[Event "BCC Championship"] [Site "BCC"] [Date "2016.06.09"] [Round "10"] [White "Patrick Cook"] [Black "Rodney Jacobs"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "1669"] [BlackElo "1659"] [ECO "A01"] [Opening "Nimzowitsch-Larsen: 1...e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3"] 1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 d6 {I had prepared this move, having suspected Pat would play Larsen's opening. Black intends to meet the usual 4. Bb5 with Bd7. After the subsequent a6, to be consistent White has to exchange his white bishop for Black's knight and give Black's White bishop a nice square on c6. Overall White is prevented from pressuring e5 as he does in other lines of the Larsen. (RJ)} 4.Be2 {Very passive. I had prepared the book line 4. Bb5 Bd7 5. Ne2 a6 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. O-O Qg5 (RJ)} Nf6 5.c4 Bf5 6.d3 Be7 7.Nc3 O-O 8.Nf3 h6 {Interestingly, Deep Shredder (about 2800) thinks this is OK, but Stockfish 7 (3370) doesn't like it. Both prefer d5 (RJ)} 9.Qd2 Bh7 10.h3 Re8 11.O-O Bf8 {It's funny that in so many positions this is a useful, even book move. But here the computer programs are not impressed with it, preferring d5 (RJ).} 12.Rad1 d5 {Deep Shredder recommends putting the bishop back on e7! (RJ)} 13.cxd5 Nxd5 14.a3 Nf6 15.b4 Qd7 {To discourage Nb5, which is met by Nxb4. (RJ)} 16.Nb1 {Threatening b5. But this is easily met and the knight is badly placed. (RJ)} a6 17.Rc1 Rad8 18.Rfd1 Qe6 19.Qc3 e4 20.dxe4 {Both programs indicate this is a mistake, and call it even after Ne1. (RJ)} Nxe4 21.Qc4 Qe7? {Thinking about the possibility of Nxf2. But 21......Ng3! is on. If 22. fxg3 Qxe3+ 23.Kf1 (Kh2 is better) b5! (RJ)} 22.Rxd8 Rxd8 23.Rd1? {Overlooking the fact that after the exchange of rooks the knight is left undefended. After Qb3 or Nc3 the position is even.(RJ)} Rxd1+ 24.Bxd1 Nxf2 25.Kxf2 Bxb1 26.Bb3 Be4 27.Nd2 Bg6 28.Nf3 Be4? {Bf5 was the move. I looked at it for a long time, but was worried about my position after 29 Qf4 Qd7. But it would have been fine. (RJ)} 29.Nd2? {Ne5! (RJ)} Bf5 30.Nf3 {Qc3 was better.(RJ)} Be6 31.Qc3 Bxb3 32.Qxb3 Qd7 33.Qc3 Qf5 34.Ke2 Qg6 35.Kf2 Bd6 36.Qc4 Bg3+ 37.Kf1 Qf5 {37...Qb1+ was stronger. (RJ)} 38.Ke2 Qb5 39.Qxb5 axb5 40.Kd3 f6 41.Ke4 Ne7 {41...Kf7 was more accurate (RJ)} 42.Ng1! {The best move, picked by both my engines. Pat's endgame play is very strong. (RJ)} Kf7 43.Ne2 Bd6 44.g4 c6 45.Bd4 Ng6 46.Nf4 Ne5 47.Nd3? {47.Bb2 (RJ)} Nc4 48.Bb2? {48.Bc5 was better now. (RJ)} Nxb2 {Better was the manoeuvre 48...Nd2+! 49. Kd4 Nf3+ eventually winning the h pawn. (RJ)} 49.Nxb2 Ke6 50.Nd3 b6 51.Kd4 g6 52.e4 Bg3 53.Ke3 Bd6 54.Kd4 Bh2 55.Ke3 Kd6 56.Kd4 c5+ {Setting a little trap (RJ)} 57.bxc5+ bxc5+ 58.Kc3 {Not falling for it. If 58.Nxc5 Bg1+ (RJ)} Be5+ 59.Kc2 c4 60.Nb4 Kc5 {MT: We were too tired yesterday! Here is the first time this position comes up. But with WHITE TO MOVE.} 61.Kd2 Bf4+? {61...Kd4. The computers give Black an advantage of 6 after this.(RJ)} 62.Kc3 Be5+ 63.Kc2 {Now for the first time with BLACK to move! (MT).} Kd4 {Now getting the idea. (RJ)} 64.Nc6+ Kc5? {64...Kxd4. Very short of time, chickening out and playing it 'safe' - just in case White can pick up the b pawn and run home the a pawn. But there was no danger of that. (RJ)} 65.Nb4 {Again, with BLACK to move. Second time! (MT).} Bd6 66.Kc3 Be5+?? {(Almost any other move wins!) Allowing White alertly to point out he believed he could create a triple repetition on his next move. We could only establish that for sure by examining the game on Microbase over the next couple of days. It was tricky because the sequence was broken up and the position was in fact created a couple more times with White to move. I was so intent on pressuring Pat (with me on 3 minutes and him on less than a minute) that I did not even think about the possibility of a repetition.(RJ) I thought this position is winning for Black...I'm down to 51 seconds...it suddenly occurred to me that 67.Kc2 might well be a three-fold repetition...so I claimed it...it turns out to be true! (PC).} {#D} 1/2-1/2