The games
Round
One: I play an interesting game ... it transposes to a Najdorf
Sicilian. My opponent plays a wild line, (8.g4!?) but does not seem to
know where he is going with it. He slowly gets outplayed. I then sack an
exchange, but fail to find the strongest continuation. (>/= 23...Bc4!)
However, my opponent fails to find the best defense, and - short of time -
he goes down in flames.
Sijing
Wu (1874) - A.J. Goldsby (2200) / [B20]
Headland, AL (R#1) / 2015.
1.e4 c5; 2.Nf3 a6; 3.d4 cxd4; 4.Nxd4 Nf6; 5.Nc3 d6; 6.Be2 e5; 7.Nb3 Be7; 8.g4 Be6; 9.g5 Nfd7; 10.Rg1 Nc6; 11.h4 Na5;
12.Nd5 Rc8; 13.Nxe7 Kxe7; 14.Bd2 Nc4; 15.Bb4 Qb6; 16.Bc3 Nc5; 17.Nxc5 Rxc5; 18.Rb1 Rhc8; 19.Bd3 Qc7; (See
diag, just below.)
20.Qh5!? Na3!;
21.Rc1 Rxc3! 22.bxc3 Qxc3+; 23.Ke2?! Nc4; 24.Rgd1? Nb2; 25.Rg1? Nxd3; 26.cxd3 Qb2+;
27.Ke3 Rxc1; 28.Rxc1 Qxc1+;
29.Ke2 Qf4; 30.Qxh7 Bg4+; 31.Kf1 Bf3; 0-1
Round
Two: I play a 1600, but if I think I was going to get an easy
game, I am sadly mistaken - at one point, I only had about six minutes to
finish the game, it was one of the most complicated games I had ever
played. Its a nice English, and I start attacking, thinking my
opponent will make a big mistake and that I could win the game quickly.
However, this never materializes. (At one point, a lower-rated player who
was watching this game thought I was busted when the BQ penetrated into my
position ... I was also a clear Pawn down at the time.) Then we go into an endgame where it is
not clear who is better, but I am able to regain my Pawn. Unfortunately, Black has a bad Pawn structure and two
Knights that have great difficulty coordinating or getting into the game. In
the end, I win a nice ending, although Deep Fritz 14 finds MANY
improvements ... for both sides!!!
A.J.
Goldsby (2200) - Stephen E. Eisenhauer (1685) / [A20]
Headland, AL (R#2) / 2015.
1.c4 e5; 2.Nc3 Nf6; 3.g3 Nc6; 4.Bg2 Be7; 5.d3 d6; 6.Nf3 Bg4; 7.h3 Bh5; 8.g4 Bg6; 9.Nh4 Qd7; 10.Rb1 a5; 11.a3 0-0; 12.Nxg6 hxg6;
13.0-0 Nh7; 14.e3 Ng5; 15.Nd5 Bf6; 16.b4 axb4; 17.axb4 Rab8; 18.Bb2 Ne7; 19.Nxf6+ gxf6; 20.f4 Ne6; 21.Ra1 c6; 22.d4! exd4;
23.f5 Ng7; 24.Qxd4 Ne8; 25.Rf2! g5; 26.Bf3 Kg7; 27.Rh2 Rh8; 28.h4! gxh4; 29.Kf2 Ng8; 30.Rg1!? Kf8; 31.e4 Qe7; 32.Rgh1 Qe5;
33.Qd2 Qg3+; 34.Ke2 h3; 35.Bd4 Qh4; 36.Bf2 Qh7; 37.Bg3 Rd8; 38.Qd4 Qh6; 39.Kf2 Ne7; 40.Qe3 Ra8;
(See the diagram, below.)
41.Qxh6+ Rxh6; 42.Rxh3 Ra2+; 43.Be2 Rxh3; 44.Rxh3 Kg7; 45.Bf4 Ng8; 46.Rb3 Nh6; 47.Ke3 b6; 48.b5! c5; 49.Rd3! Rc2;
50.Ra3! Ng8; 51.Ra8 Kf8; 52.Bxd6+ Ne7; 53.Rb8! Rc3+; 54.Bd3 Rb3; 55.g5!, 1-0
(If 55...PxP/g5; then 56.f6, and Black will lose major material
and/or get mated.)
Round
Three: Since I knew my opponent was expecting a Benko Gambit, I
decided to switch and play a Grunfeld. It is another extremely complicated
game, and (at one point) I am more than 30 minutes behind on the clock. (I
took a great deal of time before making the Pawn capture on a2, I wanted
to be sure that my Queen would not get trapped.) I wind up in an endgame
where I am a Pawn up, if I had found 38...Bc3; DF-14 shows that I would
have won easily. As it was, I was down to about a minute on the clock, and
I wound up allowing my opponent a perpetual check.
Rex
E. Blalock (2140) - A.J. Goldsby (2200); [A45]
Headland, AL (R#3) / 2015.
1.d4 Nf6; 2.c4 g6; 3.Nc3 d5; 4.Bf4 Bg7; 5.e3 0-0; 6.Rc1 c5; 7.dxc5 Qa5; 8.Nf3 Rd8; 9.Qb3 Qxc5; 10.Be2 Nc6; 11.0-0 dxc4; 12.Bxc4 Na5;
13.Qb5 Qxc4; 14.Qxa5 b6; 15.Qa3 Re8; 16.Rfd1 Qa6; 17.Qb4! Bb7; 18.Nb5!? Qxa2!;
(A complicated position, see below.)
19.Ra1 Nd5;
20.Rxa2? Nxb4; 21.Ra4?! Na6!?; 22.b4 Bc6!; 23.Rxa6 Bxb5; 24.Ra2 e5; 25.Bg3 f6; 26.h3 a6; 27.Rc1 Rec8; 28.Rac2 Rxc2;
29.Rxc2 Bf8; 30.Rb2 Rc8; 31.Nd2 Kf7; 32.f4! exf4; 33.Bxf4 Ke6; 34.Kf2 f5; 35.g4 Bg7; 36.Ra2 Kd5?!;
Not the best.
[ >/= 36...fxg4! and 37...Bc3! '-+' ]
37.gxf5 gxf5; 38.Nf3,
(See the second diagram - just below.)
38...Rc4?;
(Maybe - '??')
This move pretty much blows any advantage, with 38...Bc3; Black
should probably cruise to the win.
(I was very short of time at this point in the game.)
39.Rd2+ Kc6; 40.Rd6+ Kb7; 41.Re6 Bf8;
42.Rf6 Bxb4; 43.Rf7+ Kc8; 44.Rxh7 a5; 45.Nd4 Bd7?!; 46.Rh8+ Kb7; 47.Rh7 Kc8;
48.Rh8+ Kb7; 49.Rb8+ Ka6; 50.Ra8+ Kb7; 51.Rb8+ Ka6; 52.Ra8+ Kb7; 53.Rb8+,
½ - ½ (Draw)
Round
Four: In the last round, I play a young girl, (R. Wu); who upset
Pat Walker in the very first round. Fortunately for me, I get to play a
line that I knew very well ... I once defeated a Senior Master with this
line. (I also had been looking at these lines with my computer just a few
short weeks ago!) As slow as I was in the other games, in this one I was
very quick, playing many of my first 30 moves nearly instantly. Black gets
a horrible Pawn structure, with holes on d5 and f5, and also doubled
f-Pawns and a very bad Bishop. In the end, I just cruise to a
win.
A.J.
Goldsby I (2200) - Rochelle Wu (1659); / [B20]
Headland, AL (R#4) / 2015.
I
start off with a very innocuous line of the Closed Sicilian, but then I
play d4. (Which is probably nothing more than a simple
transposition.)
1.e4 c5; 2.Nc3 d6; 3.g3 Nc6; 4.Bg2 Nf6; 5.h3 e6;
6.Nge2 Bd7; 7.d4 cxd4; 8.Nxd4, {Diagram
below.}
This is a very innocent-looking position, even experts and masters
routinely under-estimate what is about to happen next.
8....Be7!?;
(Maybe - '?!' or even '?')
Maybe not the most precise move here.
The
computer does not see anything wrong with this move ... even after an
overnight analysis! However, it IS an inaccurate move, Black had to play
8...a6; with a completely OK (level) game. Now White - by force - can
force Black to compromise her Pawn structure.
[ >/=
8...a6!; 9.0-0, '=' ]
9.Ndb5! Qb8;
10.Bf4! e5!?; 11.Bg5! a6; 12.Bxf6! gxf6; 13.Na3,
"+/=" {Diagram - below.}
Look at the holes that are in Black's Pawn position ... a gaping wound on
d5, and another one on f5. And - to add to Black's troubles - she has a
set of doubled f-Pawns and a bad Bishop, as well. (Even masters have been
unable to overcome these difficulties!)
Now Black probably should
play 13...f6-f5!
13...Qc7!?;
14.0-0 Be6; 15.Nd5 Bxd5!?; 16.Qxd5 Rf8?!;
Come what may, Black probably had to castle on the King-side.
*************************************
(In the coming series of
moves, 21...Rg8; was a big improvement over what was played in the actual game.)
17.c3 0-0-0; 18.Rfd1 Qd7; 19.h4 Kb8;
20.Kh2 Qg4; 21.Qd3 Qg7?!; 22.Nc4,
'+/'
Take a look at this position ... (diagram below).
White is hugely better here.
22...Rg8;
23.Ne3 Qg6;
When you castle on opposite sides, strategy is often thrown out the window
and it becomes a race to mate the enemy King.
(Now - to add to Black's woes, I can open lines to her King, but thanks to
the Pawn structure, Black cannot easily reciprocate.)
24.b4 h6;
25.b5,
I like this move for White, however, the computer prefers >/=
25.a4!
25...axb5;
26.Qxb5 Na7; 27.Qb3 Rd7; 28.Nd5 Re8;
29.Rab1 h5; 30.Bh3, '+-' Black
Resigns, 1-0.
(If 30...Red8; then 31.Qa4!,
is absolutely crushing.)
The box shows that White has
nearly a 12-point advantage!!
(The
end of the game was kind of funny. For most of the game, little Rochelle
Wu {8-10?} sat with a stoic face, for the most part, you could not see any
emotion at all ... she could be winning, she could be losing, one could
not gather any information by looking at her facial expression. However, after I played
{my move thirty} Bishop to h3, she studied the
position for a minute or two. Then she made the cutest look of disgust, as if she had
sniffed a rotten piece of fruit - and then turned down her King. I wanted
to hug her after the game and then ask her to forgive me for defeating
her; however, I was not sure if this would be considered appropriate
behavior - although I do have three girls of my own. See
a story about young Rochelle Wu - from 2014.)
Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby, 2015. All rights reserved.
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