[Event "BCC Championship"] [Site "BCC"] [Date "2016.05.12"] [Round "6"] [White "Bas van Riel"] [Black "Rodney Jacobs"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "1884"] [BlackElo "1659"] [ECO "C63"] [Opening "Spanish: Schliemann, 4.Nc3"] {584MB, Fritz11.ctg} 1.e4 {Rodney had scored 5/5, so it was important for me to win the game in order to keep my chances alive. With this in mind I prepared by studying a few op Rodney's recent games, especially his opening choices with the black pieces. Although I not seriously believed that he would essay again the Schliemann variation (3...f5) of his game against Rob Bailey in round 3 of the current tournament, I did spent some time checking my antiquated opening books (Pachman, 1965 (!), mainly because I liked the complications, and because I found some improvements on Rob's play. Needless to say that I was thrilled to see the Schliemann again. But how good was my preparation, considering that my information was 50 years old..? (BvR)} e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 {The Schliemann. Avoiding the classical Ruy Lopez, which Bas knows well. (RJ)} 4.Nc3 {Given by ECO and Chessbase as best. Bas has prepared too! (RJ) Rob Bailey played 4.d3 here.Pachman suggested Nc3 as being more active.(BvR)} fxe4 {Book} 5.Nxe4 {Book} Nf6 {Book, and the Preferred move on Chessbase. I wanted to mix it up, playing d5, but could not remember the line and, weakly, was not game to play it. I was afraid of the embarrassment of being crushed by move 10! Chessbase gives d5 an equal success rate, with the main line being 5........d5 6. Nxe5 de 7. Nxc6 Qd5 8. c4 Qd6 9. Nxa7ch Bd7 10. Bxd7ch Qxd7 11. Qh5ch g6 12. Qe5ch Kf7 13. Nb5. Wild! (RJ). It took Rodney about 8 minutes to play Nf6. All the time I was hoping for 5..d5, as I believed that the resulting complications were favourable for white, e.g.a) 13.Qxh8, Nf6; 14.Nb5, Rd8; and 16.Qxd8 or b) I could play it safe after 13.Nb5 being 2 pawns up. Instead of 7....Qd5 a weaker, alternative book-move is 7..Qg5, followed by 8.Qe2, Nf6; 9. f4!, which I also had seen in Pachman. During the post-mortem Rodney mentioned that he had thought about playing the 7...Qg5- line (BvR) After the game Bas & I looked at 8....Nxa7 in this line and felt that it was winning. But Deep Shredder calls it even after the response 9 Kd8 (RJ)} 6.d3 {Book. Chessbase gives Nxf6 or Qe2 as alternatives (RJ). After 5..Nf6 I was actually out of book and on my own. A lot of fuss for very little, except that I felt very comfortable about my position, considering black's weaknesses on the white squares. (BvR)} d6 {Book} 7.O-O {Chessbase indicates only c3 has been played here. Deep Shredder likes Nxf6. (RJ)} Be7 8.c3 {here c3 comes afterall.. (BvR)} O-O?! {I believe that this move has caused black's subsequent headaches, although Fritz doesn't appear fussed. (BvR)} 9.Qb3+ Kh8 {At this point Deep Shredder calls it even. (RJ)} 10.Neg5! {Best, according to Deep Shredder. (RJ)} Qe8 11.Ne6 {Also best (RJ)} Bxe6 12.Qxe6 {Fritz gives +0.3. White has the bishop pair and is vastly dominant on the white squares. Black's bishop looks useless atm.(BvR)} Nh5? {Overly anxious to chase the queen away. But the position was even. Deep Shredder gives a6, asking the Bishop what it wants to do. (RJ). After 12..a6, 13.Ba4 (the strong bishop has to stay on the board), black has to find the difficult move 14.Nd8..in order to survive. (BvR).} 13.d4! Rf6? {Bf6 is better. (RJ)} 14.Qh3 exd4 15.Nxd4 {jb +- 1.89 Bas is winning.} Nf4 16.Bxf4 Rxf4 17.Rae1! {This looked awkward to me, with the King's rook stuck in at f1. But Bas continues to find the best moves! Deep Shredder likes it. (RJ)} Qf7 {That's why 17.Rae1 instead of Rfe1, protecting the f2 pawn and supporting the f4-move in the future (BvR)} 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.Nxc6? {Deep Shredder likes this, but, equally, g3, presumably to keep the Black rook out of h4 (RJ). Yes indeed, 19.g3, Rf6; 20.Qd7, Bf8; 21.Qxc6, Rb1; 22.b3 would have been much stronger/winning for white (BvR)} Bf6 20.Qe3 Rh4 21.Qe6! Qh5 {Deep Shredder prefers Qxe6, giving White then 1.36} 22.h3 h6 23.Qd7 {Deep Shredder prefers Nb4, getting the knight back into play (RJ). I was 'obsessed' by winning black's c7 pawn. From here on, I suddenly seemed to have lost the plot, making a number of bad mistakes (BvR).} Qg5? {A mistake. best the immediate Rc4. (RJ)} 24.Kh2? {Overly cautious. Re6 (!) is crushing. Black's best response is Rg8, as Rxh3? is met with Rxf6! (Deep Shredder)} Qc5? {Setting a trap, intending to prevent White from taking the c7 pawn due to the threatened response Rc4.I was quite happy with this, and it turned out fine. But Deep Shredder analysis shows it is a mistake, allowing White to shut the troublesome rook out of the queenside by f4!. (RJ) The immediate Rc4 is best.} 25.Qxc7?? {A bad mistake, turning a comfortably winning position position into a losing one. (RJ) Again f4 and White has a decisive advantage (Deep Shredder) - RJ I fell for it, hook, line and sinker...25.f4 obviously had to be played to isolate black's rook first, before capturing the c7 pawn (BvR)} Rc4 {The knight is now lost.} 26.Re6! {trying to hang in by complicating and a perpetual check via f6 (BvR)} Qxc6 27.Qf7 {Not 27.Qxd6?, of course, loosing the rook after 27...Qxd6; 28.Rxd6, Bf4+ (BvR)} Re4? {Desperate to stop White winning control of the e file. But Black should be worried more about the perpetual! Necessary is Rf4.} 28.Re1? {jb fritz11 Rf6 [000] Rybka [000] The point being White has a perpetual after Rxf6. (RJ) I thought for about 12 minutes and I could not find a perpetual, as black's king can escape to the queen-side. Unfortunately, I also did not find the fantastic resource:28.Rxf6!, gxf6; 29.Qxf6, Kg8; 30.Rd1!! Despite black's extra rook, he has to be careful not to loose, while white now has at least a perpetual (BvR)} Rxe1?? {Be5ch and it's all over. I looked at this and saw the win of the rook. But, wrongly, I thought I was now winning comfortably anyway and decided to keep it simple. (RJ)} 29.Rxe1 Be5+? {But now it's wrong and wastes time. Deep Shredder gives Qb5. (RJ)} 30.f4 Bf6 31.Re6! Rg8 {Trying to prevent the perpetual (RJ) (BvR). Qxa7 is a loosing move, Qg6 with the perpetual check again would be better. At this stage all is not lost for white, also given Rodney's time- trouble.} 32.Qxa7? {The perpetual is still there by Rxf6.(RJ) No, the perpetual on f6 doesn't work now either. Qxa7 is a loosing move, Qg6 with the thread of perpetual check would be better again. At this stage, all is not lost for white, also given Rodney's time- trouble.(BvR)} Qc4 33.Qe3 Qxa2? {Be5 -+[-2.25] black is winning (JB). Jamie B, who was watching, pointed this out immediately after the game. (RJ)} 34.Qe2 {Be5! is still crushing. But I wasn't sharp enough to see it, and, with one minute left on the clock, was happy to accept Bas' draw offer (RJ) A absurd and swinging game. Rodney played very resourceful when he was clearly worse, but he missed a few clear winners near the end.I was very relieved with the draw (BvR)} {#d} 1/2-1/2