[Event "Holiday Invitational 2020"] [Site "?"] [Date "2021.01.12"] [Round "3"] [White "Paul H."] [Black "Chessmaster XI (Turk)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B00"] [PlyCount "135"] [EventDate "2020.??.??"] [EventRounds "1"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2013.12.29"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,135,33,13,35,-17,-4,-31,30,-17,22,-21,-11,-34,-24,-20,-2,-9,23,20,34, 18,30,34,56,56,69,41,92,67,95,85,146,130,127,94,206,207,218,142,168,151,164, 176,173,157,157,156,158,130,136,147,198,283,335,388,456,469,475,475,488,403, 414,261,260,281,283,302,372,385,406,423,434,399,386,337,337,362,367,246,324, 398,408,423,463,483,543,543,579,586,603,609,706,708,717,772,792,919,1043,717, 1043,1171,1570,1590,1696,1794,1985,1517,1557,1619,2647,2741,2647,2215,2665, 29536,2655,29969,29983,29984,29985,29986,29987,29986,29987,29988,29989,29990, 29991,29992,29995,29996,29997,29998,29999,29998,29999,-30000] After a silly loss in game 2, I vowed to focus my efforts on applying positional concepts to outplay and beat CM.} 1. e4 Nc6 2. d3 Nf6 3. Nf3 e6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 { Unlike last game, CM is playing fairly well. All of its moves have been reasonable thus far.} 6. Nbd2 (6. e5 {A good move to cramp Black's position but I wanted to continue development.} Nd7 7. d4 $11) 6... dxe4 7. dxe4 e5 8. O-O Bc5 {An awkward but good move to improve the bishop's diagonal.} 9. c3 { [%csl Yb4,Yd4] Keeping the knight out of d4 and preparing b2-b4.} Bg4 $146 10. Qc2 {Preventing Qd3 while keeping an eye on e4.} ({I could have played} 10. b4 {first.} Bd6 (10... Bb6 11. a4 a6 12. Qc2 $14) 11. Nc4 Be6 12. Qe2 O-O 13. Nh4 $14) 10... a5 {Stopping my b4 idea.} 11. Nc4 {[%csl Re5][%CAl Rc4e5,Rf3e5] threatening to take the e5 pawn.} Bxf3 $6 {Qe7 was better as it keeps the bishop pair. Now I will have nice control of the light squares which will prove to be decisive later on.} 12. Bxf3 b5 13. Be3 $6 {Offering to trade bishops but this is not needed. Like I said in my last game, trading pieces helps the side that has less development.} (13. Ne3 O-O 14. Rd1 Qb8 15. a4 $1 { Breaking up the pawns for more light-square control.} bxa4 16. Qxa4 Qb7 $16) 13... Bxe3 (13... Qe7 {Forcing the trade now.} 14. Bxc5 Qxc5 15. Ne3 O-O $14 { and while White is a little better, the opening advantage has slipped away.}) 14. Nxe3 Qb8 $2 {CM was due for one of it's inexplicable moves and here it is.} 15. Rfd1 (15. Nd5 Ne7 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. Rfd1 Nc8 18. Qd2 Nd6 19. Qh6 $18) 15... Qa7 16. Be2 {[%csl Rb5][%CAl Ge2b5] Attacking the b5 pawn.} Qc5 {Black's third queen move. White already has a winning position.} 17. Nd5 (17. a4 { is still a thematic move as it attacks the light-squared weakenesses and solidifies a winning advantage for White.} b4 18. cxb4 Qxc2 19. Nxc2 Nxb4 20. Nxb4 axb4 21. Bb5+ $18) 17... O-O {[%csl Gf3,Gf5,Gg4,Gh3,Gh5][%CAl Ge2h5] The absence of Black's light-squared bishop is proving to be a problem. White will dominate the kingside.} (17... Nd4 {An idea to remove the light-squared bishop. This is fine but it doesn't yield very much.} 18. Qd3 Nxe2+ 19. Qxe2 O-O 20. Nxf6+ gxf6 21. Rd5 Qc4 22. Qg4+ Kh8 23. Qf3 Kg7 24. Qg4+ Kh8 25. Qf3 Kg7 26. b3 Qc6 27. Rad1 $18) 18. Nxf6+ gxf6 {[%csl Yf3] [#]} 19. Qd2 (19. Rd5 {I wanted to play this but was worried about Nd4.} Nd4 20. Rxc5 $1 Nxc2 21. Rc1 $18 { The knight is trapped.}) 19... Qb6 $2 (19... Ne7 20. Qd7 Rad8 21. Qxb5 Qxb5 22. Bxb5 Rb8 23. a4 c6 24. Bc4 Rxb2 25. Rab1 Rxb1 26. Rxb1 Nc8 27. f3 $18 {[%csl Ra5,Rc6] Black has too many weaknesses to manage.}) 20. Qh6 Ne7 {Coming to g6 to protect the king.} 21. Rd7 Ng6 22. Rad1 {White has full control of the d-file. He is ready to invade the light-squares on the kingside.} Qc6 23. R1d5 {[%csl Rb5][%CAl Gd5b5,Ge2b5] Blocking the queen from taking on e4 while threatening the b5 pawn.} b4 24. c4 ({I can ignore this and play} 24. h4 { immediately.} bxc3 25. bxc3 Qxc3 26. Kg2 Qb4 27. Bd3 c6 28. R5d6 Ra7 29. h5 $1 $18) 24... a4 {Black is lost but the game isn't over. This is a last ditch effort to create some counterplay. I just have to keep my cool and continue with my plan: invade the kingside with Bg4-f5 and dislodge the knight with h4-h5.} 25. h4 a3 26. b3 {This locks down the queenside and any counterplay Black was counting on.} Ra5 27. h5 (27. Bg4 $5 Rxd5 28. exd5 Qa6 29. Be6 $1 e4 30. Bxf7+ Rxf7 31. Rxf7 Kxf7 32. Qxh7+ Kf8 33. Qxg6 e3 34. Qh6+ Kf7 35. Qxe3 $18) 27... Rxd5 28. hxg6 $1 {Black must lose a piece or get mated.} hxg6 29. Rxd5 Re8 {Now a full piece up, I have to consolidate my pieces, trade where possible and queen my extra pawns.} 30. Qd2 (30. c5 {[%csl Gc4][%CAl Ge2c4, Rc4g8]}) 30... Qb7 31. Rd8 Rxd8 32. Qxd8+ Kg7 33. Qd5 Qc8 34. c5 {Making room for the bishop to move to c4.} c6 35. Qd6 Qe8 36. Bc4 f5 37. Bd3 Qe6 38. exf5 gxf5 39. Bc4 Qf6 40. Qxf6+ {There is no need for perfection here. I have an extra piece. I just need to activate my king, bring it to the center and capture his remaining pawns.} Kxf6 41. Kf1 (41. f4 {At first this might look scary, giving Black a passed pawn, but there is nothing he can do with it. The c4 bishop covers all the squares. In fact, any idea of Kg6-h5 can be thwarted with the simple Be2.} e4 42. Kf2 Kg6 43. Bb5 $1 {#16}) 41... Ke7 42. Ke2 Ke8 43. Kd3 Kf8 44. Ba6 Ke7 45. Kc4 e4 46. Kxb4 Kd7 47. Kxa3 Ke6 48. Bc4+ Kf6 49. Kb2 Ke5 50. Kc3 f4 51. a4 Kf5 52. a5 e3 53. fxe3 fxg3 54. Bf1 {Guarding against g2, the last trap in the position.} Ke4 55. Bg2+ Kxe3 56. Bxc6 Kf4 57. a6 g2 58. Bxg2 Ke5 59. a7 Kf6 60. a8=Q Kf5 61. Qe4+ Kg5 62. Bh3 Kf6 63. c6 Kg7 64. c7 f5 65. Qxf5 Kh6 {Calculating carefully to avoid a stalemate.} 66. c8=Q Kg7 67. Qcd7+ Kh8 68. Qf8# {A nice game where I had control from start to finish. The match is even. On to game four!} 1-0