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I had expected a Catalan but of course my opponent is flexible. I had to put faith in my Nimzo repertoire here despite the fact it had remained more or less untested in classical over the past 2 years and I hadn't checked the lines in a while. 3... Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 I'm sure this is very common at titled level but I had not reached this position before in classical chess. It was a good opportunity for me to gain experience. 6... d5 This is the move fashionable at top level and is maybe the main reason why no one allows the Nimzo at top level anymore. It's difficult for white to get a small edge against a well prepared opponent because black tries to play extremely direct chess for equality. 7. Nf3 dxc4 8. Qxc4 b6 9. Bg5 Ba6 10. Qc2 I had forgotten my theory here. I knew sometimes you go h6, sometimes you don't, sometimes you go Nbd7, sometimes c5 straight away etc. I found Qc6 annoying in the Nbd7 lines at the board but when I checked my files after it seems to be not much of an issue against accurate play. c5 is an interesting idea but the correct way is to take back. I instead went for an idea to try and win back the pawn in the long-term. Usually in this opening the weakening of the kingside isn't a big deal. The point of the opening is also to try and cause this bother to the white development after e3. 14... Qxc5 I wasn't happy with the positions after Nd7 or Rc8. My opponent noted after the game that pawn takes would be better. I think this is true, the endgame I got is quite miserable and with the queens on it feels like I can have more counterplay. 15. Qxc5 bxc5 16. Ke2 Nd7 17. Rhd1 Nb6 18. Rac1 Rfc8 19. Rc2 Rab8 My idea is to try and put pressure on b2 with Na4 ideas in the air. I also have the option of c4 to save my c5 pawn. I thought this setup would be ok but my opponent is of course very capable of grinding out these positions. Seemed necessary to stop Ne4. Funnily enough this position has occurred in a master game before. Black was able to make a draw in that game. Kf3 is a clever move as white wants to take everything on c4 and avoid Rxb2 coming with a check. Then white can win the a7 pawn. I felt that endgame should be extremely difficult for me, however the computer spots a well timed f4 move at the end of the line to at least damage his structure and trade a pawn. Probably a computer holds it but I didn't fancy my own chances against this opponent so I went for something a bit more active. 22... c3 23. Rxc3 Rxc3 24. Rxc3 Na4 25. Rc7 Rxb2 26. Rxa7 Nc3 I again felt the need to avoid the rook endgame, I try to get counterplay by attacking his kingside. Now play becomes interesting, we both start attacking each other, of course white should be better but I felt I had chances. 29. Nxf7 Rxf2+ 30. Kg3 Ra2 31. Kf4 White decides to activate the king. I feared this option. 31... Rxg2 I felt I must grab this pawn as it also helps to keep his king at bay. I thought this move would be useful, I needed to free my king a bit and get out of the way of some knight checks. 33. Nd8 I didn't even see this one, there are just so many ways for white to try and press and I wasn't able to anticipate so much, I could only react. 33... Rxh2 34. Nxe6+ Ke8 35. Ng7+ Kd8 36. Nxf5 At this point I started to think maybe we could end up in some rook and knight vs rook. I knew that was a draw but I was starting to wonder if I'd be able to hold it, I couldn't remember if it was easy or not. I felt that given how the game had went, getting to it should be a success and I'd take it from there. 36... Nc3 37. a5 Kc8 38. Ne7+ Kb8 39. Nc6+ Kc8 40. Rg7 Rh6 41. Ne7+ Kd8 42. e4 Re6 I was happy to get this move in. At this point I felt a draw was possible. I calculated Nd5 and the rook endgame and I was like oh yeah that's just the 6th rank defence or whatever, my king is behind the pawn, that should be a draw. 43. Nd5 43... Nxe4 should make a draw, although white will keep playing and it's not the end just yet. 43... Nxd5+ 44. exd5 Ra6 45. Ke5 Rxa5 46. Ke6 Here I realised the error of my ways. I didn't take into account that the time I have to waste grabbing the a pawn leaves me a tempo short of a draw. I did all the hard work defending a very difficult position but it was just when I saw the light at the end of the tunnel that I messed it all up. This is probably a common phenomenon when a weaker player defends for a long time vs a stronger player. It's important to keep focused right until the draw is agreed but it's difficult to keep focus for so many hours in the final game. 46... Ra1 47. Rg8+ Kc7 48. d6+ Kc6 49. Rc8+ Kb7 50. d7 1-0 Annotator(s): Jacob Flynn. Source(s): Jacob Flynn, via Craig DuBose; Lichess (https://lichess.org/study/UzPcthIy/wxyeg07H). Event information: Tournament report. |
