Monday, January 16, 2006

black is back y'all

C - K
January Match Internet Chess Club (5), 15.01.2006
C31 - King's Gambit Declined : Falkbeer, Tartakower Variation


I decided before this game to play a King's Gambit. I had found a new idea v. the Falkbeer which Kirk plays and wanted to try it out 1.f4 e5 [I go through this move order for a couple of reasons. I didn't believe that Kirk would play 1...d5 because history has shown that he doesn't like the closed positions that follow. Also, Kirk never plays 1.e4 e5] 2.e4 [And also history has shown that I don't like From's Gambit 2.fxe5 . Lasker's defense is my antidote (as Black) to From's 2...d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3 g5! with equality] 2...d5 3.Nf3 And here's mine (and Tartakower's idea).



I've been looking for an alternative line to [3.exd5 because I just don't like the positions after 3...e4 I like Tchigorin's 4.Bb5+ but the positions aren't particularly good and the mainlines i don't find any better, so hence the text] 3...Bg4! [and of course I don't even consider this move. It looks strong to me. I had looked at 3...exf4 transposing back to C36. ;
and the position after 3...dxe4 4.Nxe5 is fairly good as far as I'm concerned with lines like 4...Bd6 5.d4 exd3 6.Nxd3] 4.Be2 This was the only move I saw that didn't immediately lose material or ruin my position [4.exd5 e4 5.Qe2 is more in line with the falkbeer lines;
4.Nc3 d4 looks much better for Black;
4.h3 dxe4 5.hxg4 exf3 6.Qxf3 gives me a mangled kingside;
4.Qe2 was another option but i think Kirk would have ended up way ahead in development after something like 4...Nc6] 4...Bc5?! [This is a novelty as far as I can tell 4...exf4 has been played a number of times.] 5.Nxe5 Bxe2 [5...Bh3! was a possible move, threatening 6.gxh3 (6.Kf1 may be better for White according to Fritz, but i think it sucks to play as White) 6...Qh4+ 7.Kf1 Qf2#] 6.Qxe2 Nf6 [6...Nd7 7.exd5 Qh4+ 8.g3 Qe7] 7.Qb5+ Nbd7 8.exd5 [8.Nxd7 Nxd7 9.Qxb7 and 9...d4 with an ugly position is almost forced(9...Rb8 for instance 10.Qxd5 and i'm better; 9...dxe4 10.Qxe4+ Be7 11.0-0 looks better for me as well) The immediate 8.Qxb7?! isn't as good because after 8. ...Rb8 I can't capture the d-pawn. That tactical point is what I missed ] 8...0-0 9.b4? [Brutal. SOmething like 9.Nxd7 Nxd7 10.Kd1 would have been better. I'm way behind in development at this point, i just wanted to get the bishop off the diagonal so i can castle but i missed that...] 9...Bd4! attacks my rook 10.c3 [10.Nc3 doesn't really help me. At this point I wasn't counting on castling, so if I'm not going to castle trading off pieces is probably my best idea] 10...Bxe5 11.fxe5 Nxe5 12.0-0 [Plans change. Maybe 12.d4 first was better.] 12...Qxd5 i'm definitely worse here....i'm going to have to trade off queens without picking off the b-pawn which was the point of my queen excursion in the first place. 13.Qxd5 Nxd5 14.Rf5!? Nd3 [I was counting on this move. If he would've played something like 14...Rfe8 ;
or 14...f6 , but the text actually half gives me a chance to get back in the game, and catch up in development] 15.Rxd5 Nxc1 Trading off one of my undeveloped pieces 16.Na3?! A forcing move but [16.Rd7 was likely better] 16...Ne2+ 17.Kf2 [In the big picture 17.Kf1 would've been better. When I made this move i didn't picture him picking off the d-pawn (with check, hence Kf1 being better than Kf2). I imagined something grand like me pushing the d-pawn to d4 and all the way to victory or something like that. Delroy rides again! Unfortunately the continuation wasn't quite so dramatic...] 17...Nf4 18.Rd7 Rfd8 19.Rxc7 Ne6? [I imagine he played this because he was afraid of 19...Rxd2+ 20.Ke3 but 20...Rxa2! 21.Rxa2 Nd5+] 20.Rxb7 Rxd2+ 21.Kf1 two moves to get to f1, instead of one. an extra tempo here would've likely really helped me out. [21.Kf1 -- 22.Nc4 Rc2 23.Nd6 Rxc3 24.Rd1 i dunno if it's really better] 21...Nf4 22.Re1 Rxa2? [Allowing a tactic because of back rank mate. 22...h6 was likely better winning him a pawn. One of Kirk's "chess weaknesses" is refusing to slow down things to give his king some breathing room.] 23.Rxa7 Rd8 [23...Rxa7?? 24.Re8#] 24.Nb5 this is the key here. 24...Rxg2 [24...Rxa7 may have been better 25.Nxa7] 25.Nd6? not calculating hard enough [I thought about 25.Rd7 again with but if 25...Rb8 (25...Rxd7 26.Re8#) (not 26.Rb7 with a repetition but) 26.Re4! g5 27.Rxf4! gxf4 28.Kxg2 Rxb5 29.Kf3 and I think i'm better in in this endgame.] 25...Rxh2 26.Re8+?! [I think now was the time to go for the repetition by 26.Rd7 Ra8 27.Ra7 and if 27...Rf8 28.Ree7] 26...Rxe8 27.Nxe8 Rc2 28.Nd6 h6 29.Rxf7 Nd5 30.Rf3 [30.Rd7 Rxc3 31.b5 was pretty close to what happened] 30...Nxc3 [Of course hoping for 30...Rxc3 31.Rxc3 Nxc3] 31.b5 Nd5 32.Rb3 Nb6 33.Ne4 Kf7 34.Rf3+ Ke6 35.Rg3 g5 36.Nxg5+? [36.Rh3! was much better, but i figured that even I could draw R+N v. R] 36...hxg5 37.Rxg5= and I offered a draw which Kirk initially declined. He did offer a draw afterwards, but I don't know if it was at this point or when it was. I didn't see it (or hear it on ICC) so I continued playing and... 37...Kd6 38.Rf5 Rb2 39.Ke1 Nd5 40.Rg5 Rxb5



41.Ke2??
This is an unbelievable blunder. My excuse is that I was tired. A more realistic excuse is that (similar to my game in Kitchener last year where I dropped my queen on the sunny side of Q+P v. RR) I had already mentally chalked this up as a draw and the only thing i was trying to avoid was a fork. I wasn't even looking for my rook to be captured. Yes I feel he should have accepted my draw, but I should've opened my eyes. Sub-masterly play by me ;) 41...Nc3+ 42.Kd3 Rxg5 43.Kxc3 Rg4 44.Kd3 White resigns 0-1

i still need to learn focus. sneaky's recommendation of writing down the moves has startd but i totally played from about move 21 on too fast and was hardly paying attention at the end. oh well live and learn.

in response to my terrible tournament last year, i read an interesting article today about "Why We Have Disaster Tournaments". I'm just glad I'm not the only one ;)

1 comment:

Craig said...

from TWIC587

[Event "Winter Open"]
[Site "Belgrade SCG"]
[Date "2006.01.29"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Boskovic,Maksimilijan"]
[Black "Karadarevic,S"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[BlackElo "1866"]
[EventDate "2006.01.21"]
[ECO "C31"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. Be2 exf4 5. exd5 Bxf3 6. Bxf3 Qh4+ 7. Kf1
Bc5 8. d4 Bd6 9. c4 b6 10. Qe2+ Ne7 11. c5 O-O 12. cxd6 cxd6 13. Qf2 Qf6
14. Bd2 Nf5 15. Na3 Re8 16. Nc2 g5 17. Re1 Rxe1+ 18. Qxe1 Na6 19. Bc3 Nc7
20. Kf2 Re8 21. Qd2 Ne3 22. Re1 g4 23. Nxe3 fxe3+ 24. Rxe3 Rxe3 25. Qxe3
gxf3 26. Qxf3 Nxd5 27. Qxf6 Nxf6 28. Ke3 Kf8 29. Kd3 d5 30. Bd2 Ne4 31. a3
Ke7 32. Bf4 a6 33. Ke3 Ke6 34. Kf3 f5 35. Ke3 b5 36. Kf3 a5 37. Ke3 Kd7 38.
Kd3 Kc6 39. Bd2 a4 40. Bb4 Kd7 41. Ke3 Ke6 42. Be1 Nd6 43. Bc3 Kf6 44. Kf4
Ne8 45. g4 Ng7 46. gxf5 Nxf5 47. h3 Nd6 48. Bb4 Nc4 49. Bc3 Kg6 50. Kg4 h5+
51. Kf4 Kf6 52. h4 Nd6 53. Be1 Nf5 54. Bf2 Ne7 55. Be1 Ng6+ 56. Kg3 Kf5 57.
Kf3 Nf4 58. Bd2 Nd3 1/2-1/2