Friday, March 03, 2006

Reno Class Championship, Rd. 1

My current tournament is a 4-player double round robin for the Reno Chess Club Class B Championship. I was the Class C Champ back in 1980 before I moved to Alaska--they've still got the trophy with my name on it at the club.

But back to the reality of Present Time. I lost last night with Black to S. Kesti, who is the highest rated of the four competitors at 1703. I won a clear exchange right out of the opening, but he attacked hard, I got too tied up and didn't break out when I had the chance, and he smashed through. A good lesson to remember; give back material when necessary to get counterplay!

I had very little time to annotate this so I hope any passersby will point out the mistakes:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O d6 6. c3 Nf6 7. d3 O-O 8. Bf4 Bd7 9. Nbd2 b5 10. d4 cxd4 11. cxd4 Rc8 12. Re1? {Missing the point of Rc8} 12... Nb4 13. Re2?! Nd3 14. Qb3? Nc1 {I thought about Rc1+ for awhile. I thought it was better to keep my 'active' Rook. Unfortunately, it never does much for the rest of the game.} 15. Rxc1 Rxc1+ 16. Nf1 Rc8 17. e5 Ne8 18. Qa3 {I overlooked this little move.} 18... a5?! {I should be thinking about letting a pawn go with Nc7 or Bg4 to free things up.} 19. Ng5 b4 20. Qe3 dxe5? {Qb6} 21. dxe5 Nc7 22. Rd2 Qe8 23. Qb6 Ne6 24. Bh3 {I didn't see the strength of this move until after it was made. Too late!} 24... Nc5 25. Bxd7 Nxd7 26. Qxa5 Ra8 27. Qc7 Rd8? {A truly sorry huddle of pieces. Nb8 had to be tried.} 28. e6 Nf6? 29. exf7+ Rxf7 30. Rxd8 Qxd8 31. Qxd8+ Rf8 32. Qxe7 Re8 33. Qf7+ Kh8 34. Ne6 1-0

UPDATE: The game is posted on the Reno Chess Club site. Click on Game Archive and scroll down to the bottom of the list.

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