Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Western States Open, Game 3 (Rd. 5)

Another win, in one of the oddest openings I've ever played against. For the second game in a row I don't make any really bad moves--in computer evaluation terms, maybe a few second- or third-best moves that drop me from +1.50 to +0.75 or something like that, but no +1.0 to -2.0 types. Hmm, maybe 33. Bxh8?! dropped from +8 to +4 or something like that. Anyway, it's encouraging to figure that against B-players you just need to avoid the really bad stuff, try your best on every move and you'll usually get some opportunities somewhere along the way. Less so against A and Expert but we'll try to build from here...

[Event "Western States Open (B)"]
[Site "Reno, NV"]
[Date "2007.10.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Pearson, Robert"]
[Black "Oca Homer, Nicolas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1607"]
[BlackElo "1681"]
[ECO "A40"]
[Annotator "RLP"]

1. d4 h6 2. e4 a6 3. Nc3 e6 4. a3 d6 5. Nf3 Qd7 6. Bd3 f6 7. Be3 Qf7 8. Qe2 c6 9. e5 { So far I haven't commented on his unusual opening because...I don't know what to say! I'm sure White has a big edge but where to attack? 0-0 and a queenside advance is probably a fine idea, but I thought capturing on e5 here would be terrible for him, and if he closes the center I have a plan. } f5 10. h4 d5 11. h5 Be7 12. g4 Bd8 { This fits right in with the rest of his moves so far... } 13. Nh4 { 13. gxf5 exf5 with a bind is better. Why relieve his congested position, even if it's the "good" bishop being exchanged? } Bxh4 14. Rxh4 Ne7 15. gxf5 exf5 16. O-O-O Be6 17. Rg1 Nd7 18. Qf3 { ?! White is gradually frittering away his advantage. This move was supposed to be followed up by Rf4, if I recall, but that doesn't lead anywhere. I found it hard to get a handle on the position around here. } O-O-O 19. Qe2 g5 { ? Better Kb8. Opening lines helps me more than him. } 20. hxg6 Nxg6 21. Rxh6 Rxh6 22. Bxh6 Rh8 23. Bd2 c5 { ? opening more lines for ME. But I didn't calculate the line 24. Bxa6 cxd5 25. Nb5 Kb8 26. Bxb7! and White has a winning attack. Instead... } 24. dxc5 { ?! } Nxc5 25. Qe3 Nxd3+ 26. cxd3 Kb8 27. Kb1 { ?! 27. Qb6 is right but this was supposed to be 'prophylactic.' At least it doesn't spoil the position. } f4 28. Qb6 Qf5 29. Ka1 Nxe5 { He spent 26 minutes here, and during that time I calculated a lot myself and concluded that taking the pawn was bad. So naturally I was happy to see this, but maybe it's not as bad as I thought. } 30. Qd6+ Ka8 31. Nxd5 Bf7 { ? The real stinker. He had to play Bxd5. } 32. Bc3 { ! Killing. } Nf3 { I suppose Bxd5 is "better" in some sense, but pretty horrible. } 33. Bxh8 { ?! More accurate is Nc7+. Now Qxd5 would leave White up a lot of material anyway, but the check should have been played! However... } Nxg1 { ? } 34. Qd8+ { and mates. Black resigned. } 1-0

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That guy was a B class? If that's the kind of crap that guy usually pulls, I'd like to think that I'd open a can of whoopie on him every time.

Maybe in the opening, something like 3. c4 instead, looking to blow the center wide open. When he played 10. ... d5, it closed the center, instantly taking away a lot of your development advantage.

+1.50 to +.75 is a huge drop, almost a Pawn. It means either the computer misevaluated (maybe because of event horizon), or something went very wrong, perhaps positionally.

But you did pull out the win eventually, so that was good. (Sorry if the tone was overly critical. Caveat is that I'm a 1550...)

Robert Pearson said...

I like your suggestion for next time--if I ever see anything this weird again...yes, c4 instead of Nc3 makes it easier to open lines later.

I don't know if any one move was like -0.75 literally, but there were quite a few ?! but no ? on my part, which represents progress :)

transformation said...

nice game!