Sam has closed his piano and gone to bed ... now we can talk about the real stuff of life ... love, liberty and games such as Janus, Capablanca Random, Embassy Chess & the odd mention of other 10x8 variants is welcome too
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Modificat de Grim Reaper (27. Martie 2005, 05:56:48)
I think this is the game everyone was asking about. It was in Round 6 of 7, both players were 5-0 up until that point. It was one of the highlights of the tournament, a game I felt I should have lost several times over. Here it is in all its imperfection.
{This looks like a curious way to begin,
but in playing black you have to watch out
for things like 1...d5 2. Nh3 Bxg4??
which loses The Exchange in Gothic Chess
due to 3. Bxb7!! The early ...Nc6 here
extinguishes all of this.}
2. Nh3 d5
3. f3 g6
4. c3 d4
{Baiting 5. cxd4 Bxd4, which white steers clear of.}
5. Af2 i6
6. d3 Bi7
7. Bxi7 Axi7
{Black played a little too cavalier in setting up this
"Archbishop fianchetto". White becomes strong on the
dark squares with a few well-placed pawns, haunting
Black for the rest of the game.}
8. Bg2 Ng7
9. O-O O-O
10. f4 Cf6
{White has achieved poise in the center, and Black
is trying to force his way into the game with this
premature Chancellor engagement.}
11. g5 Cd6
12. cxd4 Nxd4
13. Nc3 c6
14. e3 Ndf5
{White's moves seem natural and intuitive, and Black
plays like a fox being hunted.}
15. e4 Nd4
{But how quickly small shifts in the position can occur.
Black has deliberately conditioned White to react with
pawn pushes, and White responds in this fashion again.
The result leaves White with an over-extended pawn region
on the queenside, where Black can stake a claim with
a Knight that cannot be ousted. White then is able to cause
this minor positional gain to evaporate in a few moves.}
16. e5 Ce8
17. Ce4 Ngf5
{White still has a nice chunk of real estate in the center,
and the pawn cluster in the e-f-g files resembles a
sturdy Stonewall type of formation.}
18. Ne2 Nxe2
19. Qxe2 Be6
{The trades have left Black with only 2 minor pieces in play,
unsupported in any way by the fianchettoed Archbishop. White,
on the other hand, has a superior development profile with
every non-Rook piece in an active setting. Black's last move
makes the idle threat against the pawn on a2, which White decides
to cover with the Chancellor.}
20. Cb4 Qc8
{The White Chancellor was hitting on b7, so Black dedicates
the Queen to its defense while compounding a potential
diagonal strike against h3 since the Bishop is on e6 as well.}
21. Rac1 Cc7
22. Be4 Rd8
23. Qd2 Bd5
24. Qc2 Be6
{Both sides are dancing around a bit, groping for the thread of
the game as half of the allotted time control has been used up
by each player.}
25. Qc5 Nd4
26. Ca4 Bxa2!
{Black strikes with a little "flash in the pan" combination.
It was interesting to watch White's reaction, after having
been lulled to sleep a little by moves 21 to 24.}
27. Cxa2 Nb3
28. Qb4 Nxc1
29. Cxc1 Rd7?!
{Black exchanged his two lethargic minors for a Rook and the
important a-pawn. This is still a pawn-heavy game, not exactly
favorable for Black's army comprised entirely of major pieces.
The idea is to try to thin out the pawns and keep the battle
raging on the queenside where the candidate passed pawns could
become deadly and decisive.}
30. Ai5! Qh8!
{White wastes no time exploiting the checking opportunity
on g7 now that Black's free-roaming Rook pulled itself off
of the back rank. At first, 30...Qg8 looks like an obvious
choice to prevent 31. Ag7+, but Black wants to leave g8 open
for the Archbishop. While 30...Qh8 was good, Black's absorbing
of 10 minutes of clock time to make this move was not.}
31. Ag4 Rad8
32. Rd1 Rd4?!
{It is safe to say that the battle will be waged starting
in the d-file. Punch and counter-punch soon follow.}
33. Qc5 Cb5
34. Qxe7 Ag8!
{The move I had been waiting to play has molded itself
into a trap where the White Queen must be exchanged off
of the board.}
35. Qc5 Cxc5
36. Cxc5 Rb4
37. Cc2 Rb5
{Pressure points seem to be the theme as we each poke at the
b-pawns, probing for other weaknesses.}
38. Ra1 a6
39. Nf2 Qg7
40. h4 Ai7
41. Af6! Qf8
{White is continuing to manuever as if he is the one who
tricked me into "winning" his Queen for my Chancellor and pawn.
I am, once again, forced to place my strongest pieces in
passive positions on the back rank. Inspiration strikes
as I see a way for White to "set a trap" by dangling the
h-pawn as bait, but, in actuality, when the fireworks
have fizzled, Black has better chances. }
42. Bf3 Aj6!
43. Ng4 Axh4!
{In moves to come, Ng4 looks to deserve a "strong move" annotation
since it gives White a good attack in exchange for losing the h-pawn.
But, as will be shown, this was just the tip of an inverted iceberg.}
44. Ch2 Ag3!
45. Axh7+ Ki7
{Even though pinned, the White Chancellor is still able to
extend the shield of protection to the Archbishop as it drills into Black's
position.}
46. Axf8 Rxf8
47. Kj1! Axh2+
{White finds the correct unpinning move, which would normally have
been a suicidal move into checkmate without the Knight there to
reel in the Archbishop. Very accurate play on behalf of White,
featuring a high degree of tactical sharpness. The question remains,
was Black's strategic play capable of delivering a won ending?}
48. Nxh2 Rxb2
{The endgame is purely chess on the wider board. We have Bishop, Knight,
Rook, and 6 pawns versus a pair of Rooks and 7 pawns. The scales
sometimes tip to the side down a pawn, as Rooks view pawns as landmines
in such scenarios.}
49. Ng4 Rh8
50. Nh6 Rh7
{With two short hops, the Knight has reached its square of maximum
efficiency. One Black Rook is already tied down to passive defense.
This is not the type of ending I want to be playing with only 15 minutes
left on my clock!}
51. Be4 Rf2
52. Rb1 Rxf4
{It is here that White realizes Rxb7 is not possible as ...Rf1+
will lead to a back rank mate.}
53. Ki1 c5?!
{Again, White had pressure against my only regional asset, so that
even 53...b5 would lead to a pawn lost with 54. Bxc6.
I decided to play for unclear positions in time pressure,
an old motiff that has served me well on more than one occasion.}
54. Bxb7 Rb4!
{The point of it all was to send White into a Rookless ending.}
55. Rxb4 cxb4
56. Bxa6 b3
{Let him worry about the passed pawn. My position may be dubious
if you have all day to work out the details, but I can see by the
nervous hand moving the White pieces that the pressure must be
getting to him.}
57. d4 b2
58. Bd3 Rh8!
{Dropping a pawn purely to activate the Rook, a must in the
position.}
{The move to get out of check delivers check. My
opponent offers a draw. I saw him slump and relax into
his chair, so I think he must have believed I was going
to accept it. When I played 77...Kj5 I hit the clock with
some additional force, as if shouting "No!" The psychology
of this bore fruit, as he was very indecisive in making
moves 78-80, reaching his hand out, then retracting, then
reaching out, then retracting. He must have seen losses
staring back at him, finally tripping him up.}
78. Kh3 Re3+
79. Kh4 Re8
80. Ng4? Rh8+
{The very unintuitive 80. Kh3 seemed to hold the draw as we
performed the post mortem.}
(ascunde) Mutând întrun koc poţi selecţiona care dintre următoarele jocuri să apară mai înainte,selectănd opţiunea din lista de lângă butonul de cedare. (pauloaguia) (arată toate sfaturile)