Here's the game from last Thursday that I wrote about below. While I missed some chances, I also kept my head and drew, keeping my concentration and focus a lot better and longer than in other recent games. That's encouraging.
[Event "Reno CC Blockbuster Swiss"]
[Site "Reno, NV"]
[Date "2007.07.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Harrington, Chris"]
[Black "Pearson, Robert"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "1429"]
[BlackElo "1600"]
[ECO "B01"]
[Annotator "R. Pearson"]
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nxd5 4. d4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. O-O g6 7. Bg5 Bg7 8. Qd2 h6 9. Bh4 a6 10. Ba4 O-O 11. Bb3 Bf5 12. c3 Qd7 13. Bxd5 Qxd5 14. Bg3 Rac8 15. Bf4 Kh7 16. Re1 Rfe8 17. Ne5 Rcd8 18. Re3 { While there are undoubtedly some improvements for both sides earlier, we pick up the game in this tense position. Black's next few moves are based on the belief that Bxh6 is no good for White--but Bxe5! and Nxe4! were BOTH very strong here, winning material due to various pins and back-rank themes...instead } Bxb1?! 19. Nxc6! { He sees the threat, but now Black thought the e5 push would be very strong. } Qxc6 20. Rxb1 e5 21. Bxh6 { NOW I see that Re3 had a point. I spent 20 minutes calculating and decided that } Bxh6 { this move limited the damage. But after } 22. Rh3 { I played my planned continuation quickly, instead of g5! cutting off the queen's attack and adding my queen as defender. Then with Qg6 as a followup Black would have a winning advantage. } Kg7? 23. Qxh6+ Kf6 24. dxe5+ Rxe5 25. Rf3+ Ke6 26. Re3 Rxe3 27. Qxe3+ Kf6 28. Qf4+ Kg7 29. h4 Qd6!? { I think it was smart to offer the trade of queens here; the rook ending will have Black's rook getting active a move or two earlier than White's and it will be very difficult to win. He should have kept the queens on and probed for awhile. } 30. Qxd6?! Rxd6 31. Re1 Kf8 { He can't stop me going to the 7th rank with my rook so I cut out his invasion first. } 32. Kf1?! { I think Ka2 was the only good way to play for a win. } Rd2 33. Re2 Rd1+ 34. Re1 Rd2 35. Rb1 Ke7 36. Re1+ Kf6 { Tempting him to go Re8--but Black wins a pawn and White doesn't, and I'd be the one playing for the win. So... } 37. Re2 Rd1+ 38. Re1 Rd2 39. Re2 Rd1+ 40. Re1 Rd2 1/2-1/2
Try pasting the text above into this pgn viewer--I can't get Chess Publisher to work. Again.
ADDENDUM 07/24/07: So I miss short combinations or defenses twice within a few moves and then write that the game is "encouraging." I'm a regular Pollyanna! Looking back, I think some sterner self-criticism is in order for this one. I was lucky to scrape a draw.
4 comments:
Pretty much everything I thought while clicking through the game was in your annotations. g5 instead of Kg7 might have prompted a resignation on the spot.
My reaction to Bxb1 was to wonder why you're giving up the bishop pair for an undeveloped piece. I didn't see the tactics you had planned though.
I am curious about the trade at b1. If you had some back rank tactics up you sleeve why remove the problem piece for white?
At any rate I enjoyed playing through the game. Yes you missed some stuff but I think we all do. The important thing is that you saw a way to draw it and that is very important. Would you have been able to do that a year ago? I'm guessing probably not. I know I couldn't have.
Thanks much for the comments
The Bxb1 set him up to lose material on e5 if he plays Rxb1 right away--and when he saw that and played Nxc6 I was okay with that because e5 was supposed to win at least a pawn with the better position. I just have to see that g5 does two things--blocks a line and opens a line for a defender. There were some good lessons for me in this game.
Oh yes, and as I noted in the text, Bxb1(?! should just be ?) isn't actually necessary for the capture on e5 to win material, though I thought that removing one of the guards on the queen was required. And it took away the back rank themes, as you note--so, just bad play...thorough exploration of checks and captures in the critical position would have revealed the right move(s).
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