Rounding out the championships and providing an unexpected degree of symmetry (because now I’ve drawn against the entire clan!), I drew against Anastasija Manojlovic for the final round. At 1224, I was only outrated by 200 points on paper — in practice however, Anastasija is just back from the Gilbert cup where she beat England in one of the best results of the cup and that was after becoming the Leinster Junior Champion, so it might be fair to assume she’s stronger than her rating suggests 😀
I had in mind the idea from the start that I should play conservatively; even a draw would be fine for me in this round. And for the most part, that plan worked; I avoided certain options that gave lines of attack for ones that kept things even and right through to the endgame we were level. But then in the endgame I fluffed a rook and pawn ending and in the space of one bad choice and two moves, lost the whole thing. The analysis graph tells its own sad sad tale:
And here’s the game in full:
[pgn eo=t autoplayMode=none pieceFont=alpha ss=64 ps=64 h=800 commentsDisplay=newline][Event “St.Benildus Senior Club Championships 2014”]
[Site “St.Benildus”]
[Date “2014.08.28”]
[Round “5”]
[White “Anastasija Manojlovic”]
[Black “Mark Dennehy”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “1224”]
[BlackElo “1019”]
[EventDate “2014.08.28”]
[Annotator “Stockfish 210214 64”]
1. e4
{+0.31
So it’ll be a caro-kann}
1. … c6
{+0.64}
2. d4
{+0.59}
2. … d5
{+0.53}
3. exd5
{+0.32
Exchange variation. Sod.}
3. … cxd5
{+0.24}
4. Bd3
{+0.21
Ach. That rules out Bf5. }
4. … Nf6
{+0.36
Probably should have given up on Bf5 completely and gone with Nd7, but ever the optimist…}
5. Nf3
{+0.24}
5. … e6
{+0.24
Well, poop, no choice now unless I want to be way behind on castling.}
6. O-O
{+0.31}
6. … Be7
{+0.41}
7. c3
{+0.39
Letting the queen out or just backing up d4?}
7. … O-O
{+0.33}
8. Nbd2
{+0.16}
8. … b6
{+0.32
Occurs to me that that white bishop is pretty strong and that if I could swap it for mine, I’d be better off since my central pawns are on white and Anastajia’s are on black. }
9. Ne5
{+0.17}
9. … Ba6
{+0.14}
10. Bxa6
{+0.14}
10. … Nxa6
{+0.18
Well, stockfish disagrees, but I felt better about it in the game :D}
11. Qf3
{-0.06
Y’know, there’s a nasty hole there on h6. if Qg3, move that N out of the way and Bh6, I’d have some trouble…}
11. … Rc8
{+0.00
There’s a file open so stick a rook on it.}
12. Qd3
{-0.21}
12. … Nb8
{-0.15}
13. Re1
{-0.15}
13. … Nbd7
{-0.11
Casting about looking for a plan here. Qc7 was a planned response to that knight coming into the queenside; maybe if Qc7 now and then Ndc5, dxN, Qxc5 I’d have a line of attack? But it’s sacing a piece and I can’t really see the full line yet. }
14. Ndf3
{-0.04}
14. … Qc7
{+0.12
Prep moves till I do see the line.}
15. Bg5
{+0.00
Hm. I wonder if I could try Ng4 instead of Nc5? It’s not as aggressive, but it’d let me swap off pieces and try to keep the game drawish, which might be my best plan against her.}
15. … Rfe8
{+0.14}
16. Nxd7
{+0.10}
16. … Qxd7
{+0.15}
17. Ne5
{+0.11}
17. … Qc7
{+0.15
Okay, that works for me too, looks like it’s the play-for-a-draw plan so.}
18. Qh3
{+0.00}
18. … Ne4
{-0.08}
19. Bxe7
{+0.00}
19. … Qxe7
{+0.00}
20. Qd3
{+0.00
Well, that’s fairly drawish :D}
20. … Qf6
{+0.09}
21. Qf3
{-0.37}
21. … Qxf3
{-0.38}
22. Nxf3
{-0.38}
22. … a5
{-0.16
Probably a mistake and a6 would have been better.}
23. a4
{-0.21}
23. … Re7
{-0.04
Planning Rb7 to help push the pawns or at least stop the oncoming ones}
24. Rac1
{-0.35}
24. … Nd6
{-0.21
Thinking Nc4 and attacking the pawns}
25. Ne5
{-0.20
Hm. Well, we could trade off knights…}
25. … Ree8
{-0.06
Have to do this or Nc4, NxN, dxN, d5 and now I can’t exd or RxR}
26. Rc2
{-0.23}
26. … Nc4 $201
{+0.00}
27. Rec1 $6
{-0.83 / +0.00}
( 27. Nxc4 Rxc4 28. b3 Rc7 29. f4 Rb8 30. c4 dxc4 31. bxc4 Rd8 32. Rd1 Rcd7 33. Rcd2 Rc7 34. Rc2 $10 )
27. … Nxe5
{-0.92}
28. dxe5
{-0.73}
28. … Red8
{-0.30
Well, no point playing the lets-everyone-double-up-rooks game, not with a passed central pawn around.}
29. Rd2
{-0.34}
29. … Rc4
{-0.35
Expecting b3, Re4}
30. Rd4
{-0.34
Okay, lets swap rooks so.}
30. … Rxd4
{-0.05}
31. cxd4
{-0.05}
31. … Kf8
{+0.00
No point hiding away anymore. Also, if I can get to d7, then Rc8 and the rooks are gone.}
32. Kf1
{+0.00}
32. … Ke8
{+0.07}
33. Rc7
{+0.00
Okay, but we can still swap…}
33. … Rd7
{+0.17}
34. Rc6
{+0.00}
34. … Rb7
{+0.00}
35. Rc8+
{+0.00}
35. … Kd7
{+0.00}
36. Rh8
{+0.00
Yoink! Where’d you go?}
36. … Rc7
{+0.00
Well, if you’re going to nab my pawns, I can return the favour, even if I need to do a bit of checking to stop you just eating all the pawns first.}
37. Rxh7
{+0.00}
37. … Rc1+
{+0.00}
38. Ke2
{+0.00}
38. … Rc2+
{+0.00}
39. Kd3
{+0.00}
39. … Rxb2
{+0.00}
40. Kc3
{+0.00}
40. … Rb4
{+0.00}
41. Rxg7
{+0.30}
41. … Ke7
{+0.46
That’s enough of that for now, thanks…}
42. Rg8 $201
{+0.53}
42. … b5 $6 $16
{+1.90 / +0.53
And here’s where it starts to go all wrong. }
( 42. … Rc4+ 43. Kd3 Rxa4 44. h4 Ra1 45. h5 a4 46. Ra8 b5 47. g4 Ra3+ 48. Ke2 Rb3 49. h6 Rh3 50. g5 a3 51. g6 fxg6 52. h7 a2 53. Rxa2 b4 54. Ra7+ Kf8 55. Rb7 $14 )
43. axb5
{+2.06}
43. … Rxb5
{+2.12}
44. h4
{+2.14}
44. … a4
{+2.58}
45. h5 $201
{+2.47}
45. … Rb3+ $4 $18
{+11.47 / +2.47
And this is where I blew it. The idea was to throw in a few checks to tie up the other rook to stop Ra8 ruining that pawn’s day, but Ra5 would have been a better tactic.}
( 45. … Rb1 46. g4 Rb3+ 47. Kc2 Rh3 48. Kb2 f5 49. gxf5 exf5 50. Rg7+ Kf8 51. Ra7 Rxh5 52. Kc3 Rh2 53. Rxa4 Rxf2 54. Ra5 Rf3+ 55. Kb4 f4 56. Kc5 Rf1 57. Kxd5 f3 58. Ke4 f2 59. Kf5 $16 )
46. Kc2
{+13.45}
46. … Rb4
{+15.41
Planning to go across to the h file and kill that pawn}
47. h6
{+15.78}
47. … Rxd4
{+17.54}
48. h7
{+23.06
Can’t make it in time. And can’t queen even if I sac the rook. Gah!}
( 48. h7 { 26:+23.06} 48. … Rh4 49. h8=Q Rxh8 50. Rxh8 Kd7 51. Ra8 Ke7 52. Rxa4 Ke8 53. Ra8+ Kd7 54. Kd3 Ke7 55. Ra7+ Kf8 56. g4 Kg8 57. f4 Kg7 58. f5 Kg8 59. f6 Kh7 60. Rxf7+ Kg6 61. Rg7+ Kh6 62. g5+ Kh5 63. f7 d4 )
1-0
[/pgn]
I’m more or less okay with that game; it was fairly solid play through to the fluffed endgame (and I really really have to work through more Silman before the Bodley starts up again in a few weeks). Not terribly happy at the tournament as a whole – some good play in there, but I kept getting crushed by players rated several hundred points higher than me. I guess that’s par for the course for now, but it does make you wish for a larger pool of players to get a more even matching every so often.
The overall winners were no huge shock, Gerry took first place as expected:
And the club report on this round and the championships is up here.
Tags: Club Championships