2015-03-22 - Savory, Richard 0-1 Tavoularis, Nick

[Event "4NCL Daventry 2015"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.22"] [Round "8"] [White "Savory, Richard"] [Black "Tavoularis, Nick"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "2100"] [BlackElo "2136"] [Annotator "Richard Savory"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "2015.03.23"] [SourceDate "2015.03.23"] [WhiteTeam "Downend"] [BlackTeam "North East England"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bc4 a6 6. Nf3 b5 7. Bb3 Bb7 8. O-O e6 9. Be3 Nbd7 10. a4 b4 {We both thought black had gone awry here as he doesn't want to give all the c4 square. I was happy that I was better. However, StockFish64 (SF64) believes that this position is equal!} 11. Nb1 (11. Ne2 $5 Bxf3 12. gxf3 Be7 13. Bf4 Qc6 14. Qd3 Qb7 $5 {This is SF64 - everything else is equal, but apparently this inoccuous move freeing to play c4 gives black a slight edge.} 15. Ng3 c5 16. Ne4 {Here is black's edge?! Personally I like white and feel the edge is this other way around, but then I'm not made of silicon and plastic!}) 11... Be7 12. Nbd2 c5 13. Nc4 Qc7 14. Nfe5 O-O 15. Bf4 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 (16. dxe5 {This maintains equality (SF64). But this still looks better for white to me. For example white has a good outpost for his knight on c4 and also e4 if required; Black's pawns get in the way of his limited black bishop (for a little while anyway) the strong e5 pawn controls d6 and gives white space to limit counterplay; Black also has a nagging hole at b6; Finally a move like a5(W) contricts blacks position further and a5(B) provides a target that will tie black down. So, why is white not better? I thought I was also better after 16.Nxe5 and this line provides more aggressive play.}) 16... Bd6 17. Qe2 $2 {This deserves a question mark because of a problem after the next move with the unusual Ne4! being possible for black} (17. Re1 $1 {This is an improvement, but I overlooked a clever trick on move 20 in the following line which I thought was bad for me.} c4 18. Bxc4 $1 {This looks like it loses a piece!} Bxe5 19. Rxe5 $1 Nd7 (19... Qxc4 $4 20. Rc5 {Wins!}) 20. b3 Nxe5 21. Bxe5 Qd8 22. Qg4 f6 23. Bxe6+ Kh8 24. Bg3 $14 {And white's Bishop pair with 2 pawns for the exchange should provide some winning chances. But for the backward c-pawn this would now be much better for white, but it's not easy to resolve this problem.}) 17... cxd4 18. Rfd1 $2 (18. Rad1 {is another interesting posibility albeit probably inferior to Bg3.} Ne4 $1 19. f3 Nc5 20. Bg3 Nxb3 21. cxb3 Rfc8 22. Nc4 Bxg3 23. hxg3 Rd8 (23... Qxg3 24. Nb6 $13 {/=}) 24. Qf2 Qc5 25. Rfe1 Rd5 26. f4 Rad8 27. g4 $17 { White has drawing chances}) (18. Bg3 $1 Ne4 19. f4 Nxg3 20. hxg3 g6 21. Rad1 Rfd8 22. Kh2 Bxe5 23. fxe5 Rd7 24. Rf4 Rad8 25. Rdf1 a5 26. Bc4 Qc5 27. b3 Bd5 28. Bd3 {Black is better, but white has reasonable play for the pawn and the position is difficult to break down. Black needs to take extreme care to try and create winning chances otherwise It is likely that it will liquidate into a drawish heavy piece ending.}) 18... Nd5 19. Bg3 f5 $2 (19... Ne7 20. Nxf7 Qc6 $1 21. f3 Bxg3 22. Bxe6 Rxf7 23. hxg3 Qc5 24. Bxf7+ Kxf7 25. Rd2 Nf5 26. Re1 Ne3 27. c3 bxc3 28. bxc3 Qxc3 29. Qd3 $15 {/= probably leading to a draw.}) 20. Nc4 Bxg3 21. Qxe6+ $16 Kh8 22. hxg3 f4 23. Rxd4 $2 (23. Qd6 $1 $16 fxg3 24. fxg3 Rad8 25. Qxc7 Nxc7 26. Ne5 {is almost winning (in fact SF64 gives it as winning +- with a 1.57 eval) It is so difficult for black to play because of all the weakness in his position at f7, c6, d4, b4 and a5. This was my intended move until I thought I found an easier way to win, but I overlooked my opponent's 28th move right up until it appeared on the board with a flourish.}) 23... fxg3 24. fxg3 Qxg3 25. Qe1 Qg5 26. Qd2 $4 (26. Qh4 $14 { This still allows white to push a bit against blacks weakness, but black's counter-combination was still oblivious to me.}) 26... Nf4 27. Nd6 Bxg2 28. Rxf4 {This was my intention from move 23, against any other reply I move my king forwards and after RxR play Nf7+! As it happens, I looked too far ahead and other lines can make it slightly difficult defence as well.} ({ My Back up line 28.Nf7 also has a clever flaw in it.} 28. Nf7+ Rxf7 29. Bxf7 Ne2+ $3 {As it happens this line would probably still have won the game as my opponent had not seen Ne2+ and didn't until I showed it to him. It leads either to forced mate or winning the queen.}) { My opponent's response is an instant killer though!} 28... Bd5+ $3 29. Kh2 Rxf4 30. Nf5 Rh4+ {A seriously complicated game in which I forgot I wasn't a computer and spent a lot of time trying to solve all the complications! The result could so easily have been reversed.} 0-1

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