2005 Bloomington Open: Great Tourney, but My Perf Was Nothing to Crow About
The tournament was stronger than I expected with 2 national masters showing up to play. One of the NM's even lost to somebody I'd beaten twice last year in tournament play. As for myself, I won 2 and lost 2. My wins were against too weak of an opposition, and my losses were against too strong of an opposition. So, I've only annotated my losses (with the help of Fritz).
My first round game was against an opp using the King's Indian Attack. I've never faced the KIA before, so this was new to me. I got mixed up trying to play tricky tactics when I should have been playing solid position play. I tried one trick to much and my king paid the price....
[Event "2005 Bloomington Open"]
[Site "Normal"]
[Date "2005.05.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "My Round 1 Opp"]
[Black "CelticDeath"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A08"]
[WhiteElo "1648"]
[BlackElo "1543"]
[TimeControl "2700"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c5 4. O-O Nc6
5. d3 e6 (better is 5... e5) 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. e4 O-O 8. Re1 Qc7 9. Qe2 e5?! (Fritz likes 9... Nd7 better with the idea of 10... Ne5) 10. exd5 Nb4? {I thought this move looked good, because it threatened a fork at c2, plus I could retake at d5 if White defended. However, White's Bg2 continues to get stronger.} (better is 10... Nxd5+/=) 11. Nc4 {Now, I thought I could grab some space on the queenside. Fritz prefers Re8.} b5? 12. Nxd6 Qxd6 13. a3 Nbxd5 14. Qxe5 Qb6 15. c4 Nc7 16. Be3 Ne6 17. Ng5 Ng4 18. Qe4 Nxe3?? {Trying for a combination that simply doesn't work....} 19.
Qxh7# 1-0
I had better success against a stronger opponent in Round 3. He was higher rated than my Round 1 opp, but I was more familiar with the opening he played. I reached a point where I had the better position, but I was in severe time trouble. In the critical moment of the game, sacking a bishop was called for (which I did), but I couldn't think through the proper follow up accurately with only a few minutes left on the clock. I ended up blundering and then losing the game....
[Event "2005 Bloomington Open"]
[Site "Normal"]
[Date "2005.05.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "CelticDeath"]
[Black "My Round 3 Opp"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "1543"]
[BlackElo "1764"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4?!(better is 5... cxd4) {At this point, I looked at dxc5, but was fearful of Nxe5. I should have looked at this a little closer, because e5 cannot be touched.} 6. Be3?! (6. dxc5! with the idea of Nxe5?? 7. Nxe5 Bxd1 8. Bb5+ Qd7 9. Bxd7+) 6... e6?! (6... Qb6) 7. Nbd2?! (7. dxc5! still works here) 7... Qb6 8. Qb3 Rb8? 9. Qxb6 axb6 10. Be2 (slightly better is 10. Bb5) 10... Nh6 {I thought for waaay too long after this move.
I had to determine if it was safe to take the knight, knowing that
strategically I needed to castle kingside and start action on the queenside. I finally decided that it held, but time on the clock was dwindling....} 11. Bxh6 gxh6 12. O-O Rg8 13. g3 h5 {I started to waste more time here, trying to see if Kg2 held. Fritz says it does, but I wasn't sure....} 14. Rfe1?! (better is 14. Kg2) 14... Be7 15. h4 Ra8 16. Kh2 Bf5 17. Nf1 Kd7 18. Ne3 Be4 19. Nd2 Bg6 20. Nb3 Raf8 21. f4 Rg7 22. dxc5 bxc5 23. Rad1 Kc7 24. Rd2 Rfg8 25. Bf3 h6 26.Red1? (Now, 26. Bxd5! exd5 27. f5 is called for, but I was in time pressure and didn't see this tactic) 26... b5 27. Bxd5! {Now I found it, but I settle for gaining 3 pawns for a bishop, which Fritz indicates is equal. I could have gotten more) exd5 28. Nxd5+ Kc8 29. Nxe7+? (29. Na5!) 29... Nxe7 30. Nxc5 Bf5 31. Rg1 Kc7 32. a4 bxa4 33. Nxa4
Bc8 34. Nc5 Nf5 35. Rd3 Nxh4 36. Ne4? Bf5 37. Nf6?? Bxd3 38. Nxg8 {And, short of time and out of ammo, White resigns.} 0-1
My first round game was against an opp using the King's Indian Attack. I've never faced the KIA before, so this was new to me. I got mixed up trying to play tricky tactics when I should have been playing solid position play. I tried one trick to much and my king paid the price....
[Event "2005 Bloomington Open"]
[Site "Normal"]
[Date "2005.05.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "My Round 1 Opp"]
[Black "CelticDeath"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A08"]
[WhiteElo "1648"]
[BlackElo "1543"]
[TimeControl "2700"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c5 4. O-O Nc6
5. d3 e6 (better is 5... e5) 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. e4 O-O 8. Re1 Qc7 9. Qe2 e5?! (Fritz likes 9... Nd7 better with the idea of 10... Ne5) 10. exd5 Nb4? {I thought this move looked good, because it threatened a fork at c2, plus I could retake at d5 if White defended. However, White's Bg2 continues to get stronger.} (better is 10... Nxd5+/=) 11. Nc4 {Now, I thought I could grab some space on the queenside. Fritz prefers Re8.} b5? 12. Nxd6 Qxd6 13. a3 Nbxd5 14. Qxe5 Qb6 15. c4 Nc7 16. Be3 Ne6 17. Ng5 Ng4 18. Qe4 Nxe3?? {Trying for a combination that simply doesn't work....} 19.
Qxh7# 1-0
I had better success against a stronger opponent in Round 3. He was higher rated than my Round 1 opp, but I was more familiar with the opening he played. I reached a point where I had the better position, but I was in severe time trouble. In the critical moment of the game, sacking a bishop was called for (which I did), but I couldn't think through the proper follow up accurately with only a few minutes left on the clock. I ended up blundering and then losing the game....
[Event "2005 Bloomington Open"]
[Site "Normal"]
[Date "2005.05.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "CelticDeath"]
[Black "My Round 3 Opp"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "1543"]
[BlackElo "1764"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4?!(better is 5... cxd4) {At this point, I looked at dxc5, but was fearful of Nxe5. I should have looked at this a little closer, because e5 cannot be touched.} 6. Be3?! (6. dxc5! with the idea of Nxe5?? 7. Nxe5 Bxd1 8. Bb5+ Qd7 9. Bxd7+) 6... e6?! (6... Qb6) 7. Nbd2?! (7. dxc5! still works here) 7... Qb6 8. Qb3 Rb8? 9. Qxb6 axb6 10. Be2 (slightly better is 10. Bb5) 10... Nh6 {I thought for waaay too long after this move.
I had to determine if it was safe to take the knight, knowing that
strategically I needed to castle kingside and start action on the queenside. I finally decided that it held, but time on the clock was dwindling....} 11. Bxh6 gxh6 12. O-O Rg8 13. g3 h5 {I started to waste more time here, trying to see if Kg2 held. Fritz says it does, but I wasn't sure....} 14. Rfe1?! (better is 14. Kg2) 14... Be7 15. h4 Ra8 16. Kh2 Bf5 17. Nf1 Kd7 18. Ne3 Be4 19. Nd2 Bg6 20. Nb3 Raf8 21. f4 Rg7 22. dxc5 bxc5 23. Rad1 Kc7 24. Rd2 Rfg8 25. Bf3 h6 26.Red1? (Now, 26. Bxd5! exd5 27. f5 is called for, but I was in time pressure and didn't see this tactic) 26... b5 27. Bxd5! {Now I found it, but I settle for gaining 3 pawns for a bishop, which Fritz indicates is equal. I could have gotten more) exd5 28. Nxd5+ Kc8 29. Nxe7+? (29. Na5!) 29... Nxe7 30. Nxc5 Bf5 31. Rg1 Kc7 32. a4 bxa4 33. Nxa4
Bc8 34. Nc5 Nf5 35. Rd3 Nxh4 36. Ne4? Bf5 37. Nf6?? Bxd3 38. Nxg8 {And, short of time and out of ammo, White resigns.} 0-1
posted by CelticDeath at 2:21 PM
5 Comments:
Hey CD,
Sounds like a good tournament to me. Why were you disappointed?
PS
I was meaning my peformance was nothing special, Pawn Sensei. My wins were against 2 800 rated players - nothing to brag about. I had one game that I should have been playing more solidly but didn't. Another one that I should have been playing more quickly, but didn't. I'm hoping that the experience of these losses will at least provide me with some instructive benefits.
Oh, I know that feeling. Hang in there!
PS
Comment on your round three game:
9. Qxb6? When you take here you give black the half open a file for attack. Imagine if you had the doubled pawns and the open file. You would have been able to use it to attack the queenside.
21. f4? This is actually your biggest mistake. It makes g3 really weak and the target on an attack. 21. Rad1 is better. You bring the other rook into play. Or perhaps Ng2 aiming for Nf4. Now he will have a hard time defending h5.
Pawn Sensei, I changed the title of the post to make it clearer that I was dissing my own performance and not the tourney.
Christopher,
Fritz gives 9. Qxb6 as its top move on Infinite Analysis at a depth of 14/14 and evaluates it as +/- 0.81. The idea here is to wreck the pawn structure while removing the queens. The static weakness of the doubled pawns apparently outweigh the open files for Black.
Fritz gives 21. f4 also as +/= 0.34 ar a depth of 11/11 and 21. Rad1 as 0.37 at a depth of 13/13, so you are right that it is a better move, although only slightly.
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