2017 Cleveland Open Round 5 Adam Gerver, 2050 - Anton Taylor, 2002 Caro-Kann: Advance (B12)

2017 Cleveland Open Round 5
Adam Gerver, 2050 - Anton Taylor, 2002
Caro-Kann: Advance (B12)

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 I'm still favoring this move over the classic Bf5 but it has developed a dubious relationship with my repertoire. It works out in the case of this game, however. 4. dxc5 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 This move is suspect and leads to more than a few problems for white. Bb5 seems more consistent with an open game. 6. ... e6 7. a3?? leads to a loss. After the game I discussed this move with my opponent. Essentially he had mixed up the plans for this type of position (it boils down to either keeping the e-pawn or the c-pawn but white can't keep his extra pawn without problems. 7. ... Bxf3 8. Bxf3 Nxe5 This is still very good for black but probably Bxc5 is more accurate still threatening the e-pawn and developing another piece. 9. b4 Qf6 10. c3? Be2 is given as equal by Komodo but it looks like an unhappy risk to allow black to win the exchange even if Bb5+ looks menacing. 10. ... Nxf3+ 11. Qxf3 Qxf3 12. gxf3 g6 Be7 is more flexible but this has the same idea of controlling the long diagonal. 13. Bf4 It's hard to suggest a better try. Komodo gives the best chance to Kd1-Kc2-Bb2-Nd2 but that is so defensive that black must be winning by a wide margin. This move, however, makes white completely bankrupt directly (but keeps things complicated and potentially leaves winning chances on the table. It's not going to work but I applaud the last round aggression. 13. ... Bg7 14. Bd6 Nh6 15. Kd2 Nf5 This is completely winning but I missed the even more clear a5! forcing white to advnace the pawn and further weakening the advanced c-pawn. 16. Bf4 d4 17. Kc2 dxc3 18. Be3 O-O-O Rc8 was a move that Komodo seems to like but that I never really looked at. In conjunction with b6 it is a quite powerful variation. 19. Nxc3 Bd4 20. Rhe1 Rd7 21. Rab1?? Black was slowly allowing white to slip out of his grip but this is too much. contesting the file by Rad1 was necessary. 21. ... Bxc3 22. Kxc3 Rhd8 23. Kc2 Nd4+ 24. Bxd4 Rxd4 The rest is an instructive rook and pawn ending with full advantage to black. 25. Re2 Rd3 26. Re3 Rd2+ 27. Kb3 Rxf2 28. Rh1 Rdd2 29. h4 Rh2 30. Rxh2 Rxh2 31. Re4 Rh3 32. Rf4 f5 33. Rd4 Rxf3+ 34. Ka4 Re3 35. b5 Re4 36. Rxe4 fxe4 37. Kb4 Kd7 38. Kc3 e5 39. Kd2 Ke6 40. Ke3 Kd5 41. b6 a6 42. c6 Kxc6 43. Kxe4 Kd6 44. a4 Ke6 45. a5 h6 0-1

2017 Cleveland Open Round 4 Anton Taylor, 2002 - Kevin Ho, 1934 Sicilian: Moscow (B51)

2017 Cleveland Open Round 4
Anton Taylor, 2002 - Kevin Ho, 1934
Sicilian: Moscow (B51)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. a4 I'm becoming quite comfortable in this position. I made a note in an earlier game that this is a sideline played several times by World Champion Magnus Carlsen. 4. ... a6 5. Bc4 e6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. O-O b6 8. d4! This is by far the best move in the position. trading the pawns improves white's control of the center and leaves several squares still very weak (d5, c6, and b6 and probably more but these are the worst). 8. ... cxd4 Unhappy choice but there is nothing better. Black may already be committed to weak moves. 9. Qxd4? An error letting the advantage slip a bit. Better is Nxd4 because it is difficult to extricate this knight. e5? would lead to both Nf5 and/or simply jumping a knight into d5 and white gains a big advantage. 9. ... Ngf6 10. Bg5 Qc7 11. Rfe1 Bb7 12. Rad1 O-O 13. Bf1? As it turns out it is hard to find a clear plan for white here for me. I spent a decent amount of time on this move. The bishop must either be moved now or be forced to move with tempo later after black plays either rook to the logical c8. f1, however, is the wrong square. I came to the conclusion later on that e2 was better and this is confirmed by komodo. I was afraid for the pawn on e4 but Nd2 holds all things together in equilibrium. 13. ... Rfd8 14. Nd2 Re8? This move is completely unnecessary and I was happy to see it. I needed some time. Komodo recommends h6 but I think any advantage for black in that case is only slight. 15. Nc4 d5 Immediately after playing this move my opponent offered me a draw. I had told him before the game began that I was playing for a win. I politely declined after thinking for a good long time (he asked on my time, not the first or last mortal sin committed by this opponent in this game). 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. Bxe7 Rxe7 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. Ne3 Nf6 20. Nxd5 Nxd5 21. Bd3? Letting black's mistake playing d5 at the wrong time slip away. Qe4! here probably wins or at least presents enough problems that black must create a weakness or two to solve. 21. ... Rd7?? I felt this was losing for black but I did not see the winning combination. 22. Qe4! Rdd8 23. Qxh7+ Kf8 24. Qh4 The silicon monsters can easily justify grabbing the second extra pawn but during the game I could not see how to proceed and survive opening the files in front of my king. It just seemed that discretion was the better part of valor in this case. It is worthwhile to note that white gains time after chasing the black king to e7 by Qd4 (threatening to win the knight) to see this check this variation: 24.Qh8+ Ke7 25.Qxg7 Rg8 26.Qd4 and the needed time saving the queen and threatening the knight is achieved. Had I seen this I would have dived into the captures. 24. ... Nf6? 25. Qb4+? 25. Qh8+ Ke7 26. Qxg7 Rg8 27. Rxe6+!! Kxe6 28. Re1+ and the king hunt is terminal. 25. ... Kg8 26. g3 Rac8 27. c3 a5 28. Qh4 Rd6 29. Bc2? g4! wins. Rc2 should also be winning but g4 is much more precise and to the point. 29. ... Rcd8 30. Qg5 Rd5 31. Qe3 Ng4 32. Qe2 Nf6 33. Bb3 R5d6 34. Rxd6 Rxd6 35. Rd1 g6 36. Qf3 Kg7 37. Rxd6 Qxd6 38. Qb7?? I knew I had blown things immediately after I played this move and should probably be worse afterward. However, my opponent misses the correct reply and I'm still in the game. Bc4 to allow Qe2 if necessary and/or Bb5 covering everything and then advancing the inevitable passed pawn is winning for white. 38. ... Nd7? Qd2! 39. Qe4 Nc5 My opponent seemed happy with this fork but in my opinion this helps white. Is the endgame long and difficult? yes. Is white still winning? technically. It's a long hard road but I needed the win and knights complicate things for me. 40. Qc2 Nxb3 41. Qxb3 Qc5 42. Qb5! If black takes this trade he will lose quickly. So, the queen keeps her dominance on the queenside for white. If the white king can keep cover white wins. 42. ... Qd6 43. b4 axb4 44. Qxb4? Obviously wrong but the rigors and the time situation were getting to me. Also, every other move at this point I was getting draw offers. A floor TD stood nearby waiting for my complaint but I wanted to beat the loudmouth by ignoring him ... not let him win the psychological war by enlisting a TD. 44. ... Qd1+ 45. Kg2 Qd5+ 46. f3 Qd2+ 47. Kh3 e5? Qe2 holds. 48. Qxb6 Qh6+? "Monkey sees check, monkey makes check" as the saying goes. The rigors of this ending are getting to him too. Qxc3 was the move I expected. 49. Kg2 Qd2+ 50. Qf2 Qxc3 51. Qa2? Qe2 is more precise ... threatening the e-pawn and if 51. ...Qa5? Qb5! 51. ... Qa5 52. h4 f5 53. Kh3 Qe1 54. Kg2 Qa5 55. Qc2 Kf6 56. Qc6+ Kf7 57. Qd7+ Kf6 58. g4 fxg4 59. fxg4 Qa8+ 60. Kg3 e4 61. Qd4+ Ke6 62. Kf4 Qf8+ 63. Kxe4 Qf1 64. Qe5+ Kd7 65. Qb5+ Qxb5 66. axb5 Ke6 67. g5 Kd6 68. Kd4 Kc7 69. Ke5 Kb6 70. Kf6 Kxb5 71. Kxg6 Kc6 72. h5 Kd6 73. h6 Ke5 74. h7 Kf4 75. h8=Q Kg4 76. Qf8 Kh4 77. Qf4+ Kh3 78. Kh5 Kg2 79. Kg4 Kh1 80. Kg3 1-0

2017 Cleveland Open Round 3 CM Surya Parasuraman, 2089 - Anton Taylor, 2002 Caro-Kann: Panov-Botvinnik (B13)

2017 Cleveland Open Round 3 
CM Surya Parasuraman, 2089 - Anton Taylor, 2002 
Caro-Kann: Panov-Botvinnik (B13)

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. c5 Nc6 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bb5 Bd7 An inaccuracy. O-O is the standard move and preserves the Bishop's potential to go to a6 or b7 in some lines. 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 Nh5?? I knew this was the wrong move even as I played it. Ne4 seems so obvious in this "rested" moment but I had no idea how to proceed during the game. It is a common outpost for the knight in such positions and black needs active play or he gets ground down in an inferior endgame. 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Re1 Nf6 14. Bxc6? Bxc6 This minor piece exchange trades a strong piece for black's weaker knight. I was happy to see it. 15. Ne5 Ne8? Repositioning to control b5 but removing a defender from the kingside is chronic. Fortunately, my opponent misses his chances through repeated inaccuracy. 16. b4 Nc7 17. a4 a6 18. Qd3 Qe8 19. Ng4? While this is still winning for white it is far clearer for white to simply play Re3! 19. ... f5?? Taking a drowning position and making it a whole lot worse by making the move Ng4 worth the effort. I did not spend enough time thinking about this move. Rc8 was probably necessary just preventing the queen fork. 20. Nxh6+ gxh6 21. Qg3+ Kh7 22. Qxc7+ Rf7 23. Qe5? Qd6 was the move I expected and is the one recommended by Komodo. My opponent didn't even seem to consider it. He made the last few moves quickly so I suspect he thought of Qe5 when he played Nxh6+. 23. ... Bd7 24. f4? Piling up the pieces against the backward d-pawn is the cleanest plan to win at this point with an easy endgame to convert. To that end Ne2-f4 should just win. 24. ... Rg7 25. Qe2 Qg6 26. g3 Rag8 27. Qf3 h5 28. Kf2 Black had been forming some reasonable threats and the king rightly decides to start sidestepping. Even if the battle is lost on this flank the war will be won in the center in an endgame. The more active king either wins or hides himself away in the opposite corner and let the pieces fight it out. Black should be winning now with fewer complications. 28. ... Qh6 29. Ne2 h4 30. Rh1 Be8 31. Qe3 Bh5 32. Rag1 Be8 33. Nc3 Rg4 34. Re1 R8g6 35. a5 Qg7 36. Qe5 Qxe5 37. Rxe5 Bd7 38. Re3 Kg8 39. Ne2 Bb5 40. Nc3 Bd7 41. Ne2 Ba4 42. h3 hxg3+ 43. Rxg3 Rxg3 44. Nxg3 Bc2 45. Rg1 Kf8 46. Ne2 Rh6 47. Rg3 Rh4 48. Ke3 Bd1 49. Nc3 Bh5 50. b5 axb5?? The pawn advances on this side will eventually lead to a white win but this accelerates the win quite a bit. 51. c6 e5 52. cxb7 1-0

I have no excuse for the blunderous and planless 11. ... Nh5? or the terminal move 15. ... Ne8? The plateauing continues. 

2017 Cleveland Open Round 2 Anton Taylor, 2003 - Kent Lui, 2069 Spanish: Classical (C64)

2017 Cleveland Open Round 2
Anton Taylor, 2003 - Kent Lui, 2069
Spanish: Classical (C64)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4? This is Black's mistake and leads to a losing position. 0-0 is the far better alternative. 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 Be7 8. d5 Nb8 9. Re1 Nd6 10. Bd3 O-O 11. Nc3 b6?? Na6 or Re8 is an inferior but probably not immediately losing position. The text just leads to disaster. 12. Bf4 Bb7 13. Rxe7 I decided to dive in on an attack. Komodo immediately finds a cook to the move but humans are not so clear-cut on variations. 13. ... Qxe7 14. Bxh7+ Kh8?? Kxh7 is a lot of pressure to weather for a human but if black answers the knight check by Kg6 his king manages to squeeze out of the trap. HOWEVER, this requires such precis calculation that I don't think my opponent even bothered to consider Kxh7. 15. Ng5 g6 16. Qg4 This move wins and is the thematic idea but due to the open center Qd4+ is possible and even more precise. 16. ... f6 17. Bxg6 fxg5 18. Be5+?? The losing move. In a position with several clearly winning continuations I manage to find one of the few that loses on the spot. 18. ... Qxe5 19. Qh5+ Kg7 20. Qh7+ Kf6 21. Kf1 Ba6+ 22. Kg1 Bc4 23. Be4 Na6 24. Re1 Rh8 25. Qg6+ Ke7 26. g3 Rag8 27. Re3 Rxg6 0-1 I throw in the towel in disgust. My opponent can only say "you knew how to play that attack." I mean, what can he say? He knows he was losing right out the opening and escaped only because i allowed it by "falling asleep".

2017 Cleveland Open Round 1 Anton Taylor, 2002 - NM Nabil Feliachi, 2200 French: KIA (C00)

2017 Cleveland Open Round 1
Anton Taylor, 2002 - NM Nabil Feliachi, 2200
French: KIA (C00)

1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. Ngf3 c5 5. Be2 Nc6 6. O-O Qc7 7. Re1 Be7 8. Nf1? I made this move thematically as it is useful in some variations but here it just loses a pawn. My opponent responds equally quickly and misses his chance to snag the pawn for a free win. c3 or Bf1 are the book moves here (althought this is a sideline that isn't particularly common at all. 5. Be2 is unusual instead of g3. 8. ... b6 9. Ng3 Bb7 10. Bg5 O-O 11. Qc1 My rationality for this move is that it gives more potential to the knight on g3. By threatening Bf4 either black will concede the diagonal to the bishop or play e5 allowing the g3 knight access to f5. 11. ... Rac8? I was happy to see this move as the c-file is not going to be opened any time soon. It is the equivalent of a passing move and I will use it to try and get a kingside attack going. 12. Bf4 Qd8 Bd6 is probably an even trade and e5 is what I thought would help me along with improving the g3 knight and bringing it into the kingside attack via f5.  Qd8 is fine by white. 13. c3 Probably the best way to kill black's central counterplay in the event of a kingside attack but I played the move thinking about playing something like Bd1-a4 because now the piece I wanted to improve was the sad e2 bishop. 13. ... b5 14. a4 I played this move as an attempt to settle the queenside issues so that I could proceed on the kingside. Komodo is content to play more solid moves like Qc2 or h3 which don't seem to do much but carry a lot less risk along wth their lack of reward. I'm headhunting. 14. ... b4 15. Bd1 This move is consistant with my plan but again Komodo is very sceptical. The whole thing is just roughly equal. 15. ... Ba6 16. Bc2 Qb6 17. e5 This move is interesting but probably wrong. I liked it because I'm eyeing an attack on h7 and looking to remove the squares common defending piece ... the knight on f6. 17. ... Nd7 18. Bg5 There must be an attack in the air with so many pieces headed to the kingside. 18. ... b3 19. Bb1 d4 This move keeps the b1 bishop out of play but I'm not really convinced that it helps black all that much. If white simply plays c4 he can pile up pieces to attack b3 and probably free his tinprisoned piece. 20. Qf4? This allows a lot of unnecessary complications with the wayward black b-pawn that must be  treated like a "criminal" as Aron Nimzowitsch would say. As stated before c4 is the right course. 20. ... Bb7 21. Nh5 Qd8 22. Bh6 g6 23. Bxf8? Bxf8 Some players may believe this is great for white but practice has shown that often enough the bishop could be just as good as the rook. In other words this is just an equal trade and probably should have been avoided by white. Instead, 23. c4 again is the right way to go. gxh5 runs into Qg3+ and mate follows. 24. Ng5 As I sat thinking at this juncture I realized an unhappy truth. There is no way to continue this attack. By making the small exchange sacrifice black has created a position where white has no good way to keep going. Since white has left his structure in queenside disarray committing to the attack what can he do now that there is no attack? Keep committed and hope for the best was all I came up with. Sadly mishandled what I felt was a won game. But it never has been particularly "cut-and-dry" as a win and is simply falling behind for white in a double-edged position. 24. ... Ncxe5 25. Rxe5 Nxe5 26. Nf6+ Kg7 27. Qxe5 Qxf6 28. Qxf6+ Kxf6 29. Nxh7+ Kg7 30. Nxf8 Kxf8? Here black goes astray. He should play dxc3 preventing c4 and then he has a winning and active game. 31. Ra3?? The losing blunder. White has no way to get his pieces really active here but after 31.c4 he would have a kind of fortress that is hard for black to break open to realize his advantage. Even at that objectively white is lost but he could at that moment continue the fight. This blunder leads to a swift end. 31. ... c4 32. dxc4 dxc3 33. Rxb3 Rd8 34. h3 (34.Bc2 Be4!) 34. ... Rd1+ 35. Kh2 Rxb1 36. Rxb7 c2 0-1