So, yesterday's match against the St. Charles Chess Club ended in personal success, but my team lost the match 2.5/3.5. How disappointing!
My game (here I am, with the black pieces, immersed in deep thought at move 7) was very uncharacteristic of my style. I usually am a positional player, and I prefer to defend stubbornly than to seek activity at the price of a small material deficit. This time, I sacrificed a whole knight at move four (!!) for only positional compensation, in the form of the disorganization of the white army, a little initiative, some development lead, and the white king stuck in the centre, having lost the right to castle. The sacrifice is objectively dubious, and it leads to a probably lost position for black (my side), but the game is much harder to play for the defender, and indeed, after having almost solved his problems, and starting to reorganize, my opponent (who was short of time, having to play the last 20 moves in 9 minutes) committed an imprecision, then a mistake, and soon the game was over.
Gustavo (a physicist who works in the D0 experiment, and our very strong first board) played a beautiful game, but was only able to draw against his worthy opponent. Here Gervasio (on the right, with the white pieces) is formulating his middlegame plan. In the background, Lenny (also with the white pieces) is starting a long think.
After the end of the first four games, which included a brilliant win by Arkadij on board 6 and a unlucky loss by Carl on board 5, we were up 2.5/1.5. The two last games seemed to be both liable to warrant a draw... In the end, though, both Lenny (our third board, and our Captain) and Irwin (fourth board) lost their difficult endings.
Lenny (left, with the white pieces)seemed on top for a while, but as the time control approached his position started to deteriorate, and as he played his 45th move he had just two seconds left (you lose if you overstep the time limit, which was set at 1h30m for 45 moves and then 1h every other 30 moves).
Irwin (right, with the black pieces), on the other hand, was a pawn down in a rook ending. Rook endings are often drawn, but unfortunately not the one he ended in, and despite his ingenuity and his opponent's lack of understanding of the basic winning manouver, he lost the game, and with it we lost the match. We were unlucky this time! The SCCC is indeed a strong team, but in better days we can do more than lose by the smallest margin!
If you got to this point, you are really interested in chess, and you deserve to read about my game in more detail. Here it is, with very scarce comments.
Joe Splinter - Tommaso Dorigo, Chicago Industrial Chess League 2004/05, Far west division, round 6, board 2:
1.e4, Nf6; 2.d3, e5; 3.f4, Bc5?!N; [a novelty, of dubious value, played to avoid the setup chosen by white to counter my Alechin defence] 4.fxe5, Nxe4; [forced: after 3....Bc5 there really is no turning back, since 4...Ng8 would mean suicide after 5.d4] 5.dxe4, Qh4+; 6.Kd2, Nc6; 7.Nf3, Qf4+; 8.Ke1, Qxe4+; 9.Be2, Nxe5; 10.Nxe5, Qxe5; [10...., Qxg2, although alluring, fails to 11. Rf1, Qxh2; 12.Bf4!. Now the smoke has settled: B is a N down for two pawns, but W is seriously disorganized and his king is stuck in the center. The position is better for W, but not terribly so] 11.Nc3, Bb4; 12. Qd3, 0-0; 13.Qe3, Qf5; 14.Bd3, Qg4; [now 15.Qe4?? would fail to 15....Qxe4! 16.Bxe4, Bxc3; 17.Bxc3, Re8; gaining back the piece with a won game] 15.Qe2, Qh4+?!; [played to weaken the kingside before going to d4 anyway, this move causes problems to B later] 16.g3, Qd4; 17.Bd2, d5; [to prevent 18.Qe4, since now the trick does not work: 18....Qxe4 19.Nxe4!] 18.Qe3, Qg4; [the d5 pawn can be sacrificed to keep the initiative, but black's position is deteriorating thanks to white's precise play] 19. Nxd5, Bd6; 20.Kf2! b6?! 21.Qe4, f5!; [here B is paying for his "finesse" 15.... Qh4, since on 21....Qh5 22.Qh4 would keep threatening mate on h7 and force the Q exchange] 22. Qxg4, fxg4+; 23.Kg2, Bb7; 24.c4, c6; 25.Nc3, Bc5; [black is lost with correct play, but getting to this point has cost white a lot of thinking and he now has only nine minutes for the remaining 20 moves before the time control... B just needs to complicate the game, and W will soon blunder somewhere!] Diagram:
26.Rhf1?? Rfd8!; [and here it is, punctual as a swiss watch: under pressure, W errs. Necessary was 26.Be1, but B would still have pressure; 26.Ne4??, Rad8; also does not solve W's problems. A fun variation is instead 26.Rhd1?!, Rf2+; 27.Kh1, Rd8; 28.Bc1? [necessary is 28.Bg5], Rxd3!! 29.Rxd3, Rf1+; 30.Kg2, Rg1 checkmate!] 27.Bxh7+, Kxh7; 28.Bf4, Rd4!; 29.b3, Re8; 30.Rae1, Rxe1; 31.Rxe1, Bb4; 32.Rc1, b5!; 33.a3, Bxa3; 34.Ra1, b4; 35.Ne2, Rd3; 36.Be5??, Re3; and W immersed in a long think and allowed his flag to fall. 0-1.
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