More than Respectable

After my last post suggesting that Aberystwyth were putting up an unexpectedly good fight in the Open Section of the Welsh Chess Union Online League, our match against Morriston on Thursday 9th December confirmed our good form. On top board, an interesting Budapest Gambit game was in prospect when Rudy van Kemande's opponent, Moss McCarthy, dropped a rook and resigned at once. It turned out that both players were too hasty: White could have trapped Black's queen after the capture, forcing her to give herself up for the second rook, leaving an unclear position, while Rudy had overlooked a winning alternative. Adam Watkin-Jones won a piece with a fork in an irregular opening against Chris Howells, who was unable to find any counterplay, and lost further material before resigning. I have recently taken up the Caro-Kann, inspired by Levy Rozman's Gotham Chess YouTube Channel: of his recommended line against the Advance Variation, he says, "You WILL win White's centre pawns, often!" and that's exactly what happened in my game against Francisco Marin, next time I'll remember to take both of them, but one was enough on this occasion. Sam Holman's game against Duncan Williams followed a line played several times in the recent World Championship match between Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi. Black won a pawn in the centre but overlooked White's threats on the kingside and Sam broke through to give mate. 4-0 to Aber was an outstanding result.

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Move	N	Result	Elo

1.e4	1,161,232	54%	2421
1.d4	943,611	55%	2434
1.Nf3	280,295	56%	2441
1.c4	181,395	56%	2442
1.g3	19,649	56%	2427
1.b3	14,142	54%	2427
1.f4	5,868	48%	2376
1.Nc3	3,749	51%	2385
1.b4	1,735	48%	2378
1.a3	1,187	53%	2403
1.e3	1,063	48%	2408
1.d3	940	50%	2378
1.g4	658	46%	2359
1.h4	441	52%	2372
1.c3	419	51%	2423
1.h3	277	56%	2416
1.a4	106	59%	2469
1.Nh3	88	66%	2510
1.f3	87	45%	2429
1.Na3	40	63%	2477

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.e3 4.Bf4 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Nf3 Qe7 8.Qd5 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Qd3 d6 11.e3 0-0 12.Be2 Kh8 13.0-0 MCCarthy-J Van Kemenade,West Wales Open 2018,1-0 4...Nxe5 5.Nh3 5.f4 Nec6 6.Nf3 Bc5 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Bd3 Re8 9.Kf2 h6 Llewellyn-Van Kemenade, WCPL 2019,1/2-1/2 5.Nc3 g6 6.b3 Bg7 7.Bb2 0-0 8.Nf3 Nbc6 9.Be2 Re8 10.0-0 d6 Dudiefa-Van Kemenade,Coventry 2005,0-1 5...g6 5...d6 6.Nf4 g6 7.Nc3 Bg7 8.Be2 a5 9.0-0 0-0 10.e4 c6 11.Be3 Qe7 12.Rc1 f5 Varley-Van Kemenade,S Wales International 2008,1-0 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Nf4 0-0 8.Be2 d6 9.0-0 9.Bd2 a5 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Qc2 Nc5 12.f3 f5 13.Nd3 Ne6 M Davies-Van Kemenade, West Wales Open 2007,1-0 9...Nbd7 10.Qc2 a5 11.b3 Nc5 12.Bb2 Bf5N Cloud Engines 12...b6 13.Rad1 Bb7 14.Nfd5 f5 15.Qd2 Re8 16.f4 Nf7 17.e4 c6 Llewellyn-Van Kemenade, WCPL 2009,0-1 12...c6 main, 3.5-0.5 12...a4 KomodoDragon2; Lanin-Akrill, ICCF 2016,1/2-1/2 13.e4 Bd7 14.Nfd5 c6 14...Nc6= KomodoDragon2 15.Ne3 f5 16.exf5 gxf5 17.f4 Ng6 18.Ncd1 18.Rad1 KomodoDragon2 18...Qe7 19.Bxg7 19.g3 a4 20.b4 Ne4 KomodoDragon2 19...Qxg7 20.g3? 20.Qc3 Rf7= KomodoDragon2 20...Qxa1 both players thought that Wh had just dropped a R, but matters are not that simple 20...Qxa1 Wh should have continued with 21.Nc3 Qxf1+ 22.Kxf1 Rae8 23.Qd2 Rf6 24.Bf3 KomodoDragon2 gives this as winning for Wh, but perhaps with 2 Rs for a Q, Bl should have continued till move 136 to win as in Carlsen-Nepomniachti, Wld Ch 2021,1-0 20...Nxf4!-+ is the correct way to exploit Wh's last, as the Engines indicate. 21.Bf3 21.Rxf4 Qxa1-+ 21...Nh3+ 22.Kh1 f4 23.gxf4 Qxa1 24.Nc3 Qxf1+ 25.Nxf1 Rxf4 26.Bg2 Raf8-+ 26...Nd3-+ KomodoDragon2- as compared with the immediate capture of the R, Wh's K side has been shattered 0–1

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White	EloW	Black	EloB	Res

McCarthy,M	1989	Van Kemenade,R	1999	0–1
Watkin-Jones,A	1918	Howells,C	1835	1–0
Marin Marin,F	1832	Francis,M	1648	0–1
Holman,S	1386	Williams,D	1752	1–0

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