I played my first game of the season yesterday. My team was weakened for our fist game and we were heavily out graded on all four boards going into this one. I played a 173 rated player (my grade is 159). We had played before a few years ago and I lost after blundering in a good position. I've played the alekhine in blitz quite a bit and have decent results with it, so it was fun to give it a try.
20 Sep 19
1 edit
Good game, well played, though here.
19...h6 with the Rxf3 and Bg5 was OK but I'd have played 19...Nxb4 whilst the
King was still on c1. than Na2+ is a huge threat. It has to be taken. I hate
working out what happens if my sacs are not taken. Here it is a must and
White caves in. Also as White I would never have played Bishop back to c1.
I would chop off my arm before playing a move like that. You punished it well.
19...h6 with the Rxf3 and Bg5 was OK but I'd have played 19...Nxb4 whilst the
King was still on c1. than Na2+ is a huge threat. It has to be taken. I hate
working out what happens if my sacs are not taken. Here it is a must and
White caves in. Also as White I would never have played Bishop back to c1.
I would chop off my arm before playing a move like that. You punished it well.
21 Sep 19
1 edit
@greenpawn34 saidThanks gp, yes i had considered Nxb4 immediately, but there were a couple of reasons why i went for ..h6. My opponent was down to 2 mins and i could see that the move could be played without any calculation, there is no way to defend b4 with the queen, so the sac cannot be prevented on the following move. Also, i have established a weakness in my play from other games, namely that often sacrifice king safety when i sniff an attack, if i miss calculate something and white does achieve a check on the back rank then my king has to walk out into tha open. I judged this to be their only hope, however unlikely, so taking this opportunity seemed a good practical decision based on the conditions of play at the time. I could start calculating Nxb4 on my opponents clock (i was down to 10 mins)Good game, well played, though here.
[fen]5rk1/pp2b1pp/1qn1b3/3pP3/1P3r2/P4N2/1B1QB1PP/2KR3R b - - 0 19[/fen]
19...h6 with the Rxf3 and Bg5 was OK but I'd have played 19...Nxb4 whilst the
King was still on c1. than Na2+ is a huge threat. It has to be taken. I hate
working out what happens if my sacs are not taken. Here it is a must and
White caves in. Al ...[text shortened]... ck to c1.
I would chop off my arm before playing a move like that. You punished it well.
As for Bc1, yes i agree, it's a hard move to make. I suspect my opponent might have felt that i may go for a repetition. I was tempted actually, but then i realised that my lead in development and my structural advantages must be winning in the end, so played patiently instead.
White does have approximately a level position after ..0-0, he can play Nf-d4 in some lines, which i hadn't considered properly. The engine gives close to equality here, but you need to play close to engine perfection to achieve this.
21 Sep 19
@Marinkatomb
Sweet game.
Stockfish gives the following continuation after 19. ... Nxb4. Note to gp: this is not checkers, White is not forced to take back.
22 Sep 19
1 edit
@moonbus saidThanks moonbus. Yes it's clear that Nxb4 can be played immediately but it does allow black to continue playing. I would be surprised if my opponent had found all of those move in the 2 minutes he had left, but it would have been annoying to play on from this final position. I often blunder something in time trouble, this line would have given me plenty of room to go wrong 😁
@Marinkatomb
Sweet game.
Stockfish gives the following continuation after 19. ... Nxb4. Note to gp: this is not checkers, White is not forced to take back.
[pgn]1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. f4 dxe5 5. fxe5 e6 6. Nf3 c5 7. c3 Nc6 8. a3 cxd4 9. cxd4 Qa5+ 10. Bd2 Qb6 11. Bc1 Be7 12. Nc3 O-O 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. Be2 f6 15. b4 fxe5 16. dxe5 Be6 17. Bb2 Rf4 18. Qd2 Raf8 ...[text shortened]... Rf2 24. Kd1 Qc6 25. Rf1 Rxg2 26. Rdf4 Qa4+ 27. Kc1 g6 28. Rf8+ Kg7 29. R1f2 Rxf2 30. Rxf2 Qxb4[/pgn]
From a human perspective, when evaluating a sacrifice like Nxb4, before i start calculating variations, i consider which side can improve their position if it is not played. Black has so many ways to improve. Get the white bishop onto the b1\h7 diagonal, establish a rook(s) on the c file, advance the a pawn, advance the d pawn even. How does white improve? It is very difficult to bring pieces to the queenside to plug all of the holes as there are just so many! Without really calculating anything, it is clear that blacks position is comfortable, keeping pieces on the board forces white to have to calculate accurately on every move. Taking on b4 clarifies the position to a certain extent.
22 Sep 19
@Marinkatomb
Given that White was in time trouble, I understand your having played the safer move h6. I would probably have done the same and let White run out of time. Since you had achieved the superior position anyway, it is no shame to win on time, too. That just proves that you outplayed your opponent both on the board and the clock.
