Round 6 with notes

After losing my fifth game against a fellow Filipino, I was saddened by the fact I have no chance anymore to get any place. Also, I feel a pressure in me to win disappeared. It reminded me of my tournament before this. It was about two years ago. I had three opponents left during the last day. I lost the first game against a finalist in a major tournament. It was a better position for me with an extra pawn in a solid position. I lost the exchange but had a super strong passed pawn but in the end, I blew up and lost it even if my blunder should give at the very least a draw. In the second game, I lost it too in a winning positon. It was very tactical but I had an open file against the king, domination of dark squares, mating threats, and a two extra pawns with White having no counterplay. Unfortunately, I was down in time with my opponent having an hour against my ten minutes. I played quickly hoping to exchange pieces but gave him too much play and lost my pieces and let my flag go down. In the third game, I changed strategy and played casually for the sake of having fun whether it was having fun with my opponent or torturing my opponent so he can resign. I did win but perhaps had too much fun. I got a medal but what’s a medal compared to a trophy? Nothing. If I relate it to this, what I did I think was that I just played bughouse and blitz. It’s said to be bad if I still have a game but why care? I have no chance anyway to place. It went well. I eventually put my two horrible loses aside and concentrated on my last game. I was black against Tyler Longo in the last round. Seeing his rating as somewhat equal to mine, I was more than relaxed but of course during the game is another story. It was actually the other way around! Well, until I played an interesting move which confused and then as game continued on from that interesting move, the game slowly crept to me since White was clueless. I’ll explain why.

Round 6 CFC rated Classical 2 hrs./40 + 1 hr.
White: Tyler Longo 1991
Black: Jan Edmund D. Lazo 1994
Opening: Queen’s Indian with b3, (A47)

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 b6 4. b3
When faced with this move, only thing that comes to my mind is that he’s going to copy my moves to get a draw. I had this before in the 2009 Canadian Chess Challenge. My opponent gave me a tempo for some weird reason with 4. ... Bb7 5. Bb2 c5 6. c3?! and got crushed with a central break and a kingside attack.

4. ... Bb7 5. Bb2 c5 6. Nbd2 Nc6 7. Bd3 d5
Another possibility is 7. ... cxd4 8. exd4 Nd5 with plans of f5, Be7, 0-0, Qc7, Bf6, etc. or 8. ... Be7, 0-0, Qc7, d6, Rc8 etc., treating it like a hedgehog.

8. 0-0 Be7 9. Ne5
Typical move. The purpose of this move is to allow f4, Ndf3 strengthening his hold on e5. Black sets on neutralizing the knight with his next move but is it just that?

9. ... 0-0 10. f4 Rc8
Threatening cxd4 exd4 Nb4 getting the bishop pair.

11. a3 Nd7
Is 10. Qh5 a problem?

12. Qh5 f5!
Rather than kicking the knight with f6 if possible, Black instead focuses on controlling e4 instead. This also further closes the center. 10 ... g6 weakens the dark squares around the king and with dxc5 as a possibility, it seems suicidal. It also makes an f5 break stronger and sacrifices on the kingside, particularly on g6 possible. Based on that analysis, I went for 10 ... f5.

13. Qe2
11. Ndf3 Nf6 12. Qh3 Ne4 equalizes. The text move goes for another plan, exchanging bishops. In queen’s pawn games, there is a saying that Black needs his light-squared bishop to take care of his pawns. This is in fact true in openings like the Queen’s Indian, Dutch, Semi-Slav. Since White’s bishop is attacking granite, might as well trade it for something with a purpose. How does Black respond?

13 ... Ndxe5 14. fxe5 Bg5!
In the Queen’s Indian, this bishop is usually the piece asking itself were it should go to have purpose. Now, the bishop has answered its question. The bishop on g5 attacks the e3 pawn and so prevents Ba6 and any queen movement. Now, all of Black’s pieces have a purpose and a plan has shown itself, put pressure on the center. It involves Rc7-f7, Qe7, and f4 attacking White’s base pawn chain. With the attack on d4 and e3, White would be forced to give up his d4 pawn and so and exchange will take place where Black’s pawn would dominate the center and there is possibility for d4, opening up the h1-a8 diagonal for the bishop. White slowly falls apart with no plan.

15. Rae1?!
15. Nf3 Bh6 16. does nothing to Black. f4 is a better square for the knight and f3 is a better square for the rook piling up on the f-file first then lift them to the third rank towards the kingside. A better try would be to immediately pile up with 15. Rf3. Then 15. ... Rc7 16. Raf1 Rcf7 keeps the tension on the kingside and gives White the opportunity to move first unlike in the game.

15. ... Rc7 16. Rf3 Rcf7 17. Ref1 Qe7
Black has done everything to prepare f4 and so protects his bishop and two rooks before advancing. It also indirectly attacks the a3 pawn. Is there any other reason for this move? Well, besides what has been said, what else?

18. Rg3
Setting up a swindle. If 18. ... f4?, then just simply 19. Qh5! threatening Qxh7# and Rxg5 winning a piece.

18. ... g6
Now, f4 is possible.

19. c4?
With no other moves to play, White breaks on the center but one should ask why. I guess he had no other plans and decides on attacking the d pawn which make the e6 pawn more vulnerable and gives much more meaning for White’s e5 pawn if ever cxd5 exd5. The consequence of course is that the h1-a8 diagonal opens up if dxc4 which means that White’s rooks are much more vulnerable and a pawn push all the way to f3 might become possible. In other words, it’s a positional blunder. A better try would have been 19. c3 solidifying the White’s pawn structure but at the cost of weakening b3. 19. ... f4 fails to 20. e4 which removes the weak pawn with no cost so Black should consider 19. ... Na5 attacking the b3 pawn. Then 20. Bc2 put White on the defensive. With cxd4 and Rc8 to come with a battery or a
“gun” (tripling)on the c-file, Black has the initiative. Probably, he had to wait with 19. Kh1.

19. ... f4!
Breaking in with tempo. White has to take it to avoid immediate death.

20. exf4 Bxf4
Before I move on, I would just like to say a few words about the game. During the opening and the first part of the middlegame, White was always ahead on time. White played impatiently as if he had this before. When Black played Bg5, he started to slow down thinking of what to play. Gradually, his position deteriorated until to the point he had a lost position which is now the current position. If one knows that he’ll be grinded the same way Karpov would, would one continue on hoping his opponent would slip and lose half a point or go for weird, complicated sac that has high chances for Black to go wrong. Guess what he chose?

21. Rxf4? (!)
Who wants to get tortured? Obviously, no one would want that. Anyone who has watched any of the SAW films know what suffering is like. If what was happening in the game happened in real life, it would be him failing to solve the trap and die like the rest. I will go any further to how people died in those films as it might scare the life out of any faint-hearted person who hasn’t seen these films before. To translate what my opponent did in this game, he gave up and picked up a gun. I’ll leave that to the reader what would happen next.

21. ... Rxf4 22. Bxg6!
Same in poker, ALL IN!

22. ... hxg6 23. Qh5!
This complicates things a bit. The obvious 22. Rxg6+? Kf7 23. Qh5 fails to 23. ... Qh4!! silencing any double checks since any double check loses material. The next move by Black decides his fate. Relating to Saw, will he let his opponent get what he wants, an escape to this misery?

23. ... R4d7!
The answer is No to the question. One should get what one deserves whether it is because one succeeds or one fails. Take note that 23. ... R8f7 24. Rxg6+ Rg7 25. Rh6!! gives the game to White since 25. ... Rh7 26. Rxh7+ Qxh7 27. Qg5 hangs a rook. See the importance of the queen. Without the queen on e7, Black would be quite lost right now but that’s life. It’s unfair. One just has to deal with it.

24. Rxg6+ Rg7 25. Nf3 Nd8
Opening up the light-squared bishop. Now, any dxc4 threatens an attack based on g2. White resigned since
26. Ng5 Rxg6 27. Qxg6+ Qg7 forces an exchange of queens since an attack on g2 would happen with dxc4 and Nf7. White would also have to endure a rook vs. three pawns endgame with both sides having pieces which should favor Black.