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
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Til Next Time,
Chris Wainscott
