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ANNOTATED GAME
Dana vs Freddy - Demolition Derby Attack
oddodddodo (1200) vs. easy19 (2269)
Annotated by: oddodddodo (1200)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B21), Grand Prix attack
oddodddodo (1200) vs. easy19 (2269)
Annotated by: oddodddodo (1200)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B21), Grand Prix attack
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27... Rhd8+ |
This move surprised me a bit. I thought that Black's best try was 27. ... Rad8+ 28. Ke4 Rhf8, when all of a sudden White's king is very uncomfortable! My intention was to continue Bd1+, Be2+, and Rf1. Black has, of course, many opportunities to go wrong. My favorite mistaken variation was 27. ... Rad8+ 28. Ke4 Nb4? 29. Bd1+ Kc4 30. Ra3 (threatening Bb3 mate) Rxd1 31. Rxd1 Nc2 (it looks as if White has overlooked this shot, winning back the exchange) 32. Rd3!! (but no! White sacs a whole rook instead) 32. ... Nxa3 33. Be1!! and there is no defense to b3 mate. This is the way I was hoping the game would end. | ||||
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28. Ke4 Rd4+ 29. Bxd4 |
A big decision. Freddy thought 29. Kf5 was more principled (according to my ChessLecture on this variation, where I admonish White "Don't cash in too early"). However, I thought that after 29. Kf5 Be3 Black's rooks would start getting really dangerous, and I would probably have to accept the exchange sacrifice anyway. The other reason I took immediately was that I was able to work out a long tactical variation that led to a better endgame. | ||||
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29... cxd4 30. Kxd4 Rd8+ 31. Bd5+ Kc2 |
Notice that 31. ... Kxb2?? would lead to instant checkmate with 32. Ra2+! The mating threats never seem to stop in this game. The b-pawn seems to have a charmed life, and White immediately takes advantage of it with his next move. | ||||
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32. Ra3 |
(!) The key move. White seems to ignore the threats of ... Nc7 or ... Nb4. | ||||
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32... Bd2 |
If 32. ... Nb4 33. Rc3+! Kd3 34. Kc4. Now if 34. ... Nxd5 35. Rd3+ and White recovers the piece. It's wonderful how White makes Black's king dance around into all the wrong places! Alternatively, if 34. ... Rxd5 35. Kxb4 Rxe5 36. Kb3, I judged this exchange-up endgame to be a win for White, although it might take a while. | ||||
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33. Rc3+ |
(!) White had to see this resource back on move 29, otherwise the whole line would be unplayable. | ||||
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33... Bxc3+ |
Another amazing line happens if Black declines the exchange with 33. ... Kxb2. Then White plays 34. Rb3+ Kc2 35. Rhb1! and threatens mate with R3b2! Again, this had to be foreseen back on move 29. Black's only defense is to play 35. ... Be3+ (or 35. ... Bc3+, it doesn't matter) 36. Rxe3 Kxb1 37. Rb3+ followed by Rxb7. This ending is completely winning for White, as the bishop and rook dominate the knight. | ||||
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34. bxc3 Nc7 35. c4 |
The b-pawn, after surviving by some miracle and turning into a c-pawn, now comes along and rescues White's bishop in distress. | ||||
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35... Ne6+ 36. Ke3 Nc5 |
This is roughly where I stopped in my analysis on move 29, and thought that White was probably winning. But it is much harder than I thought it was. White's pawns, even though they look imposing, are rather shaky. And if Black can win the pawn on a4 and start pushing his a-pawn, it could be rather hard for White to defend. | ||||
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37. Rf1 |
White ignores the a-pawn for now, and just improves the position of his pieces. The seventh rank beckons, where there are several tasty pawns for White's rook to munch. | ||||
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37... Kc3 |
Another beautiful variation: If 37. ... Re8, attacking the e5 pawn, White plays 38. Rf7 anyway! The point is 38. ... Rxe5+? 39. Kd4! Nd3 40. Be4 winning the knight. Even though the mating threats have finally gone away, the position of Black's king is still a problem! Freddy says, "Enough already," and moves to reunite his king with the rest of his army. | ||||
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38. Rf7 Re8 39. Kf4 Kd4 40. Rxg7 h6 41. Kf5 |
Up to this point I don't think I have made any significant mistakes. However, 41. Kf5 may be my first error. I really wanted to keep my rook on the seventh rank, and I thought that I would just walk my king into g6 and win his rook pawn. However, it isn't so easy, and so now I wonder if I gave up on 41. Rh7 too easily. After all, it *does* give me connected passed pawns on the kingside, even if it misplaces my rook a little bit. | ||||
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41... Rxe5+ 42. Kg6 h5 43. Bxb7 |
This was a painful decision, because I really liked White's battery of bishop and pawn on d5 and c4. The trouble was that on my intended move 43. Rh7, Black has the spectacular resource 43. ... a5 44. Rxh5 Rxh5 45. Kxh5 b5!! If 46. ab White's bishop can never stop the a-pawn. If 46. cb Kxd4 it looks to me as if Black has time to take on a4 and then bring his knight to the queenside. So I had to look for a new plan, and I finally decided on this one. There were too many lines where Black's move ... b7-b5 was a key idea, so I decided that getting rid of the b-pawn was the right thing to do. I spent a long time also looking at 43. h3 and 43. h4, but I was not convinced that either of them was a win. | ||||
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43... a5 44. Bd5 |
The main alternative for White is 44. Bf3. I regret to say I did not spend enough time looking at this move, because 44. Bd5 seemed to be completely winning to me. I should have realized that Freddy had one more trick up his sleeve! | ||||
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44... Nxa4 45. Ra7 |
Draw offered and accepted. Only after Freddy played 44. ... Nxa4 did I see his point: If 45. Ra7 Nb6! 46. Rxa5 Nxc4! White has to give up his bishop. 47. Ra7 may be okay for White, but I was going to play 47. Rb5 Nd6 48. Rb4+ (not 48. Ra5? Ne4 followed by 49. ... Nc3 and Black probably wins) 48. ... Kxd5 49. Rh4. Black cannot save his h-pawn, and the endgame R + 2P versus R + N should be a draw. Interestingly, Freddy thought that 45. Ra7 Nb6 46. Bf7! would still be better for White, though he thought he could hold a draw. I believe that he missed the response 46. ... Rc5! The idea of this move is simply to set up ... Nxc4, which was not playable right away. It's hard to see any way for White to make progress. For example, after 47. h4 Nxc4 48. Kh6 Ne3 49. Bxh5 Nxg2 Black wins both kingside pawns and probably has a won game. In view of this line I was happy to have the alternative of taking Black's last two pawns and bailing out into a draw. | ||||
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