August | 2014 | CHESS AT THE BAG OF CATS

I have not written anything in a while and it is partly because I have been playing a lot this summer and partly because I haven’t played as well as I hoped to do. The Swedish Championship was my worst tournament in some time, but on a positive note it wasn’t all that bad. I lost two games on time in equal positions because I forgot about the clock. Saying “these things happen” seems like a rather defeatist attitude to take to something so obviously silly and it is only because I believe I have come to a conclusion as to what caused it, that I feel I can treat it as water under the bridges.

The first round starts within a few hours and my team is playing Sri Lanka. You can follow the games here.

Here is a crazy Modern game I played earlier this summer:

   [Event "Politiken Cup"]  [Site "Helsingör"]  [Date "2014.07.24"]  [Round "5"]  [White "Haubro, Martin"]  [Black "Hillarp Persson, Tiger"]  [Result "0-1"]  [ECO "B06"]  [Annotator "Tiger"]  [PlyCount "84"]  [SourceDate "2011.03.24"]   1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 a6 5. h4 h6 ({This move is less accurate  than} 5... Nf6 6. f3 b5 {which is what I recommend in soon-to-be-published  "The Modern Tiger".}) 6. Qd2 b5 7. O-O-O Bb7 ({After h6 it is not so  attractive to place the knight on f6:} 7... Nf6 8. f3 Nbd7 9. g4 Nb6 10. d5  Nfd7 11. Bd4 {and Black's set-up does not make sense.}) 8. f3 Nd7 9. Nh3 Ngf6  $5 ({This is more ambitious than} 9... Rc8 {(a move that doesn't work when  Black has played h5 and White can play Ng5 and e4-e5!)} 10. Kb1 c5 11. dxc5  Nxc5 12. Bd4 Bxd4 13. Qxd4 Nf6 {, with approximate equality.}) 10. Kb1 Nb6 11.  g4 $2 {A rather grave positional error. Instead} (11. Bd3 Nfd7 12. h5 g5 13. f4  b4 14. Ne2 c5 {leads to a nice mess.}) 11... b4 $1 12. Ne2 Nc4 13. Qc1 $5 {  Tricky move as it gives me choice of not taking on e3.} Nd7 ({The simple  solution is} 13... Nxe3 14. Qxe3 Nd7 15. h5 g5 {when Black can be very happy  with the opening. White will dearly miss his dark squared bishop.}) 14. Bf2 a5  $4 {I totally lost focus here and played a losing move. After} (14... Ndb6 15.  Ng3 e6 16. h5 g5 17. f4 gxf4 18. Qxf4 a5 {White's pieces are not cooperating  well and Black is a bit better.}) 15. Ng3 $1 Ndb6 16. h5 $1 {Ouch, now White  gains control of f5.} g5 17. Nf5 Bf8 ({I tried to calculate the consequences of  } 17... Bf6 18. e5 e6 19. exf6 exf5 {and came to the conclusion that 20.Re1+  Kd7 21.Re7+ Kc8 was OK for Black. But still, I sensed there was something  better for White. Indeed:} 20. Bxc4 $1 Nxc4 21. Rhe1+ Kd7 22. Re7+ Kc8 23. Nxg5  $3 hxg5 24. Qxg5 fxg4 25. fxg4 {and White has a clear advantage.}) 18. d5 c5 ({  Not} 18... e6 $2 19. Bxb6 Nxb6 20. Bb5+) 19. f4 $1 {My young opponent plays  energetically and I had to come to terms with what a complete mess my position  is.} f6 $1 {Ouch no. 2. Everything else loses rapidly.} 20. Ne3 Nxe3 21. Qxe3  Bg7 $2 {This is a second blunder, but I felt I was so much worse that I did  not have the time to play anything but developing moves.} (21... Qd7 {stopping  Bb5+ is better, but leaves me with a horrible position anyway.}) 22. Bb5+ Kf7  23. Rdf1 ({Here} 23. fxg5 $1 hxg5 24. Nxg5+ fxg5 25. Qxg5 {is completely  winning for White. Qg6+ is a huge threat and} Rh6 26. Qe3 Kg8 27. g5 Rh7 28. h6  Bd4 29. Rxd4 cxd4 30. Qxd4 {is just devastating.}) 23... Kg8 24. f5 (24. fxg5 {  still wins.}) 24... a4 25. Rc1 Kh7 {Now things have calmed down a bit around  my king, but I am still very much lost. The bishop on g7 has no hope of  getting out and White should probably take it really easy, walk the king to  the kingside (Petrosian-style), followed by c2-c3, in order to get a passed  pawn on the a-file.} 26. a3 $6 bxa3 27. Qxa3 {White is still better here, but  it is unlikely that White will get a passed pawn, which means that my chances  of survival just improved.} Nd7 28. Bxd7 $6 {My opponent was in time trouble  and it is easy to understand that he thought reducing the amount of material  would help him. In fact this move makes White quite vulnerable on the light  squares and e7-e6 becomes a possible future theme.} Qxd7 29. Rhd1 {This move  loses time.} (29. Ng1 $1 {is clearly better and the last chance for White to  keep some advantage.}) 29... Rhb8 30. c4 $6 {This gives me a weak pawn to  attack and also weakens the b3-square.} Ba6 31. Rd3 Rb4 32. Rdc3 Rab8 33. Ng1 {  Break out time.} e6 $1 34. Nf3 (34. fxe6 Qb7 (34... Qd8 $1 35. Be1 f5 36. exf5  Rxb2+ 37. Qxb2 a3) 35. R1c2 f5 36. exf5 Bxc4 37. Rxc4 Rb3 $1 38. Qxa4 Rxb2+ 39.  Kc1 Rb1+ 40. Kd2 Qxd5+ {and White's position falls apart.}) (34. dxe6 Qb7 {and  the double attack on b2 and e4 is a winner.}) 34... exd5 35. exd5 Qe7 {I'm in  a bit of time trouble myself and missed} (35... Rb3 $1 36. Qa2 Bxc4 37. Rxc4 a3  {with a direct win.}) 36. Re1 Qb7 $2 {This throws away my advantage, but it is  hard to spot why.} (36... Rxb2+ $19) 37. Rc2 $2 ({The fantastic} 37. Nd2 $3  Rxb2+ 38. Kc1 {is actually quite unclear since White controls all the squares  on the b-file whereas I'm still left with a daft bishop on g7. For instance}  Rb4 39. Qa1 Qc7 40. Re6 Bc8 41. Re8 {and White has enough counterplay.}) 37...  Rb3 38. Qxa4 Rxf3 39. Re6 Rb3 40. Rxd6 Rxb2+ 41. Kc1 Rxc2+ 42. Qxc2 Bxc4 ({and  White resigned because of} 42... Bxc4 43. Qxc4 Qb2+ 44. Kd1 Qxf2 0-1)

If you read Swedish you can find my team commenting on the Olympiad here.

CHESS AT THE BAG OF CATS

Tiger Hillarp on Chess

Monthly Archives: August 2014

Chess Olympiad in Tromsö