Round 2

Jim Grange Vs Deio Parri
Gwynedd Championships, Round 2




After my great start, I was paired with board 1 from Caernarfon, so a tough encounter ahead! I played well, got a good middlegame position, and then my opponent fought back with some amazing tactics that I completely had overlooked. I was soon in trouble, and if I had something better to do I would have resigned. But I trundled on, trying to make my moves look "complicated" so as to scare him (he was short of time), and in the end it paid off with a blunder of the year! The rest was childsplay.

1) d5 d5 2)c4 c6 3)Nf3 Nf6 4)Nc3 e6 5)e3 Be7 6)Be2 b6 7)b3 Novelty ...O-O 8)Bb2 Bb7 9)O-O Nbd7 10)Rc1 Re8

So its time to start thinking of plans.Black is obviously aiming for the logical break ...e5 freeing his game, and White wants the break e4. However, I didnt want to place my Queen on c2, as I felt it would be exposed to attack from the rook on c8 at some point. So I placed it on d2, which was just very poor. White is still OK, but would have the edge after Qc2. 11)Qd2?! Bd6 aiming for ...e5, but losing time. This showed my opponents lack of understanding of the position (he normally plays the traditional QGD, but wanted to suprise me with the Slav). 12)Rfd1 Qe7 13)Rc2!? A flexible move, aiming to double either on the d- or e-file. ...Rad8 14)Qe1 e5?!
I was happy to see this, as I felt it was premature. But what else can Black do? This leads to the isolation of blacks d-pawn, and I felt that Black would not get sufficient activity to compensate for this. 15)de5 Ne5 16)cd5!? Nf3 17)Bf3 cd5 18) Nb5! heading for the blockade square on d4 18)...Bb4?!

This move is a mistake. I sank into thought for about 15 minutes, looking at the complications after 19)Bf6 Be1 20)Be7 Bf2 without realising black is just losing a piece. Therefore, after 19)Bf6!, blacks pawn structure is shattered, as gf6 is forced. What a waste of 15 mins! 19)Bf6! gf6 20)Qf1 Bc5 21)Nd4 Qe5 The dust has settled, and White is just better. Plain and simple. I went all "Karpov" here, trying to be fancy by eliminating the "threat" of Bd6 with g3. This "prophylaxis" just weakens the light squares. 22)g3?! Bc8!? Now this is interesting: I felt he was desparate, and was just saccing the exchange out of frustration, but there is a nice tactic hidden that I didnt uncover. So I went for the exchnage. It turned out to be a little greedy. 23)Nc6!? Qf5!
This is the move I overlooked. My rook on c2 and Bf3 are loose. But I thought, whats the big deal after Nd8 Qc2 Nc6 ? I didn't understand the danger. 24)Nd8?? Qf3! WHAT?!?!? I had merely ASSUMED in my analysis that he would go for the Rook on c2. But now, white is losing; BADLY! Now g3 shows itself to be a mistake, and that prophylaxis gone wrong actually can increase your opponents options! Now I go into desparate mode, he was short of time so I was after some cheapos. 25)Rd4 Qf5 25)...Bd4 26)Rc8 = 26)Qc1 Rd8 -+ 27)Rf4 Qe6 28)b4 Bd6 29)Rh4 Qf5 30)Rh6 My moves may "look" agressive, but there is nothing. 30)...Bb7 31)Rh4 Re8 32)Qd1 Re4 33)Rh5 Qg4 34)Rd5!? Bd5 35)Qd5 Bb4 36)Rc7 Re6 37)Qd7 Qg6 38)Ra7
I was starting to feel good about my chances of holding the position (unrealistic or what eh!). But now, my psuedo-aggression pays off as his time trouble leads to a terrible blunder, handing the game to White. Any move here will keep the win for Black, except: 38)...Kg7?? 39)Qe6! Bc5 40)Qd5 Qb1 41)Kg2 Qg6 42)Rc7 Bf8 43)Rb7 Bc5 44)a4 Kg8 45)h4! I finally hit upon the correct plan. There is a mate to be had if the Queen can be moved away from defending f7. 45)...Kg7 46)h5! Qh6 47)Qf7. Black resigned.