Interesting practice game

He, Daniel (Mr_Penings) - Zaloznyy, Mike (visa) 1-0

Live Chess 2014.03.19

G/30 on chess.com. Note: My annotations before turning the engine on are in plain sentences. However, Houdini 2 corrected suggestions are generally in after "WH" with Houdini symbol.

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4

This opening line was completely unfamiliar to me. I had no idea what is the right move here, but figured that based on general opening principles, I have to hit with d5 in the centre.

3... d5 ( WH: what scores best for Black is3... c5 4.e5 Ng8 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.d4 c5xd4 7.N3xd4 Nxe5 8.Ndb5 a6 9.Nd6+ B8xd6 10.Q1xd6 f6 ( Ng6) 11.Be3 Ne7 12.Bb6 Nf5 13.Qc5 d6 14.Qa5 Qd7 and Black has an advantage. All these moves are hard to find over the board, without knowing the theory.)

4.e5 d4 5.exf6 ( I intended to meet the following moves: 5.Nce2 ( 5.Nb5 Nfd7)5... Ne4)

5... dxc3 6.b2xc3 Qxf6 7.Nf3

I have to be concerned with d4 and Bg5 ideas. I feel like there is no way to avoid having to play h6 at some point. WH: main move is d4 but Nf3 actually scores better

7... Be7

Maybe c5 was a decent alternative WH: best move is e5!

(7... e5 8.d4 e5xd4 9.Bg5 Qe6+ 10.Be2 Be7 11.cxd4 Bxg5 12.N3xg5 Qe7 13.Qd2 O-O 14.O-O h6 15.Nf3 c5 16.d5 Qd6 17.Rfe1 Nd7 White seems to score pretty well in all these lines)

8.d4 h6 9.Bd3 c5

Hitting in the centre. My whole play has to be centered around the d4-pawn

10.O-O Nc6 11.Be4

I don't like this move for White. I would play Bc2 idea Qd3 or Qe2 idea Qe4. Daniel has a plan Be4, a4-a5-a6 but I think it is too slow and can be easily stopped with a6 at any moment.

11... O-O 12.Be3 Rd8 13.a4 g5!

Diagram #1

I was very proud of finding this plan. I want to play Qf6-g7 and to place my bishop on f6. I might or might not play f7-f5, depending on circumstances and throw the White pieces back. I thought weaking of the kingside was justified and was not dangerous at all due to the fact my Queen is present on g7 and covers everything.

( WH: Houdini finds a couple of interesting way to play this position for Black and claims Black equalizes in both cases. I did not see Be7-c5 idea, but this is a good and instructive lesson for the future: cd followed by Bc5 cxd4 14.c3xd4 Bc5 15.Bxc6 b7xc6 16.Ne5 Bb7 ( Bxd4 17.B3xd4 c5 18.Nc6 Rxd4 19.N6xd4 c5xd4 20.Qd3 Ba6) 17.Qb3 Rab8 18.Ng4 Qf5 19.Nxh6+ g7xh6 20.dxc5 Ba6 21.Qc3 Rd3 22.Qc1 Kh7 23.Bxh6 Rb4 24.Be3 Rxc4 25.Qb2 e5)

14.h3 Qg7 15.a5 f5 16.Bxc6 b7xc6 17.Qa4!

Diagram #2

17... f4 (17... Bd7 I considered as an alternative.)

18.Bc1

I am not sure whether best place for the bishop is on d2 or c1.

( 18.Bd2)

18... cxd4 19.c3xd4 ( 19.N3xd4 Bd7 20.Nxc6 Bf6 and I think White is in a serious trouble)

19... c5

I felt very good about my position here. I am winning a pawn, I got 2 bishops. I considered my advantage overwhelming here and thought game was almost over. Perhaps, this evaluation was too optimistic. WH: Houdini's evaluation 0.23. I was completely wrong in evaluation of this position and overestimated my chances!

20.Qc6 Rb8!

Diagram #3

There is no reason to play Bd7 and help White improve Queen's position by playing Qc6-e4. Besides, putting my rook on b8 prevents White from playing Bc1-b2.

( Bd7 21.Qe4 Bf6 22.Rd1 cxd4 23.N3xd4 Rac8 24.Bb2 Rxc4 25.Rac1 R4xc1 26.R1xc1 WH: Houdini thinks this is equal, looks like White has very strong compensation for the pawn.)

21.Ba3 cxd4 22.Rfd1?!

Diagram #4

( WH: 22.Bxe7 Q7xe7 23.Qe4 Qh7 24.Qe5 Rb2 25.Nxd4 Qg7 26.Nc6 Qxe5 27.N6xe5 = )

22... Bf6

This is a critical moment WH: -0.49 =+

(22... Bxa3 23.R1xa3 Bd7 24.Qe4 and White gets the pawn back with better position)

23.Bd6?

Diagram #5

WH: this is actually a blunder and gives Black big advantage. This was not obvious to me during the game at all. Better was

( WH: 23.Bc5 Kh8 24.a6 d3 25.Ra3 d2 26.R1xd2 Rb1+ 27.Kh2 Rg8 only move! ( Bd7?

Diagram #6

28.Qe4 +- WH: +4.0!) 28.Qe4 Rc1 29.g4 Houdini's eval is 0. 00 but position is insanely complex!)

23... Bb7 24.Qc7 Rbc8 ( Bxf3 25.Qxg7+??

Diagram #7

( 25.g2xf3 Rbc8 26.Qxg7+ K8xg7 27.c5 similar to the game)25... K8xg7)

25.Qxg7+ K8xg7 26.c5!

Diagram #8

26... Bxf3

This was not forced at all. Black is giving up a strong bishop, this could be a mistake, although if not how else do we hold our extra pawn? Perhaps, another option was to sac an exchange

(26... Rxd6 ( WH: here I missed an amazing tactic26... e5! 27.N3xe5??

Diagram #9

( 27.B6xe5 ( 27.Re1?

Diagram #10

( 27.a6 Bc6 28.Rab1 Rd7 29.Bxe5 Bxf3 30.Bxf6+ K7xf6 31.gxf3 Rxc5 -/+ )27... e4)27... Bxf3 28.Bxf6+ K7xf6 29.gxf3 Rxc5 -+ )27... Rxd6) 27.c5xd6 e5 28.Rab1 Be4 29.Rb5 Rd8 30.Nd2 Bc6 31.Rc5 Rxd6 32.Nc4 Re6 And seems like Black has an advantage)

27.g2xf3

Suddenly, things are not so easy anymore! In my calculations, I missed the c4-c5 move. Inexcusable! Starting from this point on, I played the game very poorly. I think I had < 5mins vs opponent's 11 mins here and was not able to find best configuration of pieces in time constraint

27... Rd7 28.Rab1 Rc6 29.Kf1 Ra6?!

Diagram #11

( Kg6! 30.Ke2 Kf5 followed by e5 and Be7 could have been winning / at least giving huge advantage for Black)

30.Rb5 Kf7 31.Ke2!

Diagram #12

White plays this part of the game brilliantly. Centralization of the king and White is suddenly at least equal, if not better, due to strong bishop and passivity of Black's rooks, as well as due to control of the open b-file

31... e5 32.Kd3 Ke6 33.Ke4!

Diagram #13

33... Rc6 34.Rdb1

White is coming from the back

34... Be7 ( WH: Here I missed another incredible tactical shot34... d3! 35.K4xd3 ( 35.Rd1 Be7 36.Bxe5??

Diagram #14

36... Bxc5)35... Be7 -/+ )

35.Bxe5 Bxc5 36.Rb8!

Diagram #15

White is hitting the h6, the weak spot in Black's camp.

36... d3?

Diagram #16

( WH:36... Bd6! 37.B5xd6 R6cxd6 38.Kd3 Rc7 With winning chances)

37.Rh8??

Diagram #17

After this move, Black is probably completely lost. I had < 1 minute here. Rest was straightforward. Addendum: it is funny to read the above comment after analysis and funny how wrong I was.

37... Kf7??

Diagram #18

( HOUDINI: Black actually has amazing tactical shot that I completely overlooked. Houdini's evaluation -8.5!!!37... Bf8!! 38.R8xf8 Rc4+)

38.Rh7+ Ke8 39.Rb8+ Rd8 40.Rh8+ Bf8 41.R8xf8+ K8xf8 42.Rxd8+ Ke7 43.Rxd3 Rc4+ 44.Kf5 Ra4 45.Rd5 Ra3 46.Bf6+ Ke8 47.Ke6 Re3+ 48.f2xe3 f4xe3 49.Rd8#