Chess.com 2024, 2nd round, E10 - When the going gets tough
2nd of April 2024
The day starts with mate being delivered to Vedant during the night. That zombie game had been feasting on a steady diet of pre-moves for a while, and finally has finished its inglorious existence. We’re getting to the showdown now.
The engine approves of my performance, but I didn’t have to work too hard in that game:
Not much to say here, as indeed I didn’t have to work hard. White gave up a pawn, and then had to continuously feed material to stave off the onslaught of the central connected passers.
Going to the Tautzies game, my lines yesterday had holes in them (as expected), but the bishop exchange is still forced:
While I don’t see a path to a win, I also don’t see a path for him to a draw.
Side point – exactly a year ago, I was finishing my exit from round 2 by sadly landing to a draw in my last game there. This year, I’m still not fully optimistic about my chances considering how Tautzies is playing, but I still hope for a longer run.
A couple of moves later, Tautzies goes with Rb6:
Stockfish considers this to be the stronger option beside g5. I suspect this is because Rb3 only looks active, while Rb6 has immediate threats behind it. The eval is +0.65 now.
I looked at that move but was more concerned with Rb3. Perhaps he sees something I don’t. My three options are Rc2, Nce5 and Nfe5. The knight is very well positioned on c6, so I’d rather not play Nce5 unless I have to.
Early calculations show Nfe5 to be the leading candidate, since I see draws hiding behind Rc2:
Nfe5 has a few worrying options for black though, so I’ll need to analyze later today when I’ll have more time.
My main gap in the Rc2 line (which is a good move) is that in the g3 line for some reason I planned on 34. Nxd8 which makes no sense. Considering black is hamstrung there, almost any other move wins. Luckily, my choice, Nfe5, was as good.
After another long set of calculations, I decide to go with that. At this point I’m stretching my calculations to their utmost limit, hence if I missed something – so be it.
Going to the black game:
Time to think about how I can generate that d-passer. My yesterday’s idea was Rd8, e5, d4.
White can:
- Go after my a7 pawn, maybe after exchanging queens.
- Attack on the kingside with g4-g5.
- Invade the 7th rank with Qb7, Rc7 etc.
Plans (a) and (c) could be negated with h7-h6; I’d then be able to go Rd8-d7 and protect the 7th rank. White can still push the a-pawn to a6, assuming I give him enough tempos for that, but that’s not going to play a role if I hold on to my a7 pawn.
I think h6 is a bit more accurate. I’ll give it another once over in the evening before going ahead.
19-30: I didn’t give it the once over, but just went h6 when back home. Felt like too much procrastination. Now to the black Fabio game, where he predictably continues following the Glek game:
Yesterday, I was planning on Qxg5+, and another quick analysis does not show anything better:
If white does not push the h-pawn (and based on Fabio’s conservative style, he won’t), it seems like an impasse. Maybe better than Glek’s, but draws are born equal.
Guess what – white pushed the pawn, and moreover, that entire line after hxg5 is losing for black. That was probably the worst calculation mistake in my entire tournament. I still was one move from burning the bridges though.
Last, but not least, the Fabio white game:
While there are two predecessor games here, it’s certainly time to engage my brain in this game. I got burned in the past by following the opening book too far, which especially applies in a complicated IQP position like here.
Black clearly wants to go Nc4, which was the main point behind his last move. The logical move on my side is Bf4 – which is why I went g3 a couple of moves ago. This also leaves one predecessor game to lean on, though it’s by no means GM-level.
So, I’m fairly sure he’ll play Qb6, as the other two moves lead to a loss, but now looking deeper into that game, white did not have a deserved win. Black messed things up royally there, so it’s me who will need to look for an improvement. I see a couple of options, but nothing glorious. Either way, I can’t force myself to play g4, as that’s effectively admitting that g3 was a mistake.
Wrong again. g4 was the best move – according to Stockfish. Bishop’s pressure on Nf3/Be2 shouldn’t be tolerated.
3rd of April 2024
I might finally see a path to a win in the white Tautzies game.
Both of us played the top line couple of last moves, including black’s wise decision of putting the rook on d8.
I have several tempting options here:
- Trap the knight with h4 and g3 (this is the one I evaluated yesterday)
- Go after the f7 pawn with Rf1
- Push the d-pawn with d5
A few observations after calculating:
Rf1 fails to Rxd4. Trapping the knight also doesn’t quite work, since black has Rxd4 and Rb3 ideas. So, my leading candidate is the d5 push:
The sad fact is that h4 worked; I simply didn’t see the Ne5 protects d3, hence the Rb3 ideas I referred to lead to nothing. The only way black could’ve stayed alive after h4 was f7-f6, which after minor complications would have led to a decent advantage.
The Nf3 line I calculated was also very promising according to the engine. So, I saw two very good options and discarded both due to hallucinations.
g2-g3 wasn’t a mistake as such, but it loses some of the advantage: from +0.6 to +0.3.
This is getting insane, but the more I stare at the game, the less I see of a path forward. Very long story short, I decide on g3. Really not happy about where this is going.
A couple of hours later, the game continues charging ahead on the g3 line:
I still don’t see a good way to overpower black, though I’m a bit happy my opponent did not play f5 on the last move; that seemed to equalize immediately. I think h4 is practically forced on my side.
Absolutely correct, f5 was the better option. With Kg7, eval goes back to +0.6, as black has given me a tempo.
The more I look at the game, the more I feel it’s slipping away. I think my only chance to do something is to get the king to support his army.
I have to create some kind of stable grouping and cover for the king – perhaps by going Rd3, and b2-b3.
I was likely tired at that point, and my calculations are chaotic. Thankfully, I focused on h4, which is the only move that keeps the advantage by gaining space and getting the knight temporarily out of action.
Overall, I feel like floundering here, and keep finding new resources for black to hold a draw.
Going to the black game, where white played a3-a4:
I’ll just proceed with my plan of playing Rd8.
Here’s the result of tiredness. I didn’t calculate here at all and granted white a tempo. As tomorrow demonstrated, I underestimated the march of white’s a-pawn.
21-15: In the Fabio black game, I’ll proceed with hxg5, as planned:
This is where my fall into the abyss has accelerated. In the previous game I underestimated the march of the a-pawn. In this one, the march of the h-pawn. Here the mistake is much more serious, as will be seen a couple of moves later. The eval is already +1 for white.
In the white game, I’ll also go with g4, as planned yesterday:
This was by far the worst day of the tournament, which would have ended it for me with a stronger opposition. The mistake in the Fabio game was especially dangerous.
4th of April 2024
Tautzies played f6 which I hoped for, as it gives me a chance to swing the knight to c5.
After a bit more calculation, I decide to charge ahead (or backward?) with Nd3.
Absolutely the right choice. The knight is well situated on c5, as the next moves will show.
A few hours later, black pulls another unexpected move with g5:
On the first glance, it makes sense as a way to simplify and get closer to a draw. On another, it gives me time to push for d5. I obviously don’t want to exchange and let the knight jump to g5. So, my leading move is Red2, to support d5 and potentially enable Ra1. To be continued later today.
Black also had an interesting resource, which neither of us have seen – Ne5.
An interesting idea occurs to me: what about b2-b4? This opens up interesting options, since the pawn can’t be taken. However, it looks like a draw:
b4 was the Stockfish leading line. I had better options at move 40 by going Rb1 to protect the b-pawn and using the other rook to fight for the g-file.
Kf3 is another interesting candidate move; the only downside is that I might get a check on e5 when I play d5. After a few more calculations, I’ll go for Red2. It seems most accurate, and I find a few more ideas to make life difficult for black. That being said, he’s been evading nicely everything I’ve been throwing at him.
Leaving the lines aside (they suffer from the same gaps as the rest of the game), the move is decent. The main problem with the position is that white’s extra pawn is weak, there is no passer, and black’s pieces are active. So, the eval rarely goes above +0.5 even with perfect play – and mine wasn’t.
Also, a newsflash: Tautzies won his white game against Fabio, in a surprisingly easy way. This is annoying, since it means that I’ve got a lopsided group again – one player is getting all the points: at least in games apart from mine. This means that I have to win against Fabio (which seems iffy based on the games I have going) and win one or both against my main opponent. That annoying draw against oioki does not help at all.
20-00: Now I’ve got time to look at the black Tautzies game:
He clearly wants to create counterplay against my a7 pawn which is what I expected. The question is whether I’ll be faster creating a passer on the d-file.
Analysis shows that I shouldn’t let a6 happen:
Many calculations later, I realize that Rd8 has been a massive mistake. I underestimated white’s march of the a-pawn.
So:
- a6 is losing to Qb7
- Qa6 is rejected by Qa3
- Rb8 is at least not losing, but it’s an admission of a lost tempo
- Ne4 loses a pawn to Qb7 after exchanges on e4
A few corrections. a6 is not losing, but certainly gives white chances, as a6 is going to be a weakness. Neither are other moves, as black has enough resources, but the advantage is certainly gone after Rd8.
I have to go back to e5 as my leading option. I belatedly realized that he can go a6, at which point I have touch choices to make:
- I can exchange the a6 pawn for e5, which will be incredibly hard to win
- Or can press with d4, and risk the 8th rank getting invaded
However, after diving really deep into the e5 lines, I see all kinds of narrow paths. It looks very tenuous and scary, but I might escape to a draw if need be:
Ok, let the arrows fly. e6-e5 it is.
The engine quickly shows a couple of ideas I’ve missed. In the 24. a6 d5 25. Qb7 line, Rd7 is losing since white can sacrifice the queen with Qc6 and generated a passer on b7. On the other hand, 25…e4 works for black, as he has a zwischenzug with dxe3. The game did not go either of these ways, but I’m sure I wouldn’t have seen the Qc6 idea for white. Maybe the dxe3 for black on a good day.
Fabio unsurprisingly is shooting for a draw in my black game. I speed it up a bit, as it’s a closed game, so no sense in keeping it slow.
A misstatement of the year. f4 was a blunder, as I completely neglected to calculate the consequences of white going h6-h7. The eval is now +2.46, which means black is lost. I still could’ve held things together with Nf8.
Continued here: https://www.chess.com/blog/romank66/chess-com-2024-2nd-round-e11-at-the-edge-of-the-abyss