The 2010 Wrekin Chess Congress was held in Telford on the weekend of 9th and 10th of January, and a very well run and enjoyable tournament it was too! There was a good turnout despite the bad weather we were experiencing at the time.
As usual with five round (Swiss system) tournaments, when commuting, I only played four rounds – I play morning and afternoon rounds on both Saturday and Sunday, taking a half point bye either Friday or Saturday evening, depending on the timetable.
I am keen to look at two games at least from this event, starting with this one in which I played an opponent graded 160 ECF (1930 FIDE) and miraculously escapes with a draw. However I seemed to develop quite a good attack early in the game, and that is what I want to look at. That is, I want to know how – if at all – I could have pressed home the attack and won.
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bf4 c6 5.e3 Bf5 6.Be2 Bg7 7.Ne5 0-0 8.g4 Be6 9.h4
Black has opted for a Grunfeld type structure, and white has responded by adopting a Barry Attack formation. This looks promising for white because black has not adopted the most testing approach, having preferred to play …c6 rather than …c5. Also black not attempted to delay kingside castling.
9…Nfd7 10.h5 Nxe5 11.Bxe5 f6 12.Bf4 g5 13.Bg3 Na6 14.Qd2 c5 15.h6 Bh8 16.0-0-0 Rc8 17.f4 Bf7 18.fxg5 fxg5 19.e4 e6 20.e5 Bg6 21.Nb5 Nb4 22.a3 Nxc2 23.Nd6 Nxd4 24.Qe3 Qb6 25.Rdf1 Rxf1+ 26.Rxf1 Rd8 27.Bd3 Qb3 28.Nf5 exf5 29.Qxg5 Ne6 30.Qe7 Qxd3 31.Qxe6+ Bf7 32.Qxf5 Qxf5 33.gxf5 Re8 34.Re1 Bh5 35.f6 Bxf6 36.exf6 Rxe1+ 37.Bxe1 Kf7 38.Bd2 Kxf6 39.Kc2 Ke5 40.Bg5 d4 41.Be7 c4 42.Bf8 Ke4 43.Kd2 Kd5 44.Bg7 Kc5 45.Bf6 b5 46.Be7+ Kd5 47.Bf6 Bg6 48.Bg7 Ke4 49.Bf6 Kd5 50.Bg7 a5 51.Bf6 b4 52.axb4 axb4 53.Bg7 c3+ 54.bxc3 bxc3+ 55.Kc1 Kc4 56.Bf6 Kd3 57.Bg7 Ke3 58.Bf6 Kd3 59.Be5 Ke4 60.Bf6 Kd5 61.Bg7 Kc4 62.Bf6 draw agreed!
See the diagram for the final position. Black has a clearly won game. However, we were both very short of time and I offered the draw having somehow convinced myself that white can hold it! Rubbish of course, but in my experience after a long game and when short of time, players do sometimes get a bit confused. Anyway I guess my opponent much have been in the same kind of state because he accepted my offer of a draw.
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I think you’re right about time pressure - your opponent must have lacked faith in his ability to win a clearly won ending.
I think you went wrong about move 17-20 - fixing the central pawns didn’t work for you - after 21 … Nb4 black is clearly better.
As the open f file is in his favour what about a central break while his pieces are misplaced? Vis: 17 e4. It isn’t forcing, but 17. … Nb2; 18. exd5 Bxd5; 19. cxd5 seems good - the ‘a’ pawn is safe as after the exchange of queens white has b3 (shades of Spassky-FIsher).
s/17. … Nb2; 18. exd5 Bxd5; 19. cxd5/17. … Nb4; 18. exd5 Bxd5; 19. dxc5/