Two games

RMD - ALD, 12/30/2004 [B20]

1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 e6 3. Nf3 Be7 4. e5 [An odd move. Valentin-Murara, 2004, went 3. ... d6 4. e5, and the ancient game Cochrane-Staunton, 1842, went 3. ... Nc6 4. e5. I don't think this move can be considered good. The natural 4. Nc3 is much better.] Nc6 5. Nc3 d6 6. d4?! [6. exd6 Qxd6 7. O-O Nf6 =] cxd4 7. Nxd4 [This loses a pawn with insufficient compensation. The ultra-complicated line 7. exd6 dxc3 8. dxe7 Qxd1+ 9. Kxd1 Ngxe7 10. Re1 cxb2 11. Bxb2 O-O was best, but in any event the advantage has switched to Black.] Nxe5 8. Bb5+ [8. Be2] Bd7 9. Bf4 [9. O-O] Ng3 10. Bg3 [10. Be3] Nf6 11. Qd3 a6 12. Ba4 [12. Bxd7+] b5 13. Bb3 Rc8 14. Nde2 Bc6 [14. ... Qb6] 15. O-O [Finally!] O-O [15. ... b4!] 16. Rad1 [16. Nd4] d5 17. Qd4 [17. Nf4] b4 18. Na4 [The unfortunate 18. Nb1 was best, although I can see why my wife didn't want to play that.] Bxa4 [Prematurely releasing the pressure. Correct was 18. ... Ne4!] 19. Bxa4 a5 20. c3 Rc4 [20. ... Ne4 was still indicated. This move allows White to play 21. Qxc4! dxc4 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Bb5! with a nearly even position.] 21. Qa7 Bc5 22. Qb7 [22. Qa6] bxc3 23. Nxc3 [23. Bb5!?] Rb4 [This move is OK, even if 23. ... Nh5 is a little better. However, I played it too fast and did not properly consider White's reply 24. Qc6.] 24. Qc6 Rc4 25. Qb5 Qb6 [Elapsed times at this point were White 0:14 Black 0:16. I was concerned that we might be playing a bit too fast, but we now got bogged down in complicated positions and ended up needing all the time on our clocks.] 26. Rc1 Qxb5 27. Bxb5 Rb4 28. Nxd5 Rxb5 [Better is 28. ... Nxd5 29. Rxc5 Rxb2.] 29. Nc7 [White is too anxious to recover the piece. Much stronger was 29. Nxf6+ gxf6 30. a4 Rxb2 31. Rxc5.] Bxf2+ [Missing the chance for an extra pawn with 29. ... Rxb2 30. Rxc5 Rxa2.] 30. Rxf2 Rb6 [Too timid; 30. ... Rg5.] 31. Rfc2 Rc8 [31. ... a4] 32. b3 h6 [Despite Black's extra pawn, this position is drawish now.] 33. Rc5 Ne4 34. Rxa5 Nxg3 [34. ... Rb7] 35. hxg3 Rb7 [35. ... Ne7] 36. Rac5 Rd8 37. R1c3 [37. Nb5] Rd2 [37. ... Rd1+, which I considered and discarded, is a little better. 37. ... Rd7, which I also considered, is cleary inferior.] 38. a4 Ne7 [38. ... Rb2] 39. Ne8 [The point of the maneuver on this move and the next is just too obvious to work. Better to go with the straightforward 39. a5.] Nd5 40. Rc8 Kh7 41. Rf3 Rb2 42. Rc4 [42. Nd6] R2xb3 43. Nd6 Rxf3 [White's desire to simplify is understandable, but now White's pawns are no longer doubled and more importantly Black's e pawn is no longer passed; 43. ... Rb1+. - RMD] 44. gxf3 Rb1+ 45. Kh2 [45. Kf2] f6 46. a5 Ra1 47. Nb7 [47. Rc5] Ne3 [Elapsed times at this point were White 0:29 Black 0:35.] 48. Rc6 [48. Re4 doesn't actually win a pawn after 48. ... Ra2+ 49. Kg1 Nf5 50. g4 Nh4, but it was worth considering as well as the move in the game.] Ra2+ 49. Kh3?? [Correct is 49. Kg1. As soon as I saw this, just looking at the White King trapped like a rat on the side of the board, I absolutely knew that my wife had made a terrible move. However, I looked and I looked, and I couldn't find a forced win anywhere. I explored 49. ... Ra1 threatening 50. ... Rh1#, but after 50. g4 there's no forcing continuation. In the post mortem, I found the mating move 49. ... Nf1!! threatening 50. ... Rf2#. 50. g4 no longer works, and 50. Kg4 runs into 50. ... f4+ and 51. ... g4#. Ah, well...] e5? 50. a6? Nc2? [50. ... Nf1! is still there when White's only salvation lies in giving up the rook with 51. Kg4 g6 52. Rc7+ Kg8 53. Rc8+ Kf7 54. Nd6+ Ke7 55. f4 Kxd6.] 51. Nc5 [51. Rb6] Nb4 [51. ... Nd4!] 52. Rb6 Nxa6?! [I'm always a bit too anxious to throw away pieces for passed pawns. I have got to learn to put up a more stubborn defense.] 53. Rxa6 Rxa6 54. Nxa6 Kg6 [54. ... g5] 55. Kg4 [55. Nc5] f5+ 56. Kh4 h5 [I did not have enough time to calculate accurately, so I had to take a guess. It turns out that 56. ... e4 is better, although it probably doesn't make any practical difference.] 57. Nc5 Kh6 58. Nd7 [58. Ne6 was probably the last chance to try for a win.] g5+ 59. Kh3 g4+ 60. Kg2 e4 [60. ... f4] 61. fxe4 [61. f4] fxe4 [Now the position is 100% drawn.] 62. Ne5 [Over the board I thought 62. Nc5 was stronger, but post mortem analysis shows this is not the case.] Kg5 63. Nc4 Kf5 64. Kf2 [Still trying to win, but the position simply won't allow that.] Kg5 65. Nd2 e3+? [Duh! I didn't like 65. ... h4 66. Ne4+, but this move doesn't actually prevent that; it just gives the pawn away for nothing. However, even this blunder can not alter the result.] 66. Kxe3 h4 67. Ne4+ Kh5 68. Nf6+ Kg5 69. Ne4+ Kh5 70. Nf6+ Kg5 71. gxh4+ [Finally acceding to the draw.] Kxh4 72. Nxg4 Kxg4 Draw [Elapsed times were White 0:41 Black 0:42.]

ALD - RMD, 1/2/2005 [D06]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Ne4 [WTH?] 4. cxd5 Qxd5 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Nc6 [6. ... Bf5] 7. Bf4 Qd7 8. e4 e6 9. Bb5 Bd6 10. Bxd6 [10. Ne5] cxd6? [Loses a piece.] 11. d5! exd5 12. exd5 Qe7+ 13. Kf1 a6 14. a6 [This does not save the piece. I still had 14. Qa4! But alas...] 14. Bxc6+? bxc6 15. dxc6 O-O 16. Nd4 [16. Qd3] Qe5 17. Qd2 Rb8 18. Re1 Qc5 19. Re7 [Overly ambitious. Better to work on "artificial castling" with 19. Kg1.] Qb6 [Missing the much stronger 19. ... Rb1+ 20. Re1 Qc4+ 21. Kg1 Qxa2!!] 20. Qc2 Qb1+ 21. Qxb1 Rxb1+ 22. Re1 Rb2 23. Re2 [23. a4] Rb6 24. f3 Be6 25. Kf2 [I also considered 25. Nxe6, but (correctly) concluded that this was stronger.] Bd5 26. c7 g6 27. Rhe1 Bb7 [27. ... Rc8?? loses to 28. Re8+.] 28. Re8 [Over the last several moves, White has made very strong moves and built up an incredible amount of pressure.] Bc8? [Relatively best was 28. ... Rb2+. This allows White a winning maneuver.] 29. Nb3? [Which I missed. Instantly winning was 29. Rd8! Kg7 30. Ree8.] d5? [Failing to take advantage of the escape opportunity.] 30. R1e7? [Failing to land the winning blow a second time.] Re6 [30. ... Rc6!] 31. Rxf8+ [31. Rxe6 fxe6 32. Rd8!] Kxf8 32. Rxe6 fxe6 33. Ke3 Ke7 34. Nc5 [34. Kf4 Kd6 35. Kg5 was the last chance to play for a win.] Kd6 35. Nd3 Kxc7 36. Kd4 Kc6 37. Ne5+ [37. Ke5] Kb5 38. c4+ dxc4 39. Nxc4 Kb4 40. Nb6 Bb7 41. Ke5 Kc5 [41. ... a5 42. Kxe6 Ka3 is good enough for the draw.] 42. Na4+ [42. Nd7+] Kb4 43. Nb6 Kc5 44. Na4+ Kb4 45. Nb6 Draw by repetition [Elapsed times were White 0:27 Black 0:23.]

My heart simply wasn't in this game. I played too fast, and I didn't really concentrate hard enough to find strong moves in superior positions. It's a good thing this wasn't a tournament game. I need to play much better if I hope to do well on Saturday.