Saturday, 30 January 2021

Pitched Battles

Any idea that online chess is less competitive than the over-the-board equivalent was dispelled by the fourth round of the Dyfed Closed Online tournament, played between Monday 25th and Wednesday 27th January. (The online format allows this kind of flexibility.) Aberystwyth's players were involved in some exceptionally exciting games. In a Scandinavian with players castled on opposite sides Adam Watkin-Jones got his kingside attack going faster than that of Gareth Williams on the queenside, and Black was forced to defend. But with only a couple of minutes left on the clock, Adam wasn't able to calculate the winning sacrifice and settled for a draw. I had prepared for 1...e5 against Robert Lovegrove, and played weakly against his unexpected Sicilian, coming out of the opening with a much worse position. However, in his anxiety to finish me off quickly, he let me back in with a sequence that won me the exchange, after which the ending was no problem. Tom Gunn found himself with a knight against a bishop in the ending for the second week in a row, after a Nimzo-Indian. At the crucial moment he missed the chance to push his passed pawn and Joshua Brewer's pawns overwhelmed him. Rudy van Kemenade was in some trouble with his Petroff against the much-lower-rated Ray Greenwood. Losing his queen was not the worst thing that could have happened, because the resultant complications suited his style and greater experience, and he managed to turn the tables. Sam Holman played a razor-sharp line of the Austrian Attack against David Pinch's Pirc Defence. When the initial attacks on both sides had come to a halt, Black had a material advantage but there were still chances for both players. The game continued with all sorts of twists and turns, till Sam was able to stop Black's connected passed pawns with his king and bishop. With one round to go, I am on 3/4, Adam on 2½, Rudy on 2 and Tom and Sam on 1½, while the tournament's strongest player, Howard Williams, has a maximum 4.

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1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 B01 Scandinavian Defense: Mieses-Kotroc Variation [ Standard for Gareth, no games in database for Adam-R] 3.Nc3 3.Nf3 1-2 for Gareth-R 3...Qd8 a slightly passive line, resembling a CaroKann-R 3...Qa5 3...Qd6 more frequent-R 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 c6 8.Be3 e6 9.0-0-0 9.Bd3 a bit more frequent-R 9...Nbd7?! (0.88 ? 1.51) Inaccuracy. Bb4 was best. 9...Bb4 10.Ne4 main,62% for Wh-R 10.Bd3 10.Kb1 79% for Wh-R 10...Be7 10...Bb4 main, what Bl thought in retrospect should have been played, but 11.Ne2 63 % for Wh-R 11.Kb1 0-0?! (1.28 ? 2.33) Inaccuracy. Nb6 was best. [ it cuts out the 0-0-0 possibility and the Bl K looks more open to attack on the K side-R] 11...Nb6 12.Qg3 g6 13.Bh6 Rg8 14.h4 Qd7 15.Qf3 Nbd5 16.Ne4 Nxe4 17.Bxe4 Nf6 18.Rhe1 0-0-0 Huschenbeth-Glek, Bundesliga 2012,1/2-1/2-R 12.g4+- Stockfish12-R Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.h4 Rc8 15.g5 Qb6 16.Bc1 a5?! (2.16 ? 3.29) Inaccuracy. Rc6 was best. 16...Rc6 17.Qh5 f5 18.Qe2 Rfc8 19.Bxf5 exf5 20.Qxe7 Nf8 21.Qe5+- Stockfish12-R 17.Qh5 g6 18.Qe2 18.Qg4 Stockfish12 18...Qd6? (3.23 ? 5.37) Mistake. Qxd4 was best. 18...Qxd4 19.Be3 Qb4 20.a3 Qd6 21.h5+- Stockfish12 19.f4 this does allow the Q to get to h2 in some lines-R 19.h5!+- Stockfish12-R 19...a4?! (5.12 ? 7.35) Inaccuracy. Rfe8 was best. 19...Rfe8 20.h5 20.h5 Kg7 21.Rde1?! (10.37 ? 5.73) Inaccuracy. hxg6 was best. 21.hxg6 Rh8 21...hxg6 22.Rh7+ mating, whether the sac is accepted or not Kxh7 23.Qh2+ Kg7 24.Qh6+ Kg8 25.Rh1 a3 26.Qh8# 22.gxh7 b5 23.Qh5 Kf8 24.f5+- Stockfish12-R 21...Rce8?! (5.73 ? 12.01) Inaccuracy. Rh8 was best. 21...Rh8 22.a3 22.Bb5?! (12.01 ? 6.24) Inaccuracy. hxg6 was best. 22.hxg6 Rh8 23.gxf7 Rb8 24.f5 exf5 25.Qxe7 Qxe7 26.Rxe7 Rbf8 27.Rxd7 Rxf7 28.Rxd5 f4 22...a3?! (6.24 ? 9.37) Inaccuracy. Rh8 was best. 22...Rh8 23.a3 23.b3? (9.37 ? 4.72) Mistake. hxg6 was best. 23.hxg6 23...Rd8? (4.72 ? 10.26) Mistake. Rh8 was best. 23...Rh8 24.Rh3+- 24.hxg6 hxg6? (9.94 ? Mate in 9) Checkmate is now unavoidable. fxg6 was best. 24...fxg6 25.Rxh7+ 25.Bxa3 Qxa3 26.Bxd7 Rxd7 27.Qe5+ Kf7 28.Qxe6+ Ke8 29.Rxh7 Kd8 30.f5 Rxf5 31.Qb6+ Kc8 32.Qxg6+- Stockfish12-R 25...Kxh7 26.Qh2+ Kg8 27.Rh1 Kf7 28.Qh7+ Ke8 29.Qxg6+ Rf7 30.f5+- Stockfish12 25.Bd3?? (Mate in 9 ? 1.03) Lost forced checkmate sequence. Rh7+ was best. 25.Rh7+ Kg8 25...Kxh7 26.Qh2+ 26.Reh1 Bxg5 27.fxg5 f5 28.Rh8+ Kf7 29.R1h7+ Ke8 30.Bxa3 Ra8 31.Rxf8+ Kxf8 lichess 32.Qxe6 Qxa3 33.Qf7# Stockfish12-R 25...Rh8 26.f5 gxf5 27.Rh6? (1.07 ? 0.00) Mistake. Bxf5 was best. 27.Bxf5 exf5 28.Rh6 Qb4 29.Qxe7 Qxe7 30.Rxe7+- Stockfish12-R 27...Qg3= Stockfish12-R 27...Rxh6 28.gxh6+ Kh8= Stockfish12-R 28.Reh1 28.Bxf5 Bxg5 29.Qd1 Bxh6 30.Rg1 Qxg1 31.Qxg1+ Kf6 32.Bd3 Bxc1 33.Qxc1 Ra8 34.Qf1+= Stockfish12-R 28...Rxh6 29.gxh6+ Kh8 30.Bxf5 Bd6?? (0.00 ? 3.54) Blunder. Qc3 was best. 30...Qc3 31.Qd3 Bb4 32.Rh3 Qe1 33.Re3 Qh4 34.Rh3 31.Bd3+- Rg8 32.Qh5? (4.04 ? 2.17) Mistake. Rf1 was best. 32.Rf1 Rf8 33.h7 Qh4 34.Rg1 Qh3 34...Qxd4 35.Qg2 35.Qe1 b6 36.Rf1 Qh2 37.Bb5+- Rc8 38.Rf2 38.Bd3 38...Qxh7 39.Bxd7+- Stockfish12-R 32...f5?? (2.17 ? 4.61) Blunder. Rf8 was best. 32...Rf8 33.Qe2 Nf6 34.Qf1 Ne8 35.Rg1 Qh4 36.c3 f5 37.Qg2 Qf6 38.Bg5 Qg6 39.c4+- Stockfish12-Wh will eventually break through, as all the Bl pieces are passively placed -R 33.Qf7 Qg2? (4.27 ? 10.04) Mistake. Nf8 was best. 33...Nf8 34.Qxb7+- Stockfish12-R 34.Rf1 Nf8 35.Qf6+ Kh7 36.Qf7+ Kh8 37.Qf6+ Kh7 38.Qf7+?? (10.00 ? 0.00) Blunder. Rxf5 was best. 38.Rxf5 was considered by Adam, but the shortage of time urged caution-R exf5 39.Bxf5+ Ng6 40.Qxd6 Kh8 41.Qf6+ Kh7 42.Qe5 b6 43.Qc7+ Kh8 44.Qxb6+- 44.Be6+- Under normal circumstances 2 Bs are certainly the equivalent of R &N (maybe a bit better since they cooperate in ways that R &N find difficult). Here, the added insecurity of the Bl K plus a continuing pawn deficit (with Bl's remaining 3 pawns greatly at risk as well), and Bl's survival chance looks like zero-R 38...Kh8 Normal The game is a draw. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBRes
Watkin-Jones,A1918Williams,R1643½–½
Francis,M1648Lovegrove,R15001–0
Brewer,J1481Gunn,T13981–0
Greenwood,R1286Van Kemenade,R19990–1
Holman,S1386Pinch,D1798½–½
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