In the 3rd round of Open Gent I suffered a strange and unexpected defeat against a 200 points lower rated player, Gilles Regniers. Now I immediately have to add that Gilles is likely underrated as he won very recently the Open Flemish championship despite the fact that several higher rated players were participating, see final positions. So strange and unexpected has to be linked with the course of the game rather than the ratingdifference.
Already in the opening I made a remarkable mistake. During the game I wasn't able to remember the openingstheory. I have that more often when it concerns a variation which I did study but didn't pop up earlier in my practice. During the prizegivings Thibaut Maenhout told me that I am not the only one suffering with this kind of problem. The key to solve this problem is of course a lot of rehearsals till it is branded in the memory but my motivation and priorities ignore this solution. Now forgetting the theory doesn't mean an insurmountable problem if you play the white pieces as long you choose to play pragmatically a solid continuation (14.g3) instead of the most critical one. However I am not a pragmatic player as shown in my blogarticle the scientific approach . So I chose for the risky idea with the exchangesacrifice which I noticed in a similar position, see game below.
Also in my game against Gilles you will notice that I first play a4 to continue afterwards with Ncb4 and cxb4. I was aware of the differences with the Anand-Van Wely game but didn't see a direct refutation of the idea when I executed it. Only a few moves later I already regretted my decision when I discovered that the apparently innocent differences do have a crucial impact on the evaluation of the position.
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1.e4c52.Nf3Nc63.d4cxd44.Nxd4Nf65.Nc3e56.Ndb5d67.Bg5a68.Na3b59.Nd5Be710.Bxf6Bxf611.c30-012.Nc2Rb8(Bg5, I already once met on the board in my game of 2005 against Arben Dharda. I obviously also studied once Rb8 but during the game it was impossible to remember what exactly is the critical continuation.)13.h4Be714.a4N(I knew g3 was playable but at the same time I also remembered that present theory tells us that white can not hope for an advantage with that move. I also knew that a4 at some moment had to be played but when exactly I could not remember. Eventually I chose to play it already now which is a novelty in this position which weirdly is not that bad. Afterwards I found back in my notes that Nce3 is here critical and in some recent correspondencegames white created chances for some advantage.)bxa415.Ncb4?(I play the same idea as in the topgame Anand - Van Wely played in Wijk aan Zee 2006 but this is here nonsense as black already castled. Playable are Nce3 or even the cool Ra2.)15.Nce3!?Rxb216.Qxa4Nb817.g3Be6∞15...Nxb416.cxb4f5 (Here I already realized that something was incorrect in my opening as in the variation which I remembered, black plays Bd7 to prevent white taking easily on a4. )17.Rxa4fxe418.Bxa6(Neither g3 solves the problems so I prefer to play on with full stomach. )18.g3Kh8!19.Bg2e3!20.Nxe3Bd7!21.Rxa6Bb522.Ra3d523.Nxd5Bc418...e3?(Black wants to remove the pawns on the queen-side but here the cool Bxh4 was a lot stronger. )19.Nxe3Bxa620.Rxa6(Of course I wanted to play Qb3 in the game but I indicated afterwards correctly that it is not good. )20.Qb3+?!d521.Qxd5+Qxd522.Nxd5Bb523.Nxe7+Kf724.Ra7Ra8(The computer shows a funny alternative here, Ke6 as the knight can not escape and will be eaten by Rf7. White however keeps some survivingchances. It reminds me on my blogarticle: de paardenlokker.)25.Nc8+Rxa726.Nxa7Ra8(This trick I saw in my calculations. My opponent told me afterwards that he missed it but I am pretty sure that he would have seen it if the line popped up in the game. )27.Nxb5Ra1+20...Rxb421.g3Rxb222.Qd5+Kh823.0-0Qd724.Ra8Rb525.Rxf8+Bxf826.Qa8Kg827.Rc1Qb728.Qe8Rb129.Qe6+Kh830.Rxb1Qxb1+31.Kh2Qg6
Black has lost the big advantage and in the final position I can now make an easy draw with exchanging the queens. Engines have still problems today to notice that white has a fortress in this type of positions. However I wasn't satisfied with the draw and I assumed playing risk-less for a win, was still possible. Afterwards my opponent was surprised to hear that from me but I had some good arguments. First I possessed the advantage of Capablanca. He claimed in 1932 that the tandem queen+knight was stronger than queen+bishop, see the historical article from Edward Winter. Hereby I immediately have to add that the correctness of this claim is being disputed today, see e.g. this article. More important is that white controls the key-square d5 to place a dominant knight which can't be exchanged. The strength of such trump can be seen well in the correspondence game below which I won.
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1.e4Nc62.Nf3e53.Bb5a64.Ba4Nf65.0-0Be76.Re1b57.Bb3d68.c30-09.h3Be610.d4Bxb311.axb3Re812.d5Nb813.c4c614.dxc6Nxc615.Nc3Qb616.Bg5Nb417.cxb5axb518.Qe2Rxa119.Rxa1Rb820.Bxf6Bxf621.Qxb5Qxb522.Nxb5Be723.Nc3Nd324.Nd2Nxb225.b4g626.Nd5Bf827.Ra3Bh628.Rb3Bxd229.Rxb2(White has a dreamposition which he has no problems to convert in a full point.)Bg530.Kf1f531.f3Bd832.Ke2Kf733.Ra2Rb734.Kd3Ke635.Ra8Kd736.Kc4fxe437.fxe4h538.b5g539.g4hxg440.hxg4Bc741.Rg8Bd842.Rg7+Kc843.Rxb7Kxb744.Ne3Bb645.Nf51–0
Finally I knew from a previously on this blog discussed Svechnikovvariant that white in similar pawnstructures can keep on playing for a win with (temporarily) a pawn down. A recent example from correspondence in which white had success, can be replayed below.
Adding up everything, made me very optimistic about my chances which explains why I avoided several easy drawingvariations later during the course of the game. Initially it looked all very nice till I pushed too far and lost my way in the complications. Even then a draw was still possible but switching to defense with little time remaining didn't work anymore.
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32.Qc4!?(Qxg6 is an easy draw but I wanted more what a risky strategy is with little time on the clock and a pawn less.)32.Qxg6!?hxg633.Kg2Kg834.Kf3Kf735.Ke4Ke636.g4Be737.f3Bxh438.Nd5(I showed this position to my opponent after the game. Engines still give a clear advantage to black because of 2 pawns extra but it is clear that white has a fortress on the white squares. )32...Qf633.Kg2g634.Qc6Kg735.Nd5Qf536.Qc4e4(Black neither is playing for a draw. Despite the textmove is giving a pawn away, nothing changes to the evaluation of the position.)37.Qd4+!?(I noticed that Nc3 wins a pawn but also queens are exchanged after it so removing any winning chances. Again I chose for the risky continuation.)37.Nc3!?Qf3+38.Kg1e339.Qd4+Kf740.Qxe3Qxe341.fxe3=37...Kf738.Nf4Be739.Qc4+Kg740.Ne6+Kh641.Qc1+g542.Nd4?!(Now I am pushing too far. Here I had to exchange with hxg5 to an easy defendable queen-endgame. )Qd543.Qe3Bf644.Ne2Qf5?!(The engines recommend Qd3 to keep some advantage but for practical play I prefer Qf5.)44...Qd3!45.hxg5+Bxg546.Qxd3exd347.Nc3(White should have little problems to draw. The fact that black has the wrong bishop for the h-pawn, significantly increases the drawing chances. )45.hxg5+Bxg546.Nf4?(The precise Qb3 is recommendeded by the engines and leads to full equality but such moves are very hard to find in timetrouble. )Qg4?!(Not a bad choice from practical point of view but technically Bxf4 is more critical. )46...Bxf4!47.gxf4Qg4+48.Kh2d549.Qc1Qh5+50.Kg1d451.Qc8Qd552.Qf8+Kh553.Qg7d354.Qxh7+Kg455.Qg7+Kxf4 (A nice position for Finalgen which tells me that black should win in maximum 85 moves !! The program Finalgen does not permit today to tell us if this is in order with the 50 moves rule. In any case if I follow the first choice of Finalgen each time then I can find a path in which white can claim a draw with the 50 moves rule. However it is an insurmountable task to check all the alternatives manually. Because of the limited practical value of this endgame, I am satisfied with the verdict that black has good winning chances. )47.Qxe4Bxf448.Qd4?(White misses a fantastic draw in this strange position. )48.Qe7!Be549.f4Bb2(After Bxf4 follows Qf6 and black can not retract himself in a proper way from the checks.)50.Qxd6+Qg651.Qxg6+hxg6=(White can still barely draw with g4. )51...Kxg6=48...Kh5?(During the game I noticed Qg5 as black can save the bishop without giving up a pawn. )49.Qh8?(White misses a final opportunity to stay in the game. The remaining part of the game, I had to play in 1 minute while my opponent still had a half hour so obviously a desperate task.) 49.Qe4!?Kh650.Qe7!(I discussed the correct method to draw in the analysis of the previous white move. )49.Qd5+!?Qg549...Kh650.Qe4! (Of course no repetition as otherwise black can correct his mistake. )Qg551.Qe6+Kg752.Qd7+Kh853.Qf7(The rest we can see in the mainvariation from move 63 onwards. )50.Qf7+Kh651.Qf8+Kg652.Qg8+Kf653.Qf8+Ke554.Qe8+!Kd455.Qa4+Kc556.Qa7+Kc657.Qa6+Kd758.Qb7+Ke859.Qc8+Kf760.Qd7+Kf861.Qc8+Kg762.Qd7+Kh863.Qf7Be564.f4Qg865.Qe7(Black can not save the bishop and prevent perpetual check and keep all the pawns on the board which means white can make a draw. )49...Qg650.Qd8Bg551.Qd7Qe4+52.f3Qe753.Qg4+Kg654.f4h555.Qf3Bf656.Qd3+Kg757.Qf5Qf758.Kh3Kf859.Qc8+Qe860.Qf5Ke761.Qh7+Qf762.Qd3Qg863.Qe4+(With a few seconds remaining on the clock, I did not wait for Qe6 and resigned. )0–1
This game clearly shows that trusting different patterns, themes,... is no guarantee for success. In an earlier blogarticle about chessintuition somebody made the remark that intuition is just applying learned knowledge. Often it isn't that simple. Except in particular openings, no position is exactly the same as another one. So each position has its own characteristics which means you can't blindly apply some knowledge. Applying the right knowledge at the right moment is also intuition. This you can't just learn from a book. Obviously experience helps to better evaluate. A similar sound can be heard by the present worldchampion in this youtubemovie.
Brabo
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