Monday 14 September 2009

Lost in a maze of confusion


I reached the diagrammed position in my final round game from Blayney on the weekend. A win would have given me outright second, although I was still trying to overcome the pressure of playing the tournaments top seed with Black. As it turned out, if I had spent more time thinking about the game, rather than my circumstances, I might have been able to seize the opportunity to win when it was presented to me.
Black to play and gain a decisive advantage. (and a bonus 10 points if you can identify the opening of the game)

I, of course, missed the best move and the game instead ended 16. ... Qb6 17.Bf2 axb2 18.Qxb2 Rd8 19.Nxc4! dxc4 20.d5 Nbd4? 21.Qxb6 Nxf3+ 22.gxf3 axb6 23.Rxa8 exd5 24.Bxb6 Bxh3 25. Bxd8 Nxd8 26.Rd1 1-0

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

No Name Feder Loc Total 1 2 3 4 5 6

1 Guo, E A 1800 5.5 33:W 22:W 14:W 13:W 9:W 3:D
2 Ali, M A 1717 4.5 31:W 21:W 7:W 4:D 5:D 6:D
3 Capilitan, R N 1852 4.5 12:W 41:W 8:W 9:L 4:W 1:D
4 Smirnov, V N 2335 4.5 35:W 19:W 6:W 2:D 3:L 9:W
5 Camer, A N 1927 4.5 34:W 15:W 13:D 7:D 2:D 17:W
6 Setiabudi, A A 1782 4.5 29:W 20:W 4:L 24:W 14:W 2:D
7 Broekhuyse, N 2020 4.5 26:W 25:W 2:L 5:D 16:W 15:W
8 Van Der Wal, N 1729 4.5 27:W 28:W 3:L 18:W 15:D 13:W
9 Press, S A 1686 4 30:W 18:W 16:W 3:W 1:L 4:L
10 Christensen, N 1657 4 32:D 16:L 30:W 23:D 26:W 22:W
11 Jones, B A N 2021 4 0:W 14:L 35:L 30:W 33:W 19:W
12 Bennett, M A 1344 4 3:L 42:W 22:W 14:L 35:W 25:W
13 Smirnov, A N 1668 3.5 39:W 24:W 5:D 1:L 20:W 8:L
14 Deen-Cowell, N 1564 3.5 40:W 11:W 1:L 12:W 6:L 21:D
15 Parker, T N 1515 3.5 43:W 5:L 34:W 29:W 8:D 7:L
16 Dickson, I N 1597 3.5 23:D 10:W 9:L 32:W 7:L 33:W
17 Jones, L N 2007 3.5 24:L 39:W 23:W 21:W 19:D 5:L
18 Aich, A N 1428 3.5 45:W 9:L 31:W 8:L 34:D 23:W
19 Xu, J N 1568 3.5 47:W 4:L 26:W 35:W 17:D 11:L
20 Losh, G N 1436 3.5 44:W 6:L 27:W 33:D 13:L 32:W
21 Egan, B A 1434 3.5 36:W 2:L 45:W 17:L 38:W 14:D
22 East, W A 1442 3 37:W 1:L 12:L 31:W 24:W 10:L
23 Kethro, M A 974 3 16:D 32:W 17:L 10:D 28:W 18:L
24 Setiabudi, M A 1347 3 17:W 13:L 25:W 6:L 22:L 38:W
25 Kojic, S N 1561 3 38:W 7:L 24:L 42:W 27:W 12:L
26 Weltner, M N 1376 3 7:L 40:W 19:L 46:W 10:L 39:W
27 Parsons, C N 1232 3 8:L 37:W 20:L 36:W 25:L 43:W
28 Bourke, P N 1434 3 46:W 8:L 29:L 37:W 23:L 34:W
29 Wilson, G N 1238 3 6:L 44:W 28:W 15:L 32:L 36:W
30 Aich, R N 1212 3 9:L 46:W 10:L 11:L 44:W 35:W
31 McPherson, E A 1220 3 2:L 36:W 18:L 22:L 46:W 37:W
32 Beare, N A 1140 2.5 10:D 23:L 39:W 16:L 29:W 20:L
33 Ingham, G A 1290 2.5 1:L 43:W 41:W 20:D 11:L 16:L
34 Bishop, J A 1344 2.5 5:L 38:W 15:L 45:W 18:D 28:L
35 Chibnall, A A 1411 2 4:L 47:W 11:W 19:L 12:L 30:L
36 Geier, J N 2 21:L 31:L 0:W 27:L 42:W 29:L
37 Kojic, N N 2 22:L 27:L 40:W 28:L 41:W 31:L
38 Guo, J A 837 2 25:L 34:L 44:W 41:W 21:L 24:L
39 Wilkie, M N 1153 2 13:L 17:L 32:L 40:W 47:W 26:L
40 Chiddy, L N 871 2 14:L 26:L 37:L 39:L 0:W 45:W
41 Davidson, J N 1497 2 42:W 3:L 33:L 38:L 37:L 46:W
42 Tran, J N 349 2 41:L 12:L 47:W 25:L 36:L 44:W
43 Murray, A A 463 2 15:L 33:L 46:L 47:W 45:W 27:L
44 Timbs, C N 1 20:L 29:L 38:L 0:W 30:L 42:L
45 Timbs, C N 1 18:L 0:W 21:L 34:L 43:L 40:L
46 Timbs, B N 1 28:L 30:L 43:W 26:L 31:L 41:L
47 Momot, A N 878 1 19:L 35:L 42:L 43:L 39:L 0:W

Anonymous said...

Well, given that I can't see it even now, after you identified that black has something, I think I was pretty safe.:)

Vladimir

Shaun Press said...

The move I missed (and all credit to Fritz for spotting it) was 16. ... Nbxd4 (which was mentioned briefly in the post-mortem without being investigated further). After 17.cxd4 Nxd4 White needs to find a square for the queen. In doing so it turns out that Black has threats along the g1-a7 diagonal (Qb6) combined with the threat of axb2 followed by c3.
Of course I didn't look at the capture on d4 for more than 1 second, so you were definitely safe!