Chess.com 2024, 3rd round, E16 - The last game

15^th of July

f6 was planned here and I see no reason to deviate. If he waits, my next move is Re4, with the idea of a4. He’ll likely go back with Bc2, after which I’ll play Bd5 – going back to what was planned yesterday, only with the move order swapped.

This was the right practical approach. The engine fully approves, with a -2 eval.

Chess_lover collects another point, so for all I know he might actually win all his remaining games and swoop into second place. Both games against trustcarefully are indeed won for him:

16^th of July

My round 3 is now six weeks in, but the tournament is thankfully almost over. 

After another busy day at work, white eventually makes his move with 30 minutes to spare. The only way to continue fighting here is Bd5 and then consider Rc4+, as reviewed earlier in the week.

50…Bb5 with Rc4+ was a slightly better option, since the bishop is well anchored there.

17^th of July

VFK lost another game:

The 2^nd place is getting closer. On the flip side, he is putting fine resistance in my one remaining game:

I finally get his idea. Tie the king to the defense of the a5 pawn, limit the rook to b4 and hence limit the pawn to a5. Took me a while. Perhaps Rg4 can work?

I think he can just hold the fort with Be2, after which we’ll repeat moves. So, my only chance is the dreaded rook ending after Be4.

Surprisingly, he declines the bishop exchange:

This livens things up a bit, as I can play Rb1. I still don’t see a win as such, but my only chance to shift him from his defensive stance lies there. A move later, I face another choice:

Rc1+ or Bc6? I think the former approach leads to a worse version of the rook ending, where the white king is active enough to force a draw.

However, if I play Bc6, I have a plan to make progress: a4, Ka5, Rc1+, Kb4. Of course, white can and will resist.

That was the right choice. I think white just didn’t see or underestimate 52…Rb1 which gave me a breakthrough. The rook ending was lost for him too, but practically it was the better choice.

18^th of July

The game with VFK sped up quite a bit the other night:

I was a bit surprised by his last move, as I thought he’ll be keeping still. The good news is that I can finally play a4 and move the king to a5. I’m sure he’ll try to break my setup with Rc1 / Bc6; otherwise, I’ll just play Ka5-b4 and then a4-a3, which will effectively squeeze white out.

I see antidotes to Bc4, Bc2 and Rb2+:

I was doing well at this point – all the lines are correct.

19^th of July

White goes for the Bc2 line, which is double-edged:

Ka5 is almost the only option – the only other alternative is Rf1 which leads to a draw. Kc5 is practically forced for white: otherwise, I’ll continue with my plan of Kb4, a3 and it’s game over. Be8 is again forced (need to be careful not to get mated here), which brings us here:

Black’s plan is Re1-Re5+ and Kb4. White can either go with the king after the bishop on e8, try to get the rook active with Rb2, or prevent black’s plan with f2-f4.

Each of these options by itself has a swift antidote, but perhaps there is an intricate combination. Either way, I don’t see a reason to avoid Ka5 – it doesn’t lose and is the only way to fight for a win.

In the meantime, VFK won his remaining game against Trustcarefully, so a draw here would be enough to get past him, but not enough to stave off the chess lover.

20^th of July

VFK has slowed down again: two moves in two days. His last move was a bit of a surprise though, as I was sure he’d play Kc5:

He obviously wants to build a fortress again. (A much smaller fortress than before though).

I can try going after the kingside pawns. He can’t move those pawns too much, so white’s options are going to be limited. Perhaps there is even a zugzwang hiding in there. So, my moves are Re1, Rf1, Bb5 – I just need to figure out the sequence. A sample line looks like this:

The question is how white can counteract this? I just don’t see good options for him, since Kb2, Kd4 and Ra3 also lead to difficult situations:

Let’s roll with Bb5. I had a peek at chess_lover’s remaining games – he might well win all his remaining games. 

The game with VFK advanced a couple more moves in the evening. He followed me down the main line:

The plan is simple: if he goes Kd4, play Re2 and grab either the pawn on f2 or g3. If he plays Kf3 or Kf4, play Re5 removing his king from the action. Then try to make Kb4 happen.

Again, all is exactly correct. Things were a bit simpler here, though I’m still satisfied about piloting this endgame in the right direction.

21^st of July

White ended up playing Kd4.

We’re at move 60 and I feel it’s time to navigate this game and the tournament to a close. Back on the 1^st of January, I did not expect to be still playing late July.

I’ll just calculate white’s options to make sure nothing is amiss after Re2.

• The bishop endgame after Bb1 is won for black.
• Kc5 just loses the f2 pawn, while the attack is empty: Rb2 crashes into Bd3.

This means white has only f2—f3/f4 as a viable option. f3 seems more resistant, as f4 gives up the g3 pawn. I think my antidote against f3 is to reroute the rook to c7 and finally make Kb4 happen.

With that in mind, shouldn’t I just play Re7 straight away? After a bit of analysis, I see that he can try keeping the king on d4-d5 which is not as easy to break through as I thought:

Perhaps I do want that pawn on f3, since then moves like Rc3 will have more venom? It’s decided then: Re2, then Re7-c7. It’s interesting that I ended up with the same move I planned originally but after a much deeper look into the position.

Chess_lover got another point – he’s indeed well on track to get 2^nd place.

VFK played f3, as expected.

My next idea was Re7-c7. Then, try Rc3 or Bc4-b3 depending on what white does. I can also go for Rd7+ to gain tempo. If white prevents Rc3 by keeping the king on d4, I can go Rc4+ first.

I missed a trick here. After 61…Re7, white could play Be4, Bd5 and continue holding on. There are ways around it of course, but I didn’t even see this resource. Next morning disillusioned me on this point.

22^nd of July

Late afternoon, I’m getting a move from VFK – again, the path of most resistance:

I originally planned Rc7 here, but now I see that Bd5 is going to make things difficult. In fact, I don’t see a good way of making progress after Bd5:

I could improve upon it with Rd7+, as it gives me a tempo on the way to Rc7. White can either: (i) go forward with the king to d6, (ii) hold the fort on d4, or (iii) go backwards to d2.

The 2^nd option seems unlikely, as it allows me to implement the full plan. I see also decent options elsewhere too:

23^rd of July

After a couple of moves, I have my answer – white has chosen option (iii): move back.

This was the weaker of the three options at white’s disposal. From this point onwards, it was smooth sailing for me.

Bc4 was penciled in here. I just need to double check that the Rc2 pin is not going to be problematic. A sample line looks like this:

If white moves the rook to a square different from c2, I’ll just play Bb3 or Kb4 and then a3. By the way, we’re up to a round number – move 64. Also, it’s now been seven weeks since the start of round 3. I’ve been playing much longer than expected.

24^th of July

I got a move during the night, which is the best way to continue fighting:

Bb3 is a no-brainer here. The next logical continuation will be Kb4 and a3. White can switch to a bishop ending with Rc1, but I see a clear path to victory there as well: keep the white king stuck in a1, move my king to the kingside, exchange bishops at the right moment and put the game to rest.

Another option for white is to get the rook active somehow. I don’t see that work either:

25^th of July

VFK went for the rooks’ exchange:

The win should be simple from here. Get the white king into his little cell on a1-b2 and then exchange bishops on the kingside. Depending on how far he wants to drag it out, this game should be over before I leave the UK. The only slight concern here is that he might try to exchange pawns on the kingside, but I should be able to minimize the damage to a single pair.

Trustcarefully gets a couple more mates:

There are 6 games left in the group; two of them are there simply because Trustcarefully diligently and slowly plays every single game until he gets mated. On the flip side, unless some miracle happens, chess_lover is going to win all the remaining games, so I might not even get 2^nd place with a win.

The VFK game progressed a couple more moves on the lines above. No sense in putting the game here, as it seems smooth sailing from here to victory.

Final check in the evening before speeding up the conclusion of the game:

Yep, still seems done and dusted:

A few quick moves later, I’m grabbing my second pawn:

Looks like my last game is going to finish today…

An hour later, my prediction is fulfilled.

That’s a decent level of play and a positive way to finish the tournament.

My last game was also the best one. My opponent was a solid 2000+ player who did not make any serious mistakes the entire game. I also had a consistent strategy which I managed to implement with only a few adjustments.

White’s first inaccuracy was 12. h3. He should have played 12. Na2 to win the pawn back. It was difficult to foresee back then that black will manage to clutch into that pawn and convert it in the endgame, but that is exactly what happened.  Next few moves were far from precise from black and white obtained a decent compensation for the pawn by move 17.

His second inaccuracy was 19. Nd2 which allowed black to play Qb4. This is where the maelstrom of complications around the c4 pawn has begun, and I made another misstep with 20…Rb8: this was simply a matter of not seeing one line in a sea of possibilities. White equalized again.

The third inaccuracy (arguably the only big mistake) was 27. Rb1. Probably a miscalculation, which led to R+B endgame with an extra a-pawn for black. This was the part of the game I’m most happy about, as for the next forty moves it was a gradual squeeze out while white was putting up obstacles every step of the way.

Final thoughts and table are here: https://www.chess.com/blog/RomanKleiner/chess-com-2024-3rd-round-e17-final-thoughts