Sunday, March 19, 2006

Sunday Afternoon G/60

NN - C.
Sunday Afternoon G/60 (1), 19.03.2006
D94 - Grünfeld, 5.e3


We threw a three-round tournament on the weekend. We had 17(!) people show up so it was a little crowded at the Farmer's Market. I shouldn't have gone into such a sharp position but I decided to regardless. We played this game between the first and second rounds because I had a bye the first game and his mother said they had to leave at 12:30 so we tried to get a game in between. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 [Hoping for a Slav or something. Not sure why I didn't just play 2...b6 ] 3.e3 g6 4.c4 Transposing to a quiet Grünfeld 4...Bg7 [Another option is 4...c6 ] 5.Nc3 0-0 [I could've played 5...c6 here as well, but I wanted to get ...c5 in one move (thank you Jonathon Rowson)] 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.e4?! [So I'm in an exchange Grünfeld (which doesn't exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy) but a tempo up. 7.Bc4 may be better ] 7...Nxc3 8.bxc3 c5 9.Be2 Nc6 10.Be3 Bg4 11.e5 I've always wondered about pushing this pawn instead of the d-pawn in the Grünfeld. 11...cxd4[11...Qa5 was also playable, but after 12.Bd2 ah of course (Stronger is probably 12.0-0 Qxc3 13.Rc1 Qa3) 12...Rad8 , trying to take advantage of the fact he hasn't castled.] 12.cxd4 Rc8 13.0-0 b6? The beginning of a bad plan. I should have either tried to lever his pawn chain with [13...f6;
or allowed the rooks to be connected 13...Qd7 . My idea was that I wanted to get my knight to d5 for some reason] 14.h3 Bxf3? [Giving up the bishop pair. 14...Be6 was stronger, but I'm dogmatic and i don't like having my bishop in front of my pawns. I know, I know, if I'm dogmatic why am I playing the Grünfeld?] 15.Bxf3 e6 To allow my knight to get to d5 via e7 16.Qa4 This seemed strong to me 16...Na5? [16...b5! was a strong rejoinder because of 17.Qxb5 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 Qxd4 19.Rad1 Qxe5 20.Qxe5 Bxe5 and I'm up a clean pawn;
16...Qd7 was okay too] 17.Rfc1 Qe7 Not immediately losing, but setting up a tactic 18.Bd2 Rxc1+? [18...Qh4 may have been better, then i'm actually threatening something] 19.Rxc1 Rd8 20.Bb4 Qg5 21.Qa3 Rxd4? [I probably shouldn't have gone after the pawn and played 21...Bf8 22.Bxf8 Rxf8 instead, but my opinion is that if I can't see the immediate loss i'm taking the pawn so...] 22.Be7! Qxe5 23.Rc8+ Bf8 24.Rxf8+ [24.Bxf8! was better] 24...Kg7 25.Qe3? [25.Qe3? and I resigned even though 25...Qxe3 26.fxe3 Rd7 is playable, i do have 2 pawns for the piece and the e-pawn is hanging. Not a very good game by me.] 1-0

C - NN
Sunday Afternoon G/60 (2), 19.03.2006
E24 - Nimzo-Indian : Samisch Variation

1.d4
I had planned on playing 1.e4 before this tournament, but last time we had a tournament my opponent had this "how-to" openings book and it recommended a bad line against my f3 Nimzo, so I figured I'd try it against him. 1...d5!? A surprise already 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4!? Theoretically this is not as good as other moves because it transposes into a bad Samisch variation (as what I play). I realize that it was even played by Vallejo in Linares this year but I don't care for it 4.a3 [4.Nf3 would transpose to the Ragozin variation instead] 4...Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 Nf6 6.cxd5 [The Bacrot-Vallejo game continued 6.e3 0-0 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 c5 9.Ne2 Bg4 10.f3 Bh5 11.Nf4 Bg6 12.Be2 Nc6 13.h4 h5 14.0-0 Ne7 15.dxc5 Qa5 16.Nxg6 fxg6 17.Rb1 Qxc5 18.c4 dxc4 = ½-½, but I found e3 to be a difficult development of the bishop, particularly with the pawn on a3. In my line I get the bishop pair and get rid of the doubled pawns;
6.f3 would transpose to my f3 line] 6...exd5 [6...Nxd5 7.Qc2 f5 looks interesting] 7.Bg5 [7.e3 again is playable] 7...0-0 [7...c5 was Botwinnik-Kotov in which Kotov had a nice finish 8.f3 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.e3 0-0 11.Ne2 Re8 12.Kf2 Qe7 13.Qd2 Nd7 14.Nf4 Nf6 15.Bd3 Bd7 16.h3 Qd6 17.Rhb1 b6 18.Bf1 Re7 19.a4 Rae8 20.Re1 c4 21.g4 g5 22.Ne2 Rxe3 23.Ng3 Qxg3+ 24.Kxg3 Ne4+ 0-1. I decide to go on a mad hunt for a pawn which I probably should have been punished for] 8.e3 Bf5 9.Qb3 Trying to exploit the undefended b-pawn and the underdefended d-pawn. 9...b6 [9...Nbd7 10.Qxb7 c5 may be better, trying to take advantage of my lack of development] 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 [This loses a pawn but I wonder if 10...gxf6 was better? I doubt i] 11.Qxd5 So now I'm up a pawn but he is almost fully developed. If Fritz played Fritz it would probably be a draw, at club level pawn grabbing can pay off (I didn't learn my lesson from last game) 11...Nc6 [I wonder if kicking the queen with 11...c6 was better] 12.Bb5 Ne7! Gaining tempo on the queen 13.Qb3 a6 [Takign up space with 13...c5 may have been better] 14.Be2 Qg5 15.Bf3 This is still gonna be awkward development for me. 15...Bg4? [An unsound exchange sack. I wonder if tempoing my queen (again) with 15...Be6 16.Qc2 Rad8 would have been better] 16.Bxa8 Rxa8 17.Nf3! I was happy with this move 17...Qd5? [Terrible, down material and wanting to trade off queens. Better was 17...Bxf3 18.gxf3 Qh5 and I could've either tried 19.Ke2 (or 19.f4 . Being down material he has to try to keep as much wood on the board as possible) ] 18.Qxd5 Nxd5 19.Ne5 Bf5 I wouldn't figure out a way to get e4 in 20.c4 [20.g4 was something else I was thinking about, and as dangerous as his pieces got after c4, this was probably the better choice] 20...Nc3 21.Kd2 Ne4+ 22.Ke2 Nc3+ 23.Kf3?! Not as strong as going back to the back rank, but the idea of Kd2 in the first place was to unite my rooks...plus i'm up material ;) 23...Be4+ 24.Kg3 f5? I think he pushed the f-pawn one square too far, my knight is the best piece on the board easily. 25.f3 Rf8? [It's hard to suggest good moves here. 25...Bb7 may have been better, but I can understand why he didn't want to play passively] 26.fxe4 Nxe4+ 27.Kf3 g5 28.h3 [28.g4! was better] 28...h5 29.g4 h4 30.gxf5 Ng3 31.Kg4 Sure I'm running out of squres, but I'm up a whole rook so I can sack back the exchange and grab his pawn. 31...Rxf5 32.Ng6 [Too transparent a threat. Maybe 32.Rhg1 was better] 32...Kg7 33.Ne5 Kf6 34.Rhg1 Ne4 Now he's actually threatening something 35.Nd3 Nd2 36.c5 Kg6 37.Rad1 Nf3 38.Ne5+ Stopping the mating net. It's just mop up from here 38...Nxe5+ 39.dxe5 Rxe5 40.cxb6 cxb6 41.Rd6+ Kf7 42.Rxb6 Rxe3 43.Rxa6 Kg8 44.Rb1 Re7 45.Kxg5 Kh8 46.Rbb6 Rg7+ 47.Kxh4 Kg8 48.Rg6 So I ended up 1-1. Lost some points. Kirk scored 2/3 with his only loss v. FM Hans Jung so he was pretty satisfied. 1-0

1 comment:

Craig said...

my opponent sent me his comments to the game

D30 Queen's Gambit Declined

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 Nf6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bg5 o-o 8.e3 Bf5 9.Qb3 b6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Qxd5 Nc6 12.Bb5 Ne7 13.Qb3 a6 14.Be2 Qg5 15.Bf3 Bg4?
(should have played 15...Rad8 leading to 16.Qc4 c5
17.Qxa6 Qg6 18.dxc5 Qf6
which only loses two pawns)

16.Bxa8! Rxa8 17.Nf3 Qd5?(knowing the cardinal rule that if you're
down in material you should avoid exchanges I should have played
17...Bxf3 leading to 18.gxf3 Rd8 19.Ke2 Qh5 20.c4 Nf5 21.Rad1 which
allows me to keep my strongest piece and removes white's last minor piece forcing white to weaken his pawn structure. I needed to create as many weakness' as possible in whites camp to try and put him in the defensive.)

18.Qxd5! Nxd5 19.Ne5 Bf5 20.c4 Nc3 21.Kd2 Ne4+ 22.Ke2 Nc3+ 23.Kf3
(slightly better was 23.Ke1) Be4+ 24.Kg3 f5? (I knew whites knight
was a monster that I needed to get out of there, I guess I just wasn't thinking. Better was 24...f6 leading to 25.Nf3 Bd3 26.Nd2 b5 27.c5 a5
28.Kh3
)

25.f3 Rf8?(Better was 25...Bb7 leading to 26.Rhe1 Na4 27.Rac1 a5
28.Re2 Re8 29.Kf4
which results in no captures)

26.fxe4 Nxe4+ 27.Kf3 g5 28.h3 h5 29.g4 (slightly better was 29.h4)
h4? (Better was 29...Nd2+ leading to 30.Kg2 f4 31.exf4 Rxf4 32.Rad1
Rxd4 33.gxh5
which wins two pawns for two pawns)

30.gxf5 Ng3 31.Kg4 Rxf5 32.Ng6 (Better was 32.Rhg1 leading to
32...Rf2 33.Kxg5 Kh7 34.Ng4 Rf3 35.Rae1 Nf5 36.Nf6+ Kh8 which wins a pawn)

32...Kg7 33.Ne5? (Much stronger was 33.Nxh4 leading to 33...gxh4
34.Rhg1 Kf6 35.Kxh4 Ne4 36.Raf1 Nd6 37.Kg4 c5 38.Rxf5+ Nxf5 +-
which wins a rook and two pawns for a rook and a knight)

33...Kf6?? (This was my key error, much better was 33...Kg8!)

34.Rhg1 Ne4 (Slightly better was 34...Rf2) 35.Nd3 (This move gave
me some chances for counterplay, stronger was 35.Rgf1 leading to 35...Nf2+ 36.Kh5 Ke6 37.Ng4 Nxg4 38.d5+ Ke5 39.Kxg4 Rf6 40.Kxg5 which wins a knight and a pawn for a knight)

35...Nd2? (Better was 35...Kg6 leading to 36.Nf4+ gxf4 37.Kxh4+ Kf6
38.Rg8 Nd6 39c5 bxc5
which wins a knight and a pawn for a pawn)

36.c5 Kg6 (Better was 36...bxc5 leading to 37.Nxc5 Kg6 38.Nd3 Ne4
39.Ne5+ Kf6 40.Kh5 Ke6 41.Rac1
which wins a pawn for a pawn.)

I guess at this point I was worried about breaking up my pawns, trying
to minimize the amount of weakness' in my camp)

37.Rad1 (The immediate 37.cxb6 would have been stronger leading to
37...cxb6 38.Ne5+ Rxe5 39.dxe5 Nc4 40.Kf3 Nxe5+ 41.Ke4 Nc4 42.Rgc1 b5 43.Rc3 which wins a rook and a pawn for a knight and two pawns)

37...Nf3? (Better was 37...Ne4 leading to 38.Ne5+ Kf6 39.cxb6 cxb6
40.Rb1 b5 41.Kh5 Ke6 42.Kh6 Rf8
which wins a pawn for a pawn)

38.Ne5+ (stronger was 38.Rg2 leading to 38...bxc5 39.Rf2 Nxd4 40.exd4 Rxf2 41.Nxf2 cxd4 42.Rxd4 Kf6 43.Rc4 which wins a rooks, a
knight and a pawn for a rook and three pawns)

38...Nxe5+ 39dxe5 Rxe5 40.cxb6 cxb6 41.Rd6+ Kf7 42.Rxb6 Rxe3 43.Rxa6 Kg8? (Better was 43...Ke8 leading to 44.Ra7 Rb3 45.a4 Kd8 46.Rf1
Rg3+ 47.Kh5 Ke8 48.Re1+ Kd8
which leads to no exchange of material)

44.Rb1 Re7 45.Kxg5 Kh8?? (Much better was 45...Kf7) 46.Rbb6 (
white missed a forced mate opportunity, stronger was 46.Kf6 leading to
46...Rc7 47.Rb8+ Kh7 48.Rb4 Rc8 49.Ra7+ Kg8 50.Rg4+ Kh8 51.Rxh4+ Kg8 52.Rg7+ Kf8 53.Rh8# mate)

46...Rg7+ 47.Kxh4 Rg8 48.Rh6+ Kg7 49.Rhg6+
Black resigned.

thanks for your comments