Tuesday, March 28, 2017

2017 3 Tables - March Round 1 Aaron Dean, 2019 - Anton Taylor, 2001 Caro-Kann, Short's Ne2 (B10)

2017 3 Tables - March Round 1
Aaron Dean, 2019 - Anton Taylor, 2001
Caro-Kann, Short's Ne2 (B10)

1. e4 c6 2. Ne2 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. d4 Bf5 6. Nd2 e6 7. Nf3 Nge7 8. Ng3 Bg4 9. Bb5?? This game has gotten very far out of book (starting with my odd looking Nge7). This move however is too much for white to survive and black should have a comfortable win after 9... cxd4 10. Qxd4 Bxf3 11. gxf3 a6 12. Bxc6+ Nxc6 13. Qe3 d4 (Komodo10) However, I completely missed this continuation and follow a drawish line. 9. ... Qa5 10. Qa4 Qxa4 Every other move for white besides Qa4 leads him to a losing position and every move for black but trading the queens off is losing for black afterwards. I should have seen and avoided this exchange to play for a win. 11. Bxa4 Bxf3 12. gxf3 O-O-O 13. Be3 cxd4 14. cxd4 f5 exf6 en passant might be white's best try after f5 but I considered it good for me for white to have isolated d-pawn and isolated doubled f-pawns. 15. Ne2 a6 16. Nf4 Kd7 17. Nd3 Ng6 Komodo recommends instead the very provocative b5!? here sacrificing a pawn to open a key file. the evaluation of course is roughly equal and taking the pawn is not mandatory. I mention it because it is worthwhile to me to note that just on principle I did not consider moving any of the pawns. Perhaos I should have rather than playing Ng6 which seems to be going nowhere and just a weak move. 18. Bxc6+ Kxc6 19. Rc1+ Kd7 20. Nc5+? I had anticipated Bg5 asking uncomfortable questions to black and making life hard for him in terms of controlling the open file. My reply to this premature knight move was immediate as I had calculated Nc5 as no good for white. 20... Bxc5 21. Rxc5 Rc8 22. f4 Ne7? I miss a winning continuation. 22. ... Rxc5 23. dxc5 Kc6 and black can comfortably apply pressure to the wayward advanced c-pawn and enjoy a passed d-pawn. It seems obvious now and I did look at this line but I determined it led nowhere due to the seeming passivity of the remaining rook ... but this is actually true of both rooks to some degree so it was simply a case of chess blindness. 23. Ke2 b6 24. Rxc8 Rxc8 25. Kd3 Nc6 26. Bd2 b5 27. a3 a5 28. Ra1 Kc7 29. Be1 Kb6 30. Bd2 Nd8 31. Rc1? White wants to trade down into the minor piece and pawn ending. He seems blissfully unaware that this should favor black with the knight and better pawn structure. 31. ... Rxc1 32. Bxc1 b4 33. a4 I'll be honest. I completely missed this move. the whole point of black playing b4 (or at least a key point) is that afterwards the b5 square is open for the knight. With this move white deprives the knight of that square and probably draws. 33. ... Kc7 34. b3 Kd7 35. Ke2 Nc6 36. Be3 Ke8 37. Kf3 Kf7 38. Kg3 Kg6 39. f3 Kh5 40. Bf2 h6 41. Be3 g5 42. fxg5 hxg5 43. f4 gxf4+ 44. Kxf4 Kh4 45. Bg1? Bf2+ immediately is the drawing resource. Now black has time to guard a key pawn. 45. ... Nd8 46. Bf2+ Kh3 47. Kg5 Kxh2 48. Kf6 Kg2 49. Be3? White falters again. Perhaps all of this is just due to his time trouble? 49. ... Kf3 50. Bg1 f4 51. Ke7 Kg2 52. Kxd8 Kxg1 0-1 White resigns as he cannot queen his pawn to counter black's coming queen. 


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