PCC December Swiss

Round 1, chessart(1827)-Richardson(1333/P5)
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 cd cd 4 Nc3 Nf6 5 Nf3 e6 6 Bf4 Bc6 7 e3 Ne4

     Only the 9th-most popular move in the database.

8 a3

     A database game continued 8. Bd3 f5 9. O-O Be7 10. Ne5 O-O 11. f3 Nd6 12. a3 Bf6 13. Qe1 Bxe5 14. dxe5 Nf7 15. Qg3 d4 16. Nb5 dxe3 17. Nd6 Nxd6 18. exd6 Qf6 19. Rad1 Qxb2 20. Bxe3 Bd7 21. Rfe1 Qf6 22. Bg5 Qg6 23. Qh4 h6 24. Bc1 Nd8 25. Bc4 Re8 26. Re3 Nf7 27. f4 Rad8 28. Rg3 Qh7 29. Bb2 g5 30. fxg5 hxg5 31. Rxg5+ Nxg5 32. Qxg5+ Kf7 33. Qf6+ Kg8 34. Rd3 f4 35. Qg5+ Kf7 36. Qf6+ Kg8 37. Qxf4 1-0

 8...Bd6 9 BxB QxB 10 Rc1 a6 11 Bd3 f5 12 0-0 0-0 13 f3 Nxc3 15 Rxc3 e5 16 de Qxe5 17 Bb1 d4 18 ed Qxd4+ 19 Kh8 Rae8 20 Nb3 QxQ+ 21 RxQ Re7 22 Rc2 Rfe8 23 RxR RxR 24 Nc5 Bc8 25 b4 g6 26 Kg1 Re3 27 Nd3 Kg7 28 Kf2 Re7 29 Nf4 Rd7 30 Ne6+ Kf6 31 RxR BxR 32 Nc5 Bc8 33 Ke3 b6 34 Na4 b5 35 Nc5 Ne5 36 Ba2 g5 37 f4?? Ng4+ 38 Kf3 Nxh2+ 39 Kg3 Nf8+ 40 Kf2 Nd2 41 fg+ Kxg5 42 Be6 BxB 43 NxB+ Kg4 44 Nc7 Nc4 45 NxP  NxP 48 Nd4 h5 49 Nf3 h4 50 Ne5+ Kf4 51 Ng6+ Kg5 52 Ne5 draw agreed 1/2-1/2

Round 2, Leung(1218)-chessart(1827)
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cd 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 Be2 Bg7 7 Be3 0-0 8 0-0 a6 9 a4 Bd7 10 f3 Nc6 11 Qd2 Rc8 12 Nb3 Ne5 13 Bh6 BxB


       I have resolved to always take this bishop, after the debacle last week.

14 QxB Be6 15 Nd2Qb6+ 16 Kh1 Qxb2 17 Rab1?

       Losing the P/b2 is one thing, but this drops a whole piece.


17...Qxc3 18 Rxb7 Qxc2 19 Rxe7 Qxa4 20 h3 Rc2 21 Rb1 Rfc8 22 R1b7 Rc1+ 23 kH2 qA1 24 bF1 RxB 25 RxR QxN 26 RxB Nxf3+! 27 PxN

       27 Kg3 Nh5+ 28 Kg4 Nh2+ 29 Kg5 Qf4#

27...Rc2+ 28 Kg3 Qf2+ 29 Kf4 Qd2+ 30 Kg3 QxQ 31 Rbe7 Qg5#

Round 3, chessart(1827)-Ethan Wu(1804)

1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 cd cd 4 Bf4 Nf6 5 e3 Nc6 6 Nc3 Bf5

     My first-round opponent shut in his Queen Bishop with ...e6. White retains a 10% advantage against both approaches. 

7 Nf3 e6 8 Bb5 Bd6 9 BxB QxB 10 0-0 0-0 11 Rc1 Ne4 12 NxN BxN 13 BxN bc 14 Nd2 Bg6 15 Nb3 e5 16 Qd2 Rfc8 17 Rc5 ed 18 ed Bf5 19 Rfc1 Qg6 20 Qf4 Bd3 21 a4 Bf5 22 Na5 Bd7 23 Qe3 Rc7 24 Qc3 Rc8 25 Kf1 Qe4 26 Re1 Qg6 27 RxR+ BxR 28 Qc2 Qf6 29 Qc3 Qe6 30 b4 Re7 31 Qd2 Bd7 32 Rc1 Qd6 33 Kg1 h6 34 Nb7 Qg6 35 Nc5 Bg4 36 Re1 Qc2! 37 Qc1 Re2! 38 Rf1  1/2-1/2

     I was down to two minutes here and stopped keeping score. We drew after many more moves.


Round 4, Berger(1532)-chessart(1827)
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 c5 3 e3 d5 4 Nc3?

     White should play 4 c4, after which I would have traded pawns on d4, transposing into the Panov-Botvinnik variation of the Caro-Kann.

4...e6 5 Bb5+ Bd7 6 0-0 BxB 7 NxB a6 8 Nc3 Nc6 9 a3 Rc8 10 PxP BxP 11 Nd4 NxN 12 PxN Be7 13 Re1 0-0 14 Re3?

     It is hard to see the point of this move. Brian has a habit of developing his major pieces prematurely. For example, in a prior game with him he moved his queen 17 times in his first 34 moves!

 Qc7 15 Qf3 Qb6 16 Rd3 Rc6 17 h3 R8c8 18 Qe2 Qc7 19 Qf3 Ne4 20 Bf4

     My idea here was that 20 NxN PxN 21 Qxe4 Rxc2 is good for black.

20...Bd6 21 BxB QxB 22 g3 NxN 23 RxN RxR 24 bc Qc7 25 Rb1 b5

     I saw no reason to allow him the counterplay to be had with 25...Qxc3 26 QxQ RxQ 27 Rxb2.


26 Rb3 h6 27 h4 Qc4 28 g4 a5 29 g5 hg 30 hg a4 31 Rb4 Qxc3 32 Qe2 Qxc2 33 Qxb5 Qc1+ 34 Kg2

     34 Kh2 Qf4+ is equally bad.

34...Qxg5+ 35 Kh2 Qf4+ 36 Kg2 Rc2

     36...Qe4+ 37 Kh2 Rc1 and white is helpless against the threat of 38...Rh1+ 39 Kg3 Rg1+ followed by 40 Qh1#

37 Qf1 Rc3 38 Rxa4 Qg4+ 39 Kh2 Qh4+ 40 Kg1 Qg5+ 41 Kh2 Rc1 42 Ra8+ Kh7 43 Qd3+ g6 44 Qh3+ Qh5

     Black must be careful to avoid 44...Kg7?? 45 Qh8# and 44...Qh6? 45 Rh8+! and I lose queen for rook. Fortunately I had enough time left to think through the position and avoid these blunders.

45 QxQ PxQ 46 Kg3 Kg6 47 f3 Rc5 48 Rg8+ Kh7 49 Rg5 Kh6 50 Rg8 ??? 51 Rh8+ Kg6 52 Rg8+ Kf5 53 Rh8 h4+ 54 Kh3 Ra4 55 Rh5" Kg6 56 RxR RxR+

     I must have counted out the moves a dozen times to make sure my king can stop his a-pawn. It indeed does, as I get to b7 when his pawn would still be at a7. I forgot about the simple rule of thumb of moving into "the square of the pawn", which avoids all the tedious counting.

57 KxP Kf6  And white resigned some 20 moves later. 0-1