Friday 5 February 2010

Barnet Congress

I enjoyed playing in Barnet Congress last weekend. I got 2 out of 4, but performed above my rating. The only game that I lost was to Jovica Radovanovic who is graded quite a lot above me at 218 ECF (his FIDE is 2337). The game was very entertaining. Playing Sicilian as black, I grabbed a pawn for white's compensation. Later on I had to give up an exchange but white opted to give it back straight away. Following that I decided to give up two pawns to transpose into what looked like a drawn endgame. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to draw 2 vs. 3 pawns on the kingside and rook each. I was ground down and actually lost on time at the end. As I found out it's not at all easy to defend this ending under the time pressure even though many people would think of that position as an easy draw! That's certainly a game that needs thorough analysis.

The tournament was won by three people, among them my Hackney team captain - Bob Eames, so congratulations to him. I also had a nice win in 21 moves. Have a look at the diagram, I'm a pawn up but still a fair bit away from winning. However, black helped me to secure an immediate win by moving Re8-f8. What's wrong with that move and how white should reply?

M. Yurenok (173) - M. Peat (179)
30th January 2010, Barnet


On Monday I played a game for the first Hackney team in the London League. I drew against my 4NCL team captain Steve Ledger who was playing for Streatham! But it wasn't a "grandmaster" draw, we were fighting until the end. I played with white against Benko Gambit for the first time and got a good position but didn't manage to make anything out of it. In time trouble I lost a pawn but Steve made an inaccurate move that allowed me to transpose into a drawn R+P endgame. My team, however, lost as we were outrated.

And here is the solution to the last post's puzzle (G. More - M. Yurenok). Thanks to those who sent the answers, now you can compare your thoughts with mine during the game. The game continued: 

23... Bxg3 24. hxg Bxe4! Now white can't take 25.Bxe4 because of deadly 25...Ne2+ check winning the queen, and taking 25. Bxd4 instead doesn't help either as after black's 25...exd4 attacks the queen leaving me a piece up as bishop on g3 will escape re-capture.

After 24...Bxe4 white is not just a pawn down, but her position is totally disintegrating due to too many threats. Rook on b1 is under attack but has nowhere to go. If it moves from b file - pawn on b3 falls to 25...Rxb3. If b1 rook stays on b file, e.g. 25.Rb2 then black wins a rook by 25...Nxf3+ and 26...Rxd1. On top of all of these there are still threats of black taking on f3 with the bishop and winning the queen by Ne2+. The game continued:

25. Rbc1 Rxb3 26.Qxb3 (26. Bxd4 Rxc3 27. Bxc3 was a bit better but still losing) Nxb3 27. Rxd8+ Qxd8 28. Rd1 Nd4 29. Kf2 Bxf3 30. gxf3 Qf6 31. f4 exf4 32. gxf4 e5 33. Rb1 h6 34. Rb8+ Kh7 35. Kg3 exf4+ 0:1

5 comments:

Alberto Santini said...

About M. Yurenok (173) - M. Peat (179):

1...Rf8 2. Ng6 hxg6 if black doesn't take, the rook is gone. 3. Qxg6 Kh8 The queen is hanging, the bishop cannot retreat to g7. 4. Rh3

If we are talking about Mattew Peat, I played with him in Portomannu. I lost with a bad blunder, bas it was a nice battle.

[Event "Portomannu"]
[Site "Capo D'Orso"]
[Date "2009.05.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Santini, Alberto"]
[Black "Peat, Mattew"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "2075"]
[ECO "D47"]
[WhiteElo "1858"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3
Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Bd2 a6 11. Rc1 c5 12. Ne4 Nxe4 13. Bxe4 Ra7 14. dxc5 Nxc5
15. Bb1 Bb7 16. Bc3 f6 17. Bd4 Bxf3 18. Qxf3 Rc7 19. Rfd1 Qe7 20. Qh3 g6 21. a3
e5 22. Ba2+ Kg7 23. Bc3 Na4 24. Rd3 e4 25. Rd2 Nxc3 26. bxc3 Bxa3 27. Rcd1 f5
28. Qg3 Rf6 29. Qxc7 Qxc7 30. Rd7+ Qxd7 31. Rxd7+ Kh8 32. Rc7 Rd6 33. g3 Bb2
34. Rc8+ Kg7 35. Rc7+ Kh8 36. Rc8+ Kg7 37. Rc7+ Kf6 38. h4 Rd3 39. Rc6+ Kg7 40.
Rxa6 Bxc3 41. Ra7+ Kh8 42. Ra8+ Kg7 43. Ra7+ Kh8 44. Ra8+ Kg7 45. Ra7+ Kf6 46.
Rxh7 Rd1+ 47. Kg2 Be1 48. Rf7+ Ke5 49. Re7+ Kd6 50. Re6+ Kc5 51. Rxg6 Bxf2 52.
Rg5 Bxe3 53. Rxf5+ Kb4 54. Bd5 Kc3 55. Bxe4 b4 56. Kf3 Bd4 57. Rb5 b3 58. g4
Kc4 59. Rb7 Bc5 60. Ke2 Rg1 61. Bf5 Rg2+ 62. Kf1 Rf2+ 63. Ke1 b2 64. Be6+ Kc3
65. Rb3+ Kc2 66. Rb5 b1=Q+ 67. Rxb1 Kxb1 68. h5 Rh2 69. Kd1 Kb2 70. Bf5 Kc3 71.
Ke1 Be3 72. Kd1 Kd4 73. Ke1 Ke5 74. Kd1 Kf4 75. Bc8 Bd4 76. Bd7 Ke3 77. Bf5 Bb2
78. Bg6 Rd2+ 79. Ke1 Bc3 80. Bf5 Kf3 81. h6 Rd8+ 82. Kf1 Rd1# 0-1

Maria Yurenok said...

Hi Alberto,
Yes, it was Matthew Peat. Bad luck there - you shouldn't have lost that. You could have even claimed a draw by three-fold repetition of position just before moving 45.Ra7+ saying to the arbiter you intend to make that move.
Maria

Anonymous said...

Thanx for playing. Hope you enjoyed it! Come back next year (if there is one) even if you've 'retired' and tell your friends. We need the entries!

Paul G

Maria Yurenok said...

Hi Paul.
Yes, I'll try to come back next year! And maybe try to win it? :) Thanks!
Maria

Badi said...

Nxg6! of course, but as in the previous puzzle i wonder how u could manage to get such a great outpost for the knight!