watchyourbackrank vs PhySiQ - game 5

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2012.02.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "watchyourbackrank"]
[Black "PhySiQ"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "E18"]
[WhiteElo "1922"]
[BlackElo "1964"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 {i prefer a queen's indian to a nimzo-indian (3.Nc3 Bb4)} b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. O-O Ne4 8. Bd2 {not the most popular choice but very flexible and not allowing black to compromise the white pawn structure early on..} f5 9. Qc2 Nxd2 10. Qxd2 {considerably stronger than 10.Nxd2 allowing black to exchange bishops and relieve all tension} Bf6 {there's a lot of dynanism in the center. i'm planning e4 sooner or later and black should probably play for e5 pawn break} 11. Rad1 {logical to put the rooks on the central files} d6 12. Rfe1 {pawn e4 is in the air.} Nd7 {black continues his piece development. the anti positional d5 to prevent white's e4 looks very ugly} 13. e4 fxe4 14. Nxe4 {i believe white has a comfortable position. in any case, i liked it! good central control, more space and good pressure in the central files of the board} h6 {probably designed to prevent Ng5 because then the black e6 pawn would be under severe pressure} 15. Re2 {with the very simple plan of doubling in the e-file. the silicon monsters suggest Nfg5 - wow!} Qe7 16. Rde1 Rae8 {black defends his weak e6 pawn. 16...e5 was not possible. it loses a pawn after 17.Nxf6!} 17. d5 {adding pressure on e6 but allowing black to play e5. i was not too proud of this d5 move until i saw he reply from my opp} Be5 {?! i'm sure 17...e5 was better} 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 {black cannot play e5 - it's blockaded by his own piece lol} 19. b3 {simply defending c4 and now dxe6 is a threat} exd5 {risky business. difficult to see any better moves, though} 20. Nc3 {very unpleasant for black. he has to unpin his knight and does so with} Qf7 21. f4 d4 {tricky and bad. the expected Ng6 is objectively better} 22. Nd5 {inaccurate. i thought the critical line was 22.Bxb7 c6 23.fxe5 dxc3 24.Qxc3 Qxb7 25.exd6 - it is indeed critical - for black!} d3 23. Re3 Ng6 {23...c6!} 24. Qxd3 Rxe3 25. Qxe3 {very dominant position for white. and there might even be some tactics involving black's unprotected piece on b7. also note that black cannot exchange on d5 now because the queen would be pinned to the king. perhaps that's why black played} Qd7 26. Qd3 Bxd5 27. Bxd5+ Kh7 {now the point of 26.Qd3! becomes clearer. the knight is pinned to the king!} 28. Re6 {? clearly better was the computer move 28.h4!} Rf6 29. Re2 {i considered the rook exchange. however, i was unsure of the prospects in the endgame even though i no doubt would have the winning chances} Kh8 30. Qe4 {preventing c6 and conserving my excellent light square control} a6 31. h4 Qg4 32. Kh2 {in retrospect i would have prefered to exchange queens on move 31. (Qe8+) Now black's queen is more active and limiting my movement on the kingside} Nf8 {black is struggling to find good squares for his pieces. I'm still in the driving seat, but it's not so easy to find the road to victory. and I didn't notice that black actually sets a trap with this innocent looking knight move} 33. a4 c6 {a clever move. Now 34.Bxc6 fails to Re6! - that was the point of Nf8 from black on the previous move - defending e6 and also d7!} 34. Qf3 Qxf3 35. Bxf3 {is this a winning endgame for white? against a GM the answer is surely no. unless you're a GM yourself, no?} g5 36. Bxc6 gxf4 37. gxf4 Rxf4 38. Kg3 Rd4 {this is a critical point in the game. white has bishop vs knight which is an advantage with pawns on both flanks because of the bishops longer range. it's also a question of piece activity. black's knight is struggling to reach an active square and that should perhaps have lead to me the right move in this position which is 39.h5! The point is (which I over looked in the game) that black cannot grab the pawn on b3: 39...Rd3+ 40.Kg4 Rxb3 41.Kf5! piece activity!} 39. Re3 {too passive!} Ng6 40. Bb7 a5 41. h5 {too late. now the black knight has the nice (and dark!) square e5} Ne5 42. Be4 Kg7 43. Kf4 Kf6 44. Rg3 {around here PhySiQ offered a draw. i rejected. not because i was confident of winning. I guess all chess players have played a game they felt they were winning and after making some mistakes it's not easy to accept that the game is no longer won. most players
play on even if the game is now level. so did I.} Rd2 45. Rg8 {i'm playing at full risk now.} Rh2 46. Rf8+ Ke7 47. Rb8 {trying to create imbalances and setting a small trap} Rh4+ {i was hoping for 47...Rxh5? 48.Rxb6 which i believe gives me remote winning chances. my opp made no mistakes in this ending!} 48. Ke3 Rh3+ 49. Kd4 Rxb3 {my only hope now lies in the h-file} 50. Rh8 Ra3 51. Rxh6 Rxa4 {i'm down a pawn and now i sac a second pawn!} 52. Kd5 {setting another trap} Rxc4 {52...Nxc4? 53.Re6+ Kd7 54.Bf5 is strong because of the threat of a discovered check} 53. Re6+ Kf7 54. Rxd6 Rc6 {again, PhySiQ finds the only defence. This time including a piece sac! i offered a draw because my bishop is of the wrong colour. Even if i managed to pick up his queenside pawns i could not win because h8 (queening square) is dark.} 55. Rxc6 {my opp naturally accepted the draw offer}

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 b6 {QID as noted by backrank} 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 {From this point I'm looking at swapping off the light squared bishops.} Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. O-O Ne4 {A position which I've seen games from all of my favorite Ts... Tal Tartakower and Taimanov. White must decide whether to accept the pawn weakness.} 8. Bd2 f5 9. Qc2 {Its at this point that I made a silly mistake. I couldnt remember how to continue from this point (Michael Adams is a brilliant practitioner from this position and he never plays Nxd2) and instead of correctly playing Nxc3 went on to planning to have an undisputed dark squared bishop. This was not good planning.} Nxd2 {I felt that with my dominating dark bishop plan that I couldn't wait anymore... Backrank might have played Qc2 in hopes of redeveloping the bishop soon.} 10. Qxd2 Bf6 {Undisputed. A good diagonal, but not advantageous. I foolishly thought this had merit.} 11. Rad1 {A typical move in this opening. d5 is often planned after the Rook reaches d1. This d5 planning was part of my thoughts that a dark squared bishop could be so valuable} d6 12. Rfe1 Nd7 {I've limited myself to developing in this way.} 13. e4 {In my opinion its this planning by Backrank that punishes me for the rest of the game. Opening up the e file and loading it was great foresight.} fxe4 {What else? Re8?} 14. Nxe4 h6 {Hardening g5.} 15. Re2 Qe7 16. Rde1 Rae8 {Ugly on all fronts. Bh3 is cataclysmic to everything I want to do.} 17. d5 Be5 {backrank is critical of this move. Perhaps he is right. I felt e5 would be answered by the demanding Nd4! The other option I entertained was Nc5...but decided that trading off my dark squared bishop and having my knight kicked off with b4... wasn't going to make anything better.} 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 {Expecting f4... and I'd answer with Nxc4 here.} 19. b3 {A small surprise.} exd5 {I think maybe g5! was better... but it had a scary look to it.} 20. Nc3 Qf7 21. f4 d4 {I suppose Ng4 and Ng6 were both better. I was hoping that being tricky might get me somewhere... it did.... a worse position. Also The complicated tactics against the b7 bishop made this interesting.} 22. Nd5 d3 {Has to be played at this point.} 23. Re3 Ng6 {Things have turned into a serialistic nightmare.} 24. Qxd3 Rxe3 25. Qxe3 Qd7 {In my mind its either move the Queen or play Kh8. Kh8 may have been good. I really didnt like the long term effects of Bh3 though, a move I had been eyeing for a long time in the game. So I thought Id kill two birds with the same stone.} 26. Qd3 Bxd5 27. Bxd5+ Kh7 {Bad. to worse.} 28. Re6 Rf6 {This is more of a bluff than anything. I wasnt sure if there were drawing chances after the exchange... but what else can I do?} 29. Re2 {A sigh of relief for me.} Kh8 {I need to get myself untangled over here. Of course relieving the pin is the foremost consideration.} 30. Qe4 a6 {I looked at Qg4 here, but was unsure of its consequences, is Kg2 and h3 worth it to kick the Queen off? I wasnt sure and so I decided to wait.} 31. h4 Qg4 {with h3 now impossible, I didnt have any reason not to play Qg4.} 32. Kh2 Nf8 {backrank covered this move.} 33. a4 c6 34. Qf3 Qxf3 35. Bxf3 g5 {Against a lesser opponent this move could have worked magic.} 36. Bxc6 gxf4 37. gxf4 Rxf4 38. Kg3 Rd4 {This position is difficult. As black I had to make some assessments. First is that the h pawn is not a real threat, white isnt going to be able to promote it as long as my king doesnt leave the box. That leaves only the queenside pawns as important. The target at b3 is vital, not because the pawn needs to fall itself, but instead to weaken the a and c pawns which are both promotable.} 39. Re3 Ng6 {Eventually the knight should bounce to e5. g6 is really the only way to get there, the threats it imposes were purely secondary advantages.} 40. Bb7 a5 41. h5 Ne5 {This is the best place the knight could possibly be.} 42. Be4 Kg7 {Its time to activate the king. I'm not worried about the h pawns. The rule is the king shouldn't leave the box. It is important to oppose the white king from entering the box himself.} 43. Kf4 Kf6 {The white king can do no damage.} 44. Rg3 Rd2 {Not d1. The important squares are light colored on the first rank.} 45. Rg8 Rh2 {The other option was Rf2+ and Rb2. I had considered it, but h2 is good technique... it impasses partial protection to the h pawn. Even though Im not worried about the h pawn whatsoever it is worthwhile to encourage white to make play elsewhere. Perhaps he may waste a move} 46. Rf8+ Ke7 47. Rb8 {Nothing doing here.} Rh4+ 48. Ke3 Rh3+ 49. Kd4 Rxb3 50. Rh8 {White has his h pawn... but to no avail - he's not going to be able to promote it.} Ra3 51. Rxh6 Rxa4 {Now all I will need is for the c pawn to fall. I can sac a piece here, and there still is not any way for white to promote that h pawn.} 52. Kd5 Rxc4 {He can have the knight, but its still a draw.} 53. Re6+ Kf7 54. Rxd6 Rc6 {This is not mandatory of course. Rc5+ works as well, but this is the most accelerated draw.} 55. Rxc6 Nxc6 56. Kxc6 Kg7 {An obvious draw.}