{"id":6014,"date":"2019-12-20T20:42:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T04:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danamackenzie.com\/blog\/?p=6014"},"modified":"2019-12-20T20:52:08","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T04:52:08","slug":"and-now-for-the-thrilling-conclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/?p=6014","title":{"rendered":"\u2026 And Now For the Thrilling Conclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Unlike a good mystery novelist, I will not keep you in\nsuspense. I won my game in the last round of the Kolty Chess Club Championship.\nThat gave me a record of 6-1 and a tie for first place with Eric Steger, who\nalso went 6-1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know yet for sure, but I think it\u2019s virtually certain that Eric won the title of chess club champion on tiebreaks. The only tiebreaker I could conceivably defeat him on would be head-to-head record, because I won our individual game. However, in chess, head-to-head record is not a traditional tiebreaker. Eric deserves the title of chess club champion, because he beat the top three seeds. As the #4 seed I was the beneficiary of his success, because it allowed me to tie for first without having to play any of those players.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of who gets the title, I was ecstatic with the way I played in this tournament. It is the first time since 1993 that I have won or tied for first in a rated open tournament! Unlike many other masters, I don\u2019t have a long list of tournament wins. So I treasure each one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last round I played against Paulo Santanna, and\nexpected a tough game because I would be Black and because he is very close to\nme in rating (2075, and the #5 seed in this tournament). I prepared pretty hard\nfor this game, because I knew he played Jobava\u2019s opening 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3.\nBf4. (I\u2019m not sure what the official name of this variation is, but it ought to\nbe called Jobava\u2019s opening because he has popularized it.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To win as Black, you sometimes have to play a little bit provocatively, so that White will be enticed into overextending his position. Of course if you play too<\/em> provocatively you\u2019ll just play bad moves and lose. The trick is somehow to get a position where you look<\/em> as if you\u2019re in trouble, but you really aren\u2019t. A very tricky thing to do, but I worked this strategy to perfection last night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paulo Santanna \u2013 Dana Mackenzie<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 Nh5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little bit provocative already. Black loses a tempo to\nchase the bishop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 Nf6<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was my innovation, worked out with Rybka. It\u2019s partly\npsychological: If 6. Bxf6 ef we have transposed into Veresov\u2019s Opening, and I\u2019m\ncounting on the fact that he doesn\u2019t want to play that. (If he did, he would\nhave played 3. Bg5.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. e3 e6 7. Bd3 Be7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. O-O \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All planned in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. \u2026 Nbd7 10. Ne2 b6 11. c3 Bb7 12. Bc2 \u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously with ideas of setting up a queen-bishop battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. \u2026 Ne4?!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe just a touch too ambitious?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Ne5 Nxe5 15. de \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Position after 15 de. Black to move.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FEN: r4rk1\/pbp1qpp1\/1p2p2p\/3pP3\/4n3\/2P1P3\/PPB1NPPP\/R2Q1RK1 b – – 0 15<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now comes the first key move of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. \u2026 Qg5! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Definitely provocative. White has to play f4, which gains a tempo for the attack by hitting Black\u2019s queen. But the compensation for Black is that the square e4 becomes a beautiful outpost for his knight, and this makes it much harder for White to get an effective attack on the kingside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16. f4 Qh5 17. Qd3 g6<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had lots of options here. I chose this one because I didn\u2019t ever want to be tempted to play \u2026 Nc5?? Qh7 mate. The downside is that it is a little bit passive and gives White more time to build his attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18. Rf3 \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps I should mention that from now through the end of\nthe game I was able to predict almost all of my opponent\u2019s moves. That makes\nchess very easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18. \u2026 Qh4 19. Raf1 \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course 19. Rh3? Qf2+ would be bad for White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19. \u2026 Kg7 20. Rh3 Qe7 21. Ng3 a5 22. Rf3 Ba6 23. Qd1 Rad8!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new theme emerges. Black would be glad to let White take\non e4 because it opens up the d-file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

24. Qe1 f5!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally the time has come for this move, which I avoided earlier because it tends to weaken Black\u2019s kingside. (I do think that it was playable earlier, but I didn\u2019t want to play it until I had to.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25. ef Nxf6<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Position after 25. … Nxf6. White to move.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FEN: 3r1r2\/2p1q1k1\/bp2pnpp\/p2p4\/5P2\/2P1PRNR\/PPB3PP\/4Q1K1 w – – 0 26<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is where the game really turned around. Until this point Paulo had been playing confidently and was well ahead on the clock: I think he had around 25 minutes remaining to 15 minutes for me. His intuition told him that White has to be winning here. \u201cThere must be a sacrifice,\u201d he told me after the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Paulo started squandering huge amounts of time, looking for the master stroke that would clinch his victory. I could almost see the steam coming out of his ears. Nevertheless, there is no sacrifice. (According to the computer, it’s doubtful that White even has an advantage.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

26. f5?! \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Probably not the best move, but it\u2019s the only way to loosen up Black\u2019s position. White\u2019s problem can be stated very simply: he\u2019s placed all of his pieces in front of his pawns. Aside from this one pawn break, he has no way to weaken Black\u2019s kingside\u2026 except to sacrifice a piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, the computer’s top choice is 26. Nh1, a move that would not occur to very many humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

26. \u2026 ef 27. Bxf5? \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For better or for worse, I think White should have tried the piece sac 27. Nxf5+!? But I just didn\u2019t believe it worked, and after many minutes of analysis Paulo couldn\u2019t convince himself that it would work either. Rybka evaluates the position after 27. Nxf5 at about +0.6 pawns for Black; some compensation for White but not really enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point a wonderful thing happened: I saw how the game was going to end! This is, of course the Mike Splane Question: How am I going to win this game? Earlier in the game I had no clue. But here I saw the whole thing: I\u2019m going to put my knight on e4, he\u2019s going to trade, and I will play a back rank check followed by Rf1 checkmate. When I saw that Rf1 was checkmate it was like a jolt of electricity. I knew that this is exactly the sort of thing a person in time trouble might overlook. It\u2019s ironic: Black\u2019s position looked perilous but was actually safe; White\u2019s position looks safe but is actually perilous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, if he doesn\u2019t take my knight on e4, it\u2019s once again an awesome piece, keeping White\u2019s queen at bay and threatening \u2026 Ng5 winning the exchange. Really White has to take, but then things come unglued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

27. \u2026 Ne4! 28. Bxe4 de 29. Nh5+? <\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still chasing the mirage of a mating attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

29. \u2026 gh 30. Qg3+ Kh7 31. Rxf8 \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, of course, 31. \u2026 Rxf8 would be completely winning for\nBlack, but I wanted to play the idea that I foresaw back on move 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

31. \u2026 Rd1+! White resigns<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course 32. Kf2 Rf1 mate. Otherwise White has to give up his queen to stop mate, but even that doesn\u2019t really work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the final standings: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1-2: Eric Steger, Dana Mackenzie 6-1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3-6: Paolo Santanna, Shreesh Nanda, Vahak Mandjian, Marcio Saito 5-2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unlike a good mystery novelist, I will not keep you in suspense. I won my game in the last round of the Kolty Chess Club Championship. That gave me a record of 6-1 and a tie for first place with Eric Steger, who also went 6-1. I don’t know yet for sure, but I think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,1363,11,9,12],"tags":[2589,4430,4082,4432,502,3676,4431],"class_list":["post-6014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chess-clubs","category-current-news","category-games","category-openings","category-tournaments","tag-baadur-jobava","tag-back-ran-mate","tag-eric-steger","tag-first-place","tag-knight-outpost","tag-mike-splane-question","tag-predicting-your-opponents-moves"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6014"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6021,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6014\/revisions\/6021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}