Thursday, November 10, 2005

 

Heartbreaking Loss

G&d d*mn it! Agh! There is a 14/15 year old at my club. In June 04 after his first event he was 980. Now, he is over 2100. In under 18 months…de la Meza eat your heart out. Anyway, I’m now 3-5 against him. The first time I played him he was about 1800 and I was about 1650. He won in the first encounter, but I won the next 3 between January and April when he was about 1900. Now, I’ve lost the last 4. He’s now 250 points higher than me. Here I had a better position than him, but let my position crumble. He knows I play the King’s Gambit and we played the French last time. He’s been getting lessons by a grandmaster, so his opening knowledge outshines mine by far. All that withstanding, he's a great kid, never showboats, isn't cocky and I enjoy our encounters.

White: Christopher (1860)
Black: The teenager (2104)
Opening: Robatch Defense.

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. h3 a6 5. a4 (prevents b5) b6 6. Be3 c5 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Bc4 e6 At this point I think I have the better position. 9. d5!? Na5 I missed this tempo on my bishop. I consider castling or Qd2. I was trying to take advantage of the king’s knight not being developed.



10. Qd3 e5 11. Nd2 f5 12. f3 f4 Unfortunately, if I had been castled, I could have responded with f4 instead of the more passive f3. 13. Bf2 Nf6 14. Rb1 O-O 15. b4 Nxc4 16. Nxc4 g5 17. Kd2 Ne8 I thought about castling as well here but felt the kingside could open up quickly with a bishop sac. Ke2 aligned my queen and king on light square so I avoided that.18. bxc5 bxc5 19. Rb6 h5 20. Rhb1 g4 21. hxg4 hxg4



22. Rbh1 g3 23. Be1 Rf6 My bishop is misplaced, but I can bring it over to a5. 24. Kc1 Bd7 25. Ne2 Bxa4 I sacrificed the pawn for the position of the bishop. 26. Ba5 Qc8 27. Nc3 Bd7 28. Kd2 Bf8 29. Qf1 Nc7 30. Nxe5 Nb5 The time control is 30 moves in 90 minutes, and he must have hit the (digital) clock with 0.00 seconds left, because it was at 1:00 even. So close. 31. Nxd7 Qxd7 32. Nxb5 axb5 Here I achieved my best position. I am up a pawn, but obviously not won.



33. Rxb5 Rf7 In hindsight I should have taken with the queen, but I had visions of playing Qb1 and then putting pressure up the b file. 34. Bc3 Rh7 35. Rb1 Bg7 I was worried about Rxh7 Qxh7 with Qh2 to follow. However, the bark may have been worse than the bite. My queen is tied up on f1, but so is the black queen. 36. Qc4 Rxh1 37. Rxh1 Ra4 38. Qb3 Bxc3 39. Qxc3 Rd4 40. Kc1 (forced or Qb5+) Qa7 41. Qb2 Kg7 42. Rh4 Qa6 The better move was Rd1, but it was late, I was tired and missed Qa6. 43. Rh1 Kg6 44. c3 Ra4 This just hasted the end. Re1 in post game analysis is really no better. I had been hoping to play e5 at some point, but it was too late. 45. Kb1 Qd3 46. Kc1 Rc4 47. Qd2 Rxc3 48. Kd1 Qb1 49. Ke2 I almost think I can get out of everything, but nope.... Qb5 50. Ke1 Re3 51. Kd1 Qb3 52. Qc2 Rd3 53. Kc1 Rc3 54. e5 Qxc2# 0-1

Wait 'till next month!

For pgn loading:
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. h3 a6 5. a4 b6 6. Be3 c5 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Bc4 e6 9. d5 Na5 10. Qd3 e5 11. Nd2 f5 12. f3 f4 13. Bf2 Nf6 14. Rb1 O-O 15. b4 Nxc4 16. Nxc4 g5 17. Kd2 Ne8 18. bxc5 bxc5 19. Rb6 h5 20. Rhb1 g4 21. hxg4 hxg4 22. Rbh1 g3 23. Be1 Rf6 24. Kc1 Bd7 25. Ne2 Bxa4 26. Ba5 Qc8 27. Nc3 Bd7 28. Kd2 Bf8 29. Qf1 Nc7 30. Nxe5 Nb5 31. Nxd7 Qxd7 32. Nxb5 axb5 33. Rxb5 Rf7 34. Bc3 Rh7 35. Rb1 Bg7 36. Qc4 Rxh1 37. Rxh1 Ra4 38. Qb3 Bxc3 39. Qxc3 Rd4 40. Kc1 Qa7 41. Qb2 Kg7 42. Rh4 Qa6 43. Rh1 Kg6 44. c3 Ra4 45. Kb1 Qd3 46. Kc1 Rc4 47. Qd2 Rxc3 48. Kd1 Qb1 49. Ke2 Qb5 50. Ke1 Re3 51. Kd1 Qb3 52. Qc2 Rd3 53. Kc1 Rc3 54. e5 Qxc2#

Comments:
I know what you mean about those doggone kids! We've got one in our club that just made Class A, after being about 1490 August of 2004. Sounds like your guy (especially if he's got a GM helping him) has a lot of talent for the game.

Anyhoo, my comments about the game (for what it's worth):

1. I didn't like either 4. h3 or his response 4. ... a6. I thought those moves were too passive (even if they were part of an opening system). I would have preferred to shoot for a Pirc with 4. f4 instead.

2. I also thought 5. a4 was too passive. I would have fought more for the center.

3. Even though your lightsquare bishop was backward, it had a lot of potential for the future of the game. I would have withdrawn it to h2 after 9. ... Na5 and not allowed the exchange.

4. I thought 11. Nd2 increased Black's chances for a kingside attack. D2 is a less active square than f3.

5. I would have preferred 15. Bh2 before b4, especially now that the black king is on the diagonal.

6. It looks like 21. hxg4 helps your opp open lines on the kingside. He's not set up yet for a kingside assault, so I would have continued with plans along the b-file. I like 21. Na5 aiming for c6.

Those are some of the main ones I see. I think you were still doing okay, because he was very cramped. Once he could free himself, he became very dangerous.
 
I appreciate your comments.

1&2 4. h3 was to prevent Bg4. Otherwise the bishop didn't have a good spot to go to. a6 or c6 is common with the Pirc. Usually black then plays b5. I got my butt kicked once when i didn't play a4. It was a bit different there was a knight on f6, but b4 comes and kicks the knight out.

3. The game ended up opening up. At the time it was a closed game when knights are more valuable than bishops.

4. As for Nd2, f5 is coming. It's really his only move. I would have prefered to play f4 as I mentioned. The knight got to c4, which was a great square for it so I didn't mind that.

5. Yes! I did think consider that at the time (see #4 for why not)and the way the game turned out, it would have been nice. I kept looking for sacs on e5 when I could push d6 with a huge check with the rook controlling the a-file. The knight on c4 was a good piece though.

6. At that point, if I didn't take he would have gotten gxf3 gxf3 Bxh3, Rh1 Qd7. However, 20. Rhb1 was wasted. My queen is the piece doing the least, so perhaps I should have played Qf1 with the option to go Qb1.

I have yet to run it through Chessmaster. For all the errors or speculation, I was still up by move 33. Qxb5 was, in highsight better. I can now look at 33...Qxb5 34. Rxb5 Bg7 35. Bc3 Rf7 36. Bxg7 Rxg7 37. Rb6 Rg6 38. Rh4 Rf6. I seem to be on the offensive and he's having to defend two weak pawns. My pawn on c2 gives my king some good safety.

Thanks again for the comments. One always learns more from losses than they do wins.
 
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