Friday, February 24, 2006

A Win and a Rating Advance

I won last night as black against J. Mann, who was officially rated 1533, but whose results in the January Swiss had vaulted him to 1602 after that tournament. So with two points in three games in this February Swiss against opposition averaging 1644 I stand to pick up around 18-20 rating points. Moving toward the goal...

[Event "February Swiss"][Site "Reno CC"][Date "2006.02.23"][Round "4"][White "J. Mann (1602)"][Black "R. Pearson (1600)"][Result "0-1"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Bg5 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 c5 7. Nf3
{7. d5 seems to me to give better chances for an edge.}
7... cxd4 8. exd4 Nc6 9.d5 Ne5 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. O-O Bf5
{Looking in John Watson's book The Unconventional King's Indian I see that this is a standard move in similar positions. I was just being agressive...}
12. Bd3 e4 13. Bc2
{(?!) Back to e2 was probably better.}
13... Qc7 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Qe2
{In the postmortem he said he thought he won a pawn after this. But by now I was focused on his King.}
15... Be5 16. g3?
{16. h3 must be better. After this move he's just reacting.}
16... Bh3 17. Rfe1 f5 18. Rad1?! Bg4
{I spent 15 minutes deciding on this or f4, which will still be there next move.}
19. Qf1 f4 20. Rc1?
{I wasn't about to give up the attack for a mere exchange. Now comes the fun part!}
20... fxg3 21. hxg3 Bxg3 22. Nxe4 Bh2+ 23. Kg2 Bf3+ 24. Kh3 Qf4 25. Ng5
{If Ng3, 25. ... Bxg3 26. fg Bg4+ 27. Kg2 Qd2+ Re2 Rxf1 wins. But now it's mate.}
25... Qxg5 26. Kxh2 Rf4 27. Qh3 Rh4 28. Rg1 Qe5+ 29. Rg3 Rxh3+ 30. Kxh3 Qh5# 0-1

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Robert, nice attacking game. Looking over the game, I felt that 3...Ne4 was much stronger and more aggressive to the premature Bishop move by White. I also feel that 7. Nf3 was correct but 8. exd4 is inferior to 8. Nxd4. White's 12. Bd3? is clearly weak and only loses a tempo. White should also play 13. BxN!? and win the pawn even if drops the c-pawn because the Black Queen will have to move once a Rook (QR-QB1) appears. Your 19...f4!? was a good attacking move and is probably stronger than winning the exchange. However, if you have my endgame technique, you'd probably won't mind winning the exchange. Few players come back on me, unless they have compensation for it. When facing Gruenfeld and King's Indian set-ups, it is rarely justifiable for an early Bishop move by the Dark Squared Bishop. It's proper place has yet to be determined. I only know of two acceptions: 4. Bg5 against the Gruenfeld and 4. Bf4 against the King's Indian--known as the London System. I once went 19-2 with that line, and no draws. King's Indian players rarely knew the correct response. Overall, I think you played pretty well this game. I can only say that you would have liked 3...Ne4 also if you had tried it. Eric

Unknown said...

Hi Robert, I must be getting old. I'm usually good at spelling. I did not spell "exceptions" correctly in the post prior to this one. This win over James Mann was good for you as I had Mann being your only true opponent in the upcoming Class Championships. I feel Kesti will be rusty. Too much time in Martial Arts and not enough time at the board. He has to learn that the things you enjoy in life come at certain times. I too, for years, practiced the Martial Arts and got very good at one point, but now I have made time to study other things. The best decision I ever made was returning to school. Of course, my Kung Fu has suffered, but intelligence is far greater than it was before. Later, I can return if I want or I may pursue loftier goals for Chess. As long as I challenge myself, I will be happy. Kesti also plays the same things all the time because he is too lazy to study and is searching for a way not to have to build a solid foundation. It's sad really, because he ever stops this aspect of his character and actually builds a opening repertoire, he will make A-Player and can be an expert with some endgame studies. It wouldn't take that long for him because his middlegame has some good ideas. But for now, you should be able to take advantage of him, just don't underestimate him. Other than that, I see no one stopping you. As for me, I have an immense plus score over David Peterson, I have a plus score over George Fischer and Reyes also, although I haven't Reyes much and he is a better player than I remember. I'm one of the few A-players' in the club that does not over-extend and lose to Fischer. He cannot wait me out like he does the others because I'm very much a controlled attacker. To be honest, I see no one stopping me from taking the A-title. Some A's aren't playing: Case can beat me, but I can beat him also. I would destroy Fleming in a match and Simanis and I usually draw. I can't wait to see how we do. It should be great fun! Eric

Robert Pearson said...

Thanks for the comments, Eric. 3. ...Ne4 is something I definitely consdidered, and I now know a good line with it thanks to the Watson book. Looking back, it's fun to win a game like this but I know that J. Mann had an off night compared to some of his recent good performances. But I know the class championships will not be any kind of easy...

Unknown said...

Hi Robert, IM Watson is a good player and a nice guy. I once played on the Amateur Team Championship: Our team was Cyrus Lakdawala, IM Watson, Eric Shoemaker and Art Gramata. We were very strong that year. Cyrus and Watson were nearly unbeatable and I played well without a loss. Art only lost one I think. But still we didn't win. Some other team edged us out! Eric