[Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2025.04.09"] [Round "1"] [White "Eric, Dickson"] [Black "Carr, Jay"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A47"] [WhiteElo "1485"] [BlackElo "1843"] [Annotator "Carr, J"] [PlyCount "56"] [SourceVersionDate "2016.11.11"] {[%evp 0,56,15,40,27,27,26,10,41,18,9,15,7,0,-15,-12,-6,-20,-30,-22,-7,-4,-6, -25,1,-52,-13,-48,-42,-62,-48,-73,-58,-119,-136,-136,-136,-127,-116,-130,-126, -132,-117,-117,-116,-111,-68,-142,-96,-101,-28,-59,0,0,0,0,0,-2694,-29984]} { My opponent was a 51-year old Politics professor at NYU. We had a pleasant post mortem and were joined by another American, Bill Putnam, who I had met the prior night and played some warm-up games with prior to the blitz tourney. Anyway, we all hit it off pretty well and when I asked after the post-mortem if they wanted to grab a bit to eat, we adjourned to Bistro 101. We have since kept up with each others progress in the following rounds.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 b6 4. Be2 {My opponent said after the game that he just likes to get out of theory as early as possible. Not very ambitious opening play here, but not losing either.} Bb7 5. O-O Be7 6. a3 $6 {Almost never played here.} ({Relevant: } 6. b3 O-O 7. Bb2 Ne4 8. c4 f5 9. Nc3 d6 10. Nd2 Nxc3 11. Bxc3 Nd7 12. Bf3 d5 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Nc4 Nf6 15. Ne5 Ne4 16. Bb2 Bd6 17. Rc1 c5 18. Nd3 Qe7 19. dxc5 bxc5 20. Ba3 Rf6 21. Nf4 d4 22. Re1 Nc3 23. Rxc3 dxc3 24. Nd5 Qe5 25. Nxf6+ gxf6 26. Bxb7 Qxh2+ 27. Kf1 Rd8 28. Qd5+ Kg7 29. Qxf5 c2 30. Qxc2 Qh1+ 31. Ke2 Qh5+ 32. Bf3 {1-0 (32) Spata,G (2383)-Merino Garcia,R (2407) Chess.com INT 2023}) 6... O-O 7. b4 {[#]} c5 $146 {Kind of "putting the question" to his weird pawn set-up.} 8. c3 Qc7 9. Nbd2 d6 {I wasn't happy with this move, even if it does prepare a potential ...e5 break at some point.} 10. Bb2 Nbd7 11. c4 Rac8 12. b5 Qb8 13. Qb3 {I struggled to decide what to do here. Finally I decided I could just go fo a better pawn structure by the following pawn exchanges, after which I felt fine.} cxd4 14. exd4 d5 15. cxd5 Nxd5 ({I was wishfully thinking about playing} 15... Bxd5 {with the hopes of pinning something on c4, but he can just defend that square too many times for me to take advantage.} 16. Bc4 Rxc4 17. Nxc4) 16. Nc4 Nf4 {Happy to be able to play this, winning the minor exchange} 17. Qe3 Nxe2+ 18. Qxe2 Bxf3 {Which I promptly return in order to leave him with a badly damaged pawn structure.} 19. gxf3 $15 Qf4 20. Ne5 Bd6 (20... f6 21. Nd3) 21. Qe3 (21. Bc1 $2 Rxc1 $1 22. Rfxc1 Nxe5 $19) 21... Bxe5 22. dxe5 Qf5 23. Kh1 Nc5 (23... Rc5 $142 $17) 24. Rg1 Qc2 {We were both pretty short of time at this point - with a lot of moves yet to be played to reach move 40 - and this caused him to spend a lot of time. } 25. Rac1 Qxb2 $2 {This allows a drawing combination of which was oblivious.} ({It's important to keep the queen on the b1-h7 diagonal with} 25... Qd3) 26. Rxg7+ $1 $11 Kh8 $8 (26... Kxg7 $4 27. Qg5+ Kh8 28. Qf6+ Kg8 29. Rg1#) 27. Qh6 Qxc1+ $8 28. Kg2 $4 {I think out time pressure cause a mutual loss of our chess faculties as this finish is a true comedy of errors. I was just lucky he made the last one.} ({White can draw by perpetual after} 28. Qxc1 Kxg7 29. Qg5+ Kh8 30. Qf6+ $11) 28... Qxh6 0-1 [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2025.04.10"] [Round "2"] [White "Carr, Jay"] [Black "Roubert, Emile"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A06"] [WhiteElo "1843"] [BlackElo "2050"] [Annotator "Carr, J"] [PlyCount "52"] [SourceVersionDate "2016.11.11"] {[%evp 0,52,25,21,32,10,10,-18,-2,1,-12,9,3,-11,-4,-28,17,10,49,56,37,48,37,30, 82,113,88,71,95,-37,20,-156,-192,-183,-205,-216,-200,-200,-203,-304,-304,-307, -330,-353,-350,-480,-452,-488,-450,-474,-495,-518,-530,-538,-523]} {My opponent was a Frenchman. A nice guy who analyzed with me a bit after the game. The post-game session left me feeling a little like a beginner as he was clearly stronger at calculation during the game than I was, and he had a good idea of what was going on in the opening we ended up in, even though it's part of my repertoire and should be something I'm on firm ground in. In my defense I followed my repertoire until he varied with 8...Be7, and my repertoire betrayed me (ha!) by not covering that move.} 1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. b3 Bg4 4. h3 ({Relevant:} 4. Bb2 e6 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 Nbd7 7. g3 Bd6 8. Bg2 a5 9. a3 O-O 10. O-O c6 11. Qd1 Qe7 12. d3 Be5 13. c3 Ne8 14. e4 dxe4 15. dxe4 a4 16. b4 Bf6 17. Nd2 Nd6 18. Qc2 b5 19. c4 Bxb2 20. Qxb2 Nxc4 21. Nxc4 bxc4 22. Rfc1 c5 23. Rxc4 Rab8 24. Rb1 h5 25. h4 Rb6 26. Qc3 Rfb8 27. e5 cxb4 28. Rbxb4 Rxb4 29. axb4 Nb6 30. Rc7 Qd8 31. b5 g6 32. Ra7 Nc8 33. Ra6 Nb6 {Nihal,S (2668)-Korobov, A (2660) Vrnjacka Banja 2024 1-0 (85)}) 4... Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e5 {My opponent said he had reviewed this line before the game thinking he could likely see it on the board based on what he found on me in the database.} 6. Bb2 Nbd7 7. g4 c6 8. c4 {[#]} Be7 $146 {My book on the RQID only gives ...Bd6 here, with good play for white. I found it hard to come up with a good plan against his reasonable move, though} ({Predecessor:} 8... e4 9. Qd1 h6 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Bb5 Be7 12. Nc3 a6 13. Bxd7+ Qxd7 14. Ne2 O-O 15. Nd4 Ne8 16. O-O Bf6 17. d3 Nd6 18. dxe4 Nxe4 19. Rc1 Rfe8 20. Qe2 Ng5 21. Kg2 Re4 22. Nf5 Re6 23. Rfd1 Ne4 24. Bxf6 Nxf6 25. Qf3 Rae8 26. Rc2 Rc8 27. Rdc1 Rxc2 28. Rxc2 Ne4 29. Qf4 Rc6 30. Rxc6 bxc6 31. Qe5 f6 32. Qe7 Qxe7 33. Nxe7+ Kf7 34. Nxc6 Nc3 35. a4 Ke6 36. Nb8 a5 37. Nc6 Kd6 38. Nxa5 {Maghsoodloo,P (2676)-Guliyev,N (2538) Europe Echecs INT 2020 1-0 (61)}) 9. Nc3 d4 {Of course I realized this was a possibility, but perhaps I didn't take it that seriously. He did spend a log time deciding on this and said after the game that he overlooked that my queen could also go to f5 in a couple moves.} 10. exd4 exd4 11. Ne2 ({I was originally intending to play} 11. Ne4 $5 {and am not sure now why I eventually decided on Ne2}) 11... Ne5 12. Qf5 ({For a moment, I considered} 12. Qg3 $2 { but that is horrible after} Bd6 13. f4 Ne4 $19) 12... Bd6 13. Nxd4 g6 $1 14. Qc2 $2 (14. Qg5 $142 $1 $16) 14... Bc5 {He spent a long time on this move and I was trying to calculate as well while his clock was ticking. By the time he moved, I had decided a few minutes ago that this was probably his best move and really put the pressure on me to find the correct path. I spent a long time in reply and failed to play the key move - though it was one of my candidate moves.} 15. g5 $4 $19 (15. Nf5 $1 Nf3+ (15... gxf5 16. Bxe5 Qe7 17. f4 $14) 16. Ke2 $11 {I actually had looked at this move in many of lines I was trying to analyze at this point. I remember thinking it looks "so audacious" but it also looks like it might be good!} gxf5 $2 (16... Nd4+ 17. Nxd4 Bxd4 18. Kd1 O-O 19. Bg2 $11) 17. Kxf3 $1 $18) (15. Nxc6) (15. Ne6 Qe7 (15... Nf3+ $1 16. Ke2 fxe6 17. Kxf3 O-O $19) 16. Nxc5 $4 {would be somewhat embarrassing.} ( 16. O-O-O fxe6 17. Bxe5) 16... Nd3+ 17. Kd1 Qe1#) ({In the post-mortem, my opponent suggested} 15. f4 {instead, which is indeed better than g5, but not better than Nf5}) (15. Ne2 Nd3+ 16. Kd1 Nxf2+ $19 (16... Nxb2+ 17. Qxb2 $17) 17. Kc1 Nxh1 18. g5) 15... Bxd4 16. O-O-O {I had high hopes for this move, naively thinking I would be able to regain the piece} Nh5 17. Qe4 Bxb2+ 18. Kxb2 Qxg5 19. d4 O-O-O $1 {I had overlooked this when long castling myself. The undefended rook on d1 is my demise. :-|} 20. h4 {I was calculating so poorly that I thought for a moment that this move saved me as I got to "connect my rooks with check!" with Bh3+, only afterward did I see that he blocks the check by retreating the very knight I was trying to recapture to restore material equality} Qf4 21. Bh3+ Nd7 {I should probably just resign now, but I played on a few more moves out of momentum and making the the 'move count' look a little more respectable. :-)} 22. Qe7 f5 23. Rhe1 Rhe8 24. Qxe8 Rxe8 25. Rxe8+ Kc7 26. Re2 Qxh4 {This game left me pretty discouraged, as I have been trying to focus more on improving my calculating ability than other areas of study, yet here I failed to rise to the occasion. Agreed, this was a truly chaotic position after move 14, but maybe I could have found - and stuck with - my calculation of the Nf5 idea (which I had seen but dismissed). Oh, well. Perhaps this is a position I can turn into an exercise for a future Camp Calculation. I have to hand it to my opponent as well, since he dispatched me pretty efficiently after my g5 error.} 0-1 [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2025.04.10"] [Round "3"] [White "Marinescu, Andra"] [Black "Carr, Jay"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B22"] [BlackElo "1843"] [Annotator "Carr, J"] [PlyCount "45"] [SourceVersionDate "2016.11.11"] {My opponent was from Seattle. I asked about her "Rumanian-sounding" name and she said she was born there but her family moved to the US when she was six. I told her I had recently played Viktors Pupols from "her area" and she knew him and said he 'shows up every week' at whatever club they play at. This was also her first FIDE-rated event, though she is an active player in the US. We had some pleasant convesation in the post-mortem, where we were joined by my new American buddy, Bill Putnam, who won his third round game to get "out of steerage."} 1. e4 c5 2. c3 {No Open Sicilian for you! (of course) I had a disaster in this line in last year's event vs. Denmark's Tim Jaksland} Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nf3 {Many players insert this before playing d4. I'm not sure if it's independently significant. I guess that's something I should know!} e6 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 7. a3 $5 {I couldn't recall at the board how this line went. Looking at the online database, Tiviakov has played in multiple times, while other strong players have ventured it at least once. Harikrishna says "this is an interesting half-waiting move, ridding Black of the ...Bb4+ option in some lines. On the other hand it is quite slow and does not threaten the d5-Knight in any way, therefore we will opt for the familiar ...Bd7-c6 maneuver again"} Be7 {A good thing to remember is black often delays the ...Be7 move so as to not have to move the bishop twice after exd6 by white.} (7... Bd7 $142 8. Bd3 Bc6 9. O-O Nd7 {Harikrisha calls the ...Bd7...Bc6 set up "rock solid" but adds that the only danger is the Bishop getting trapped after} 10. b4 {so black meets this with} (10. Re1 Rc8) 10... a6 $1 11. Nbd2 dxe5 12. dxe5 Be7 $11 { is a main line as given by Harikrishna.}) 8. Bd3 b6 {8...0-0 is setting a new trend.} ({Relevant:} 8... O-O 9. O-O b6 10. Qc2 g6 11. Bh6 Re8 12. Nbd2 Ba6 13. Bxa6 Nxa6 14. Ne4 dxe5 15. Nxe5 Rc8 16. Qd3 Nb8 17. Qf3 f5 18. Rac1 Nd7 19. Nc6 Rxc6 20. Rxc6 fxe4 21. Qxe4 Bf8 22. Rxe6 N7f6 23. Rxe8 Qxe8 24. Qxe8 Nxe8 25. Bxf8 Kxf8 26. Re1 Kf7 27. g3 a5 28. Kg2 Nd6 29. Rc1 Ke7 30. Kf3 a4 31. Ke2 b5 32. Kd3 Nc4 33. Rxc4 bxc4+ 34. Kxc4 Nf6 35. f3 g5 36. Kb5 Nd5 37. Kxa4 Ne3 38. Kb5 {Wang,H (2709)-Harikrishna,P (2744) Huaian 2017 1-0}) 9. O-O Nd7 10. Qe2 { White often goes for the Bd3-Qe4 battery to menace black's kingside. At least I haven't castgled there yet} Bb7 11. Nc3 $6 {I felt this was inaccurate - indeed it has barely been played, with most players choosing Bd2 instead. Why "compromise" the pawn structure like that?} Nxc3 12. bxc3 dxe5 13. Nxe5 (13. dxe5 {leaves black a nice outpost on c5 to use at some point}) 13... Nxe5 14. Qxe5 {With both sets of knights traded off, I felt there was less chance of me getting checkmated, but it still felt like there was menace in the air if one is careless.} (14. dxe5 Qd5 {might be an attempt to win a pawn, but white will surely get compensation with Bb5+ the moment he gets the chance.} 15. f3 Qc5+) 14... O-O 15. Re1 {[#]} Bf6 $146 16. Qh5 g6 17. Qg4 Rc8 18. Bd2 (18. Bh6 Bg7 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. h4 $2 Rxc3 $19) 18... Rc7 {I felt this was a multi-purpose waiting move. The rook might prove useful defending on the 7th rank if there are eventual exchanges or sacrifices on g6. Also the rook clears c8 for the bishop, where it could discourage f5 as well.} ({I really wanted to play} 18... e5 {here and spent 12 minutes before finally eschewing it and playing ...Rc7} 19. dxe5 (19. Bh6 {This is the idea that scared me off of ...e5. White is able to get BOTH vulnerable bishops off the d-file with tempo by hitting my rooks.} Re8 20. Bb5 Bc6 $15) 19... Qxd3 20. exf6 $2 Qxd2 $19) 19. f4 {No ...e5 for black now} Bc8 (19... Bg7 {also stops the f5 advance, but I felt ...Bc8 was more active as it prepares a discovered attack on the queen.}) 20. Qf3 Bb7 21. Qg4 Bc8 {I thought, "sure, I'll repeat twice" since I was going to be in time pressure before we hit move 40, but I didn't think I would have to come up with a different move. I thought she still had ambitions to win, maybe by pushing g4 and attempting a pawn storm and didn't really expect her to repeat. She said after the game that she has a phobia about "not taking a draw when she has one" as she felt she always later lost when she did that. Anyway, I wasn't too unhappy with a draw as this was a two-round day ands I was pretty tired by this point.} 22. Qf3 Bb7 (22... Bg7 {is possible I guess and if white plays} 23. g4 {there is at least the idea of the crazy} f5 24. gxf5 exf5 { Where black may have some realistic chances of taking advantage of the long diagon since white can no longer stick his bishop on e4 to block it.}) 23. Qg4 1/2-1/2 [Event "Reykjavik Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2025.04.11"] [Round "4"] [White "Carr, Jay"] [Black "Schwarz, David"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "1843"] [BlackElo "2028"] [Annotator "Carr, J"] [PlyCount "70"] [SourceVersionDate "2016.11.11"] {[%evp 0,70,16,15,17,20,23,30,13,18,43,41,46,58,58,58,58,58,80,87,94,73,179, 179,157,32,32,32,32,32,32,38,58,55,57,-1,0,-21,-21,-45,12,-23,-23,-36,-36,-66, -83,-74,-33,-71,-64,-69,-61,-176,-186,-237,-123,-194,-194,-180,-180,-200,-121, -212,-189,-233,-231,-1452,-1432,-1441,-1663,-29995,-29996]} {My opponent was a young German player, born in 2007, so either 17 or 18 years old. He had 1 point thus far, but his losses were to 2200+ players, one of them being IM Malcolm Pein, who he'd played in the 3rd round. From the prep/research I did, he appeared to be a QGD or Tarrasch players against d4/c4/Nf3 openings, so his first move was a surprise. He was friendly enough, but pretty taciturn (maybe he didn't speak any -or little - English, and started making his moves "with a flourish" when he was clearly winning, which I found annoying.} 1. Nf3 Nc6 { Though I've seen this in blitz online, this is the first time I've faced this response to Nf3 over the board. If Glenn Snow were still alive we would be joking about his predilection for blocking his c-pawn} 2. e3 {Already, I make a poor decision, repertoire-wise. I know the standard response is 2. d4, and I know some stuff if the game continues with 2... d5 3 e6 Bg4 4. Bb5, etc., which I've had some nice wins in (only in blitz, though). However, suddenly at the board, I had this 'fear' that he must be a Tchigorin Defense (to the QG) player and didn't want to commit myself to d4 too soon. Who cares, though? Maybe I wouldn't want to commit to c4 too soon, but that is not my repertoire. So, I outsmart myself again.} e5 {As soon as he played this move I realized my response to his weird first move was not very precise, repertoire-wise.} 3. d4 {So I decide to play a kind of Reversed French Defense, but I haven't played the French as Black since the '80s and am not too sharp on those grounds these days.} (3. d3 {is playable, of course, and might lead to a type of opening I'm more familiar with, but I felt that would be a concession and similar to white 'choosing to play black.'}) 3... e4 ({Relevant:} 3... exd4 4. exd4 d5 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Bc4 Be6 9. Bb5 O-O 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. Ne5 Nxc3 12. bxc3 c5 13. Nc6 Qd7 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. O-O cxd4 16. cxd4 Bd5 17. Re1 Qd7 18. Bf4 c6 19. Qd2 f6 20. Bg3 h5 21. h4 Qf5 22. Qf4 Qg6 23. a3 Rae8 24. Kh2 a6 25. Qd2 Qg4 26. Qf4 Qg6 27. Qd2 Re4 28. Rxe4 Bxe4 29. f3 Bd5 30. Re1 Re8 31. Rxe8+ Qxe8 32. Bf4 Qe7 33. Qe3 {Parligras,M (2591)-Vokhidov,S (2512) Chess.com INT 2020 1/2-1/2 (69)}) 4. Nfd2 d5 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Be6 7. cxd5 ({I looked at} 7. Qb3 {but didn't think it was very good after} dxc4 8. Qxb7 Nb4 {though} 9. Ndxe4 Nc2+ 10. Kd1 Nxa1 11. Nxf6+ gxf6 12. Qc6+ Bd7 13. Qxc4 {might be interesting, it is bad for white.}) 7... Bxd5 (7... Nxd5 $2 8. Ndxe4 $14) 8. a3 $6 {[#] I spend a tempo on removing the possibility of ...Nb4 ideas by him; I should probably focus instead on development, but what shoiuld I play here.} ({ Maybe} 8. g3 $5) 8... Qe7 $146 {I suspect now that my opponent has maybe seen the sacrificial idea on ...Nxd4 already (as it seems odd for him to block the dark squared bishop) but it also adds a defender to e5, which likely will be necessary as it was my plan to try to win his overextended pawn.} 9. Qc2 O-O-O 10. g3 $6 {I spent nine minutes on this move (I was also considering the audacious 10. g4!?) but finally decided to 'be safe' as I was completely oblivious to his sacrificial idea, which really shocked and discombobulated me. } Nxd4 $5 {This was an unpleasant surprise. I tried to remain calm and maintain a poker face, but did go into a deep think, trying to find the best way forward,} 11. exd4 (11. Bh3+ Kb8) ({I thought that} 11. Qa4 Bc6 {achieved nothing but it seems far better than the game} (11... Nc6 $142 12. Bg2 $11) 12. Qxa7 Nc2+ $2 (12... Ne6 $16) 13. Kd1 Nxa1 14. Bh3+ $18) 11... e3 12. Bh3+ Kb8 13. O-O exd2 14. Bxd2 $11 Be6 15. Bg2 h5 ({I was willing to allow} 15... Rxd4 { as I felt I would have a good initiative attack his queenside if he took the pawn} 16. Be3 Rc4 (16... Rd8 $14) 17. b3 $16) 16. Bg5 Qd7 17. Bxf6 (17. Ne4 $14 ) 17... gxf6 18. Qe4 c6 $15 19. Rfd1 Bf5 20. Qh4 Bg4 $1 {After he played this move, I began to fully appreciate that he was not only trying to encircle/ harrass my rook with bishop moves, but that the possibility of trapping my queen is very real.} 21. Qxf6 $2 {I wrongly decided to sacrifice the exchange.} ({I thought my queen was getting trapped after} 21. Rd2 Bh6 22. f4 Rhg8 { but it appears} 23. Ne4 {saves me}) (21. Rd3 {is also possible}) 21... Be7 22. Qf4+ Bd6 23. Qe3 Rde8 24. Qd2 Bxd1 $17 25. Rxd1 f5 26. f4 $19 {Though it felt like suicide to open the g1-a7 diagonal, allowing ...f4 felt suicidal too.} ( 26. b4 {is the engine recommendation, not so much to 'attack' with b5, but to prevent black's ...c5. Seems hopeless though.}) 26... h4 27. Ne2 c5 {I knew this was coming. Oddly, my opponent, who had played very quickly the entire game, suddenly spent 25 minutes over his next few moves here. I wondered if he was just enjoying in being in a powerful position, or if he was "practicing his calculation" or if he was just being extra careful not to screw up a huge advantage. It felt to me like the game kinda played itself for black here though.} 28. d5 Qe7 29. Kf2 hxg3+ 30. hxg3 Rh2 31. Nc3 c4 {freeing up the diagonal is the final nail in the coffin} 32. Kg1 Rh6 33. Kf2 Bc5+ 34. Kf1 (34. Kf3 Qe3+ 35. Qxe3 Rxe3+) 34... Qh7 35. Ne2 Rh1+ {What a disappointment analyzing this game was. I had much better opportunities than I thought after his shocking ...Nxd4 'sacrifice' It seems a lot of my defensive tries were ruled out by me too quickly, without sufficient analysis, which is something to definitely work on, although I did spend a lot of time doing the calculating that I did, so that means I need to work on both the speed and the completeness of my calculation. A tall order to improve both but otherwise I will remain a patzer.} 0-1