MCC Holiday Swiss (Round 3)

Well, as I so often find myself saying, a win is a win. My opponent played some reasonable moves, and I made some bad errors. I gave up an exchange, but she didn't take it. I'm not sure why, but it was a gift. I missed a number of mating ideas at the end, but found others, so I'm not sure what to make of that. I have a terrible time finishing games cleanly and efficiently.

Now I'm sitting on +3, half a point ahead of the field. There are two people at 2.5, but one is taking a bye next week, so I'll be playing Venkata Vutukuri, whom I defeated at the Harold Nelson Pillsbury Memorial tournament a few weeks ago, but he's dangerous, and will definitely be the toughest game of this tournament. I hope I keep my perfect record in second meetings (+3 =0 -0 as of this writing) and win this U1300 section.

Steve Wollkind (1120)    --    Sabrina Zhang (747)
MCC Holiday Swiss (2006)  (3)   MetroWest Chess Club
2006.12.19     1-0     C24
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 d5!? (D)

"Just about playable, but probably a bit too ambitious," says Emms.

4.exd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.O-O Bc5 (D)

With this move, black leaves the main lines as they are described in Emms' book. He gives Be7 and Bg4 as likely moves at this point, instead of Bc5.

( 6...Be7 7.Re1 )

( 6...Bg4 )

7.Re1 Bg4 8.h3 Be6 9.Nxe5 Nxe5 10.Rxe5 Qf6 (D)

I had thought this far ahead, and knew that I had moves that would protect both f2 and the R on e5. However, my brain wasn't working at all, as I didn't even consider the possibility of Bxf2. I was totally focused on Qxf2 ideas.

11.Qe1?

( 11.d4! I never even looked at this move, but it's clearly the best on the board here. Attacks the bishop and cuts the connection to f2 as well as defending the rook. )

11...Bxf2+

Oops. Now I realized my folly and started the mental process of telling myself that being down the exchange here didn't mean I had to lose.

12.Qxf2 Qxf2+?

An undeserved gift. For some reason she didn't take my hanging rook.

( 12...Qxe5 )

13.Kxf2 (D)


13...O-O

It seems that castling long here would have been the better call, as that would save the knight.

( 13...O-O-O )

14.Bxd5 Bxd5 15.Rxd5 +/-

The game is basically over at this point, I just have to figure out how to win it. Winning simply and efficiently once I have a winning position is not my strong suit (as will become quite clear at the end of this game).

15...c6 16.Rd7 Rfe8 17.Rxb7 Re5 18.Bf4 (D)

I think this may have been a mistake. The bishop needed to be developed, and developing with the attack was good, but setting myself up for a pin was dangerous, and is asking for trouble.

18...Re6 19.Nc3 Rf6 20.Ke3 (D)

Escaping the pin and inviting the check, but I wasn't worried.

20...Re8+ 21.Ne4 a5 22.Rb8 (D)

Over the board I thought this was a strong move and forced the game continuation. Now I see that black had a better move at her disposal in Re6.

22...Rxb8

( 22...Re6 )

23.Nxf6+ gxf6 24.Bxb8 Kg7 25.a4 (D)

Freezing the pawn on black for later collection by my bishop.

25...h5 26.Bc7 Kg6 27.Bxa5 Kg5 28.Bc7 (D)

A mistake...I had meant to play Bd8 to attack the f6 pawn and strike at the king on g5. At this point I found myself thinking "Am I really going to have to play this out to mate?" and wasn't playing as precisely as I could have.

28...h4 29.a5 Kf5 30.a6 Ke6 31.Bd8 (D)

Maybe a waste of time, but I wanted to be able to do something useful with the bishop once the king came closer. Really the bishop doesn't matter at this point, but why not?

31...Kd7 32.Bxf6 Kc8 33.a7 Kb7 34.a8=Q+ Kb6 35.Ra4

( 35.Qb8+ Kc5 36.Ra5# )

35...Kb5 (D)


36.d4

Oops! I was all excited about my mate in 2 threats (c5 Qa6# or Kb6 Ab8#) that I completely missed mate in 1.

( 36.Qa5# )

36...c5

( 36...Kb6 37.Qb8# )

37.Qa6# 1-0

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