26^th of March

Only minor changes in the table overnight. Bhavsadh continued his timeout campaign, though he made sure to make a move in the last game we have going.

This is the first game of the day:

Black just played d6-d5. My options are: exd5, or just ignore the pawn and play something like Ng3 or Rae1. Working through the principle of reduction, let’s analyze Rae1, as it’s the more forcing alternative:

Short summary – I don’t like it too much. Black will have the knight installed on f4, pressure on pawn d3, and my rooks trip upon each other. Enough trouble for having isolated double e-pawns.

Taking the pawn looks much better. Opening the game up, while the black king did not sneak home yet, so I like my chances there.

For the record, the engine wholeheartedly agrees. 

Got my next point against cbl72 – one move before mate. (Made my moves while on a hike in Saratoga). 9 games left.

That could have gone better - looks like my weakest game thus far. Time to analyze.

The main question here is not what I can do, but what threats white has. I see two main plans: Rf3-h3, and Nf3-Bg5. I have two ideas to put a lid on those: Be4, and Re8 + Kf8.

I like Be4, and I think Kf8 is a passive measure that can wait.

Comp rightfully considers offense the best form of defense, and suggests Qb6. White just doesn't have enough time to play Rf3+h3 without sacrificing material, and if he does sacrifice, black can always play the abovementioned Kf8.

This is the game that I shouldn’t be playing – the one where my opponent has been timing out against everyone else. The move that’s begging to be played is Ne4: immediately or after cxd4.

There’s a couple of very nice lines here. Preliminary cxd4 looks cleaner, so I’ll go with that.

In this game, I have a very important decision to make: take on f6, or not take on f6? Getting isolated doubled pawns is very tempting, but bishop pair advantage is something I particularly enjoy having. An interesting alternative is Rhe1.

It delays the decision by a move, but it looks inferior, as the rook is not that menacing on the e-file. A solid player (which black certainly is) will play Be6, so I shouldn’t go here with the idea of drawing errors out my opponent – it simply won’t happen.

This is a flawed thought process. The rook belongs on e1 - menacing or not. Most importantly, bishop pair is more crucial than isolated and doubled pawns: this is just an eval issue on my part. The Rhe1 Be6 sequence evaluated above is actually the engine's top line.

Let’s take a look at this critical position then:

If I get the bishops and the rooks exchanged, this position is won. I also control the d-file.

Conclusion: I should take on f6. I can press black for a long time with low risk, which is exactly what the tournament situation requires.

The eval on this line is +0.4, as compared to +0.65 without any exchanges. I could have also pressed on with low risk with more pieces on board, so unfortunately this decision was not ideal.

Last game for today:

The plan is to create a passer on the kingside, and dissuade the white king from going to a6. Yesterday, I was considering two candidate moves: Kf6 and h5. Looking at the different lines, I think they’re equivalent, as I’ll have to play one after another. h5 is a tad more flexible, so I’ll go with that.

The table at the end of the day:

One more win by the leader, though the last 4 games (including mine) should give him something to think about.

27^th of March

Got another point last night. A resignation in a game where I was a rook up:

The engine approves of my play, however it's another game where I just had to collect presents from my opponent. Also, 8 games left.

First game of the day:

Black just played d5 here. Since the bishop is not on a7, the key question is whether Nxe5 works. It _may_ also work after a preliminary exd5, but I think it gives black too much activity.

So, Nxe5 it is. I have barely 3 minutes before duty calls, so I did not calculate this as deep as I’d like to.

While Nxe5 wasn't necessarily a mistake, it wasn't the best move either. It is always tempting to fork the opponent, but here it didn't give a particular advantage. White could just play something like Ng5 or Re1.

(27th was not over yet - continued here: https://www.chess.com/blog/romank66/chess-com-2023-2nd-round-s01e07-collecting-gifts )