Pearson-Kesti, Game 6

Finally got the time together to post last week's game; Michael Goeller of the excellent Kenilworthian, author of the Mad Dog post that inspired the opening, was interested in how that part went. See his article for more on this interesting variation.

It's nice to win, but GOLLY there are a lot of mistakes!

[Event "Match, Reno CC Class B. Ch."]
[Site "Reno, NV"]
[Date "2007.03.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Pearson, Robert"]
[Black "Kesti, Steve"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1600"]
[BlackElo "1764"]
[ECO "B07"]
[Annotator "R. Pearson"]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. Qe2 O-O 6. e5 dxe5 7. dxe5 Nfd7 8. Nf3 { More consistent is 8. e6, but the move played also leads to advantage for White. } e6?! { Nb6 seems to keep his disadvantage to a minimum, though it's nice to be White in any case. } 9. Bg5 Qe8 10. O-O-O? { Nb5 leaves Black under serious pressure. While O-O-O doesn't throw away everything, it's even giving him a target, instead of preventing counterplay. } Nc6?? 11. Nb5 f6 { Taking on e5 was better, but depressing. } 12. Nxc7 Qe7 13. exf6 Nxf6 14. Nxa8 Qb4!? { Black goes for a counterattack instead of meekly succumbing...and it almost works! } 15. Bd2?! { Why not simply 15. c3? } Qd6 16. Kb1 Nd5 17. c3 { Ng5! } Bd7 18. Rhe1?! { Qe4 keeps a larger advantage--White is frittering away a good portion of his once crushing position. } Rxa8 19. g3 { Qe4 } Na5 { Black has been playing the best moves to give himself a chance. White is still winning, but the margin's getting smaller... } 20. Bxd5 exd5 21. Qe7? Bf5+ { 21. ... Qxe7 22. Rxe7 Bg4! and Black is right back in it! } 22. Ka1? { Kc1 } Qa6? { Qxe7 } 23. Qa3 Bf8 { Bg4 } 24. b4! { Should lead to a big advantage } b6 25. Nd4 Qc8 26. Qa4 Nc4 27. Qc6?! { Not as good as I thought at the time. } Qxc6 28. Nxc6 Bg7 29. Ne7+ { In time trouble I play a brief combination to get rid of his dangerous bishop, not seeing his 31st move. The funny thing is, it still may be best! } Kf8 30. Nxf5 gxf5 31. Kb1?! { Now I realize I lose back the Exchange, but I think I get a good Rook ending. 31. Re3 would have saved a pawn, however. } Nxd2+ 32. Rxd2 Bxc3 33. Rde2 Bxe1 34. Rxe1 { Now either the c- or f-pawn will fall--unless Black goes Re8, which he can't afford because the pawn ending is lost because of White's outside majority. Right? } Re8? 35. Rxe8+ Kxe8 36. Kc2 Ke7 37. Kd3 Kd6 38. Kd4 { And though the rest of the score is mislaid at the moment, suffice it to say that White made a passed pawn on the g-file and Black resigned on move 50. } 1-0