Feb Sectional - Rd 3

Even though I lost my last game, I didn't feel so bad about it. I played an opening I have never used before and I lost by playing a natural looking move in a very sharp position. My opponent also played very well and after making a few inaccuracies I was never given an opportunity to get back in the game. As black against Wang, I really just wanted to draw, but after we reached the middlegame my prospects of getting the half point were not looking good. It was also clear that Wang was out to kill me, judging by the look in his eyes and his demeanour at the board.

Wang,Richard (2154) - Gluckie,Jamin (2073) [A80]
February Sectional (3), 06.02.2010

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 f5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Be2 d5

Before this game I planned to play a Stonewall against Richard as his Colle system is designed to force through e4 and achieve an attacking position. Having never played the Stonewall before in my life, I reviewed some of the lines with Rybka and found that black retains equality; however, I didn't expect black's position to be so difficult to play in practice.

5.Nbd2 Bd6

I tried to achieve a favourable stonewall by delaying c6 in order to play c5 in one move. Due to the closed nature of the position, I'm not sure this is such an advantage as the gain in time is not all that important.

6.0-0 0-0 7.b3 b6 8.Bb2 Bb7 9.Ne5 Nbd7 10.f4 c5 11.Rc1 Rc8 12.Bf3 Qe7 13.c4 Ne4 14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.Be2 Nf6 16.Qe1 Rcd8 17.Qg3


Up until now both players have been trying to improve their position, but when I was trying to find a plan for black I really wasn't able to come up with anything concrete. It seemed to me that I just needed to annoy white as much as I could while he tried to do something with his position.

17...cxd4

I was hesitant to make this exchange because it will give a future d5 advance a lot more power, but I couldn't come up with another plan.

18.exd4 Ba3 19.Qc3 Bb4 20.Qe3 Rc8 21.Rfd1 Rfd8 22.h3 Ba3 23.Rb1 Bxb2 24.Rxb2 Qa3 25.Rbd2 b5


Still following the "annoy Wang" plan, and also trying to get the d5 square for my knight.

26.Kf2 bxc4 27.bxc4 Qxe3+ 28.Kxe3


Critical middlegame position. It is no longer clear how black can improve his position, and now that the queens are off the board it is also going to be hard to continue to annoy my opponent. In the game I missed the opportunity to keep the balance and soon was in a worse position.

28...Nd7?

[28...Nd5+! The ironic thing is that I had seen these types of tricks when evaluating the b5 pawn sacrifice idea, but I completely missed this shot. 29.cxd5 Rc3+ 30.Bd3 Bxd5=]

29.g4 g6 30.gxf5 gxf5 31.h4 Kf8 32.a4 Ke7 33.a5 Ba6 34.Rc2 Nf6?!

[34...Nxe5 was a simpler route to equality]

35.Rg1 Rg8 36.Rxg8 Rxg8 37.Nc6+ Kd7

38.Nb4!

[38.Nxa7? Ra8 39.Nb5 Bxb5 40.cxb5 Nd5+ 41.Kf2 Rxa5]

38...Bc8 39.d5 exd5 40.cxd5 Bb7 41.Kd4 Kd6 42.Bc4

42...Rc8?

Instead of playing for tricks, I should have taken this opportunity to get active with Rg1 and Ra1

43.Rg2 Ng4 44.Rg3 Re8 45.a6 Ba8 46.Nc2 h5 47.Ne3 Rf8

Black is practically in zugzwang

48.Nc2

Rybka liked the plan of Nd1 followed by Be2 and exchanging bishop for knight, with a large advantage for white.

48...Rb8

Now this attempt to get active is wrong because I can't get my rook behind the a-pawn. Better was Re8 threatening e3.

49.Na3! Rb2 50.Nb5+ Kd7 51.Nxa7 e3 52.Rxe3

This wasn't necessary as it lets me back in the game, but Wang was working off of increment only.

52...Nxe3 53.Kxe3 Kc7?

Another mistake on my part. Honestly, I wasn't calculating any more because I was trying to keep Richard under time pressure. At this point he was down to only his increment and I had about 6 minutes. 53...Kd6 was completely equal. This habit of mine to stop calculating when in time pressure and only play on intuition is something I need to change.

54.Nb5+ Kb6 55.d6 Bc6 56.Nd4?

[56.a7 wins for white]

56...Bd7 57.Be6 Bxe6 58.Nxe6 Kc6 59.Nd4+ Kxd6 60.Nxf5+ Kc6 61.Ng7 Rh2 62.Nf5 Kb6 63.Kf3 Kxa6 64.Kg3 Rb2 65.Ng7 Rb3+ 66.Kg2 Rb2+ 67.Kf3 Rb3+ 68.Ke4 Rh3 69.Nf5 Kb7 70.Ke5 Kc6 71.Kf6 Kd5 72.Ne7+ Ke4 73.Ng6

Here I missed my chance to win by swinging the rook over and defending my pawn latterally, which also makes the rook very active.

73...Rg3 74.f5 Rf3 75.Ne7 Kf4 76.Kg6 Kg4 77.f6 Kxh4 78.Nf5+ Kg4 79.Nh6+ Kh4 ½-½