Sunday, January 11, 2009

Tournament Game

Ok so I finally had some time to go over one of my tournament games... I looked at my last round draw. Right after the game, I felt like I had given away the full point. However, looking at it now, I think I should be happy with the draw. This is definitely not my best game - I fell asleep in the middle game and made some bad moves, which should have allowed black to win the game. He allowed me to regain a small advantage, but in the resulting endgame my edge was not as big as I thought that day. A draw is not a bad result here.

Chessaholic tourney game.pgn

11 comments:

From the patzer said...

I dont know if 42. ... Rxc4 is necessary. Rxc4 looks like it's a way to draw the game and without it it's possible that black could lose.

Did you analyse if this move 42. ... Rxc4 is necessary?

X said...

Nice blog...Chess is not only a hard to please mistress, but she also is cold and heartless...no matter how much you love her!

John.

Chessaholic said...

CT: yes, I did analyze black's move 42...Rxc4 because it looked critical. I think you are right that it saves the draw for black. In my opinion, Black has to get the e pawn even if it's at the cost of returning the exchange. Otherwise, white's two connected passed pawns will be very dangerous. Rybka agrees that Rxc4 is best for black.

John - thanks for the nice comment. Checked out your blog & apparel site, good stuff! Will add you to my sidebar.

From the patzer said...

Oke, did have another look at the position after 42. ... Rxc4. I wonder what black's plan is after 43. d7 ?

Chessaholic said...

CT: I don't remember the line that Rybka gave, but looking at it now I think after your suggestion black could play 43... Rc1 44.d8=Q Rd1+ 3.Ke4 Rxd8 4.Kxf4, unless I'm missing something.

Anonymous said...

Some thoughts:
Instead of 6.cxd5, 6.Nxe4 fxe4 7.Nd2 f5 8.f3 looks good.
In the line 7.Nxe4 fxe4 8.Nd2, 8...f5 9.Bc4 looks terrible. I'd play 8...Bf5 instead but White is still better after 9.Be2, 0-0 and f3. Or maybe 9.f3 right away. In any case, 7.Bd3 is a much better move than 7.Be2 (it deserves as much blame as 9.Bd2 for your problems later.)
After 12...Ndf6 I think the position is still equal, provided White plays 13.Bd3 in order to meet 13...Bf5 with 14.Qc2. White is not that cramped - he has space and a little initiative on the queenside after all.
It's hard to say if the endgame is definitely won but practically speaking it's hard for Black to defend. Letting Black's bishop block the pawns on the b8-h2 diagonal looks bad, so I'm not sure about 40.Nc4; maybe 40.Bh3!? followed by f4 and e5.

Chessaholic said...

Aziridine: Thanks for the awesome feedback, I always appreciate it when somebody actually takes the time to look at one of my games and provides constructive criticism. Your first suggestion of 6.Nxe4 dxe4 7.Nd2 f5 8.f3 leads to an interesting imbalanced position. Personally, I am not sure if I feel comfortable with the resulting position, but that's probably just because I don't fully understand it. As far as 7.Be2, I agree with you that Bd3 would be much better. I don't know why I keep on doing this, it's almost a case of "system thinking" where I place my bishop on e2 automatically without paying attention to what the position demands. I have to work on that. I like the idea of 40.Bh3, I didn't even look at that during the game.

Anonymous said...

The reason I like the position after 6.Nxe4 dxe4 7.Nd2 f5 8.f3 is that Black must capture on f3: 8...exf3 9.Nxf3. Then White has more control over e5 than Black has on over e4. This will probably mean that White can play e3-e4 soon (but Black cannot play ...e6-e5), when it becomes more obvious that Black's pawn structure is weaker than White's.
In the Queen's Gambit Declined White always tries to put the bishop on d3 if he can - b1-h7 is a beautiful diagonal controlling e4 and aiming at the kingside. The B just doesn't do anything on e2.
Thanks for posting the game - analyzing is a lot more relaxing than actually playing!

likesforests said...

Well-played. :)

I think 6.Bd3 or 7.Bd3 were worth considering. After 6.Bd3 Nxc3 7.bxc3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 your position seems superior to mainline defenses due to the extra tempo and central pawn. Your bishop seems more passive on e2.

23...Bxh2 24.Kf1 Bd6 - Yeah, this idea seems like an error. Why give up a central pawn for a flank pawn? Black gives you a passer.

29...Qc8? - Ouch! Good shooting.

42...Rxc4! - Nice, Black sac'd his rook for the right piece. I think a win is unlikely after this and you do not lose anything with 47.g4?? (although of course such petite blunders are irritating).

Chessaholic said...

Aziridine: thanks for the follow up comment, it's helpful to understand your motivation in aiming for that position. You know, you need to start a blog man :) (or maybe you already have one?)

Likesforests: Thanks! It's not the prettiest game, but hey, it was late, and at least I got a half point out of it :) I like your line 6.Bd3 Nxc3 7.bxc3 dxc4 8.Bxc4, somehow I thought he might not take with the knight but then if he doesn't, it might be hard for him to hold on to the pawn.

Anonymous said...

Heh, thanks, but I haven't chessed much lately, and reading blogs is enough distraction for me already :)