Game from US Open side event

Hi folks,

This is a game I played in a side event, the "US Open Weekend Swiss", which had a game in 60 minutes time control.

My opponent was rated 200 points higher than me (I've been in a little bit of a slump, but he is still higher than I have ever been OTB).

I was white, and had to at least draw to ensure myself a chance of being in the money for round 5. I ended up tying for the U2200/U1800 prize money, and walked away with $150.

I implicitly offered a draw by repetition of position at move 26, but my opponent declined and dropped a piece.

I gave the piece back to secure a winning endgame. He played on to see if my technique was up to the time control. I am sure I did not do it in the most efficient manner, but I saw that I could win his other pawns if I gave back the bishop for a pawn (human intuitive tablebase), so it was autopilot after that.

Nice game.Good technique too.

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
Hi folks,

This is a game I played in a side event, the "US Open Weekend Swiss", which had a game in 60 minutes time control.

My opponent was rated 200 points higher than me (I've been in a little bit of a slump, but he is still higher than I have ever been OTB).

I was white, and had to at least draw to ensure myself a chance of being in the mon ...[text shortened]... Kf7 50. Kg5 Kg7 51. f4 Kh7 52. f5 gxf5 53. Kxf5 Kh6 54. Kf6 1-0[/pgn]

Very nice. My brother plays that Reti type of opening as white. I guess is did bite on the draw because he was a pawn up and also because he was rated higher than you.

I guess it was some relief to win the piece at around move 32. That had to be a good feeling.

That took some balls and good technique to sac the B for the pawn. and win with the extra pawn. As for me, it seems I have been plaqued lately with not being able to force the win with an extra pawn. I like the way you forced the opposition, and also didn't have to rely on trying to queen a rook pawn. The opposition was the key, I guess.

Congrats on being in the money.

Congrats Paul, it's always a joy to beat a higher rated player! Would love to see some of your other games as well. I have a question about this position:


Why did you give up the bishop pair here (you played Ne5)? Was there a forcing line you saw and liked, or were you just worried about the pawn on c3? Generally I don't care much (or at all) about the bishop pair as it's tough for me to do really do much with them, but in the above position they look very scary.

Originally posted by Elmyr
Congrats Paul, it's always a joy to beat a higher rated player! Would love to see some of your other games as well. I have a question about this position:

[fen]r4rk1/1n3pb1/p5p1/7p/2n2B2/2p2NP1/P4PBP/R3R1K1 w - - 0 28[/fen]
Why did you give up the bishop pair here (you played Ne5)? Was there a forcing line you saw and liked, or were you just worried about tough for me to do really do much with them, but in the above position they look very scary.

Actually, I played Ne5 because I saw an opposite-color bishop ending that I thought I could draw easily, and I was pretty certain he would play ...Nxe5. Generally, I knew that I had some compensation for the pawn in the form of a pair of raking bishops, and I had some play against the loose knight on b7, but I didn't have a concrete variation that won- I just saw the draw.

I missed the possibility that he could have played ...Ncd6 instead of ...Nxe5 , which looks good now that the clock is no longer ticking! I am comfortable that I would have drawn it after ...Ncd6, but there would still be opportunities for mistakes to be made, especially given the time control.

I think he just missed the two-mover with Bxg7 followed by Re7. Opening repertoires and endgame theory notwithstanding, the vast majority of games at our level are decided by activity and two-movers waiting to happen.

It should have been a draw, most likely, but he just missed a move.

Originally posted by moon1969
Very nice. My brother plays that Reti type of opening as white. I guess is did bite on the draw because he was a pawn up and also because he was rated higher than you.

I guess it was some relief to win the piece at around move 32. That had to be a good feeling.

That took some balls and good technique to sac the B for the pawn. and win with the extr to queen a rook pawn. The opposition was the key, I guess.

Congrats on being in the money.

Actually, returning the bishop was easy, because it removed any fear that I would miss something and give the piece back- I was trying to reduce my "choke" possibilities! His rook was the source of his counterplay, and removing it along with giving up the bishop for a pawn is all that is needed to win. It's a forced win after Bxf7, so I could stop calculating and go on autopilot.

Once I had the piece, I knew I could win if I got rid of the queenside pawns, and then exchanged all the material for his f-pawn. With the pawn formation, I knew my backward f-pawn gave me two free tempi ( I could always "pass" with f2-f3 one move, and with f3-f4 on another move, but his pawns were frozen, so he only had king moves), so I could force his king back and occupy g5. From that point, it's just advance the f-pawn, trade it for the g-pawn, and then win the h-pawn because there is no way he can protect it.

It's not hard if you recognize the pattern and know the plan- I think I used less than 2 minutes for the whole game after we exchanged the last piece (he was thinking each move, so I just checked my thinking until he moved, and then I just played my next move).

Endgame study actually improves middlegame play- if you know where you need to go to secure the win or salvage a draw, it is much easier to find the middlegame moves to get you there. In my case, I also had some luck in that he just missed a two-mover. We're all human!