The long and winding road to mastery-6

Written by Administrator

Saturday, 21 August 2010

Candidate master Peter Zhdanov's column at Pogonina.com

Why not take part in a World Championship? My friend Evgeny Sidorovsky and I have recently played a chess-poker WC match (all the other contenders received mental invitations from us, but didn't arrive somehow). It consisted of 4 rapid games (30 min/game, as we didn't have a Fischer chess clock at our disposal) and two poker heads-up matches (starting with 100 bb and rising up to 20 bb). A point for each win, so one needed to score 3.5 points or more to claim the title.

As this is a chess website, we will pay attention to the games only. First of all let me remind you who the players were. Both of us are candidate masters, but Evgeny is more experienced, old-school, while I am more "professional" and generally keen on chess. In fact, he is a semi-poker pro, while I treat poker as a nice game, but don't enjoy playing for stakes as much as he does. So, for me the result in rapid chess was more important in terms of getting some sparring practice and finding out how successful my studies are going. My opponent, also motivated about chess, was probably more concerned about poker for obvious reasons. As to the surroundings: they were rather informal, but we still managed to keep the custom of writing down moves (and signing the scoresheet in a stylish way - "World Chess-Poker Championship"), shaking hands before each game, etc. Unfortunately, during one of the first games the conditioning brok down, so we were forced to play in one of those terrible days in Moscow this year when the air is so hot and full of smoke that it's hard to breathe. ~~Blame our occasionally poor play on this and the time controls.~~

Let's take a look at some of the critical positions in games 1 and 2.

Zhdanov (2049) - Sidorovsky (2153)
White to move

White clearly has the advantage in this Sicilian Four Knights position due to the weakness of the d4-pawn. What is the best way to prove it?

I played the obvious and not that good move b5, winning a pawn, but giving Black a very nice compensation for it due to better development and controlling the d and e-files. A much better continuation is Bb2, developing a piece and preventing most of Black's counter-chances.

Zhdanov (2049) - Sidorovsky (2153)
Black to move

Pursuing complications and trying to win the game, White played the tricky Bh6!? last move. What should Black do about it?

I saw the correct continuation otb: 20.Bh6!? Nd3! 21.Bg7 Ne8! (Evgeny missed this move and considered only 21...Ne1? Bf6+-) 22.Bd4 Ne1 23.Re1= In the game Black played 20...gh? and after the natural 21.Re5+/- White has an extra pawn.

Zhdanov (2049) - Sidorovsky (2153)
White to move

In this position White has to address the back rank threat and decide what to do about the hanging pawn on a3. I blundered by trying to fight for initiative (23.Rc1? Rf2 oops!), while the correct way was 23.Ra2 Ra2 24.g3 (forget about the pawn!) Ra3 25.Nf5 Kh7 26.Re7 b6 27.Nd4 Kg6 28.Nc6+/- attacking the a7-pawn and threatening Ne5.

Zhdanov (2049) - Sidorovsky (2153)
White to move

We have been making lots of small inaccuracies in time trouble, this is the moment for avoiding critical blunders. How should White play?

Patzer instincts tell us to stick to the knight. I instantly played 50.Kc4?? allowing Rb4! with an easily won pawn endgame for Black.
The correct way to treat this position was 50.Kd5! and if 50...Rb4 then simply 51.Rf7=; 50...Nb4 51.Kc4 Rc1 52.Kb3 and Black either gives up the pawn (=), or plays 52...f6 53.Rb5 Kg6 54.Kb4 Rb1 55.Kc4 Rb5 56.Kb5 Kg5 this is a draw: 57.Kc5 Kh4 58.Kd5 Kh3 59.Ke6 Kg4 60.Kf6=). Evgeny returned the favor and played 50...Nb4?? Now White may simply capture the f7-pawn and call it a draw. My hand lifted up the knight...omg! Touch-move, so 51.Rb4?? Rb4 52.Kb4 and Black will soon have a new queen. A devastating loss, especially given that I had missed a few excellent chances to win the game!

Now let's proceed to game #2.

Sidorovsky (2153) - Zhdanov (2049)
Black to move

Evgeny played an offbeat 6.Nb3 variation against my Dragon, definitely trying to avoid a theoretical clash with ~~a well-known Dragon expert~~ me. Strangely enough, a few days later Nakamura employed this very line against Ljuboevic. Well, how could he have missed the World Chess-Poker Championship match?

How should Black deal with White's unambitious setup?

The most natural move that any Sicilian-playing person would suggest is 10...d5 with total equality. For some reason I hesitated and first played 10...a6?! and only after 11.Qd2 (11.Nd5!+/=) went d5.

Sidorovsky (2153) - Zhdanov (2049)
Black to move

One of my shortcoming has been overcomplicating things and preferring tactical positions to strategica ones. I am gradually getting rid of this weakness, but sometimes...What should Black do here?

A normal move like 16...e6 gives Black a solid equal position. My choice was a blunder, 16...Bc4?. The idea - open up the b-file and put pressure on White's pawns - might be ok, but the timing is wrong. After 17.Bc4 bc 18.Nd2 Ne5 White had a great resource.

Sidorovsky (2153) - Zhdanov (2049)
White to move

Can White win the c-pawn?

In the game Evgeny made a positional move 19.Bd4? and Black defended with Rfc8. A silicon beast, strong master or "uneducated" person might spot 19.f4 Ng4 20.Nc4! Rfc8 21.h3 Rc4 22.hg+/-

Sidorovsky (2153) - Zhdanov (2049)
White to move

Where is the white king heading?

Retreating is a way to draw the game. Moving forward (like my opponent did) normally signifies lack of knowledge of such positions, where White may end up only either mated or down material. My opponent wasn't awared of it and explained that "he thought he was preparing a mating attack". 33.Kg5? Kg7 34.g4 (forced)

Sidorovsky (2153) - Zhdanov (2049)
Black to move

How does Black exploit White's misstep?

33...R8c5 34.Kh4 hg 35.fg Ra5 36.Rbb7 Rf4 37.Kg3 g5 38.h4 Ra3 39.Rb3 Raa4 40.hg Rg4 41.Kh3 Rg5 42.Rf3 Kh6 43.Rf7 Rg6 44.Rh7 Kg5 45.Rae7 Ra2 46.Kg3 Kf5 47.Kf3-/+ Black wins the a-pawn and has some practical chances for a victory. However, this type of variations belong to IM Dvoretzky's books, not to no-increment rapid matches.

In the game I played 33...hg 34.fg R8c5 35.Kh4 g5? (35...Ra5-/+) 36.Kh4 Rc3 37.Rb3

Sidorovsky (2153) - Zhdanov (2049)
Black to move

Black is still playing under the impression that he should punish White for Kg5? and win the game. What is the real situation? How should Black continue?

The position is about equal, e.g. 37...Rb3 38.ab a5=. I was still searching for a forced win and played 37...Rc2?? (threatening mate) 38.h3 Ra2? (still failing to realize what is going on) 39.Rf3+- and the game is pretty much over.

In the next episode two more exciting chess fights will be presented, as well as the results for the heads-up poker match. You will also find out who the new Poker-Chess World Champion is!