The Schenectady Consolation Swiss Ends, maybe

Thursday the 22d of April was the finish of this year’s Consolation Swiss at the Schenectady Club. Only five of the scheduled six games were played. The Capitummino - Dipre game was not played. I don’t know if, or when it may be rescheduled.

We hoped to see another make-up game from the Finals, but that was not to be - a work schedule conflict delayed the game between Bobby Rotter and Patrick Chi once more. Rotter also has a game to play against Philip Sells. That brings me to a correction needed to my last post. There I said, or at least implied Mr. Sells was home and dry for the Schenectady title. For some reason, I put it down to the fading recollection of old age, I believed Sells had a total of 3 ½ points and no one could catch him. Philip has three points and the game against Rotter to play. Should Bobby win that game a tie (Sells and Mockler) at 3 points is possible. If Bobby wins his two remaining games a three way tie (Sells, Mockler and Rotter) could occur. And, if Chi wins his remaining game… In such a short event with closely matched players, it is possible to have very tight finish and some kind of play-off scenario is maybe in future.

The games today are all from the Consolation Swiss;

Consolation Swiss 09-10
Date: 4.22.2010
White: Qu, C
Black: Stanley, M

Mike Stanley comes very close to upending the rising scholastic player, Chen Qu in an interesting battle.

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 a6
4. Ba4 Nf6
5. O-O Be7
6. Re1 b5
7. Bb3 d6
8. c3 O-O
9. h3 Na5
10. Bc2 c5
11. d4 ….
Like a pair of solid GM’s these guys have rolled out 10 ½ moves of theory in the most classical of openings, the Ruy Lopez.

11.… exd4
Unusual but not unknown. Mostly Black tries to hold on to the strong point on e5. Some GM’s have tried the text; chiefly Chiburdanidze and Kuzmin.

12. cxd4 Nd7
13. e5 Nc6
14. exd6 Bxd6
15. d5 Nce5
Sharper is 15..., Nb4; aiming at the elimination of the Bc2.

16. Ng5!? ….
Neglectful of development is this move. More useful is 16 Nc3.

16.… Nf6
17. f4 Ng6
18. Bxg6 hxg6
19. Nc3 Qc7
20. g3 Bb7?!
Putting the Rook on d8 to pressure the d-pawn is more accurate. White has not played very sharply and has let Black equalize and maybe a little bit more.

21. Nf3? ….
This is an error. The Knight should go to e4. Black’s development is better than White’s is, the White pawns, a passed pawn not withstanding, are worse, and the White King’s situation is a long term worry - with the pawn cover advanced from in front of the King, and Queens on the board, surprises are possible.

21.… Rae8
22. Ne5 Re7?!
A telling moment. Mike has gotten to a very favorable position. Stanley could cement his advantage by displacing the Nc3 by advancing the pawn to b4. The d-pawn can then be captured leaving Black with extra material, a space edge and a pair of Bishops eyeing the open lines pointing at the White King. Played so, Black has a nearly winning advantage.

23. g4 fe8
24. g5 Nh5
25. Bd2 Bxe5
26. fxe5 Rxe5
27. Rxe5 Qxe5
28. Qf3 Qd4+
29. Qf2 Qxf2+?
To here White has not defended well. Black has not realized winning the d-pawn was the thing to do. Nevertheless, Black could have found the key to the position with 29..., b4; or 29..., Re5. Trading Queens eases White’s problems even if it does not eliminate them entirely. Black now sees a mirage costing him the full point.

30. Kxf2 Bxd5?
A tactical error. Black thinks he is going to come out of the transaction in good shape.

31. Nxd5 Rd8
32. Ne7+ ….
Mike must have missed this in-between move. White is winning.

32... Kf8
33. Ba5 Kxe7
34. Re1+ Resigns.

I don’t quite what to say about this next game. David Connors played nicely to obtain a winning advantage, made a mistake that only gave up the advantage, and then resigned in a position no worse than equal!

Consolation Swiss
Date: 4.22.2010
White: Connors, D
Black: Chu, R

1. Nf3 Nf6
2. b3 g6
3. Bb2 Bg7
4. d4 d5
5. Nbd2 O-O
6. e3 Bf5
7. Be2 Nc6
8. a3 a6
9. O-O Re8
10. Rc1 Ng4
11. Nh4 Nh6
12. Nxf5 Nxf5
13. c4 e6
14. Nf3 Rc8?
Much could be said about Black not really finding the sense of the position. His layout of forces just does not inspire much confidence in his chances. This move loses a pawn at least immediately. Better 14..., Nd6.

15. cxd5 exd5
16. Bxa6 bxa6
17. Rxc6 Ra8
18. Qd3 a5
19. Rfc1 Re7
20. Ra6 Bh6
21. Kf1 Rb8
22. Ne5 Rxe5?
Richard miscalculates. He must have believed that 22..., Re8; 23 Nc6, is really dangerous. It is not. If 22..., Re8; 23 Nc6, Nxe3+!; and Black is nearly equal with dangerous attacking chances. Of course, White should simply remain calm, capture the a-pawn retaining a winning advantage.

23. dxe5 Qg5
24. Rc2 Nh4
25. f4 Qd8
26. Rxa5 c6
27. Rxc6? ….
Oversights are contagious in chess. Just 27 Rac5, keeps everything under control.

27.… Qxa5
Resigns?? White has three pawns for the piece and every hope of holding the game. Play could continue 28 b4, Qa8; 29 b5, Qa5; 30 Rxd5, and Black has to fight not to succumb to a White attack, or some advance of the White pawns. I have experienced similar shocks. It is too easy to quit the game and walk away to play again another day. Such actions are harmful to one’s rating and to the development as a chess competitor.

The rating effect is really not so important. Becoming a better competitor at chess is crucial. That has to be the motivation that brings us to the chessboard for hours of work when most of our contemporaries are relaxing from the day’s labors. When we get surprised it is useful to use this mental tool to regain a realistic appreciation of the position in front of you. The tool: Examine every legal move on the board, not in great depth, but just enough to re-establish a balanced view of the situation. It will give you the technical aspect of the position, what can capture what, etc. More importantly, the exercise calms the emotions. If things are truly hopeless, resignation is always available. If there counter-chances, you just may find them.

My win from Ray Alguire gave me clear first place in the Consolation Swiss.

Consolation Swiss
Date: 4.22.2010
White: Little, B
Black: Alguire, R

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. Bb5+ Bd7
4. Bxd7+ Qxd7
5. c4 Nf6
6. Nc3 Nc6
7. d4 cxd4
8. Nxd4 g6
9. f3 Bg7
10. Be3 O-O
All theory and all good. White is happy to gotten rid of the light squared Bishops because he is planning a pawn curtain on the light squares.

11. Rc1 Rfc8?
This move is an error in that it does not fit into an active plan. White has the edge in space. It is based on the pawn chains. Black’s counter-play should be aimed at obtaining equality by attacking the pawn chains. GM Har-Zvi schooled me in couple of casual games in this line demonstrating Black should be thinking about …, a6; and …, b5; or …, e6; and …, d5; or …., f5. Any or all of these breaks help Black to reduce White’s advantage in space. If …, f5; is to be part of the program, the Rook belongs on f8. The text does not do much to help any of the breaks mentioned.

12. b3 Ne8
13. Nde2 Nc7
14. Qd2 Ne6
15. O-O b6
16. Rfd1 Rd8
White has played the Maroczy Bind formula. Either a win or a draw ensured me of first place in the tournament. That pleasant circumstance suggested the approach taken; keep everything under control, no wild complications, grab any positional advantage offered, hold it, and wait patiently for Ray to try something active.

Moving the Rook back to the d-file hinted to me that Ray was not certain of the right ideas in such positions. If he was going to spend a tempo, it is better to put the Rook back on f8 to support the f5 break.

17. Nd5 ….
Sufficient, but the most principled is 17 Bh6.

17.… Rab8
18. a4? ….
After quite solid play, this move introduces unnecessary complications. The b-pawn and the square b4 are weakened and Black can look to put a Knight on c5 to force the Rook to b1 disrupting the smooth cooperation of the White forces.

18... Nc7
Instead of 18..., Nc5; with decent chances in difficult positional struggle, Black begins consider wholesale exchanges of minor pieces in the center. After the text, I began to think hard. It seemed to me that Ray decided the game was going towards a draw. My thought was even after the material is traded my space advantage is still there. If Ray is at all careless, there are chances he could go wrong. Also, I suspected he thought in any trade on d5 I would recapture with the c-pawn.

19. Nd4 Nxd5
20. exd5 ….
Much better than the alternative, 20 cxd5. There is now an imbalance of four to three pawns on the Q-side and Black’s pawn majority on the other side of the board is not completely healthy. Not much upon which to build a win, but my “read” of Alguire was he would trade all the Rooks off. The “read” is similar to that done in Poker. Watching professional Poker tournaments brings amazement about how some players can uncannily guess what cards their opponents are holding. Sometimes in chess you can have a similar flash off intuition. Such was the case here.

20.… Nxd4
21. Bxd4 Qf5
22. Rc3 Bxd4+
23. Qxd4 Qf6
24. Qxf6 exf6
25. Re1 Re8
26. Rce3 Kf8
27. Kf2 Rxe3
28. Rxe3 Re8?
29. Ke2? ….
Taking the Rook is correct. Black has a chance to save himself.

29.… Rxe3+?
Fatal. Keeping the Rooks on leaves White with an advantage that looks difficult to make into a win. Now the winning process was clear to me; make a passed pawn on the Q-side and use it to draw the Black King away, then run in my King to pick off pawns on the K-side. Around here Ray offered a draw. I declined because a win would be very beneficial for my rating.

30. Kxe3 a5
31. Kd4 Ke7
32. Kc3 Kd7
33. b4 Kc7
34. g4 ….
An important move. Thanks to Dvoretsky and his endgame manual I learned about the importance of preventing the opponent having too many tempo moves on the far side of the board in pawn endings. That is the underlying purpose of the move, as well as intending to make a capture that weakens the Black K-side pawns if …, f5; or …. h5.

34... Kb7
35. f4 Kc7
It does not help matters to play 35..., axb4+; because there is a theme similar to the game that runs Black out of moves giving White his passed pawn in the end. The trick behind the scenes is if White gets a pawn on g5, the Black pawns on f7 and h7 have legal moves which will lead to another passed pawn for White and the win in short order. Ray offered the draw a second time. With the win clearly in sight I declined again.

36. bxa5 bxa5
37. g5 Kb6
38. Kd4 f5
39. h3 ….
Now Ray recognized my scheme and why the draw offers were refused.

39.… Kc7
40. c5 dxc5+
41. Kxc5 Kd7
42. d6 Ke6
43. Kc6 f6
44. h4 fxg5
45. hxg5 Resigns.
After the game Ray asked where I thought he had gone wrong. I said it was 23..., Qf6. That is incorrect. It is likely, if he had retained his last Rook, there was considerable counter-play for Black with an eventual drawn outcome very possible. If White wanted the win, he would have had to take some risks on the Q-side breaking open lines that just might give the Black Rook opportunity to get in amongst my pawns. In that case, I might well have accepted a split point to avoid worse.
　
I have two more games from the last round of the Swiss and some material from earlier rounds in the Finals to post. I hope to get this stuff up over the weekend.