Kesti-Pearson, Game 5

Impressions of the game below in a previous post.

(March 20--replay viewer finally posted below. Enjoy!)

Event "Match, Reno CC Class B Ch."]
[Site "Reno, NV"]
[Date "2007.03.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Kesti, Steve"]
[Black "Pearson, Robert"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1764"]
[BlackElo "1600"]
[ECO "B06"]
[Annotator "R. Pearson"]

1. e4 g6 2. Nf3 d6 3. g3 Nf6 4. d3 Bg7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O c5 7. Nbd2 Nc6 8. c3 b5 9. e5 { Forcing complications early. After the game my opponent thought that retreating the Knight was an option, but I think that Black gets fine play for the Exchange. } dxe5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Bxa8 Qxd3?! { Bh3! 12. Bg2 Bxg2 13. Kxg2 Nxd3 is better } 12. Nb3 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 Bg4 14. f3 Nxf3+?! { Rxa8 } 15. Bxf3 Bxf3 16. Rf1 Bd5 17. Nxc5 Rc8 18. Nb3 b4? { Black throws another pawn on the fire to keep White from developing his pieces, but there was no need to go overboard. Ng4 seems to hold the balance. } 19. cxb4 Ng4 20. Rd1 e6 21. Nc5?! { Bf4 develops; as the game goes, White is tied up for a long time. } Bf3?! { a5 } 22. Rd3 Be2 23. Rd2 Bf3 24. h3 { After the game we thought this might be a mistake, but now I think it gives White some advantage. } Ne5 25. Rf2 Bd5 26. Kf1?! { Bf4 } Bc4+ 27. Ke1 { Funny--at the time we both thought this was a blunder, but after the following 'combination' it's still unclear to me who had the advantage! } Rxc5 28. bxc5 Nd3+ 29. Kf1 Nxc1+ 30. Kg2 Nd3 31. Rc2 Bd5+ 32. Kf1 Nb4 33. Rd2 Nc6 { Bh6! } 34. Rad1 Bh6?! { Two days after the game Steve Kesti suggested Ne7! which is probably good enough to hold the position. This material imbalance is very hard for masters to figure out, much less me! } 35. Rxd5! { Of course. I didn't see this coming, and now the trend changes quickly. } exd5 36. Rxd5 Bf8 37. a3?! { Invading with Rd7 seems better. } a5 38. Ke2 { Rd7! } f5 39. Kd3 Kf7 40. Kc4 Ke6 41. Rd1 Bg7?? { Too bad--once again in this match I blunder, and fatigue is no excuse for a move this bad! Ne5+ or a4 both look to me like they offer some chances. The rest isn't too interesting, but it's certainly the kind of position I'd want in a championship clinching game! } 42. Rd6+ Ke7 43. Rxc6 Bxb2 44. a4 Be5 45. g4 f4 46. Kd5 Kd7 47. Re6 Bc3 48. c6+ Kc7 49. Re7+ Kb6 50. Rxh7 f3 51. Rf7 1-0