Howard and Caravaty Lead at AACC

The Albany Area Chess Club began its play-off matches Wednesday evening. Peter Henner and Dean Howard met for the Championship title and Cory Northrup and Chris Caravaty battled for the Under-1800 honors.

Henner won a pawn in the early middle game, and I thought he just might continue his successful run from the preliminaries by winning the first game of this match. That was not to be. As time got short, Mr. Howard showed his formidable creativity under pressure. He found ways to keep the game from simplifying too quickly. After controlling the symmetrical position for a big piece of the game, Mr. Henner missed a tactical idea in time pressure and lost the contest.

In the Under-1800 match Mr. Caravaty won after Cory Northrup self-destructed by dropping the Exchange in the transition from the opening to the middle game. After the error, Mr. Northrup made his usual spirited and creative defense. Chris Caravaty had some hesitation in the face of Northrup’s stubborn defense, but the material and positional advantages of his game were too great for even tough defending to hold off.

Today’s game is the Henner - Howard contest:

Henner, Peter - Howard, Dean [C01]
AACC Championship Playoff Guilderland, NY, 23.02.2012

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 Bd6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.0–0 0–0

There are many, many games in the databases of this debut. At the master and above levels it results in a draw most of the time in games between equals. I thought here these guys going to split this point early.

7.Bg5 Bg4 8.Nbd2 Nbd7 9.h3,..

Sooner or later one side or the other was going to challenge a pinning Bishop. White does so first. As natural as this seems, it is not the way the masters treat the position. Here are two of the best from the early days of last century. Both keep symmetry for as long as possible and arrive at a natural splitting of the point.

Schlechter, Carl - Maroczy, Geza [C01]
Monte Carlo (20), 1903

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bd6 6.0–0 0–0 7.Bg5 Bg4 8.Nbd2 Nbd7 9.c3 c6 10.Qc2 Qc7 11.Rfe1 Rfe8 12.Bh4 Bh5 13.Bg3 Bxg3 14.hxg3 Bg6 15.Nh4 Bxd3 16.Qxd3 g6 17.Nhf3 a6 18.Qc2 Kg7 19.Rad1 Rxe1+ 20.Rxe1 Re8 21.Qb1 Qb8 22.Kf1 Qd8 23.Rxe8 Qxe8 24.Qe1 Qxe1+ 25.Nxe1 Kf8 26.Ke2 Ke7 27.Nd3 Ne8 28.Nb3 Nd6 29.Nbc5 Nxc5 30.Nxc5 a5 31.Nd3 f6 32.Nc5 b6 ½–½

The text appealed to no well known masters, at least I find none in the databases. The only game in the few found was a very short pro forma draw by a couple of mid-level masters, Abramovic, Bosko (2445) - Padevsky, Nikola (2435) at Pamporovo (11), 1982, where the game was agreed a draw after the 10th move; 10 Re1. The few other games that turned up were by players under 2100 FIDE or unrated.

9..., Bh5 10.c3 c6 11.Qc2 Bg6

The game is essentially symmetrical notwithstanding the Black Bishop on g6. Looking back at the Schechter - Maroczy game, the likelihood is all the Bishops being traded off and most of, or all the heavy piece exchanging on the only open file wit a balanced endgame with Knights. Very likely a draw.

12.Nh4!?,..

White used a chunk of time to find this attempt to unbalance the position. I don’t think there was a lot of deep calculation of variations, rather it was a weighing up of the positions resulting from the several possible trades looking for a potential edge. This kind of effort can be even more trying than calculating many long variations. What is being searched for is small, easily miss-valued and fleeting. Chose an incorrect move order and the jewel you sought may be a piece of coal.

12..., Qc7 13.Nf5!?,..

It is not easy to understand why White wants to exchange on f5 rather than straight away capturing on g6 harming ever so slightly the Black pawn formation.

13..., Bxf5 14.Bxf5 h6 15.Be3 Rfe8

Black is reasonably happy. True, he did surrender the Bishop pair, but he retained the better of his Bishops. White has the two Bishops he wanted, but the dark squared Bishops is not doing much on e3.

16.Rfe1 Nh5?!

Some preparation for this adventurous move might have been in order. Logical and principled is; 16..., Re7; and then let’s suppose White tried the plan he used in the game, 17 Nf3 Rae8 18 Qc1 Ne4, and the capture 19 Bxh6? should give Black a clear advantage after; 19..., gxh6 20 Qxh6 Nf8. At this point, if White tries to strengthen the attack with the natural 21 Ng5??, the brutal blow 21..., Bh2+!; and mate the next by the Knight ends the game. The Black counter-stroke looks logical and obvious when you see it, finding it when considering 19 Bxh6, in this line is not so easy. It is that sort of trick that gets overlooked often.

17.Nf3 Ndf6 18.Qc1 Ne4?

Curious, here are two very strong local players studiously avoiding bringing their last units into the fray. Black moves the Knight yet again when 18..., Re7; prepares to double on the only open file. White for his part has put his Queen on c1 delaying by a couple of moves the active use of the Ra1. Odd to say the least. What may be at work is the real difficulty of navigating a symmetrical position; there is not much in the way of imbalances inherent in the position. Consciously, or unconsciously, imbalances guide good players. Silman’s dictum; improve the unfavorable and exploit the favorable imbalances is really how effective plans are created by good players. In symmetrical positions with few of these guideposts, even good players can lead themselves astray.

The text misses a shot.

19.Bxh6! Nf4?!

If 19..., gxh6? 20 Qxh6 Nef6 21 g4 Bf8 22 Qg5+ Ng7 23 Qxf6, recovers the piece with two extra pawns as interest and a won game for White. Black’s reply shows he was probably surprised by the blow at h6. Absent the surprise, Mr. Howard might have found; 19..., g6 20 Bxe4 dxe4 21 Nd2 f5; when White does have the pawn, but Black has compensation after; 22 Nc4 Bh2+ 23 Kh1 b5 24 Ne3 Bf4 25 Bxf4 Nxf4. The threat of the fork at d3 buys Black another tempo which may be used to speed a Rook to the h-file. Then the focus of the Black Queen, Knight and one, or both Rooks on the K-side makes the White King shiver a bit notwithstanding the comfort of an extra pawn.

20.Bxf4 Bxf4 21.Qc2 Qe7?

Time was beginning to be a worry for Black, he had 10 minutes left to White’s 22 minutes. This was a hasty move in response to that imbalance in time I think. More ordinary stuff, say 21..., Nf6; does not step into a pin down the e-file. Mr. Howard may have concluded ordinary will not be sufficient here. Down a solid pawn without discernable compensation and time ticking away, risks must be taken to gin up something.

22.g3 Qf6 23.Bxe4 dxe4 24.Rxe4!?,..

White had taken his time to get to here; he now had just 11 minutes remaining, while Black had 5 ½ minutes. This move aims at holding the material plus at whatever positional cost. Converting the game to a heavy piece ending by 24 Nh4 Qe7 25 Re2 Bg5 26 Rae1 Bxh4 27 Rxe4, returns the pawn to obtain a much superior piece position after; 27..., Qd7 28 gxh4 Rxe4 29 Qxe4 Qxh3 30 Re3 Qd7 31 Qe7 Rd8 32 a2. White wants now to run Black out of moves counting on eventually making something out of the 7th rank when Black has to trade on e7. One has to feel sympathy for Mr. Henner. Time is shortening and here is a choice between giving back the pawn and making a heroic effort to hang on to it. Surrendering material, even so little as a pawn, for the less concrete advantage of better piece placement is an unpleasant task in any kind of time bind. Doing so here is probably the better choice.

24..., Bxg3 25.Kg2 Bc7 26.Rh4 g6 27.Re4?,..

By now White had caught up (down?) with Black on the time front. Both players had about 5 minutes remaining. With 27 Qd2 Re7 28 Re1 Rae8 29 Rxe7 Rxe7 30 Qd3, White simplifies the game a bit and holds onto his edge.

27..., Kg7 28.Rae1 Rh8 29.Qd2,..

White began to fall behind on the clock now. He took some time over this move and had 1:53 on the clock after making it. Howard was better off by a little bit. The game is in full blitz mode now. It is easier to play blitz if you have a clear tactical point in mind. It is much more difficult to do so if you are on the defensive. Black has the clear tactical point; a sacrificial attack down the h-file, not very sophisticated but sharp. Defending this position White has to rely on alertness and the fundamentals of the position he discovered while working up to this position. With little time for double checking the defense seems to fail more often than the attack in blitz.

The game move loses. White needed to guard against intrusions on the h-file with 29 h4, or defend f3 with 29 R4e3, or even raise the ante with 29 Re7 Rxh3 30 Qd3 Rah8 31 R1e6 Qxe6 (Not 31..., Qf4?? 32 Qxg6+!, with mate to follow.) 32 Rxe6 fxe6; and there is a really difficult fight to be made with not time to think much. White obviously just did not quite see Black’s threat.

29..., Rxh3 30.Ne5?,..

An instant move. The motivation must be to obstruct one line bearing on the White King. Better is 30 Ng1, avoiding the worst. After 30..., Rh2+ 31 Kf1 Bg3; White is in trouble but not yet totally lost. If 30 Kxh3? Qxf3+ 31 Kh4, the only move, and Black mates with the Queen or the Rook on the h-file.

30..., Bxe5

Threatening 31..., Qf3+; and mate on the back rank. If 31 R4e3 Qg5+ 32 Kf1 Bf4; and Black will be a whole Rook ahead soon. After the text mate can not be avoided.

31.dxe5 Qf3+ 0–1

There are players dangerous in regular play, and then there are some even more troublesome in time pressure. Philip Sells and Dean Howard, who both regularly pull off rescues of less promising positions when the flags are close to falling are two such players. These guys, I believe, use the work they put into the position, getting into the time trouble by the way, to find a tactical idea, (point, scheme, or stratagem), to use in the time crunch. They also make every effort to get the initiative. With an idea and the initiative, playing in time trouble is easier. Of course, it helps to have the nerves of a riverboat gambler also.

Thursday evening the Schenectady Club held another round in the Consolation Tourney and make up games from the Finals. Unfortunately, illness, foreign travel and logistics conspired to prevent more games being played. Three games took place: in the Finals Philip Sells won from Carlos Varela in a thoroughly fascinating contest where Varela had real chances to win it. Mr. Varela came up with a sparkling attack that came up short. In the Consolation Matt Clough dropped a point to Cory Northrup, and Isaiah Glessner defeated the tournament leader Dilip Aaron in an upset.

Sells' victory gives him clear second place in the Finals with a 4 - 1 score behind John Phillips at 4 ½ - ½ . No one else in the Finals can reach 4 points.

Glessner, with his win from Aaron, certainly made what had appeared to be a runaway for Aaron, into a wide open contest. At the top of heap; Dilip Aaron 4-1, Herman Calderone 2-1, Isaiah Glessner 2-1, and Chris Caravaty 2 ½ -½ all have chances to win the event.

More soon.