Old Fort Bay Invitational 2019 part 3

I had about as good a start as I could have hoped for with four and a  half points out of five, but now I had to face to top Bahamian players in a row in one day. The first, Kendrick Knowles, was the Bahamas National Champion and had an even record against me--three wins apiece along with one draw. I felt I was stronger than Kendrick, but he brought out a bad quality in me that, of course, is my own fault. Kendrick has really good tactical vision, but he moves too quickly. He often spots interesting tactics and goes for them quickly without necessarily looking more deeply. The problem is that when he moves so fast, I tend to mimic him and fall into the same trap. I knew I should be slowing down and analyzing more, but somehow I can't seem to force myself to do it.

photo by Gurth Smith

Knowles,Kendrick (1809) - Cross,Ted (1998) [A88]
Old Fort Bay Invitational Nassau (7), 02.03.2019

1.Nf3 f5 2.d4 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.0-0 0-0 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 c6 8.b3 a5 9.Bb2 Na6 10.e3 Qc7 11.Qe2 
Here is where Kendrick played something I hadn't seen in my preparations. It isn't the best move in the position, so it gives black at least equality, if not a minuscule edge.
11...e5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.Rfd1 Nc5 14.Ba3 Nfd7 
Slightly better would have been [>=14...b6 15.Na4 Nfd7=]
15.Na4 
I felt this was a small mistake due to tactical reasons.
15...Nxa4 
And this is the small tactic, going ahead and allowing him to take my rook, because I have a fork of his queen and rook in return.
16.Bxf8 Nc3 17.Qc2? 
Then Kendrick made it worse by moving the queen to a poor square. [>=17.Qe1 Nxd1 18.Bxg7 Nxf2 19.Bxe5 Nh3+ 20.Bxh3 Nxe5=]
17...Kxf8?? 
Here is when that aforementioned weakness reached out and smacked me in the face. I spent pretty much no time at all after he moved before playing this terrible blunder. I had looked at the correct move of taking his rook with my knight and then winning a pawn by taking on e3 (which is why his queen move to c2 was a mistake), and I had seen that it was good for me. But I noticed that I had a 'totally winning' idea of taking the bishop with the king instead and then skewering his queen, and when his knight came to d4, playing c5 against the pinned knight. It would have taken me just a few moments of looking more closely at it to see that it fails miserably to his knight fork of my king and queen! Literally just a few seconds invested in looking at it and I would have dismissed my stupid idea and played the correct knight takes rook. [17...Nxd1 18.Bxg7 Nxe3 19.Qc3 Kxg7 20.Qxe3 e4-/+]
18.Qxc3 e4 19.Nd4 Ne5 
I was pretty demoralized at having to play this rather than c5, but there was nothing else I could do.
20.c5 Qe7 21.Rac1 Nd3 22.Rc2 Nb4 23.Rcd2 Nd3 
At least I could force the win of a pawn, which was some minor compensation.
24.Qc4 Qxc5 25.Qxc5+ Nxc5 26.Bf1 Bf6 27.Rc2 Na6?! 
[27...Nd7+/=]
28.Nxc6? 
Here is where Kendrick's habit of moving too quickly bit him. He saw this tactic and went for it very quickly without looking more deeply at it, or at other better moves. [28.Bxa6 Rxa6 29.Nb5+/-]
28...bxc6 29.Rxc6 Be7 30.a3? 
I was feeling much better now, thinking that I could possibly survive this. I actually thought he would trade the rook for two pieces here and simply be up a pawn. [30.Rdc1 Bb7 31.Rb6 Bc8 32.Rxc8+ Rxc8 33.Rxa6 Rc2 34.Rxa5 Bb4+/-]
30...Bb7 31.Rb6 Ra7 32.b4 axb4 33.axb4 Nc7 34.Rd7 Bd5?? 
I moved too quickly again, feeling that I was out of hot water, and failed to look more deeply at the tactics available to white. I could have had equality with Bc8. [34...Bc8 35.Rd1 (35.Rb8 Ra8 36.Rxa8 Nxa8 37.Ra7 Nb6=) 35...Be6=]
35.Rb8+ Kf7 36.Rc8 
Naturally Kendrick found the correct sequence to win a piece, and the game was essentially over now. I was going down to my first loss.
36...Ke6 37.Rcxc7 Rxc7 38.Rxc7 Bxb4 39.Rxh7 Be7 40.h4 Kf6 41.Rh8 Kf7 42.Rc8 Bf8 43.Bc4 Bxc4 44.Rxc4 Bh6 45.Kg2 Kf6 46.Rc6+ Kg7 47.Kh3 g5 48.h5 Kh7 49.Rf6 f4 50.Kg4 1-0

I was really depressed after this, thinking I had blown my shot at winning the tournament again. And I had to play black again in the next round against another strong player, and I didn't feel I was going to do well. This one Saturday was turning my whole event around in the wrong direction.

photo by Gurth Smith

Franklyn Gibson is actually the highest-rated Bahamian player, though he had a bit of rust due to not playing a lot for quite a while. He played very well against me, though, perhaps aided by my demoralized state. Neither of us played the opening particularly well, with lots of slight inaccuracies by both of us.

Gibson,Franklyn (1892) - Cross,Ted (1998) [B23]
Old Fort Bay Invitational Nassau (9), 02.03.2019

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.f4 
I have used the Grand Prix attack as white a number of times, including in the win against Cox two rounds ago, but I don't think anyone had ever played it against me in tournament chess before. I had to think quite some time before I played my second move, because I couldn't recall which of black's lines I felt was best for black.
3...d5 4.e5?! 
I knew the lines pretty well and had never seen this move, so I assumed it was less than stellar.
4...a6 
The computer likes Nh6, though I'm not sure I understand the point exactly, at least not at this stage. The computer knows better than me, of course. [>=4...Nh6]
5.a4 Nc6 6.Nf3 g6 
[>=6...b6]
7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qb6?! 
My plan here wasn't so great. [8...Bb4 9.Be3 Nge7=]
9.Nce2 Bd7 10.c3 Bg7 
[>=10...Nh6]
11.Qb3 Qc7 12.Be3?! Nge7?! 
I didn't see the line the computer likes, and I have to admit it looks a LOT better for black than what I played. [12...Na5 13.Qd1 f6! 14.Nf3 Nc4 15.exf6 Nxf6-/+]
13.Nxc6 Bxc6?! 
I'm not sure now why I took with the bishop. Looking at it right now, the pawn capture clearly looks better. [>=13...bxc6]
14.Bb6?! Qd7 15.Nd4 0-0 
The computer's g5 move never even entered my mind. [15...g5!=]
16.Bc5 Rfe8 17.Bxe7?! 
[17.Bd3+/=]
17...Qxe7 18.Qa3 Qxa3 
[>=18...Qc7=/+]
19.Rxa3 Bf8 20.Ra1 Bc5 21.Bd3 Kg7 22.Kd2 Rec8 23.Rhe1 Rc7 24.b4 Bxd4?! 
I knew that by pawn structure I was getting into a troublesome endgame. [24...Bb6=]
25.cxd4 Rac8 26.Rec1 Bd7 27.Rc5 
This was a really good move by Frank, and I thought I was going to have to go through contortions to escape the coming mess.
27...Kf8 28.a5 Ke7 29.g4 Bc6 30.f5 gxf5 
[>=30...exf5]
31.gxf5 Rg8?! 
I really should not have allowed white to play his pawn to f6, as it is a terrible endgame after that. [31...f6+/-]
32.Re1?! 
[32.Rac1! Kd7 33.b5 axb5 34.Bxb5+-]
32...Rcc8?!
[32...exf5 33.Bxf5 Rg5 34.Rf1 f6 35.b5! axb5 36.a6 bxa6 37.exf6+ Kf7 38.Bb1+/-]
33.f6+? 
[33.Ke3+/-]
33...Kd7 34.Re2 h6 35.Kc3 Rg1 36.Re3?! 
I missed several drawing chances here. [>=36.Rb2 h5 37.Be2 h4 38.Kb3 Ra1=]
36...Rh8?! 
[36...Rcg8= 37.Rh3 Ra1=]
37.b5 axb5 38.Bxb5 Rc1+ 39.Kb4 Rd1 40.Rd3 Rb1+ 41.Rb3 Rd1+- 
This 'perpetual attack' really shouldn't have worked. White is winning here if he just plays [42. a6 Rb8 43. Ka3! and it's pretty much over for black. I was very lucky that Frank offered the draw.
1/2-1/2

So, this one depressing Saturday twisted my previously good tournament into a flaming wreck. I was lucky in some of the other results, though, and I was now tied with Carver and Kendrick for first place with six points each (I had gained one point due to a player having withdrawn). I had theoretically easier pairings the next day, so there was a good chance if I could just play a tad better that I could at least guarantee a tie for first place.