Back to Basics / Reader annotations
I saw playing 23. ... a5 allows my knight
to get to a strong square at c5, or if driven away, c3. True. Even better was to play 22. ... a6-
a5 as on a previous move, as 22. ... Bf8 is useless.
24. Raf1 (65) (24. Rb1!—L.A.) 24. ... Nc7 (23:52) 25. Rb1 (56) Na6 (23:31) 26. a3 Nc5 (21:33) 27. b4 axb4 28. axb4 (48) Na4! (20:57)
I thought this was a good move provided I play ... Nc3.
29. Rb3 (31) Ra7 (20:21) 30. Rf1 Re8 (19:38) A waste of valuable chess time.
31. Nf2 (29) Qc7 (18:53) (31. ... Nc3!—L.A.) 32. Ne4 (29) Rea8 (18:25) 33. Rfb1 (24) Nb6 (18:16)
or getting the knight to the c3- or f4- squares. Mating threats then line up. An excellent comment.
41. Qd1 Qc7 42. Qg4??
White should play 42. Qh5 instead, with advantage.
42. ... Ne7 (60:05) 43. Qe4! Qc5! (39:06) 44. Rb7 Rxb7 45. Rxb7 Qc6! 46. Qb1 Nd5 (33:46) 47. Rb8? Ne3!! 48. Rb2 Rb8!! 49. Qa2 (58) Rxb2 (29:13) 50. Qxb2 (57)
I needed to play 61. ... Nc4 but I felt the time crunch. Even in the worst time crunch, why play
against rules of thumb? A bishop-of-oppo- site-colors ending is the most drawish, thus, why rush to trade knights with a draw now the most likely outcome?
62. Bxd1 g5? A blunder, which was pointed out to
me after the game. I should have played 62. ... g6 and then captured, getting my king in the game.
63. g4 Kg7 (20:59) 64. Bb3 Kf8 65. Kf1 (40) Ke7 (20:48) 66. Ke2 Kd6 67. Kd3 Kc5 68. Bc2
50. ... Qc2? (28:46)
Don’t trade the queens, play 50. ... d3! In a drastically changed, and almost cer-
tainly won, situation it was worth five-seven minutes to find the winning blow, 50. ... d3!. If 51. Qf2, then 51. ... d2!
34. c5?? (21) dxc5 (16:27) 35. bxc5??
White had to play 35. d6 first. Thus, Black should have played 34. ... Nxd5—capturing one move sooner.
35. ... Nxd5 36. Kh2 (15 & 60) h6 (15:23 & 60) Creating an escape hole for my king.
37. Bc4 Ne7
Upon analyzing the game, I found 37. ... Ne3! was stronger. Unless for a very good reason, choose an active move!
38. Nd6? Qxc5 39. Nf7+ Kh7 (70:40) 40. Be6 (see diagram top of next column)
40. ... Ng8? (61:31) A blunder. I was trying to activate the
bishop, but a better move would have been 40. ... Nd5!, and then if 41. Rb5, I can play 41. ... Qc3!, either trading the queens
51. Qxc2 Nxc2 (28:41) 52. Bd5 Bc5? (27:24) Usually, playing ... Bc5 is a good move,
but here I needed to play 52. ... Be7! cut- ting off the knight’s escape routes. Again, stop (the situation changed
sharply—into the ending) and think! Indeed, 52. ... Be7 is an easy win; so is, too, 52. ... d3, and 53. Be4 Ne1 or 53. Bb3 Ne3. In all cases Black will be a piece and a pawn up, an easy win.
53. Be4 (49) Nb4 (27:13) 54. Nd8 d3 (26:39) 55. Nb7 Be3? (26:23)
Better was 55. ... d2! 56. Bf3 e4, win- ning.
56. Nd6 d2 57. Bf3 Bf2 58. Ne4 Be1 59. Kg1 (42) (see diagram top of next column)
59. ... Nd3? (22:59) 60. Nc3? Nb2 (22:34) 61. Nd1 Nxd1? (21:34)
If you are unrated or rated 1799 or be low, then GM Lev Alburt invites you to send your most instructive game with notes to: Back to Basics, c/o Chess Life, P.O. Box 3967, Crossville, TN 38557-3967 or e-mail your material to
backtobasics@uschess.org. Makesureyourgame(orpart of it) and your notes will be of interest to other readers.
www.uschess.org 21
68. ... e4+? I thought I could give up this pawn to
get my king in a position to attack. A better move would have been 68. … Kb4. Yes, now the draw becomes obvious and easier to achieve.
69. Kxe4 Kc4 70. Bd1 Kc3 71. Ke3 Bg3 72. Ke4 Kb2 73. Kd3 Kc1 74. Ke2 Bf4 75. Ba4 Kb2 76. Kd1 Kc3 77. Ke2 (37) Kd4 (16) 78. Bc2 Ke5 79. Kf3 Kd6 80. Ke4 Ke7 (14) 81. Bd1 Kf7 (11), Draw finally agreed.
A different move here and there could have given me a win in this game.
Better use of time would have helped.
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