Never give up (2)

This was the first league game of the season for the Letchworth & Hitchin team.  I'd like to start the entry with an apology, to my team captain and to the rest of the team.  Not for playing badly (although as you'll see, I didn't exactly play well), but for agreeing a draw in the final position which I knew I was winning.  

It was an odd decision, and one that I won't be repeating.  It was based on 

1. a vague thought that I might not have reached the time control (though I was fairly sure I had) and 
2. a strong feeling that I didn't deserve to win what must be the worst game I've played in years.

The lesson here, for me more than anyone reading, is to play what's on the board.  Don't think back to how badly (or well) things were going before - all that matters is the current position, and playing as well as you can from that position.  You don't always get what you deserve.

White - Andy Tinker (172)
Black - Matt Fletcher (175)
20 October 2013
35 moves in 75 minutes, plus 15 minutes for every subsequent 7 moves
 
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 
The Grünfeld Defence, Exchange variation - I'm re-learning this opening having played it as a junior, but I've been struggling slightly to stick to the lines recommended in the book I'm reading.

5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Qb3 Nb6 
This is a playable line but the book recommendation is 6... Nxc3 7. bxc3 O-O 8. e3 c5 which is what I'll play next time.

7. e3 O-O 8. Be2 Nc6 9. O-O e5?!  
Based on a mis-calculation - 9... Be6 was the other move I contemplated and is much safer. For example 10. Qc2 Nb4 11. Qd1 N4d5 looks fine. 

10. d5 Ne7 
I had intended 10... Na5 but suddenly realised that 11. Qb5 was going to pick up my Knight.

11. e4 a6?! (11... c6 was better but Black is horribly cramped) 12. Be3 Qd6 13. Rac1 f5 14. Rfd1 Nd7? (running out of ideas, I felt I ought to try to move the Bishop from c8) 15. Na4 b6?? (consistent, but awful)  

16. Rxc7?  The question mark here is not because Rc7 is such a terrible move, but because 16. Rc6! (which was made possible by the previous move) finishes the game immediately - Black's Queen is lost after 16... Nxc6 17. dxc6+ Kh8 18. Rxd6.

16... Kh8 
I thought for a long time here, but realised I have nothing.  I only really played on to avoid the embarrasment of going down in under 20 moves...

17. Rcc1 f4? 18. Bxb6 g5 (opening the g-file is my only idea in the position, even if it loses another pawn) 19. Nxg5 Qg6 20. Ne6 Rg8 21. f3?! (there's no real need to open the a7-g1 diagonal - but White is still winning easily) Rb8 22. Qa3?? Possibly the worst move of the game, although there are other clear contenders!  Almost any other move here retains White's winning advantage.

22... Bf6 defending the Knight and threatening checkmate on g2 23. Bf1 Nxb6 24. Qd6?! Nxa4 (24... Bxe6) 25. Qxb8 Bxe6 26. Qb4 Bd7 27. Rc7?!  Bb5 28. Rd2?? 

28... Bh4? (28... Bxf1! 29. Kxf1 Nxd5! 30. exd5 (the Rook can't take because of Qxg2+) Qb1+ 31. Kf2 Bh4+ is a pretty straightforward combination which finishes the game quickly.  My only excuse for not seeing this is that I was incredibly short of time by this point.  But then what's my excuse for the rest of the game?)

29. Bxb5 Qb6+ 30. Kf1 axb5 (this is better than 30... Qxc7 31. Bxa4) 31. Rxe7?? Qe3! 

Threatening an immediate mate on e1 and getting right into White's position.  I realised immediately that this move was going to cause my opponent some serious problems.  32. Re2 Qc1+ 33. Re1 Qc2 34. Re2 Qb1+ 35. Re1 Qd3+ 36. Re2 Qb1+ 37. Re1 1/2-1/2??

In this final position, 37... Qd3+ 38. Re2 Nxb2! wins pretty much on the spot.

After my 35th move, made with my flag hanging, I checked with my opponent that we had made the time control.  He said he wasn't sure so we played another move each, after which I was offered the draw.  I knew by now I was winning if I had reached the time control.  The reasons I accepted his offer were that my nerves were shot after blitzing out the previous moves, and that I really had a strong feeling that I shouldn't be winning a game like this.  But that's not how chess works...

All in all, this was a very disappointing game, full of mistakes and errors of judgement.  I don't want to play like this again - but it feels good to have shared it!

Never give up (1)

This was played the day after my previous game, and was the first game I played for Athenaeum in London.  My opponent was Stephen Ledger, who is currently graded 188 ECF (2100 FIDE) but has been higher in the past.  

He played very well for the first part of the game and I was hanging on by my fingertips after playing what seems like a dubious opening line.

But as Tartakower said, you never win a game by resigning, and my position had a few plus points so I carried on. I managed to keep the Bishop pair and an active Rook to compensate slightly for being down a couple of pawns.  And in the end, I didn't lose...

White - Stephen Ledger
Black  - Matthew Fletcher 
8 October 2013
30 moves in 75 minutes plus 20 minutes quickplay finish

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 
This is the Trompowsky.  Not a good start as it's not an opening I know well at all.

2. ... Ne4  3. Bf4 d5 4. e3 c5 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Bxe4 dxe4 7. d5 

I thought for a while here and couldn't find anything better than:

7. ... Nb4?!
I looked this line up at home as I assumed this was about where I'd gone wrong.  But according to my database, my move is the most common in this position, having been played 25 times at all levels from Grandmaster down.  Unfortunately, the score in those games is 24½  - ½ in favour of White... Not a good sign when you're playing Black.

The computer gives 7. ... e5!? as a better move - I looked at this during the game but was worried about the passed d-pawn.  It also gives 7. ... g5!!? which didn't even cross my mind but might be worth looking at for a future game.

8.Nc3 Bf5 9. a3 Na6 10. Nge2

Somewhat bizarrely, all of this has been played before by as strong a player as GM Shakriyar Mamedyarov who played 10 ... g6 against Hikaru Nakamura in the 2010 blitz world championship.  But to be honest it looks rubbish (as proved by Mamedyarov who proceeded to get beaten in 26 moves).  Black is behind in development, his pieces struggle to find squares and the e4-pawn is very weak.  I felt like I'd been thoroughly outplayed up to this point.

10. ... Qb6 11. O-O Rd8 (11. ... Qxb2 fails to 12. Qd2 Qb6 13. Rab1 Qg6
14. Rxb7 - I can never realistically take the b-pawn) 12. Ng3 e6 13. Qe2 

White is just playing simple moves and improving his position.  I spent a long time here trying to think how to make my position work but failed, ending up with some serious time trouble and the uninspiring:

13. ... Bg6?! 14. dxe6 Qxe6 15. Qb5+ Qc6 16. Rad1 Be7 17. Rxd8+ Bxd8 18. Qxc6+ bxc6 19. Ncxe4 (there goes a pawn) O-O 20. Bd6 Re8 21. Nxc5 (and another one - but at least my pieces are starting to come to sensible squares) Nxc5 22. Bxc5 Bf6 23. c3 Rb8 24. Bxa7? (24. f4 is maybe more to the point, looking to hit the Bishop on g6 - or b4 which drops the c3 pawn but at least leaves the White Queenside connected) 24... Rxb2 

I was pretty happy with how the game had progressed in the last few moves (although by this stage I had very little time to appreciate it fully).  Although I'm still two pawns down, his Knight has few squares and I've got very active pieces.  If I could win another pawn on the Queenside I'd have every chance of getting a favourable result.

25. Bd4 Be7 26. f4 f6 giving the white-squared Bishop a bit of room and setting a little trap:

27. a4??  (27. c4 looks the best move, but Black's doing OK after 27. ... Ra2 which will pick up the a-pawn) 27... c5! White's Bishop has no moves! 28. f5 Bf7 29. e4 cxd4 30. cxd4 Ra2 31. e5 Rxa4 32. Rd1 

Having just about reached the time control at move 30, here I managed to spot a neat little tactic to finish White's resistance:
32. ... Rxd4! 33. Rxd4 Bc5  34. e6 (Ne2 defending the Rook is simply met by fxe5 attacking it again) Bxd4+ 

The rest is relatively straightforward - I felt that the easiest way was to make sure he couldn't get a Pawn chain from h3 to e6, then swap off one of the Bishops, round up e6 and win with the extra piece. 
 
35. Kf1 Be8 36. Ne2 Bb5 37.Ke1 Be5 38. h3 g6 39. fxg6 hxg6 40. Kf2 Bxe2 41. Kxe2 Kf8 42. Kf3 Ke7 43. h4 Kxe6 44. g4 Bb2 45. Ke4 Bc1 46. Kf3 Ke5 47. Kg3 Ke4 0-1 

Not the best game ever played, but I've taken a few things from it.  Firstly, I've found a possible new line to look at against the Trompowsky (7. ... g5)  -  not sure whether it's in Richard Pert's new book? 

Secondly, it shows how important it is in chess to keep trying to make good moves in poor positions - although my opponent played very well to build up a substantial advantage going into the endgame, he failed to completely break my resistance and made a couple of small inaccuracies which gave me some chance to defend.  I think even without the blunder my position improved quite a lot in the first part of the endgame.

 

Beating a dangerous opponent

My first game this season was played in my local club championship against Ian Mutton, an experienced and sharp player graded 144 ECF (1800 ELO).  Based on the difference between our grades, I should score about 80% in our encounters - and I probably get around this in the friendly matches we play at the club.  But we score very few draws which is the way of these 'skittles' games - both of us trying out some new ideas and him getting one over on me on occasion.

The difference here is that we were playing a 'serious' game which meant that I was determined to win without allowing Ian any winning chances - the pros call this "playing for two results" (ie a win or a draw).  To this end, I decided to:

• Keep it simple
• Aim for imbalances (either in pawn structure, or in pieces eg Bishop for Knight)

I also told myself not to fear equality, on the basis that my opponent was more likely to make a mistake provided I don't try to force it.

White - Ian Mutton (144)
Black - Matt Fletcher (175)
7 October 2013
All moves in 80 minutes

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5
So we have a French Defence, Tarrasch Variation. The most common fourth move here is exd4 but Ian's move is perfectly playable and often transposes.

4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. Bb5+

I was happy to see this move which I thought was slightly inaccurate. Black's normal problem in the French is how to develop the c8 Bishop - but here White allows Black to swap it off painlessly. 5. exd5 or 5. Nxd4 are better alternatives.

5. ... Bd7 6. Bxd7+ Qxd7 7. Nxd4 Nc6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. 0-0
 

I was pleased with my position and thought Black was at least equal with chances to be better, particularly due to the asymmetric pawn structure and open b-file.

My one concern was that it wasn't absolutely clear to me where all my pieces belonged, and at this stage, I thought for about 10 minutes to work out where my pieces ought to go.  I do this quite regularly in my games at about this point - not sure if it's a good or a bad habit.  

I decided the best plan was to move the Bishop to d6.  If 10. Qg4 (which is a thematic move in the French) I'd intended to play Kf8 (again a thematic move) to defend the g-pawn but White can just drop back to e2 and it seems like he'll have a small edge.

Instead we got:

9. ... Bd6 10. Qe2 Ne7 11. e5 Bc7 12. Nb3 Bb6 13. a4 a5 14. Be3 Qa7 15. Bxb6 Qxb6 

 

All of this seems eminently sensible from both sides, and White looks at first glance to be doing fine.  

But looking a little closer, Black already has an easier game - there are a number of moves I can play to improve my position (0-0, Rfb8, followed by slowly pushing forward with c5, c4, d4) where White has to be quite careful on the Queenside, has no open files for his Rooks and doesn't have any easy targets on the Kingside.

With no obvious plan, White starts to go wrong.

16. Rad1?! (16. Qd3 may be better, eg 16. ... 0-0 17. Nd4 with perhaps a slight edge to Black)  16... O-O 17.Rd3?

White puts his Rook on a square where it can be forked with a pawn on c4.  So I can just make a threat by pushing forward with c5. 

Do I need to worry about White playing his major pieces to the Kingside (Rh3, Qh5)?  As a rule of thumb, it's very rare that two pieces will be able to checkmate against a defended King.  If the Knight was on the Kingside (eg f4) it would be a different matter - there would be every chance of an attack with three pieces succeeding.

As it is, White gives it a go but there's nowhere near enough.  And in the meantime he loses his Queenside.

17... c5 18. Rh3? 

He had to try 18. Qe3 when I had intended 18. ... d4?! where White plays 19. Qe4 with a playable position.  Instead 18... Rfb8! 19. Qxc5 Qxc5 20. Nxc5 Rxb2 giving the position below - Black is much better because White will lose at least one, and probably both, of c2 and a4.

18... c4 19. Qh5 h6 

This simple pawn move shows White there will be no Kingside attack - he is simply lost.  An amusing line here goes: 20. Rg3 where despite the apparent threats, Black can calmly play 20. ... cxb3 because 20. Qxh6? (threatening checkmate on g7) is met with the lovely 20 ... Nf5 which defends g7 and attacks everything else!

 
20. g4 cxb3 21. Rxb3 Qd4 22. Kh1 Qe4+ 23. f3 Qxc2 24. Rb7 Ng6 25. g5 Qe2 (25... Qg2+ followed by Nf4+ winning back the Queen is prettier but not as strong) 26. Rg1 Qxe5 27. f4 Nxf4 0-1

This was a pretty smooth win which is what I'd been hoping for.  Ian missed his chance with 10 Qg4 and entered a position on move 15 that was close to equal, but easier for me to play due to the unbalanced pawn structure.  In the absence of an obvious plan, White abandoned his Queenside for a Kingside attack - it's interesting (to me) to see how quickly his position went downhill after move 17.