After two years of not being able to play chess while in Baku, Azerbaijan, we moved to Nassau, Bahamas in August 2016. The Bahamas has a small but passionate chess community, small enough that I essentially have to play the same few players again and again each tournament. They are underrated here due to the incestuous nature of only beating up on each other and not being able to pull in outside rating points--at least until an outsider like me shows up.
My rust showed in the first couple tournaments I played here, though I definitely improved by the third and fourth. Here I'll go through a couple moments from my first tournament in the Bahamas, called The Fall Classic. I played in it because it was a qualifier for the Bahamas National Championships.
There were only four players, so it was a double-round robin quad of six games. I swept the two games against the lowest-rated player easily enough, so it was the encounters with the other two players--some of the strongest Bahamian players--that told the tale of this tournament.
In round two I played for the first time against the talented Kendrick Knowles, and I lost with white after one simple mistake. Like I said, these players are underrated. A good example of this is the Bahamian player Carver Moncur, who has an 1800-range rating but has a legitimate FM title, earned in the Olympiads.
Having lost the first game to Kendrick, when I encountered him again, I really wanted to make up for the loss and beat him, though given the way the first game had gone, I was really nervous.
Knowles,Kendrick
(1846) - Cross,Ted (2031) [D11]
Fall Classic 2016 Nassau (5), 29.10.2016
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 c6 3.c4 Nf6 4.g3 Bg4 5.Bg2 e6 6.0-0 Bxf3 I played this unusual variation on purpose, to try to unbalance things. I knew that meant giving white an edge, but it also meant it could give me more chances to win in the long run.
7.Bxf3 Be7 8.Qb3 Qb6 9.Nd2 Nbd7 10.c5 Qa6?!
Again I choose to play to win. Equal would have been 10...Qxb3 11.axb3 0-0 12.b4 Bd8= but that didn't suit my aims.
11.Qc2
White would retain a small edge after 11.Qc3 b6 12.b4 0-0 13.Bb2+/=.
11...e5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.e3?
And white finally makes a mistake, losing a pawn. Equal was 13.b4 Nxf3+ 14.Nxf3 0-0=.
13...Nxf3+ 14.Nxf3 Qb5 15.Bd2?!
Slightly better was 15.b4 Qxb4 16.Rb1 Qxc5 17.Qxc5 Bxc5 18.Rxb7 0-0 though black retains a small edge.
15...Qxc5 16.Qf5 0-0 17.Rfc1 Qd6 18.Bc3 Ne4 19.Be5 Qe6 20.Qh5 g6 21.Qh6 f6 22.Bc7 Rac8 23.Nd4 Qf7 24.Ba5 f5 25.f3??
Black had a nearly winning advantage at this point, but this mistake ends the game quickly.
25...Bg5 26.Qh3 Bxe3+ 27.Kg2 Bxd4 28.fxe4 Bxb2 29.Rab1 Bxc1 30.Rxc1 fxe4 31.Kg1 Qf2+ 32.Kh1 Qf3+ 33.Kg1 Qe3+ 0-1
I had but one game left to play after that gratifying win, and if I won it I would have tied with Kendrick for first place in this event. I played against WCM Polina Karelina, whom I had beaten with the black pieces in round 3. This one went all my way until I played too quickly and threw the win away with one bad mistake.
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| Playing Polina in the Fall Classic. Photo by Andre White. |
Cross,Ted (2031) - Karolina,Polina (1650)
[B07]
Fall Classic 2016 Nassau (6), 30.10.2016
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.f3 Nbd7 4.Nc3 e5 5.Nge2 Be7 6.Be3 0-0 7.Qd2 c6 8.0-0-0
It was better to get Ng3 in straightaway rather than castle. [8.Ng3 exd4 (8...b5 9.Nf5 b4 10.Ne2 d5 11.Neg3 dxe4 12.fxe4 Re8 13.0-0-0 a5 14.Kb1 Bf8 15.dxe5 Rxe5 16.Bd4 Re8 17.Qg5 Kh8 18.Bc4 h6 19.Qf4+-) 9.Bxd4 b5 10.Nf5 Ne5 11.Nxe7+ Qxe7 12.a3+/=]
8...b5 9.Ng3 b4 10.Nce2 a5 11.Nf5 Nb6?
While black normally likes to make this move, it wasn't right at this moment when too much was loose in the black position. [11...d5 12.Bf2 dxe4 13.Qg5 g6 14.dxe5 Nd5 15.Nxe7+ Qxe7 16.Qxe7 Nxe7 17.fxe4 Nxe5 18.h3 Re8 19.Nd4+/-]
12.Neg3
I didn't punish it as quickly as I could have with [12.Nxe7+! Qxe7 13.dxe5 Nfd7 14.Qxd6 Qxd6 15.exd6+-]
12...g6?
Things are already dire for black, but this just made it worse. [>=12...Bxf5 13.Nxf5 Nfd7 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.Nxe7+ Qxe7 16.Qd6 Qxd6 17.Rxd6 Rfc8 18.g3 Rc7 19.b3 a4 20.Kb1 Kf8 21.Bh3 Ke8 22.Rhd1+-]
13.dxe5 gxf5?!
[13...Nfd7 14.Nxe7+ Qxe7 15.Qxd6+-]
14.exf6?
White is still winning here, but there was a stronger combination with [14.Bxb6! Qxb6 15.Qg5+ Kh8 16.exf6 Rg8 17.fxe7 Rxg5 18.e8Q+ Rg8 19.Qxf7+-; or even 14.exd6 Na4 15.dxe7 Qxe7 16.exf5 Nd5 17.Bd4 Qh4 18.Re1+-]
14...Bxf6 15.Qxd6
It's not so bad to seek simplification like this, but it was much better to play [15.Nh5 Na4 16.Nxf6+ Qxf6 17.Bd4 Qe7 18.Qh6 f6 19.Bc4+ Kh8 20.Rhe1 Qg7 21.Qxg7+ Kxg7 22.Bf2+-]
15...Na4 16.Qxd8 Rxd8 17.Rxd8+ Bxd8 18.Nxf5?!
Nothing is so wrong with the move chosen, except that it was my beginning of a bad plan, not looking deeply enough into black's potential counterplay against my king. I felt the game was essentially over, so didn't take my time. Better was [18.exf5 Bf6 19.c3 Be5 (19...bxc3?! 20.b3 Nb2 21.Ne4 Be5 22.g4 a4 23.b4 a3 24.f4 Bg7 25.Kc2 Bb7 26.Bc5 Rd8 27.Kb3+-) 20.Bd4 Bf4+ 21.Kc2 bxc3 22.b3 c5 23.Bf6 Nb6 24.Bb5+-]
18...Bf6 19.Bd4??
And here is where I blew it. Badly enough that I even wondered if I might lose at first, though I settled down and looked deeply at the resulting position and found that I should survive. Truth be told, I instantly felt I had screwed up and failed to even examine the most obvious way to retain a large advantage. [19.b3 Nc3 20.g4 a4 21.bxa4 Rxa4 22.Bc4 Be6 23.e5 Bd8 (23...Bxe5 24.Ne7+ Kf8 25.Nxc6 Bf6 26.Bxe6 fxe6 27.Bc5+ Kf7 28.Kd2 Nd5 29.Rb1 Bc3+ 30.Kd3 Nf4+ 31.Kc4 Rxa2 32.Bxb4 Bf6 33.Kb3 Ra6 34.Na5+-) 24.Nd6 Bxc4 25.Nxc4 b3 26.a3 Rxc4 27.cxb3 Nd5+ 28.bxc4 Nxe3 29.f4 Nxc4 30.a4 Kg7 31.Rd1+-]
19...Bg5+ 20.Kb1
Here is where I failed to see the right way to keep my big edge, with 20.Be3! My move gives away almost all advantage.
20...Bxf5 21.exf5 Rd8 22.c3 bxc3?!
[22...c5 23.Bb5 cxd4 24.Bxa4 bxc3 25.h4 Bf6 26.Bb5 Rb8 27.a4 Rc8=]
23.Bxc3?
Now I could have gotten back a large advantage by taking with the pawn, but it wasn't so easy to understand the nuances of this position during the live game. [23.bxc3 Rb8+ (23...c5 24.Be5 Rd1+ (24...f6? 25.h4 Bd2 26.Bxf6 Rb8+ 27.Kc2 Rb2+ 28.Kd3+-) 25.Kc2 Rc1+ 26.Kb3 Nb6 27.f4 Be7 28.f6 Bf8 29.g3 a4+ 30.Kb2 Re1 31.Kc2 a3 32.Rg1 Nd5 33.Kd2 Ra1 34.Ke2 Rxa2+ 35.Kf3 Rb2 36.Ba6 Nxc3 37.Ra1 c4 38.Bxc4 Rxh2 39.Rc1 Na4 40.Bd4+-) 24.Kc2 Rb2+ 25.Kd3 Rxa2 26.g3 Be7 27.f6 Bf8 28.f4 Nb2+ 29.Ke4 Ra1 30.c4 Re1+ 31.Kf5 Nxc4 32.Bg2 Rxh1 33.Bxh1 c5 34.Bc3 a4 35.Ke4 Nb6 36.Kd3+/=]
23...Rd1+ 24.Kc2 Rc1+ 25.Kd3 Nxc3 26.bxc3 Kg7 27.g4 Ra1 28.h4 Bf4 29.Ke4 Bd6 30.g5 f6 31.c4?
I threw away all remaining chances to win with this move. The computer says white retains good winning chances with 31.f4!, though it would be a tough grind to actually find the right way through all the variations.
31...Rxa2 32.Bd3 Rh2 33.Rxh2 Bxh2 34.f4 h5 35.Bc2 Bg3 36.Ba4 Bxh4 37.g6 c5 38.Bd1 Bf2 39.Bxh5 a4 40.Bd1 a3 41.Bb3 Be1 42.Kd5 Bf2 43.Ba2 Bd4 44.Ke4 1/2-1/2
You can see by these two example games that I was clearly rusty and not at my best. My games in the Bahamas get progressively stronger as I shake the rust off over the next few tournaments.
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