This blog is written in a form of a diary - I write down my thoughts as they happened during the tournament . From time to time, I include post-game analysis.

16^th of March

The 2^nd round is officially underway!

I am still the top seed. There’s also a very international bunch – almost all the continents are covered. As before, I need to figure out pacing - i.e. whom to play fast against. Remnants of jet lag helped a bit there. Priba looks like an early priority. To be continued later today.

Back from work in the evening. Only one player did not respond in my games, so unfortunately not many timeouts expected: at least for now.

An early priority is a player called wolffromegypt, where I’m up against the London system – which I’m not a big fan of with either colour.

This is where I’m at:

7. Ne5, the last move, was not played before, so I’m looking for reasons why. Usually, white plays Nbd2 first to cement Ne5, so 7...Qc7 merits heavy consideration. White will probably have to play Bb5, and I think black solves its usual problems in the London system down that line. Qc7 it is.

Black also could just take on e5, which the engine prefers a bit. Against a strong player, it would be the best option, but in a game like that, where I was shooting for a quick win, I'd rather stay with Qc7 or Qb6.

The other game against the same player went to Scandinavian.

Priba is another early priority, as all the other players don’t rush things. He already did a bit of a weird move:

Of course, I’ll play Na6, and then c6, but he must have seen that? Will wait for the punchline.

This guy - https://www.chess.com/member/saveliy2005 - looks like a dark horse. Didn’t play daily games much, and won everything he did play.

17^th of March

One of the players has timed out.

It means there’s going to be 20 games to deal with. Hopefully a few more timeouts will arrive as things progress, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

In the Priba game, he has played a3, which is reasonable.

I can kick the knight back immediately, or wait a bit. I don’t see a particular reason to rush; there’s no immediate pressure he can add to c7. So, I’ll go with e6. The knight should be routed eventually to d7 via b8, I don’t see much future for it on c7.

The most interesting game so far is this one:

It’s already out of the opening book, and I did not anticipate the f4 move he just played – yesterday, I only looked at Bb5. He has built a solid wall there, and I’m a bit worried about the fate of Bc8, and my king after castling. I could repay in kind, and go for Ne4, followed by f6 or f5.

Because I’m short on time this morning, I’ll just castle, as I can’t do any Ne4+f6 ideas anyway until that happens. Even briefly considered castling long, but that seems a case of solving one problem by introducing a few others.

The engine is ok with this choice, which - considering I had another 19 games going on - was the right one.

In another hour, we find ourselves here: 

Now, there is a choice to make. I could go for Ne4 immediately. Or, play slow with g6, Nh5/d7, f6. I feel more at peace with the g6 plan. Ne4 closes the position up, and I might have an unwanted draw in my future.

Oh, and we’ve got our first result in the group. An opening blunder by white, which gives even more reason for me not to entertain any draws with the player above:

In the other game with him, things are a bit slow, but I do have a decision point: Be2 or Bd3? Bd3 is clearer, with a solid plus for white due to space advantage. Be2 leads to more common variations, so I’ll be able to use the book for longer and save time. I’ll go for Be2, just to save time and keep more pieces on the board. There might be Ne5 + Bf3 ideas, where my bishop will play a role.

In the “featured” game, he played Bh4:

I don’t see an immediate issue there, though things are heating up.

The engine slightly prefers Ne8. I think the reasoning here is that the knight is destined to g7 anyway, so it might as well do it without giving white g4 options. 

18^th of March

No new results in the group. The featured game gets really interesting:

The last moves were 11.g4 (as expected) Ng7 12. Bg5. The last one looks strange, as it’s inviting a fork. I’m not winning a piece due to Nxc6, but it takes things into an unexpected and positive direction.

Bc8 comes to life, the opening of the position is in my favour, and Ne5 is gone. What’s not to like? I’ll just play cxd4 first, so we won’t have to worry about any dxc5 zwischenzugs. (Not that I see those)

A couple of hours later, we went down the forced line.

I calculate e5 a bit more, but it still looks good from every angle.

We advanced a couple of moves on the line below, then white played 17. Rf1 which I only glanced over before.

I still like my chances here considering how open white’s king is. Time to calculate again.

Qb6 works similarly to the lines I was looking at against castling. In fact, Rf1 seems even a bit “better” for me.

The engine is wondering why I didn't just take on f4. I was a bit fixated on Qb6 at that point, and, as can be seen from the lines above, was certain white won't benefit from taking on e5.

In the meantime, I’ve got another weird move in a different game:

It never even occurred to me as a move. The obvious response is just to castle, and let him have the rook + pawn for two minors. I analyzed Bxf7, but it seems very iffy after Kf8.

The engine shows that Kf8 wasn't so problematic, as white can simply retreat 8. Bb3, leaving black with an open king. So, Bxf7+ was a decent idea.

Going back to the marquee game – he went for Qd2.

Bxg4 is what I planned originally, but I need to do a sanity check. For example, what about Bb4+d4?

There’s a touch choice. I’m sure the engine would prefer Bb4, but I’d rather play Bxg4. White has more dangers to navigate, and I feel there can be a surer and faster win this way.

The engine actually prefers Bxg4 as well. Both options win: the difference is between -2 (Bb4) and -3 (Bg4), so it wasn't such a tough choice either. Sometimes having too many winning options creates unnecessary dilemmas. 

Before turning off for the day, I have one last decision to make. Take with the pawn or the queen in the game below?

Taking with the queen looks more natural, but taking with the pawn improves control over centre, and prevents any designs white might have over Nf3-e5, f4 etc. Then again, pawn d6 might need long-term attention. In the only predecessor game, black has taken with the pawn and won, but they also had 400 Elo points over the white player. After looking more closely at that game, I’m convinced it has little utility for my decision making.

However, another problem with Qxd6 is that there won’t be any imbalances in the position: symmetric pawn structure and same material. It will be tough to play for a win, which is exactly what I need to do here.

I don’t fancy it, but will take with the pawn. Hope it won’t be a regrettable decision.

The engine shows 0.00 for both options. So, nothing to regret here - this was the right practical choice

19^th of March

I got two more timeouts. I'll take that!

Now let’s take a look at the white game against the wolf for a change. I think he’s given me a little opportunity there:

What about Nb5 + d6?

Doesn’t seem to work, but then I can do Nb5 and Nbd4? That should open the position up in my favour.

The engine things that Nb5 + d6 does work, since my line above can continue into Be3. This is a counter-intuitive move, as it sacrifices a pawn and a check, but in hindsight (which is always 20-20), I passed over a nice option.

Oh, and the black game is done, as he just did a big blunder with Qc3. Waiting for the resignation (or mop-up duty).

Another interesting game is emerging:

Black just played Bd6. d5 is just begging to be played, so it’s calculation time.

The complications are in white’s favour.

I surprisingly calculated the top line for d5 - this is a rare moment to be cherished. The eval is +0.6, which is lower than my own (so, I was overly optimistic for a change).

Little unrelated tidbit. The player I was struggling against in the first round has timed out in all his games in the second round.

Later in the afternoon, the black game against the Egyptian wolf is 2 moves away from mate (he decided to play until the bitter end). The white game still has a lot of life in it though:

We ended up going down the Nb5 + Nbd4 line. I don’t see a good reason not to play Nxe6, which gets me two bishops’ advantage in an open position. So far, I don’t see a great forcing move after Qxe6 (15. Nd4 is the closest candidate), but that’s not a reason not to go ahead.

The frustrating fact here is not the decision above (this was correct for a change), but the previous two moves which I did not even spend much time on. I can forgive going astray in calculations in an open position (not really my forte), but not recognizing an important decision point is a greater sin. I'll come back to these moves in the post-game analysis in a later episode.

This game surprisingly went down exactly the line I evaluated as winning for white. Bh6 is a good way to develop initiative and keep the king in the center.

The big whammy here is that this line, and the game, caused me to underestimate my opponent, and cast a big shadow on the other game. The eval here is +2.5 (I was a bit more pessimistic). Black shouldn't have let me keep the king in the center, but white was doing well even if black played something like 0-0.

Another player started timing out in the evening. I regret a bit not playing faster against him, but then there was no way of knowing. Hopefully he won’t “wake up” before tomorrow morning.

Continued here: https://www.chess.com/blog/romank66/chess-com-2023-2nd-round-s01e02-first-wins