I was worse, so a draw is good for me

The words in the title belong to Vladimir Kramnik,  who said that about one of his games during Dortmund 2009.

Yesterday I played with the same old guy that I played the first game in this club 4 months ago:

http://rollingpawns.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/change-of-decorations.

This game was a reversal of the first one: he played known lines, had pressure and missed the combination winning a pawn. So, Kramnik’s words here don’t mean the final position, but just all of the above, also time.  I was White, French, Tarrasch, 3…c5, here is the game.  He didn’t go for the line Karpov and Korchnoi played – 4. exd5 exd5 with isolated pawn, instead – 4…Qxd5.

I remembered only first 7 moves, then had to play on my own.

He played that line with White a year ago, so was more familiar.

The queens got exchanged pretty soon.  I missed the point where I could get the initiative due to a few passive moves that he made.  Soon I got under pressure and we both missed 25. … Bxf2+, where he was winning a pawn.  He had more time than me right from the opening, then difference increased, so we had at some moment something like 30 vs. 55 minutes. I managed finally to get a position with  R+N vs. R+N, where I had 2 pawns vs. 1 on queenside and 3 vs. 4 on kingside. I didn’t hurry to create a passed pawn because I thought it can be weak due to a presence of his king and can be lost. Some kind of dynamic equilibrium arised, he offered draw when I had 15 minutes vs. his 30, I agreed. Fritz offered 42. c5, then moving passed pawn, but in a few shootouts I ran between Fritz and Crafty this pawn was eventually lost and all the games ended in a draw.

I was pretty happy with the result, especially taking into account how bad I am playing in this tournament.

 

After knockout II

Another game reminding me the past one,  also loss to essentually lower rated player in 28 moves:

http://rollingpawns.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/after-knockout/

This time it wasn’t the result of unexpected/unknown opening.

Vice versa,  I prepared to this opening, knowing that about half of my possible

opponents play Nc3 in French. I prepared to Steinitz, went through my 2 OTB games, also looked at some GM games. But when I got the main Boleslavsky variation  - 7. Be3

( here is the game), I realized that I didn’t get a good look at it  (and never played it before) and didn’t go into details of  the Karjakin-Carlsen game played 2 days ago where Carlsen won against this variation.  Nevertheless I was OK after the opening and even won a pawn. Then something very unexpected started to happen.

I knew that I should refrain from castling kingside, as I can get under attack. I wanted to prevent f5, so I played 17… g6. After 18. Ng5 I didn’t like the possible sac Nxf7 with f5 following, so I decided to castle. Fritz says that 18… Qb6 would diffuse that threat. After 19. Qg4 I thought that the knight is dangerous, wanted to exchange it by 19… Bxg5, but hesitated and decided to play Nc6.  20. f5 was shocking and though Bxg5 was still OK, the whole line that I calculated – 20…Bxg5 21. Bxg5 Qe8 defending e6 was bad, also I played it quickly, then realized that my rook is trapped.

21… Qb6 was again saving the day, leaving him with 0.8.

After f6 and Rf4 I got a very bad feeling that I will probably lose the game. That was right, I resigned a few moves later after the thematic queen sacrifice.

Funny, that I made the same sac about a year ago.

I want to draw serious conclusions out of this game.  I knew he plays Ruy/Chigorin,  so I could play  1… e5 and definitely won’t lose, especially if I would get my Marshall. Still, I don’t want to give up French just because I couldn’t defend properly.  I could have learned, of course, that Qb6 is a typical move in this variation (it’s actually a typical French move).  And again I hurried to make a prepared move, forgetting about the principle that I mentioned in the previous post – spend 15% of the time looking at the final candidate.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Back to the future

After my game last week,  I, being upset by the blunder, started to analyze my games.

I got even more upset after that.  I found, that in the 1st tournament in the new club

I made a mistake, allowing simple tactics 1,  lets say 1.5  times (second wasn’t very simple) in 5 games,  my performance rating was ~2100. In the 2nd tournament same in 3 out of 6 games, PR = ~1900. In this tournament 2 out of 2, PR = ~1700.

I made a little research and found some interesting stuff from Dan Heisman.

He says that 1200 rated guy makes 4 mistakes (allowing simple tactics) per game, 1600 – 1 , 2000 – 1 in 4 games, 2400 – 1 in 16. It correlates very well with my stats. He offers some advice with regards to this. First, when you choose finally the move out of a few candidates, don’t make it right away. Spend at least 15% of the time, that you spent before on all candidates, just checking this move: checks, captures, threats. Also, he says, a lot of tactics that people solve easily doing exercises, they do not see right away at the board. He says, I see much more patterns than my students without checking and calculating, like we see back rank mate.  I looked again at my last games and I found:

fork, trapped piece, removing of guard, pin, discovered attack, double attack – 2 of each.

So, using the first letters, I got – FTRaPeDD or f&#@ing trapped!

I decided during my next game to repeat that last sentence before each move.

Yesterday  I  got a pairing with the boy,  judging by his look, first moves, etc. rated ~1600.  It wasn’t far, after the game I found he was rated ~1550.

I was White, Ruy Lopez, Chigorin variation, here is the game. The guy played fast the first 10 moves, then played unusual to me 11. … Nd7.  Though I didn’t quite like it,  it’s actually a second line, Keres played it a few times. Anyway, his 14th move was out of book and on 15th he made a mistake.  I said my motto and saw that he loses a pawn. I got an attack on the kingside and on move 26 he made a decisive mistake.

On move 29 I missed a possibility of mate in 3 – Qg3!, it was a mating pattern with bishop on a1-h8 diagonal and knight, mating on h6. Anyway, after 11 moves the mate was inevitable and the guy resigned.

 

It’s a long way to the top

It’s from the song of my favorite AC/DC:

It’s a long way to the top

If you wanna rock ‘n’ roll

I played in the club yesterday, with the master.  It wasn’t expected as he didn’t play in the 1-st round, but he just entered with the bye. Anyway, another master, I am Black, the Center Game - 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3,  here is the game.

I played against it once in a big tournament a year ago,  chose plan with castling queenside – same as White to avoid an attack of pawn majority and it worked well,  I missed a win and drew.  So, same plan here.  Some exchanges arised,  I wanted to avoid queens exchange and played not the best move. Later I had to do it anyway in order to weaken attack on the queenside.  He was spending a lot of time trying to strengthen his position, my pieces were passive,  but I didn’t see any weaknesses. He didn’t use my mistake 23…h5, and then it came a moment when I could intercept the initiative.

I saw the moves 27. … f6 and 28… Ne5, but I didn’t want his knight on e6,

didn’t realize he doesn’t have time to get there. He advanced his “c” pawn and

got a possibility to create a passed pawn. I decided to exchange rooks, didn’t want

his rook getting on 7th row somehow. It was a mistake.

Only with a precise play I could draw that ending with the same-colored bishops.

After his advance d6 I had to play c6 to close up the position and I would probably play

cxd6, which after Kxd6 loses very quickly. Anyway, I was too concentrated on the kingside, started to look at the clock – 25 minutes vs. his 12, and made a mistake (which I saw right away), missing a discovery attack and pawn on b7.

After that it became the matter of technique. My opponent suggested that f6, Ne5 moves would get me a good position.  He said I played well and he didn’t get anything out of the opening.

 

All screwed up II

My game yesterday reminded me the game that I played 8 months ago:

http://rollingpawns.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/all-screwed-up/

A boy also rated 300 lower,  not the best shape of mine  (though different reason – I

slept 2 hours the night last but one before the game playing this %^&*$#@ blitz on FICS and less than 7 hours of sleep next night didn’t compensate that)  and decisive mistake in the endgame missing the win.

I’ll call it reboot of  ”All screwed up” (in mass media it means to a discard much or even all previous continuity in the series and start anew with fresh ideas – bad ideas in this case ).

So, I was White, Sicilian,  my favorite Moscow variation, here is the game.

I played fast in the familiar position (10 minutes for the first 15 moves), too fast and missed winning an exchange on move 15 , though Fritz doesn’t think much of it (I am leaving my opponent with a strong dark-colored bishop). Then on the next move I really missed winning an exchange with 16. Nd5 with an estimate ~3.  It wasn’t that obvious though. Then his 21. Na5 looked wrong to me, and I saw winning 2 pieces for a rook and pawn. I was afraid of the move 25… Qd4, but he missed it, still Fritz evaluates it as 1.18. During the next moves my advantage grew and we go into the endgame with him having 2 rooks vs. my rook and 2 minor pieces. I tried to win his weak pawn, at the same time didn’t want to let his rook on the second row and here I made a bad mistake, allowing him to win my pawn with a simple strike. I think I had less than 15 minutes on the clock at that time, he had about the same. Fritz drops the evalution from ~4 to 0.  Still later there was a moment when if I would play differently - 60. Nf5 I could win his rook for the passed pawn and get K+N+B vs. K endgame. The thing is I have very remote idea how to mate, except that I should force his king into the corner of the same color as the bishop. Having 5 minutes left I am not sure I would win.

Strange, but I am not very upset, the game was very educational from the opening to the endgame, so I’ll try to get maximum out of it.

 

Rook + Knight vs. Rook

I recently played an interesting endgame. After not playing very well, I was without piece, but managed to exchange all the pawns.  The game went into rook + knight vs. rook endgame. It’s a draw, but there are a few examples where the stronger side won. You should keep your king away from the corner, your rook far to avoid forks and be able to give checks and pin enemy’s knight.  Here is one famous example of win, Polgar vs. Kasparov, Polgar blundered on move 79:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070866

Here is another example: Onischuk – Dominguez Perez, 41st Festival GM Biel SUI, 2008

 

Onischuk has handled the position flawlessly for 34 moves.
Now comes the catastrophe: 88.Rd7??  Allows mate in eight! 88…Kc2 89.Ka3 Nc6 90.Ka4 Rb4+ 91.Ka3 Rb5 and White will be mated in four more moves.

Here is my game,  I tried to stay out of the trouble and finally my opponent repeated the moves.

 

Sweet revenge

Another game on Thursday, against guy rated 1766.
When I saw the pairings I got a bit angry, because I lost to this guy in summer tournament.  It was a very painful loss, I didn’t even post the game:
http://rollingpawns.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/another-milestone/ , game 4.

So, I was White, Sicilian, Moscow variation and a new line – 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7.  Here is the game. Funny that I prepared that line against one 1600+ guy I thought I’ll play with. I played fast, and got advantage in time. My positional advantage was clear,  but I didn’t see 18. Bxf6, then made another not very good move 21. Nb5 and by move 29 we went into the endgame B+N vs. B+N, with me having “c” and him “a” passed pawns.
On move 38 I thought about sacrificing a pawn – 38. Kd3 Ne1 39. Kd4 Nxg2, but didn’t see a clear advantage and played it safe. Fritz didn’t like much that sac. Then the guy made a crucial mistake 41… Nc4 not seeing my bishop sacrifice. In a few moves he was without a piece and could simply resign not playing until move 60, when mate in 3 was coming.

 

When Fritz is quiet

I played my regular G/90 and got a master.  I was Black and the result was a draw. Here is the game. In the opening he didn’t let me play what I wanted,  so I chose King’s Indian. I played it a long time ago,  so extracted it from my memory.  Surprisingly,  the first 10 moves were theory. I wanted to take on c4 on move 11, then suddenly disliked his bishop on c5 and played Rc8. But Fritz would play Nxc4, since there is no Bxa7 because of b6. Then he sacrificed or blundered the exchange. I asked him after the game if he saw Bh6 getting the exchange back and he said he didn’t,  so go figure.  I tried to simplify the position without getting it worse. 25… e6 was forcing rooks exchange unless he wanted to sacrifice a knight by 25. Qh6.  I saw that move,  but didn’t see anything more than perpetual.  He played exactly Qh6, I checked again that defending is not good – if Kg8 or Qg8 then  Nxf6!, that there is no danger of getting mated and took the knight. As with the exchange I don’t know what was he thinking – maybe try to attack, having perpetual in the pocket or just draw, though he thought some time making moves 27 and 28, then offered a draw. Needless to say I felt really happy.  The guy is not having a good tournament, still I think I played well.  Fritz was OK with all my moves, though would play differently a few times.

 

Pressing the wrong buttons

Another game on Thursday, I was White against guy rated 1937.  His rating exceeded 2000 on November 1,  then went down. I was worse most of the game, battled and missed my “golden bullet” – forced win shown me by my opponent after the game and “silver” one too – a draw 2 moves after that. Here is the game.
He played Pirc defense, opening I don’t know well and don’t like to play against.  My 6th move was not the best, with 2 losses for White in DB.  The best plan was probably to castle queenside, but I wasn’t ready for that.
I tried to make the play similar to the play in Rossolimo with exchanged bishop, stable center and attack on the kingside. I got worse after missing 18… Ng4, when because of Qb6+ threat I had to put for exchange my black-colored bishop.
After 22. Ng5 Bf6 23. Nf3 Bg7 I played 24. Ng5 thinking about Bf6 and possible 3-fold repetion, but I forgot that before move 22 bishop was on h8, so Bh6 with a pin was unexpected. I found a way to minimize my losses, losing a pawn.
He had less time than me and with my position being worse I decided to play sharp and try to get him into time trouble.  Pawn sacrifice ce on e4 was correct, but on e5 wasn’t.  Still he did’n make the exact moves and my knight went on e5 for 3 pawns.
A bit later his 40…Kf8 could cost him a game. I didn’t see 41. Re8+! and then I missed a draw after 43. Ke3!.  After he managed to exchange the queens, I found myself in completely lost endgame with him having about 2 minutes (I had about 5).  I played to the bitter end and he mated me with 1 minute remaining.

 

“He who doesn’t risk never gets to drink champagne.”

It’s an old Russian proverb.

Another game in the club, regular G/90.

It wasn’t one of the guys I expected, but still ~1500 rated.

This is a pairing you get when you are in the last quarter of the table.

Due to my standing and his rating I felt like my back was up against the wall,

I had to win no matter what.  Here is the game.

It was crazy,  I made a few risky moves,  couldn’t calculate all the lines and just relied on my gut feeling.

He started Nf3, I was able to transpose it to Benko gambit. After some positional play on the queenside I finally made the move similar to the one I didn’t make in the last game – 21…Nd3, at least I had 1 hour left. By the way Fritz approves this move and doesn’t like his exchange after that. He missed a fork after 23. Re3, but I couldn’t imagine all the complications I was getting into after winning the exchange.  Fritz by the way in no hurry to make that fork. I wanted to play 26…Rc5, but didn’t like 27.b4. Fritz says Rc5 is good and gives a line proving it (see the comment). I attacked with 27…f5, then some not the best moves from both sides followed. I played e4 one move later than should,  giving him the only opportunity to get advantage (there could be a pretty nasty endgame for me), but 31. Nbd4 was not easy to find, he made a mistake giving advantage to me, which I almost lost by playing ”strong” move 32…Ne3, but then he missed mate in 3.

I was happy to win and it was a first win with Benko after 2 draws with higher rated opponents when I didn’t use all my chances.