White vs. Rooklifter (1903) 7.22.2012 ICC 20 5

This is a game I played on July 22 on the ICC against a person from the United States. Overall, I am happy with the quality of play. He made a huge blunder in the opening and I think I did a good job of capitalizing on his error. Unfortunately, I ran into some serious time trouble again. On top of that, I had some tactical inaccuracies. In the end, he did not use these opportunities to his advantage.

7. Na3 Nc6 8. Naxc4 would continue theory

11. White to play

11. e4 Nxe4? 12. Nxe4 Bd5 13. Na5 Bxb7 (13... Qb5? 14. Nc6 Bxc6 15. Nc3 Bxc6 16. Nc3!)
Unfortunately, I was only able to see until 13... Qb5 and I was unable to see the 14. Nc6 continuation so I chose what I thought was a safer approach.

17. White to play

17. Nb5? is a serious error after Rb8 18. Nxb8 Qxb8 19. Bc6 Bxc6
17. Rad1 is Houdini's first choice, developing the last piece and maintaining the tension. Second best is 17. Bxa8 Nxa8

22. White to play

22. a5?? Moves the Black knight to a better square.
Better plans:
22. Qe3 preparing a5 and Qxa7 advancing the passed A-pawn
23. dxe6 preparing an outpost on d5(?) with the same plan of a5 and Qxa7
22. Re2 preparing to double on the e-file

On move 26. I had 2:22 against 14:54 on the clock. I need to work on my mental tenacity because I could not believe I had blown such a huge lead and given him a knight posted on my 3rd rank. Obvious would have been 26. Rxd3!

27. Black to play (White offers a draw)

I had 1:46 on my clock and he had 14:36. Black rejected the draw
I was expecting 27... Bxc3 28. bxc3 Qxe4 29. Qxe4 Rxe4.
Although he is up a pawn, it is doubled and I will take his a-pawn after 30. Rd8+ Kg7 31. Ra8.


After 31... Re1+ 32. Kg2 Rc1 the 5 pawns on the a and c-files will be swapped off and the game is drawn.

A fun and exciting game. My opponent did a great job outplaying me in the later mid-game but ultimately over-extended and ended up losing. Unfortunately, he didn't have any interest in analyzing the game after it was over.

Comments are greatly appreciated.

Black vs. IM Turzo (2275) 7.16.2012 ICC 15 15

This is my first opportunity against a titled player. I did much better than I expected but ultimately his greater middle game and endgame skill were too much. Below are a few comments I've made in review.


18... h5 seemed natural to me. I wanted to resolve the kingside completely before I tried to undermine the center and open up the c-file. In the game I was concerned about:


18... Rac8 19. g4 Bd7 20. f5 c5 21. d5 (shown above). Not much space and I don't see a clear plan for Black.
Centralize the Queen and try to take advantage of the weak dark squares by White's king with Qe5?
Play b5 and try to undermine White's protection of the d5 pawn?


28... Turzo(IM): After Kf8 you could play Ke7 and have a fine position, your pieces are developed and preventing Rc7.

I was psychologically lost after I played Rc4 realizing I couldn't play Rec8 at the end of the first rook exchange because I'm losing the defender to Nxe6+.


I thought I was already lost here. 30... Ke7 definitely loses the game, but
30... Bxa2 recommended by my friend Ska. It seems to be the best move according to Houdini.
30... g6 and
30... Re7 also keep Black in the game.

White has an edge but maybe Black can draw since Black has good resources to protect the e4 and d7 pawns?


IM Turzo was a gentleman and I really enjoyed this game.

Comments are greatly appreciated.