an inspiring game is resourceful desperation

h

noteworthy moments

13.qf3 was the first error on my part, the correct move in that position and anyone who studies the games of Van Geet knows it, is nh5! in these positions if bh8 ,then qf3-qh3 coming. Blacks best defense yields rook and two pawns vs minor pieces with an edge for white, but i chickened out in my fog of nothingness

but also, qf3 is thematically too soon, if white intended h4, he should keep the queen on d1 and play it right away, in case of qxb3 if fxg6.
the position was beginning to go south after f5, but 18.nh3 should have been it. In these positions to botch the initial attack leads to a positionally lost game The knight is horrendous here, never was a sac on g5 any good either

28 just when i thought i was clawing back into the game the knight ends up with no good squares and c6 and bxc4 is coming, this lead to a bold desperate idea...

29. SAC, but give me a christmas tree pawn structure which can neutralize the bishop and breath life into my night!
34. bf8 is where you begin to see black's carelessness in a still possibly winning position., he needed faster play before the night is rerouted
36. ra2 was necessary, low time, but qb1 is not a real threat as white would benefit from added rook safety, and the king is safer in the first rank so being cut off in the 2nd rank is actually benign.

38. qxc3, terrible error on my part with less than a minute on the clock, white shouls see that ke1, fails to c2 because of the f8 bishop and rb1 threat. but black played the natural looking but incorrect bb4 but scary looking bb4 instead
41. rb2?, the last error before the win evaporates, black needed to play bc5! after 42. ne4, white's idea finally pays off with 0.00!
44.c2?? now black is losing! turns out, now the black rook must permanently defend this pawn and white has the resources to remain on c1 or threaten to queen themselves first.
46.d7? then i spoil my win, i was so pleased with recouping a piece i missed the looming perpetual threat as well a key winning resource, ra8!, the threat is, kf7 is met with ra7+ and if kg8, nf6 is mate in two and ke1 is also lethal.

49.ra2?? the final blunder by yours truly, not only did i miss the coming perpetual threat in my excitement over being in a seemingly won endgame, i completely missed the trivial but beautiful c5! bc3 rc4!

I think the gambit 4...h5 gives all the fun to black 😀

the free h pawn? i would gladly gobble that up any day of the week stockfish be darned. they are some positions the h pawn is cursed, but 4.h5 is not one of them

At what point would you say you were out of theory?

thats a good question. this line by black with nc6 and nge7 is actually fairly recent and somewhat of an engine creation, but i asked him if he prepped for me, and said no, he was shocked its the engine line, although the idea there is usually qd6 f6 and then a6 but not b5 right away. a6 b5 right away is alright, but not challenging.
The thing is though, that the resulting position is almost exactly the same from some classic 1.nc3 master games, black fianchettos, be6 gets kicked, and queen and and sometimes h pawn come barreling down. The saddest thing is, after black castles, i KNEW the best move which was nh5! from studying some of Van geet's best games, but i coudnt calculate all the complications. i was blank for 20 minutes at the board despite knowing the best move. I vaguely saw a complicated line where you get rook and two pawns vs two minor pieces but it is a better ending for white ,but for some reason despite knowing from memory it is favorable chickened out of it lol, i think i was afraid of something other line i forgot to calculate.
i played like an 1800 on a hangover morning though. like, how do you miss c4-c5 wins in the end!? sure bc3 rc4 looks WEIRD but im not NM from a goodwill donation either XD.
im throwing away doxalymine as my emergency sleeping supplement after this game , insomnia is better than this!

Yeah, Doxylamine blocks clear thinking. It has anticholinergic properties (antihistamine) which reduces neurotransmission. I hope you didn't drive to the venue! It can hang around for 10-12 hours.

Thank you for sharing this game!!

im gonna try zaleplon (sonata). its one of the only things pilots are allowed to take due to its short duration in the body. i need something to knock me out of the adrenaline restlessness. The sleep itself is not even THAT bad, its getting to bed thats really bad.

What was your opponent’s rating?

right now? 2130 uscf

what does the computer say about the game? any finer points or a missed attack?

I meant computer for missed opportunities like an attack not to judge every move of the game.

most of the moves i commented on where engine checked. As for the attack, the move to play was not qf3 or h4 (although of the two h4 is better) it was nh5, but i actually knew that even when i was in the game , i just coudnt calculate anything even knowing that was the move so i chickened out lol