There is an expression in Russian that sounds very similar, seems like a good description of what happened. It was a first round of a new tournament. Being for the first time somewhere in the middle of the top section I expected a guy from the very top or from the very bottom. I got it from the top, it was a boy who recently progressed a lot and reached 2200 rating. I had a very good score him in the past, but it didn’t matter.
I got Black and the game from the beginning got into the right direction with him playing Ruy Lopez. I noticed that my g6 surprised him though it is a regular move and then his Bxf6 really surprised me. I didn’t quite like his Rf1, but realized that I should do something and played d5.
I rather intuitively felt that his 23. Rd1 wasn’t a good move. Fritz prefers 25… exf4 to my e4, but I didn’t want to give him the “f” vertical. His f5 and f6 showed that he didn’t evaluate the position right, continuing to attack. On move 29 Fritz likes h5, I didn’t play it because of Nxh5+ not seeing Be4.
Then I found 31… Rxd4. There is a line that I found at home, where Black should be very careful: 32. Nxd4 e2 33. Qd2 Kg8 – is the only move, g5 loses. The sacrifice actually was stronger than I thought and after him giving up the queen for the rook and knight I really started to play for a win. His time situation wasn’t good either. I knew that I just need to play accurately. In the end a mate was coming and he resigned.
July 16, 2014 at 2:18 am
Here is an example where Karolyi gives Karpov an exclam for an unprovoked Bc2 move in the Ruy:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1024542
Notice how Black has commited to this cumbersome plan of ..h6 and ..g6, and then Karpov takes this added time to play “on the edges” as I like to say, or work both wings now with b3 and c4. The fact that you outplayed your opponent positionally in this opening is an indictment of his opening choice to use against you, as The Scotch would have given him something more useful to work with initiative-wise, if his positional play in strategic openings is going to be much weaker than yours like this.
I am more afraid of the Ruy than the Scotch as Black, but this is because the Ruy requires a higher level of pure positional understanding than does The Scotch.
I am with you, I didn’t like his rook maneuvers and would have played a Nd5 plan, or at least controlled d5, with your queen on f6 like that, and then the natural outcomes is most likely a draw. I didn’t like his f4 plan at all and I think the game was over in some way, psychologically, when you played 19…Qe7! but perhaps it was even over after you played 18…d5 and he replied 19.f4? because he just didn’t want to adjust to the situation on the board and seemed to be making some insistance that he was better when his boat was getting more holes in it with many moves that followed. The Ruy just can’t be played with that type of attacker’s mentality which he exhibited.
31….Rxd4!! You found a finishing shot, very nice! 🙂 He should have resigned and not played on after this. The fact that he played on shows that he may have been in too much time-pressure to know for sure that this game was over. As a Class player, you should always play on, but he should know better as a Master, I should think. 😉
Very nice job indeed! 🙂 Expert title is looking blase for you now. You are winning against Masters as Black and should aim for Master!! 😀
July 16, 2014 at 2:41 am
It’s amazing the flaws that can be found in Mater’s chess games. I’ve just started looking at some of these. Here is one by our local Master where he loses:
https://denverchess.com/Games/ViewPGN?id=5824
It’s hard to believe that he actually played 20.g4?? when he could have retained an advantage with 20.Re3, IMHO, and if he is worried about 20…c6, then even 21.RxNe4 fxR, 22.Nxd6 getting two paws for the exchange is certainly more interesting than what transpired next. I know you would never dream of playing 20.g4?? there, this would never be “your” mistake. hehe.
July 16, 2014 at 3:10 am
The Rxd4 move was awasome. I wouldn’t worry about his Qd2 move, and wouldn’t play …Kg8 in response as BxNd4+ followed by d2xRf1+ (promoting to queen or knight, depending), and White doesn’t have enough mating material, Be3 even would then block his attack and win.
Man, they just “die hard” against you. hehe. Alex likes that saying.
July 16, 2014 at 10:11 pm
Thanks!
That Karpov’s game is good, it’s difficult to see how he overplays his opponent, but he does.
You were reading my mind regarding Ruy Lopez, you know me too well. 🙂
Yes, he played before some opening, don’t remember, even more tactical than Scotch. Ruy Lopez really requires deep positional understanding, you are right. You know, he exhibited his usual attacking mentality, he likes all kinds of attacks and does it all the time with success, here is didn’t work.
Regarding resigning, he is a boy, they don’t resign. He even offered me a draw, I forgot to mention, like soon after move 40. I refused of course.
Your game is interesting, the boy played very well. And yes, I would never play g4. 🙂
July 17, 2014 at 4:45 am
hehe. You put it so well.
I played my usual lackluster G/90 last night, and posted the game. It doesn’t help me to worry about my measly rating and then play a “tight” game, but I am still working on the defending aspect of chess, just like you have been improving your attacking play because you are already a good defender. 😉
July 24, 2014 at 11:08 am
I played last night against a lower-rated player and won as White, posted it. Even though it may look tactical,it was won with positional play, and that’s how “I drew it up”. I was looking for a positional battle, and would have played the Lopez if it had gone 1…e5
July 25, 2014 at 11:59 pm
RollingPanws, as always, thanks for your comments! I replied back to your reply on my blog. 🙂
September 16, 2014 at 9:49 pm
I felt like I had died of Alzheimer’s came back to life, and then saw this game. Don’t know how I missed it! 🙂
The Rxd4 sham-sac was stupendous!
This game was brilliant positional play and amazing. Wow! This was better than Expert level middlegame, trust me.
I feel about this game exactly how LM Brian Wall felt when he looked at my game/loss against Daniel and said “Craziest game I ever saw!”
28…e3! was the winning idea, so he needed to play 27.Ne3 to block that square instead of the losing 27.f5?
This is why Karpov-Kortchnoi played all of those boring games in Baguio together, because they would look at seemingly hum-drum continuations deeply enough to spot exactly these sorts of ideas and then defuse them. If you posted this on Chessgames.com as between two strong players circa 1900, I bet they would totally believe it and possibly rave about Black’s play and condemn White’s, as on ‘Game of the Day’ find the winning Rxd4 move.
As for me, I am scheduled to go to work tomorrow because I missed Friday (they sorta force us to make up the absent day). I will go to work or play chess against a Master but can’t do both since I sleep right after work and it will be my “Friday” on Wednesday, so will be quite tired. I would surely lose if I chose to do both. 😦
September 17, 2014 at 7:51 am
In the line you were worried about, 33…Kg8 is a “computer move”. I didn’t notice this line, but simply 33…BxNd4+ followed by 34…exRf1(Q or Knight)+ will be a winning endgame. Actually 34.Kh2 would be blunder because then you would win with 35…Bg1+ discovering at attack on White’s queen. Intuitively, it does not appear that White’s position after this is as strong as Black’s. I would be amazed if White had some way to force a win from this position.
September 17, 2014 at 2:25 pm
My friend, you didn’t have Alzheimer’s and I hope will not have it in the future since you are playing chess and it’s a good protection against that. 🙂
You commented on this post, but for some reason the whole thread got moved to Trash recently, so that’s why you didn’t see it.
Thanks for your comments, you are too kind. Though I really played that game well.
Unfortunately, in the same variation on Monday the boy was quick to fix all previous mistakes and played much better (and me much worse) .
September 17, 2014 at 3:38 pm
Thanks! :-), and thank goodness that I drew the same conclusions! hehe.
“the boy was quick to fix all previous mistakes” LOL!
Well, at least they don’t pay all of this chess-tutors for nothing! (joking).
I wish that i could be a kid and not have a job again, or at least during a chess tournament.
September 19, 2014 at 10:25 am
Yeah, you are right, I think he has a coach.
I wished that too in the morning today, after going to bed at 1 am because of game analysis and waking up at 6:15 am for some reason. 🙂
I talked yesterday to my old rival, with whom I have 6 draws. He is 75 years old. ! He still plays, not in the top section, but pretty well, said he had only 7 losses in 40 games. I told him that he is like Korchnoi and a role model for me.