Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz

It was 4th round in Monday’s club. My opponent was a young guy rated 1762, provisional.
I had White, we got Ruy Lopez, old Steinitz variation. Instead of Nc3 computer prefers to develop knight on d2, then to f3.

My move 17. Nd5 started complications. After 18. Be3 c6 I decided that I am losing a piece, because after 19. Bxd4 cxd4 my knight has nowhere to go. But I could play 20. f5 as well as 19. c3 in the first place. He decided to play 19. cxd5 and I realized soon that even I am down a pawn I definitely have a compensation. His 23… Ne5 was a big mistake, instead exf5 was about -1.

I thought a lot about move 25, deciding what to play – fxe6 or f6 and not seeing how I can get anything real out of f6 played fxe6. But there was 25. Rd7 Rf8 26. f6 winning on the spot. I also missed Rd7 on the next move and lost all my advantage. Then we went into a rook endgame where I saw that I can get a pressure on his c5 pawn. His 41… Kc6 was a mistake and then he allowed rooks exchange. The pawn endgame was technical and in a hopeless position he resigned.

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Decisive mistake

My opponent was a boy and I got Black. He deviated from the main line of Ruy Lopez and I missed a tempo to play c5. He made some demonstration on the kingside, but missed Ng4+.

I underestimated his “h” pawn movement, had to play h5 to stop it or g5 after h5. I missed that he could play Ng5 after exchange on g6. I realized that I got into a trouble, saw him taking on e6, then Bb3, then exchange sacrifice on h6, but thought that after Qg4 my g6 pawn will be defended.

So I hurried to play Rf8 instead of Re7 leading to an equal position after Rxh6 . After 32… Rf8 33. Rxh6 my position became indefensible and I resigned after 10 moves.

 

Underpromotion

It was a round 1 of the Mondays tournament. My opponent was a girl rated 1475. I had White and we played Ruy Lopez. We got a position with a closed center. I missed 22. e5 dxe5 23. Bf5 winning an exchange.

I tried to develop an attack on the kingside, she was maneuvering pretty well. Somehow I lost the initiative and could get worse after 32… g5. I soon got annoyed with all that and decided to sacrifice a pawn in the center. Actually I had to play 36. d6 after her 35… dxe5 that was a mistake and I would be much better.

Anyway the position became dynamical and not easy to play, that was my intention. 45… Qd8 was not the best move, better Qa7. Then she made a decisive mistake playing 44… Kg7. I saw the possibility to promote with check and played it. Being almost a rook down, she blundered and resigned.

 

 

By hook or by crook

It was a round 4 in Monday’s club, my opponent was a boy. I had White and we played Ruy Lopez. He was playing very well until move 30. When I saw 30… Ne7, I realized that finally I can get an advantage. 32… Re6 was better that 32… Ree8 that he played. I had a choice between 33 Qg3 and 33. Bxh6 and eventually decided that Qg3 is simpler with about the same consequences for him, computer prefers Bxh6.

Then I sacrificed a knight on f7 and his position became really bad. After 37. Kf6 I saw Bg5+, but didn’t see the next move that led to mate – f4+!.  Another possibility to win, not so forced, was h4. But I was worried too much about Rh8 and played Qh4+.

I still had an attack going and missed 53. Rf1. By move 60 I had one minute left and even saw 60. Qg4, didn’t have time to evaluate it and chose a simple solution – to exchange queens and rooks. The arisen endgame was won for me and he resigned after he realized that.

 

Bishop that came alive

It was a second round in Monday’s club and I got this opponent, I played only one rapid game with him and won. So, my favorite Ruy Lopez, he played not quite by the book, but I decided to play simple. After the opening he blundered a pawn. Computer considers my 21. Qd2 as giving up the advantage, because after f5 my knight can’t go to d2. But he decided to exchange on c4 and then play f5.

It was a game losing mistake, he didn’t see d6. My bishop after a few moves from “bad’ became very powerful. I found 27. Ng5 and thought the best for him would be to give up an exchange taking on e7 and then on e6 after 28. Nxe6. But he went other way not seeing that it allows a smothered mate.

 

Chance

I was able to predict who my opponent could be, looked at our last game and decided to play a bit differently. So, here he was, the guy I played with quite a few times and who 3 month ago was able to escape to a draw due to me missing several chances to win. He had White again and we played Ruy Lopez.

I played pretty fast in the opening and it led to one inaccuracy. After 12. Bxd4 I mixed up the order of the moves and instead of exd4 played Bxf3. He could play 15. Ne2 and get about 0.7 advantage, but by playing Nd5 he went along the same line – 12. Bxd4 exd4 13. Nd5 Bxf3 14. Qxf3. I was OK with the position I got.

The shift in the game started with his 27. Rxe4, after that I knew I am better. Then I saw that if we exchange the rooks, the endgame would be better for me due to his bishop being out of play and weakness of the dark squares on his kingside. He went along. Computer thinks he still was OK, but he had to play f4 on the move 35 or 36. But he played 36. Kf1 and it allowed Qd6 preventing f4.

39. c4 was a decisive mistake, though even after better 39. f4 Qxf4+ 40. Qf2 Qc1+ 41. Qe1 Qxb2 I was two pawns up. 44. Bxd5 could only prolong the agony, but after Bb5 I played b3 and he resigned.

It was a mate in 5 – 45. Qxa5  Qc2+ 46. Ke1 b2 47. Qa7+ Kh6 48. Qxh7+ Kxh7 49. a5 b1Q#.

 

 

 

We all make mistakes, but everyone makes different mistakes

“We all make mistakes, but everyone makes different mistakes” — Ludwig van Beethoven.

It was the same guy I drew with in the last round of the previous tournament. This time I got Black and we played Ruy Lopez. After his 8. h3 instead of usual c3 (I guess he mixed up the order of the moves) I decided to get two bishops. Fritz thinks that after 18… Qc7 I still a bit better, I agree as I kind of felt I have nothing after Nxc1.

I had to take on g3 after his g4, but I didn’t like Qxg3, thinking that he will start to threaten me too. But after Qh6 and Rg6 I was winning his “h” pawn and keeping the attack.  Then I missed 37… Qxh6. I was still better, but I decided that I have to sacrifice a pawn to keep the attack. It was a wrong move.

I was already worse, when I made a mistake that could cost me a game – 45… Rc7. The idea for Black is to play Qf8+, then Qe8, Nf3 and Ng5. The same after 46… Qg6 – Qf8 and Nf3, winning. Luckily he didn’t see it.

Not liking how the game was going I decided to create complications and played 48… a4. It allowed me to intercept the initiative. We both got very little time, eventually under one minute each and played on 30 seconds increment. I think I handled it better and had I thought a winning position. When I played 68… Rb2+ I saw that it is a mate if he plays Ke3 and it was exactly what he did.