It means victory through harmony. After 2.5 weeks break I came back, it was a last round in the Thursdays club. I got the expected White, my opponent was a boy whom I defeated in the beginning of January, I had White then as well. We repeated the same opening and same Tarrasch variation in French. We followed the book and played the opening moves pretty fast .
On move 16 after my Bg5 he got into a serious thinking for at least 15 minutes, maybe more. I considered 16… Nd5 or Be7, so that in the first case I will probably take on d5 and in the second one for some time exercised Nf5, but after seeing Bd8 decided not to play it. Finally he suddenly played 16… e5. Taking on f6 looked like it could rather lead to his counterattack on the kingside than to my attack. Computer told me that 16… e5 was a mistake and I could exchange on f6 with ~1.5 advantage.
We continued the struggle in the center, he was getting behind on time more and more. His move 25… Rfe8 created a threat of e3, after some consideration I played Nc2, it is a computer move. At that moment I thought about offering a draw, he had essentially less time than me, but I didn’t like the idea of my offer being refused and my position was good, so why not to play…?
His 26… Be6 surprised me, I exchanged on e6 of course. Then he made a mistake playing 28… Nd7. I saw his idea to get the knight on d3, but decided to ignore it and added fuel to the fire by playing c4. After his 29… Qc6 I quickly replied Rd6 and then after 30… Qb7 31. Qd2 his knight got into a serious trouble. I think he had less than 1 minute at that moment.
I knew that my 34. cxd7 isn’t probably the best, but having 6-7 minutes left (with 15 second increment) tried to keep the things simple. Computer wants to play 34. Ng4 following with Qg5. I eventually played 36. Ng4 with the idea of getting to c6. He helped me with that by 36… Kf7, at that moment he had only a few seconds left and played on increment. After his 44… Kg8 it was a mate in 3 and he resigned.
Rolling Pawns 
April 1, 2023 at 11:57 am
16…e5. Just like with his queen retake on d5, Black is playing for a win. 16…Nd5, 17.Bxd5 exd5, 18.Be7 Re8, 19.BxBd6 QxBd6 would seem as though it’s probably equalish.
17.Nf3 17.Nc2 also looks interesting, but White is on the back-foot there.
18.Rad1 Giving Black a chance to go wrong, which it seems like he immediately does, but it’s still early to tell. 18…Bf5 and if Nh4, then …Bg6 or …Bc8.
20.Be3 20.Qc2 and Bc2 come to mind, trying to force …BxNd4. 20.Bc2 can be met with …h6! So,
20.Qc2 BxNd4, 21.Rxd4 Bf5, and now the queen could move, but …e3 is met by QxBf4 anyway. So, 20.Qc2 looks playable, where you just want to get one of his bishops off the board.
22.Rd2 Probably best, but you are more comfortable than I with getting into “sitzkriegs” with your opponents – at this point, it’s all you can do.
22…Ne8. The more natural plan with pieces would seem to be …Bd7-c8-b7, even though it weakens d7, and perhaps more importantly e6.
27.Bxe6! Nice! Better than allowing the trading off of both rooks first with 27.RxR. You’ve played masterly at this tight style of positional chess!
April 1, 2023 at 12:45 pm
26.Be6 It should have been even more obvious at this point that 26….Bc6 was the move, and then if Nd4 ….Bb7. He probably had it in mind to defend the e4 pawn with …f5, since from before when he played …Ne8.
28…Nd7 Ambitious again, although functional if he catches a break. 29…Kf7 and …Rd7 looked like sturdy moves, if seemingly less palatable.
29.c4 The straightforward positional approach. 29.Ng4 h5, 30.Ne3 Ne5, 31.Qxh5 Nd3 also looks interesting.
29…Qc6. Looks dubious. I assumed bxc4 would be played.
30.Rd6! I missed this as I only quickly looked at 30.Ng4 with threat of Ne5!
31.Qd2 Nice idea, creating a pin before collecting the road-kill! I can already see mates forming if he tries to defend with this king and queen.
32.c5! 32.Ng4 h6, 33.Ne5 NxNe5, 34.RxRd8+ Kh7, 35.Qf4 attacking the Ne5 and threatening 36.Qxe4+ at the same time, so …Ng6, 36.Qg4 bxc4, 37. h4 with h5 coming should be getting closer to the end “The storm-clouds are gathering!”
Your move was better though since it just wins a piece and advances the pawn to d7.
39.NxRe7. 39.RxRd7 QxNc6, 40.RxR+ KxRe7, 41.Qd8+ Kf7, 41.Rd7+ and White is up a queen for a pawn.
40.Qe5 40.Rd8+ Kf7, 41.Rd7 Qc8, 42.RxRe7 KxR, 43.Qxg7 mate would also be a nice finish.
42.h4 Qg4+ followed by h4 ties Black down even more it would seem, but the foregone conclusion that was played out could have been seen.
Nice game! It illustrates that one shouldn’t have the attitude of “I’m 400 points higher, so I’ll play for the win!” especially against an experienced player like yourself. I have to admit that the “swing for the fences” mode is perhaps the quickest way to 1900, but after that one has to play the game with a bit more respect from a positional perspective. It’s harder and takes more experience after reaching 1900 playing strength.
April 1, 2023 at 1:01 pm
Oh, thought randomly hit me while watching another chess video.
It’s actually 39.RxRd7 QxN6, 40.RxRe7 KxR, 41.Qd8+ Kf7, 42.Rd7+ Kg6, 43.Qe8+ and now only …Kh6 avoids 44.Rxg7+ followed by 45.QxQc6.
April 1, 2023 at 1:19 pm
It’s hard not to look further, since that was his main challenge to not resigning after the capture on d7. 43…Kh6, 44.Qf7 g6 (avoiding a queen trade), 45.Qxh7+ Kg5, 46.Qe7+ and 47.Qd6 would be a lazy move that win, since Rf7+ and Qg3+ are potential follow-up moves.
April 1, 2023 at 4:38 pm
Thank you for your comments!
Yes, 16… e5 was an aggressive move and the position in the end of your line looks equal. 18… Bf5 is not good, it allows 19. Bxf6 gxf6 20. Nh4 and even the best 20… Bc8 loses due to 21. Qh5 e4 22. Ng6!.
Yes, 20. Qc2 was good. Right, 26… Bc6 seems logical, that’s how I would play, maybe he didn’t like my bishop on b3. Your line 29. Ng4 h5 30. Ne3 Ne5 31. Qxh5 Nd3 32. Qh4 is good for White, but Black can play 29… Nc5 and White’s advantage is less than after 29. c4.
Yes, 32. Ng4 was also possible. Yes, 39. Rxd7 was better, after 39… Rxd7 40. Qxd7 Rxd7 White is up a rook and knight.
Interesting point about playing after reaching 1900, this guy actually went down of 2000 since our game, he is playing in every weekend tournament around our city.