A Faulty Pin

Carls Jr. G/20, Mesa, AZ, Sept 5, 2012
Round 3
Miguel (2137) - Randy (2008)

I decided to play the Najdorf and I actually got a decent position. However, when the position got complicated, I cracked under the pressure.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 10. Be2 h5 11. h4 Nc6 12. Nf5 Bxf5 13. exf5 Qa5 14. Qd2 Qxf5 15. hxg5 Be5 16. Bh4 Bd4 17. O-O-O O-O-O 18. Kb1 Qa5 19. Ne4 Qe5 20. f3 Ne3 21. c3 

This move came as a surprise and for some reason, I only considered Bc5 and not Bb6 or Ba7. My game went downhill in the next few moves.

21...Bc5 22. Bg3 Qf5 23. Bd3 Qe6 24. Rde1 Bb6 25. Rxe3 Bxe3 26. Qxe3 d5 

I thought that by playing d6-d5, I would win back material since the Knight is pinned, but I was in for a nasty surprise.

27. Qb6! 

Not only saving the Knight due to the threat of Qc7#, but I saw that after Rd7 or Qd7 comes Nc5!

27...Ne5 28. Qxe6+ fxe6 29. Bxe5 dxe4 30. Bxh8 exd3 31. Bd4 1-0

Lessons from the Game:

• I need to handle complicated positions better. 
• Stop cracking under pressure

Crushed in 13 moves

Carl's Jr. G/20, Mesa, AZ, Sept. 5, 2012
Round 2
Randy (2008) - Lance (1984)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 Bb4 5. Nxe5 O-O 6. Qd3 d5 7. Bd2?

I wanted to prepare to castle queenside, but I suppose I needed to resolve the situation in the center first.

7...dxe4 8. Nxe4 Nxe4 9. Qxe4

9. Bxb4 was better, but I didn't even consider it. After the game, we were looking at 9...Nxb4 10. Qxe4 Nxc2+!? 11. Qxc2 Qxd4. Black sacs a piece for pressure. I think the sac is dubious, but Lance likes it.

9...Bxd2+ 10. Kxd2 Nxd4 11. Bd3 Bf5 12. Qf4 Qd6

White to Play

Here, I calculated 13. Bxf5 Nxf5+ 14. Nd3 blocking the check and protecting my Queen. I was so excited to see this line that I missed 13...Ne6 winning the Queen.

13. Bxf5?? Ne6+ 0-1

Lessons from the Game:

• I need to have better board vision

Round 4

K. Musil - R. Ho

Valley Chess Sept Open (4)

Coffee Buzz, Ahwatukee, 9/9/08

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5

The Trompowsky Opening. A good choice, because I was not familiar with the lines.

2...c5 3. c3 Qb6 4. Qb3

Already on move 4, I had to make a big decision that would determine the character of the game.  I had to choose between cxd4, Qxb3, Nc6,  Ne4, or maybe something else? Unfortunately, all moves looked the same to me, so I chose one at random.

4...Nc6 5. e3 d6

I should have considered 5...Ne4 6. Bf4 g5 7. Bg3, which looks better than what happened in the game.

6. Nf3 Be6

Not a bad move -- It develops with tempo, but I later regretted placing the Bishop here.

7. Qa3

This move surprised me. I was expecting 7. Qxb6. The Queen looks awkward on a3, but Black has no effective way to exploit it.

7...Bf5

I had some trouble finding the right squares for my pieces. How to develop my dark square Bishop? 7...g6 is probably met by Bxf6, weakening the d6-pawn. Or 7...h6 8. Bf4 g5 followed by Bg7, and it's psychologically hard for Black to castle kingside. In the end, I opted for Bf5, e6, Be7, although in this plan, White can still play Bxf6.

8. Nbd2 

A fine move. The Knight is heading to c4.

8...cxd4 9. Bxf6!?

A zwischenzug! Apparently my opponent did not want me to play ...Ne4.

Here, I spent five minutes on 9...dxe3 trying to make it work. During the game, I saw 9...dxe3 10. Nc4 exf2+ 11. Kd1, and Black's initiative is gone. When I couldn't see a way to continue the "attack", I gave up. When I put this position in Rybka, it prefers Black. 11...Qc7 12. Bh4 d5 13. Ne3 Be4 14. Bxf2 Qf4, and I guess Black's piece activity and two pawns more than enough compensation for the piece. Although a famous international master once said that a piece is worth nine pawns.

Anaylsis Diagram - after 14...Qf4

9...gxf6 10. Nxd4 

The second moment (the first one was on move 4) where I had to make a big decision. These kinds of positions demand a good understanding of chess as opposed to calculating ability. Should I play Nxd4 or Bd7? 

10...Bd7? Following the rule of Never Trade, but moving backwards is passive.

11. Nc4 Qc7 12. Nb5 Qb8?

Here, I let my guard down. It was psychologically difficult for me to play Qd8, returning the Queen to its original square. Also, with Qb8, the d6-square is protected for a third time. So I played Qb8 automatically and quickly.

13. Be2?

White had a tactical shot 13. Nb6! winning the Exchange.

13...Ne5?

It was not too late to play 13...Qd8.

14. Nb6!

White sees it the second time around. One interesting point is that 14...Bxb5 is met by 15. Bxb5 CHECK.

14...axb6 15. Qxa8 Qxa8 16. Nc7+ Kd8 17. Nxa8 Bc6

The idea was that if White takes time to defend g2, then I can play ...Nd7 (protecting b6) and try to win the Knight in the corner.

18. Nxb6 Bxg2 19. Rg1 Nf3+

Hoping that my Bishop pair would be an asset.

20. Bxf3 Bxf3 21. Rg3 Bh5 22. Nd5!

Making it difficult for Black to free himself.

22...Kd7 23. a4 Bg6 24. a5 Kc6 25. Nf4 e5 26. Nxg6 hxg6 27. h3 Be7

I was in a hurry to activate my rook. Better was 27...d5, giving my Bishop more scope.

28. e4 Ra8 29. c4 Kc5

I played this before White could play b4 and lock my King in.

30. Rb3 Ra7 31. Ra4.

It is funny that Rybka suggests 31. O-O-O!

31...Bd8 32. Rba3 Kd4 33. f3 Kc5 34. Ke2 Ra8 35. Kd3 f5 36. b4+ Kc6 37. Ra1 Bg5 38. exf5 gxf5 39. Rg1 Bf6 40. Rh1

40...b5 

An attempt to confuse the issue. 

41. cxb5+ Kxb5

Here my opponent almost played 42. Rha1. I would have played 42...e4+ discover attack on his rook. (Rybka says 42...d5 is stronger (=), but I don't get it)

42. Ra2 Kxb4 43. Rb1+ Kc5 44. Rb7 Kd5 

Seeing no good way to protect f7 (Rf8 was out of the question), I decided to play actively.

45. Rb5+ Kc6 46. Rb6+ Kd5 47. a6 e4+ 48. fxe4? 

Apparently 48. Ke2 is much better.

48...fxe4+ 49. Ke2.

Of course, not 49. Ke3?? Bd4+

49...Bd4 50. Ra5+ 

50...Ke6??

It is a pity that I fought hard being down the Exchange to get a playable position (okay, maybe it's still lost), only to blunder badly in time trouble. 50...Bc5 was better.

51. Rb4!

Black loses the e4 pawn here. Both players were blitzing out their moves. Eventually, Black had two connected pawns, and White had a Rook. Black seemed to be holding the position together for dozens of moves, but then White found the key move:

In a position similar to this, White played Re8!. In order to save the e-pawn, Black has to play ...e3 allowing Kd3, or ...d3 allowing Ke3, winning in both cases. Black lost both pawns and played until checkmate.

1-0

Rounds 3 and 4

Last night my opponents got tougher. I drew a 1700 and lost to a 1800.  Here is a position from one of my games.

White to Play

Back to Chess

Today I played in the Valley Chess September Open. It is ten rounds -- two games every Tuesday night in September. Tonight was rounds 1 and 2. There are several reasons that I played.

1. The time control is G/60 rather than the usual G/30,

2. The location (Coffee Buzz) is close to where I live, and

3. Playing chess is good therapy for my brain.

For the first time in my life, I didn't get into any time trouble! I am very proud of myself for this. 

Stay tuned for annotated games.

An Accidental Checkmate

I was playing a 5-minute game on ICC tonight. I had a winning endgame, but the problem was that I was down to 1 second on my clock (Yeah I know, I need to move faster), and my opponent had almost two minutes. No problem, I thought. I will just promote my pawn to a Queen and sacrifice it for the pawn on g6 and get a draw.

In the picture above, I have just played 57. a7, and I premoved 58. a8=Q. When my opponent played 57...Ne6???, my BlitzIn made a DING sound to indicate the game was over. Turns out that 58. a8=Q was checkmate.