I missed 2 games before in this club and that day I had a certification exam in the afternoon. But I passed the exam well and though felt a bit tired I decided after some rest to go and get some distraction.
My opponent was the guy I played twice before having a +1, =1 score. He unexpectedly played e5 and again somewhat unusually went for Open variation in Ruy, here is the game. I had only one game with it, played Re1, lost, so here I decided to go for the main line – d4, though didn’t know it well. After 14. Bc2 I thought that I got some perspectives on the kingside, but with a few exact moves he neutralized it.
A few exchanges, which I felt I couldn’t avoid, followed. He thought a lot starting from the opening and had 30 minutes less than me. Finally having less than 5 minutes he offered a draw. First I refused, but when after several moves we came into a dead drawn rook endgame I decided to accept it. He had less than 2 minutes, I had about 20, so he looked nervous and it was a relief for him. The first draw was similar to this one, we had opposite colored bishops and I offered a draw in his time trouble. And when I won with a rook sacrifice the second time, he showed the sacrifice to a few other people, praising me, people usually do the opposite, showing off if they win.
So, he is a nice guy and draw was a logical result of this game, as he rightly noticed after the game, nobody had an essential advantage during the game.
January 15, 2012 at 1:29 am
You didn’t play this with a real feel for theory, but you are a strong practical player and he had not had an advantage against your White pieces, so you played strong from an unbeatable standpoint. 😉
I don’t like Bf4, since Nd4 and f4 could defend e5 if need be, and e5 is really just a blockade pawn, a thorn in your side.
You could play a4 and Na3, pressuring b5, or even play b4 first or b3 and c4, or double rooks on a-file or work for tactics off of the c or d files. Bf4 seems weak. White should be pressuring Black’s queenside.
Well, that’s my opinion. You seemed to play as if you had no real opinion about the opening, and that is probably why you only came away with a draw. If you are going to save those 20 minutes, then may as well use some more of them earlier in the game. That’s how I look at it.
Nice to see you back! 🙂
January 15, 2012 at 1:49 am
Well, Bf4 is not really weak, it’s solid, but doesn’t do anything other than build the position for the meantime. Your opponent did good job of equalizing.
Maybe h3 to prevent ..Bg4 would have given your position more chances. Either way, I believe that you would only play this position better next time. 😉
January 15, 2012 at 8:35 am
10.Qe2 0-0, 11.a4 puts the question to Black. Either that b-pawn falls, Black makes a defensive move and weakens the a-file, some sort of concession.
In the game, Black shows how to defend against reasonable looking moves by White. He defended well.
January 15, 2012 at 9:13 am
You could keep playing and likely win. He probably knows he dodged a bullet there, so who wouldn’t give you (their opponent) kudos for that? If rooks got traded, White could play for a winning king and pawn endgame. e.g. if Rd6+ Re6 RxR were allowed.
January 16, 2012 at 3:13 pm
I didn’t consider playing on the queenside. The additional time could be spent on calculation, but if you don’t see a positional idea, you will not see it in 20 minutes, I think.
He can play b4 after a4 and then after 11. cxb4 Nxb4 I don’t think Black is worse, Black’s pieces are developed well.
It should be a pawn on f4, not bishop, I can agree with that.
Yes, the position is not familiar to me and playing Open Ruy definitely requires it.
He would definitely avoid going into a pawn endgame, he is very experienced and winning this drawn endgame just on time didn’t seem like a right idea to me, at least with this guy.
January 16, 2012 at 8:23 pm
RollingPawns, you can win against that opening via endgame. 🙂
Pressure his pawns on the queenside with open files. It’s not my idea, I wish it were, it’s theory. Karpov knows how to take it down as White. Yusupov’s games as Black are often part of theory, and Karpov beat Kortchnoi against it to become world champ.
No, not simply b4, but b3 threatening b4 to undermine e4 and all that good stuff as well. Pressure it, get Black to passively defend it, then keep working into it further as Black gets into zugzwang. White can spend time regrouping as well because Black’s problem is structural.
You will see all of the positional ideas in 20 minutes, trust me on this, but it means being minus 20 minutes later on, and that is the big problem at G/90.
Remember, you drew Shirov, drawing this player is like taking a step down for you. 😀 Think how someone like Shab*lov would feel if he drew this player as White. You want to play like Shab*lov right? 😉
The only thing is, I know that no one I play that beats me would let me draw if they had 20 minutes, and that’s usually the main reason why some of them beat me at G/90. Another 2000 rated player would have won by squeezing a win out of him in that situation, with just an endgame advantage. They squeeze a lot of wins out of equal positions, for sure.
But still, a draw was a good result, so congratulations on the draw. 🙂
January 16, 2012 at 8:46 pm
should say “but b3 threatening c4.”
I’m not even looking at the board, simply remembering a Karpov game.
January 17, 2012 at 3:20 pm
I liked your comparisons. 🙂
Yesterday I definitely played not like Shabalov, rather horribly.
Didn’t sleep well night before and had worrisome day at work, it’s an only explanation how playing with 1686 rated guy, who had a half an our less at the start because he was late, I could get from promising to lost position.
Then he, having about 6 minutes left, suddenly offered me a draw, which I accepted, of course.
January 17, 2012 at 5:19 pm
RollingPawns, a draw against almost 1700 player is still a great result! 🙂
It’s really, really, hard for someone to beat you at a game of chess. I only get on you because I want to see more of your draws become wins. 😉
If you didn’t get a whole bunch of rest before the game then you can throw the result out. I can get to the location an hour before and chill, most of the time. If I don’t get break before the game like that, then I can start inexplicably blurting out moves and play without as much patience.
January 18, 2012 at 10:17 am
RollingPawns, look at how much there is on this Open Ruy line:
http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-video-search.php?q=dennis++&s=topic_id&p=&dmin=&dmax
I’m only going through these videos because I play Black, but I had little idea there was all this recent theory. I guess I can say I’ve done some of my homework now. 😉
The best video to watch though, is his recent one on Rubinstein’s pawn endings.
January 19, 2012 at 5:48 pm
Great videos, liked them. This maybe is the least time consuming method of preparation.
January 20, 2012 at 12:20 am
The opening study seems best as some kind of subconscious reference material. The endgame video is very practical and helpful ratings-point wise. 😉
Played today against Dean. He gives me plenty of time to think, it’s not as herky-jerky as playing some of the others, clock-wise.
January 20, 2012 at 1:57 pm
I saw your game, will comment on both.
I lost yesterday to an expert, didn’t play well and was crushed in 20 moves.
Will try to post it today, for educational purposes (my).
January 20, 2012 at 9:30 pm
RollingPawns, don’t worry, I’m starting to let myself realize that G/90 is a BS time-control, mostly for fun. I really liked playing Dean the other night, always like playing him because he takes his time. 90% of my opponents are simply bum-rushing me on the clock, that is the main strategy and it detracts a bit from the enjoyment of the game. G/2 would seem like a vacation for me.
It’s difficult to win against higher-rated players at G/90, not for chess reasons so much, but because their thought process is so efficient and compact. Even if they make second-rate moves, they never forget to “dot their i’s and cross their t’s”, and they do it relatively quickly, even if it’s seeing a few moves ahead. Weaker players will gain time by playing intuitive moves quickly, so it never gets easy against them. I have gotten better on the clock over time – my “moving average” has improved, to quote the stock-market.