Chess.com 2024, 2nd round, E04 - First surprises
20th of March 2024
MissionaryKyle timed out in almost all his other games.
I’m a queen up in the white game against Vedant, and Hartz just gifted me a knight.
In the white oioki game, he played Bb7. I feel like the worst is behind me, and conversion is not far away.
Yesterday I planned Nxb6, and don’t see a reason to deviate. After axb6, I have a choice: dxc5 or d5?
I like dxc5 better since it potentially gives me an a-pawn passer, and more space for the bishop.
The engine believes both to be equivalent, with +1.25 eval. My choice still feels more human, as it clarifies the situation better.
In the oioki black game, I continue down the line of grabbing that d4 pawn.
The problem was still with the eval; the extra pawn is handily compensated by white’s bishop. Big mental note to treat pawns as winning tickets.
One move later, I stand at a crossroads:
Do I take the d4 pawn with the queen or the knight? The answer depends on my overall conversion plan. White’s bishop is a beast, so I’ll want to exchange it for the knight. Queens exchange is also in my favour. White might also have an annoying battery with Bb1-Qd3 which I’d like to prevent.
All of this points to Qxd4 as the top candidate move. However, what if white plays Rxc6? That looks like an immediate loss. So, all my previous contemplations go away – Nxd4 is the only move.
Going to the white game, where I also need to think about a conversion plan:
I want to avoid an opposite color bishop endgame and be able to move the a-passer forward. Nf5 and Be3 are two very tempting moves. Nf5 gets my vote, since I might decide to reroute Bc1 to c3 to press on black’s kingside, and support a-pawn’s move to a5.
Stockfish also suggests Kh2, which is exactly the kind of move an engine would suggest. Otherwise, I’m on the right track so far – Nf5 is the second best move.
In the game below, black allowed me to grab a ton of space:
Qd4 is the natural move here.
Going back to the white oioki game:
Be3 is a tempting move, but I don’t see what it achieves, as black can just move his king. a2-a4 looks like the best way forward, as it’s consistent with the plan of converting my extra pawn. I just need to watch out for d6-d5 tricks from black or other attempts at generating counterplay.
A pat on the back here – the thought process was correct, and a4, Bd2 are the top two moves.
Moving to the black oioki game:
A few observations:
- White can still aim for an annoying Bb1-Qd3 battery. I should have a way to prevent it.
- To convert, I must exchange material, starting with the bishop, and/or the queens. What I don’t want is a queen ending with extra pawn; that’s going to be tough to convert.
One idea is Rf8, to enable Nf5 with a potential exchange.
Another idea is a5 to activate the rook, though it leaves the 8th rank weak.
Third idea is Rd8, to both enable Nf5, and support a future march of my extra d-pawn.
The second option I’ll discard straight away. Rd8 is my leading candidate, as it’s on the safer side, and is consistent with the plan. Time to calculate.
The lines don’t look great, but this seems like my best option:
Nothing wrong about the lines above, apart from the fact that the eval is very close to 0.00 across the board, while I was still pinning hopes on my extra pawn, and evaluating at -0.5.
18-20: Watched yesterday’s Mavs win – which was much tighter than it should have been. But hey, a win is a win. Same applies to the game Hartz just resigned against me. It has taken all of 7 moves. He is still making moves in the other game, where I hope he’ll save me some time by timing out like he graciously did for others. 13 games left.
20-40: Another game where I might have gotten a gift:
Can I punish him for Nb5? While I don’t see an immediate win, I should at least get the bishop pair and faster development:
21st of March 2024
No changes in the table since last night:
Vedant is valiantly playing on with a queen, a knight and a bunch of pawns down.
Also, I think I got a present from Georgeyost in the white game:
Starting with the white oioki game, where black just played Kd7-c6:
I think his intent is to have the king deal with the a-pawn. I have to get Bc1 off its spot, ideally to c3 via d2. Doing it immediately might bump into d6-d5 from black.
On reflection, it’s unlikely to be played by black considering the pawn will be taken with a check:
However, what if black does not play d5 immediately? That is more of a problem, so looks like as much as I want to avoid g2-g4, it has to be played.
Playing it after Bd2 can lead to some interesting complications, which I’m not sure are in my favour:
So, immediate g4 is required even though it weakens the a8-h1 diagonal.
Bd2 was actually the strongest move. I was fixated on black going d5, however white had interesting options with b2-b4 to open up the queenside and not leave time for black to execute d5.
g4 is also a decent option, as it simplifies the situation. Again, I didn’t notice the b4 option in the lines above.
Late in the day, I finally have a few minutes for the black oioki game. White’s last move was Kg2.
Its purpose is not immediately evident to me; perhaps he saw problematic variations where the pin on the f2 pawn matters. I don’t imagine he wants to play f3.
My candidate moves are Nf5, Nb5 and Nc6. I need to vacate the d4 square for either the pawn or the queen. I’ll start with Nb5 as that move comes with a tempo.
I don’t like the lines there in case white decides not to exchange:
In the end, I almost run out of time, so will go for Nc6 as the safer option, which is consistent with my plan of pushing the central pawns.
The options were more or less equivalent, the problem here again was the eval – since I was looking for a win where there wasn’t one.
Moving to the white jonix game, where my opponent played a very unconventional opening:
There is one predecessor game, where white went Nf3. I also don’t see a way to trap the knight, so I’ll follow the predecessor example with natural development.
BTW, Hartz might just time out – he has 70 minutes left in the other game with me.
20-50: A few things happened over the last couple of hours.
Hartz did time out, so I can chalk him off my list. 12 games left.
Mavs won – not the best game I’ve seen, but at least they’ve set an NBA record for dunks.
Vedant is now one move away from receiving a mate.
Georgeyost just gifted me a pawn, and perhaps even a rook, though that depends on whether my queen can get trapped on a1:
All this is on the positive side. On the negative side, however, oioki just played a move that I did not expect at all:
Qg4 was not on my radar. He is threatening both e6 and Qg6. Of course, I have a move – Ne7 – but I’m clearly losing the initiative here. I should have waited with my previous move until I had more time to think…
This was the top line, and on reflection, a very natural move. I got too engrossed in my own plans, and completely ignored my opponent’s options. Considering where the black queen and knight are, it makes total sense for white to go after the kingside. This is one reason Nf5 was a better move as compared to what I played.
Looking at the top line, I’m not sure how I can play for a win:
I don’t see any other moves, however. Everything else allows Qg6, and I might even end up losing that way.
Qg6 wasn’t the end of the world, since the king can escape on the queenside. Ne7 was still a decent option. The eval is +0.3.
Moving on to the Vedant black game:
His last move was f4, which makes sense as a way to activate Bg3. The g1-a7 diagonal looks inviting, so I’m tempted by e5-e4 options, as well as Bc5 and Qb6 checks.
Analysis shows Bc5+ to be the better option.
Full approval from the computer here. I found all the right moves for a change. It wasn’t too difficult though considering white has kindly invited me to the g1-a7 diagonal.
Last one for today is the oioki white game, where I was planning Bd2:
I just need to check that I didn’t miss anything like I did in the black game.
After a lot of calculating, I’m still sticking with Bd2.
Bd2 was the right move (apart from the b4 option, which I still didn’t consider), but the rest of the calculations were off. I was mostly looking for forcing responses from black, while he had more patient options, such as Nd7-e5.
Continued here: https://www.chess.com/blog/romank66/chess-com-2024-2nd-round-e05-collecting-points