I don’t know why it is, but somehow I lead a charmed life in these Santa Cruz Cup tournaments. I do not consider myself a particularly lucky player most of the time, but in my local championship I somehow keep pulling off these amazing escapes.
Here’s my latest Houdini trick, which happened in round three yesterday against Jim Parker, who is the lowest-rated player in the field. I’m always a little apprehensive about games where I am paired against someone whose rating is a lot lower than mine (here the difference was 600 points). Jim and I have played many times and we know each other’s openings and styles, which makes him even harder to beat.
I played a King’s Gambit but didn’t get a lot out of it, and eventually (after a few mistakes for both sides, which I don’t particularly want to discuss 😎 )Â we reached the following completely drawn endgame:
I played 48. Ne7 and seriously considered offering a draw, but there was one more trap in the position, and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to wait and see Jim’s reply. Sure enough, Jim was too focused on winning my queenside pawns and played 48. … Kb4??, allowing 49. Nc6+! with an easy win for White. All he had to do was play one bishop move, say 48. …. Bf6, and I have no way to stop his king incursion.
Jim saw his mistake right away, even before he pressed his clock. I saw him flinch visibly. It’s a strange psychological phenomenon — you look at a move for 5 minutes and don’t see anything wrong with it, but the instant you actually move the piece, it becomes totally obvious. In Think Like a Grandmaster, Alexander Kotov recommends writing down your move first before playing it, in order to overcome this exact problem. I tried that system for one game and hated it. Nevertheless, I do sometimes (if time permits) visualize having made the move. If I were Black I would say, “Okay, I’ve just moved my king to b4. Is there anything different about the position? Anything I will immediately regret?”
Some lessons:
- The knight is a tricky piece!
- Just as we’ve been discussing in some previous posts, most games below master level are decided by tactical mistakes. Jim completely deserved to draw this game, but he had a mental lapse.
After three rounds of the Santa Cruz Cup, the standings are:
- Dana Mackenzie (2128) 3/3
- Ilan Benjamin (2006) 3/3
- Juan Diego Perea (2142) 2/3
- Daniel Burkhard (2063) 1/2 *
- Yves Tan (1852) 1/3
- Ken Seehart (1716) 0/1 *
- Jeff Mallett (2045) 0/2 *
- Jim Parker (1532) 0/3
* The games Mallett-Seehart and Seehart-Burkhard have not been played yet and will be made up at a later date.
Out of 10 games played so far, we haven’t had a single draw!
