In round 3 of the Fall Challenge on November 10, I was paired with black against Russell Balcom, rated 1751. I try not to take any player lightly but, when you are rated nearly 400 points higher than your opponent, it's natural to think you will win one way or another. Unfortunately, my old nemesis time trouble got the best of me and I left myself the ridiculous task of having to play ten moves in barely five minutes in a position I should have been winning (or at least close to it). I also have to give Russell credit because he played the endgame very well after I miscalculated.
1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3?
This is already a mistake by white and just hands black the initiative.
3. ... d4 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Bxd7+ Qxd7 6. Nb1 Nf6 7. d3 Nc6 8. Nf3 g6 9. a4 Bg7?
I give this move a question mark because it was too routine. It looks perfectly natural (after all, why else did black play g6?) but Fritz correctly says that 9. ... Bh6! is an improvement that maintains black's slight edge. The point is that the bishop really does nothing on g7 because my own pawn on e5 is limiting its scope. However, on h6 the bishop is much more useful, eyeing the f4 pawn. Black will later bring his queen to g4 to try to force white to play g3, creating light squared weaknesses on the kingside and making castling there a more risky proposition.
10. Na3 O-O 11. O-O a6?
A poor move by me that just invites white to infiltrate on b6. This is the start of many of my troubles in this game, although for a while I got away with it.
12. Nc4 Qc7 13. a5 Nd7
I couldn't stomach white landing his knight on b6 but Fritz doesn't think it's such a big deal. The computer wants to play either 13. ... e6 or 13. ... Rae8 (it rates them both equally) and says that, while white does have an advantage, it's only minor at +0.59. I suppose the point is that, once black has played his pawn to e6 (either on move 13 or 14), even if white does stick his knight on b6 what is really doing there? It looks nice but has no targets.
14. Bd2 b5 15. axb6 Nxb6 16. Na5!
I missed this when I played 14. ... b5. At the time, I thought it was an excellent (and annoying, for me) move by Russell and Fritz says it is white's best.
16. ... Na7?
The computer doesn't like this and thinks black should just play 16. ... Nxa5 but that's not a very human move to make. Most humans won't voluntarily walk into a position where a minor piece is pinned to their queen. Objectively, though, it shouldn't be anything to worry about because black can just move his queen to c6 or b7. After the text move, the knight is out of play on a7 and will take a while to bring back into the game in any meaningful way. White's pieces are coordinating nicely whereas black's are a bit of a mess.
17. c4 dxc3 18. Bxc3? Qxf4
A very strange decision by white. I think he just blundered and forgot that my queen was hitting his f4 pawn, otherwise I can't really explain it. Even had white played the correct 18. bxc3, I figured at least I could then put some pressure on his d3 pawn by playing 18. ... Rfd8 etc.
19. Qc1 Qxc1 20. Rfxc1 Bh6 21. Rc2 Rfd8 22. Ne1
This position is close to winning for black. He is up a pawn for no compensation, has pressure against the d3 pawn and a beautiful bishop on h6. White's pieces, so coordinated just five moves ago, are now uncomfortably placed.
22. ... Rd7 23. Kf1 Nb5 24. Be5 f6 25. Bg3 Be3 26. Bf2 Bxf2 27. Kxf2 Rc7! 28. Nf3 e5 29. Ke3 Nd4!
A move that looks obvious but I bizarrely spent 17 minutes on the clock deciding on whether to play it. That's an absurd thing to do because I now leave myself with only eight minutes to reach the first time control. As we will see, that's going to be what decides the game. I can't fully explain why I didn't play this move instantly, or at least after only a minute or two. I think I was afraid of pieces being traded but this should be in black's favor, not white's! As it turned out, white didn't even capture the knight so all my thinking was for nothing anyway.
30. Rc3 Rb8
Now I only have five minutes to make ten moves. Not good.
31. b4 Nd7 32. bxc5 Nxf3 33. Kxf3 Rxc5 34. Nc4 Rc6 35. Raa3 h5 36. Ne3 Rxc3 37. Rxc3 Rb7 38. Rc6 Ra7 39. Nd5 Kg7
This is the move that I feel threw away the win, not because the move itself is bad but because I failed to spot Russell's response. I had less than a minute left on the clock, two moves to make, and I played the move that looked natural. I totally missed white's reply which frazzled me and caused me to panic, enter a mode of what NM Dana Mackenzie calls "wrong think", and miscalculate numerous proceeding moves. In reality, 39. ... Kg7 is totally fine (Fritz even says it's the best move along with 39. ... a5!) but, when you miss your opponent's reply, it can really mess with your mind and that's what happens here.
40. Re6 a5??
A terrible move that throws it all away. I had to bash this move out with virtually no time to think because it was the last move to make the first time control and I had only seconds left. The computer says that 40. ... Nc5 is practically winning.
41. Re7+ Kf8 42. Rh7 a4 43. Nxf6
Black has lost a pawn (though that just means the pawn count is now equal) and, on the surface, it looks like he has to lose a piece or the exchange. Not so! If I had played 43. ... Ra6! the position would be roughly equal. The point is that 44. Rxd7?? would lose to 44. ... a3! when white can't stop the pawn from promoting. White's best is 44. Nxd7+ Kg8 45. Re7 a3 46. Nc5 a2 47. Nb3 Rb6 48. Rxe5 Rxb3 49. Ra5 Ra5 when the position should be drawn.
However, in keeping with my play over the last several moves, I naturally didn't play 43. ... Ra6 and promptly threw the game away in the following fashion:
43. ... Ra5?? 44. Nxd7+ Ke8 45. Nf6+ Kd8 46. Rb7 a3 47. Rb1 Ke7 48. Nd5+ Kd6 49. Ra1 Kc5 50. Ke3 Kb5 51. Rb1+ Kc5 52. Nc3 g5 53. Ra1 Kb4 54. Kd2 Kc5 55. Nb1 Kb4 56. Rxa3 Rxa3 57. Nxa3 Kxa3 58. Kc3 1-0
That was a tough loss, especially coming off the defeat to Eren in the previous round. This time, I didn't feel quite so bad because I never quite felt in control of the game until I won the pawn. Even then, although I knew I was better, it wasn't totally clear how things would pan out. I also felt Russell played the last 15 or so moves very well and I can't have any complaints about that. I miscalculated, he took advantage, and just outplayed me (albeit in what was now a won position for him but you still have to find the moves!).
Here is the complete PGN:
[Event "Arcadia Fall Challenge"]
[Site "Arcadia"]
[Date "2014.11.10"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Balcom, Russell"]
[Black "Hayes, Matthew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B21"]
[WhiteElo "1751"]
[BlackElo "2133"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2014.11.10"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3 d4 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Bxd7+ Qxd7 6. Nb1 Nf6 7. d3 Nc6 8.
Nf3 g6 9. a4 Bg7 10. Na3 O-O 11. O-O a6 12. Nc4 Qc7 13. a5 Nd7 14. Bd2 b5 15.
axb6 Nxb6 16. Na5 Na7 17. c4 dxc3 18. Bxc3 Qxf4 19. Qc1 Qxc1 20. Rfxc1 Bh6 21.
Rc2 Rfd8 22. Ne1 Rd7 23. Kf1 Nb5 24. Be5 f6 25. Bg3 Be3 26. Bf2 Bxf2 27. Kxf2
Rc7 28. Nf3 e5 29. Ke3 Nd4 30. Rc3 Rb8 31. b4 Nd7 32. bxc5 Nxf3 33. Kxf3 Rxc5
34. Nc4 Rc6 35. Raa3 h5 36. Ne3 Rxc3 37. Rxc3 Rb7 38. Rc6 Ra7 39. Nd5 Kg7 40.
Re6 a5 41. Re7+ Kf8 42. Rh7 a4 43. Nxf6 Ra5 44. Nxd7+ Ke8 45. Nf6+ Kd8 46. Rb7
a3 47. Rb1 Ke7 48. Nd5+ Kd6 49. Ra1 Kc5 50. Ke3 Kb5 51. Rb1+ Kc5 52. Nc3 g5 53.
Ra1 Kb4 54. Kd2 Kc5 55. Nb1 Kb4 56. Rxa3 Rxa3 57. Nxa3 Kxa3 58. Kc3 1-0
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