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Friday, October 16, 2020

Playing On Chess Hotel

     To rephrase Forrest Gump's mother, "Playing at Chess Hotel is like a box of chocolates. You never know who you are going to get." It could be a rank beginner or it could be a pretty decent player, but it's always a good place to drop by if you're looking for a quick game. 
     Yesterday was cold and damp and it drizzled rain most of the day and I didn't have the gumption to post anything, but in a moment of boredom I signed in as a guest at Chess Hotel and played a few 10 minute games, most of which were pretty interesting. 
     One of the more interesting games was against a player from Romania who suddenly started messaging me in Romanian (which I didn't understand) at almost every move after he lost a piece. I opened another window and copied and pasted his messages in Google Translate. It turns out that they were all long strings of profanity and vulgarities. Who knew people talked like that in Romania?! My guest is that my opponent was either a kid or a very immature person. 
     Needless to say, considering the fast time limit (Game 10) and the strength of the two players involved, most of the games yesterday were a comedy of errors, but they were fun to play. Here's an example.

OMO - Tartajubow

Result: 1-0

Site: Chess Hotel G/10

Date: 2020.10.15

Pirc Defense

[...] 1.e4 g6 What is this defense? The Pirc or Modern? Auto-annotating it with Fritz calls it the Pirc, but the opening books say that if black delays development of his N of f6 it's the Modern. 2.d4 ♗g7 3.♘c3 c6 4.♗e3 d6 5.♗c4 b5 I've played this Q-side expansion before and have never had much luck with it. Apparently others have though because my opening book in Fritz give it a high success rate for black...50 percent with with the remaining 50 percent pretty evenly split between draws and losses. 6.♗b3 ♘f6 7.f3 I am anticipating that he is going to P-storm my K-side. (7.e5 dxe5 8.dxe5 ♘g4 9.♕xd8 ♔xd8 10.O-O-O looks boring.) 7...O-O 8.♘ge2 Usual is 8.Qd2 which can be met by either 6...Nbd7 or 8...a5. 8...a5 9.a3 ♗a6 10.♕d2 ♖e8 Played in order to meet Bh6 with ...Bh8, but this isn't necessay. 10...Nbd7 was better. 11.g4 Besides this white also has 11.h4 and 11.h5. All decent moves.
11.♗h6 As it turn out this wasn't really a threat because after 11...b4 12.♘a4 ♗xh6 13.♕xh6 ♗xe2 14.♔xe2 ♘bd7 black is in no danger.
11...♘bd7 12.g5 Black should no play 12...Nh5 with equality, but it's not a move I even considered. As it is. my next move introduces complications favorable to white. 12...b4 After this white is slightly better.
12...♘h5 13.♘g3 b4 14.axb4 axb4 15.♘ce2 ♘xg3 16.hxg3 c5 is the Komodo/Stockfish way which is quite even.
13.axb4 This is slightly better than taking on f6. (13.gxf6 bxc3 14.♘xc3 ♗xf6 15.h4 h5 16.O-O-O with about equal chances.) 13...axb4 14.♘a4 While this is hardly bad, 14.Na2 presents black with more problems.
14.♘a2 Now both the b-Pawn and the N are attacked. 14...♘h5 15.♘xb4 ♗xe2 16.♔xe2 Best 16...c5 17.♖xa8 ♕xa8 18.dxc5 ♘xc5 19.♕d5 ♘xb3 20.♕xa8 ♖xa8 21.cxb3 ♗xb2 and white has some chances of success in the ending.
14...♘xe4 A gamble and not a very good one, but white had used about a minute and a half more than I had and I wanted to complicate. Obviously 14...Nh5 is the correct move. 15.fxe4 e5 16.d5
16.dxe5 ♘xe5 and black's pieces are all well placed. It's difficult to suggest a good plan for white. After 17.O-O It gets pretty hard to stop and make an evaluation, so I kept going just to see what the engine would play. 17...♗b5 18.♗d4 c5 19.♗xe5 ♖xe5 20.♗xf7 ♔h8 21.♘b6 ♖b8 22.♘d5 ♕xg5 23.♕xg5 ♖xg5 24.♔f2 ♖h5 25.♘ef4 ♖h4 26.♖h1 ♗xb2 27.♖a7 ♗e5 28.♘e6 ♗c4 In this difficult and unbalanced position the chances are about equal.
16...c5 17.c4 At the time I thought this was a mistake because it blocks his B, but as it turns out it is Komodo's recommended move.
17.c3 What I expected. This is met by 17...c4 18.♗d1 b3 19.♘g3 ♗b5 20.♕e2 ♗xa4 21.♕xc4 ♗b5 22.♖xa8 ♗xc4 23.♖xd8 ♖xd8 and white is a little better. Of course I saw nothing past 17...c4.
17...f5 I use some precious time on this, but decided I had to open up the K-side and center. (17...bxc3 18.♘axc3 ♖f8 19.O-O f5 This had to be played anyway.) 18.h4 Now I used some more time making us nearly equal in time remaining. Should I take on e4 or play 18...f4?
18.gxf6 Is a little better. 18...♘xf6 19.♘g3 ♗c8 Repositiong the B 20.O-O ♗h3 And black has few prospects on the K-side.
18...f4 Hoping to use the light squares to inflitrate.
18...fxe4 19.♘g3 ♖f8 20.♘xe4 and white faces no danger and should go on to win.
19.♗f2 ♖f8 Materially I only have a P for the N, but apparently white is facing a difficult decision about how to continue. Komodo evaluates white as being better by 1.5 Ps and suggests several options that involve what amounts to shuffling pieces. Likewise Stockfish puts white's advantage at two Ps and it, too, eants to shuffle pieces around. Practically, the problem is the N on a4 is pretty useless. 20.O-O Logical, but very dangerous in view of what happens. 20...♗c8 Played in order to bring the B into action. Stockfish devalues white's position to o.00. 21.♗c2 Komodo now suggests ...h6 and ...Rf7, but I wanted to use f4 for my R. So... 21...f3 This gets question marks and a stinko for black evaluation by the engines which prefer 21...h6.
21...h6 22.gxh6 ♗xh6 23.♔h1 ♘f6 24.♘g1 ♖f7 25.♘xc5 ♖xa1 26.♖xa1 dxc5 27.♗xc5 ♘h5 28.♘f3 ♗g4 29.♘xe5 ♕xh4 30.♕h2 ♘g3 draws.
22.♘g3 ♖f4 23.♘h1 Here I decided that I needed to further open up the K-side, but there was another interesting move which I never considered. 23...h6
23...b3 24.♗xb3 ♖xe4 25.♘c3 ♖g4 26.♘g3 ♖b8 27.♗d1 e4 with complications.
24.♗g3 Clearly if the R retreats white gains the advantage, so there's only one thing to do and that's to offer it up and hope the mess of Ps on the K-side can create threats. 24...hxg5 25.♗xf4 This gives away his advantage. (25.hxg5 ♕xg5 26.♖xf3 is equal and also very complicated.) 25...exf4 Now the engines report that it's me that has the winning position by about 2.5 Ps. We'll see. 26.♖xf3
26.e5 wasn't any better. 26...♗xe5 27.♖xf3 ♗xb2 28.♖a2 ♗d4 29.♘f2 ♘e5 30.♖b3
26...♗d4 27.♔f1 Here I have two moves that win. 27...♗e3 This nasty looking move should have allowed white right back in the game. (27...♗xb2 28.♖b1 ♘e5 and white can't meet all of black's threats)
27...♘e5 Best. The best line is now 28.♕g2 ♗g4 29.♖d3 f3 30.♕d2 ♘xd3 31.♕xd3 ♗h3 32.♔e1 ♕f6 and wins.
28.♕g2 (28.♖xe3 fxe3 29.♕xe3 gxh4 and it's doubtful black can win.) 28...♘e5 29.♖xe3 Unfortunately for white this is a move too late! 29...fxe3 30.♕xg5 Hoping the exchange of Qs will offer some chances of saving the game. 30...♕xg5 (30...♗h3 31.♔e2 ♗g4 32.♔xe3 ♕f8 finishes him off.) 31.hxg5 ♗g4 32.♘g3 ♖f8 33.♔e1 ♖f2 34.♗d1 and white resigned before I noticed 34...Nd3 mate.
34.♘c3 was best, but it also leads to mate. 34...bxc3 35.♖a8 ♔f7 36.bxc3 ♖xc2 37.♖a7 ♔e8 38.♖a8 ♔d7 39.♖a7 ♔c8 40.♖a8 ♔b7 41.♖b8 ♔xb8 42.♘e2 ♖xe2 43.♔f1 ♖f2 44.♔g1 ♘f3 45.♔h1 ♖h2#
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