Tournament (Redux)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 {The exchange variation– I generally don’t prefer it (at least not before 4. Ba4 Nf6) as White, which was my first clue I had messed up the colors.} dxc6 5. 0-0 Bd6 {f6 is just as good for protecting the pawn, as after 6. Nxe5 fxe5 Qh5+ there’s an escape route for the king, rendering the sacrifice equal at best. However, I prefer to (at least nominally) develop the bishop and prepare to castle.} 6. d4 exd4 {Automatic, really– on essentially any other move 7. dxe5 leaves White in a fantastic position.} 7. Qxd4 f6 {Both prevents 8. e5 and establishes e5 as a future square for the knight or bishop.} 8. Nbd2 Qe7 {The knight wants this square, but I figured it was best to move out the queen so as to be able to castle queenside in some scenarios and free the bishop from its defense of e5.} 9. h3 Be6 10. Nc4 {It doesn’t initially seem like a huge threat to take the bishop, as it would fix Black’s pawns, but it would leave Black with a hole on b6, as well as a weak d6-pawn, so it’s best to avoid it and keep the bishop pair.} Bc5 11. Qd3 Qf7 {Freeing up the e7-square with tempo and making a future pawn push to f5 more possible.} 12. Ne3 {White smartly retreats, as 12. b3 Bxb3 would leave White with ugly doubled pawns.} Ne7 13. b3 Ng6 14. Nf5 {The f5-knight is now untradeable without opening up the e-file and creating a hole on e6, so White deems it worth the risk.} 0-0 {However, with Ne5 now a stronger possibility post-trade, since the f5-pawn would be threatened, White chooses to maintain the possibility of re-installing the knight at a future date.} 15. Ng3 Ne5 {On 16. Qc3, Nxf3 17. Qxf3 Bd4 forces the awkward 18. Rb1 and leaves Be5 as an option, so White decides to avoid the possibility.} 16. Nxe5 fxe5 17. Be3 Be7 {Why give up the two bishops unnecessarily?} 18. Rad1 Bh4 19. c4 Qg6 {Now winning the pawn is a real threat, not just exchanging the good bishop for a poorly positioned knight.} 20. Bc5 {Protects the knight with tempo.} Rf4 21. Rfe1 b6 {The bishop is now blocking f8, and I want to double on the f-file, so I set about blocking its assault on the square.} 22. Ba3 c5 {The queenside is a little weaker, but the f-file can now be used much more effectively.} 23. Bc1 Rf7 24. Bb2 Raf8 {The e-pawn for the f-pawn would be a more than even trade for Black.} 25. Nf5 {Instead of tying down his pieces to defense, White decides to choose the more active option.} Bxf5 26. exf5 Rxf5 27. Rxe5 {Instead, g3 was the move, preventing the capture of the f-pawn in a worse manner.} Bxf2+ {Rxf2 is better, as 28. Qxg6 is forced, after which hxg6 leaves Black in pole position} 28. Kh1 Bg3 29. Qd5+ R5f7 30. Re7 Qd6 {c6 was far superior, as to avoid losing the rook 31. Rxf7 cxd5 32. Rxg7+ Qxg7 33. Bxg7 Kxg7 is a forced series of exchanges, leaving Black a piece up. Instead the played move leaves the game equal.} 31. Rxf7 Rxf7 32. Qa8+ Rf8 {Although this was forced, I had miscalculated this line– see the note after the next move.} 33. Rxd6 {I had made the mistake of thinking this was impossible due to Rf1#– much to my chagrin, the rook is pinned, which reverses the rook situation– now White’s is much better positioned.} Rxa8 34. Rd7 g6 {It doesn’t deal with the complete threat, but at least it saves an extra pawn.} 35. Rg7+ Kf8 36. Rxh7 Re8 {Forced– otherwise Rh8+ loses the rook.} 37. Rh8+ Kf7 38. Rxe8 Kxe8 {Now it’s a bishop endgame where I’m slightly worse due to pawn structure.} 39. Kg1 {Both sides improve their king position.} Ke7 40. Kf1 Ke6 41. Ke2 Kf5 42. Kf3 Bh2 {Be1 was maybe a little better, as it leaves my bishop more versatile, but either way I’m still certainly worse.} 43. g4+ Kg5 44. Bc1+ Kh4 45. Kg2 Be5 46. Bd2 c6 47. Be1+ Kg5 {We played several more moves, but as I was short on time I stopped recording both sides’ moves. In the end, he converted his advantage. 1-0.}

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 f6 {It was at this point that I remembered my opponent had been listed as unrated. You have to approach the game as you would any other, but unfortunately this, as many OTB unrated games often are, turned out to be a quick victory.} 4. Bd3 Nd7 {A second, ultimately fatal, mistake, blocking the king’s only escape route.} 5. e6 {As soon as I made this move, I recognized that 5. Qh5+ had been obvious and won quicker. I could only hope that Brian moved the knight, which he thankfully did.} Nb6 6. Qh5+ g6 7. Qxg6+ {When you can sacrifice your queen, you do, even if the alternative is exactly the same.} hxg6 8. Bxg6# {1-0.}

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {I again faced the Ruy Lopez, but this time the non-exchange variation.} a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 b5 {I think Be7 is book, but I prefer b5 sometimes as it’ll be played anyway and it limits White’s options earlier.} 6. Bb3 Be7 7. d3 d6 8. a4 {A fairly standard move– if the a-pawn is taken, my pawn structure is ruined, but if avoided it’s fine. However, there is a reason h3 generally comes first.} Bg4 {With this, I can severely damage White’s prospects of playing d4.} 9. c3 0-0 10. h3 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 {This is an exchange I’m generally happy with, which is why I made the retreat. However, with a4 on the board it becomes a little awkward.} 12. axb5 axb5 13. Rxa8 Qxa8 14. Qb3 {This is why– there’s no way to protect both pawns. However, it’s not a game-decider, as Black doesn’t necessarily lose a pawn immediately.} d5 {15. Qxb5 is a non-starter as Rb8 in response traps the queen.} 15. Re1 {White obviously doesn’t want to restore Black’s pawn structure by trading, so he must protect the e-pawn.} b4 {A mistake– Bd6, prophylactically protecting the e-pawn, saves material.} 16. exd5 {With the threat to Black’s e-pawn now apparent, fixing Black’s pawn structure is now irrelevant.} exd5 17. Bg5 {With the dual threat to the e- and d-pawns, it’s very hard to maintain material inequality.} bxc3 {Na5 would have tempoed the queen while protecting the d-pawn, and after Na5 18. Na2 gxf6 19. Nxc3 c6, although White still has the upper hand with threats like 20. Ra1, Black doesn’t lose the pawn immediately.} 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Qxd5+ Kh8 20. Nxc3 Rg8 21. d4 Bd6 22. Ne4 {Better is Qe6, which keeps the pawn, as instead of Bb4, Black can play Nxd4 and after 23. Qxa8 interpolate Nxf3+ before recapturing.} Bb4 {This move instead allows 23. Nxf6, which after the exchanges leaves White at least a pawn up.} 23. Rd1 Nxd4 24. Rxd4 {White gains the initiative with the sacrifice, but it runs out eventually– however, there isn’t really a better alternative, since 25. Qxa8 runs into Nxf3+ and a fairly even game.} exd4 25. Qxd4 Be7 26. Nxf6 Bxf6 27. Qxf6+ Rg7 28. Ng5 {The game is now roughly even, if materially unbalanced– however, there’s one more hurdle to jump over…} Qe8 {…and over which I trip spectacularly, focusing on the wrong threat (Nf7+, which isn’t anything.) Qd5 was the move here, preventing White’s preferred response.} 29. Ne6 Qe7 30. Qxg7+ Qxg7 31. Nxg7 Kxg7 {1-0, as the ending is dead lost.}

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {This time, it was my turn on the White side of the opening.} a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. h3 {I prefer the early h3, as it maintains the possibility of an early d4.} Nf6 6. Qe2 {I had recently looked over a few games with this sort of idea in the opening and was interested to try it out, the idea being that the d1 square is vacated for the rook, and that there’s no need to waste two moves on d3-d4.} Be7 7. c3 {Both to leave a square for the bishop to retreat to, and to support the pawn push.} 0-0 8. 0-0 Re8 {Black’s reorganization is a little more clunky. The idea is similar– get the rook to the center of the board and the pieces out of the way, but I’ll explain why I don’t like it and wouldn’t play this way.} 9. Rd1 Bf8 {In my mind, this both puts the rook on the wrong file (it belongs on f8 if there’s no immediate d4) and is a really inefficient way to fianchetto the bishop, such that it lets White into the center first.} 10. Bc2 {Protecting e4 and preparing d4, finally.} g6 11. d4 Qe7 {This allows the push to d5, which gains huge space– better is just exd4, which to me is automatic after essentially any d4 push in the opening to avoid such congestion.} 12. d5 Nd8 13. Bg5 Bg7 14. c4 h6 15. Be3 Nh7 16. Qd2 {f5 is becoming dangerous, so why not probe the weaknesses that would be left?} Qf8 17. Ba4 {Forcing the rook out of position and clearing the c-file.} Re7 18. c5 {Nh4 was another interesting idea, aiming to prevent f5 straightaway.} f5 19. cxd6 {19. Qb4 first was probably a little better, as my position is better if Black takes, but this trade is fine as well.} cxd6 20. Nc3 f4 {At this point, having seen the opponent’s plan developing for about ten moves and having mine seemingly take no effect, I was frustrated and decided to take drastic action– I wanted the initiative for once.} 21. Bc5 Rf7 {dxc5 is just best I think, but it’s understandable that returning the material after dxc5 22. d6 Rf7 23. d7 wasn’t appealing.} 22. b4 {My previous move was interesting, this is just bad, as I’m not getting the material back. Bb6 was better.} dxc5 23. bxc5 Qxc5 24. Be8 Rf8 25. Bxg6 {I had gotten up to this point in my initial calculations, and I figured this was preferable.} Qd6 26. Nh4 {Bh5 was maybe objectively better, but it loses all momentum, and I’m already down a piece.} Qf6 27. Nf5 Bxf5 {There’s no reason for this– the bishop is cut off and must retreat after Ng5 instead, after which the knight can be taken more advantageously.} 28. exf5 {Bxf5 keeps the bishop more free, but exf5 instead opens up e4 for later use.} Qe7 {This walks right into 29. d6– instead, Qh4 would have been a better retreat.} 29. d6 Qd7 30. Qd5+ Kh8 31. Ne4 Qc6 32. Qd3 {Still material down, trading queens would be fatal.} Ng5 {This is a bad mistake, opening up the h-file. Nf6 accomplishes the same purpose –trading knights– but is the much better alternative.} 33. Nxg5 hxg5 34. Rac1 {Rdc1 initially seems the same, but is much better, as in that case e4 35. Qe2 f3 wouldn’t end the h-file threat, instead e4 35. Qd1 ends it.} Qb5 35. Qf3 {From this point on, it’s a relatively clumsy game, but Black has already lost.} Rf6 36. Qh5+ Kg8 37. Qh7+ Kf8 38. Rc7 Nf7 39. d7 Rd8 40. Rc8 Qb6 41. Rdc1 Rc6 42. R1xc6 bxc6 43. Bxf7 Bf6 44. Qg8+ Ke7 45. Qe8+ {1-0, finally.}