In T66 WorldWideWolves has moved up again from Kasparov Section (Third Division) to Spassky Section (Second Division) and is consequently finding the opposition expectedly harder. We have lost the first and third round matches and skillfully avoided a match loss in the second round, where we had a bye! We are still very much in contention for the final but need four victories from the last four matches to have a chance of making it.
In this situation the first game for the team was played last night by the captain slek playing on board #3.
White: Slek
Black: tseltzer
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. f4 Qb6 6. Nf3 Bg4
It was a great start to the game. Early in the opening following the advance variation of the Caro Kann Defence, slek with white initiated a nice tactical operation on move 7...
7. dxc5 Qxc5 8. b4 Qb6 9. Qxd5 netting him a pawn three moves later.
9... Rd8 10. Qe4 e6 11. Be3 Qc7 12. Bb5 Bf5 13. Qc4 a6 14. Bxc6+ bxc6 15. Nd4 Be4 16. Nxe6
16...fxe6
Slek was in his element playing in his spectacular style and with aggressive opening moves he managed to win two pawns and reach a position where the counterplay for his opponent was minimal. He managed further simplifications and won a second pawn on move 17, with a nice intermezzo.
17. Qxe4 Ne7
At this stage, slek revealed via his ingame live commentary a plan to exchange dark squared bishops in order to avoid difficulties on a key dark-squared diagonal he had weakened earlier, as collateral damage of his plans earlier in the game.
18. Bc5 It appeared there was a more prudent option in 18.0-0 instead of the 18.Bc5 played in the game. However, this was still not decisive and white still retains an advantage.
18....Nd5 19. Bxf8 Rxf8 20. O-O After the exchange of DSBs at f8 on the 19th turn, it appeared that 20.g3 was a good alternative to 20.0-0.
20...Qb6+
21. Kh1 Ne3 At this point black is seeking to lash out desperately being two pawns down and with an awkwardly placed rook. The chief players in this counterstrike were the queen the knight and the queen's rook playing a supporting role. 22. Rg1??
Despite this energetic counter-attack by black, white could have retained a massive advantage by coolly sacrificing the exchange by playing 22.Na3 in response to 21...Ne3.
If black grabs the rook on f1, white subsequently gets his knight to the dominant d6 square via a3-c4-d6 when black either has to tolerate this oppressive piece or return the exchange for it. If he does not return the exchange his rooks are clumsily placed and pawns are weak and after returning the exchange white would still retain at least one of his two extra pawns. Unfortunately slek failed to judge this correctly and made the weak move Rg1 walking into a checkmate which could only be averted by parting with the queen.
22...Nd1 0-1
It was a subtle error and a sudden and unfortunate loss for slek and the team after a rousing beginning to the game. Our opponent tseltzer did well to keep up the pressure in a position where he had dug himself into a hole.
It was a nice try by slek to give the team the lead, but hopefully the three of us still to play our games can win the match for the team.
FLASH NEWS: Alextheseaman won our second game of this round to level the scores. Now matan and me (blore) will play in quick succession to decide the match!
In this situation the first game for the team was played last night by the captain slek playing on board #3.
White: Slek
Black: tseltzer
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. f4 Qb6 6. Nf3 Bg4
It was a great start to the game. Early in the opening following the advance variation of the Caro Kann Defence, slek with white initiated a nice tactical operation on move 7...
 |
| Position after 6...Bg4 |
7. dxc5 Qxc5 8. b4 Qb6 9. Qxd5 netting him a pawn three moves later.
 |
| Position after grabbing 9.Qxd5! |
9... Rd8 10. Qe4 e6 11. Be3 Qc7 12. Bb5 Bf5 13. Qc4 a6 14. Bxc6+ bxc6 15. Nd4 Be4 16. Nxe6
 |
| Position after 17.Nxe6 winning his second pawn |
16...fxe6
Slek was in his element playing in his spectacular style and with aggressive opening moves he managed to win two pawns and reach a position where the counterplay for his opponent was minimal. He managed further simplifications and won a second pawn on move 17, with a nice intermezzo.
17. Qxe4 Ne7
At this stage, slek revealed via his ingame live commentary a plan to exchange dark squared bishops in order to avoid difficulties on a key dark-squared diagonal he had weakened earlier, as collateral damage of his plans earlier in the game.
18. Bc5 It appeared there was a more prudent option in 18.0-0 instead of the 18.Bc5 played in the game. However, this was still not decisive and white still retains an advantage.
18....Nd5 19. Bxf8 Rxf8 20. O-O After the exchange of DSBs at f8 on the 19th turn, it appeared that 20.g3 was a good alternative to 20.0-0.
20...Qb6+
 |
| Position after 20...Qb6+ |
21. Kh1 Ne3 At this point black is seeking to lash out desperately being two pawns down and with an awkwardly placed rook. The chief players in this counterstrike were the queen the knight and the queen's rook playing a supporting role. 22. Rg1??
 |
| Decisive mistake 22.Rg1 |
Despite this energetic counter-attack by black, white could have retained a massive advantage by coolly sacrificing the exchange by playing 22.Na3 in response to 21...Ne3.
 |
| This position could have arisen giving white a massive advantage! |
If black grabs the rook on f1, white subsequently gets his knight to the dominant d6 square via a3-c4-d6 when black either has to tolerate this oppressive piece or return the exchange for it. If he does not return the exchange his rooks are clumsily placed and pawns are weak and after returning the exchange white would still retain at least one of his two extra pawns. Unfortunately slek failed to judge this correctly and made the weak move Rg1 walking into a checkmate which could only be averted by parting with the queen.
22...Nd1 0-1
It was a subtle error and a sudden and unfortunate loss for slek and the team after a rousing beginning to the game. Our opponent tseltzer did well to keep up the pressure in a position where he had dug himself into a hole.
It was a nice try by slek to give the team the lead, but hopefully the three of us still to play our games can win the match for the team.
FLASH NEWS: Alextheseaman won our second game of this round to level the scores. Now matan and me (blore) will play in quick succession to decide the match!
While following the game I had some doubts about 18. Bc5, because even if after 18... Nd5 19. Bxf8 Rxf8 Black cannot castle anymore he can still play Kf7-g8, and weakening the g1-a7 diagonal looked somehow risky. But 20. 0-0 looks still looks totally reasonable, especially when you are still looking at the board before move 18. For me 18. O-O Nd5 19. Nd2 or the move order 18. Nd2 Nd5 19. O-O allowing Black to take the bishop does not look great; and 18. O-O Nd5 19. Bd4 c5 20. bxc5 Bxc5 also does not look fantastic. So the line played is reasonable, and it is very difficult to anticipate that the only answer to 20... Qb6+ 21. Kh1 Nd3 is 22. Na3. After having played through some lines 22. Na3 Nxf1 23 Rxf1 is only giving 0.0, so not really a massive advantage according to my engine, and any other 22nd move is losing.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the promising position after move 17 (+2.16 for white) it is really surprising how quickly the game finished, but I still think 20. O-O looks sensible and the forced 22. Na3 is a very difficult move