Much better, but still losing…

Playing white against a higher rated player who is on quite a hot streak, I played well for a long time and the game was quite drawish. Then I missed a chance to get a slight advantage and then misplayed the ending further, allowing my opponent to win quite easily in the end. Replay here.

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf65. Nxf6+ gxf6 6. Nf3
(6. c3)

6… Bg4 7. Be2 e6 8. h3
(8. O-O)

8… Bh5 9. Be3 Bd6 10. Qd2 Nd7 11. O-O-O Qc7 12. g4 Bg6 13. Bd3 O-O-O 14. Qe2
(14. c4)

14…Kb8 15. Kb1 Nb6 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. Nd2
(17. c4)

17… f5 18. Nc4 f4 19. Bc1
(19.Nxd6 Qxd6 20. Bd2) (19. Nxb6 Qxb6 20. Bd2)

19… g5 20. Nxb6 Qxb6 21. Qe4! Qb5 22. h4 Qd5
(22… Rxh4 23. Rxh4 gxh4 24. Bxf4 Qd5 25. Qxd5 cxd5 26. Bxd6+ Rxd6 27. Rh1 e5 28. dxe5 Rh6)

23. Qxd5 cxd5 24. h5?!
(24. hxg5 Rhg8 25. Rh5 Rg6 26.Rdh1) The idea here was to get a passed pawn of my own to counter my opponent’s passer on f4. I briefly considered 24. hxg5 but was worried that my doubled g-pawns were too weak and could be rounded up, perhaps remembering the fiasco from my previous game where I blundered with my 24th(!) move with 24… bxa4. This time around it was in fact the better move. Black could still round it up but f4 is now weaker and I could pick up black’s king-side pawns in the process. Whereas hxg5 would have given me a slight advantage, the move played still leaves the game balanced evenly.

24… f5 25. f3
(25. Rdg1 fxg4 26. Rxg4 Be7 27. f3)

25… fxg4 26. fxg4 e5 27. dxe5 Bxe5 28. b3
(28. Rhe1 Bf6 29. Re6 Rhf8 30. c4 d4 31. Kc2)

28… Kc7 29. Ba3 Rd7 30. Bb2
(30. Rhe1)

30… Bxb2 31. Kxb2 Rf8 32. Rd2 f3 33. Rf2 Rf4 34. h6
(34. Rh3 Rxg4 35. Rfxf3 Rh7 36. Rf5 Kd6 37. Rf6+ Ke5 38. Rg6)

34… Rh7 35. Rh5 Kd6 36. Rxg5?
(36. Kc3). I have perhaps played a couple of inaccuracies until this point but the game was still even. My next couple of moves however are enough to give black a winning advantage.

36… Rxh6 37. Rf5?
(37. Kc3)

37… Rf6?!
37…Rxf5! 38. gxf5 Rh3 39. f6 Ke6 40. Kc3 Kxf6 41. Kd4 Kf5 is an easier win.

38. Rxf6+ Rxf6 39. g5 Rf4 40. Kc3 Ke5 41. Kd2 Kf5 42. g6 Ke4 43. Ke1
(43. Rf1 Rg4 44. Re1+ Kf4 (44…Kf5 45. Ke3) 45. Re6)

43… Rg4 44. Rh2 Rxg6 45. Kf2
(45. Rh7)

45… Rg2+ 46.Rxg2 fxg2 47. Kxg2 Kd4 48. Kf2 Kc3 49. Ke3 b5 50. b4 a6 51. Kf4 Kxb4 52. Ke5Kc4 53. a3 a5 54. Kd6 b4 55. a4 d4 56. Kc6 b3 57. cxb3+ Kxb3 58. Kb5 d3 59.Kxa5 d2 60. Kb5 d1=Q 61. a5 Qd8 62. a6 Qb8+ 0-1

KO Semifinal

I drew white in our toss for colour. Replay the game here.

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ gxf6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Be2 e6 8. Be3 Bd6 9. Qd2 Nd7 10. O-O-O Qe7 11. h3 Bh5 12. Kb1 Bb4 13. c3 Ba5 14. Rhe1 b5 15. g4 Bg6+ 16. Bd3 Nb6 17. Qc2 Nd5 18. Nd2 O-O 19. f4 b4
Unlike in our previous game where I was surprised by 4…Nf6, I was better prepared for it. Surprisingly, given my opponent’s much higher rating, I have played very natural moves until this point and that’s been enough to leave me with a sizeable advantage. In the race between our pawn storms, white seems to be quicker!

20. f5! bxc3 21. fxg6!
Even before my twentieth move, I looked at this position and whether I could play 21. Nb3 instead. I saw the continuation 21… Nb4! 22. Qxc3 Nxd3 23. Qxa5 (Nxa5) Nxe1 24. Rxe1 exf5 25. Bh6 Qd7 26. Bxf8 Rxf8 (Kxf8) and the position is equal. After the game, my opponent said he hadn’t seen Nb4 – but I couldn’t take that chance!

21… cxd2 22. gxh7+ Kh8 23. Bxd2 Bb6 24. Qa4
(24. Qc4)

24… Rab8 25. h4 Bc7 26. g5?
Fritz evaluates this position as approximately +2.3, so I am obviously doing quite well. The only thing I need to do is to keep playing sensibly – and the most sensible thing to do is to get my king out of the open b-file as well as the impending fork of the king and queen if the black knight lands on c3.

26… fxg5 27. hxg5 Bf4 28. b3??
White still retains a small advantage after 28. Ka1 Bxg5 29. Bxg5 Qxg5 30. Re5 Qg4

28… Bxd2 29. Rxd2 Nc3+ 0-1

No losses in 5 straight games now

I managed to hold a much higher-rated opponent to a draw on the white side of a Caro-Kann this past week. As is typical in the Caro-Kann, white enjoyed a space advantage for most of the game, but black was solid and impregnable. Once he was able to make his pawn breaks, we liquidated to a drawn endgame.

After the game, we discussed a couple of variations where black could have played more aggressively and ended up with an extra pawn in a rook-endgame, but being in severe time trouble, he chose to take the safe approach. All in all, quite a boring game indeed.