Whitewash and Moonlight

Aberystwyth faced some of our most formidable opponents yet in the form of Newport and Friends in the Welsh Chess Union Online League Open Section on Tuesday 11 May. Part of the problem in dealing with such a challenge is coontinuing to believe in yourself; all four of us in the Aber team started well enough but were unable to last the distance. On top board Rudy van Kemenade had achieved a comfortable opening against FM Grzegorz Toczek by transposing into a McCutcheon French when a miscalculation cost him a pawn. The closed postion then began to work against him, and his uncastled king became a target. Adam Watkin-Jones's unorthodox English against Ernest Gibiec arrived at a Stonewall formation, with both players having strong central knights. Moving his own knight away from its outpost proved fatal, as White's position collapsed quickly. Having declined Adam Rakos's Wing Gambit against my Siclian, I had to work fast to undermine his extended pawn centre before his kingside attack could get going, but was too defensive. Tom Gunn arrived via a Semi-Slav route at the sort of solid but dynamic queen's pawn game he likes and seemed at least equal against Chris Boyd when he dropped a pawn; again things turned against him quickly after that. A 4-0 win for Newport and Friends could have been so much better for Aber. By way of consolation I finish with a good win for Aber's Sam Holman, moonlighting for Cardigan against a strong opponent, David Pinch of Steynton A, in the Under 1800 section.

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Move	N	Result	Elo

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1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 avoiding prepared lines e6 2...d5 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.e3 c6 5.c4 Toczek-Rybansky Vychod (Slavia) 2003,1-0 3.Nc3 d5 4.e4 Bb4 transposing to a McCutcheon 5.e5 h6 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.bxc3 Ne4 8.Bd3 8.Qg4 main line theory 8...Nxd2 9.Qxd2 c5 10.Nf3 Qa5 10...Nc6 11.0-0 10...c4 10...b6 11.0-0 11.a4 11...Ba6 12.Ne1 1.5-0.5 11.0-0 Nc6 11...b6 is worth a try, to swap off bads B- 2 draws, 2 Bl wins 12.Rfb1 0-0 13.a4 Ba6 14.Bb5 Bb7 15.Bd3 Ba6 16.Bb5 Stockfish13 12.dxc5 12.Rfd1 main, 4% for Wh 12...d4?! Bl miscounted the pawns after the Q swap & also hoped to get the QB out via a6 12...Qxc5= 58% for Wh, 59 games 13.Be4 13.cxd4 Qxd2 14.Nxd2 Nxd4 15.Nc4+- 13...Qxc3 14.Bxc6+ bxc6 15.Qxd4 Qxd4 16.Nxd4 the N & advanced c pawndominate Ba6 16...Rb8!? 17.Rfb1 Rc8 17...0-0 may well be best try, Stockfish13, hoping for some activity down the open lines 18.Nxc6 Kh7 18...Rfc8? 19.Ne7+ 19.Na5 Rfd8 20.Rd1 Rdc8 21.c6 Bb5 22.Rd6 Rab8 23.c4 Ba4 24.Rd7 Bxc6 25.Rxf7 a6 26.h4+- Stockfish13 17...Kd7 looks dangerous, Wh has sewveral ways to keep the advantage 18.Rd1 18.Rb4 Rhb8 19.Rab1 19.c3 Rxb4 20.cxb4 Kc7 seems less effective 19...Rxb4 20.Rxb4 Kc7 21.h4 Rd8 22.Ra4 Kb7 23.Nb3 g5 24.hxg5 hxg5 25.Rb4+ Kc7 26.Rd4+- 18...Kc7 19.Nb3 Rab8 20.Rd6 Rb4 21.Rad1 Bc8 22.Na5+- 18.Rb4 Rc7 18...0-0 must be better, though 19.Nb3 Rfd8 20.f3 Rc7 21.Kf2 and Bl has very little play, especially for the B 19.Rb8+ Bc8 the B never really got out, even though d5 looked a possibility earlier !? 20.Rd1 Ke7 21.Nb3 21.Ra8 Rd8 22.Rxa7+- Stockfish13 21...Rd8 22.Rd6 Rb7 22...Bd7 23.Rb4 23.Rxd8 Kxd8 24.f4+- 23...a5 24.Ra4 f6 25.f4 Ra7 26.exf6+ gxf6 27.Nd4+- Stockfish13 23.Na5 23.Nd4 Stockfish13 23...Rc7 24.f4 24.Rxd8 Kxd8 25.Ra8 lichess & Stockfish13 24...Bd7 25.Rb4 Rdc8 26.Nc4 the N is coming to d6 Rd8 27.a4 Bc8 27...Rf8 and sit & wait may be best- exchange of a pair of Rs just makes Bl's K side pawns vulnerable 28.Rxd8 Kxd8 29.Nd6 f6 other wise f7 goes 30.Rb8 fxe5 31.fxe5 Kd7 32.Kf2 the K will force an entry on the K side Ba6 33.Rg8 g5 34.Rh8 Ke7 35.c4 Rd7 Bl has run into zugzwang 36.Re8# Normal 1–0

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White	EloW	Black	EloB	Res

Toczek,G	2326	Van Kemenade,R	1999	1–0
Watkin-Jones,A	1918	Gibiec,E	2186	0–1
Rakos,A	2133	Francis,M	1648	1–0
Gunn,T	1398	Boyd,C	1890	0–1
Holman,S	1386	Pinch,D	1798	1–0

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