Analysis – Page 6 – On The Road to Chess Master

Round One of the Southwest Chess Club Championship

This past Thursday the first round of the Southwest Chess Club Joe Crothers’ Memorial Championship took place.

I am relatively pleased with my first round game. Other than one opening inaccuracy (11…c5 instead of 11…Bb7) and one ridiculous waste of time (17…Rc8, only to have to move right back to a8 on my next move) I think my play was fairly good.

[Event "SWCC Joe Crothers Memorial Championship"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.06.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Neumann, Curt"] [Black "Wainscott, Chris"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C95"] [WhiteElo "1516"] [BlackElo "1790"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. h3 ( 8. c3 {This is the normal move order.}) 8... O-O ({With the pawn still on c3 Black could play} 8... Na5 9. c3 Nxb3 10. axb3 {where Black now has the bishop pair, but White has a semi open a file.}) 9. c3 {Transposing back in to the normal lines.} Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 c5 ({Now I mix up my own move order. I should have played} 11... Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 15. a4 c5 16. d5 c4 17. Bg5 {This position has been reached hundreds of time and is ripe with ideas.}) 12. d5 Re8 ({Of course the other idea here is} 12... c4 13. Bc2 Nc5) 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Bg5 g6 15. a4 Bb7 16. a5 {This seems premature. There seems to be no good reason to release the tension in this position.} (16. Bc2 Bg7 17. b3) 16... Bg7 17. Ng3 Rc8 $2 {This move is a complete waste of time.} ( 17... Qc7 {This is much better since the queen wants to be on this square anyways, the rooks would now be connected, and I don’t waste the two tempi with the rook.}) 18. c4 Ra8 {I am glad that I had the wherewithal to realize that the rook needs to be on the a file to elimiate any issues with White getting a runner on the a file.} 19. Qe2 bxc4 (19... Qc7 20. cxb5 axb5 21. Qxb5 Ba6 22. Qc6 {This position looked awfully strong for White. I’m not certain that White can hold the extra pawn, but the position looks desirable.}) ({I then considered} 19... Nb8 {to keep the queen out of the c6 square, but this allows the queen to take up residence on the a4-e8 diagonal which still gives Black some problems.} 20. cxb5 axb5 21. Qxb5 Ba6 22. Qa4) 20. Bxc4 Qc7 21. Nd2 Reb8 22. h4 Bc8 23. b3 {While a natural looking more, this needlessly opens up the long diagonal which comes in to play later.} (23. Ra2 {This would keep the long diagonal closed while also getting the rook off of it and protecting the b pawn.}) 23... h6 24. Be3 Nf8 25. h5 Bg4 26. f3 Bxh5 27. Nxh5 $2 {Exchanging off one of the king’s guard. White now has the bishop pair, but in a closed position where that’s fairly meaningless.} (27. Bxa6 Ra7 28. Bd3 Rxa5 29. Nc4 Raa8 30. Ra4) 27... Nxh5 28. Ra3 Qe7 29. Qf2 Nf4 30. Bxf4 $4 {The final mistake which leads quickly to doom.} (30. Bf1 Bf6 31. g3 Nh5 32. Re2 {Black is clearly better with the extra pawn, but this will be a grind.}) (30. Rb1 { Switching the duty of guarding the b pawn to a rook that wasn’t doing much of anything allows the minors to come back in to the game.} Bf6 31. Qe1 Bg5 32. Bf1 Nd7 33. Nc4) 30... exf4 31. Kf1 Bd4 32. Qe2 Qh4 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

So 1-0 to start with five rounds to go.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

Never As Good As It Seems (Wainscott – Hegelmeyer, W 1-0)

Yesterday I played a game which I thought was a fairly good game by myself, only to realize that I missed the simple win of a pawn on move 10.

I did realize that William could have simply gone down the exchange instead of a rook after 25…Ke7 instead of 25…Kf8, but even here I missed the intermezzo 27…Bxe4 which leaves White with a smaller advantage than I had thought I’d have.

[Event "Arpad Elo Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.05.21"] [Round "4"] [White "Wainscott, Chris"] [Black "Hegelmeyer, William"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E92"] [WhiteElo "1801"] [BlackElo "1686"] [PlyCount "55"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Bg5 Nc6 9. Qxd8 Nxd8 10. Rd1 (10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Nd5 Bg7 12. Nxc7) 10... Be6 11. h3 c5 12. Be3 b6 13. Bd3 Nc6 14. O-O Rfe8 15. Rfe1 Nb4 16. b3 Nxd3 17. Rxd3 Bd7 18. Bg5 Bc8 19. Nb5 Bb7 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Nc7 Red8 22. Nd5 Bg7 23. Red1 Kf8 24. Nh2 Ke8 25. Nc7+ Kf8 (25... Ke7 26. Nxa8 Rxd3 27. Rxd3 Bxe4 28. Rd1 Bxa8) 26. Rxd8+ Rxd8 27. Rxd8+ Ke7 28. Rd1 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

So while I’ll take the win, the bottom line is that there is still a lot of work to do.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

The Importance of Tempi

In this game which I played earlier this evening my opponent shows the importance of time in the game of chess.

One of the first intermediate concepts that I learned was that of time. I watched Yasser Seirawan’s video series and when he spoke about the four elements (time, space, force, and pawn structure) I fought hard to grasp the concept of time.

This game illustrates the importance of time. First, in the way that Jim plays 3…Be7 then 4…Bb4. And again later when undergoing the series of queen moves (e8-f7-e8-d7-f7-g6) which start with 17…Qe8

[Event "Waukesha Spring Swiss"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.05.17"] [Round "3"] [White "Wainscott, Chris"] [Black "Nickell, Jim"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E20"] [WhiteElo "1801"] [BlackElo "1512"] [PlyCount "57"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Be7 4. d4 Bb4 $2 {No good reason to move the bishop twice like this. Better is to head into regular QGD lines such as} (4... d5 5. Bf4) 5. Qc2 c5 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 d5 8. O-O ({I considered} 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. cxd5 exd5 {but could not see a way to make use of the possible discovered attack on the dark squared bishop.}) 8... Nc6 9. Rd1 cxd4 10. exd4 Ne7 11. c5 Ng6 12. a3 Bxc3 13. Qxc3 Ne4 14. Qc2 f5 15. b4 Bd7 16. Bb2 Rc8 17. a4 Qe8 (17... b6 18. Ba6 Rc7 19. Ba3) 18. Qb3 (18. Bb5 Bxb5 19. axb5 Qxb5 20. Rxa7 {And now the nice } Ra8 {gives Black a good position.}) 18... Qf7 19. Rac1 Nf4 20. Ne5 Qe8 21. Nxd7 Qxd7 22. Bf1 Qf7 23. Rc2 Qg6 24. Bc1 Nh3+ 25. Qxh3 f4 26. Bd3 Rf5 27. g3 Rh5 28. Qg2 Rf8 29. Bxf4 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

Tactimania Indeed

For those who have been following the publishers challenge, you will know that the book I have been reading to hone my tactics in Tactimania by Glenn Flear.

How has it been working? Like this:

[Event "Waukesha Spring Swiss"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.05.03"] [Round "1"] [White "Wainscott, Chris"] [Black "Teat, Michael"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A27"] [WhiteElo "1782"] [BlackElo "1441"] [PlyCount "69"] 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Bc5 4. a3 a6 5. g3 (5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 {Now of course not} Bxd4 {which gives away the bishop pair, but} (6... Bd6 7. dxe5 Bxe5 )) 5... Nge7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Re8 8. d3 d6 9. b4 Ba7 10. Bb2 Rb8 11. Rc1 { Here I felt pretty good about my position since I’ve almost completed development, and a couple of plans are naturally suggesting themselves.} Bg4 12. h3 Be6 13. e3 Qc8 14. Kh2 b5 $6 {This struck me as inaccurate since the half open c file is a huge positional plus for me.} 15. cxb5 axb5 16. Ng5 Bd7 17. Qh5 Ng6 $4 (17... h6 18. Qxf7+ Kh8 {Granted, this is still bad, but here Black seems to have at least some compensation for his horrible position in the form of the semi open f file.}) 18. Qxh7+ Kf8 19. Nd5 Qd8 20. f4 Bxe3 21. Nxe3 Nd4 22. Bxd4 exd4 23. Ng4 Bf5 24. Nh6 $3 Qf6 25. Qg8+ $2 {Still crushing, but missing the forced mate with} (25. Rxc7 Bd7 26. Rxd7 gxh6 (26... Ne7 27. Qh8+ Ng8 28. Qxg8#) 27. Rxf7+ Qxf7 28. Qxf7#) 25... Ke7 26. Rfe1+ Be6 27. Qxf7+ Qxf7 28. Nhxf7 Kf8 29. Nxe6+ Rxe6 30. Rxe6 Kxf7 31. Bd5 Nf8 32. Rxc7+ Kg8 33. Rh6+ Ne6 34. Bxe6+ Kf8 35. Rh8# 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

This is a game I played earlier tonight at the Waukesha Chess Club. I am really proud of having found 24.Nh6

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

Still Lots of Work to Do: Luevano-Wainscott 0-1

Last night I played a game at the Southwest Chess Club which I won, but not without a struggle. In fact, I didn’t win this game at all. My opponent lost it.

This shows me that although I am doing quite well with Yusupov that I can’t stop now since I really need to improve the level of my strategic play drastically from where it is now.

Here is the game:

[Event "Wavy Waves Lake Michigan Swiss"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.04.27"] [Round "3"] [White "Luevano, Miriam"] [Black "Wainscott, Chris"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E61"] [WhiteElo "1388"] [BlackElo "1785"] [PlyCount "82"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. c4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. h3 Nbd7 7. Be2 c5 8. Nc3 Qb6 9. Rb1 Re8 10. O-O Nf8 11. d5 Bd7 12. Qd2 h6 13. e4 g5 14. Be3 Qc7 (14... Ng6 15. b4 {I felt like this variation was too unclear for me to confidently go into it.}) 15. Nh2 Qc8 ({Now is the time to play} 15... Ng6 {since after} 16. f4 Nxf4 17. Bxf4 gxf4 18. Qxf4 {Black now has a much easier time defending since White has no dark square bishop.}) 16. f4 gxf4 17. Rxf4 Ng6 18. Rf2 Kh7 19. Ng4 Nxg4 20. hxg4 f6 {I knew when I played this that I would have to suffer for a long time, but I didn’t see any alternative that I liked. I took some consolation in the fact that there was still some potential for the bishop down the line, but understood that strategically I was in serious trouble.} (20... Bxg4 {I didn’t go for this line since I didn’t want a rook on the seventh even though I knew it was probably OK. However, the computer gives this line:} 21. Rxf7 Ne5 22. Rxg7+ Kxg7 23. Bxh6+ Kh7 24. Bg7 Kxg7 25. Qg5+ {White can now force the repetition.}) 21. Bd3 Ne5 22. Bc2 Bxg4 23. b3 Bh5 24. Ne2 Rg8 25. Nf4 Bf7 26. Nd3 Ng4 27. Rf3 Nxe3 28. Qxe3 Kh8 29. Rh3 Qf8 30. Nf4 f5 31. Rd1 Bf6 $4 (31... Be5 32. Ne6 {Unlike in the variation below this move isn’t so effective here since Black can block off the trouble with} f4) 32. exf5 $2 (32. Ne6 $3 {Now everthing falls apart.} Bxe6 33. Rxh6+ Kg7 34. dxe6 Qe8 35. e5 dxe5 36. Bxf5) 32... Bg5 33. Re1 Qg7 34. Rg3 Rae8 ({It looks like Black can win a piece with} 34... Bxf4 {since after} 35. Qxf4 {the rook hangs to} Qxg3 {Unfortunately for Black White then mates with} 36. Qxh6#) 35. Qe4 Qd4+ 36. Qxd4+ cxd4 37. Ne6 Be3+ 38. Rgxe3 dxe3 39. Rxe3 Bxe6 40. fxe6 Ref8 41. Rh3 Rf6 {Here my opponent flagged, but she was already in quite a bit of trouble.} 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

Bhattacharyya, R – Wainscott 0-1

This past Thursday the great 1…e5 experiment continued in a game against Rishav Bhattacharyya.

My personal philosophy when it comes to playing kids is that it’s important to run up a huge score against them when you still can, because as they get older (and much better than you!) it’s surprising how often they will also remain slightly afraid of you and you can score some points and half points that you might not otherwise be able to.

I’m annoyed with my inaccuracy in the opening and with my horrendous move that threw away my advantage almost completely at the end. Other than that I’m relatively pleased with my play.

[Event "Wavy Waves Lake Michigan Swiss"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.04.13"] [Round "1"] [White "Bhattacharyya, Rishav"] [Black "Wainscott, Chris"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C95"] [WhiteElo "1390"] [BlackElo "1785"] [PlyCount "66"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O $2 { Even though this is a perfectly natural move order I am giving myself a question mark here since I have no intention to play a Marshall attack I should not allow an anti Marshall line. Here I should play the more accurate move order that starts with} (7... d6) 8. c3 d6 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Bg5 { This struck me as completely inaccurate. After looking it up I found that it’s been played a few times, and by some strong players like Speelman, Short, Bronstein, and Ljubojevic, but as a very minor sideline.} c5 (11... Bb7 12. Nbd2 Re8 13. Bh4 h6 14. Bg3 Bf8 15. Nh4 c5 16. dxe5 Nxe5 17. Bc2 g6 18. Nhf3 { Here White eventually won in Ljubojevic,L (2605)-Portisch,L (2645) Manila 1974} ) 12. d5 Bb7 13. Bh4 $2 (13. Bc2 Nb6 (13... Nxd5 {This doesn’t work due to} 14. Bxe7 Nxe7 15. Qxd6) 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 {While Black has gained the bishop pair the position is still completely level.}) 13... c4 14. Bc2 Nc5 15. Nbd2 $4 (15. Bxf6 Bxf6) 15... Nxd5 16. Bxe7 Nxe7 17. a4 {Other moves which seem objectively just as good are} (17. b3) (17. Nf1 Ng6) (17. b4 {However, whatever White does he’s much worse.}) 17... Ng6 18. Nf1 Nf4 19. Ng3 Nfd3 20. Rf1 $4 (20. Bxd3 { Granted, this violates the maxim “When you are behind in material, trade pawns, not pieces” but this does have the pleasant side effect of keeping the b pawn indirectly safe.} Nxd3 21. Re3 Nxb2 22. Qb1 Nd3 23. axb5 axb5 24. Rxa8 Qxa8 25. Qxb5 {White has even managed to trade some pawns here!}) 20... Nxb2 21. Qb1 Nbxa4 22. Bxa4 Nxa4 $4 {This move throws away most of my advantage.} (22... bxa4 {Here Black remains much better.}) 23. Rxa4 bxa4 24. Qxb7 Qb8 25. Qd5 a3 26. Qxc4 $2 {The problem with this move is that there is no way to passively defend this postiion for White. Black will almost certainly force a queen at some point.} ({I looked for counterplay for some time in analysis and eventually put this position in the comptuter and it comes up with this fantastic idea.} 26. Nf5 $1 a2 27. Qd2 Qb1 $4 {This move, the most natural looking move in the world, turns out to be the losing move after} 28. Qg5 $3 g6 29. Qh6 Qxf1+ 30. Kh2 {Now Black has no way to avoid getting mated.}) 26... Qb2 27. Qb4 Rfb8 28. Qxb2 axb2 29. Nd2 a5 30. Rb1 a4 31. Nc4 a3 32. Nxa3 Rxa3 33. Kh2 Ra1 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

Misunderstanding All You See

This lyric from the great John Lennon pretty much sums up my performance this past Thursday.

Here is a position. It’s White (me) to move. I have decided that I can’t win this position after having felt like I was better. I decided to just play a move and offer a draw, but I didn’t really take a look to figure out how Jim might try to win this (third misunderstanding – why third and not first? You’ll see that I misunderstood things earlier as well!)

8/3k4/p4bpp/2Bppp2/1P1P3P/4P1P1/4KP2/8 w - - 0 41 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.

So I play 41.Kf3?? and it’s the losing move. After the game I felt that I could have played “either Kd3 or f4 and would have been fine.” But f4 also loses since I can’t keep the Black king from getting the c4 (fourth misunderstanding.)

In this earlier position my opponent, Jim Coons, has just played …Kh7 and offered me a draw. I felt I was better (first misunderstanding) and then felt that it would be easier to win this without queens since I’d no longer need to worry about keeping his queen out of my position (second misunderstanding) and so I played 33.Qe7 and Jim immediately traded queens.

8/1q3pbk/p2Qp1pp/2Bp4/1P1P4/4P2P/5PP1/6K1 w - - 0 33 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.

After the game Jim told me that he felt that I was lost from this point on and I strongly disagreed. He looked at the game on his iPad with Stockfish and told me the computer agrees.

I wasn’t going to disagree with the computer per se, so I ran it through Stockfish 8 on my laptop and after thinking for a while the machine agrees that while slightly worse, overall I’m fine here.

However, where I missed the boat was in not understanding that with the queens still on the board then all of the typical zugzwang motifs in these same colored bishop endings are negated.

Here is the entire game – featuring 9.Rb1, a move that shows I really need to work on this opening!

[Event "Blooming Botannical Garden Spring Swiss"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.03.30"] [Round "4"] [White "Wainscott, Chris"] [Black "Coons, Jim"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D94"] [WhiteElo "1801"] [BlackElo "1753"] [PlyCount "90"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. O-O O-O 9. Rb1 Nb4 10. Ra1 Nxd3 11. Qxd3 Bf5 12. Qe2 Bg4 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 e6 15. Bd2 a6 16. Rfc1 Rc8 17. Na4 Ne4 18. Qe2 b5 19. Rxc8 Qxc8 20. Rc1 Qb7 21. Nc5 Nxc5 22. Rxc5 Rc8 23. Bb4 Rxc5 24. Bxc5 Qc6 25. Qd2 Qc7 26. b4 h6 27. Qe2 Kh7 28. a4 Qc6 29. axb5 Qxb5 30. Qf3 Qb7 31. Qf4 Kg8 32. Qd6 Kh7 33. Qe7 Qxe7 34. Bxe7 f5 35. Kf1 Kg8 36. Ke2 Kf7 37. Bd6 Ke8 38. h4 Kd7 39. Bc5 Bf6 40. g3 e5 {At this point I realized that I couldn’t win and I decided to offer a draw. However, I committed the cardinal sin of deciding that pretty much any move was fine and played the losing move.} 41. Kf3 $4 (41. Kd3 {White will have to suffer for a long time, but this is the best opportunity.}) (41. f4 {Here is a long computer line that shows how these endings are won. In some cases I made the more natural (though inferior) move since the computer always finds some defense that takes the eval to “only” -8 instead of -15.} exd4 42. exd4 Kc6 43. Kd3 Kb5 44. Kc3 Ka4 45. Bb6 Be7 46. Bc5 Bd8 47. Kd2 a5 48. bxa5 Bxa5+ 49. Ke2 h5 50. Ke3 Kb3 51. Ba7 Kc4 52. Bc5 Be1 53. Kf3 Bb4 54. Bb6 Kd3 55. Bc5 Bc3) 41... Kc6 42. Ke2 Kb5 43. f4 ({Another long computer line that shows the technique for winning these types of endings.} 43. Kd3 exd4 44. exd4 h5 45. f4 Ka4 46. Bf8 Kb3 47. Bc5 Bd8 48. Bd6 a5 49. bxa5 Bxa5 50. Ke3 Kc4 51. Be7 Be1) 43... exd4 44. exd4 Kc4 45. Ke3 Bg7 0-1 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Had I drawn this game my rating would have remained relatively flat for this tournament, but as it was I lost 16 points, dropping me to 1785 and leaving me with a lot of work to do in the Publisher’s Challenge.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

Lucky, Not Good

There is a saying that it’s better to be lucky that good, but that’s not the case in chess. OK, rating wise, who doesn’t want some luck, but that won’t make you better in the long run.

Take this position from the game Wainscott – Gill from two days ago.

1r6/1r3pbk/1p4pp/p1p1p3/Q1P5/P3B3/1q1R1PPP/3R2K1 b - - 0 34 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.

Seeing the threat against the queen the instinct is to move it. So Governor plays 34…Qc3, but now after 35.Rc2 the queen is lost.

1r6/1r3pbk/1p4pp/p1p1p3/Q1P5/P1q1B3/2R2PPP/3R2K1 b - - 0 35 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.

However, had he fought the instinct to move the attacked piece and looked a bit deeper perhaps he would have found 34…b5, which saves the queen with a nice counterattack.

1r6/1r3pbk/6pp/ppp1p3/Q1P5/P3B3/1q1R1PPP/3R2K1 w - - 0 35 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.

So all in all I’ll take it, but I am not in any way satisfied with my play in this game. I felt I was better, but then 29…Qh4 fell from the sky like a Thunderbolt and I was in some pretty serious trouble.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

Strongest Win Ever (Wainscott – Wallach 1-0)

This game was my third of the day on the first day of the USATN last weekend in Schaumburg.

I haven’t analyzed it deeply but here is what I have.

[Event "USATN"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.02.18"] [Round "3"] [White "Wainscott, Chris"] [Black "Wallach, Ken"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A43"] [WhiteElo "1802"] [BlackElo "2270"] [PlyCount "171"] 1. d4 c5 2. d5 f5 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 g6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Qc2 Bg7 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 Na6 9. a3 Nc7 10. O-O a6 {This seems like a lot of pawn moves for Black, but I wasn’t really surprised since I know that Philidor is Ken’s favorite player and that he likes these types of positions. I’m sure I mangled whatever theory there is here, but I was just trying to develop with a bit of harmony.} 11. Rb1 Rb8 12. b4 Qe8 13. bxc5 dxc5 14. Na4 Nd7 15. Bb2 e5 16. dxe6 Nxe6 17. Bxg7 Nxg7 18. Nb6 Qe6 19. Nxc8 Rfxc8 20. Rb3 Re8 21. Rfb1 b6 22. Rd1 Nh5 23. Qc1 Nhf6 24. Ng5 Qe7 25. Nh3 Ne5 26. Bf1 Red8 27. Rxd8+ Qxd8 28. Nf4 Qd6 29. Nd3 Nfg4 30. f4 Nf7 31. Nf2 Nxf2 32. Kxf2 Re8 33. Rd3 Qe7 34. g3 Nh6 35. Bg2 Ng4+ 36. Kg1 Nxe3 $2 37. Bc6 $1 {I saw this tactic instantly, which made me feel good.} Ng4 38. Bxe8 Qxe8 39. Qd2 Qe4 40. Rb3 Qe6 41. Qd5 Qxd5 42. cxd5 b5 43. Rd3 Kf7 44. d6 Ke8 45. d7+ Kd8 46. Rd6 a5 47. Rd5 b4 48. axb4 axb4 49. Rxc5 Kxd7 50. Rb5 Nf6 {Here Ken offered me a draw. I wasn’t sure if this endgame was actually winning for me, but I did know that I could play all night risk free on the increment.} 51. Rxb4 Ke6 52. h3 h5 53. Kg2 Nd5 54. Rb7 Kf6 55. Kf3 Ke6 56. Ke2 Kf6 ({I received messages from two friends, one a young master rated 2240 and one from an elite GM both of whom told me that this move would have drawn.} 56... h4 57. gxh4 {This seems to allow a fortess.} (57. Kf3 {This on the other hand seems to still be winning.} hxg3 58. Kxg3) 57... Nxf4+ 58. Kf3 Nh5) 57. Kd3 Ke6 58. Kd4 Ne7 59. Rb6+ ({Here I missed a much easier win with.} 59. Rxe7+ Kxe7 60. Ke5 Kf7 61. Kd6 Kf6 62. h4 Kf7 63. Kd7 Kf6 64. Ke8 Kg7 65. Ke7 Kh6 66. Kf8 Kh7 67. Kf7 Kh6 {I had calculated all the way to here, but for some reason thought that Black could just go back and forth between h6 and h7. As GM Josh Friedel pointed out to me in the lobby after this game I completely missed} 68. Kg8 {Mostly I blame this on the fact that it’s hard to calculate at the end of the third game in one day.} g5) 59... Kf7 60. Ke5 Ng8 61. Rb7+ Kf8 62. Rh7 Ne7 63. Ke6 Nc6 64. Kf6 Kg8 65. Rg7+ Kh8 66. Rxg6 Kh7 67. Rg7+ Kh6 68. Rc7 Nd4 69. Rc8 Kh7 70. Rc7+ Kh6 71. Rc8 Kh7 72. Re8 h4 73. gxh4 Nf3 74. Kxf5 Nxh4+ 75. Kg4 Ng6 76. h4 Kg7 77. Kg5 Kf7 78. Ra8 Nf8 79. Rxf8+ Kxf8 80. Kg6 Kg8 81. h5 Kh8 82. h6 Kg8 83. f5 Kh8 84. Kf7 Kh7 85. Ke7 Kxh6 86. f6 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

Coons – Wainscott 1/2-1/2

Last night I played my first game since the beginning of the Book Challenge. I felt that I played well enough in the opening, then stumbled a bit followed by opponent missing a forced (though a long line) mate.

So all in all a bit of luck can often go a long way.

[Event "Bountiful Bread and Breakfast Quad"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.02.16"] [Round "2"] [White "Coons, James"] [Black "Wainscott, Chris"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E97"] [WhiteElo "1867"] [BlackElo "1804"] [PlyCount "52"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 Nh5 10. Re1 {Rats. Jim is now playing the mainline, which is not what I prepped for. He used to play} (10. c5 f5 11. Ng5 {Here I was going to play} Nf4 {as I have studied this line from Kotronias’s third book on the KID by Quality Chess.}) 10... f5 11. Ng5 Nf4 {I spent a few minutes trying to suss out any differences between 10.c5 and 10.Re1. Clearly the bishop can now retreat to f1. but does that make this move unplayable? After a few minutes of thought I didn’t see anything major and decided to go for it.} (11... Nf6 { This is the main move, but truth be told I hadn’t looked much at this line recently which is why I didn’t play it.}) 12. Bf1 h6 13. Nf3 {Here I felt I had already equalized, which is quite a nice feeling against Coons since he has a reputation of destroying the King’s Indian.} fxe4 14. Nxe4 Bf5 {I’d rather have the knight here, but that is currently impossible due to} (14... Nf5 15. g3 Nh5 16. g4) (14... Bg4 {Objectively this is probably a better square for this bishop since with the bishop on f5 White is about to cause me to have to defend quite accurately.}) 15. Bxf4 ({Now if White tried to kick the knight with} 15. g3 {he winds up in huge trouble after} Nh3+ 16. Bxh3 ({ Even worse is} 16. Kg2) 16... Bxh3 {and those tender light squares around the king look like a sign of trouble to come.}) 15... exf4 16. Rc1 g5 ({I’d like to play} 16... Bd7 {because I’d like f5 for my knight, but then White gains a ton of space with} 17. c5 Nf5 18. c6 bxc6 19. dxc6) 17. Nd4 Bxd4 {This felt forced since after} (17... Bd7 18. Ne6 Bxe6 19. dxe6 {Black has to be very careful.}) 18. Qxd4 Ng6 19. f3 {This is an excellent example of a good prophylactic move.. I don’t have a dark squared bishop to exploit the opening of the g1-a7 diagonal and it prevents me from playing f3 myself.} Ne5 20. c5 Kh7 {I was having a hard time finding any sort of active plan here, so it was here that I realized I was going to have to prepare to defend.} 21. cxd6 cxd6 { Here Jim reached for the pawn on d6 and then stopped as he saw that I could take on f3 with check. After calculating a few minutes more he went ahead and played} 22. Nxd6 Nxf3+ 23. gxf3 Qxd6 24. Bd3 {I’m assuming this is the move that he found when he hesitated to take on d6 earlier.} Kg8 $4 {I wanted to just get out of the pin and figured that after} 25. Bc4 $4 (25. Bxf5 Rxf5 26. Re6 Qxd5 {I would be fine. However, this position was gnawing at me for quite some time, so I put it in the engine where I found that it’s a huge blunder.} 27. Rg6+ {And now mate after} Kf7 28. Qg7+ Ke8 29. Re1+ Kd8 30. Qe7+ Kc8 31. Rc1+ Kb8 32. Qc7#) 25... Rac8 26. Bb3 Kh7 {Moving off of the a2-g8 diagonal to end any tactical ideas of bringing a rook to the 7th followed by d6 discovered check. Here I offered a draw which was accepted.} 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott