[Event "Spielvogel 2018"] [Site "Mechanics Institute"] [Date "2018.03.01"] [Round "6"] [White "Rodney Jacobs"] [Black "Ruari Coffey"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1681"] [BlackElo "1426"] [ECO "A56"] [Opening "Benoni: 2...c5"] 1.d4 {All my preparation was gone immediately as I was expecting 1.e4 (R.C) I had not had time to prepare anything, so thought I would throw Ruari off by playing d4. (RJ)} Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 {More common is 3.d5 (R.C) Declining to go into a Benoni or, possibly a Benko as I wanted an open game. (RJ)} e6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.e4 {Aiming at a Maroczy bind setup, and with the long-term plan of putting pressure on Black's d pawn. (RJ)} Qb6 {stopping the bishop from moving for now (R.C)} 7.Ndb5 {Taking advantage of Black's weak dark squares (R.C) Best, aiming at awkward holes in d7 and c7. (RJ)} a6?! {Chasing the knight to where it wants to go, as a result probably wasting a move. (RJ)} 8.Nd6+ Bxd6 9.Qxd6 Qd4 {Qb4 was an alternative. (RJ)} 10.Qxd4 Nxd4 11.Bd3 {Forced, but good. (RJ)} O-O {Knight manoeuvers to e5 took too long just to attack the d3 Bishop (R.C) As an indication of the trouble Black is now in, my engines prefer the horrible looking e5. (RJ)} 12.Be3 Nc6 13.Bc5? {I thought this was really strong and had hopes of winning an exchange by the manoeuvre Na4-b6. But the computer indicates O-O-O or Rd1 was better. (RJ)} Re8 {Stockfish 8 gives +1 (R.C) Interestingly, both my engines prefer d6, giving up the weak d pawn. (RJ)} 14.O-O-O {As an indication of how tricky the position is, even the engines disagree here. Deep Shredder likes this move, but the stronger Stockfish 7 doesn't at all, preferring the nice waiting move Be2! (RJ)} Ne5 15.Be2 b5?! {Black is becoming suffocated. White was threatening Na5, Nb6 & Rd6. Black must break free. My engines both indicate he should do it by the sac d5!. (RJ)} 16.cxb5 axb5 17.Bxb5 {The programs prefer Bd4. (RJ)} Ba6 {+1.6 (R.C) Black has bought some freedom. (RJ)} 18.Bxa6 Rxa6 19.Bd4 {f3 was an alternative. (RJ)} d6 {I thought this was as mistake, but it's best.} 20.f4?! {Bxe5 was better. (RJ)} Neg4? {An error, putting the knight in jeopardy. Ned7 was necessary. (RJ)} 21.h3 {Now White is clearly winning. (RJ)} e5 {best. (RJ)} 22.Bg1! {The engines put it at 2.6 here for White. (RJ)} Nh6? 23.g4 {Pretty good, aiming at winning a knight. But the computer indicates fe was better. (RJ)} Rc8! {With the coming rook sac in mind.} 24.Kb1 {I looked for a long time at the rook sac, for a while considering Re1 to protect the e pawn. However I felt that I could weather it. Deep Shredder likes Kb1. Stockfish 7 prefers Kd2. (RJ)} Rxc3! {The exchange down is much better to play than a piece down (R.C) Rax3 is still the best move here. But White is still about +2. (RJ)} 25.bxc3 Nxe4 26.Rd3?! {The programs prefer Re1! (RJ)} exf4 {From nearly +2 to +0.8 (R.C)} 27.Bd4 {Best. (RJ)} f5! {Best. (RJ)} 28.Rf1? {Position is equal after regaining a pawn and despite black being the exchange down (R.C) Yes, Rf1 is a mistake. Re1! and White is still +1. I had now 15 minutes left to Ruari's 45. (RJ)} g5 {Illustrating how pointless 28. Rf1 was.} 29.gxf5 {Best. (RJ)} Nxf5 30.Re1 {-0.4 (R.C) My engines call it even here. (RJ)} Nfg3 {I thought this was a mistake, rendering Black's queenside immobile. But the engines like it. (RJ)} 31.Ka1 {With the idea of bringing a rook into Black's position via b1. But the plan doesn't recognise the danger. The rook is needed to hold back Black's queenside roller. (RJ)} Kf7 {Best, according to Stockfish 7. (RJ)} 32.Rb1? Kg6 {h5! is stronger. (RJ)} 33.Rb7 Ne2? {Stockfish gives 33.... Nc5 instead (R.C) Or h5. Ne2 is objectively an error, and relies on White missing Rxa2. But White does! Maybe not a bad tactic given I was now quite short on time. (RJ)} 34.Rb6? {-1.3 now (R.C) Rg7ch and it's even. (RJ)} Ra8 35.Kb2 h5! 36.Be5 Kf5? {Now Rxa2ch! (RJ)} 37.Bd4?? {better to take the pawn as now Stockfish gives -3.6 (R.C)} Rxa2+ {Winning. But objectively better is g4! (RJ)} 38.Kxa2 Nc1+ 39.Ka3 Nxd3 40.Rb5+ Ndc5 41.Rb8 Ne6 42.Rb5+ N4c5 43.Bxc5 dxc5 {-7.8. Black is now winning} 44.Rb1 g4 45.hxg4+ hxg4 46.Rd1 f3 47.Rd5+ Ke4 48.Rd6 Nf4 49.Rd8 f2 50.Re8+ Kf3 {After the game, Rodney asked when I started to get an advantage (hence the analysis engine) to which I thought was move 24 but is apparently move 29. Tough game for both Rodney and myself, I would think. (R.C) Yes, I think my errors on moves 28 and 32 were critical. A good example of how the player with a plan will overcome dithering! White gained a solid advantage out of the opening, but then just played moves. Black formed and executed a plan to break out of the opening bind, then a later plan to get his queenside majority moving. Pretty impressive game by Rauri, who is one to watch in this year's club championship. (RJ)} {#R} 0-1