Due to having a bye round in the tournament (and having quickly lost my first game as Black), I surprisingly ended up having two Whites in a row. This one, despite being a Symmetrical English, turned into one of the wildest games I have played in at least the past few years.
Similar to
Annotated Game #265 and others, I often get the sense from my opponent's initial hesitation to respond to 1. c4 that they have decided to simply mimic moves, rather than actually follow a prepared repertoire. The problem from White's perspective is that in this opening, that works reasonable well for Black up until around moves 8-9. The positive aspect, as I've also learned, is that once asymmetry is reached, Black may have less of an idea about what to do in the middlegame.
In this game, Black's asymmetric move 9 allows White to obtain a small positional plus and led to what could be a comfortable, even winning middlegame. One of the main lessons for me was a failure on move 14 to kick Black's strong centralized knight on d4 - this is something that I recognize I have repeatedly failed to do in other games, also with poor results. A big benefit of analyzing your own games is recognizing these types of specifc patterns that recur and then correcting them; I articulated this in more detail in
Annotated Game #192: The problem of mental perspective.
Starting on move 17 the game gets a lot crazier and mutual time pressure contributes to a number of swings in evaluation. I wish I had been able to spot the more sophisticated way to play, but felt relatively good at the end of an exhausting wide ride, escaping with a draw.
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.0-0 0-0 7.d3 d6 8.Rb1 Rb8 9.a3 Ng4?! 10.Bd2 Nge5 11.b4 11.Nxe5 Nxe5 12.b4 11...Nxf3+ 12.Bxf3 Nd4 13.Bg2 Bd7 14.bxc5 14.e3 Nc6 15.b5 Ne5 16.f4 Ng4 17.Qe1 14...dxc5 15.Bxb7 Nc6?! 15...Bg4 16.Be4 16.Bf4 e5 17.Bd2 Qc7 16...Rxb1 17.Qxb1 Bxe2= 16.Ne4± Na5 17.Nxc5 17.Bd5! Rxb1 18.Qxb1 e6 19.Nxc5! exd5 20.Nxd7 Nxc4 21.dxc4 Qxd7 22.Rd1+- 17...Nxb7 18.Rxb7?! 18.Nxb7 Qc7 19.Na5± 18...Rxb7 19.Nxb7 Qa8!= 20.Na5 20.Nc5 Bh3 21.e4 Qc6 22.Be3 Rc8 23.d4 Bxf1 20...Bh3 21.e4 21.f3!? 21...Bxf1 22.Kxf1 Rb8 22...f5 23.Nb3?! 23.Bb4= 23...Rb7 23...Qc6! 24.Ke2 Qb8 25.Bb4 Bd4?? 26.Nc5?? 26.Nxd4 26...Bxc5 26...a5! 27.Nxb7 axb4 28.Na5 bxa3-+ 27.Bxc5 Qe5 28.Bb4 Qh5+?! 28...a5 29.Ke1 Qe5 30.Qd2 30.Qa4 30...Qa1+ 31.Qd1 Qd4 32.Qd2?! 32.Qc2 32...e5 33.Bc3 33.Ke2!? 33...Rb1+ 34.Ke2 Qd6 35.Bb4= Qf6 36.Bc3 g5 37.Qe3 Qe7 38.Bb4 Rb2+ 39.Kd1 39.Ke1 39...Qf6 40.Qc5? 40.Bc5 40.Bc3 40...Qd8?! 40...h6!-+ 41.Qd6= Qxd6 42.Bxd6 Rxf2? 42...f6= 43.Bxe5?! 43.c5!+- 43...Kf8= 44.c5 Ke8 44...Ke7= 45.h4? 45.g4= 45.d4! Rxh2 45...Rf1+ 46.Kd2 Rf2+ 47.Ke3 Rc2 48.Kd3 Rc1 49.Bf6+- 46.d5+- 45...f5!-+ 46.Ke1 Ra2? 46...Rf3!-+ 47.exf5! gxh4 48.gxh4 Rxa3 49.Ke2?! 49.Kd2 49...a5= 50.c6 Ra2+ 51.Ke3 Rc2 52.c7 a4 53.d4? 53.Kd4 a3 54.Kd5 Kd7 55.f6 a2 56.f7 Rf2 57.c8Q+ Kxc8 58.Ke6 Kd8= 53...a3-+ 54.d5 a2 55.d6 Kd7 56.f6 a1Q 56...Rc5! 57.Bd4 Rc1-+ 57.Bxa1 Kxd6 58.f7 Ke7 59.Bf6+ 59.Be5 Kxf7 60.Kd3= ½–½
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ChessAdmin | - | Class A | - | ½–½ | A38 | |
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