I just had an epic game which lasted 5 hours 10 minutes!
I played my opponent (Leonardo Villaverde) before and and it was always quite a battle.
I was maintaining a winning position in the beginning, blundered and lost a piece (knight), then recovered, then maintained drawish position forever and finally made series of blunders and completely lost. At this point the clock was ticking past midnight! wow..
I almost hate to comment because you must of been exhausted during this game, especially towards the end.
ReplyDeleteOf course we have looked at 4...Nxe4 many times with the idea of 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 and taking over the center. You should play this way.
You are still having trouble knowing what to do when your king knight gets pinned. You really must get away from the idea of unpinning by P-R3 and P-KN4, as routinely played in cafes. Get this pawn pushing out of your game please. Try something like:
5...d6 6.Bg5 Na5 7.Nd5 c6 8.Nxf6+ gxf6 9.Bh6 Nxc4 10.dxc4 Rg8 with a strong game for black.
You had a drawn ending of course which your opponent bravely took great risks to win.
62...Rxc6 63.Rxf2 Re6+ wins the rook as we discussed already.
66...Rf1 wins the bishop or
66...Rd2 cuts off white's king
That's the easiest way to win I guess.
66...Ra2 captures the rook pawn, the most desirable pawn.
There are times when I watch you play and I want to reach out and make a move. Some of your opponents seem like such nice people they probably wouldn't even mind.
I wanted to blockade the pawns with 70.Rf1 71.Kb6 Kd4 72.Kxa5 Kf5
The last thing you want is to face king, bishop and two passed pawns against your lone rook, with you king wandering in the wilderness. You knew that but couldn't organize a blockade.
Wow, a very long game and hard fought battle! Even though it did not turn out to be in your favor it will make you a better player for having this experience.
ReplyDeleteSome constructive feedback:
12...g5, this really should not be played unless there is a clear reason and objective that the move achieves. This is a very committal move as it advances a pawn in front of your King and creates a permanent weakness on the f5 square which White will eventually try to occupy with some piece. Instead you could have played 12...Nxb3 which would trade off one of White's best minor pieces in the game, the Bishop which aims at your King's position and can pose problems for you later in the game. This move also makes sense as your Knight is sitting on an awkward square on the side of the board so this trade of minor pieces would be a favorable exchange for you.
The whole idea of 13...Nh5, 14...Nxg3 is wrong as you help White open the f-file for his Rook which only makes the f5 a bigger weakness for you and makes your f7 pawn very backward and a permanent weakness and target for the opponent. Also you help the opponent trade off one of their bad minor pieces as the Bishop on g3 was not doing anything useful biting on granite with your pawns solidly on c7, d6, e5 forming a rock solid pawn chain.
16...Qe7, probably not the best square for the Queen. Rather 16...Qd7 is better where the Queen has more scope (c6,b5,a4 diagonal) and also stays on the d-file to support a d6-d5 pawn advance at some moment to attack White's center.
17...c5, a star move! Locking in White's Bishop on a2 where it is just a big pawn.
23...gxf4, the wrong way to recapture as it weakens your King position. Better is 23...Rxf4 24. Rxf4 exf4 when you trade off White's defender of it's King and then you still have three menacing pawns quickly rolling down towards the White King position.
29...Ne6?, this allows White to exploit the fact of your Queen and King lined up together on the open g-file. You should always try to have a sense of danger with these things realizing your Queen is right in front of the King and they are on an open file. This could always mean tactical possibilities for the opponent which is what happened here. Instead you should play 29...Rg6 preventing White from exploiting this tactical possibility along the open g-file.
34...Qh7+, a missed opportunity as the opponent could have played 35. Qh2 (even though they did not) to maintain a nice edge. You should always try to investigate different move sequences in your calculations as the sequence of moves can change a lot. For example here, much more accurate is 34...Rxg4 35. fxg4 Qh7+ 36. Qh2 Qxe4! winning back material.
38...Kf7, is a very dangerous way to go putting your square on a light square as White could have played 39. Bb1! and then once your Queen moves away he can attack your King via the g6 square. So instead safer would have been 38...Kh8 leaving your King on a dark square.
41...Kf6, a good idea to play actively with King in the endgame. However, in a position like this time counts and you need to play something quicker with more force. Mainly 41...Rg8 threatening to play 42...Rg8-g2
Am I missing something or could you have played 54...Rxc6 winning the Bishop for free and forcing the opponent to basically resign with threatening to promote your f2 pawn very soon after.
75...Ke5, this move helps the opponent get what they want allowing them to advance their King to the c5 square to make progress. If you left your King on the d4 square this would not be possible. Instead you should have played 75...Ra7 to blockade the passed pawn on a light square (same color as opponent's Bishop) and also prevent the White King from making any progress. And after 75...Ra7 it should be an easy draw just making sure that the White King does not make any progress. A sample drawing variation would go 75...Ra7 76. c5 Ra8 77. c6 Kd5 78. Ka5 Kd6 79. Kb6 Rb8+ 80. Ka5 Ra8 1/2-1/2
Thank you Bruce and Matt. I will look over the game tonight through your comments. Hopefully my game will improve soon and I will get to 1600 level :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I know you will get to 1600 level very soon! No doubt in my mind. Believe it people!
ReplyDelete