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ANNOTATED GAME
When You Have to Win
yttrio (1650) vs. driss (1527)
Annotated by: yttrio (1533)
Chess opening: French (C10), Paulsen variation
yttrio (1650) vs. driss (1527)
Annotated by: yttrio (1533)
Chess opening: French (C10), Paulsen variation
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38. Ke2 |
This move guards f2 while staying on light squares to avoid check by black's bishop. Ke3 was probably a bit more accurate, though, and black utilizes my poor decision a bit later on. The mistake: putting my king on the same rank as my pawns. | ||||||||
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38... a5 |
Avoiding a fork of his king an pawn after Rc6 . This move also solidifies his bishop and pawn, who now defend each other and cannot be easily attacked. | ||||||||
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39. h4 |
Likewise, I connect my pawn and bishop so that each defends the other. | ||||||||
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39... Rh8 |
Stopping me from pushing my passed h-pawn. It was around this point in the game where I blundered in my other game. I was frustrated at myself for making such a huge blunder in that other game (I was calculating a bunch of endgame lines and missed the fact that my first move allowed him to take my rook for free), and suddenly needed to win this game in order to advance in the tournament. The psychological pressure definitely started affecting my moves, which were sometimes too forcing and not calculated enough. My next move is a good example of this. | ||||||||
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40. Rc6+ |
This move had the wishful thinking that he would go after my weak d-pawn with his king and play 40) ... Kf5. My plan was then 41) Rf6 , hoping for him to play 41) ... Ke4, allowing 42) Rf4#. Of course, I had calculated out other lines for black, and with each line I tried to convince myself that there was something there such that I could win by force. The line that my opponent played was one that I had calculated out, but incorrectly evaluated at the end. The move I probably should have played was 40) Kd3, as you will see later on. | ||||||||
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40... Kd7 |
This almost seems to be the most obvious move, attacking the rook (it was also the move that I most expected to see him play). I continued with my calculated line. | ||||||||
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41. Rh6 |
Offering a trade of rooks, which would effectively win the game for me. | ||||||||
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41... Rc8 |
As I expected, he declined the trade. I also expected him to move to one of the open files, and probably the c-file, since it threatens Rc2 , winning a pawn. This is the reason that 36) Kf2 was a mistake: it allows black to threaten Rc2 . This is also why I should have played 40) Kd3. Leaving my king on e2 was a mistake, and part of the reason I missed it being a mistake was because I was focusing on my attack, and not thinking clearly about his possible counter-attacks. If my king were on d3, he probably would have moved his rook to f8 instead of c8 in order to threaten the move Rf2. If his rook was on f8 instead of c8, his 42nd move would have needed to be different than what it was. This would allow my to move my rook behind my passed e-pawn. All will be explained in the next move's annotation. | ||||||||
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42. e6+ |
Now it becomes clear why the rook can't be on f8. If his rook is on f8 and he moves his king to d6 (or c6, like he did in the game), then I would have 43) e7 , winning the rook on f8. If his rook is on f8 and he plays 42) ... Kc7 [or Kc8], then I play 43) e7, threatening his rook and preparing Re6 to get behind my passed pawn. If his rook is on f8 and he plays 42) ... Ke8, I play 43) Bf6, followed by Rh8, forcing a trade of rooks. Back to the game, this was all still part of my calculation made on move 40. I figured he would move his king to c7, c6, or d6. Afterwards, I would play 43) e7[ ], and he would play 43) ... Kd7. That is what ended up happening in the game. | ||||||||
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42... Kc6 43. e7+ Kd7 |
Now black is threatening my pawn on e7. I'm still focused on trying to force a win, and I didn't want to just give up my passed pawn that was advanced so far. I would love to play Re6 to get behind the passed pawn, but his king defends the e6 square. | ||||||||
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44. Rh7 |
The only move to defend the pawn. However, this move was still a mistake. This was still part of my calculation on move 40, and the continuation I saw was 44) ... Re8, attacking the pawn once more. After this I would play 45) a4, and after all exchanges took place I would have a winning king-and-pawn endgame. Here again comes the theme of psychology. I was convinced that he would play 44) ... Re8. I never even considered what he actually played. The move I should have played was 44) Kd3. I needed to let my e-pawn go, since I would still be up a pawn in a rook-and-pawn endgame. | ||||||||
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44... Rc2+ |
The irony of it all is that I saw earlier in my calculation that Rc2 was a threat made by Rc8. I wanted to force a win so badly that I missed the simple fork that I had seen earlier. Now I lose my a-pawn, and he gets a passed pawn of his own on a5. | ||||||||
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45. Kf3 |
Considering that his bishop, pawn, and rook form a wall preventing my king from getting to the queenside, bringing my king around this way was the correct idea. However, I'm now in a bit of psychological trouble. I was two pawns ahead in an endgame. Now I'm only one pawn ahead and he has a passed pawn. I was looking for any opportunity I had to try to force a win. The most direct route I saw was by bringing my king to e5 to attack his pawn on d5. His bishop can't defend it, his rook has a hard time defending it, and his king can't defend it because it needs to defend the queening square of my pawn on e7. My plan was to play 46) Kf4 and 47) Ke5. I saw his saving move 46) ... Re2, but I found myself not caring due to my mindset of needing to win. I was trying to lock onto anything I could. | ||||||||
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45... Rxa2 46. Kf4 Re2 |
Now I was starting to feel worried, since my opponent has stopped my plan of reaching e5 with my king. At this point in the game I tried calculating out what the endgame would be like after 47) h5 Bxe7 48) Bxe7 Rxe7 49) Rxe7 Kxe7. I can't remember my exact calculations, but I think I ended up seeing both of us queening with me queening first for one line. Actually, my mind kept on wandering through calculations and I don't know if I was thinking perfectly clearly. I'll go through some calculations I've made since the game ended. First off, I can't run my h-pawn up the board alone because his king is close enough to catch it. If I try 50) Kg5 to defend my pawn as it comes up the board, then my opponent plays 50) ... Kf7, and he can pin my king against the edge, blocking my h-pawn. After that, he can simply queen his a-pawn, and I would lose. The final idea was a rather long one: each of us going after the other's pawn and coming back to the pawns on the d-file. Neither of us moves our pawn because it just wastes a tempo for our king. The variation runs as follows: 50) Ke3 Kf6 51) Kd3 Kg5 52) Kc3 Kxh5 53) Kb3 Kg4 54) Ka4 Kf4 55) Kxa5 Ke4. There's nothing I can do to stop 56) ... Kxd4, and an eventual win by black. I ended up pretty tired after trying to calculate everything out and not seeing a win for me, so I went with option number two: | ||||||||
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47. e8=Q+ |
Double-check, forcing his king to take the queen on e8. Again, I had a calculation in mind that gave him chances to slip up, but would ultimately end up a draw if my opponent played correctly. | ||||||||
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47... Kxe8 |
Forced. I now played a move which did nothing except move him into temptation. My opponent played the first move I was looking for, but played correctly later on when I needed him to slip up a second time. | ||||||||
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48. Ra7 |
The temptation for black: 48) ... Re4 , which forks the king and pawn. When I was calculating out black's possible responses to my 48th move, I found the move 48) ... Bc3, which would basically force a draw. The continuation I saw was 49) Bf6 [defending the attacked pawn] Re4 [winning the pawn] 50) Kf5 Bxd4 51) Bxd4 Rxd4 52) Rxa5 Rxh4 53) Rxd5 Rh5 54) Ke6 [or Ke4] Rxd5 55) Kxd5 and draw by insufficient material. Note that 50) Kf3 would lead to the same general thing, except it would be king and rook vs. king and rook, which is a technical draw. | ||||||||
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48... Re4+ |
My opponent missed his immediate chance at a draw, and instead played what I had calculated out. | ||||||||
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49. Kf5 |
My king being in close proximity to his king is a crucial element of my plan. | ||||||||
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49... Rxd4 50. Ke6 |
! And now black is in a bit of trouble. He is still able to save the game with 50) ... Re4 51) Kxd5, evening up the material and becoming a technical draw. My plan, though, was for him to mess up and play 50) ... Kf8 instead (the only other move that stops checkmate without immediately losing material). I would have then played 51) Ra8 , forcing 51) ... Kg7. Then I would have 52) Bf6 , winning his rook. All this was still part of the calculation I made back on move 47. I had my hopes up, but my opponent played the correct move. | ||||||||
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