Spring Classic forecast

The Spring Classic will take place at the St. Louis Chess Club in a few days. Ivanchuk is the top seed in the A group, but he will have a lot of strong opposition.

GM swindles e4stat

Another loss, but I feel like I am making progress. At first, my duels with grandmasters were quite lopsided (GM clobbers e4stat and E4stat loses to another GM). Then I played GM Var Akobian in a rapid tournament and actually had a decent position until I noticed that my clock ticked down to 10 seconds. This time, the GM was lucky to escape!

I was competing in the Port of Burlington Open. On the first day, I beat a pair of 1800's. I took a half point bye in Round 3. Then I faced GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez in Round 4. I had played him before in the 2018 Jane Addams Memorial.

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[Event "Port of Burlington Open"] [Site "Burlington, Iowa"] [Date "2019.02.03"] [Round "4"] [White "Wilson, Matthew"] [Black "Jimenez, GM Fidel Corrales"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B28"] [WhiteElo "2108"] [BlackElo "2633"] [Annotator "Wilson,Matthew"] [PlyCount "80"] {We had faced each other before in January 2018. He won convincingly. I wondered if he remembered me. Or maybe he didn't because he clobbered so many amateurs every year.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 { Hey, that's the move I played against you in 2018! He definitely remembered me! } 3. c4 d6 {Back in our game from 2018, I had played 3...e6.} 4. d4 ({ White shouldn't delay d2-d4 any longer:} 4. Nc3 e5) 4... cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Be2 Qc7 8. O-O b6 9. Be3 ({Back when I was experimenting with different move orders, I remember getting a similar position with Black. Then the computer crushed me with} 9. f4 Bb7 10. f5 $1 { I looked at the same idea here. However, I didn't see enough compensation after } e5 11. Nc2 Nxe4 12. Nd5 Bxd5 13. Qxd5 Qc6 (13... Qc5+ 14. Ne3 Qxd5 15. Nxd5 { and White recovers his material favorably}) { If I had kept calculating, I might have found} 14. Qxc6+ Nxc6 15. Bf3 $1 { and White wins. But Black is not forced to take on e4. If he plays 11...Nbd7, he is probably okay. So the move I played in the game is fine.}) 9... Bb7 10. f3 Nbd7 11. Rc1 Rc8 12. Qd2 Be7 13. Rfd1 Qb8 {Black's ...b5 and ...d5 pawn breaks almost never work when his queen shares the c-file with White's rook, so the queen steps aside.} 14. Bf1 { A normal move in the Hedgehog. White prepares to slide the queen over to f2.} h5 (14... O-O {is more typical, but this is also playable.}) 15. Kh1 { This is a standard move in the Hedgehog, but it is not the most accurate. For reasons given in the next note, I wanted to meet ...Be7-d8-c7 with Bg1. So my king scoots over to make space for the bishop. But this does allow Black to set up tactics on the h-file and the long diagonal.} (15. b3 { was slightly better}) 15... h4 16. b3 {A decent move, but the reasoning behind it was flawed. At first, I was not afriad of ...Nf6-h5-g3+. But after the standard ...Be7-d8-c7 maneuver, it could be deadly. Once the bishop reaches c7, Black threatens ...d5 followed by ...Bxh2. To prevent this, I wanted to play Bg1, but then ...Ng3+ is almost mate! I calmed down once I saw that Nde2 neutralizes ...Ng3+. Then I thought my c4-pawn was hanging after ...Be7-d8-c7 Bg1 ...Nh5 Nde2. So after a long think, I decided to play 16.b3 to protect it. But it's all based on a hallucination: after ...Bc7, Black can't play ...Rxc4 because it's illegal! Nevertheless, in some lines it is handy to give the c4-pawn extra support, so my move is fine.} h3 $2 {Sending the pawn on a suicide mission. Previously, the pawn prevented me from playing g2-g4; now my g-pawn is free to advance. Black had a couple of alternatives. One of them was the 16...Bd8 followed by ...Bc7. Another one is to reroute the d7-knight to g6, where it would support the h4-pawn so Black could castle.} 17. g4 ({ I seriously considered} 17. gxh3 {. Black can't punish it:} d5 18. exd5 exd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. cxd5 Bxd5 21. Bxa6 {. The advantage of playing 17.gxh3 is that the bishop can come to g2 in some variations. However, the move that I played in the game is better. White can win the h3-pawn without compromising his structure.}) 17... Ne5 (17... d5 $2 18. exd5 {Stockfish's choice} (18. g5 $2 {is recommended in my notes, but Stockfish replies with} dxe4 $1 19. gxf6 Nxf6 20. fxe4 Nxe4 21. Nxe4 Bxe4+ 22. Kg1 Rh4 23. Be2 { . Black has two pawns and a powerful attack for the piece}) 18... exd5 19. g5 $1 {After Black moves the knight, the d5-pawn falls}) 18. g5 Nfd7 19. Qf2 { Simplest and best. I just want to round up the h-pawn.} (19. f4 { leads to chaos. Here's a sample line from my notes:} Ng6 (19... Bxe4+ { is actually playable, according to the machine} 20. Nxe4 Qa8 21. Qc2 Nc5) 20. f5 Ngf8 21. g6 fxg6 22. fxg6 Nc5 23. Qf2 Nxg6 24. Qg3 Ne5 25. Qxg7 Nxe4 $3 26. Nd5 (26. Qxh8+ Kd7 {White has gobbled up a whole rook with check(!), but now his queen is under attack and his king is feeling very unsafe}) { I thought White was winning here, but Stockfish finds} 26... Bf6 $3 27. Nxf6+ Nxf6+ 28. Kg1 Rg8 {and instead White has to resign!}) 19... Nc5 20. Qg3 g6 { I thought that this was a good move and he played it quickly. I had been dreaming of pushing back the Black knights and then unleashing g5-g6! However, the computer disapproves of his idea. It thinks that the g6-square should be reserved for the knight.} ({Stockfish prefers} 20... Kf8 21. Kg1 Ng6 22. b4 ( 22. Bxh3 $2 d5 $1) 22... Nd7 23. a3 { . Now Black should not try to break out immediately:} Nge5 $6 (23... Kg8 { is better, but White retains a big advantage}) 24. Na4 d5 $2 25. exd5 exd5 26. cxd5 Bxd5 27. Bxa6) 21. Rc2 {Now Black doesn't pick up a tempo with ...Nd3 after I snap off the h3-pawn. The pawn isn't running away and Black can't do much, so I can get away with this slow move.} Qa8 22. Kg1 ({There is no hurry to take the pawn, so first I avoid any shenanigans on the long diagonal. Stockfish says that White can get away with grabbing the pawn immediately, but it gets messy:} 22. Bxh3 b5 23. cxb5 Nxf3 24. Qxf3 Nxe4 25. Nc6) 22... Rh5 23. Bxh3 b5 {A desperate bid for counterplay} ({In my notes, I thought that} 23... Kf8 {offered more resistance. Black intends to continue with ...Kg7 and ... Rch8. But Stocky shows that ...Kg7 doesn't work in many variations - White can reply with f3-f4-f5-f6+}) (23... Kd7 { looks like a faster way to get the c8-rook into the fight, but it runs into} 24. Nd5 $1) 24. cxb5 Ncd3 {Once he played this, I knew I had a winning position } ({During the game, I was unsure if} 24... Nxf3+ {was sound. I thought that the point of 23...b5 was to open the c-file so that this tactic worked.} 25. Qxf3 ({In my notes and during the game, I rejected} 25. Nxf3 Nxe4 26. Nxe4 Rxc2 {. But White is still winning here. Stockfish finds} 27. Nf6+ $1 Bxf6 28. gxf6 Bxf3 $2 29. Qxd6 {with mate in 6}) 25... Nxe4 26. bxa6 $1 {I missed this move during the game. It disrupts Black's battery on the long diagonal and leaves me with a completely winning position.} ({Much stronger than} 26. Nxe4 Rxc2 27. Nxc2 Bxe4 {, but according to the engine, White wins here as well})) 25. Bf1 Nb4 26. Rcc1 axb5 ({A weird tactic:} 26... Kf8 27. a3) 27. Bxb5+ Kf8 28. a4 ( 28. f4 Nec6 {is also winning}) 28... Ba6 (28... Kg7 29. f4 {My notes stopped here since White is completely winning, but Stockfish extends the variation by one more move:} Nec6 30. f5 $1 { Black is down material *and* facing a powerful attack}) 29. Bxa6 Qxa6 30. Ncb5 Ned3 31. Rxc8+ Qxc8 32. f4 $4 ({Why didn't I just take the pawn???!!!?!??!} 32. Nxd6 {and Black is just busted:} Bxd6 33. Qxd6+ Kg7 34. Nc6 $1 {Somehow I didn' t even consider 32.Nxd6. Time pressure is no excuse; the pawn grab is just too obvious. You could have beaten a grandmaster!!}) 32... e5 $1 33. fxe5 $2 (33. Ne2 Rh3) (33. Nf3 exf4 34. Bxf4 Rh3) ({Stockfish recommends} 33. f5 {, a move t hat I missed in the game and in my notes. White is 3(!) pawns ahead, so he can afford to sacrifice a piece. Nevertheless, Black is still in control after} exd4 34. Nxd4 Ne5) 33... dxe5 $2 (33... Rh3 $1 34. Qg2 Rxe3 35. exd6 Bd8 { looks chaotic at first, but if you look a bit longer, you will see that White can't do anything. Black is completely winning, according to Stockfish. 33... dxe5 looks simpler, but as we will see shortly, it could have lead to extreme complications.}) 34. Nf3 $2 (34. Na7 Qb7 (34... Qc3 $2 { lets White off the hook. Stockfish finds an incredible variation:} 35. h4 exd4 36. Qb8+ Kg7 37. Nb5 $1 Qc6 38. Bxd4+ f6 39. Rf1 Kh7 40. gxf6 Qxe4 41. Qh8+ $3 Kxh8 42. fxe7+ Kh7 43. Rf7+ Kh6 44. Bg7+ Kh7 45. Bf6+ Kh6 46. Bg7+ {with a draw }) 35. Ndc6 {leads to another long forced variation from the machine:} Nf4 36. Bxf4 exf4 37. Qc3 {(or else 37...Bc5+)} Qb6+ 38. Kf1 (38. Kh1 Qf2) 38... Rxh2 39. Rd4 Nc2 40. Kg1 Rh5 41. Qxc2 Bc5 42. Qc3 Bxd4+ 43. Qxd4 Qxb3 44. Qb4+ Qxb4 45. Nxb4 Rxg5+ 46. Kf2 Ra5 {and Black is clearly the one who is pressing, but maybe White can hold. I don't think I could find all that even with plenty of time on my clock}) 34... Rh3 $1 {I thought he was going to play 34...Qc2 and pick up my queenside pawns, but this is much more powerful} 35. Qg2 Bc5 $1 { Eliminating a defender and activating the queen with tempo} 36. Bxc5+ Qxc5+ 37. Kf1 Qe3 $1 38. Ng1 {The rook is untouchable, of course} (38. Ne1 Nxe1 39. Rxe1 Rf3+) (38. Nd2 Rh4 $1 39. Qg3 Rf4+ 40. Kg2 Qe2+) 38... Qf4+ 39. Ke2 Re3+ 40. Kd2 Rg3+ 0-1