Match v. K.

Me and K decided to have a 6-game rated active match. It didn't start off too good for me. I will annotate the games after the match lest i give away some ideas

C - K
D36 - Queen's Gambit Declined : Exchange, 6.Qc2
Match Owen Sound (1), 03.05.2008

This was my favourite game of the match, despite the result 1.d4 d5 A good choice by Kirk, avoiding the French. He was pretty sure I wasn't going to allow him to play the Cambridge Springs, so he could count on the QGD 2.c4 e6 [If he tried to get into the Semi-Slav via 2...c6 I was going to play 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.cxd5 and either get a great Slav Exchange or play a QGD Exchange with Nf3] 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.Qc2 Be7 7.e3 g6?! Normally this is played with the inclusion of Nf3 so after [7...g6 8.Nf3 Black can play 8...Bf5 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 etc.;
7...Nbd7;
or 7...0-0 are theory. The position almost ends up like a Grünfeld with Bg5, e3 etc. It's interesting. I wonder if Kirk will try to improve him move order next time.] 8.Bd3 0-0 [8...Nbd7 has been played by a couple of people including Tom O'Donnell;
The immediate 8...Nh5 is not good because of 9.Bxe7 Kxe7 (9...Qxe7 10.Nxd5 cxd5 11.Qxc8+) 10.Nf3 and so on] 9.Nge2 Played with the wrong intentions. This should have been played with the intention of castling kingside, playing f3 and e4 etc. Instead I wanted to keep the option of kingside castling open. [9.Nf3 was just as good. I don't have to play the QGD EXchange without Nf3] 9...Nh5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Ng3? [Not the best move in the world. King safety should have been higher on my list 11.0-0 ] 11...Nxg3 [During the game I thought that 11...Nf4 was good with something along the lines of 12.0-0 Nxd3 13.Qxd3 sure it takes a few moves, but his position is okay] 12.hxg3 Bg4 13.Ne2 Again with the intention of castling, but I get greedy [13.Kd2 may have been okay, not worrying about castling at all, but i was worried about an eventual ...c5 and opening all the lines to my king] 13...Nd7 14.f3 Qxe3!? [I thought that getting tempo with 14...Be6 ;
or something like 14...Qb4+ 15.Qd2 Qxd2+ 16.Kxd2 was forced. I've got to look wider] 15.fxg4 Rfe8 16.Qd2 [16.Kd1 getting rid of the pin was good] 16...Qxg3+ [16...Qxd4 was probably as good, gettign rid of a central pawn and leaving me with the Irish pawns

Now my king being in the center (and the queen being on the king's safest square d2) i'm in trouble. But so is his king, it's a race to see who gets mated first] 17.Kd1 Qxg4 18.Kc2? [To connect rooks but 18.Qh6 allowing my king to get to d2 (which i missed) was a lot better 18...Nf6 19.Kd2] 18...Nf6 19.Raf1 I thought I was in good shape here 19...Ne4 20.Qh6 Ng5 21.Kc3? [21.Rf2! was the move because it overprotected everything allowing me to trap his queen. the threat is 21...-- 22.Rh4 Qe6 23.Qxg5 and so on. I didn't even look for quiet moves. I wasn't ready for this game] 21...c5 22.Rf4 cxd4+ 23.Rxd4 Rac8+ 24.Kd2?? [I was in time trouble, but this was still exactly the wrong move 24.Kb3 because my rook controlled the entry file 24...Qxg2 25.Rh2 and I'm set 25...Qf1 (25...Rxe2 26.Rxg2 Rxg2 is best according to Fritz) 26.Qxg5] 24...Rxe2+ 25.Bxe2 Qxd4+ 26.Ke1 Rc1+ Nicely played game by Kirk. Taking advantage of what I gave him. I had a bit of time trouble but didn't look hard enough when it needed looking. I thought far too hard (and long) about responding to 9. ...Nh5. I didn't realize that d2 was the safest spot for my king until i looked at the game after

In the next game I am going to start with 1.c4 and transpose back into the same line. I won't be so worried about playing Nf4 and will probably play 9.Nf3 this time 0-1


K - C [B22]
B22 - Sicilian : Alapin variation
Match Owen Sound (2), 03.05.2008

1.e4 c5 2.c3!? [A big surprise. I got cautious. Normally he had played (and I had readied myself for) 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 et al. I knew I had to be careful because he normally sticks to his repertoire] 2...d5 [Because I was nervous I decided to play this instead of my usual 2...Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 thinking something was up. Something was up but unfortunately it was in this line 5...Nc6 6.Nf3 d6 7.Bc4 Nb6 8.Bb3 d5 is a line. i will check out others] 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 e6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Na3! This was something specially prepared by Kirk. Good for him I said. 6...cxd4 [6...Qd8 is the main line, but I didn't want to waste a tempo. This actually looks better for White. Crazy. It tranposes back to a 1.e4 c5 2.Na3 game with 7.Nc2 Tiviakov has made a living out of this line. Do I look for an improvement earlier?] 7.Nb5 Na6 8.Qa4!? Another interesting move by Kirk. He brought his creativity if nothing else 8...Qe4+? [I couldn't make this work after something like 8...Bd7 9.Qxd4 (9.Qxa6 Qe4+ Of course! Intermezzo. Dammit) 9...Bc5 was much better] 9.Be2 Bd7 10.Qxd4 Bc5 11.Nc7+ [11.Qxc5 Nxc5 12.Nd6+ may have been good if he really wanted to get the queens off] 11...Nxc7 12.Qxc5 Na6 [A more active move was 12...Ncd5 ] 13.Qe5 0-0 14.0-0 Qc6 15.Bh6 Qd5 I'll have to look at this move order after 16.Qxd5 Nxd5 17.Bxa6 bxa6 and he's better 18.Bd2 Rab8 19.b3 Rfc8 20.c4 I was mentally defeated here, playing stupid moves, but i couldn't find any play. 20...Nf6 21.Rfe1?! [21.Rfd1 would've taken care of what few chances i have] 21...Bc6 22.Ne5 Be4 23.Bg5 Bg6 24.Bxf6 gxf6 25.Nd7 i missed this. Now in addition to a terrible, passive position i am down a pawn 25...Rb7 26.Nxf6+ Kg7 27.Ne4 Rd8 28.f3 [28.Nc5 would've made doubling up on the d-file impossible 28...Rb6 29.Rad1 looks good] 28...Rbd7 29.Rac1 [29.Kf2 would've saved the day] 29...Bxe4= [29...Bxe4= Kirk offered a draw but Fritz thinks overwise. Let's see 30.fxe4 Rd2 31.Ra1 Rb2 32.Red1 works. darn it 32...Rxd1+ 33.Rxd1 Rxa2 34.Rd7 Rb2 35.Rxa7 Rxb3 36.Rxa6 Rc3 37.Rc6 Kf6 even still this would have taken some finesse.

For next game I will have to decide whether to try this line again, or to play the Alekhine-esque 2. ...Nf6.

But the real question is do i find a line of the Bayonet which I think i will like? That's probably the best thing i can do for round 4.] ½-½