It was a 5th round in the Monday’s club, my opponent was a young man rated 2170. I lost a few games to him before playing Sicilian Bb5 and drew one with Closed Sicilian, so I decided to play it again. I was good after the opening, then I thought that I should play actively.
So after his 15… Nc4 I didn’t play Bc1 because I saw 16. Nxd5. I calculated that I win a pawn if he plays Nxd5, the same if 16… Nxe3 17. Nxe3 Bxd4 18. c3. I also saw Nxb2, but thought that it will be at least equal after that. After he took on b2 I realized that he attacks my rook and I lose material, so started to think what to do and calculated next 3 moves that happened in the game. After initial shock I thought that I have some compensation because my pieces were very active, computer confirms it giving him just 0.5. Then he started to execute a plan with moving the pawns on the queenside.
I could resist by playing 35. Rc8, but I didn’t consider it. My position was getting worse and worse, g4 was played out of desperation and soon I resigned.
March 31, 2018 at 3:00 am
When I first saw that you had posted a game, I thought it was on that one where you beat a 1500 last Thursday, so I was expecting to see a beat-down by White. hehe.
11.d4! I love this, I think you are taking it to him.
12…Ne5 Yay! He’s avoiding the draw, now he’s going to get rolled! I thought 12….NxN, 13.BxN BxB, 14.QxB Nc6 looked safer for Black.
13.Qe2 Nice!
14…exd5 I thought it was more solid for him to trade a pair of knights on d5.
15.Rad1 In hindsight, 15.Rfe1 might have been more solid, move that rook since the f-file is doing nothing now that these trades have happened in the center, and it gives max flexibility to your bishop via Bg2-f1 should you decide to want to play that.
15…Nc4 This looks like an obvious bad move, all of his other pieces are woefully undeveloped.
16.Nxd5! You have to be winning this position.
When I first went through this game, I looked at your position for a while, and didn’t even notice that you had a hanging Rd1. lol. 17.Rb1 has got to be at least close to winning for White. 17.Rb1 NxNd5, 18.BxN (say) QxB, 19.RxNb2 BxNd4?, 20.Rfd1, but yeah bishop vs knight is not so great for White. So, try 18.RxN NxBe3, 19.fxNe3. Hmm, I guess it might be only a tiny edge for White there.
17.Nxe7 This looks like you either missed something or a panic move, but as for me, I know I simply flat-out missed that your rook on d1 was hanging!
20.h4 No need to panic (in case this was). After 21.Rb1, I can tell that he is not winning by looking at the position. In fact, after 21.Rb1, I figured it’s Black that needs to solve some defensive issues with that b7 pawn. It sort of helps in some way that you didn’t trade as much material as in my line, as you still have lots to attack with, and he has more targets in his position.
21.Qd3 Of course, I liked Rb1 here and on your next move (Rb1 is the static move for the position).
24.cxd4 This is the more desirable move, but I thought you should play 24.Bxd4 to prevent further trades on f3.
25.Kh2 Right here, I suddenly realized after seeing his expected 25…Bf3 that you have the apparently winning 25.Bg5, but then I see he has an only reply of 25…Qe1+, but after 26.Kh2 BxB, 27.KxB Rc8, 28.Re1 Qb4 (…Rc3, 29.Qxg6+ and 30.RxQe1 wins a pawn). Actually he can’t play …Qb4 because 29.Rb1 wins the b7 pawn, so 28…Qa5, 29.Rd2 and then you could possibly try pushing the pawn.
28.Qc2 You could play 28.Qb3, and if you can manage to trade queens after say 29.a4 Ra5, and if he trades queens with his rooks scattered and king out of play, you could shoot your pawn down the board, as your bishop does control the queening square if it were on g5, and it’s protected there!
31.Qd2 I was a little more comfortable with the idea of keeping your queen on light squares (the static idea).
35.Rc7 Yeah, I didn’t see it here, but your target position, static goal, should be to get either your queen or rook to h8, that’s White’s hope.
38.Qc6 I wasn’t thinking this yet either, but 38.Qc8 would meet your static goal of trying to get queen and rook onto the 8th rank.
40.g4 Of course it drops a pawn, but it’s too dynamic for what you have going on vs. what Black has going on. 40.Re8 would meet your static goal, so if 40…d2, 41.Qc8 d1(Q)+, 42.Kh2 Qd3-f1(say), 43.Rh8+ Kg7, 44.Rg8+ Kf6, 45.Qd8+
I’m starting to focus more on statics, after losing my last game. Dynamics are what you can do when you can outrun your opponent’s bullet (or your bullet is faster than his), statics are what you do when you can’t, or at least that’s how I’m thinking of it. 😉 Static moves tend to go less noticed, like moves that both defend and attack, and you made quite a few of them, but they are key when it comes to evaluating a position.
I mean, the power-moves in chess are the dynamic ones where you ignore the bullet. I think static moves/positions are like the quiescent positions, where you want to aim for the best quiescent position possible to work future variations from. In this game, in the ending, I don’t think you had enough time to figure out what to do anyway, you probably spent most of your time trying to prevent getting into this imbalanced material position in the first place.
Interesting game, thanks for showing it! It took me quite a while to settle in to try and figure out what was going on in this game. It didn’t seem like you needed to lose this game, but he probably managed his clock more effectively, which is what I always run into when playing up as well. It’s a big source of losses for me, for sure.
March 31, 2018 at 3:09 am
When he played 15….Nc4, the first move I noticed, at bullet pace, was 16.Bc1, but don’t feel bad for playing 16.Nxd5 (even though, sure, 16…Nxb2 is an important intermezzo to look at) because it looked as though he was helping you develop your pieces (opening the b-file), and trading off his active pieces while he was still undeveloped.
March 31, 2018 at 3:38 am
It’s funny, from a static perspective, it does look as though he is sort of doomed after 16.Bc1, then b3, then Bb2 because your position has max dynamism then, and he is playing with that hanging isolated pawn, where if dark bishops trade and that pawn falls, you have healthy or pleasant winning chances. In double-fianchettoed positions like this, the Black knights have to be very active, but they have no targets here, and if he tries …Qc7 or …Qb6 when you play …b3, then you have Nd4-b5.
Oh, he has to guard his Ne7, but after 16.Bc1 Re8, 17.b3? Nf5 wins the Nd4. So, 16.Bc1 Re8, 17.Qf3! (attacking f7). If 17…Bf5, 18.Nxd5 Nxd5, 19.Rxd5 Qc7 (say), 20.RxBf5 gxf5, 21.Qxf5+ Kg8, 22.Bd5 Rf8, 23.Bf4 Oh wait, I forgot you could take on f5 with your Nd4. Yeah, I mean Black has major issues. hehe. You built a nice position! 🙂
March 31, 2018 at 3:59 am
I just went over it quick with Stockfish. Yeah, I made a bunch of visual errors. After 16.Bc1 Re8, 17.Qf3 fails to …Ne5, and actually the combination you tried in the game gives a winning advantage after first playing 16.Bc1
My Rb1 couldn’t be played first without either playing c3 or Qd3, I missed that there, though I expected c3 later, when you played it. Oh, and your line to give up the exchange is best and White is better. I didn’t see in my line that he can trade on d4 where ….Qxd4+ at the end will fork Rb2 and Kf1.
I underestimated h4, computer loved it. lol. If anything, it does give your dark bishop more scope, so that must be what you had in mind. Very nice!
March 31, 2018 at 4:31 am
Man, after making all of those blunders. I always blunder in your games. hehe. Now Seeing how well Paul A. played, as a 1500 player, before I even got to Colorado, it seems so hopeless. hehe. He played like an Expert even back then:
March 31, 2018 at 10:11 pm
Thank you for your comprehensive comments.
17. Rb1 NxNd5, 18. BxN QxB 19. RxNb2 wouldn’t work because of Bh3.
White can’t play 21. Rb1 because of Bxd4.
Good thinking regarding Bc1, it would give me a better position and a chance to win. He has a weak d5 pawn and underdeveloped pieces, as you noticed and my pieces are positioned well. So, there were no need in that combination at all.
April 2, 2018 at 5:11 pm
You’re very welcome! Hopefully, my comments won’t be so lousy on your latest game! 😉
Yes, I noticed that …Bh3 move once Stockfish showed it to me, ouch and double-ouch for my missing on both variations! hehe.
You deserve the credit that combination of taking on d5 and then c4, as it can work after Bc1!