[Event "Saturday"] [White "Jim Attaya"] [Black "TJ Weaver"] [Site "Rochester Chess Center"] [Round "2"] [Annotator ""] [Result "0-1"] [Date "2020.10.10"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1850"] [PlyCount "112"] {This was a very interesting game I played against Jim Attaya, and certainly not one that was mistake free. There are some inaccuracies I will gloss over a little bit just because this was a rather long game, but I will point out all the most critical parts of the game.} 1. b3 {Already Jim's shaking things up a little. Since I almost never face b3 as black I just decided to play some normal moves} e5 2. e3 d5 3. d4 {This is a bit of a surprise, now I am basically playing the white side of a french with the only difference that b3 is played} e4 4. Ba3 {Exchanging the bad French bishop} Bxa3 {Forcing whites knight to an uncomfortable square} 5. Nxa3 c6 {Threatening Qa5+} 6. Qd2 {Preventing Qa5} Ne7 7. Ne2 Qd6 8. Nb1 Be6 $6 (8... Nd7 9. c4 Nf6 )9. a3 $6 (9. c4 dxc4 (9... 0-0 )10. Ng3 f5 11. bxc4 )Nd7 10. Nbc3 $6 {White's best is to try to get in c4 at some moment which Nbc3 prevents, without c4 to put pressure on blacks center black is simply better} 0-0 11. Ng3 Rac8 12. b4 a5 $6 {This is unnecessary, after black takes the pawn he has some queenside play and should be alright, instead black should just continue playing on the kingside} (12... f5 13. Be2 g6 )13. Ncxe4 $2 {This is a mistake, whites position isn't desperate enough to justify this, and after bxa5 he is actually probably ok. However after black takes the material he does have to be a bit careful but he should be completely winning.} (13. bxa5 Ra8 14. Rb1 {Still better for black but white might be ok} )dxe4 14. Nxe4 Qc7 15. Bd3 axb4 16. axb4 Ra8 17. 0-0 Bd5 18. Rxa8 Rxa8 19. c4 Bxe4 20. Bxe4 Nf6 21. Bf3 h6 22. g3 Nc8 $6 {This is just a bad move, the knight is better placed on e7, my thought process was after white plays c5 black plays Ne7 and puts the knight on d5, but I underestimated e4. After this black should still be winning but its just a little bit tougher now. Instead black should play h5 and might put the f6 knight on g4} (22... h5 )23. e4 Ra3 $6 {Inaccuracy number 2, again black should still be winning, but the rook is best placed on a8 where it can't be tempo-ed. Now white has legitimate chances to be alright with some good moves.} 24. Bg2 Qe7 $6 {After this black is only slightly better, he should bring his knight back in the game with Ne7 which is now impossible because the queen is there, this gives white time to advance his pawns.} 25. e5 $1 Nd7 26. Qb2 $1 Ra4 27. c5 $6 {Rb1 is better with the idea to play Qb3 and d5 to try and make threats, but the position is very complicated and its difficult without an engine to say that c5 is a bad move, it cuts off the c8 knight and protects b4} (27. Rb1 Qe6 28. Qb3 Ra8 29. Re1 Nf8 30. d5 {This is a potential variation where the pawn on c4 supports d5} )Qe6 $6 {Here white actually is fully equal again (allegedly, according to the computer) with the correct move which Jim unfortunately didn't find, but its a very easy one to miss.} 28. Ra1 $2 {White misses his chance to "razzle dazzle" and is now losing again, but this is still complicated} (28. d5 $3 {This leads to a crazy line with lots of tactical variations, but the point is white wins d5 back with the bishop and whites pieces come to life} cxd5 29. Qb3 $1 Ra8 (29... Ra7 $2 30. Bxd5 Qxe5 31. Bxf7+ Kf8 32. Be6 {The tables have turned and white is winning because there are too many threats, to prevent the c8 knight from being hanging the rook must go back to a8 instead} )30. Bxd5 $1 Qxe5 31. Bxb7 $3 {Better than Bxf7+ according to the engine, but Bxf7+ is a mess that should also be ok for white} (31. Bxf7+ Kh8 32. Rd1 Qc7 33. Qd3 Nf8 )Rb8 32. Rd1 $3 Qc7 (32... Rxb7 33. c6 )33. c6 {I will stop here but this is still an enormous mess but is supposedly equal, this is certainly better for white than the game continuation} )b5 $6 {Rxa1+ is better, and black plays Nf8 and meets Qa8 with Qd7, but this is still winning for black} (28... Rxa1+ 29. Qxa1 Nf8 30. Qa8 Qd7 )29. Rxa4 bxa4 30. d5 {As good of a try as any} cxd5 31. Qa3 d4 32. f4 Qb3 $1 {It's not immediately obvious that this ending is winning because whites paws are scary, but it wins for black. It bears pointing out that I was getting short of time here} 33. Qxb3 axb3 34. Be4 Kf8 35. Kf1 Ke7 36. Ke2 b2 37. Bb1 f6 38. Kd3 fxe5 39. fxe5 Nxe5+ 40. Kxd4 Nf3+ 41. Kc3 Nxh2 42. Kxb2 Nf1 43. Bf5 Na7 44. g4 {White has a cleverer move here} (44. b5 Nxb5 $2 (44... Nxg3 45. b6 Nc6 46. Bh3 {Still winning for black} )45. Bd3 )Ne3 45. Be4 Nxg4 46. Kb3 h5 47. Ka4 h4 48. b5 Nxb5 $2 {Black can actually hold the pawns back without giving back the piece just yet, and actually after this move white can hold the draw as I will show eventually. Ne5 was called for} (48... Ne5 $1 49. b6 Nac6 50. Kb5 h3 51. b7 h2 52. Ka6 (52. Bxc6 Nxc6 53. Kxc6 h1=Q+ 54. Kb6 Qh2 55. Ka7 Qc7 56. Ka8 Qa5+ 57. Kb8 Kd7 58. c6+ Kxc6 59. Kc8 Qc7# )Kd7 53. Kb5 Kc7 54. Ka6 g5 55. Bh1 g4 56. Be4 Nb8+ 57. Ka7 Nf3 )49. Kxb5 h3 50. Kb6 $2 {This loses again, white holds by pushing immediately} (50. c6 Nf6 51. Bf3 Kd6 52. Kc4 g5 53. Kd3 g4 54. Bh1 Nh5 55. Ke3 g3 56. Bf3 g2 57. Kf2 Nf4 58. Kg1 {And black has no way to make progress, his king is tied to c6 and if he tries to move the knight the bishop will sacrifice itself for the two pawns, the reason Kb6 loses is because after Kb6 whites king is too far from blacks passed pawns} )Ne5 $2 {Now white can draw again. Doh!} (50... Nf6 $1 51. Bh1 Nd7+ 52. Kc6 Ke6 53. Kb5 Ne5 54. c6 (54. Be4 g5 55. Kb4 g4 56. Kc3 g3 )Kd6 {And black wins the c6 pawn} 55. Kb6 Nxc6 56. Bxc6 g5 57. Bf3 Ke5 58. Kc5 Kf4 59. Bb7 g4 60. Kd4 g3 61. Kd3 g2 )51. Kb7 $2 {c6 holds the draw once again} (51. c6 Nxc6 52. Kxc6 Ke6 53. Kc5 Ke5 54. Bc6 Kf4 55. Kd4 g5 56. Kd3 g4 57. Ke2 Kg3 58. Bd7 $1 )Kf6 {Finally a move that doesn't blunder a draw! Blacks king is now so much closer to the kingside than whites king that white cannot draw.} 52. Kc7 (52. c6 Nxc6 53. Bxc6 g5 54. Kc7 g4 55. Bd7 Kg5 56. Kd6 Kh4 57. Ke5 g3 58. Kf4 g2 )g5 53. Kd6 g4 54. c6 {c6 could've drawn twice if played earlier, but now it is too late, white used up too many tempo with his king and now it can't save white.} Nxc6 55. Bxc6 g3 56. Bd7 g2 {This game was insanely complicated, especially for one where I was up a piece for two pawns without compensation at the beginning, Jim definitely handled the complications very well and played a very nice game, the draw just barely slipped through his fingers at the end. He did however manage to beat John Luger and draw Nick Moscatello, so he still had a great day!} 0-1