Chess.com 2024, 2nd round, E02 - Moving into second gear
17th of March 2024
7-45 AM: This morning’s table:
One more player started timing out; let’s hope he won’t “wake up” in the next 7 hours, as that’s what I have left with him.
The white oioki game already has an improved Traxler response:
Last black’s move, Qe8, has a clear intent to come out on g6 and weigh in on the attack. There are predecessor games here; almost all went for c2-c3, which is the thematic move. The alternative, d2-d3, seems a bit slow. The fact that both games that went for it turned out badly for white is not encouraging either.
Georgeyost has already taken me to a sideline in the French:
I guess the logic is to take the sting out of e4-e5, though it comes at a price of cramping black’s kingside. Ng1-f3 makes the most sense here.
17-45: The Norwegian player has duly timed out all the games:
So, there’s 16 games to play. Nobody else shows an inclination to follow the Norwegian example, but never say never. Before I go to my games – an observation on the pecking order: Tautzies is taking care of oioki, who is in turn doing the same to Vedant. MissionaryKyle and oioki are also in the heat of the middlegame, and on a first glance, things look even. Tautzies is certainly the player to watch.
Now, coming to the black oioki game – it’s also out of the opening book now:
Last white’s move, a2-a3, is new. I suspect the idea is to prevent me from getting to b4, and perhaps to prepare b2-b4.
Candidate moves are:
- Be8, to reroute the bishop to f7, and get rid of that pesky knight on h5
- Qb6 to start pressuring d4, and make e6-e5 a possibility
Of course, they are not mutually exclusive ideas.
After a long think, I’m leaning towards Be8, though more likely than not it will all get transposed. There is an interesting idea of exchanging white’s Bd3 after Rf6, and Be8-g6. Plus, there is a small chance that the queen will be more useful on c7, as it keeps h2 attacked.
The engine indeed considers those two ideas transposable and shows 0.00 across the board. A clear sign that the Tarrasch in French is not a great idea when you’re playing for a win.
In my other game with him, we continue going down the main path of the Traxler.
22-10: Since most active players are European, there are no new moves since I last wrote. I had time to see Mavs win with a last second impossible shot, so that was a boost of positivity.
I spend a bit of time figuring out the opening lines in the other games, but as there’s 14 hours left on the clock, I’ll make my moves tomorrow morning. Will speed things up once I get more progress on the oioki and Vedant games.
18th of March 2024
We’ve got our first proper result in the group:
Oioki played at 1800 there with no obvious mistakes, so he just went above MissionaryKyle in my book. Also, georgeyost has less than 90 minutes left in my games, so I hope for another set of timeouts. To the actual games:
The oioki Traxler game continues chugging along the lines I calculated a couple of days ago:
There is still one predecessor game, though there is gap of 300 points between white and black, so I wouldn’t trust it too much. Back on Saturday, I’ve calculated this fine line which leaves me up an exchange:
Black’s last move was actually an inaccuracy, as it opens the position up with black’s king in the centre. Bb6 was the way to go. Also, the line above was actually engine’s top choice, so I’ll pat myself on the back here.
This is probably why the other game takes a wholly different direction with 13…Nh5. Either way, I like where this is taking me, as Bc5 gets defanged, while black’s king position and missing pawn remain. Also, as I type this, georgeyost annoyingly makes his moves. I respond immediately back.
Later in the day, the white oioki game happily went down the path I calculated earlier on, though he wisely deviated with 14…Ke7-d8.
I have briefly looked at that move before playing 11. Bxc6. Both h3 and e4 pawns are under attack, and I have two ways of countering: e4-e5, and Nf3-h4.
After a bit of thinking, I decide on Nh4. e4-e5 has way too many complications.
The engine prefers e5 slightly, as it couldn’t care less about complications or no complications. My lines are broadly ok, with a couple of misses in the e5 complications; however I probably wouldn’t have risked it even if I saw them, since Nh4 leads to much clearer outcomes.
Moving to the black oioki game.
I’m tempted by Rf8-f6, with the idea of overprotecting e6, preparing Be8-g6 to exchange bishops. Rc8 is another semi-waiting option; though it makes less sense if the other rook leaves the 8th rank. I’m going for Rf6 – both due to lack of time, and because it looks most solid.
The comp keeps showing 0.00 against Rf6, Qb6, and a5. It’s uncanny that for a human (i.e. me) the position looks dangerous and complicated, while the engine just lazily proclaims this to be an absolute draw.
I’ll speed up my games against MissionaryKyle a bit – he’s struggling against both oioki and Tautzies, so he’s not as dangerous as I thought early on.
A newsflash before I switch to other things: oioki scored another win against the missionary.
I don’t see an extraordinary level of play from both players, which reinforces my intent of going after MissionaryKyle.
The white game against him is in an interesting sideline of the Alapin Sicilian:
Na3 looks very tempting here, although it wasn’t played much in the past.
I calculate quite a few lines, and at the end, decide to go for it. It doesn’t lose on one hand, on another takes me into complications outside of the opening book which he might not be familiar with.
Not the best move, but it has achieved its purpose. The alternatives were taking me to an endgame with the king on d1, which objectively is better, but wasn’t to my liking. The lines above have more holes than Swiss cheese.
In the other game, he played a weird move:
It’s hard to see the point of this one as the bishop surely belongs on g5. I don’t see what it’s doing on e3 besides blocking the e-file, which wasn’t a big deal to begin with. Re8 is begging to be played.
By the way, Hartz420 now started timing out:
Unfortunately, I waited with my moves against him to pace things, so he now has 18 hours to “wake up” in my games. Let’s hope he’s gone for good.
18-20: In the black MissionaryKyle game, he just responded with Bf1-e2:
d5xc4 is the standard move in such situations, as it essentially gets a tempo. The question is whether I can immediately go after Be3 or should play positionally. Black must beware of tricks on f7.
The answer is that it is too risky. The question is now whether it’s even risky to let the white bishop into c4 at all. Looks like it works, but I’ll have to play Be6 or c6 to stay on the safe side.
My thinking here was flawed. Bishop could be let into c4, since I always have Re7 to protect f7.
20-15: The Vedant white game has arrived at the position I evaluated at +1 yesterday:
Since black’s attack is over, I have a few options here. From far away, I was planning Be3, but on reflection, I’d like to throw in a2-a4 to get some space. Be3 can come later.
The decision was the right one, but I was modest with the eval; it’s +2.
I think I’m also getting a pawn in the classical French in my black game with him:
21-20: Final check before closing for the day. Oioki scored another point, and again, the resistance he’s got wasn’t too impressive:
The white oioki game went to the queen exchange line I calculated before:
For a moment, I feel like white loses a pawn, but on reflection, there is a nice fork trick. So, queen exchange it is.
In the black game, he played Rf1-e1:
White is clearly fighting for the e5 square, as he should. Qc7-b6 seems almost mandatory at this point, but I’d rather save the calculations for tomorrow.
Recap: while I’m yet to mess any games up, I’m getting very decent resistance. The only two games I’m moderately happy about are the two Traxler counterattacks, where I have held on to my extra pawns.
Continued here: https://www.chess.com/blog/romank66/chess-com-2024-2nd-round-e03-picking-up-pawns