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My style is not really suited to crazy positions with high stakes on every individual move. I thought that with this g6 move I could copy Magnus and try to set up with Bg7 d6 0-0 and a well timed e5 move. After this I could try to outplay my opponent in a position with all of the pieces on. This may have been a poor choice, since my opponent demonstrated in this game and our last classical game that she is more than able to keep up with me and find strong moves under pressure in sharp unbalanced positions. 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 d6 6. f4 O-O 7. Nf3 I had never seen this plan from white before against my g6 move. I was considering Bg4, b5 and e6 here. I didn't like b5 because axb5 a6 a4 seemed strong. Bg4 seemed ok but I figured white would get an easy advantage. e6 seemed most critical, attempting to transpose to a favourable benoni line. I knew black must be fine here. It's like the mainline except white goes Bd3 instead of Bb5 check. There is a line in the benoni with this exact position except white has a pawn on h3 and the f4 pawn is on f2. In that position black goes b5 and enters a long sharp variation with some reasonable chances to hold. I figured the inclusion of f4 instead of h3 should be favourable for black, not white, in these sharp lines. 9... b5 10. Bxb5 Nxe4 11. Nxe4 Qa5+ 12. Kf2 White makes use of f4 by tucking the king away. It does look like the king is safe enough but I knew that I could gain some indirect tempos against it to grow my initiative, having sacrificed a pawn. 12... Qxb5 13. Nxd6 Qb6 14. Nxc8 Rxc8 15. Ne5 c4+ 16. Kg3 I was happy with my compensation here. My play against b2 combined with the king forced to g3 should give me plenty of play for my pawn. I considered c3 here but couldn't figure out how to meet Qb3, of course I don't want to trade c4 for b2 unless it wins by force. Computer thinks I should meet Qb3 with Qd4, I considered this but couldn't work out a clear advantage. Maybe I needed to play more critically. 18... Re8 was my first thought but I was too tempted by Bf6. Re8 is better because white struggles to contest the e file without development of the bishop on c1. The bishop is tied down to b2. Bf6 is silly because it ties down my bishop to e7 and allows white to develop theirs. 18... Bf6 19. Be3 Nb6 20. Bxb6 axb6 21. a4 Kg7 This is an odd move. I wanted to free my bishop from e7 but 21... Re8 is again preferable and much more active. My bishop will never find a secure home without the g7 retreat. It becomes a target on f6 later on. 22. Rc1 Here I understood I have gone wrong somewhere. I was also getting low on time. 22... Rxc6 I talked myself into this sacrifice. I dreamt of winning the a4 pawn and then targeting b2. I also thought the king would become weaker without this big block in the centre. I had foreseen all of this so I played c3 immediately, however I missed that after Qf3 I no longer have a move such as Qxa4, so now there's no good way to continue. I must keep the queens on for now. 26. Qd5 I had expected 26. Re3 with the idea to give back an exchange for a safe pawn up advantage. I was not looking forward to seeing that move, but my opponent played the more ambitious Qd5, completely missing the Ra5 move that soon appeared. 26... Ra5 I knew activating my rook with tempo would cause the momentum to swing again. I played this move immediately and felt I had a decisive advantage. There are many tricks now. 29. h3 A crucial move to allow Kh2 so as not to allow a Bd4 fork upon a retreat to f2. I think this move signalled the start of a new phase where play became extremely critical with so many tricks. I have a huge initiative with so many tricks but my opponent starts to play extremely well. 29... Qc3+ 30. Kh2 Rd2 31. Qe3 Rd3 32. Qe4 Qd2 33. Qe2 Qxf4+ 34. Kh1 Rd2 35. Qg4 The endgame after Qe4 is losing, so my opponent finds Qg4 instead. Here a simple retreat along the diagonal is winning, but I make a fatal error. 35... Qf2 [RR 35... Qb8! 36. Rf1 I failed to notice that allowing Rf1 with tempo would give my opponent so many tricks along the f file. I have to worry about Qxf6 endgames after the queen appears on the f file and mine becomes tied to f6. Qc4 is the engine's top move, pressuring f7 and c2. My ideas of Qg3 Be5 now seem more like fantasies. My clock was ticking down towards 0 and I completely misevaluated the endgames after Qxf6. My king will just run to b2 and I will win. I was very scared by these prospects so I went for the more desperate seeming Be5. 39... Be5 40. Qxf7+ Kh6 41. Qf8+ Kg5 42. Qe7+ Kh6 43. Qh4+ Kg7 44. Rfe1 My opponent could play the perpetual but she understood that the momentum has swung again and that black has a very difficult task practically with little time. Rd7 is a decisive mistake. I was aware of Rxc2 ideas but I just couldn't find a harmonious solution. Rd4 is the key move instead, gaining some time against the queen which has no checks to give. Even had I found this move I don't feel like I would have survived, white's play is very straightforward and I am on the ropes. [RR 45... Rd4! 46. Qb8 Bg5 47. Qe5+ Bf6 48. Qb8=.] 46. Rf1 Rb7 47. Rxc2 Qxc2 48. Qxf6+ Kh6 49. Qf8+ Rg7 50. Rf7 My hopes of some random perpetual bailing me out are not based in reality as white covers all the squares. It was a messy game with many swings in momentum and evaluation but my opponent found difficult moves in the critical moments and deserved to come out on top. 1-0 Annotator(s): Jacob Flynn. Source(s): Jacob Flynn, via Craig DuBose; Lichess (https://lichess.org/study/PBgmtzcw/4WTN90Ew). Event information: Tournament report. |
