Spring Forward, Fall Back

The second round of the Online Dyfed Closed was played on Tuesday 12 January with two Aberystwyth playerson on 1 and the other three on 0. My English Opening against Howard Williams did not give me any real attacking chances, but I held my own against a very strong opponent until I allowed my position to become too passive and he played a fine exchange sacrifice to break through in the centre with his pawns. It's strange how some players have lower-rated opponents who always cause them trouble. For me it was the late Jan Sendall, for Rudy van Kemenade it seems to be Martin Jones. In a complex position arising from a Pirc Defence, Rudy miscalculated a tactical sequence and ended up a piece down. Though he did his best to generate counterplay, there was no reprieve. So, with the two players who won last week losing this week, it was left to the others to salvage the honour of the club. Adam Watkin-Jones got a big advantage when Scott Hammett played inaccurately against White's tricky Nc3 line in the Dutch; Black never equalized and the threats quickly became too great. Tom Gunn had to negotiate a difficult knight ending against Mark Paffard after a Closed Sicilian; White's queenside pawn majority gave winning chances, but Tom managed to draw with his higher-rated opponent. Finally Sam Holman's Ruy Lopez brought a textbook kingside attack against Awne Osinga, a good recovery after his disappointingly quick defeat last week. Four Aber players are now on 1/2, with Tom on ½/2.

Congratulations to Tom, who is confirmed as Welsh Online U1500 Champion for his performance in the WCU Online League.

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Move	N	Result	Elo

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1.c4 g6 1...Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.g3 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Nd4 Heap-Williams, Dyfed League 2014, 0-1 3...Bb4 A Robinson-Williams,Dyfed League 2015,0-1 2.Nc3 2.g3 Bg7 3.Bg2 d6 4.e4 Nc6 5.d3 f5 6.Nc3 Nf6 Francis-R Van Kemenade, Dyfed Closed 2014,0-1 2...Bg7 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 0-0 5.d3 d6 5...c6 6.e4 e5 7.Nge2 d6 8.0-0 Be6 9.b3 d5 Bevan-Williams, Dyfed Open 2014,1/2-1/2 6.e4 c5 most frequent 6...e5 7.Nge2 Nc6 8.0-0 Ne8 8...a6 9.h3 Rb8 alternative plan 9.a3 9.Be3 Nd4 10.Rb1 9...Rb8 10.Rb1 Nc7 11.Be3 2 draws, 4 Bl wins 11.b4 main 11...Nd4 11...Ne6 12.b4 transposes to 30 games, 58 % for Wh 12.b4 b6 13.Nd5N 13.h3 2 wins each, 1 draw 13...Nxe2+ 14.Qxe2 Ne6 15.Qd2 Nd4= 16.Kh1 16.h4!? 16...e6 17.Nc3 Bd7 18.b5 aiming to get in an a pawn advance ? but then Wh shifts attention to the K side Qe7 19.Bh6 19.a4 19...f5 20.Bxg7 Qxg7 21.exf5 gxf5 21...Nxf5!?= Stockfish12 22.Rbe1 Rbe8 23.Ne2 e5 23...Nxe2 24.Rxe2 f4 25.Be4 Kh8 Stockfish12 24.Nxd4 cxd4 25.Rd1 25.f4± the pawn mass needs to be restained Kh8 26.a4 Bc8 27.a5± Stockfish12 25...f4= 26.Rg1?! Wh is now becomin too passive 26.Bd5+ Kh8 26...Be6 27.Bc6 Bd7 28.gxf4 Bxc6+ 29.bxc6 Qc7 30.fxe5 Qxc6+ 31.f3 dxe5 32.Rde1= 27.f3 fxg3 28.Rg1 Qf6 29.Rxg3 26...Kh8 26...f3-+ Stockfish12 27.Bf1 Rf6 28.Re1 Bf5-+ Wh's pieces have no way of getting out of the K side logjam, and Bl slowly prepares a breakthrough 29.h3 Kh8 30.g4 Rg8 31.Rg3 Bc8 32.a4 Rg6 33.Ra1 Qe7 34.Qd1 h5 35.a5 Bb7-+ Stockfish12 27.gxf4 Rxf4 28.Be4 28.Bd5 28...Qf6 28...Bg4 29.f3 Bf5 30.Rde1 30.Bd5= Stockfish12 30...Rf8 30...Bxe4 31.fxe4 Rf2 32.Qg5 Qxg5 33.Rxg5 Rd2 34.Rg3 Rg8 35.Reg1 Rxg3 36.Rxg3 h5 37.h4= Stockfish12 31.Re2 Bg6 32.Bd5 32.Bxg6 hxg6 33.Re4 Qg7 34.Qg2= Stockfish12 32.Reg2= Stockfish12, looks a simpler method of holding on. 32...Rxf3!-+ the exchange sacrifice liberates the central pawn mass 33.Bxf3 Qxf3+ 34.Reg2 Bxd3 35.Qg5 Bg6 36.Qe7 Qf6 37.Qxf6+ Rxf6 38.Re1 d3 39.Rd2 e4 39...Rf4 40.Re3 Rf1+ 41.Kg2 Rc1 42.Kg3 Rxc4 Rs are good attackers 43.Re1 but bad defenders Kg7 44.Kf4 Kf6 45.Rb1 d5 46.Rb4 Rxb4 47.axb4 d4 0–1

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White	EloW	Black	EloB	Res

Francis,M	1648	Williams,A	2340	0–1
Jones,M	1725	Van Kemenade,R	1999	1–0
Watkin-Jones,A	1918	Hammett,S	1590	1–0
Paffard,M	1608	Gunn,T	1398	½–½
Holman,S	1386	Osinga,A	1343	1–0

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