I came to this round without big expectations, knowing that I will get somebody from the very top. I got a master who didn’t play officially for 16 years. Still he beat 1760 and 1830 rated guys.
I got White and in the sharp line of Sicilian, Moscow variation – 3… Nd7 played a quiet line 4. O-O a6 5. Be2. Then there was some maneuvering with exchanges. Fritz didn’t like my 23. Rc1, not that I liked that much myself.
After he played 27… e5, I felt a relief, he closed an important diagonal. I ignored his kingside pawn movements, then saw that I have “f5” square. When I put my knight on f5, I thought I got an advantage, but then realized that I can’t break through. I started to repeat the moves, we both didn’t have much time left. On move 42 there was a 3-fold repetition, but I didn’t see it.
I thought that he will agree to a draw soon, but he decided otherwise and played 43… Qd7 and 44… Ne6. It was still a draw after 45. Qa6 Qd2, but he made a decisive mistake playing 45… Kg6. I played 46. Qxa5, he took his queen, then left it, thought for some time and took his knight. I told him that he touched his queen and has to move it. He looked a bit surprised, then played Qd2. It looked to me like him going into a bad endgame, but even Fritz has nothing better, so it was lost before, after Kg6.
When my remaining time dropped below 5 minutes I stopped to write the moves, we have a rule allowing it. I was sure I will win this endgame even having that much time, the win was just a matter of technique. I remember that eventually I had “b”, “f” and “h” passed pawns, he had none.
April 20, 2015 at 7:34 am
Mind-boggling sort of game, but I’ll have to comment later. When you took his knight on e6, I figured you are playing for the draw or draw-in-hand. His ..Bc4 is inexplicable to me because he should be trying to get in his …e5 break right then, or a …Re8. Later, he should have tried to keep at least one rook on the board, and get his ….Ne5, but instead continues to push pawns. Then, it’s this queen and knight endgame where he has all the space and yet he’s the one that keeps allowing himself to get “zugzwanged”. haha. Nice win. That will teach people that they can’t sit on rating points and titles. You played that “perfectly” in a way. hehe. You’re too strong a player for someone to play unintelligent moves against :-).
April 21, 2015 at 10:27 pm
Thanks!
You know, I rather played for draw-in-hand before he played h4 and g5. Then I saw a weakness on f5, but couldn’t exploit it, so again was ready for a draw.
When I realized that he doesn’t want a draw at all in what I considered a drawn position I decided: “What the hell…”, still I didn’t want to burn the bridges. I forgot to mention that I considered 43. g3, but found it too risky for the amount of the time I had.
You are right about him getting himself get “zugzwanged”, he put himself into a corner. Honestly, if it would be me, just looking at the knight on f5 I would try to get a draw.
April 22, 2015 at 3:24 pm
14.Bh6 This is the “I wanna draw” culprit right here. hehe. It would certainly take some time OTB to figure out a move for White here, but the “direact approach” of 14.Nd5 certainly seems best to me. 14.Nd5 NxN, 15.dxN Bf5, and now either the simple 16.c3 with the idea of …b5, 17.a4 undermining his pawns, or the more direct 16.c4 b5, 17.Rfc1 bxc, 18.Rxc RxR, 19.BxR a5, 20.Rac1 and White has quite a nice opening advantage here.
18…Bc4. This is the “uuuuuhhhh, I think I am winning (drool coming out of the side of the mouth) moment.” A better try would seem to be 18…Ne7, threatening 19…f5, and if 19.Nf4, then 20.Qd4, but actually, all of this should probably be preceeded by …a5, since that pawn drops if Black tries to win the b2 pawn right away. Possibly there is also 18…d5, 19.e5 (if …exd5, then 20.Nxd5, threatening …Rfd8/..Ne3/Re1/…Nc4 maneuver, winning material) Ne7, 20.f4 with the sketchy idea of ..Nc5/..NxBd3/..Bf5, and if Ng3, then …Bd7 and …Bb5 (assuming white recaptures on d3 with pawn, which may be forced at that point).
At the end, he should have put his ..Nd3 and kept his queen on dark squares, I felt. He lost because he was trying to mate you on g2, amazingly enough, and then saw that it didn’t work, and that even after …Qxb2, he was still getting mated over there. I also would have played …Kh7 before you had a chance to get in …Nf5 with check – he should have played that move a few moves before doing anything else. Yes, he should have taken the draw if he was low on time, as he was sort of struggling, shall we put it, to find that elusive win. No doubt he could have at least played it better than he did.
I posted my Tuesday game where I stupidly dropped my d3 pawn. I was thinking OTB that there is no way in a hundred games that RollingPawns would have just dropped this pawn like I did. hehe. This is one reason, I am not Expert, not finding my way in a technical middlegame position; whereas this sort of thing is like a walk in the park for your style of play, and you would have likely won in my position.
I got too tight, once again, in my Tuesday game. I’m sure it happens to all of us from time to time, frequency is the issue here. Too bad this isn’t postal-chess. ;-p Actually, I wanted to play in the state postal-chess tournament this year, just forgot about it til too late.
April 22, 2015 at 3:51 pm
You are welcome! 🙂 Yes, I am glad you played what you did instead of g3, which would weaken your king’s position. You had a draw with 44.QxQ NxQ, 45.Nd6 Nc5, 46.Nc4 Nb7.
He should have played 45…Qc7. He must have missed that his e5 pawn was hanging after 46…Qxa5. However, he was drifting backward the whole time after you played your Nf5, and should have been welcoming the draw by this point. 😉
Funny how it seems as if you are playing for this late win. You should make Expert first, before I do (obviously), it’s just a matter of when now. 😀
April 22, 2015 at 9:28 pm
Honestly Bh6 was just to exchange his strong bishop, no more.
In your line 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. exd5 Bf5 16. c4 Black doesn’t have to play b5, just h5 and it is equal. Anyway it is better than Bh6.
I like your 18… Nd7, less 18… d5 19. e5 Nd7 20. f4 Nc5 21. Qe3, still it is equal.
I was dropping stuff too, it depends on your condition.
April 23, 2015 at 2:49 am
I posted my Wednesday game. 🙂
April 25, 2015 at 12:38 am
I posted my Quick-Rated tournament from last week if you want to breeze through those games. I’d be particularly interested in any thoughts you’d have on my Round 4 game in the opening against the Russian player. 😀
During the game, I was afraid he’d jam me with f5 the way Bareev did to you during your simul game against him, but luckily he didn’t it to me, this time anyway.
April 26, 2015 at 4:53 pm
I commented on all your last games.
If he plays f5 before Be6, you play Na5, after it it is too late.