Introduction Part 5: The Schiller Test

The first round pairings of the Blacknight Memorial Day tournament had me as white against FM Eric Schiller. This would be the first titled player I had ever played and I was not optimistic about my chances. As it turned out, the game was much closer than I had anticipated and should have been drawn with best play. Indeed, Eric later admitted he completely missed my 13th move. Looking back over the game now through "expert eyes", I think I played exceptionally well given that I was rated under 1800 and my opponent was a well known FIDE Master.

This is the first crucial position. Schiller has just played 12. ... Qxd5 and Fritz says that black is slightly better, probably because of his better development (the rook on c8) and white's isolated d pawn. There is also some uncomfortable pressure on the knight on f3 thanks to the pin from black's bishop.

The move I played is the computer's first choice and equalizes for white. The computer's second choice, 12. ... h3?!, gives black a 0.6 pawn advantage.

In this position I played 13. Ne5! which radically resolves the problem of the pinned knight. I am essentially offering a queen trade. At a glance it looks like black can win a pawn by playing 13. ... Qxg2+ 14. Kxg2 Bxd1 15. Rfxd1 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Bxe5  but black will have his a pawn en prise at the end of the combination. White is also not obliged to play 15. Rfxd1 and could flick in 15. Nxc6  instead. Schiller opted to play the first three moves of the combination but then played his knight to b4 instead of capturing the pawn on e5.

As the game went on, more pieces were traded off and we ended up in a rook ending. Rook endings are notoriously tricky things, even for high rated players, and it's no surprise that I blundered.

In the position above, I had already tried to be too flashy by temporarily sacrificing a pawn, figuring I would just pick off his a pawns. This was faulty logic for two reasons: 1) My b pawn is a potential target, and 2) I still need to spend a tempo to actually capture the sacrificed pawn and then another to grab the other a pawn.

Consequently, the game is now in the balance and I had to decide between 33. Kf2  and 33. Kf3  (of course, taking either a pawn is out of the question because my g pawn is hanging). Unfortunately, I blundered by playing 33. Kf2? and Eric banged out 33. ... Rb1 immediately. The reason the king should be on f3 is because, when black captures my b pawn, it won't be with check. I can't defend the pawn with my rook and I am still down a pawn. I resigned a few moves later, after trying a couple of cheapos.

After the game, Eric and I had lunch at Denny's where he regaled me with tales of his dealings with Kasparov and Kramnik in their 2000 World Championship match. As I had been in the audience for two of the games, this was especially interesting to me.

Here is the complete PGN of my game with Schiller:

Hayes,Matthew (1775) - Schiller,Eric (2223) [B14]

Blacknight Memorial Day San Jose (1), 29.05.2004

1.d4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.e4 c5 4.c3 cxd4 5.cxd4 d5 6.exd5 Nf6 7.Nc3 0–0 8.g3 Nxd5 9.Bg2 Nc6 10.0–0 Bg4 11.Be3 Rc8 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 13.Ne5 Qxg2+ 14.Kxg2 Bxd1 15.Rfxd1 Nb4 16.Rac1 Rfd8 17.a3 Nd5 18.Nd3 Kf8 19.Kf3 Ke8 20.h3 b6 21.Ne5 Nxe3 22.Kxe3 f5 23.Nc6 Rd6 24.Ne5 Rxc1 25.Rxc1 Bxe5 26.dxe5 Rd5 27.f4 Kd7 28.Rc4 b5 29.Rc2 Rd1 30.Rc5 a6 31.a4 bxa4 32.Ra5 Rg1 33.Kf2 Rb1 34.Rxa6 Rxb2+ 35.Ke3 Rb3+ 36.Kd4 Rxg3 37.Rxa4 Rxh3 38.Ra7+ Ke6 39.Ra6+ Kf7 0–1