Well pleased with this OTB win against an ECF180
16 Aug '13 12:273 editsNot against a titled player or anything but I rarely get to play such people. This game was played last night in our Club Knock Out Championship. My opponent had just returned from playing in the British Championship (see Fat Lady's thread) where he had scored a creditable 4.5/11. From the heights of sharing a tournament with the best of British he finds himself on a damp thursday evening sitting in opposite me! His current FIDE is 2030 and ECF 187. In terms of ratings it is my best OTB knock-over and the game was exciting too!
[Event "MKCC Knock Out"]
[Site "Milton Keynes Internal"]
[Date "2013.08.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ragwort"]
[Black "RF"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteBCF "143"]
[BlackBCF "187"]
[ECO "B21r"]
1. e4 c5 2. d4 {Around Christmas I bought Esserman's Morra book. I've tried it out on RHP a couple of times including a loss to atticus2 in January} cxd4 3. c3 d3 {Black declines the pawn, hoping to misplace the White Bishop on d3 and interfere with the free development of White's pieces} 4. Bxd3 Nc6 5. Nf3 {In the post mortem I said that Esserman recommends c4 ... "with a Maroczy Bind" my opponent finished - so he probably has had access to the book too.} g6 6. 0-0 {I took a minute or two here thinking about possible set-ups. Esserman says that d4 can be White's main weakness in the Morra but not if my pawn stays on c3 it isn't! So I decided to go my own way and see what happened. As this was a Knock Out game a draw was no use to either of us so uncompromising play was expected} Bg7 7. Bf4 {Again looking at general set-ups. I thought I could threaten to play e5 and interfere with, or attack, his knight's development to f6. I also thought that with a possible Qd2 I could threaten Bh6. In any case with a pawn on c3 I should develop the bishop first in case the knight went to d2 blocking the bishop in} e5 {This looks like a rush of blood to the head. I expected d6 when I was considering Re1. After the game my opponent said rather sheepishly "I don't know about e5". By playing this he must be sentencing himself to a backward d pawn on a half open file.} 8. Bg5 {I nearly played straight to e3 as I thought he would answer this with Qb6 rather than weaken the a2-g8 diagonal.} f6 {But what do I know?} 9. Be3 d5 {This is a step too far for which he castigated himself afterwards. It dissolves a potentially weak pawn for sure but maybe he still worried about a c4 ideas with a bind.} 10. exd5 Nce7 {Forced because Qxd5 is answered by Bxg6+ and Qxd5} 11. Bb5+ {The central pawns are going on to white squares after the coming c4 so I take the chance to offer the exchange of bishops} Bd7 12. Bxd7+ Qxd7 13. c4 {And after this White has a long term positional advantage in the passed d pawn. I thought my knight can go to c3, Q to e, d, or c2, rooks to the middle and I should be nicely ahead. His pawns are loose on the Kingside so I may have some chances there too. Above all no potential endgames should frighten me.} Nh6 14. Nc3 {I decided not to fear Nh-f5xe3 as that would open the f file and give me two development tempi} Nf7 {But he prefers to hold d6} 15. Ne4 {So I have a look at that and also Nc5. In addition his e4 push is blocked} b6 {He prevents Nc5} 16. Rc1 {Here I wanted to play b4 to gain control of c5 but feared f5 N somewhere followed by e4 other knight moves and B takes the a1 R} 0-0 17. b4 h6 {Meanwhile he doesn't want me to be able to answer f5 with Neg5} 18. Qb3 {This turns out very well. I played it to be able to support d5 after pushing c5 and a possible discovery on Black's king on the aforementioned a2-g8 diagonal. Rfd1 also becomes possible} f5 19. Nc3 g5 20. c5 e4 {The post mortem centred round whether he should have played 20...bxc5 21. bxc5 Rab8 here. 22. Qc4 and Qc2 were quickly rejected and 23. c6!? Rxb3 24. cxd7 Rxc3 looked at with several of the club's strong players helping out. It must be fantasy land though as the simple 22. Qd1 maintains everything} 21. Nd4 {This was a key decision. I knew that if I was to win I would need to offer material to slow his advancing king's side pawns and convince him my centre pawn advance was a serious winning chance. I could also see how I could push onto c6 and d6. Two connected pawns on the 6th are worth a rook I remembered from somewhere so I felt happy with the compensation for the e3 bishop} f4 22. c6 Qg4 {Yikes! Now he threatens f3 and if g3 Qh3...is his counterplay strong enough after all?} 23. h3 {This felt like an only move but it forces him off the g file} Qh5 24. d6 {My pawns have turned out quicker than his but he is still fighting and I could see no killer blow} fxe3 25. fxe3 {Played to protect my knight and open the f file bringing the Queen's pin on the f7 knight into play. Maybe dxe7 was stronger but it was difficult for me to see what happened after exf2+ Rxf2 Bxd4 exf8+. Oh for RHP's analyze board!} Bxd4 26. exd4 Nxc6 {Now Black has grabbed one of the dangerous pawns but it is still complex.} 27. Nxe4 {The knight threatens a royal fork on f6 and Black's knight on c6 hangs to the rook} Nxd4 {Countering on the Queen} 28. Nf6+ {Check takes precedence} Kh8 {Forced as Kg7 Nxh4 would be check} 29. Qd3 Ne2+ 30. Kh2 {He cannot prevent Qh7 mate. With a rueful smile he resigned saying I don't think I saw anything in that game. From my point of view a good evening out} 1-0
Edits: removing line feeds
| EVENT | MKCC Knock Out |
| SITE | Milton Keynes Internal |
| DATE | 2013.08.15 |
| ROUND | 2 |
| WHITE | Ragwort |
| BLACK | RF |
| RESULT | 1-0 |
| ECO | B21r |
[Event "MKCC Knock Out"]
[Site "Milton Keynes Internal"]
[Date "2013.08.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ragwort"]
[Black "RF"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteBCF "143"]
[BlackBCF "187"]
[ECO "B21r"]
1. e4 c5 2. d4 {Around Christmas I bought Esserman's Morra book. I've tried it out on RHP a couple of times including a loss to atticus2 in January} cxd4 3. c3 d3 {Black declines the pawn, hoping to misplace the White Bishop on d3 and interfere with the free development of White's pieces} 4. Bxd3 Nc6 5. Nf3 {In the post mortem I said that Esserman recommends c4 ... "with a Maroczy Bind" my opponent finished - so he probably has had access to the book too.} g6 6. 0-0 {I took a minute or two here thinking about possible set-ups. Esserman says that d4 can be White's main weakness in the Morra but not if my pawn stays on c3 it isn't! So I decided to go my own way and see what happened. As this was a Knock Out game a draw was no use to either of us so uncompromising play was expected} Bg7 7. Bf4 {Again looking at general set-ups. I thought I could threaten to play e5 and interfere with, or attack, his knight's development to f6. I also thought that with a possible Qd2 I could threaten Bh6. In any case with a pawn on c3 I should develop the bishop first in case the knight went to d2 blocking the bishop in} e5 {This looks like a rush of blood to the head. I expected d6 when I was considering Re1. After the game my opponent said rather sheepishly "I don't know about e5". By playing this he must be sentencing himself to a backward d pawn on a half open file.} 8. Bg5 {I nearly played straight to e3 as I thought he would answer this with Qb6 rather than weaken the a2-g8 diagonal.} f6 {But what do I know?} 9. Be3 d5 {This is a step too far for which he castigated himself afterwards. It dissolves a potentially weak pawn for sure but maybe he still worried about a c4 ideas with a bind.} 10. exd5 Nce7 {Forced because Qxd5 is answered by Bxg6+ and Qxd5} 11. Bb5+ {The central pawns are going on to white squares after the coming c4 so I take the chance to offer the exchange of bishops} Bd7 12. Bxd7+ Qxd7 13. c4 {And after this White has a long term positional advantage in the passed d pawn. I thought my knight can go to c3, Q to e, d, or c2, rooks to the middle and I should be nicely ahead. His pawns are loose on the Kingside so I may have some chances there too. Above all no potential endgames should frighten me.} Nh6 14. Nc3 {I decided not to fear Nh-f5xe3 as that would open the f file and give me two development tempi} Nf7 {But he prefers to hold d6} 15. Ne4 {So I have a look at that and also Nc5. In addition his e4 push is blocked} b6 {He prevents Nc5} 16. Rc1 {Here I wanted to play b4 to gain control of c5 but feared f5 N somewhere followed by e4 other knight moves and B takes the a1 R} 0-0 17. b4 h6 {Meanwhile he doesn't want me to be able to answer f5 with Neg5} 18. Qb3 {This turns out very well. I played it to be able to support d5 after pushing c5 and a possible discovery on Black's king on the aforementioned a2-g8 diagonal. Rfd1 also becomes possible} f5 19. Nc3 g5 20. c5 e4 {The post mortem centred round whether he should have played 20...bxc5 21. bxc5 Rab8 here. 22. Qc4 and Qc2 were quickly rejected and 23. c6!? Rxb3 24. cxd7 Rxc3 looked at with several of the club's strong players helping out. It must be fantasy land though as the simple 22. Qd1 maintains everything} 21. Nd4 {This was a key decision. I knew that if I was to win I would need to offer material to slow his advancing king's side pawns and convince him my centre pawn advance was a serious winning chance. I could also see how I could push onto c6 and d6. Two connected pawns on the 6th are worth a rook I remembered from somewhere so I felt happy with the compensation for the e3 bishop} f4 22. c6 Qg4 {Yikes! Now he threatens f3 and if g3 Qh3...is his counterplay strong enough after all?} 23. h3 {This felt like an only move but it forces him off the g file} Qh5 24. d6 {My pawns have turned out quicker than his but he is still fighting and I could see no killer blow} fxe3 25. fxe3 {Played to protect my knight and open the f file bringing the Queen's pin on the f7 knight into play. Maybe dxe7 was stronger but it was difficult for me to see what happened after exf2+ Rxf2 Bxd4 exf8+. Oh for RHP's analyze board!} Bxd4 26. exd4 Nxc6 {Now Black has grabbed one of the dangerous pawns but it is still complex.} 27. Nxe4 {The knight threatens a royal fork on f6 and Black's knight on c6 hangs to the rook} Nxd4 {Countering on the Queen} 28. Nf6+ {Check takes precedence} Kh8 {Forced as Kg7 Nxh4 would be check} 29. Qd3 Ne2+ 30. Kh2 {He cannot prevent Qh7 mate. With a rueful smile he resigned saying I don't think I saw anything in that game. From my point of view a good evening out} 1-0
Edits: removing line feeds
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