Tournament: Part I

1. c4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. e3 b6 {Since White hasn’t fianchettoed his bishop, Black can control the light squares.} 5. Be2 Be7 {b4 is a better location, since it discourages d4.} 6. O-O O-O 7. d4 d6 8. Qc2 {White prepares to push the e-pawn.} Bb7 {Black finally fianchettoes, preventing the advance.} 9. d5 {Instead, White forces Black to make a choice. As a response, e5 would leave the e6-square weak, vulnerable to a knight incursion. On the other hand, capturing opens the center, allowing White to exploit his superior development.} exd5 10. Qxf5 Bc8 {Protecting against Qe6+, but dxc4 instead would take the danger out to the threat while leaving White’s queen in a position to be tempoed.} 11. Qd3 dxc4 12. Qxc4+ d5 {However, Black does have the opportunity to take more control of the center of the board.} 13. Qb3 Na6 {An unorthodox development, but the knight may continue either to c5 or b4.} 14. Nxd5 {This initailly appears unwise, but White stakes his hopes on the knight being pinned against both the rook and queen.} Nxd5 15. Rd1 c6 16. Bxa6 {Removing the troublesome Black knight, at the expense of White’s better bishop and developing Black’s own bishop.} Bxa6 17. e4 {White makes his first mistake, excited at the possibility of winning back his knight. Seemingly unaware of the threat, he has allowed Black to tear up his pawn structure.} Be2 18. Rd2 Bxf3 19. gxf3 Bg5 {Bd6 was better, posing a direct threat to the h-pawn and the White king instead of trading bishops. One possible variation is 19…Bd6 20. exd6 (what else?) Qg5+ (avoiding dxc6+) 21. Kf5 c5, after which the White king is exposed, an easy target.} 20. Rd1 Bxc1 {Poor. This develops White’s rook for him.} 21. Raxc1 Qg5+ {The correct follow-up, but coming after the wrong room.} 22. Kh1 Qf6 {Black wins a pawn, seemingly, but fails to see that the resulting endgame is disastrous.} 23. exd5 Qxf3+ 24. Qxf3 Rxf3 25. dxc6 Rxf2 {Despite the pawns being equal, White has every advantage: better-positioned rooks, a queenside majority, and a passed pawn (on the sixth rank, no less.)} 26. b4 {White sets about protecting his main asset on c6.} a6 27. c7 {With this advance, Black's best-positioned piece is forced to retreat.} Rff8 28. a4 Rfc8 29. Rd6 a5 {Kf7 was a little better, improving king position instead of trying to force the issue, but it hardly matters anyway.} 30. b5 Kf7 31. Rxb6 Ra7 32. Rbc6 Rb7 33. Kg2 Ke7 34. Kf2 Kd7 35. Rd1+ Ke7 36. b6 Rf8+ 37. Ke3 Re8 38. c8=Q Kf8+ 39. Kf4 Rf7+ {1-0}

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {A fairly drawish opening, but that’s no reason to settle for a half-point already.} 4. d3 d6 5. h3 {This allows for d4 without harassment from a bishop pin on g4, and frees the knight up to go to f5 in the future.} Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Bxc6 {It is perhaps premature to capture without provocation on a6, but the move doubles Black’s pawns and, more importantly, weakens his control of the center.} bxc6 8. Nbd2 h6 {Instead of this move, which I believe to be correct, I had originally written “8.g5,” which lead to a great deal of confusion for me as I reviewed the game.} 9. Re1 c5 10. b3 {To allow Bb2, and reinforce c4 as a destination for the d2-knight.} Nh7 {Vacates the f-file and allows the knight to go to g5.}11. Nf1 f5 {If not taken, the push to f4 is unpleasant for White.} 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Ne3 {The knight now controls all the light squares in the center of the board.} Be6 14. Bb2 {Helping to prevent d5 with the threat of capture on e5.} Qd7 15. Qe2 Ng5 {The capture on f3 is worrying, so exchanging knights is worth developing the Black bishop.} 16. Nxg5 Bxg5 17. Nc4 Bxc4 {Black trades his good bishop for White’s best-developed piece. He loses control of the white central squares, but so does White, and the knight is perhaps better positioned with respect to the opponent’s center.} 18. dxc4 {White takes away from the center so as to open and exploit the d-file, and keep the queenside pawns together.} Rf7 19. Rad1 Qf5 20. Bc1 {This trades off White’s good bishop for Black’s bad bishop, but Black’s bishop controls the only relevant diagonal at the moment.} Bxc1 21. Rxc1 Raf8 22. Rf1 {Black controls the f-file, tying down several pieces of White’s to protect f2, but the concentration of Black’s pieces allows White to prod at the queenside and center.} Rf6 23. Qd2 Kh8 {Black pre-emptively sidesteps a check on d5.} 24. Qa5 Qf4 {Better is Rg6, causing weaknesses in White’s kingside pawns.} 25. Rcd1 {White pre-emptively begins to protect the kingside, though a move too late.} Qe4 26. Rd3 Rg6 {Black hits on the right idea after some dithering queen moves.} 27. f3 Qb7 {Black, having provoked a weakness, retreats to protect the weak queenside pawns.} 28. Qd2 e4 29. fxe4 Rxf1+ 30. Kxf1 Qxe4 31. Rf3 {After these simplifications, a draw is agreed. 1/2-1/2.}

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 {Again, a rather boring beginning.} 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 {Black has now used two moves to play d5. The issue at hand is now whether White can make better use of a spare move than Black did moving his knight to e4.} 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. c4 c6 8. Nbd2 Bf5 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 {Both sides having developed somewhat, White makes a mistake, giving Black the opportunity to follow up with 10…Nxf2 11. Kxf2 Bxd3.}Re8 11. Qc2 Nxd2 12. Bxd2 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 dxc4 14. Qxc4 {The difference between the two sides is now pawn structure; White’s piece development is slightly better, but the difference will decrease over the next few moves.} Nd7 15. Bg5 Qc7 16. b4 {White tries to exploit the slightly awkward position of the Black queen with a minority attack on the queenside pawns.} Nb6 17. Qb3 Nd5 18. b5 Nb6 {Black cedes the position of his knight, since its protector is being attacked. However, leaving the knight in place would have been preferable, since the queen can recapture and protect, leaving the pawns intact.} 19. Rxe8+ Rxe8 20. Rc1 h6 21. Bd2 Qd7 22. bxc6 bxc6 {White has now broken the Black pawn structure, leaving the two sides in a roughly equal position.} 23. Ba5 Rb8 24. Qc2 {White continues to put pressure on the Black queenside.} Rc8 25. Qe4 c5 26. dxc5 Rxc5 {Black has now been forced to trade off his only advantage from earlier in the game.} 27. Rxc5 Bxc5 28. Bc3 Qd5 29. Qxd5 Nxd5 30. Bd4 Bxd4 31. Nxd4 {After several trades, we have now reached a nearly symmetrical position.} Nc3 32. Nc6 Nxa2 33. Nxa7 Nc3 34. Nc6 f6 35. f3 Kf7 36. Kf2 Nd5 37. Nd4 g6 38. g3 h5 39. h4 {And now, a fully symmetrical position.} f5 {Draw agreed. 1/2-1/2}