Monday 072015 - Finishes Round Two of 960 Tourney

Zach R pondering move selection in past tourney action.

Not only did we finish the 2nd Round of the 960 tournament, but we did some group analysis of the games! When I say group - I mean a group! Six of us gathered around and re-played both of the games played tonight.

This type of analysis was not only a learning experience for everyone, but it was a lot of fun. As we poured over each move, everyone would grade it and come up with the best next move! Meanwhile, we had Stockfish5 on a smartphone cranking out about a million moves a minute - giving us the proper next move, 2nd best move, 3rd best move and 4th best move - AND which side was winning the game AND by how much!
 
 Many times - to our amazement - the players present did not pick ANY of them! Although, to be fair to us humans, sometimes there was not a lot of difference in the top 6 moves.

Mike N won his game, but post analysis showed his opponent missed a free rook! Whoops! So that game won't be making it to the blog.

The draw between Ken T and Zack R will end up here. The reason you will see when it is posted.

That means Zack R will have back to back games posted here! Some people just have a knack for playing entertaining chess. We pick play after move 20.

Black is up a pawn over Zack R, who turned in the game for analysis - and provided some [notes in brackets]. Notes from the players is always a welcome addition to any game replay.
The rest of the notes are from your humble scribe and Igor3000.

But besides the pawn advantage, Black also has the safer king, the bishop pair and a rook that can take the open f-file. This all adds up to a 3 pawn lead positionally, giving Black a commanding 4 pawn lead (-4).

White to move after Black's move #20.

21. Nc2          e4?
This error of not taking the file (Black never does) gives White some counter-play. (-3)

22. Ne3               Bg6
23. O-O-O          Re8?
24. Ne2              Qd8
Black refuses the open file and is floundering for a plan. White, meanwhile is making steady progress positionally to get back in the game. (-2)

25. Nd4          Bf4
26. Re1          Qh4
27. Qd2          Qxh3
28. Ndc2        Qd7
Black is up two passed pawns and should win in spite of his lack-luster play with a material and positional advantage. (-2.5)

29. Rf1           Rf8
30. Ne1          Qe7
31. Ne1g2      Bg5
32. Rxf8        Qxf8
White is trading material when already down material, which is normally not a good idea. Igor3000 puts Black's advantage back to (-4) to confirm that old chess adage just mentioned.
But being so short on time, White has a plan for a 'cheapo'. Zack explains;

[At this point I have less than a minute on my clock (but with a 5-sec delay) compared to 8 minutes left on my opponents. Pushing d6 was a last ditch effort to salvage something here, and only one move makes it work.]

33. d6                cxd6??
[Black takes the bait.....otherwise White could safely resign.]
34. Qd5!!          Kf8
35. Qxg5          Qf6
[White has achieved material equality and might even have a slight advantage now because of better piece coordination.] Zack is correct as Igor3000 gives White a (+1) lead. But Zack is out of time on his clock.

36. Qd5+          Kf8
37. Qa8+          Be8
38. Qxa7          Qa1+
39. Kd2?          Qb2+
[With 48 seconds left on my clock, I over-looked the very strong Kc2 after which the Black queen is unable to deliver checks to the White king. It also leads to exciting variations after Qd4, Nf4. And Black cannot take the 'free' knight on e3 because of a mate in 3.] (White is actually up now +2.4)

But the rest of the moves are of White avoiding checks and Black unable to make headway with his time advantage, so they finally agree to a draw.

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