Andre Paradella (1757) - Mike Splane (2257)

Kolty Chess Club May 24, 2007

The previous week I had not been analyzing variations well. My goal in this game was not so much to win, but to practice analyzing. I succeeded in that fairly well. My planning and judgment let me down this week.

Usually, when I’m playing a player below 2000 or so, I expect to be able to win by playing reasonable moves and waiting for mistakes. Players of this caliber are not usually capable of playing an endless string of good moves. This game was an exception. Andre played a great game. Afterwards I shook his hand and warmly told him, “You deserved it.” This was his first win against a master.

1 e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Bc4 d6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Nf3 0-0 6. h3

Now he’s threatening 7. e5 and 8. e6, so…

6. … Ne4 7. Bf7+ Rf7 8. Ne4 Nc6

I wasn’t sure what pawn configuration I wanted to adopt. I thought about 8. … h6 but though that might be too weakening. Be3, Qd2, 0-0-0, h4, Ng5+ look like natural moves for him. In the meantime, where is my counter-play? I remembered looking at this position years ago and deciding that the odd-looking … d5, giving myself a backward pawn on the e file, was the right move. During the game I wasn’t able to remember why, so I adopted a different pawn structure. After the game the reason is obvious, his knight outpost on e4 is too strong to allow.

9. c3 e5 10. Bg5 Qe8 11. d5!

Good! Blocking up the center and maintaining a strong point on e4 is his best chance. Of course, I was happy with the two bishops.

11. … Ne7 12. g4

I thought this was horrible weakening on the f file, but if he lets me play h5 and Bh6 he’s in bad way too.

12. … Qb5 13. Be7 Re7

The positional ideas in this middlegame are quite clear. I can not win this position if he can succeed in maintaining his knight on e4, it’s stronger than my black square bishop. If he can succeed in trading his knight for my white square bishop, the knight on e4 will be stronger than my remaining bishop. I have to get control of the d5 square so I can post a pawn there. This will win for Black.

14. b3 Rf7 15. c4 Qb4+

My queen belongs on b6, threatening to paralyze him by moving to d4. I was hoping to win a key tempo after 16. Qd2 Qb6 when he can’t maintain his knight on e4. after 17. Nfg5 or Neg5 Rf4 threatens the crushing 18. … h6. Instead I cost myself a tempo.

16. Nfd2 Bd7 17. 0-0 Rf4

I like the idea of putting pressure on the f file by doubling rooks, but perhaps I’m trying to solve the wrong problem. My g7 bishop belongs on e7, so I should put it there via f8. Then I can prepare pawn breaks on either wing. I was obsessed with the idea of pushing the e5 pawn with a threat to his rook, so I neglected to play this plan.

If my king was on e7, I could pawn storm against his castled king, so that was an alternative plan open to me. I didn’t like the idea him answering that plan with a queenside pawn storm, but now I was seeing ghosts. The bishop on d7 is a strong defender and I should be able to break through before he does.

18. Qe2 Bh6

Playing for traps. I wanted to stop 19. a3 Qb6 20. Qe3 with 20 … Rg4+

19. Kg2 Rf7 20. g5!

At the time I thought this was a mistake, weakening the white squares and the h pawn. On the other hand, I would have been quite happy to put my bishop on f4, move my king to the center, and then pawn storm on the kingside. And it gave him the constant threat of Nf6+, so, due to the threat of forking my king and d7 bishop, my plan to transfer the bishop to e7 is temporarily prevented.

Bg7 21. h4 Rf4 22. Rh1 c6

As it turns out, this is premature. I thought about playing \22. …Qb6, threatening to bring my queen to d4, but I thought he was fine after 23. .. Qe3. I should play Raf8 to induce f3 and then play Qb6.

23. a3 Qb6

If 23. dc bc 24. a3 Qb6 25. Nd6 Rg4+ 26. Kf1 Qd5.

24. c5!

I didn’t see this beautiful move coming. The knight outpost on e4 is now safe and Black has full compensation for his pawn minus. The position after 24. dc bc 25. c5 dc keeps even material, but opens a lot of lines for my bishops and rooks.

24. … dc 25. d6 Be6 26. f3 Bd5?

I briefly considered 26 … Qd8 with the idea of 27. … Rh4 28. Rh4 Qg5+ winning back the rook. Then I remembered that his knight is guarding g5.

I looked at 26…. Bb3 27. Rab1 c4 28. Nc4 and of course I didn’t like this for Black.

Then I considered 26. … a5, threatening 27. … Bb3 28. Rab1 a4, holding the pawn. He could answer 26. … a5 27. a4 to stop the idea. This would have been better than what I tried in the game; letting his rook come to h3 was a mistake, with his pawn on a4 it would have been easier to open lines on the queenside, and I would have had the b4 square for my queen.

27. Qe3 Raf8 28. Rh3 Qb5

Another trap. If 29. Qc5 Qe2+ 30. Qf2 Qf2 31. Kf2 Be4 32. Ne4 Re4 or 31. Nf2 e4 32. Rae1 ef+ 33. K any Rd4

29. Rf1 b6?

The c pawn was meaningless. I should stop counter-play with 29. … h5, but I didn’t want to give up the option of playing … h6. I had held the initiative for so long that I felt completely safe, and underestimated the strength of his next move.

30. h5! Qa6

I wanted him to play 31. a4. I’ll play Qc8 and Qf5 when he will be hard pressed to defend against captures on both f3 and e4. I looked at 30…. Qa5 as an alternative, hoping for 31. Qa4 Qb4 bringing the queen back into play via d4. However, this move leaves my queen completely out of play if he ignores the threat to the a-pawn. As Andre correctly pointed out after the game, my queen is cut off from the kingside, so he didn’t mind giving up a pawn or two for attacking tempos.

31. hg hg 32. d7!

Cutting off my queen and, as it turns out the pawn is immune from capture. I thought he had blundered.

32. … Be6 33. Rh2 Bd7

This wasn’t the losing move.

34. Nf6+ Bf6

But this was. I’d been struggling all game to get rid of this bad bishop, but now it has suddenly become indispensable. I need it to guard e5 and f8, and to hide behind if his queen gets to h7.

During the game I never even considered capturing on f6 with a rook, but after 34. … R8f6 35. gf Bf6 36. Nf6 Bg7 my position is still intact. I have three pawns for the exchange and my pieces are coordinated. He can force a trade into an ending with 37. Rd1 Qc8 38. Qd3 Be6 39. Qd8+ Qd8 40. Rd8+ Kf7 41. Ng5+ Ke7 42. Ne6 Ke6 43. Rh7 Bf6 44. Re8+ Kf5 45. Ra7. Black clearly has drawing chances, with … c4 and … e4 coming to trade off pawns. Perhaps I can even play for a win with 45. … b5 and 46 … c4, creating a passed pawn.

If he doesn’t force this ending, I’ll play Be6 and Bd5 when the initiative switches back to me. He has weak pawns and there won’t be any open lines into my position for his rooks to use.

35. gf Re8

When I captured on d7 I intended to play 35. … R8f6 Now if 36. Qe5 Qd3 37 Qb8+ Rf8, or 37 Qe7 Rf7 and I’m ok. The tough line is 37. Ne4 Rg4+ 38. Ng3 Qd4 39. Qe2 Rg5, or 40. Qe7 Rf7 41. Qd8+ Rf8 and he doesn’t have a check on h8. Now if 42. Qf8+ Kf8 43. fg+ Kg7 Black wins with Qg4 followed by Be6-d5 On checks I march my king up to g5.

Unfortunately, when I got to this point I realized that after 35. … R8f6 36. Rfh1 wins for White, so I had to improvise. I briefly looked at trying to hold the pawn with 35. … Rf5, then spotted 36. Rh8+ Kh8 37. Qh6+ Andre was planning to plan 36. Qh6 which also wins. It looks like Black is lost here, so I played the only move that seemed to keep the game going for awhile.

36. Rfh1 Kf7 37. Rh7+ Ke6 38. Nc4

38. Ne5 was even stronger, when I don’t get to activate my queen

38. … Rc4

Forced. I was hoping he would see that 39. Qd3 would both pin my rook and attack the bishop. I was hoping he would miss the winning reply 39. … Rg4+. I don’t know if he saw both moves or saw neither move, since he recaptured immediately.

39. bc Qc4 40. Rd1 Bc8 41. f4!

A great move to find in time pressure, this wins instantly. I was hoping for 41. Qg5? Qe2+

41. … e4

41. …Kf6 42. Rd6+ and 42. … Qf4 43. Qf4 ef 44. Re1+ are also hopeless. Andre told me he was planning 42. Qf4 43. Qb3+ missing the defense 43. … c4. He only had 52 seconds left on his clock. I had nine minutes.

42. Qh3+ Kf6 43. Qh4+ Ke6 44. Qg4+ Kf6 45. Qg5+

I thought about asking him if he wanted to actually checkmate me. Then I decide that was probably not an appropriate thing to say in his time pressure. He had 18 seconds left. I had 8+ minutes.

1-0