[Event "Spielvogel Memorial"] [Site "BCC"] [Date "2017.02.16"] [Round "4"] [White "Rodney Jacobs"] [Black "Kevin Perrin"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1721"] [BlackElo "1540"] [ECO "C07"] [Opening "French: Tarrasch, Open, 4.exd5"] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd8 {According to Chessbase, this move is less popular. Presumably this is because it is effectively non-developing - the queen will have to move again. The favoured move is Qd6. (RJ)} 7.O-O Nf6 8.Nb3 Nc6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Be7 {Still in book. But Qc7, a6 or Bc5 are most commonly played. (RJ)} 11.Bf4 {This and c3 are the book moves. (RJ)} a6 {Keeping the knight out of b5 (RJ)} 12.Re1 {Still in book. c3 is more usual. (RJ)} O-O 13.c3 Nd5 14.Bg3 {Diverging from the book. The accepted move is 14. Be5. This makes sense. Two moves later I was effectively forced to play Be5, so on that basis 14. Bg3 is a waste of a tempo. Both my programs pick Be5 instantly (RJ)} Bf6 15.Bb3 {Not a mistake. However it was made with a wrong idea. I wanted to play 15.Nf3, but thought I would be losing after 15.......Nxc3 16. Qxd8 Rxd8 17. bc Bxc3, forking the rooks. But simply 18. Ree8! wins for White. Query whether Kevin in fact intended 15. Nxc3........... (RJ)} Qb6 16.Be5 {White needs to keep Black's white bishop, and therefore his Queen's rook, locked up. Here the programs prefer to do that by Nf3, rather than the text. They, obviously seeing the line properly, are not frightened of the response 16....Nxc3. (RJ)} Rd8 17.Qe2 {The engines like Bxd5 a little better. (RJ)} Bxe5 18.Qxe5 Nf6 19.Rad1 a5 20.Re2 {The programs think this is a bit weak,while still giving White a slight edge after after having played it. Deep Shredder goes for a5, obviously to stop Black's a pawn advancing further. I did think about it, and saw that Black in fact can't win the Bishop by playing Rxe4, because of the back rank threat. But I still did not like the look of it. Also I had a vain hope of an early night after 20. Re2 a4 21. Bc2 Qxb2?? 22. Bxh7 winning the queen. Stockfish 7 shows that the best move is 20. Nf5!!, giving the line 20. ........Rxe1 21. Bxe1! Qd8 22. Nd6 with a .5 advantage. (RJ)} a4 21.Bc2 Ra5! {An imaginative and effective way of activating the rook. Deep Shredder thinks this is best. (RJ)} 22.Qg3 {The programs this this is second-best, and that it loses the slight initiative White has. Best is Qe3. (RJ)} Rdd5?! {Again imaginative, but not so effective. It's a case of the wrong rook. Best is Raa5.The b2 pawn of course remains taboo. (RJ)} 23.h4 {I had a couple of moves ago thought this would be a good means of starting an attack in this position. Here it has the added advantage of preventing Rg5. (RJ)} e5 {Recommended by Deep Shredder, but not Stockfish 7. (RJ)} 24.Rde1! {I had planned this response, and felt happy when Kevin was clearly surprised by it, taking 10 minutes on his next move. Both engines say this move is best. But the position is still even.(RJ)} Nd7? {Here however Black goes astray. g6 is necessary. (RJ)} 25.Nf5 {Strong, but even stronger was 25. Bd4 Rdc5 (not 25...Rd6 26. Nf5!) 26. b4 ab 27. Nxb3. (RJ)} Qf6 {Forced.} 26.h5 {The engines say this dissipates White's 1.5 advantage, and surprisingly, recommend Qg5.The line they give involves basically tying White up. (RJ)} Nf8 {Recommended by Stockfish 7. (RJ)} 27.Ne3 {As is this (RJ)} Rdc5 28.Rd1 {Taking advantage of the knight's control of d5 to seize control of the d file. A complex line, the outcome of which the engines disagree on, arises from b4. (RJ)} Be6 {Best (RJ)} 29.Red2 {Best. Black doesn't have the luxury of going after the a pawn. (RJ)} Qe7? {An error. Black must protect his first rank by playing Rc8, after which White stands only slightly better. (RJ)} 30.Bb1? {Inconsistent and wasting an important tempo. White should continue the attack by Rd8. (RJ)} f6?! {h6 was better (RJ)} 31.Rd8? {But now this not the right time. Nf5 and, according to the computers, White has a 3.2 advantage. (RJ)} Rc8! 32.R8d2? {Such a difficult position! This cowardly retreat loses White's advantage; it's again even. Correct is to continue to press on by 32. Rxc8 Bxc8 33. h6! (RJ)} Qf7? {Better is a3 or Rcc5. (RJ)} 33.Nf5! Bxf5 34.Bxf5 {Now White has the upper hand again. (RJ)} Rc7? {Re8 was needed. (RJ)} 35.Qh3? {Rd8. (RJ)} Ra8 36.a3? {Again Ra8 was correct. A lot of mistakes! But each of had only about 7 minutes left and the position is very tricky. (RJ)} Re7 37.Be4 Kh8! {Best. Bd5 is in the wind. (RJ)} 38.Bd5 {The computers say h6 was marginally stronger. (RJ)} Qe8? 39.Ba2 {Fiddling around under time pressure. h6 is much stronger. (RJ)} Ne6 40.Qf5? {Either h6 or Bxe6 would have been much stronger. But White still has a 1 advantage. (RJ)} Nf8? {With 5 minutes left, a bad inaccuracy. h6 was necessary. The text allows 40.....h6! (RJ)} 41.Bb1 {Which White again misses. (RJ)} e4? 42.h6 {Finally spotting it. (RJ)} Re5 {Pretty good. As was e3. (RJ)} 43.hxg7+ Kxg7 44.Qh3! f5? {Qg6. (RJ)} 45.Ba2 {Activating the bishop. Not bad, but Qg3 was much stronger. We were both pretty much playing lightning chess at this stage. (RJ)} Ra6! {Given by Deep Shredder as best. (RJ)} 46.Rd8 {Also best. White now has some horrible threats, with his control of the white squares and d file. (RJ)} Qe7 {Best. (RJ)} 47.Qh2? {With each having about 3 minutes left, again fiddling around. Stockfish 7 gives R1d7!! ...the knight being effectively pinned (RJ)} Rf6? {Rh3 gives Black much better chances. (RJ)} 48.Qf4! Rb5? {Succumbing to time pressure. h5 was a possibility. But Black is lost, with Qg5 and R1d7 both threatened. (RJ)} 49.Qg5+ {If 49......Ng6 50. Rg8 mate. If 49.......kh8 50. Qg8 mate. If 49......Rg6 50. Qxe7. This wild game is typical of those Kevin & I tend to put together. (RJ)} {#r} 1-0