Last night at the Southwest Chess Club I played the following game as White against Spencer Pinkston.
On the one hand, the expected result happened. On the other hand, I’m very pleased to have found 17.h3. It was the best way to exploit an error in judgment. It wasn’t particularly difficult to find, but it did require some precision.
[Event "Daffy Duck Delightful Swiss"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.02.08"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Wainscott, Chris"]
[Black "Pinkston, Spencer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E65"]
[WhiteElo "1761"]
[BlackElo "1565"]
[Annotator "Wainscott,Chris"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. e3 (7. d4 d6
8. dxc5 dxc5 9. Be3 Be6 10. Qa4 $11) 7... d6 8. d4 cxd4 9. exd4 (9. Nxd4 Ng4
10. b3 Nxd4 11. exd4 Nh6 12. Bb2 Nf5 13. Ne2 Rb8 14. a4 $14) 9... Bf5 10. d5 (
10. Be3 d5 11. c5 Ne4 $11) 10... Nb4 11. Nd4 ({I didn’t want his knight coming
to d3 swapping off my dark square bishop. Even though he’ll have wasted a lot
of tempi doing this, the bishop pair combined with my potential weaknesses on
the long diagonal had me thinking.} 11. a3 {This would have tactically
protected the bishop pair though, since after} Nd3 12. Nd4 Nxc1 13. Nxf5 gxf5
14. Rxc1 $14 {I’m clearly better.}) 11... Bg4 12. Qb3 (12. f3 {I thought that
this was a bit too weakening, and that I would be hampering my own bishop, but
perhaps there is another useful diagonal, such as} e5 13. dxe6 Bxe6 14. Nxe6
fxe6 15. Bh3 $16) 12... Nd3 13. Be3 Nc5 14. Qc2 Qc8 15. Rfe1 Re8 16. Rac1 Nfd7
$2 {This is the beginning of some serious problems for Black as I am now able
to play h3 with reasonable effect.} (16... Bh3 17. Bh1 Nfd7 {During our chat
after the game I had thought this was the way to re-route the knight if Black
really wanted to do so. However, we didn’t really analyze it. So after looking
at it now I see there are still problems after something like} 18. b4 Na6 19.
a3 Qxc4 20. Qd2 Qc8 21. Ne4 Qd8 22. Ng5 Bf5 23. Nxf5 gxf5 $18) (16... Bd7 17.
b4 Na6 18. Qb3 Ng4 19. Ne4 Nxe3 20. fxe3 $14 (20. Rxe3 $4 Bxd4 $19)) 17. h3
Bxd4 ({No better is} 17... Ne5 18. hxg4 Ncd3 19. Red1 Nxc1 20. Bxc1 Nxc4 $18)
18. Bxd4 Bf5 19. Qd2 (19. Qe2 {I considered this move as well, but rejected it
as it doesn’t protect the d4 knight and there seemed no good reason to prefer
it over the game continuation.} Nd3 20. g4 Qxc4 21. gxf5 Qxd4 $16) 19... Nd3
20. g4 Nxc1 ({Again, other options don’t look so good.} 20... Qxc4 21. gxf5
Qxd4 22. Nb5 Qxb2 23. Qxd3 $18) 21. gxf5 Nxa2 {This move I wasn’t even really
considering, which serves as proof to me that I still need to work on not
losing focus.} 22. fxg6 hxg6 (22... Nxc3 $4 {I knew this couldn’t be played
because there were some crushing attacks. I didn’t realize there was a forced
mate in 11 here though (thank you Stockfish.)} 23. gxh7+ Kxh7 24. Qd3+ Kh6 25.
Qe3+ Kh7 26. Be4+ Nxe4 27. Qxe4+ f5 28. Qxf5+ Kh6 29. Re6+ Nf6 30. Bxf6 exf6
31. Rxf6+ Kg7 32. Rg6+ Kh7 33. Qh5#) 23. Nxa2 Qxc4 24. Nc3 ({I missed the
crushing} 24. Re4 {here. For example} e5 25. dxe6 fxe6 26. Qh6 e5 27. Bxe5)
24... Nf6 $4 (24... Nc5 $16 {After this it’s still a game.}) 25. Rxe7 Kg7 26.
Rxe8 (26. Qf4 {I was checking to see if I could just play this here when I saw
that} Qxd4 27. Qxd4 Rxe7 28. Ne4 Rxe4 29. Bxe4 {and while White is clearly
winning, the mate threats are gone.}) 26... Rxe8 27. Qf4 Re1+ 28. Kh2 Qa6 29.
Qxf6+ Kh6 (29... Kh7 30. Qh8#) (29... Kg8 30. Qg7#) (29... Kf8 {The best try,
but still a simple mate to see after} 30. Qh8+ Ke7 31. Bf6+ Kd7 32. Qd8#) 30.
Qh4# 1-0
You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Til Next Time,
Chris Wainscott
