Sometimes Chess makes me want to cry....

I just played U.S. Champion Alex Shabalov today. He gave a simultaneous exhibition to 4 players today, 2 of them quite bad, and 2 (me included) that are about expert strength. Anyway, if we won, we received 500$ in cash. I was already depressed when he played 1. e4, since I prepared for 1. d4, which is what he's been playing quite a bit lately. Then when he play the 12. Bd4 line in the Dragon, I was even more depressed, since he used to invariably play 10. Kb1, when I normally play the Queen sac 10...Nxd4 11. e5! Nf5 12. exf6 Bxf6 13. Nxd5 Qxd5!? 14. Qxd5 Nxe3 15. Qd2 Nxd1 16. Qxd1, and generally, I have a lot of trouble against the line he played. Anyway, I played quite well, and him basically just sitting at my board for really long thinks just about every move. Long story short, he was busted, and then I played the ending like crap, in typical Tony Rotella style. Enjoy, see if you can find the clear tactical improvements on moves 27 and 33.

[Site "Cleveland"]
[White "Alex Shabalov"]
[Black "Tony Rotella"]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "101"]


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Be6 14. Ne4 Re8 15. h4 h6 16. g4 Qc7 17. g5 h5 18. Bc4 Red8 19.
Qf2 Qb7 20. Rd2 Nf4 21. Bxe6 Nxe6 22. Ba3 Rd5 23. Rhd1 Rad8 24. Nd6 Rxd2 25. Rxd2 Qa6 26. Qe3 c5 27. Qd3 c4 28. Qe3 Nd4 29. Ne4 Rb8 30. Nc3 Qb7 31. Qe4 Qxe4 32. fxe4 f6 33. gxf6 Bxf6 34. Rh2 Rb7 35. Nd5 Rf7 36. Bc5 Bg5+ 37. hxg5 Rf1+ 38. Kd2 Nf3+ 39. Ke2 Nxh2 40. Nf6+ Kf7 41. Nd7 Rf4 42. Nxe5+ Ke6 43. Ke3 Rf1 44. Nxg6 Rg1 45. Nf4+ Kf7 46. g6+ Kg8 47. Nxh5 Rxg6 48. Kd4 Rg2 49. Kc3 a6 50. Nf4 Rg4 51. Bd6

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
I just played U.S. Champion Alex Shabalov today. He gave a simultaneous exhibition to 4 players today, 2 of them quite bad, and 2 (me included) that are about expert strength. Anyway, if we won, we received 500$ in cash. I was already depressed when he played 1. e4, since I prepared for 1. d4, which is what he's been playing quite a bit lately. Then when he ...[text shortened]... Rg1 45. Nf4+ Kf7 46. g6+ Kg8 47. Nxh5 Rxg6 48. Kd4 Rg2 49. Kc3 a6 50. Nf4 Rg4 51. Bd6

Impressive game against a GM. You should not cry but be proud!

Maybe 27 ..Qb6 Also 28 ..c3 is interesting for black.

Originally posted by kenan
Impressive game against a GM. You should not cry but be proud!

How did you play all the way through the game in five minutes?

Alex is a cool guy. Did he give you choice of color, or did he want White because of all the money on the line? (He often gives people the choice of color in his simuls - at least the ones with no potential prize.)

Originally posted by Bifrost
How did you play all the way through the game in five minutes?

He posted the pgn file. Do you not see?

Originally posted by kenan
He posted the pgn file. Do you not see?

Ah, nevermind.

Originally posted by Mad Rook
I think Bifrost was making a cute comment about Tony's time of posting. At least that's the only thing I can figure. But I suspect there's a flaw in his thinking somewhere. 🙂

Tony posted it and I happened to be online checking the Chess forums when he posted.

I heard Shabalov's name so I copy pasted the game to Scid and played though less than one minute actually.

I actually played through the game several times before I posted that.

😉



edit: Cheers. 🙂

Originally posted by kenan
Posted posted it and I happened to be online checking the Chess forums when he posted.

I heard Shabalov's name so I copy pasted the game to Scid and played though less than one minute actually.

I actually played through the game several times before I posted that.

😉

Dang it, kenan! I was hoping that nobody was fast enough to capture my stupid post. I finally figured out what Bifrost meant. I can be pretty slow sometimes. 🙂

Originally posted by Mad Rook
Alex is a cool guy. Did he give you choice of color, or did he want White because of all the money on the line? (He often gives people the choice of color in his simuls - at least the ones with no potential prize.)

Yeah he's a cool dude. He did allow us to pick colors, but generally as a courtesy I give him White. It really doesn't matter, the dude's won the U.S. Championship 4 times and has been in good form lately. No chance. 😀

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
Yeah he's a cool dude. He did allow us to pick colors, but generally as a courtesy I give him White. It really doesn't matter, the dude's won the U.S. Championship 4 times and has been in good form lately. No chance. 😀

Keep after it. There's always the chance you could nick him. I played him in a simul once just so I could say I played a GM. (He could snore out moves in his sleep better than the ones I came up with.) There were maybe a couple dozen opponents, and he wasn't spending too much time at any one board. Some guy rated in the 1800s got lucky and scalped him. (Of course, no money was on the line, either.) So the dream IS alive.

Yeah I've played him probably about five times, and been completely winning (even by his admission) in 3. My technique is just miles behind the rest of my game, and it costs me points.

Great game! I think you were actually winning at some points (27,28).

I was definitely winning after I won the exchange, and I missed a couple of easier wins earlier. He actually apologized after the game, because he knew he was busted. Good times....

Originally posted by ludz
Maybe 27 ..Qb6 Also 28 ..c3 is interesting for black.

Yes, 27...Qb6 with the idea Bf8 I think just wins a piece. (if Nc4, RxQ, NxQ, RxR, KxR, pxN; if Qb5 Rxd)

28...c3 looks good but I am not sure if there is anything definitive...

33...Bh6 wins the exchange + h pawn and the N is not in position to support a pawn push to f7 (cannot easily access d6).

But superb play through 26 moves to give yourself these winning chances. Moves 12 through 26 was really quality stuff. White got less than nothing out the opening - I expect white wanted to get in f4 but that was not happening.

For a Dragon, this game was fairly easy to understand after move 14, the lines are very clear after 14...Re8; I have no idea what happens after Bxf8 or understand the subtleties of this opening. Nice game!