In the Under 1300 section of the 133d NYS Championship there was a stiff battle for top honors. Hong Jin and Jonah Klempner tied for first at 5 - 1, Behind them was a cluster of six players at 4 - 2 with tie breaks determining the order of finish. One young lady at 4 - 2 was Brittany Denniston from downstate. She was placed 5th overall, and she won the top Under 1100 prize.
One of the administrative challenges in chess locally is to get players to turn in copies of their scores sheets. Bill Townsend reports he received only something under 70 games this year from the NYS Championship event. The dearth of games submitted is the reason we can’t see games from the others in this section. This is regrettable, and I see no solution on the horizon other than to keep nagging the players to turn in their games.
Today’s game is a win by Miss Denniston on her way to a trophy and a nice prize.
Denniston, Brittany (1020) - Femia, John G (1184) [C44]
133d NYS Championship, U1300, Albany, NY, 03.09.2011
1.e4 e5 2.c3 Nc6 3.Nf3 d6 4.d3 h6 5.Be2 Nf6 6.h3 Ne7?
The opening is somewhere in the realm of the Ponziani and the Scotch Gambit. The last move has to be questioned. Any second move by a piece in the opening needs careful examination. Justification for this one is lacking; there are no tactics and no positional reason to dawdle here. Best is 6..., d5; taking advantage of the slow system White has adopted to expand in the center. Also good are; 6..., Be7; 6..., Be6; and 6..., a6; preparing 7..., b5.
7.Nh2?,..
Both sides are under the same spell; maneuvering before developing. Strange. Better is 7 Be3, why else did Brittany use a tempo to play h2-h3? Perhaps she was contemplating the charge of her K-side pawns as happens later? If so, Miss Denniston has a reckless streak in her chess character.
7..., b6 8.f4 Nd7?
Neglecting development even further. Black has commented enough chess sins to lose this game already. Much better is 8..., exf4 9 Bxf4 Ng6; and Black has equalized.
9.Be3?,..
This is a more understandable mistake. The move gives Black a chance to repair his error with 9..., exf4 10 Bxf4 Ng6; with a reasonable game.
9..., Ng8??
I find it hard to justify a double query in my analysis of local games, but this extended maneuvering with the Knights earned such. Squandering three vital tempi in nine moves is too big an error not to be awarded the dread double question marks.
10.f5 Be7 11.Bf2 Bh4 12.g3 Bg5 13.h4 Be7 14.Qc2 Ngf6 15.Nd2 c5
White has completed most of her development. Now which side on which to castle is the immediate question.
16.Nhf1!?,..
Instead of a decision about where the White King will go, more maneuvers. Two moves suggest themselves; 16 0-0-0, and 16 g4, getting on with the expansion on the K-side. I called this move interesting but questionable because Brittany may have looked at the position and thought she can delay deciding about the King’s home and may improve the position of her worst placed piece. That is not totally unreasonable.
16..., Bb7 17.Ne3 a5?
Black does not seem to understand the importance of timing. Somewhere in my blogging I mentioned the notion of “waiting and breaking”. In the opening and early middle game very often we are preparing breaks, that is an advance of a pawn that will change the position in some fundamental fashion that helps out our pieces - “waiting” in my parlance. Such work is not confined to the opening and early middle game exclusively but is most common there. Those masters and Grandmasters from whom I have taken lessons tried mightily to get the idea of timing breaks drummed into my head without great success. There is a moment when the break has to be made, and chess skill is much about getting the timing right. Here Black has the opportunity to break with 17..., d5. Play may well continue; 18 exd5 Nxd5 19 Bf3 Nxe3 20 Bxe3 Bxf3 21 Nxf3, then both sides will likely castle long and the game is close to level. Black has a poor Bishop, and White has to be watchful about her advanced K-side pawns. Black’s main idea in this position is to put the Knight on f6 and push the e-pawn to e4 and maybe getting the Bishops off. White would probably put a Rook behind the g-pawn and push the pawns forward. It is an even fight, the classic dynamically balanced position where both sides have their chances. The text passes on the needed center break and waits too long.
18.a4 Qc7 19.Qb3 0–0 20.0–0–0 Qc6 21.Bf3 Rab8
These last operations indicate Black has grasped some of the possibilities in the position. He is making threats to push .., d6-d5 and .., b6-b5; opening lines bearing on the White King.
22.Rhg1 Rfd8?
One more in a long line of moves that were off the mark. White has her Queen aimed at f7. That makes any push forward by the g-pawn a problem for Black; when the g-pawn appears on g6 the pinned f-pawn can not even make a small step forward to avoid the opening of the g-file where the White Rooks will congregate. This is the moment when Black must make some provision against the advancing g-pawn. Probably 22..., Nh7; then 23 g4 Bd8 24 Nd5 Kh8 25 Rg2 Ba6; is a sensible way to proceed. White is better, but Black has taken some steps to meet the threats. The move played in the game lacks even the virtue of making a distracting counter-threat and certainly does not prepare to successfully deal with the coming pawn storm.
23.g4 Kf8 24.g5 Ng8 25.g6,..
Oops! It’s mate at f7. Black’s now admirable, if belated, creativity fends off a quick end to the game.
25..., c4 26.Nexc4 Nc5 27.Bxc5 Qe8
There is no saving of the Black game. It is a matter of choosing how the end will come for avoiding a loss is not possible. A sample line is; 27..., Qxc5 28 Nxe5 d5 29 d4 Qd6 30 gxf7 Nf6 31 Rde1 Nd7 32 Nf6+ Kxf7 33 exd5 Bf8 34 Ne4, with a grim outlook for Black. He now tosses material over the side trying to buy respite.
28.Bxb6 Bc6 29.Qa2 Bxa4 30.gxf7 Qxf7 31.Qxa4 Rdc8 32.Bxa5 Qe8 33.Qxe8+ Rxe8 34.Bb4,..
For the cost of two minor pieces and a couple of pawns, Black has delayed the end by just a few moves.
34..., Rbd8 35.Rg2 Ra8 36.Kb1 Ra6 37.Rdg1 Bf6 1-0 on move 50. Some moves were missing and some unreadable in the balance of the game score.
After a slow start to the game, Brittany Denniston showed a good understanding of what was possible at the critical moment. She plays good chess, and we can expect to her take more prizes in the future.
More Soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment