(199) FiendAngelical (1634) – MathWorker (1503) [B01]
Team 45 45 League T32 Internet Chess Club (1), 21.01.2007
I recently joined the Team 45 45 League, and I just played my first game in Round 1 of the latest tournament. This league plays slow games (G/45 + 45 second increment) on the ICC. I’m on the team Long Live the King U1600A. My Round 1 game was the last of four to be played, and I needed a draw to secure the match point for the team, which I did.
I wasn’t satisfied with the outcome of the opening. First, I couldn’t remember the right continuation in at move 5 of the Scandinavian, and within several more moves I was falling behind in development.
Then I made a strategic error by castling kingside after White had already castled queenside. This was very dangerous, because White had kingside tempo-gaining moves at his disposal, whereas I was a long way from making anything happen on the queenside. This was also an error from the team’s viewpoint, since a draw was a favorable outcome, and castling opposite sides made a draw quite unlikely.
In a misguided attempt to get queenside play, I then set my knight up to get trapped. My opponent missed this, and within a couple more moves I was feeling comfortable.
At move 27 I had to decide whether to pick up a loose pawn with my bishop. White, however, had possible tactics based on a discovered check. I wasn’t confident enough in my calculations, so I decided to play it conservatively and step aside with my king instead of picking up the pawn.
A final rook exchange left a drawn opposite-color-bishops endgame.
Homework for this game: Review the continuation after 5.Bb5+.
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Bg4 4.f3 Bf5 5.Bb5+
I couldn’t remember my planned continuation here.
5…Bd7
Black’s queen knight needs to develop via d7, so the bishop on d7 is just going to have to move again.
6.Bc4 Bf5 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.Nge2 Nb6 9.Bb3 Nbxd5 10.Nxd5 Nxd5 11.c4 Nb6
Now I’m a couple of tempos behind in development, with White to move.
12.Be3 e6 13.Qd2 Be7 14.0-0-0
14…0-0
Castling into a storm … not a good idea.
15.g4 Bg6 16.Nf4 a5 17.a3 Qd7 18.Nxg6 fxg6 19.f4 Na4??
I thought that after 20.c5 I could play 20…b6, but then White follows up with 21.Qc2 and the knight is lost.
20.d5 Nc5 21.Bxc5 Bxc5
Now I was starting to breathe easier.
22.Rhe1 exd5 23.Qxd5+ Qxd5 24.Rxd5 Bd6 25.f5 gxf5 26.gxf5 Bf4+ 27.Kb1
Should I pick up the loose pawn on h2? I was concerned about a discovered check on the a2-g8 diagonal, and I was feeling a bit tight on time, so I played it safe and stepped out of the way.
27…Kh8 28.h3 Rfd8 29.Red1 Rxd5 30.Rxd5 b6 31.c5 Rf8 32.cxb6 cxb6 33.Rd4 Be3 34.Re4 Bc5 35.Be6 g6 36.Rf4 gxf5 37.Rxf5
I was pretty sure that exchanging the last pair of rooks would give me a draw and get the match point for my team.
37…Rxf5 38.Bxf5 Kg7 39.Kc2 h5 40.Kc3 Kf6 41.Bd7 Ke5 42.Kc4 h4 43.b4 axb4 44.axb4 Bf2 45.b5 Kd6
Game drawn by mutual agreement 1/2-1/2
4 Comments
Hi Steve,
Way to go, getting the match point for the team!
You’re always going to find flaws in any game, but it was a solid performance against a higher rated player.
Study Question: Would 44….Bxb4 produced a draw?
Good chess to you,
Fred
Thanks for the encouragement, Fred. Looking at it quickly, I believe 44…Bxb4 45.Kxb4 is a draw.
Black can’t win because he can’t defend the b6 pawn, and he can never capture White’s a3 pawn in order to queen his own a-pawn. Black can avoid losing by getting his king into the corner at h8. White’s bishop is the wrong color to force him out. I did briefly consider playing 44…Bxb4 during the game, but it seemed more straightforward just to move the bishop out of the way.
I believe it would be a draw. One of the 2000 rated kibitzers of the game pointed it out.
I would’ve played your move at the time just because it was, as you said, straightforward.
Are you getting your board images from 4545’s site? They look nice and clean.
Fred
My game had 2000-rated kibitzers? Now you’re freaking me out.
My board images come from my own ChessImager script. The script provides a way to include chessboard images in web pages, including blogs, without having to upload image files anywhere. You can control board colors, size, piece styles, etc. I have made this script available from my web site to anyone who wishes to use it. There are now several chess bloggers who are generating their board diagrams with it.