Chess.com 2024, 2nd round, E07 - Deep thoughts
26th of March 2024
Tautzies collected another point, and it looks worrying – he played at a very decent level there: more or less how I’d play. Georgeyost has bailed out.
The jonix game is getting a bit interesting, as I have some calculations to make. Will g2-g4 win the game?
Looks positive – and I can always bail out of the complications, exchange on d7 and keep my extra pawn, so the risk is minimal:
gxf5 is by far inferior to Bxd7 in the line above, but thankfully I didn’t have to look for that, due to the turn of events lower down. g4 is the right choice regardless.
Next thing – jonix is playing one of the most surprising moves in this tournament thus far: 0-0-0.
Bonus points there, I didn’t even consider this. The question is whether Nxf7 works. The more I analyze this the more I love the position. It’s so crazy with tactical lines all over the board. This is the point where I care less about the tournament situation, and just want to play this thing out.
This time the calculations are a bit better, but far from perfect. I chose the right move though.
A few minutes later, it all works out. We blitz out a few moves, and now I’m an exchange and a pawn up with two monster bishops. Will check later today on the fastest way to convert this:
The jonix game is a gift that keeps on giving, as I get a few more exciting tactics to calculate:
It always helps when the win is in the bag, and calculations do not carry massive risk – exactly as in the case here. The engine shows +6 after black’s 21st move.
17-50: Tautzies white game just got interesting, as he digressed from the two predecessor games, but not in the way I expected:
Ng5 is the move that immediately jumps to mind, however it doesn’t seem to achieve much because of Nd8. My other option is a4, with the idea of allowing to keep the bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal, preventing b7-b5, and potentially allowing Ra1-a3 to protect the e3 pawn. The most concerning response there is Rac8:
Another option is Nc3, but then Na5 will force my bishop to abandon the important diagonal.
Bd7 is very close to the top line. My calculations were not far from the truth, with eval moving between -0.1 to -0.5.
The last option that comes to mind is Nc7 to re-route the knight to d5. This is getting too mind-boggling, so I’ll try the black game for now:
There is one predecessor game, where black, a known US GM from the Fischer era, played out a draw. He went for the f3 bishop rather than the b2 one, and that’s where I feel I can mix things up.
I still feel like it’s a draw (far from ideal), but it’s gives better chances than what Bisguier has got. White’s black-squared bishop is the more dangerous beast, so I’d rather eliminate him. The only gotcha is that the dxc4 sequence seems more accurate:
This was fortunate, as white had a very interesting option in the previous line with 15.cxb6 Nc4 16.bxa7 – getting three pawns for the knight. I don’t know if my opponent would have seen it (I didn’t), but taking on c5 first precludes it.
Just before playing the move, I notice an interesting zwischenzug, but it has a nice antidote.
I was lucky here. White indeed does not have to automatically re-capture on b2, and can rather play something like 17.Rfc1, picking up the knight later in his own free time. This is of course assuming the queen takes on d4 first (not sure why I put it on c2 in the line above). So, I realized that knight does not have to be automatically re-taken, but did not think the ramifications through. It was sheer luck that white did not go for it.
22-00: Mavs won _again_, now with a blowdown in Sacramento. What a nice surprise.
Now going back to the white game, where I start regretting my opening choices.
a2-a4 still looks like the move, and I’m mostly worried about Rac8 there:
I don’t see great alternatives though, considering I want to have my counterplay, and at least some winning chances. I’ll wait with the move though – there’s 16 hours left, and it seems like an important juncture; I’ll have plenty of time to recheck my lines.
Stockfish suggests a2-a3, which means that taking b4 from the black knight is more important than protecting b5.
27th of March 2024
I’m now up an insane amount of material against jonix, with the game rushing along as we speak:
Vedant is also going to be down a rook shortly; his only saving grace is that he really slowed down his playing. Probably wants to enjoy the tournament while it lasts.
All this brings me back to the main game, the Tautzies white, where I did not bring myself to play a4 last night. I finally play the move just as jonix resigns.
The engine does not think too highly of my play there:
The engine’s main complaint is 11. Na3, which apparently lost some advantage.
Not much to add here, as I did not get a lot of resistance from the very start. My play got sloppier towards the end as the game went from “won” to “completely done and dusted”, which contributes to the analysis engine’s low opinion.
The updated table:
16-20: Tautzies made his moves. I’ll focus on the white game for now:
I was more worried about Rac8, but perhaps there’s something I missed? Nc7 is the interesting option here that I did not calculate much yesterday, due to it being (and I quote) “mind-boggling”. It still is, but now with a6 on the board, I should investigate it fully.
The first and second glance show interesting variations, with Be6 being the most dangerous option from black:
I’ll calculate it later today, especially the e4 response from white. Speaking of calculations, I’ve done a lot of it, but can’t find a clear plus – the best lines lead to a drawn opposite colour bishop ending:
18-50: Final round of calculations. At this point I’ve set an absolute record of contemplation over a single move. Many interesting lines pop up, but in the end – I don’t see how Nc3 can be a better move than Nc7:
If I play Nc3, black will just go Rc8, Na5-c4, and my counterplay will run to nothing. Also, assuming my opponent is not a hidden pro, I just don’t see them going to the same calculation depth I went to, so hopefully I’ll be able to use my time investment on this move for a while. As before, I’ll play my move in the morning, to make sure I don’t miss anything.
It’s difficult to comment on something that I invested so much time in. The time invested paid off though, as Nc7 is indeed the best choice. The first point of slight disagreement is on the 17…Be6 move, where the engine suggests Bf5 instead.
On the 18…Rfd8 line, Stockfish agrees, though the eval is -0.3 for black, rather than the +0.3 I evaluated. For 18…Bh6, I missed a particularly nasty line starting with 19…b5 which led to a direct loss. Thankfully, the game did not go that way. Overall, black is spoilt for choice on the 18th move, and the engine suggests plenty of less forcing alternatives that keep the tension in the position. This is what called dynamic equality. Very tough to play due to the constant calculation.
In short, I might have gone too far in my calculations here. It could have been enough just to stop at the black’s 18th move, evaluate that position and not look much further.
In the black game, I’m almost ready to proceed with my plan of taking out Bb2, when I see an interesting opportunity for white which uses the fact that my knight is trapped:
Long story short, I find my way out of this, though I don’t trust my calculations as much considering that yesterday’s lines had a few holes in them.
I improved a bit on my yesterday’s lines, though white has slightly better options than 16. Rab1 if he wants to trap the knight. This is why the engine still suggests going after the bishop on f3. This is perhaps why the GM did the same – he saw all these subtleties. That’s the difference between 2000 and 2500 players.
Finally, time to look at one of the Fabio games, though we’re still nominally in the opening book:
I was already in a similar situation in the McCutcheon in one of the past tournaments. There, I made the mistake of playing Bc6 immediately, allowing the Bxg6+ break. No more. This time I’ll go c4 first, and then complete the Bc6+Nd7 setup. This also sets a nice trap for white in case he still wants to toy with Bxg6 ideas.
Absolutely the right choice, though considering I don’t plan on playing McCutcheon again (see later comments), it might not be that useful.
Continued here: https://www.chess.com/blog/romank66/chess-com-2024-2nd-round-e08-complications-upon-complications