Wednesday 21 March 2007

Late Night Chess Blogging

Wednesday night is chess night for me, so I usually don't get to update the blog until late. But if I play a halfway decent game then I at least have something to post.
While this game isn't perfect (I simply missed some obvious tactics), I was still happy with the outcome.

Press,S - Bliznyuk,A [A53]
ANU Rapid, 21.03.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 4.e4 e5 5.d5 This is a committal move, and White is better off waiting, either to exchange or to push on when necessary. However the reason for playing it had more to do with a desire to research the position rather than look for what is objectively best.
What I was looking for was for Black to play c5 and allow me to investigate the strength of the b4 break for White. 5...a5 Doh! There goes that idea. 6.g3 However there is a plan B (or indeed a Plan A) in this position. g3, f4 and then a kingside attack has been used against this Black setup. 6...Nc5 7.Bg2 Be7 8.Nge2 0-0 9.0-0 Ne8 With f5 coming I thought I would go for f4 first. 10.f4 f5 11.Be3 Nxe4 12.Nxe4 fxe4 13.Bxe4 Nf6 14.Bg2 Ng4! I missed the strength of this move. 15.Bd2 exf4 16.Nxf4 Bf6 And here my calculating ability went entirely out the window. 17.Qc2 Bd4+ I simply missed this! 18.Kh1 Bf5 Bf5 is actually recommended by Crafty, but both Andrey and myself though it wasn't the best. [18...Nf2+ 19.Rxf2 Bxf2 looks straightforward and would probably lead to a win for Black. 20.Bxa5 would have been my followup but it isn't enough. (20.Be4 was better, but I'm not sure I would have chosen it as Bxa5 would have been the only move I would have looked at. 20...g6 21.Bxg6 Qe7 is OK for Black (21...hxg6?? 22.Qxg6+ Kh8 23.Bc3+) ; 20...Be3!-+] 19.Be4 Bxe4+ 20.Qxe4 Nf2+ 21.Rxf2 Bxf2 22.Qe6+ now I decide to head for a draw based on the idea of sacrificing the knight on g6. 22...Kh8 [22...Rf7 23.Rf1 Bd4 is objectively good for Black, but Andrey thought it was starting to look dicey for him.] 23.Rf1 Bd4 Happy to take the draw. 24.Ng6+ with checks on h3 and e6. ½-½

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