6; 6...Bg6 is also sound] 7.Bxf5 gxf5 8.Nbd2 Material quantity and type is equal but the pawn structure is imbalanced [F seems to be keen on 8.a4 ] 8...h5 A double edged move, knowingly giving up control of the g5 square for the white knight but also giving black more space and options of using the h6 square to maneuvre the bishop and or knight [F plays 8...c5 e.g. 9.Qe2 Ne7 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Nb3 (11.Qb5+ is harmless after 11...Nc6) ] 9.Ng5 wasting no time to take advantage of the g5 square 9...Ne7 [9...Qb6 may have been better, e.g. 10.Nb3 c5] 10.Ndf3 A nice move, freeing the bishop and making sure there will 'always' be a knight on g5 if white chooses. I had a feeling I was slightly worse out of the opening so far, but was not discouraged; black can't afford to play poor moves though. 10...Bh6?! I'm not entirely convinced by my move here, and Fritz isn't keen on it either; it certainly isn't a disaster but there were probably better ways of developing [10...Qb6 looks good too e.g. 11.c3 c5 12.Qe2 Nc6; or the thematic 10...c5 11.00 (11.c3 Nc6 looks like a better method of development) ] 11.c3?! although not in any way unsound, this look too unambitious for white; there was no threat so it looks more logical to castle first. [11.00] 11...Ng6 Fritz agrees with this after 'thinking' for a while. I would have considered queenside castling here with Qb6 and 000 only the f7 pawn is depending on the king so this isn't an option yet; now black is preparing Qe7 000 as an option, and Ng6 threatens an h4 push too 12.h4?! F considers this not very good, and drop evaluation from about half a pawn to white a tiny edge for white. I guess that white wanted to prevent h4 by black and was happy to cement his knights on the g5 square. There is also a threat to the h5 pawn if the f3 knight moves but this appears not to be a problem for black [F1: 12.00 Qe7 13.Qe2] 12...Qe7 13.g3?! The third pawn move in a row from my opponent that I am sceptical of. I do not see any possible threat to white's f or h pawns so this looks like a pointless move, and Fritz actually gives black a half pawn advantage after this. [Fritz plays this 13.Be3 which continues development and is flexible] 13...f6 I was happy to unlock the squares in this way as it seems to complement my pieces which have less space than white's. I thought that on move 16 in the game variation I would be able to play Ne5 but I realised by then that the h pawn is hanging so had to play Ng4, but the position was still perfectly ok [F likes f6 but also likes 000 13...000 14.Qa4 Kb8] 14.exf6 Nxf6 15.Ne5 Nxe5 16.fxe5 Ng4 This was the line the computer gives after 13..f6. I was a bit anoyed with myself for not seeing before 13..f6 what 16..Ne5 cannot be played, but this move is none the less perfectly solid [16...Ne4 the move I originally thought would be nice for black of course can't be played 17.Qxh5+] 17.Bf4 [Fritz: 17.Qa4 a6 18.Qa5 Kd7] 17...Rg8 I had been struggling to work out how to proceed; I didn't want to castle queenside as after 00 white's king on the kingside looks a lot more snug than black's, and white doesn't have to think of a plan and can simply attack the black king. I decided I liked the look of the positional exchange sacrifice on b5 as after Rx Bx Bx px Qx, the g5 queen and g4 knight work well together and it removes a lot of the potential probles for black in dealing with threats from white's pieces if and when the king position is committed to 18.Qe2 Bxg5?! According to the computer this wasn't really sound, (the evaluation goes from dead equal to about half a pawn to black), but I was feeling 19.hxg5 Rxg5 I think Joe seemed a bit surprised by this 20.Qd2?! Objectively white should have accepted the sacrifice according to Fritz, and black now has the better endgame position, (endgame in that the pawn structure is more or less resolved and most of the minor pieces have been traded off meaning heavy piece play will be the main factor) [20.Bxg5 Qxg5 21.Qf3 Fritz says white has a 0.7 pawn advantage but it looks fairly solid for black to me] 20...Rg7 21.Rxh5 Qf7?! A weak move [it was stronger to play 21...Rh7 Maybe I overlooked the fact that white cannot double up on the h file and had to cede the file to the black queen, otherwise I cannot see how I couldn't have played it 22.Rxh7 Qxh7 23.000 000 Where black is clearly better] 22.Rh8+ Rg8 23.Rh4 [23.Rxg8+ Qxg8 was also ok for white] 23...000 24.000 Rh8 25.Rdh1 Qg7 [F plays 25...Rxh4 26.Rxh4 Rg8 but I was reluctant to give the h file up completely] 26.Bg5 Rxh4?! [apparently black should have played 26...Rdg8 27.Kc2 Rxh4 28.gxh4 This is identical to the position in the notes to move 27.gxh4 though apart from the white king and black rook position, so doesn't looks like it makes much difference, but F gives evaluation equal instead of about half a pawn to white 28...Qg6 without the rook on g8 white could play h5, so this is probably the reason (if h5 now, QxB)] 27.Bxh4?! this looks visibly incorrect compared to gxh4; the bishop is in a far less desirable position on h4 than on b5. F now gives black the advantage. [27.gxh4 is the best] 27...Rg8 A little illogical since the g file will always be impenetrable so the rook on h8 has more potential [27...Rh8] 28.Rf1 A inexplicable move to me, although there's nothing wrong with it really, it appears white is just making a waiting move [28.Qf4 maybe make a little more sense positionally] 28...a6 I can't remember exactly why I played this but it isn't bad [F suggests 28...b6 ] 29.a4 playing on the queenside is logical enough, since no progress can be made on the kingside, however with a positional disadvantage it may be unwise for white to open the position and he should perhaps be content with making waiting moves and waiting to see if black does anything 29...Kb8 30.Kb1 By this point I was happy I had increased the safety of my king with a6 and Kb8, so now I was looking for a way to advantageously open the position 30...Qg6 [F suggests 30...Qc7 but this seems slightly planless, e.g. 31.Rh1 Rh8 32.Ka2 Ka8 33.b3 Ka7 34.Kb2] 31.Rf4 this isn't a blunder [F isn't afraid of the revealed check and suggests 31.b3 and if black proceeds with this is it actually harmless and improves the position for white by improving the bishop 31...f4+?! (31...Rh8) 32.Kb2 fxg3 33.Bxg3 Nh6 34.Bf4 Nf5 F says this is equal; now white's bishop is not a bad piece like before] 31...Rh8 32.Qe2 Ka8 while no pawn moves are made, not a lot is changing in the position and time is not crucial 33.b4 A sign that things are going to get more interesting 33...Qe8 not a bad move, preparing the idea of c5. I naturally want to find a plan to proceed in the game as I have a slight positional advantage due to the better minor piece [F suggests the planless 33...Kb8 but I still want to play chess] 34.Kb2?! white should have prevented c5 by playing a5 according to Fritz [34.a5 it is doubtful how the position cannot be a draw now; I suppose black could try a long knight maneuvre like Ng4-h6-g8-e7-c8-a7-b5, but it's hard to see how this can lead to advantageously opening the position for black anyway.] 34...c5! a decent attempt at upsetting the balance and giving winning chances 35.dxc5 [35.bxc5 is similar but may be worse according to F, e.g. 35...Qxa4 36.Qc2 Qxc2+ 37.Kxc2 Ne3+ 38.Kb2 Nc4+ black has a much superior minor piece and should be able to find a plan to use this positional advantage. The following is an example line 39.Kc2 Rb8 preparing b6 40.Rf2 b6 41.cxb6 Rxb6 42.Kd3 black is dominating the positon and has the plan of threatening to queen the a pawn] 35...Qxa4 36.Rf1?? overlooking a crushing move from white [36.Rd4 was the best defence] 36...d4 after I played this move Joe offered me a draw, which I declined (a few moves earlier I had offered him a draw; perhaps I was unsure how to proceed and wanted some points on the table after losing my first two games of the day [this was the 3rd game on day two of the Hampshire Open, so I likely offered it earlier when I was in a technically slightly better endgame because I was tired and wanted to go home]). I could smell blood here but was unable to find the critical move; I believe we were both near the end of our time limits before the 40 move time control. 37.Qd3?! I was sure there was something strong here, but I was nearing critical time trouble and had to make a decision quickly (from what I recall) and although I could see dxc3+ was harmless enough I could find anything better in time that I could be sure of, (again I would hope to see Ne3 normally but after three long chess games at the end of a very long day and with time trouble, I can understand the likely reasons why I didn't see it, although I arguably should have despite time trouble and being tired as they are just excuses. [F says this is the best: 37.Rf4 but is still horrible for white 37...dxc3+ 38.Kxc3 Qa3+ 39.Kd2 Qa2+ 40.Kd3 Qb3+ 41.Kd2 Qb2+ 42.Kd1 Qa1+ Supporting Nxe5 43.Kc2 Nxe5] 37...dxc3+? missing the critical move and now white is safe from immediate slaughter again, although Fritz still gives black about a half pawn advantage [37...Ne3! 38.Rb1 dxc3+ 39.Kxc3 Qa2 40.Qxe3 (e.g. if 40.Bg5 Nd5+ is crushing 41.Kd4 (forced, unless white wanted to give up the queen), now the rook comes into play 41...Rg8 (41...Rh3; 41...Rh1) 42.Bc1 (e.g. 42.Bf4 leads to forced mate 42...Rd8 43.Bg5 b5 44.cxb6 Qf2+ 45.Kc4 Nxb6+ 46.Kc3 Na4+ (46...Rxd3+ obviously wins easily too) 47.Kc4 Rd4+ 48.Kb3 (48.Qxd4 Qc2+ 49.Qc3 Qxc3#) 48...Rxd3+ 49.Kxa4 Qa2#) 42...Rd8 is forced mate, the same variation as above) 40...Qxb1] 38.Qxc3 so here we go again; things are pretty much equal although black may have a slight positional advantage 38...Qb5 [38...Qd7 probably better] 39.Rd1 Nf2 F agrees with this move [39...Qe2+ may be worth a try trying to win and retain a pawn, e.g. 40.Rd2 Qxe5 41.Qxe5 Nxe5 42.Re2 Nc6 43.Rxe6 Nxb4 44.Kb3 Nc6] 40.Rd4 more or less forced 40...Ne4 there weren't any much better moves 41.Qd3 good move opposing black's queen 41...Qxd3 [41...Qa4 white can force a perpetual if he wants to 42.Rd8+ Rxd8 43.Qxd8+ Ka7 44.Qb6+ Ka8 45.Qd8+] 42.Rxd3 Rg8 43.Kb3 Not the best according to Fritz, giving black a slight edge [43.Rd7 e.g. 43...a5 (if 43...Nxg3 44.Bxg3 Rxg3 45.Re7 Rg6 46.Ka3 F says this is a draw) 44.bxa5 Nxc5 45.Rd4 Ne4 46.Rd3] 43...a5 F doesn't like this, giving evaluation as a draw [43...Kb8 e.g. 44.Ka4 Kc7 45.Ka5 Rf8 46.Be7 Re8 47.Bh4 Rh8 48.Ka4 it still remains to be seen how black will proceed] 44.Ka4 axb4 45.Kxb4 I was starting to get concerned about my king having trouble in the corner with the white rook coming to the a file and the bishop potentially going e7-d6 45...Rc8 [45...Rg7 the right move apparaently 46.Rd8+ Ka7 47.Rd4 Kb8 48.Kb5 Rc7 49.Rc4] 46.Be7 I was struggling to see what to do here and felt I was now worse and in danger. 46...Rc6?? I was clearly not sure if it was sound to play b6 and may have thought I would be a pawn down and possibly lose [the correct (only, as far as I can see) move is 46...b6 47.cxb6 Kb7 white cannot make anything of the extra pawn 48.Ka5 a) 48.Kb5 Nc3+ 49.Kb4 (49.Ka5 Nd5 50.Kb5) 49...Nd5+ 50.Kb5 Nc3+; b) 48.Bd8 Rc1 49.Rd7+ Kc8 50.Rc7+ Rxc7 51.Bxc7 (51.bxc7 it may look iffy for black at first sight, but actually this is a draw 51...Nxg3 52.Kc5 Ne4+ 53.Kd4 Nd2 54.Kc5 Ne4+ white can do absolutely nothing to support the promotion of the pawn as the black king controls both b7 and d7. Maybe here white can try walking all the way around to the d3 pawn via the h file, but no doubt this does not work, e.g. 55.Kd4 Nd2 56.Ke3? Nb3 57.Kf4 Nd4 58.Kg5? Nb5 59.Kf6?? Nxc7 60.Bxc7 Kxc7 61.Kg5 - + (obviously if 61.Kxe6 the black pawn queens, and white cannot queen his in time 61...f4 62.Kf7 f3 63.e6 f2 64.e7 f1Q+) 61...Kc6 62.Kf6 Kd5 63.Kg5 Kxe5) 51...Kb7 52.Kc4 Kc6 in fact here Fritz thinks black may have winning chances 53.Bd6 Kxb6 54.Ba3 Nxg3; 48...Kc6 49.Rd8 Rxd8 50.Bxd8 Kb7 51.Bh4 Nd2 52.Kb5 Ne4 53.Be7 (53.Ka5 Nd2 54.Be7 Ne4 55.Bh4 repeating moves) 53...Nxg3; 46...Kb8 is bad but not as bad as Rc6 47.Bd6+ Nxd6 forced or mate on the next move 48.exd6 looking dire for black, but with inaccurate play by white black may be able to play for a draw; 46...Ka7?? just as bad as the game move 47.Kb5 Rc6 48.Ra3+ Kb8 (48...Ra6 49.Rxa6+ bxa6+ 50.Kc6 Nd2 51.Kd7 Nc4 52.Bd6 Kb7 53.c6+ + -) 49.Bd6+ Rc7 (49...Kc8 50.Ra8+ Kd7 51.Rb8 Rc7 (51...Nxd6+ 52.exd6 Rc8 53.Rxb7+ Kd8 54.c6 e5 55.Rh7 mate or gross loss of material) 52.Bxc7 Kxc7 53.Rg8 should be an easy win for white) 50.Bxc7+ (or maybe even better 50.Re3 Kc8 51.Bxc7 Kxc7) 50...Kxc7] 47.Bd6? letting black off the hook; there was a win but this allows a draw [47.Rd8+ Ka7 48.Bd6 Ra6 (48...b6? 49.Kb5 e.g. 49...Rxc5+ 50.Bxc5 bxc5 51.Re8 Nxg3 52.Rxe6 Kb7 53.Re7+ Kc8 54.Kxc5 Ne4+ 55.Kd5 this should be an easy win for white objectively) 49.Bb8+ Ka8 50.Re8 Rc6 51.Bc7+ Ka7 52.Bb6+ Rxb6+ (52...Ka6 53.Ra8#) 53.cxb6+ Kxb6 54.Rxe6+ + -] 47...b6 my primitive brain can see it this time, due to the opportunity to immediately recapture : ) 48.cxb6 Rxb6+ 49.Ka5? [49.Kc4 Kb7 Fritz says this is drawn] 49...Kb7 We agreed a draw here, finally after a long game with some twists and turns; (and after both players had offered a draw twice at various points in the game, all but the last one declined obviously). Fritz actually gives black half a pawn now, although by now I was just happy to have not lost the game. I feel that I did quite well out of the opening and had a positional advantage, and did well to open the position and creating chances, but failed to strike when there was a killing blow and then got into difficulty towards the end of the endgame, so a pretty anoying game but good training none the less. DRAW AGREED. E.g. Fritz gives: 50.Rd4 Nc3 51.Rb4 Rxb4 52.Bxb4 Ne2 53.Kb5 Nxg3 54.Bd2 Ne4 55.Bh6 Nc3+ 56.Kc5 Kc7 57.Kd4 Nd5 58.Bc1 Kc6 59.Bh6 black can try and play on for a win but it's unclear how
No comments: Older PostsHomeSubscribe to:Posts (Atom)Blog Archive 2011(16) November(16)GAME 038 - Shan Conrad WolfBlitz games vs Baadur Jobava!GAME 037 - Mark BroomGAME 036 - Ricky VajaGAME 035 - Oliver GillGAME 034 - Joe CoburnKing + Pawn vs King EndingTwo knights mate vs 2 pawnsRook + pawn vs rook ending from tournament game.GAME 033 - Simon VenablesGAME 032 - Andy McDougallGAME 031 - Doug ButcherGAME 030 - Peter DallasGAME 029 - Lawrence Pearman2011/12 Season HithertoRecommencement 2008(9) June(2) March(7) 2007(23) September(1) August(5) July(10) June(2) April(5)
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