Last night, Thursday, the Schenectady Chess Club Championship Finals lineup cleared up some. Little defeated Michael Stanley in short sharp game. That settled the qualifiers from Section A. They are Patrick Chi, 8-1, John Phillips, 7-2 and Bill Little, 6-3.
There was only one other make-up game played Thursday; from Section B Matt Clough and Jeff Capitummino battled for the point. The game was draw after a good battle. Jeff finished his schedule with a 2 -6 score, and Matt with 1 ½ - 6 ½ score. Both players had a bright spot to soften the sting of ending up well down the table; Capitummino was the lowest rated player in the event by 100 points, and he did not finish in last place. His two hard won points will move his rating up. Clough did end up at the bottom, but he has the very nice win over Barnes, one of the contenders for qualification, as a pleasant memory showing promise for the future.
The qualifiers from Section B remain uncertain beyond Philip Sells who has clear first placed locked up with a score of 7-0 and one game to play versus Moody. The second and third qualifying places are being contended for by Richard Moody, 4 ½ - 2 ½ with one to play versus Sells, John Barnes, 5-2 and Alan Le Cours, 5-2. Barnes and Le Cours have to face each other in their last scheduled game. If Moody wins from Sells and Barnes and Le Cours draw, a three way playoff for the two qualifying spots will be needed. If either Barnes or Le Cours wins their encounter and Moody draws with Sells, the loser of Barnes/Le Cours and Moody will have to playoff for the third place. Finally, if Mr. Sells defeats Moody, then both Barnes and Le Cours qualify regardless of the outcome of their game.
Our tournament director, Bill Townsend, has had assurance from the players with games to be played that they will be completed next week. Barring blizzard or ice storm I expect by this time next week all will be decided. Based on the players commitment to finish their scheduled games, Mr. Townsend announced the Finals and the Consolation Swiss will begin the first Thursday in February, the 3d. Allowing for weather delays and scheduling conflicts, play in both events is likely to be done by mid-March. That would be a fairly early finish of the club tournaments and permit the Schenectady teams to begin their play in the Capital District Chess League matches.
Today’s game is on the surface a typical win by the tournament leader over a tail-ender. However, there is more to it than that too obvious conclusion. I have been persuaded since helping Dilip Aaron in a simul versus GM Har-Zvi three years ago that he has potential as a chess player to perhaps go as far as his brother Deepak. In one of the last Studio Quads I defeated Deepak, but it was a near thing indeed. I came away from the game convinced that Deepak was about to break out and become a very strong player. Such was the case. Today’s game gave me the same feeling about the younger Aaron.
Sells, Philip - Aaron, Dillip [B01]
SCC Ch Prelim B Schenectady, NY, 09.12.2010
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.Bc4,..
White avoids the mainline 4 d4, and will settle for d2-d3 at some point. One key idea is by delaying the development of the Ng1 Black has to think seriously about what to do with his Bc8. If Black sticks the Bishop on f5, White has the potential to rush his K-side pawns forward gaining time.
4..., Nf6 5.Nf3,..
White seemingly changes his mind.
4..., Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.Qe2,..
Offering the c-pawn. There is more than a drop of poison there. If 8..., Bxc2? 9 d3 Ba4 10 Ne5 e6? 11 Nxf7! Kxf7? 12 Qxe6+ Kg6 13 Qf7#. The alternative 10..., Nc6?! Is met with 11 Bxf7 Kd8; and Black is in a sorry state, White is clearly better.
8..., Nbd7!?
Better is 8..., Nc6. From c6 the Knight contributes more to the struggle for central squares than it can from d7.
9.d3 e6 10.Bd2 Bb4
One of the newer ideas for Black in the Scandinavian. White threatens at some point in the future to uncover an attack on the Qa5 by moving the Nc3. Black counters by posting the Bishop on b4 and won’t be adverse to capturing on c3 if necessary, or trading on d2. The idea has more potential for equalizing the game if the White d-pawn is on d4 and c7-c6 has been played.
11.0–0–0 Nb6 12.Bb3
A crucial moment. Tactics are afoot. If 12 a3 Bxa3 13 bxa3? Qxa3+ 14 Kb1 Qb3+ 15 Ka1 Bxc2; and Black has compensation for the piece. White does not have to capture on a3 however and can obtain the advantage with 13 Nb5 Bb4 14 Nxc7+ Ke7 15 Bxb4+, winning the exchange.
12..., 0–0–0 13.Ne5,..
If now 13 a3? Bxa3 14 bxa3 Qxa3+ 15 Kb1 Rxd3! 16 Bxe6+ fxe6 17 cxd3 Na4 18 Qxe6+ Kb8 19 Qa2 Nxc3+ 20 Bxc3 Qxc3 21 Qc2 Nd5; and although Black has only a pawn for the Exchange, the poor position of the White King and the connected passed a and b-pawns combined to give Black good winning chances.
13..., Nfd7?
A tricky position where tactics and positional maneuvering are closely entwined, and Dilip makes an error. Better 13..., Ndd5; then 14 Nxd5 Bxd2+ 15 Rxd2 exd5; and Black is in the game with the issue far from decided. Note 15..., Nxd5?; is an error. Play could go 16 h4 Nf4 17 Qe3 Nd5 18 Qe1, when White is very near winning.
14.Nxg6,..
The disappearance of the Bg6 secures the safety of the White King.
14..., 14 hxg6 15.a3 Bxc3 16.Bxc3 Qg5+ 17.Kb1 Nf6
It is possible that 17..., Qb5; offers more hope than the text. For the next few moves White has the initiative but not much more than that.
18.Rdf1 Nbd5 19.Bd2 Qh4 20.f4 Qh7 21.Qg2 Qh4 22.Be1 Qh7 23.Rf3 Rhe8 24.Bf2 Nb6 25.a4 a6 26.Re1,..
White has rearranged his pieces and Black has been wary of trying anything more than to look for away to get his Queen back into the game. The game move was routine and does not advance the White cause. One worthy idea is 26 a5, Nbd5 27 Ba4, and if 27..., c6 28 c4, taking squares away from the Knights a la Lasker’s prescription for fighting Knights. Another idea is 26 f5 gxf5 27 gxf5 Nbd5 28 fxe6 fxe6; weakening the Black pawns then laying siege to them. The game move may have had this idea behind it.
26..., Qg8 27.c4!?,..
I wonder what Mr. Sells saw that caused him to not to go for 27 f5? It seems natural.
27..., Qf8 28.Bg3?!,..
From a promising placement of forces White has obstructed the Bb3 and now shifted the dark squared Bishop to g3. Could it be that Philip took counsel in the rating difference and thought anything will do here? Rybka sees the game as just about level after the text. The natural move is 28 d4.
28..., Qb4 29.Qc2,..
This must be the reason for the Bishop going to g3. If the wages of sin is damnation in Christian theology, then the wages of not pursuing the logical plan in chess is getting a worse position than you deserve - see the note to move 27. The game is level.
29..., Nfd7?
And in one move Black hands White a solid advantage. Necessary is 29..., Nbd7; re-routing this Knight through b8 to c6, a more useful post. A reasonable question is; how would someone know which Knight should go to d7? The well known rule I first heard about from the writings of Dvoresky: In situations where things are murky and no obvious move comes to mind, find your worse piece and improve its placement. The Nb6 is exposed to threats after the Black Queen is evicted from b4, and she will be either by Qc2-c3 or by the dark squared Bishop going to e1. Once that happens the Nb6 will have to fall back to a8 - the “corner” squares are the absolute worst for Knights. If Dilip knew that rule he would have easily found the right move.
30.d4 c5 31.Rc1 Na8
Forced for otherwise the Black Queen is trapped by Bg3-e1. White is now well ahead and moving towards a clear winning edge.
32.d5 e5 33.fxe5 Nxe5 34.Re3!?,..
There has been an uncharacteristic uncertainty in Philip’s play in this game. Here the straight forward 34 Bxe5 Rxe5 35 Rxc7 Re3 36 Ka2 Nb6 37 Rfc1 Rxh3 38 Rxg7 is promising. The position is difficult but White is creating more and more pressure on the Black position.
34..., Nd7
Other tries such as 34..., f6; and 34..., Nxc4; do not work out any better than the game move.
35.Rce1 Rxe3 36.Rxe3 Nc7 37.Be1 Qb6 38.a5 Qd6?
Going directly to f6 with the Queen is better. Why give your opponent another tempo especially when you are worse?
39.Bg3 Qf6 40.Qe2 g5 41.Bc2 g6 42.Re4?!,..
Strange. Was White worried about the Black Queen coming to d4? The try 42 Ba4 Qd4 43 Bxd7+ Rxd7 44 Be5, traps the Queen. The Lady is lost for insufficient material compensation. The move played again shows some uncertainty in its intentions.
42..., Qh8 43.Qh2,..
White has whittled his advantage down from clearly winning to just comfortably ahead in the last couple of moves.
43..., f5 44.gxf5,..
Not so simple is 44 Bxc7 fxe4 45 Bxd8 Kxd8 46 Bxe4 Qe5 47 Qxe5 Nxe5 48 b3, and White has a significant advantage, but there are many moves to be played to demonstrate this advantage. It had now reached that usual stage of a Sells’ game, serious time trouble. Maybe the time shortage influenced the decision. Mr. Sells had 2:45 on the clock and Mr. Aaron slightly more, about 3+ minutes.
44..., gxf5 45.Bxc7 fxe4 46.Bxd8 Kxd8 47.Bxe4 Qh4
By this point in the game both players were down to about one minute remaining. Dwindling time likely contributed to Dilip not finding 47..., g4!?; 48 Bf5 Qd4; with real chances to find a draw through activity of the Black Queen.
48.Qe2?,..
A time pressure error. Best is 48 Qg2, then 48..., Ne5 49 b3, and White preserves a significant edge. After the game move Black recovers the pawn and narrows the critical sector so that the short stepping Knight is not out matched by the long range Bishop. That is another idea Dvoretsky spells out in his latest tome; the “Endgame Manual”. Dvoretsky’s works are a hard slog for a club level player, but there are important high level ideas well worth the effort in them.
48..., Qxh3 49.Bg2 Qf5+ 50.Ka1 g4 51.d6 Qf4??
I seldom use the double query for a move. This time it is deserved. Black has played well under trying circumstances and made great progress. Here, after 51..., Qe5; he had every reason to be confident of drawing. White, with vanishing seconds on the clock would have to choose between 52 Qxe5, living with an outside passed pawn, or eliminating the pawn with 52 Qxg4 Qe1+ 53 Ka2 Qxa5+ 54 Kb3 Qb6+ 55 Kc3 Qxd6; arriving at a position that looks drawn. The text ignores the mate threat and loses the game immediately.
52.Qe7+ Kc8 1–0
Black made the move and resigned. 53 Qe8 is checkmate. Once more Philip Sells has used his steady nerves and considerable experience to successfully navigate serious time pressure bringing home the full point. But it was a near thing. Another year’s experience and Dilip might well salvage the half-point in a game like this one.
More soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment