Chess.com 2024, 3rd round, E11 - Going down
28th of June
Yesterday, I had the first shock of the tournament. The endgame against the leader is lost; I missed a basic trick on the 8th rank. Spent a bit of time consoling myself, but it’s not easy to get mental balance after investing so much in the game.
I did get my timeout against Dumblecore, but it’s a very weak consolation. 12 games left.
My first and likely last experiment with d4 / Gruenfeld. Thanks to the opening book for holding me afloat for the first 12 moves. Black misplayed the position as soon as we got out of the opening. The biggest misstep was playing 15…c4 instead of 15…e6. It was plain sailing from there. I didn’t play perfectly, but this was not a game I put a ton of time into, considering I expected my opponent to eventually time out – which he did.
I think it’s clear at this point who’s getting the first place. I can have a fight for the second, which I’ll do once I get back to the right mental state. This starts with making my last move in the furiously-fast black game.
In the Draqlek white game, I need to decide whether to still play for the win:
I don’t see why not. There is no risk as such, but he always can play Ra4, which will disrupt my plans and likely end in a draw. The main problem or side effect from the furiously fast loss is that my confidence is completely gone and now I suspect every single decision in my other games.
I did not see black’s plan with taking the king to the kingside; otherwise, I’d have played h5 here.
He played the right move, as expected. My plan was a5, with potential sacrifice on b2. Sample line:
Maybe it was the loss weighing on me, but I made a second mistake in a row; I just didn’t see the Rf3 move. Qb5 was mandatory here.
I resigned the furiously fast game late morning, which was like a knife in my heart, since the analysis shows I was one correct move away from a draw. One of the most frustrating losses of all time for me.
I’ll give him credit – he played well throughout, and the rating assessment of the engine seems about right. Unfortunately, a 2150 performance was just not good enough here. 11 games left.
This is a tough one. I’m writing this eight weeks after the game is finished, and still have a very strong sense of disappointment. I did quite well in the opening, at some point hitting -2.1 eval after white’s 14. Qb1 move. 18…b4 opened a set of tactics, where my opponent played perfectly and equalized. The 20. Rxe7 sacrifice was a big surprise. The endgame is where things really went astray; I defended reasonably well, but a single mistake was enough to lay it all to waste. My opponent played it perfectly starting from move 18.
Moving on to the next game with a heavy heart:
Rc2 was not in my calculations list and it’s a good move. It opens up the option of Ra1, while protecting b2 and keeping the threat on e5 in mind. I calculate Nc5 and Rb5: both have issues. Nd7 also does not allow me to keep my extra pawn. Hence, I’m gravitating to Rd8, which uses the only weakness in Rc2, namely Rd1 becoming unprotected.
The variations here give a minor (or major) headache, especially considering the disrupted mental state due to today’s loss. I converge on Rb4, which keeps up the immense forest of variations:
The eval is very close to 0.00, but it’s not how a human here would feel considering we’re both walking on the edge of a cliff. My choice wasn’t the top line, but it was a “human” move as opposed to the Rb5 proposed by the engine.
Going to the Draqlek black game:
The last move was Re1, with the not-so-subtle threat of a double check. The question is whether I charge ahead with Kd5 or play it safe with Kf6/f7. I feel like Kd5 is problematic, since white will continue checking with Nf4+, eventually pushing the king all the way back to c8. So, can I win if I go back to f6?
Firstly, I think Kf7 is more precise, since the king does not get checked from Nf5 or Re6 in the various lines. Secondly, I again feel too tired physically and morally to calculate deep, but with the perfect placement of the bishop and the rooks I feel optimistic.
As I gradually come to terms with the fact that round 3 is my final one, I actually feel some of the regret wash away. After all, second place was my realistic goal to start with and it’s still achievable. I’m also not sure that being in round 4 would have been a good thing for me, since chess started affecting my home and work life even on this round. So, I should reset my sights to earning a second place, which is still somewhat doable.
Despite considerable heartburn, I have to make a move in the other furiously fast game.
I earmarked Rc4 here and it still looks decent.
His plan is exchanging the black-squared bishops and the queens – then perhaps pressuring the c3 pawn. He has avoided my naïve trap by playing Rac6. I have two options: let exchanges happen by playing a waiting move, such as Qe3. Or open things up with f5, which can ricochet back to me.
I decide that opening things up is not ideal, perhaps I can go g4 when some of the heavier machinery is off the board.
By the way, I’m no longer in 2nd place:
It’s nice to have this calmer kind of position among all the turmoil I had to deal with today. My reflex is to occupy the d-file with Qd5 before black plays something like Rd7 and Kf7.
Best move and +0.39 eval. Decent way of finishing this difficult day.
29th of June
Went to a Hauser concert in the Mountain winery. Very interesting venue: an amphitheater looking over the San Jose valley, with planes and birds flying as a backdrop. All the drinks were massively overpriced, with Russian-speaking neighbours all around us. The music itself gets high marks – something a bit different from what I’m normally going for, but the musicians were top notch.
That’s the expected move – he obviously wants to swap a pair of rooks to make his extra exchange count. The downside is that e4 is no longer under pressure, so I have the option of Rxc1 and d5-d4.
It’s not like there is a great alternative, since Rc6 is going to create a weakness on c6.
The main question will come on the next move – whether to play d4 or Qd4. The former looks a bit risky, as it opens up a place for white to crash through on c7. However, there are very interesting lines there, especially if I get a pawn to the 3rd rank.
I’ve missed a trick here – since neither of these two options is the right one. To be continued in my commentary on the next move.
Rdd7 is almost a no-brainer, but I’d like to check his defensive resources. Maybe I can map this one all the way to a win.
I should be able to handle this with the extra a-b pawn pair.
Not sure why I didn’t calculate 27…Re7 here. I’m still winning of course, but it’s yet another example of not seeing an obvious move for my opponent.
He’s probably thinking of Ra2 or Nd4 to try and trap the queen. My goal is simple – get the pawn pair moving. So, the candidates are: Rc4, a4 and Qa3.
The former doesn’t look great due to Nd4:
However, the same idea doesn’t work against a4.
Rc4 also worked, but since the eval here is -3.7 anyway, many options work.
Let’s move the pawns then. On to the VFK game:
No surprises here either. The only question is whether I should take on b2 with the rook or the knight. However, it looks like both options allow him to regain the pawn and end up with an almost equal position. Then I see an option that wasn’t visible from further away: Nxe4.
It seems to work great, as black cannot take on c6 due to various tactics.
The engine shows a couple of responses to Nxe4 that could be problematic: 26. Nd3 and 26. Bg2. Neither are losing for black, but they also take away any chance of winning – each in their own way. Another couple of items for my “missed opponent’s option” collection.
Last game for this morning:
Kf2 seems like the natural move here. Ke2 may also work, but it may give him an Nf4+ or Re8+ in the future. Since he is likely to put his bishop on f6, I don’t think Bc5+ would be a problem. However, then I see a nasty line with b5, which corrects my viewpoint:
So, Ke2 seems much more accurate. The moral of this tale – natural moves are often misleading.
It looks like a boring move, but I consider it one of my best in the tournament. It is the right choice for the very reason I arrived to. The eval is still -0.52, but not for the lack of trying on my part.
The main choice is between Qd4 and d4. First, Qd4, where I see equality down the line with the best play.
d4 is riskier but carries more reward.
There are many misses here in the calculations. I definitely wasn’t at my best. Let’s list them one by one:
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- In the 24…Qd4 line, white’s 25. Bxf6 is a blunder, since black has a nice zwischenzug with Qd2, which wins immediately.
- On the other hand, after 24…Qd4, white has many benign moves such as 25. Qf4 that negate black’s bishop pair and gradually take over the game.
- The 24…d4 line is better (so at least I didn’t make a massive mistake), but I missed the much better option for white with 26. Qf4 (this has actually happened in the game)
- Completely missed 24…Qb4 which equalized since black wins the pawn on b3.
In the black VFK game, I am getting a bit of surprise, as I wasn’t even considering white's last move:
The poor pawn on c6 now has bazookas, machine guns and slingshots pointed at it. This game continues to be a quagmire of calculations. My choice is between Bd5 which leads to a draw and Nxb2 which keeps fighting for the win:
And again, I didn’t see white’s best response in the 26…Nxb2 line, which is 27. Re1. One of those moves that makes a ton of sense once the comp shows it to you. My choice was still correct with Nxb2, so luck was on my side.
VFK collects another point in the meantime. Even 2nd place might be a bit of a stretch.
c6 was expected. Next, I suspect he is going to respond with Nf8 to wrestle the d-file back. On the other hand, I now have the d6 square available for my knight. I think he has enough counterplay whether the knight goes to f4 or f8, but I still have some ideas to try:
On to the chess_lover games, where things are far from ideal:
Black’s last move feels like an inaccuracy. The c5 square should be reserved for a knight, not a measly pawn. He can still create something on the queenside with Nc6-a5-b3, or maybe b7-b5. I obviously should continue operating on the kingside, where Rg1 is the reflex move. If I play g5 immediately, the black rook will pop out on g6 and I really don’t want him (or her, depending on self-identification) there.
Maybe his idea was to clear the c7 square for the queen, which will in turn allow Ne6-f4.
Nope, this was an inaccuracy – it’s the top line again. Likely for the same reasons that I mention above, though this is not obvious without the benefit of hindsight. Operating on the kingside carries no weight, since black can and will blockade it. The eval is already -1.43.
Now we’re coming to my first proper screw-up of this round. The game I lost doesn’t count, since I did not do completely stupid moves there, as compared to the case below:
I didn’t even consider this attack on the f7 pawn which looks indefensible. Perhaps I can try going all-in with g5?
The more I stare at it, the less I see any way to put up resistance. I must give him credit – he played against French Advance as well as I’ve seen anyone do it. Qc7 seems like my only chance to prolong the game, but that’s not saying much. Here goes my 2nd place…
Last game for today which shows how far off the rails I went:
This morning, I didn’t see this simple defense of the a7 pawn. I should’ve played something like Bc1. That move still makes sense; I could swing the bishop to e3 or h6. As per the rule – if you don’t know what to do, find the worst placed piece and improve it. Also, if I don’t play Bc1 now, he might not let me do it later:
Hotrik timed out in another game, which pushes me all the way down to the 4th place. Down, down, down we go…
Continued here: https://www.chess.com/blog/RomanKleiner/chess-com-2024-3rd-round-e12-narrow-road-to-a-loss