Sunday, January 19, 2020

4th International Chess Festival Rome part 2

After the depressing first four rounds, I began to settle down and do better. In the first game, the player didn't know the line I played in the Two Knights and blundered straight away.


Cross,Ted (1994) - Nanni,Sergio (1610) [C56]
4th International Chess Festival Rome (5), 11.12.2019

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 Bb4+?? 
Not sure what he saw here, but maybe he didn't expect me to play c3?
6.c3 dxc3 7.bxc3 Qe7? 8.0-0 0-0 9.exf6 gxf6 10.cxb4 Ne5 11.Bb3 d6 12.Bb2 Bg4 13.Nbd2 c6 14.h3 Be6 15.Nxe5 dxe5 16.Bxe6 Qxe6 17.Qg4+ Qxg4 18.hxg4 Rad8 19.Ne4 Kg7 20.f4 1-0


The next game didn't feel so badly played, but the computer dislikes a lot of our moves.

Simeoni,Matteo (1794) - Cross,Ted (1994) [B33]
4th International Chess Festival Rome (6), 12.12.2019

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Nb8 9.c4 Be7 10.Be2 0-0 11.0-0 a6 12.Nc3 Nd7 13.Be3 f5 14.f4 Kh8?!
I didn't know this opening line particularly well, so I made a lot of less than perfect moves. Fortunately the same can be said about my opponent.
[>=14...Bf6 15.Qd2 exf4 16.Bxf4 Ne5=]
15.Rc1 b6?! 
[>=15...exf4 16.Bxf4 Bg5 17.Bxg5 Qxg5 18.Qd4 Ne5=]
16.Na4 Rb8 17.Qc2?! 
[>=17.b4 exf4 18.Bxf4 b5 19.Nb2 g5 20.Be3=]
17...Nc5?! 
[>=17...b5 18.cxb5 axb5 19.Nc3 exf4 20.Bxf4 b4=/+]
18.fxe5?! 
[>=18.Nc3=]
18...dxe5 19.Nxc5 bxc5 20.Rcd1?! 
[>=20.Bd2=/+]
20...Bd6 21.Kh1?! 
[>=21.Rde1=/+]
21...Qf6 
[>=21...Qe7 22.Bc1 a5-/+]
22.Bg1?! 
[>=22.b3-/+]
22...f4?! 
[>=22...e4-/+]
23.Bd3 e4 
[>=23...Bf5 24.Bxf5 Qxf5 25.Qxf5 Rxf5-/+]
24.Bxe4 Rxb2 25.Qd3 Bg4 
[25...Rxa2!?]
26.Rd2 Rfb8 27.Rxb2 Rxb2 28.Bf3 Bxf3 29.Qxf3 Rxa2 30.Qe4? 
[30.Re1 Kg8 31.Re6 Qd8 32.Qb3 Rd2=]
30...g5 
[>=30...a5 31.Qe8+ Qf8 32.Qxf8+ Bxf8 33.Rxf4 Kg8=/+]
31.Qe8+ Qf8 32.Qxf8+?! 
[>=32.Qe4=]
32...Bxf8 33.Re1? 
[33.h4! Rc2 34.Rd1 Bd6 35.Ra1 a5 36.Rxa5 Rc1 37.hxg5 Be5 38.Kh2 f3+ 39.g3 Rc2+ 40.Kh3 f2 41.Bxf2 Rxf2 42.Rxc5 Rd2=]
33...Kg7 34.Re5 h6 
[34...Kf6 35.Re6+ Kf5 36.Re8 Bd6 37.Re6 Bb8-+ 38.Bxc5? Ra1+ 39.Bg1 Ba7-+]
35.h3 a5 
[>=35...Ra1-+]
36.Re6 Kf7 37.Rc6 Rc2 38.d6 Ke6 39.Ra6 
[39.Rxc5 a4! 40.Ra5 Rxc4 41.Bc5 Rc1+ 42.Kh2 f3 43.gxf3 Rxc5-+; 39.Bxc5 Bg7 40.Rc8 Bf6-+]
 39...Rxc4 40.Rxa5 Bxd6 41.Ra6 Rc1 0-1


I felt a lot better after winning two in a row. If I could just win out the rest of my games then I could even hope to finish among the top spots. But then see what happened...

Salvato,Giuseppe (1710) - Cross,Ted (1994) [B22]
4th International Chess Festival Rome (7), 13.12.2019

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 e6 5.Nf3 Nc6? 
Okay, so I don't know this line very well and could have gotten into trouble early. Luckily he decided to stick to the standard lines.
[5...cxd4]
6.Bc4 
[>=6.c4 Ndb4 7.dxc5! a5 8.Nc3 Bxc5 9.Bf4+/-]
6...cxd4 7.cxd4 d6 8.0-0 dxe5?! 
[>=8...Be7]
9.dxe5 Be7 10.Nc3?! 
This was about the only slight mistake my opponent made in this game. He was just 13 years old, and you can forget about that low rating. He was clearly skyrocketing upward and that rating meant nothing. He went undefeated and won clear first place in this tournament, gaining more than 200 rating points!
[10.Qe2+/=]
10...Nxc3 11.bxc3 Qxd1 12.Rxd1 0-0 13.Be3 b6 14.Bb5 Na5 15.Nd4 Bb7 16.Nb3 Nxb3? 
I never had any chance of winning this game throughout, but I was at least drawing it. This move made it much harder for me.
[16...Bc6! 17.Ba6 Rfb8 18.Rab1 Nb7=]
17.axb3 Rfd8 18.Rxd8+ Bxd8 19.Rd1 a6 20.Be2 b5 21.c4 Bc6 22.cxb5 axb5 23.f4= Kf8 24.Rc1 Bd7 25.Bf3 Rc8? 
[25...Ra2=]
26.Rxc8 Bxc8 27.Bc6 b4?! 
[27...Ba6 28.Bc5+ Kg8+/-]
28.Kf2 
[28.Bc5+ Be7 29.Bd6+-]
28...Be7 29.Kf3 Ba6 30.Bb6 f6 31.Ke4 Bf1?? 
Even at this stage I still could have held the draw. I needed to play more energetically in the center.
[31...Kf7 32.Kd4 g5 33.fxg5 fxe5+ 34.Kxe5 Bxg5 35.Be4 h6 36.Kd4 Be7 37.Bc5 e5+ 38.Kd5 Bb7+ 39.Kxe5 Bxe4 40.Bxe7 Bc2=]
32.Kd4 Kf7 33.Bc5 fxe5+ 34.fxe5 Bxc5+ 35.Kxc5 Kg6 36.Kd6 Kf7 37.Bd7 Bxg2 38.Bxe6+ Kf8 39.Bc4 1-0

I didn't yet know how great this kid would do, winning the rest of his games to take clear first place, but I saw how methodical he was against me and knew he was far better than his rating. Still, I felt terrible enough at losing this to withdraw at this point. I hope I'll do better next year.

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