rate. Now White can play 12. Rc1 stopping ... b7-b5.
12. Qd2 Ne7 13. Rfe1 b5 14. Rac1 Bb7 15. Ba3
I found this move to be a little awkward.
White is waiting for the perfect moment to do something in the center. The imme- diate 15. e4 can be met with 15. ... bxc4 16. bxc4 Qd7 and the queen wants to jump to a4 creating problems for White on the queenside.
15. ... Be4 16. Red1 Qd7 17. Ne1 Bxg2 I think I spent about five minutes on this
move when it’s obvious that it’s more or less the “only” move here. One of the main problems that I was having, which I felt that I had overcome, was the constant time trouble. For those who are chronically ill with this disease, wasting time on moves like these can be devastating.
18. Nxg2 Another problem. I’m a very active
player and there are no specific lines to calculate, so I ran out of patience. Black just has to wait with moves like c6, Rfc8, maybe take on c4 at the right moment, but nothing concrete.
18. ... f5 19. e3 Bh6 20. Qc2 b4 I didn’t like 20. … b4 right after I played
it. Something like 20. ... bxc4 21. Qxc4 Nd5 22. Nf4 Bxf4 23. exf4 Qb5 would have justified 19. ... Bh6 more. Now my position is very solid.
21. Bb2 a5 22. d5 e5 23. f4 Bg7 Another possibility is 23. ... e4, but then
White has a clear plan with moving the queen and Ne1–c2-d4-e6, whereas my knight does not have any bright prospects.
24. e4?!
-tr-+-trk+ +-zpqsn-vlp -+-zp-+p+ zp-+Pzpp+- -zpP+PzP-+ +P+-+-zP- PvLQ+-+NzP +-tRR+-mK-
After 24. e4 After I closed the queenside with 20. ...
b4, White got nice play in the center. 24. e4 opens up the d4-square for my knight. White should have been more patient and mobilized her position with moves like Ne1 with the idea of putting pressure on the e5-pawn and if I move my knight, then c4-c5 can be very strong.
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24. ... fxe4 25. fxe5 dxe5 26. Qxe4 Nf5 27. Re1
I think Anna mentioned that she didn’t
see that she couldn’t take on e5; 27. Bxe5 Rbe8. Now White has to be careful not to press with moves like 27. c5 because after 27. ... Nd4 the pawn on d5 can be hard to defend.
27. ... Rbe8 28. Rcd1 Nd4 29. Bxd4 exd4 30. Qd3
Again, I spent considerable amount of
time in this position and I can honestly say I calculated nothing. Clearly, the biggest threat for Black is Nf4-e6 and it’s very unpleasant. I was planning 30. ... g5!, preventing White’s idea, however settled for relying on forced lines such as, 30. ... Qg4 31. Rxe8 Rxe8 32. Nf4 Re3 33. Qd2 Rf3 and if 34. Ne6 then 34. ... Be5 looks dangerous for White.
30. ... Qg4 31. Rxe8 Rxe8 32. Re1 White’s main play is around the d4-
pawn. If we trade rooks, then after Nf3, Kg2 and h2-h3, Black is going to lose that pawn.
32. ... Rf8 33. Rf1 Re8 34. Nf4 Re3 35. Qd1 Qg5
We were both in time trouble already,
so I didn’t really consider the endgame because I thought the d4-pawn would fall for sure. On the other hand, trading queens is not the easiest decision to make for me. 35. ... Qxd1 36. Rxd1 Be5 37. Ne6 Re2 38. Rf1 Bd6 39. Rf2 Re1+ 40. Kg2 c6 41. Rd2 cxd5 42. cxd5 Re5 and taking the d4-pawn isn’t so easy because the pawn on a2 is a considerable weakness.
36. Rf3 Qe5 37. Rxe3 dxe3 38. Qe2 Qe4 39. Qd3 Qe5
Here, I should have just repeated with 39.
... Qf3 40. Qe2 Qe4 as it seems that White has nothing better to do 41. Ne6 Qb1+ 42. Kg2 Qe4+ can’t escape the perpetual.
40. Kg2 Bf8 41. Kf3 g5! The only move that doesn’t lose material.
42. Ne2 Bc5 43. Qe4 Qf6+ 44. Kg4 Kg7 45. h4 gxh4?
The battle is over the f4-square. Again,
I have to force a repetition with 45. ... Qb2 46. Kf3 Qf6+.
46. gxh4? Better is 46. Nf4! with a tempo (Nh5+
is a threat). Then 46. ... Kh6 47. gxh4 and now Black’s king is in trouble. White can even force an exchange of the queen with Qe6, and after the knight gets on e6, Black is in real trouble.
46. ... Bd6 Preventing Nf4.
47. Qf5 Be7 Not 47. ... h5+, which doesn’t work
because of 48. Qxh5 Qf2 49. Qg5+ Kh8 50. Nd4 e2 51. Qh6+ Kg8 52. Qe6+ and the weakness of my king once again shows.
48. Qxf6+ Kxf6 49. Kf4 At the time, this was my worst night-
mare. Now the e3-pawn is really weak, especially when the white king is right next to it.
49. ... Bc5 50. Ke4 Kg6 51. Nf4+ Kf6 52. Ne2 Again, I spent too much time on these
basic moves, whereas Anna, thanks to the 30-second increment, gained a few min- utes. This goes back to my initial comment about not wasting time on forced moves.
52. ... Bb6 53. Ng3 Ba7 54. Nh5+ Kg6 55. Nf4+ Kf6 56. Kf3
Back to the same position, but with
my opponent having few extra minutes more than me. Even though this looks really bad for Black, the endgame is very tricky. White can’t easily win the pawn with Kf3 and Ng2, as it happened in the game. White has an interesting idea of playing h5-h6 then Ne6-f8, forcing Black’s king away from the queenside, which allows White’s knight to jump back to e6 and quickly play c4-c5 and d5-d6. So something like this could happen: 56. h5 Bb6 57. h6 Ba7 58. Kf3 Bb6 59. Ne6 Kg6 60. c5.
56. ... Ke5 57. Ng2?
This is becoming redundant, but another mistake in mutual time trouble. 57. ... Kd4 58. Nxe3 Kc3 59. Ke4?
More accurate is 59. h5 Kb2 60. c5 Bxc5 61. Nc4+ Kxa2 62. Nxa5. 59. ... Kb2
-+-+-+-+ vl-zp-+-+p -+-+-+-+ zp-+P+-+- -zpP+K+-zP +P+-sN-+- Pmk-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-
After 59. ... Kb2 The try 59. ... Bc5!? stops White’s idea.
60. h5 (60. Nf1 Kb2 61. Nd2 Kxa2 62. Kd3 h5) 60. ... Kb2 61. Nf1 Kxa2 62. Nd2 Bf8 63. Kd3 Kb2 64. c5 Bxc5 65. Ne4 Bg1 66. Kc4 Kc2 with the idea of playing ... a5-a4 at the right moment.
60. c5 Chess Life — July 2011 33
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