Chess.com 2024, 2nd round, E13 - Fortunate turn of events
9th of April 2024
Fabio still hasn’t moved in the black game; I begin to think that he simply did not see Be8, and is now coming to terms. Made a couple of moves during the night with Tautzies in both games, as they were pre-planned.
A bit later, Fabio decides to give up the knight. So, it was definitely not an intentional exchange sacrifice.
I got a massive present from white of course. That last move, Nxe6, put even more money in the bank; something like Nh3 to pay ransom with a mere exchange was a far better option.
Re-capturing with the knight looks like a no-brainer, though I need be careful to achieve piece coordination and watch out for the white bishop attacking d5.
This game should be in the bag. Between that and the black Tautzies game, I’m again getting hopes of making it through.
Speaking of which, I have another calculation to make there:
The idea is to go Qa1 and start pushing the a-pawn. His only counterplay is to go g4, which is what I want to analyze.
The engine is more confident, and happily reassures me that the g4-h4-h5 plan would be withstood by Qf6. For someone without an engine, this looks too thin, especially when the tournament is at stake.
White can find a perpetual, if I just let him roll with this plan. In fact, g4 looks even more annoying.
So, I’m thinking of switching to Qb5 to keep the queen closer to the action.
Looks like Fabio gave me another present: now, in the white game. I was dead sure he’d go Ng5, but no – he went Rd7 which gives me an awesome option to trap the knight:
Yep, this was a mistake, no two ways about it. I assumed Ng5 to be black’s only option, and the engine agrees.
Calculations look positive.
I’m getting more and more hopeful… This is also a good time for a checkpoint of the four remaining games.
I’m completely won in the black Fabio game:
Won’t be surprised if the next move will be a resignation.
- In the white Fabio game, I don’t see a way for him to avoid material loss, though it’s not completely done and dusted yet.
- In the black Tautzies game, there’s a clear plan for a win, so unless he pulls a rabbit out of a hat, I’ll get a point there.
- In the long-suffering white Tautzies game, the most likely result is still a draw, but he will have to work for it.
So, overall, it should be 3.5 out of 4 points which would seal the deal for the next round.
In the black Tautzies game, white continues to put up a fight. He did play g4, as expected:
Quick self-approval note: last two moves, and hence the entire plan, were top line.
That’s his best practical chance, and I ought to be careful. Ideally, I want to be able to take on g6 with the queen:
The idea is to arrive to a position where my king is on h7, the queen on g6, and his king is on the h-file, so that any check there will pin his queen. Then just push the a-pawn forward.
19-30: And another Mavs win. Really hope for a long playoff run if they keep up this form.
There are no new moves in the games, but I realized that I messed up a bit with the Qc6+ move in the previous game. White doesn’t have to recapture on g4 – and the annoying bit is that I’ve seen that when calculating the previous move, but promptly forgot about it.
I absolutely should’ve taken on g4. Oh well, time to think about plan B. Of course, if he retreats to h2, I’ve got Qc7+ and all is well, but I find that option unlikely. So, I’ll assume he’ll go Kg1.
Looks still winnable after a4. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Not much to add here. Qc6+ was my second inaccuracy of the game, and as I realized back then, taking on g4 was the right way to go.
10th of April 2024
Fabio is holding his response until the last minute; likely prolonging his tournament. Eventually, he makes a couple of moves. In the black game, he did not resign, but is picking up pawns to compensate for the loss of a rook.
In the white Tautzies game, I notice a defensive resource for him that should bring that long-suffering game to a draw. Will have a closer look later today.
Going to the black Fabio game:
I still see a clean path to a victory from here:
In the white game, I’m entrapping the knight as planned:
In the black Tautzies game, he did go Kh2, so now I have the Qc7+ option. Let’s check it out:
After a very long think, I decide to go for hxg4. If he goes for Qd8+, I’ll have to give up my mighty a-pawn, but win another extra pawn on the king side. On the contrary, if I hold for dear life onto the a5 pawn, I can’t see a clear path to victory.
Stockfish proposes a very slow and patient way to convert after Qc7+, but he also likes my chosen path with moving the game to the kingside.
In the white game, the endgame gets really interesting, and while I was sure for the past few days it is a draw, I see a study-like path to a win:
Unfortunately, this was just a mirage. The game is still a draw with the right defense. Also, my line there had a massive hole in it, which fortunately was not noticed by both parties.
Maybe it’s the optimist in me, but I’m getting maximalist vibes – can I win all four? That would be quite an over-achievement…
No more chess for today, but during my dentist visit I get a message from the garage saying they found more damage from the debris. I start remembering all the stories about body shops finding flaws once the car enters their domain.
22-20: Big news, Tautzies has resigned in my black game. I’m very much surprised – I still had quite a bit of work to do there, and wouldn’t have resigned in his place:
Considering how much I’ve put into that game, I expected a slightly higher rating, however a win is a win. I have evaluated my opponent at about 2000, and he played as such. I think his biggest mistake was the resignation.
I still don’t understand why he has resigned. Even at GM level, most people would have fought on, especially if a loss essentially meant exiting the tournament. Sure, the eval at the end is -2.75, but black still has work to do to exchange the f2 pawn, push his two remaining pawns while avoiding perpetual etc. It was by no means a slam dunk, though with all likelihood I would have converted it after a week or two.
Overall, I’m happy with most of my play here. I won a pawn in the opening, which was well compensated by white, but I gradually improved my advantage by latching into white’s inaccuracies; the main one being 28. Rd1, which allowed me to exchange his bishop on f3. I had a couple of missteps of my own: 22…Rd8, and some of the queen’s wanderings during the endgame. At no point however, did the eval go higher than -1.5, so the position was winnable, even if I was not Mr. Perfect.
The updated table:
It’s quite simple at this point: if I win both games against Fabio, and draw the last game against Tautzies, I’m into the next stage. And that looks very much doable.
Continued here: https://www.chess.com/blog/romank66/chess-com-2024-2nd-round-e14-happy-endings