This was my first tournament and I lost my first game and was paired with this little blonde headed kid named Ryan. We both needed tactics study.




1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.e3 Bg4 6.Qa4 [6.Bxc4 cxd4 7.exd4 Regaining the pawn and developing the Bishop.] 6...e6 [6...Bxf3 7.gxf3 giving me double pawns.] 7.Bxc4 Bd6 8.e4 [8.dxc5 Bc7 9.Nd4 Nge7 winning an easy pawn] 8...cxd4 9.Nxd4 forcing me to move the knight, finally. 9...Nge7 10.Bg5 f6 [10...0–0 11.Nxc6 bxc6 castling to safety and breaking the pin.] 11.Bh4 Qb6 12.Ndb5 Bc5 13.0–0 [13.h3 Bh5 14.Bxe6 another free pawn missed.] 13...g5 [13...a6] 14.Bg3 h5 For the next few moves I totally notice the threat on c7. 15.h3 [15.Bc7 Bxf2+ 16.Rxf2 Qe3 17.h3 Bxh3 18.gxh3 Qxh3 19.Rxf6 Qg4+ 20.Kh1] 15...f5 16.hxg4 at least I won a Bishop for a pawn, but I missed much more. 16...hxg4 17.Bd6 [17.Nc7+ Kf7 18.exf5 Kg7 19.Nxe6+ Kh6 20.Bb5 Nxf5 21.Qxg4 Nce7 22.Qxg5+ Kh7 23.Rae1 And a decisive attack.] 17...Rh7 18.Bxc5 I was trying to swap off pieces to get to an end game. Up a bishop and the exchange, I felt I would be doing well. [18.Nc7+ Kf7 19.Bxe6+ Kg7 20.Nxa8 Bxd6] 18...Qxc5 19.Nc7+ Kf7 20.Nxa8 [20.Nxe6 Qe5 21.Nxg5+ Kg7 22.Nxh7 Kxh7 23.exf5 Qxf5] 20...Qd6 21.g3 Blocking mate in one. 21...Qd8 22.exf5 Nxf5 23.Rad1 [23.Bxe6+ Kxe6 24.Qe4+ Ne5 25.Rad1 Qb8 26.Rfe1 Another opportunity for a strong attack missed.] 23...Qh8 Now my thoughts were the problems on the h file. 24.Rd7+ Nfe7 25.Bxe6+ Kf8 [25...Kxe6 26.Qxg4+ Kf7 27.Qe4] 26.Qe4 covering h1 and centralizing my queen. 26...Qg7 Here I missed a strong attack by opening the f file to bring my rook into play. 27.Bf5 [27.f4 Qd4+ 28.Rxd4 Rf7 29.Bxf7 Nxd4 30.Qxd4 Kxf7 31.fxg5+ Kg8 32.Qd8+ Kg7 33.Qxe7+ Kg6 34.Rf6+ Kxg5 35.Qe5#] 27...Rh8 28.Re1 [28.Nd5 Nxd5 29.Qxd5 Qf6 30.Nc7] 28...Qh6 29.Rxe7 Qh2+ 30.Kf1 Qh3+ I had to give up a rook to prevent perpetual. 31.Ke2 Nxe7 32.Rh1 My thought was that I had enough advantage to invest a rook to get the queens off. Then it should be easier. I missed the mate. [32.Kd1 Nxf5 33.Qxf5+ Kg7 34.Qd7+ Kh6 35.Re6+ Kh5 36.Qf7#] 32...Qxh1 33.Qxh1 Rxh1 34.Bxg4 Rh7 35.Nc7 Nc6 36.Ne6+ Kf7 Thank you, Ryan. 37.Nxg5+ Kg6 38.Nxh7 Kxh7 A gift of the exchange and a free pawn. The rest is "technique". 39.Bf3 Nd4+ 40.Ke3 Nf5+ I usually move a couple of squares diagonal from a knight to buy some time. 41.Kd3 b6 42.Be4 Kg6 43.Bxf5+ Kxf5 Just swapping down. 44.Kc4 Ke5 45.Kb5 a5 46.Kxb6 a4 47.Nxa4 Kd5 48.b4 Kd6 49.b5 Kd7 50.Ka7 Kd8 51.b6 Ke7 52.b7 Ke6 53.b8Q Kd5 54.Qb4 Ke5 55.Qc4 Kf5 56.Qd4 Kg5 57.Qf4+ Kg6 58.Nc5 Kg7 59.Ne6+ Kh7 60.Qg5 Kh8 61.Qg7# Not the fastest way to mate with queen and knight, but they work together well. I just had to make sure I didn't stalemate. I guess that is what he was playing for. 1–0

Someone had coached this kid. I was not used to using a clock and would sit there wondering why he wasn't moving, then I would notice my clock was ticking. I lost about 10 minutes that way (in a G45, that is a lot). Finally he would look at me then the clock so I would go ahead and notice the clock. Then he would move. The other thing he would do is, while I was thinking, he would go over to a friend and watch his game. I am sure he was telling his friends about the dumb old man he was playing.

Quite an interesting game, but unfortunately both sides missed some good moves.

I'm not familiar with the QGA at all, so I won't comment that.

10... f6? looks weak to me. Not only does it allow 11. Bxe6 winning a pawn, but also if white doesn't see it, e6 will still be weak on the next moves.

11. Bxe6 looks ok. Both 11... Bxe6 12. Nxe6 Qb6 13. Bd2 and 11... fxg5 12. Bxg4 leave white a clear pawn up. 11. Bh4 isn't bad either though, e6 will drop soon anyway.

14... h5? is a bad move, losing a piece. White's bishop can always go to d6 or c7 (with a gain of tempo), but black's bishop has no squares on g4. ALso the sacrifice won't work, just because black has too few pieces aimed at white's king.

17. Bc7! looks more logical to me. Looking more closely, it actually seems to win right away, since 17... Qa6 runs into 18. Nd6+ with 19. Bxa6.

17... Rh7 does nothing... Black needs to double rooks on the h-file, and a better way to do that seems to be 17... Kf7, when 18. Bc7 Bxf2+! 19. Rxf2 Rh1+! 20. Kxh1 Qxf2 black threatens mate with Rh8+, g3 and Rxh2#

20. Nxa8 looks risky, and a safer alternative would be 20. Nxe6 with 21. Nxg5++ and 22. Nxh7, also winning a rook.

20... Qe5 looks better than 20... Qd6 since it immediately also threatens Qh8. Then after 21. g3 Qh8 22. f3 Rh1+ 23. Kf2 Qh2+ 24. Ke3 f4+ 25. gxf4 gxf4+ 26. Kd3 Ne5+ 27. Kd4 Nec6+ 28. Kc5 white seems to be getting away with it, but it certainly looks alot more threatening

22. exf5? is also playing with your life. Sure it threatens to win the e-pawn. But that's irrelevant! You're up dozens of points, and the only thing you need to worry about is not getting mated. If black played 22... Qh8 instead, then you'd get a line like above, and I don't think you saw that in the line above white just gets away with it.

24. Bxe6+ right away looks better, since now after 24. Rd7+ Nfe7 25. Bxe6+ Kxe6 your rook on d7 is hanging, and you don't want to lose that rook as well. After 24. Bxe6+ Kxe6 25. Qe4+ your attack does win.

29. Rxe7? loses the exchange; easier is 29. Bxg4 or 29. Nd5.

32. Rh1?? is a big blunder. Why did you give up a full rook for nothing there?

36... Kf7?? is a big one-move blunder as well. It's easy to see that Nxg5 then wins the exchange.

Fortunately for me, he missed a lot of moves. That is the only reason I got such a good advantage. I realized I was giving up a full rook to swap queens, but that was really the only way to take away most of his counterplay. I kept seeing probems with his queen and rook putting pressure on me and couldn't see a clear win (like the line I give above). I felt I would be a little better in the end game and could get the win that way. As you mentioned, he was kind enough to blunder the exchange and give me a pawn to boot. After I got home that night and reviewed the game, I promised myself I would hit tactics very hard. I am planning to post a game from my second tournament where tactics paid off.

Thanks for your comments.

I agree that in some cases you may want to consider giving back material to get rid of counterplay. But in this case I really don't see what counterplay black has. Your king was already on e2, your queen covered h2... There were no threats at all! 32. Kd1 seems like an easy way to keep your material advantage of two pieces, and to finish him off (threatening 33. Qxe7+). Black can't protect e7 with 32... Rh7 or 32... Qh7, so if he takes your bishop with 32... Nxf5 then 33. Qxf5+ Kg8 34. Qg6+ Kf8 35. Re8# is mate, and so is 33... Kg7 34. Re7+ Kh6 35. Re6+ Kg7 36. Qg6+ Kf8 37. Re8#. So he can't take on f5 either, so suppose he plays 32... Nc6, then 33. Qe8+ Kg7 34. Qg6+ Kf8 45. Re8# mates as well.

You also have to look at your own attack. On move 32, his attack died and your attack was stronger than ever.

You're right. I think part of my problem seeing things was that it was my first tournament and I was a little nervous. I really couldn't believe it when I got home and took a fresh look at the advantage I had. You're correct on the king being safe, once he got out of the corner. On d1, I would have been free to attack. I saw the rook sac earlier and when I got the chance to play it, I just did without really looking at the position again. Thanks for your comments and variations.

I think the line you give with 6.Bxc4 is better than the game continuation (6.Qa5). As you noted, 6...Bxf3 gives you doubled pawns and the following line looks nice for black: 6...Bxf3 7.gxf3 cxd4, when it looks like white is losing a pawn.

Also, as Phobetor noted, 10...f6 creates a lot of problems for black. Your opponent needs to think more about king safety! I like 17.Bc7. Pretty much I agree with Phobetor's analysis.

My overall thought is that your opponent played standard kid style: wild attacking chess that shows weak fundamentals. I think the main thing is that when your opponent goes nuts for an attack and leaves the king in the center (even weakening it with f6) you want to rip things open as quickly as possible. Also against these players you want to try to get into an ending, they usually have no idea what they're doing.