[Event "St. Louis Class Ch"] [Site "?"] [Date "2024.08.25"] [Round "5"] [White "Eckert, Doug"] [Black "He, Alvin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E60"] [WhiteElo "2274"] [BlackElo "1950"] [Annotator "Komodo 10 64-bit (35s)"] [PlyCount "121"] [GameId "2082724051568220"] [SourceVersionDate "2020.01.07"] {[%mdl 8192][%evp 0,121,19,-12,-9,-51,7,5,14,23,16,-12,0,2,15,17,41,20,50,24,60,54,35,34,37,39,41,33,46,63,58,50,44,27,31,49,35,39,54,37,54,54,59,66,76,67,76,71,98,62,79,87,73,78,76,40,114,47,47,60,36,24,83,86,91,88,135,118,187,183,184,187,191,186,186,176,191,196,205,195,207,199,215,215,219,202,203,187,183,207,259,243,269,269,273,269,273,273,273,273,263,263,263,223,301,321,301,286,301,301,496,349,321,353,426,353,353,353,353,459,424,479,670,629] This past weekend, August 23-25, I played in the St. Louis Class Championship. I tied for first with 4 wins, 0 losses and 1 draw. The St. Louis Chess Club is having a monthly FIDE rated open event with decent prize money. This is an opportunity for the growing group of talented youngsters in St. Louis to get both a FIDE rating and an opportunity to play strong players. I also tied for first in the May event and did not play in either the June or the July tournaments. In this tournament, promising young St. Louis master, Alex Zhang, tied for first with me having a first round 1/2 point bye and winning his last 4 games including beating new SLU GM Nikolozi Kacharava. This is my last round win over another promising St. Louis player, Alvin He.} 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 c6 3. Nf3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. b3 O-O 6. Bb2 d6 7. d4 Nbd7 8. O-O d5 9. Nc3 e6 10. e3 b6 11. Qe2 (11. Ne5 $1 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Nd7 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. f4 $14 {[In his excellent book, Playing the English, Ntirlis recommended this set-up as the precise set-up for White. White can play Rf2-c2, Rc1 and can invade on the queenside while Black remains passive. The computer is indifferent between my move and 11 Ne5 stating White is slightly better in either case.}) 11... Bb7 12. Rfd1 Qc7 13. Rac1 Qd6 14. Ne5 $1 {[Black has chosen a solid but passive set-up. White is better, but it takes much patience to break the Black set-up down. The main problem for Black is the Bishop on b7. White needs to keep that piece passive while trying to find lines into the Black position.]} Rfd8 (14... Nxe5 $2 15. dxe5 Qxe5 16. Nxd5 Qg5 17. h4 $18) 15. a3 Qe7 16. Nd3 Rac8 17. e4 dxe4 18. Nxe4 Nxe4 19. Qxe4 Re8 20. Qe2 Rcd8 21. Re1 Bf6 22. Rcd1 a5 23. b4 Ba6 24. Qc2 $16 {[%CAl Yc4c5]} Rc8 25. Qb3 (25. bxa5 bxa5 26. Ne5 Nxe5 27. dxe5 Bg7 28. Rd6 $18 {[During the game, I considered this. Stockfish16 states White is winning. I was a bit concerned that I had given Black's pieces scope and sufficient counterplay.}) 25... a4 $6 {[This creates a weakness and puts a pawn on a light square. It does set a trap.]} 26. Qc2 (26. Qxa4 $5 Bxc4 27. Bxc6 b5 28. Bxb5 Ra8 29. Qxa8 Rxa8 30. Bxc4 $14 {[Stockfish16 states White is still better. But, why give Black chances?}) 26... b5 $2 {[Now the bishop is permanently trapped. The lines are still closed, so White has much work to do.]} 27. c5 Red8 $2 (27... Bb7 $18) 28. Ne5 $2 (28. d5 $142 $5 cxd5 29. Bxd5 Bxb2 30. Qxb2 $18 {[This was a much simpler way to win the game that I missed. White has opened lines, has a passed c-pawn and the Black pawn weaknesses on the queenside remain. Strategically, this is an easy win.}) 28... Bb7 $16 29. Qe2 Bg7 30. Bc1 Nxe5 $2 (30... Nf6 $142 $14 {[Continues to put up more resistance. Stockfish16 confidently states +2 which is winning for White. But, there is much work to do.}) 31. dxe5 $18 Rxd1 32. Rxd1 Rd8 33. Rd6 Rxd6 34. cxd6 Qd7 35. Qe3 Kf8 36. f4 Ke8 37. Qa7 Qc8 38. Be3 Kd7 39. Qc5 Qa8 40. g4 f5 41. gxf5 {[During the game, I saw this as winning strategically, but there is a faster win.]} (41. exf6 $142 Bxf6 42. f5 gxf5 43. gxf5 e5 {[This is the way I wanted to play during the game. But, I did not see an answer to Black playing Qf8 and then Qxd6 when all of a sudden Black is winning. But, White can win here with Bd5, albeit, it takes several moves to work this out. My way was safer.]} 44. Bd5 cxd5 45. Qc7+ Ke8 46. d7+ Kf8 47. Bh6+ Kg8 48. Qd6 Qd8 49. Qe6+ Kh8 50. Qe8+) 41... gxf5 42. Bf2 Bh6 43. Bg3 Qc8 44. Bf3 Qa8 45. Kf2 Qc8 46. Bh5 {[In strategic positions like this, it is important to think schematically. White wants to put the King on c5, but cannot allow Black to play c5+ when the king reaches d4 and then take the White bishop on the diagonal. So, White moves his bishops into the Black camp where they are out of harms way while White moves his king in. Then, the Bishops are brought back to make the decisive invasion.]} Qa8 47. Bf7 Qd8 48. Ke3 Qf8 49. Qb6 Qc8 50. Kd4 (50. Bg8 {[Wins the h7 pawn, but opens a line that White may not want open.}) 50... Bf8 51. Bg8 {[Now I want Black to put the pawn on h6 as it reduces the scope of the Black bishop. Black should actually play c5+ here and then put his bisop on c6. Black is still losing, but it is the best chance.]} h6 52. Bf7 Qb8 53. Qc5 Qa8 54. Bh4 Bg7 55. Be7 Qc8 $18 {[%CAl Rd4d3]} 56. Qb6 {[If the White Bishop was on f3, White would now lose to c5+. The White Bishops perfectly keep all of the Black pieces out of the game.]} Qb8 57. Kc5 Qc8 58. Qa7 Qa8 59. Qxa8 Bxa8 60. Bh5 Bb7 61. Bf3 {[White is going to play, Bh4, Bf2, Be3, Kb6 and either Black will lose the Bishop on b7 or the pawn on c6, after which White will win all the queenside pawns. At the same time, the Black Bishop on g7 literally has no moves. Black resigned. Strategically the game was easy for White. While the computer quibbles with some of my moves, I was happy with my plan and how I won the game.]} 1-0