Portland Chess Club March Game/60 Swiss

This tournament was a complete disaster. I lost rounds 2 and 3 to lower-rated players and then withdrew, losing 40 rating points. Here is what happened.

chessart(1935) - Mike Hasuike(1500), Rd. 1, Alekhine's Defence, B03

1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 c4 Nb6 5 ed ed 6 Nc3 Be7 7 Be3 Nc6 8 Bd3 Bf6 9 Nge2 h6?

This seems pointless. If black wants to move a king-side pawn, ...g6 is usually played.

10 Rc1 Bg4 11 Qd2 Qe7 12 0-0 0-0-0

I have never seen black castle queenside in this opening.

 13 h3 Bh5 14 Nf4 g6??

 This loses a piece.

15 g4 Nxd4 16 BxN BxB 17 gh g5 18 Bf5+  Black resigns, 1-0
 
Kian Patel(1734) - chessart(1935), Rd. 2

1 Nf3 c5 2 b3 d5 3 e3 e6 4 Bb2 Nf6 5 d4 Be7 6 Bd3 0-0 7 Nbd2 Nc6 8 0-0 cd 9 ed Re8 10 Ne5 NxN 11 PxN Nd7 12 f4 Nc5 13 Be2 Bd7 14 b4 Ne4 15 a3 Rc8 16 Bd3 NxN 17 QxN g6 18 Rf3 Bf8 19 g4 Qh4 20 Qg2 Bc6 21 Bd4 Bg7 22 g5 h6 23 Raf1 h5 24 h3 Ba4 25 Bf2  Black resigns, 1-0


chessart(1935) - Danny Phipps(1642), Rd. 3, Caro-Kann Defence, B13

1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 ed cd 4 c4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Bf5?

A huge mistake. White scores 80% or better against it.

6 Qb3!

Wins a pawn by force, and in the process destroys black's queenside.

6...Nbd7

Black has no good moves here. Most usual is 6...Nc6, but white scores 90% against it.

7 Qxb7 dc 8 Bxc4 e6 9 Nf3 Be7 10 0-0 0-0 11 Bf4 Nb6 12 Bb3 Nfd5 13 NxN NxN 14 BxN PxB 15 Rfe1 Bd6 16 BxB QxB 17 Re7?

White should play 17 b3 to prevent black from regaining his lost pawn. I throw away my pawn and a half advantage by my carelessness.

 Rfb8 18 Qc7 QxQ 19 RxQ Rxb2 20 a4 f6 21 h3 Bd3 22 Re1 Re2 23 Rec1 a6 24 Rd7 Bc4 25 Rb1 Kh8 26 R1b7

Despite material being equal, I now have a huge advantage due to my doubled rooks on the 7th rank.

Rg8 27 Nh4 Re1+ 28 Kh2 Rf1 29 Kg3 Bd3 30 f3??

This horrible move loses a piece. I considered 30 Rxd5, the idea being that if 30...Be4, I can play 31 Rh5 and he cannot take my R/b7 due to 32 Ng6#. But Danny was playing very carefully and deliberately, and I felt certain he would not fall for the trap. I was unable to visualize how the game would then proceed, so I backed away from this line. He cannot kick my R/h5 with ...g6, as then I have (either)Rxh7#. However, later analysis shows that black has 31...g5!, which leaves two of my pieces en prise, so my gut instincts were correct here.

30...g5 31 Rxd5 PxN 32 KxP 32 Rf2 33 Rd6 R2xg2 34 Rxf6 R2g3 35 d5??

35 Rff7 and at least the game goes on, although black has a point and a half advantage.

35...Bf1! White resigns, 0-1