Last night at the club I played seven time WI state champion Bill Williams. Prior to this game my record against Bill in classical games was one win, two draws, and 12 losses.
While overall I am not satisfied with my play over the past several months, the one area where I think I’ve been performing at a high level is tactics.
This game was no exception since I spotted the genesis of an idea in this position. See if you can see it. Keep in mind that this is not a puzzle since the idea can’t be brought to fruition yet. It requires help by the opponent.
r1b2r1k/1p2Npbp/p5p1/4p1Pn/q1n1P2P/1NB4B/PPP2Q2/2KR3R b - - 0 22
You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.
Here is the game.
[Event "Magilla Gorilla Grueling Swiss"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.09.20"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Wainscott, Chris"]
[Black "Williams, Bill"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B76"]
[WhiteElo "1621"]
[BlackElo "2200"]
[Annotator "Wainscott,Chris"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2017.12.29"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.09.21"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 g6 {Interesting.
Switching from a Najdorf to a Dragon, but now he’ll be down a tempo.} ({
I just assumed we’d continue with a Najdorf ala} 6... e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 Be7
9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O) 7. Be3 Bg7 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O O-O 10. g4 Qa5 11. Nb3 Qc7
12. g5 $6 (12. h4 {It would have been more correct to play this way. Instead I
did something that I have a bad habit of doing, which is to somewhat
overextend my position with a clear strategy in mind.} b5 13. h5 b4 14. Nd5
Nxd5 15. exd5 Ne5 16. hxg6 fxg6 $18) 12... Nh5 13. Nd5 Qd8 ({During the game I
calculated} 13... Qb8 14. Nb6 Ra7 15. Nxc8 Rxc8 {thinking that this would free
me up to push hard on the kingside. Now, however, I see that Black has really
nice counterplay with} 16. f4 a5 17. a4 b5 $13) 14. Bb6 Qd7 15. h4 $2 {I was
too enamored with the idea of putting the bishop on h3. Instead this is where
I should have started pressing with} (15. f4 a5 16. Bb5 a4 17. Nd4 $18) 15...
Ne5 $4 {Allowing White to win a crucial tempo, which I unfortunately don’t go
for.} (15... e6 16. Bh3) 16. Bh3 $2 {Again, way too in love with getting that
bishop to h3. Here I could have easily improved with tempo by playing} (16. f4
{and now after} Nc6 17. Bh3 e6 18. Bg4 $18 {my position is light years better
than in the game.}) 16... e6 17. f4 $4 $17 (17. Qf2 Nc4 18. Bd4) 17... Nc4 18.
Qf2 Qa4 $2 ({I’m guessing my opponent thought he would increase the pressure
more by bringing the queen in, but why not crack open the king and win the
pawn, which would make any future pressure much harder to deal with?!} 18...
Bxb2+ 19. Kb1 Bg7 20. Bd4 b5 $17) 19. Ne7+ Kh8 20. Bd4 {Here I felt I had
escaped the worst of it. My position is still bad, but it’s not untenable.} e5
{Here I spot the genesis of the idea that eventually wins the game for me.
With as bad as I feel a bunch of my strategic decisions have been lately, I am
very glad that my tactics have been at a really high level.} 21. fxe5 dxe5 22.
Bc3 Bxh3 23. Rxh3 Qxa2 24. Rf3 (24. Qc5 b5 25. Rf3 $11 {I considered this as
well, but I wanted to give my opponent the chance to fall into the idea which
I had been eyeing since his 20th move.}) 24... Nf4 $4 {And he’s done it!} 25.
Rxf4 Rad8 ({Of course you can’t recapture due to} 25... exf4 26. Bxg7+ Kxg7 27.
Qd4+ f6 28. Qxc4 $18 {although it doesn’t really matter since the position is
dead lost now anyhow.}) 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27. Rxf7 1-0
You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
Til Next Time,
Chris Wainscott
If you like this blog, please consider becoming a Patreon supporter. Any money I raise will go towards lessons and stronger tournaments.
If you can spare it, please click here and become a supporter. Even $1 a month can help me achieve my dream.
