Coming off my win against a young junior, I got served up with another in Round 5 (of 6). That means only one of my opponents have been over 14 years old. This week's 10 year old was a young Shanghainese speaking youth, completely unknown to me. I only found after the game that he was actually the highest rated opponent! And he appears to have shot ahead in rating in the last year, from 1600 to almost 1900.
I had thought I was to play an even stronger opponent, a new friend, who played on the board next to me. One of the humorous things was the first few moves were the same, both his opponent and I went for the Caro-Kann, which makes that two weeks in a row for me, too, having been paired black.
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5
I had an interesting week of preparation. A new app has me hooked and I've barely played any online games. This app is really good for strengthening your mental calculation in chess, in other words, seeing moves ahead in your mind. The thing that hooked me is that I really felt the improvement - I could see things and get sequences right many moves ahead and was better at noticing some hidden resources. It has meant though that I haven't really spent much time on strengthening my opening knowledge. Despite it being my favourite line, I don't know much in the way of continuations, and after what was one of his longest thinks of the game, on move three, he chose the Tal Attack of the Advance Caro-Kann: 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4
Mikhail Tal was the populariser of this line, and quite incredible among World Chess Champions as an unorthodox, sacrificial player who was a true force of nature on the board, sweeping all aside to take the throne. He then lost the return match to his predecessor to have one of the shortest reigns in history. Though always dangerous, he never got back to challenging but remained a cult hero.
My opponent was not Tal though. 4. ... h5 5. Bd3 Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 7. f4
And with one move shows he knows even less opening theory than me. This isn't such a great move, although it has a few benefits. He told me after the game that he didn't play the Advance Caro-Kann and this was his first time over the board. Anyhow, it is playable so we played on: 7. ... Ne7 8. Ne2 Nf5 9. g3 c5 10. c3 Nc6 11. Nd2 Qb6?
My calculation practice didn't serve me well here as I missed a beat, and a chance to get an advantage. I thought what I played had a better chance but
12. Nf3 Rc8 13. Rh2!? cxd4 14. Nexd4 Ncxd4 15. Nxd4 Nxd4 16. Qxd4!?
Now, I did mention that this boy was the highest rated of my opponents, didn't I? Yet, his moves are extraordinarily drawish. He just wanted to exchange off all his pieces. Although the computer said I had an edge, he still had plenty of play. After the game, he said he was actually playing for a draw from the beginning and I don't really know why! Either way, I didn't know at that time that he was a higher rated opponent and refused to exchange more.
16. ... Bc5 17. Qd3 g6 18. Re2 a5 19. Be3 Ke7 20. Bxc5+ Rxc5 21. Kf1 Qc6
We'd exchanged off more pieces but I still have a lingering edge but I'd also muddled my way to a rather large time deficit again. These juniors don't um-and-ah. He still had 1 hour on his clock and I was down to 28 minutes. I picked up the pace a little but he didn't slow:
22. Rd1 b5 23. Qd4 Qc7 24. Rdd2 Rc4 25. Qe3 Re4
Whether it be time or ability, I didn't exploit the edge and it started to go a bit level-ish.
26. Qd3 Rxe2 27. Rxe2 Qc4? 28. Qe3
Now it's my turn to offer to exchange off more material. Now we're both down to just down to a queen and a rook each and a ton of pawns. He initially refuses before forcing queens off a few moves later:
28. ... Rc8 29. Qa7+ Qc7 30. Qxc7+ Rxc7 31. Rd2 b4 32. cxb4 axb4 33. Rd4 Rc1+
But now the tide began to turn a little bit. He had been going pretty hard at exchanging pieces but that brought us to the "endgame" - a phase of the game though apparently simpler actually gives very subtle moves a lot more power. A small mistake in the endgame can leave you in a world of pain. And young people tend to do worse in the endgames. Lucky for me it started to show:
34. Ke2 Rc2+ 35. Rd2 Rc4 36. Ke3 Re4+ 37. Kd3 Kd7 38. Rc2? Re1! 39. Rg2? Kc6 40.
Rc2+ Kb6 41. Rg2? Ra1 42. b3 Rc1 43. Kd2?
He played this move still with 50 minutes on his clock and me dipping below 10 minutes, and asked: "Draw?" It is acceptable to offer draws in chess and to be clear, for the last 20 or so moves, at best I had a small edge at times. But the last few moves were played poorly by him. I just replied: "I'd like to play on a bit more.
43. ... Rc3 44. Rg1 Kc5 45. g4??
And two moves after his draw offer, he "sold the farm". I could see victory in my sights! My clock was at 9 minutes so I was playing fast but pressuring him.
45. ... hxg4 46. Rxg4 Rh3 47. Rg1 Rxh4 48. Ke3 Rh3+ 49. Kd2 After the game, he said he knew he was lost but could see one "trap". Though playing fast my time was still going down, and it just took two moves of mine to take his bait and grab a draw out of the jaws of victory.
48. ... Rh2+? 50. Kd3 Rxa2?? 51. Rc1+
It only dawned on me now that something had gone wrong. I had not seen the come back and thought myself safe. To be clear, I still had the edge, but to try winning now was risky and my time could catch me out if it got more complicated.
51. ... Kb6 52. Rc8 Ra7 53. Rb8+ Kc5
And after 53 moves, I offered a draw, which he took in a heartbeat to be clear, even if he wanted to continue, his best would be just to repeat moves and in International Chess, repeating positions three times is a draw. And here is how it looked:
He was really great in the post-mortem. We both saw killer moves that the other didn't see, and both saw strong strategies in the opponent's position that our opponents didn't treat as viable options. Overall, a draw seemed the right result. So now that leaves me with two wins, two draws and a loss. In my two draws I have had outright wins that I've missed and a lot of that comes down to my time management. It's definitely something to work on. Also, with the computer at the end, I found again that I did not know that I had the edge for almost the whole game. There were times when I thought his position was better, very similar to last week.
So, next round is the final round and I will have white. It may be possible for me to anticipate my opponent, who will be on three points but having played three whites, and two blacks previously and who has the highest rating (because I will have the lowest). Can't wait!
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