Chess.com 2024, 3rd round, E14 - Moving across the pond
7th of July
Another result in the table: chess_lover inflicts another win on VFK. At least there’s going to be a proper battle for the 2nd place and I’m still planning on participating in it.
I did get my tempo with the Rb2, Rc2+ combo. My plan was to go Kd7 and renew the threats with Ra2. White of course is going to get in the way. I see two options for him: get active with the knight with Ne4 or Nb3 or wait with f4. The waiting option isn’t that interesting, since he’ll need to move the knight anyway once I play Ra2. So, I’ll analyze the knight moves, keeping the f4/Ra2 insertion in mind.
Ne4 is the more forcing move, as it threatens decapitating my top soldier with Nc5.
Long analysis later, I see very interesting ideas, with a beautiful option of Ba4 should white play Nb3. However, I suspect he’ll play Ne4, after which there is a path to a rook endgame with an extra pawn, where I think he’ll finally get his draw. Nobody can fault me for lack of trying though.
Also, I see now that the Ba4 idea does not work because of simple Rxd3. Very annoying. Kc6 might be a better option there.
Bottom-line, there’s no way to break through white’s fortress. I was smart though to keep playing – see developments in the next couple of days.
So far, everything is moving as planned. My cunning plan here pivoted on Bd5, with the idea of Rb7 and Rb4. The key point is that white does not win a pawn with Rb5+.
I underestimated white’s option to get active with 42. Rb8 in the lines above. The position was still won, but I wasn’t looking at white’s best resistance.
The black game with chess_lover just got very interesting. Either I’m losing badly, or he just gave me a small present:
Firstly, I didn’t see this tactic at all. Another black mark on your truly. But on the other hand, could I do a counter-trick?
I calculate a lot of complicated tactics – there’s enough for a whole set of problems on chesstempo here.
I’m certainly lost there; can’t even see good ways to prolong resistance.
I won’t even review the tactics with the engine. I know white has everything covered. Interestingly enough, the eval after Nxd5 (which is naturally the top line) is just inches better than the more benign Nxc4.
I’m also getting squeezed out in my other game with him:
27…b5 was a very rare inaccuracy from white, which drops the eval from -2.5 to -1.85. I’m still in a tough spot of course. The engine believes that black was better off using the fact that my rook had moved away from g1 and playing 27…f6.
No counterplay, just passive defense all around. The only idea I see here is Qc1, Nd2-c4. Also to be played very slowly.
Tomorrow there is a half working day and a long flight coming up, so will prepare a few more moves.
I think his idea is to prevent g3 and g4. I don’t see a great way to make progress here, but I could swing the knight to c5 and then perhaps exchange knights from d3?
I had an option for a slow squeeze here with Rd6, Qd2, possibly g3.
Another problematic game:
This one is more me self-inflicting a loss than him winning. White likely wants to exchange a pair of bishops, for example, via Ke2 and Bd3. It’d be nice to get the rook off the 7th rank, but he will always have a refuge on f7. Maybe Bd7 can work to limit the rook’s presence? The more I look at that move, the more I like it. If white goes Ke2, I have Bc6. If b4, Kc6 and Bxb2.
Engine-approved. I’m still lost of course, but that was the best practical chance to get something out of the game.
8th of July
Back to work – at least for half a day before my flight. I see more cheating cases getting detected all over the tournament.
Yesterday, I called his choice “not interesting”, since he’ll need to move the knight anyway after Ra2. Now, however, I see that he can also play Kc3 and continue holding his fort. The only option to continue fighting is Rc6, after which he’ll likely play f5, but at some point, he’ll run out of pawn moves and will have to move the knight, the rook or the king.
However, then he can play Nc5 and it’s a draw. I could play for zugzwang with Kc7, Kc6.
Breaking news – the first cheater in the group has been identified:
I would have never guessed Draqlek as the group's cheater - didn't suspect him for a moment. I now just need to wait for his games to time out.
Time to get ready for the long, long trip. I might make a few moves from the airport, but that’s going to be my last diary entry for today.
9th of July
The flight was tolerable, but chess-wise, quite a few things happened.
A blunder with my last move against VFK – a lightning bolt from the sky, and the game was over. This is especially frustrating, since I had a draw in hand a move before. 9 games left.
Let's do another puzzle:
If not for that one last blunder, it would have been an excellent draw.
My middlegame strategy was highly questionable – I put too much faith in the a7-g1 diagonal and was almost punished by my opponent. The main problem happened on move 37 where I originally planned the right move – Rd6, which led to a draw. Then I saw a mirage, got too greedy and played Rd2 without seeing black’s excellent 37…Bc4 shot which ended the game immediately. A bad one-move blunder, though also kudos to my opponent for seeing it.
I did get both of my wins against Draqlek, due to his cheating/timeout:
And the other one:
Nothing wrong about either of those; I can’t see cheating on his side. He was probably subtle about it, or didn't have to use the engine against me. 7 games left.
Even now, six weeks later, I can’t see any cheating signs in my games with him. In the black game, I came out better of the opening, but wasn’t brave enough in pushing for advantage, hence he successfully equalized – not without giving me another minor chance or two on the way.
In the white game, he had better chances in the Caro Kann advance sideline, but I put up decent defense which required heavy calculating. In the endgame I had a couple of chances, but again messed up a bit. If not for the cheating detection, he would have had a slight advantage. Overall, we were looking at a couple of draws.
This is the point where I’ll reinforce the same argument I made in the chat – chess.com stopped resetting cheaters’ results, which is not smart to say the least. Now, I’ll be playing as slow as possible to allow cheaters to time out against me rather than give them points. Recommended the same in the forum.
I’m now mathematically out of the tournament.
As painful as it is, I need to turn my attention back to the other VFK game:
Kc7 is the tempting move here, with the idea of Rc4 and Rb4.
10th of July
Getting ready for the UK office.
The games are gradually finishing, which is a good thing – I’d rather devote more of my energy to non-chess activities. That being said, there are a couple of moves to be made:
I’m seeing two options: Nc5 and Qd2.
The engine prefers the knight to go back to b6 and suggests again the plan with gradual pawn advances on the kingside. A mental note for the future: playing with pieces is not enough to win when black holds the fortress.
There is very little time for chess, but thankfully I have only a few games left now. Two of them with Trustcarefully are moves away from being won, so it’s 5 games remaining where I have to supply conscious thought.
Rc4 looks tempting, as it sets up two traps. If white plays Bc2, then Rxc2+ and Be4. If Bb3, then Rb4.
Be8 gets the bishop trapped or exchanged after Kd8. All that leaves Bd1. After that, I should find my way to either a rook swap or pushing the a-pawn down the board:
White also has Ra1 and Bb3. He’s not necessarily drawing after any of these moves, but I’m again making the mistake of only looking for white’s active options.
The black game against chess-lover is definitely lost. England won in the semi-finals; this time, I got the chance to see it in a local pub: almost like in the good old days.
11th of July
Surprisingly, the jet lag does not hit me. Doing a couple of quick chess moves before heading to the office:
I don’t see a way to play for a win here. Will go Nc5 and then see if we can agree on a draw.
I’m making progress here. White has a mild threat of Bb3 which moves the game into an undesirable rook ending. I’ll play Rb4 here to limit white’s options and secure king’s advance to the b-file. Then, try to pivot the king to c5-b4 and remove the white bishop from the a4-e8 diagonal.
Finally deliver the mate in my white game with Trustcarefully. 6 games left.
I didn’t have to work hard in that game, so will leave the analysis until later as usual. In the other game with him, I’m up a queen, a rook and a few pawns, so have a slight suspicion it’s going to be won soon as well.
Even later there’s little to analyze. Black gave me this game for free and I didn’t have many chances to stray from the right path.
Continued here: https://www.chess.com/blog/RomanKleiner/chess-com-2024-3rd-round-e15-nearing-the-finish-line