Thursday, October 18, 2007

Western States Open, Game 1 (Rd.3)

As noted below, I was just glad to be in the tournament, having missed the first day with work, family illness etc. Remarkably, I see that I spent 8 minutes on 25. ... Bf6?? (I keep track of the time used on each move for both players. I recommend it). Thankfully, this was the darkness before the dawn!

[Event "Western States Open (B)"]
[Site "Reno, NV"]
[Date "2007.10.13"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Brennan, Tim"]
[Black "Pearson, Robert"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1711"]
[BlackElo "1607"]
[ECO "B01"]
[Annotator "RLP"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Nxd5 4. c4 Nb6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be3 g6?! { Better is Bf5 } 7. h3 Bg7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. Be2 e5 10. d5 Ne7 11. Qd2 Nf5 12. O-O { 0-0-0 looks like it would give good attacking chances--Black isn't in position to attack as quickly as White. } Nxe3 13. fxe3 Qe7 14. Kh1 Bd7 { The game is about equal here. } 15. e4 a6 { f5 is the plan--why not do it now? } 16. Rad1 Rad8 17. Qe3 Nc8?! 18. c5 f5 19. Bc4 Kh8 20. Rd2 f4 21. Qf2 g5 { This doesn't lose, but it shows that Black is a little too optimistic. Maybe Bf3. } 22. d6 cxd6 23. Nd5 Qe8 24. Nxg5 Qg6? { cxd5 is still okay for Black. the text move may not lose, but it's based on a faulty tactical idea. } 25. Qh4 Bf6?? { Bh6 offers holding chances, but this loses on the spot--I missed the bishop covering f7. } 26. Nxf6 Rxf6 27. Nf7+ Rxf7 28. Bxf7 Qxf7 29. Qxd8+ Kg7 30. cxd6 Bb5 { Well, I guess it doesn't matter too much but this is pretty silly. } 31. Rc1 f3 32. Rc7 1-0

4 comments:

transformation said...

nice viewer... im still searching for my method therein.

miss you around...

warmest, dk

Douglas Stewart said...

At a glance 11 Qd2 looked like a ?! move. Fritz seems to think it is okay, but I think it's important to preserve the dark squared bishop. The most interesting move is probably 11 g4. I agree that 12 O-O-O would have been good from a practical sense, although 12 .. c6 is a challenging response.

I think 13 fxe3 was wrong and I'm not a big fan of 14 Kh1. Black has a serious initiative after that. He should have played 14 .. e4 15 Nd4 f5 where Black has a serious positional bind on the position. After 13 Qxe3 f5 14 Rfd1 Qe7 15 Rac1 f4 16 Qd3 Bf5 17 Ne4 Na4 18 Qb3 (it feels like White is walking a tight rope because he is) Nc5 19 Nxc5 Qxc5 20 Nh4 Bd7 21 Bd3 White appears to be fine, but Black keeps it complicated with e4!? 22 Bxe4 Qe7 (attacking 2 pieces) 23 Qxb7 Rac8 24 d6 Qxh4 25 c5 Be6 26 d7 Rcd8 27 Qxc7 f3! 28 Bxf3 Bxd7 29 Rxd7 Rxe7 30 Qxd7 Rxf3 31 gxf3 Qg5+ 32 Kh2 Be5+ 33 f4 Bxf4+ 34 Kh1 Bxc1 35 c6 Qb5 36 Qe6+ Kg7 37 Qe7+ draw. That's a really long line but I struggled to find a safe way off the highway along the way.

I think your attack starting with 22 d6 was quite inspired. Black probably could have defended better with 24 .. Qh5 after which 25 Nf3 Bc6 seems to lead to a small White edge.

After 25 .. Bh6 26 Nf7+ looks best, i.e. 26 .. Qxf7 27 Qxh6 Qg7 28 Qxg7+ Kxg7 29 b4 where I think you have a nice edge in the endgame.

It's definitely a game defined by your pretty 22 d6 move.

Robert Pearson said...

Douglas, thanks so much for once again providing expert analysis--the only thing I'd add is that it is my opponent's inspired 22. d6...I'm Black in this game. I should have seen 14. ... e4! followed by f5, at least in the analysis. It's a natural move gaining space and time and striking into the opponent's territory.

Douglas Stewart said...

Oops... details details. :-)

Wish me luck, our State Championship is this weekend! My 2002 Expert rating is on the line of course as well.