Tuesday, January 05, 2010

I have no business playing this game if I play like this...

I played in the North American open in Las Vegas over the Christmas break. It was fun meeting old friends, but my playing was no fun at all. I was hoping I would play better in the New Year Open in San Antonio last w-end, so that I could end my report in a happy note but it was not to be.

San Antonio, New Year Open Jan.2-3

It was a strong event with 50 players, 3 Masters and several experts. BRADLEY J SAWYER won the event with a 5-0 performance.

Going into the 5th and final round, I was 2.5/4.0 after losing to an expert in round 2.

I was White against expert and current grade 11 champ MATTHEW LIU who had 3.0/4.0
I am White. Matthew blundered a pawn in the opening and here I had a chance to win another pawn with check. My last move was N b1-c3, but Qf7 wins another pawn with check! I looked at Qh8, but did not even look at Qf7. I was just plain lazy.
Here I had a chance to put the game away with f5, but played Rd3?? instead. My whole idea of f4 earlier was to play f5, when I finally got the chance I didn't take it becuase I moved too fast (6 seconds).
Here I had a chance to play Re3 and go into a Knight ending a pawn up, but played Rf5?? instead and went into a rook ending a pawn down. Apparently I forgot that Knights can move backwards as well! Another costly error due to lazyness.

I am sure that with accurate play it should still have been a draw, but I used up too much time and lost.

After reading the following chess base article, I am feeling better!

Wijetunge vs Liu

1.d4 d5 2.Bg5 f6 3.Bh4 Nh6 4.e3 Nf5 5.Bg3 Nxg3 6.hxg3 Bf5 7.Bd3 Bxd3 8.Qxd3 Qd7 9.Rxh7 Rxh7 10.Qxh7 Nc6 11.Qh5+ Kd8 12.Nc3 [ 12.Qf7 Qe8 13.Qxd5+ Qd7 14.Qf7 Qe8 15.Qc4 e6 16.Nc3 Na5 17.Qd3 Nc6 18.Nf3 Nb4 19.Qd2 Rc8] 12...e6 13.a3 Qe8 14.Qe2 a6 15.Nf3 Bd6 16.e4 dxe4 17.Nxe4 Qh5 18.Nxd6 cxd6 19.0-0-0 Qh6+ 20.Kb1 Kd7 21.d5 exd5 22.Rxd5 Re8 23.Qd1 Re6 24.Nh4 [ 24.c4] 24...Ne7 25.Rd3 Qh7 26.f4 Qe4 27.Rd4 Qe3 28.Rd3 [ 28.f5] 28...Qf2 29.Ka2 [ 29.Nf3 Qxg2 30.Nd4 Re4 31.Nb3 Kc7; 29.Qg4 g6 30.Nxg6 f5] 29...g6 30.c3 [ 30.c4 Qc5 31.Qc2] 30...Kc7 31.Rf3 [ 31.Qb3 Re2 32.a4; 31.Qf3] 31...Qe2 32.Qd3 g5 33.fxg5 fxg5 34.Qxe2 Rxe2 35.Nf5 g4 36.Rf4 [ 36.Re3 Rxe3 37.Nxe3 Kd7 38.Nxg4 Nf5 39.Nf6+ Ke6 40.g4 Ne3 41.g5 Kf5 42.Ne8] 36...Nxf5 37.Rxf5 Rxg2 38.Rg5 Rxg3 39.Rg7+ [ 39.c4 Kc6 40.a4 b6 41.b4 Kd7 42.Kb2 Ke6 43.a5 bxa5 44.Rxa5 Rg1 45.Rxa6 g3 46.Ra5 Rf1 47.Rg5 Rf2+ 48.Kc3 g2 49.b5] 39...Kc6 40.a4 Rg1 41.Kb3 g3 42.Rg5 Rg2 43.Rg7 Kd5 44.Rxb7 [ 44.Ka3; 44.Ka3 b6 45.Kb3 Rg1 46.Kb4 g2 47.Kb3 Ke4 48.Re7+ Kf3 49.Rf7+ Ke2 50.Re7+ Kd3 51.Rg7 d5 52.Rg8 d4 53.cxd4 Kxd4 54.Rd8+ Ke3 55.Re8+ Kd2 56.Rd8+ Ke2 57.Re8+ Kf2 58.Rf8+ Kg3 59.Rg8+ Kf3 60.Rf8+ Ke4 61.Rg8 Kf4 62.Rf8+] 44...Ke4 [ 44...Rd2 45.c4+ Ke4 46.Rg7 g2 47.Kc3 Rf2] 45.Rd7?? [ 45.Re7+ Kf4 ( 45...Kf3 46.Rf7+ Ke2 47.Rg7 Kf2 48.Rf7+ Kg1 49.Rg7) 46.Rf7+ Ke4; 45.Rg7 d5 46.Rg8 d4 47.cxd4 Kxd4] 45...Rd2 46.Re7+ 0-1