Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Texas State Championship

Had a lot fun playing chess & hanging out with friends.

Luis & the gang did a very good job running the event.

Click here for the final cross table.

I just wish I had a better result. I lost only one game, but I was paired down every round and had 3 draws. I had a great first and last day going 3-0. But the two days in the middle are what hurt me. (a loss and 3 draws)

The loss was heart breaking:
I was Black in the above position. If I had played ...Q x d3, White can resign. But I played Nf2+ & we reached the following position, which is still winning.

Here Black's only move is Re1, which he played, I should have then played Qd2 maintaining the discovery, but played Q x e1. I then managed to lose the extra Knight to a Queen check on f8.

The above is a beautiful mate in on variation.

Texas State Addison 30.05.2010
159MB, Rybka3.ctg, DELL-9ECB4ECECC 1.d4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Na6 6.e3 Bg4 7.Bxc4 e6 8.h3 Bh5 9.Bd2 Nb4 10.Be2 a5 11.0–0 Be7 12.Ne5 Bxe2 13.Qxe2 0–0 14.f4 g6 [14...h6 15.f5 Qc8 16.fxe6 Qxe6] 15.g4 Bd6 16.Kh1 Qc7 17.Nc4 Be7 18.f5 exf5 19.gxf5 Nh5 20.Ne4 Bh4 21.Rg1 Kh8 22.Qg4 Qe7 23.Bc3 Nd5 24.Bd2 Nb4 25.Raf1 Nd3 26.Bc3 Kg8 [26...Bf6 27.Nxf6 Nxf6 28.d5 cxd5 29.Qh4 Ra6 30.fxg6 fxg6 31.Rxg6 dxc4 32.Bxf6+ Raxf6 33.Rgxf6 Rxf6] 27.Qxh5 Qxe4+ 28.Kh2 Bf6 29.fxg6 fxg6 30.Rg4 Qe7 31.Rfg1 Bg7 32.Qg5 Rf2+ [32...Qc7+ 33.R4g3 Rf5 (33...Rf2+ 34.Kh1 Re2 35.R3g2 Nf2+ 36.Rxf2 Rxf2) ] 33.R1g2 Rxg2+ [33...Qc7+ 34.Kg1 Rf5 35.Qh4 b5 36.axb5 cxb5 37.Ne5] 34.Rxg2 Qc7+ 35.Qg3 Qd8 36.Nxa5 Rxa5 37.Bxa5 Qxa5 38.Qb8+ Bf8 39.Qxb7 Bd6+ 40.Kh1 Qe1+ 41.Rg1 Nf2+ [41...Qxe3 42.Qc8+ Kg7 43.Qd7+ Kh6 44.Qxd6 Qxh3+; 41...Qf2 42.Qc8+ Kf7 43.Qd7+ Be7 44.Qxc6] 42.Kg2 Qe2 [42...Qxe3 43.Qc8+ Kg7 (43...Bf8 44.Rf1) ] 43.Qc8+ Kg7 44.Qd7+ Kh6 45.Re1 Qxe1 [45...Qd2 46.Kf3 a)46.a5 Ng4+ 47.Re2 (a)47.Kf3 Nh2+ 48.Ke4 Qc2#) ; b)46.Kf1 Ne4; 46...Qxe1 47.Qxd6 Nd3 48.Qxc6 (48.Qf8+ Kh5 49.Ke4 Nf2+ 50.Kf3 Nxh3) 48...Qf2+ (48...Qh1+) 49.Kg4] 46.Qxd6 Qxe3 [46...Nd3 47.Qf8+ Kh5] 1–0



3 comments:

  1. The difference between the two positions is practically a different game. Nf2+ look more like an "automatic" blitz move, but then it blocks out the queens path on the dark diagonal. Besides, Qxe threatens Qxh mate (I calculated a mate in there in a few moves). After QxR, Crafty still gives a whopping -5.6 in favor of Black, but it looks a lot more tricky.

    The game score gets littered with annotations after that and I have to put in the moves by hand as it is. ChessFlash is a convenient way to post games.

    That's too bad that you lost that game. You started out right and ended well, but to get rating points out of tournaments, you can't afford confidence or experiment games in the middle-rounds because somehow those games weigh more heavily, like they figure you are dredging the river for wins in the last round or two from players off-form. It hurts a lot because a lot of time is put into those games to have a spurious result when a clear win was at hand.

    That's a lot of draws, though. Perhaps you were finding it rough on the clock after having taken a break from chess(?) A draw is not bad, because chess is a draw, so a draw carries a lot of moral weight. You'd have to post some more games for us to understand why you got draws. This was your highest rated opponent and had (well deserved) winning chances as Black, but somehow didn't pull the trigger. I am wont to think you were both low on time.

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  2. Thanks for the input, thanks for pointing me to ChessFlash. Yes time was a factor, but I don't use that as an excuse for poor play any more:)

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  3. Wow, that looks very nice now that you have it embedded with ChessFlash. :-)

    I like this opening for Black, reminds of Anand's play against Topalov.

    Even after giving up your knight, it looks like you can pick off a pawn there with Qb2, and then see how he tries marching up the other pawn while staying out of checks, although he could try going after your king with king and queen to force a queen trade and possibly win that way.

    4.5/7 looks like a magnificent score, but I bet if you went 4.5/5, and then lost last 2 games, that it would have been at least a 50 point rating swing in your favor compared to what you got.

    Never realized that before, but I think that's how they figure it. That if you lose in last two rounds to other guys who have four wins, then well oh gee, you were "supposed" to lose against _those_ guys. hehe. There's nothing worse than that feeling "Oh, YOU, beat him, well then, he must have been a chump so we'll have to downgrade you for that." lol.

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