Prep paying off?
In the next game in the Pacific Coast Open, I was playing against my friend Noam Feinberg. I was fortunate to have signed up for pairings by text, which I think actually played a pretty significant role in this game. Noam and I have discussed this specific line in the exchange roy lopez at a decent length. I was able to go over some lines and some games in the ride to the tournament, while Noam found out he was playing me when he got there.
Noam Feinberg (~2200) - Caleb Wan (2090)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bd6
The line I play in the exchange ruy.
6. d4 exd4 7. Qxd4 f6 8. Be3 Ne7 9. Nbd2 Be6 10. Qc3 Qd7 11. Nc4 Bxc4 12. Qxc4 Ng6 13. Rad1 O-O-O
I prepped up to this point. It was quite easy to prep up to here, because of our previous conversations. I assumed my opponent would prep also, so I was interested to see what his idea would be. It is worth nothing that it is completely fine for black to give up his light square bishop for the knight, which is a little surprising.
14. h3!? Rhe8 15. Nd2?! Nf4 16. Rfe1?!
It was a little difficult for Noam to figure out how to play this. I remember my analysis having something to do with 14. Qd4 c5 and black pushing on the queenside. Anyways, based on my opponent's reaction to my next move, he completely missed it:
16... Nxh3+! 17. gxh3 Qxh3 18. f4?
Necessary was 18. Nf1 where black has an extremely high amount of compensation for the sacrificed piece.
18... Bxf4?
I could have played 18... Qg3! first, followed by some g5 ideas. The temptation to gain the 3rd pawn for the piece was quite high. It is worth noting that the position is equal now, though I would give black a small practical edge.
19. Qe2 g5?!
I thought I was being clever with opening the g-file, but in reality, 19... Bg3 was a bit stronger, just keeping my strong bishop on the board.
20. Bxf4 gxf4 21. Qh2 Qe6 22. Qxf4 Rg8+ 23. Kf2 Qxa2 24. Nf3 Qxb2 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. Re2 Qc3
We have reached a strange situation where black has a lot of pawns for the piece. It is still about equal but my opponent's time management problems started to catch up to him.
27. Qf5+ Kb8 28. Qxh7 b5 29. Qe7 Rd6 30. Qe8+ Kb7 31. Nh4? Rd2!
With black's perfectly safe king and white's position falling apart, I am clearly in the driver's seat here.
32. Qh5 Qxc2 33. Rxd2 Qxd2+ 34. Kg3 b4 35. Nf3 Qd6+ 36. Kg4 b3 37. Qh1 Qd3 0 - 1
I won the game on time here. This was a really crazy game, but it was very significant for me. I finally beat an opponent stronger than me for the first time during the whole summer. Though I made my fair share of inaccuracies, I am still happy with how I played.
