Chess.com 2024, 3rd round, E15 - Nearing the finish line
12th of July
The day starts with delivering another mate to Trustcarefully. 5 games left.
I made a couple of bad mistakes here. The only difference is that in this case, the opponent wasn’t at a high enough level to punish me.
The biggest miss in the game was 16…b5, when neither of us saw the 17. Nxd5 option for white. After 19…Bxa4, the game was decided.
Yesterday was interesting. Went to the Henley festival in full evening attire: bowtie, suit, formal shoes, even a pocket handkerchief. The taxi was a hassle: overcharged me and took 40 minutes to arrive.
The vibe of drunken, poshly dressed crowds near a river was new to me. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such a setting. In one single minute, I had a massive rubber duck float with a piano player pass me on the left, a couple of robot imitators on the right and three-meter world war soldiers on stilts upfront. If someone quoted that to me, I’d think they had a mushroom induced dream.
The show from David Stewart was fine, though apparently you had to pay extra to get seats. I actually preferred to be able to move around as the weather in the evening here is definitely not Californian.
Looks like a tacit draw offer. If so, I’ll absolutely take it. This feels like a good time to wrap up my tournament and if I save a draw here, it would be a good result.
I struggle to give this game proper thought, since I’m being steamrolled from the very first moves. That being said, I’ll make the best of it and consider it a good practice. The key point is that Nc1 is a bad idea, since black can quickly mobilize with Nf4 and Qd7.
So, I’ll be better off getting my rook on a1 into action with Rg1, at which point Nc1 would make more sense. By the way, I’m not sure even winning an exchange in this position would do much good. Unless it is some kind of hidden GM on the other end, we’re looking at a draw.
The last move was an inaccuracy from black. My better option was f4, either immediately or right after Rf4. It looked risky, but that was my only chance to untangle. My chosen move isn’t too bad either, but black could then just play Rb8 or Rb7 and continue squeezing the game out.
In the afternoon, the jaljr black game completes with a repetition draw. 4 games left. I was lucky to salvage a draw there and my play was mediocre at best:
I was and still am surprised he didn’t play for a win here. White has an eval of +1.8 before he went for the threefold which he could convert by playing Bf3, for example. I still think that the entire line with 9. Nf4 and resulting exchange sacrifice is decent for black, but I misplayed it starting with the 24…d4 move. My opponent had a couple of opportunities to finish it, but I was lucky to have white in a merciful mood.
The updated table:
I’m getting a draw offer from jaljr in my other game with him:
I’m very tempted to take it, since cannot see a way to make progress. Once the queens and the rooks get off the board, we’ll be staring at a simple draw.
Draw taken., 3 games left My tournament is rapidly drawing to a close, with 3 games finished today.
I returned some of the favour here. After 35. Qd8 (which I was planning) and the resulting queens exchange, the rook endgame is a bit better for white. In a different tournament situation, I would’ve have tested black’s endgame skills. I also felt morally obliged not to make his life difficult after he presented me with half a point in the other game.
As for non-psychological, i.e. chess, content – this game was placid from start to finish. I missed a few chances to start a pawn storm on the kingside and did not present enough troubles for black who held his fort well.
At least I temporarily get to the 2nd place. Very modest consolation of course.
A big dilemma. He obviously wants to play Nb6 and chop the pawn on b2. I can play Nc1 now and if I felt more confident, that would be a no-brainer. However, I feel completely overplayed, so perhaps he sees issues with Nc1; otherwise, he wouldn’t have let it happen.
As mentioned earlier today, even winning an exchange might not solve my problems, but it is at least better than waiting for the hammer to fall on b2.
His plan must be around installing the knight on f4 and playing against the pawn on d3. This is the critical position:
His plan must involve breaking through with f7-f5, perhaps after propping up the knight with Nf8-e6. The f5 option looks dangerous – it seems like I should even avoid en passant there, and just hold onto the e4 outpost for dear life.
In the end, I decide on Rg3. It seems safer, especially since black cannot play Nb6 immediately, as it runs into Na5.
I almost unlocked all the mysteries of this position. My line after 35. Nc1 was correct. When calculating the results of the 38. gxf6 move, I didn’t notice the 40. Nxe5 option for white which validated the entire line, and accordingly discarded 37…f5 for black. This is computer-like, so I’m not too disappointed about missing that. However, the result was that I delayed Nc1 yet again, which in turn would have allowed black to have second thoughts with Rb8.
13th of July
A day of manual driving awaits me and I’m not particularly looking forward to it. I was lucky last year to get an automatic, but yesterday that luck ran out. The last time I did was back in 2011, not counting Tahiti last January – but there it was done on right-hand drive. Fingers crossed things will work out today.
I was planning Kb5 here, which leads to a rook endgame. Those endgames are the bane of my tournament, as I lost two already. This one obviously I shouldn’t lose, but I don’t trust my ability to win it. The key factor here is the kingside pawns; if not for them, this would be a draw.
After Kb5, assuming white stands still, my plan is:
- Get the pawn to a4, bishop to b3.
- Re-route the rook behind the pawn.
- Figure out a way to break white’s foothold on a3 (?). The last step is unclear; it may require some creative work on the b-file.
Of course, white won’t stand still, so I need to calculate two sample lines – one if he moves immediately to a rook endgame and one where he keeps the bishops on the board.
It looks like an easy win if he exchanges bishops. Let’s check the other option.
Quick observation: a4 is a bad idea since I lose the pawn immediately. I have to adjust the abovementioned plan.
A closer look shows that Kb5 simply doesn’t work, so I need to change the plan altogether. My other options are Be4, which leads to a worse version of the rook endgame, or Rc4+ to dislodge the king.
In the end, I decide on Rc4+:
Not sure why I decided that Kb5 doesn’t work, but I stumbled again on the top line with Rc4+.
A lot of driving today. I surprisingly remembered well manual left-hand driving, though it took some energy out. The Harry Potter studios are a well-oiled money extraction machine, though I’ll give credit to the magnitude of the thing. It doesn’t compare well to Universal Studios though, as the setup there is more interactive.
I got a few moves in the meantime:
Another counter-intuitive move. The knight is likely going to c6. This is what I suspect he’s shooting for:
I’m a bit unclear though how he’s planning to win this. The black queen and knight need to watch over e5 and a5. White can move the rook on c2 to a more useful place (say d1 or g1) and I just don’t see a way for black to break through.
I didn’t play Nc1 for purely psychological reasons. In blitz, I would’ve surely played it without a second thought. In this game, I gave black another chance to see the error of his ways.
Again, looks like the more precise move. Rb4 just repeats moves, so my only options to make progress are Be4 or Bc6. The latter just loses a pawn after Bb3, so I will focus on Be4. That doesn’t work either due to Rb1+:
So, I’m back to square one. Maybe I should just play f6 to put Bc6 on the agenda? It’s best done after repeating moves with Rb4, since otherwise he plays Bb3 again.
14th of July
Chess_lover surprisingly resigned in the white game. 2 games left.
The level of play seems quite low.
I have a decent chance of getting 2nd place.
Black had no good reasons to resign. I guess that decision was emotional as he simply didn’t see Nc1 and got a bit of a shock when it went on the board. I completely misplayed the Italian, which is unforgivable and unexplainable; that opening is part of my repertoire for years now. As soon as black played 18…a4, the scales have turned in his favour. The engine is a bit harsh in the assessment of our play – especially his. Black managed the middlegame very well, stifling the kingside and preparing all the right tools on the queenside. The result was not reflective of the game, but I’ll take it.
The final is over. On one hand, we’ve got front row seats in the pub. On another, England lost despite making a late comeback.
I also resigned the other game against chess_lover.
I stood no chance here. White dominated the entire game, playing perfectly against the French Advance with c4. In fact, it might put me off the entire line in daily games. He also made no mistakes or inaccuracies in the middlegame, while I had a few – notably with allowing 22. Rf3. Nxd5 was a nail in the coffin, though white had less calculation-intensive ways to finish the game.
Just one game left and this is the one that’s going to decide the 2nd place:
Yesterday, I was planning on f7-f6 here. On reflection, I don’t like how it weakens my pawn structure and would rather try Bc6 first. If he plays Bb3, I’ll have to go f6 anyway. Then, I might route the bishop to b5 and either play Rc4+ or Re4 depending on where the bishop is.
Looking at VFK’s other 3 games, unless timeouts or bans happen, he should get 1.5 or 2 points out of them, which means I must win this one.
Continued here: https://www.chess.com/blog/RomanKleiner/chess-com-2024-3rd-round-e16-the-last-game