Throwing a game away

[Giulio Simeone]

The game I'm posting this time has caused me much sorrow. My opponent played the opening very badly, I attacked him as I should and reached a completely won endgame. As usual, though, I got into serious time trouble, I complicated the position unnecessarily and made some very bad mistakes. After that I had still three pawns for a knight; I advanced those pawns and got again some interesting chances, but I stopped myself just when things were about to get hot and I finally lost.

I commented this game even more extensively than the previous ones. From move 30th to move 40th I wanted to retrace well all the steps that led me from a completely won position to an hard-to-draw one. Some moves I played were also unpractical, I complicated the position a lot when I had very little time left on the clock. By analizing my mistakes, and the reasons why I made them, I hope that in the future I will manage similar situations a bit better.

The endgame from move 41th to move 52th is very interesting, and deserves very detailed notes. Being a piece down, I had two pawn majorities (2 - 0 and 3 - 1) and my opponent had the 'a' passed pawn. As several of these pawns advance and approach the promoting square, the variations become more and more interesting.

The game was played during the last round of the Candidate Masters' Italian Championship, that took place in mid-July in Civitanova Marche, a city on the Adriatic Sea. My opponent was a 41-year-old math teacher from Trento, northern Italy. Time rate was 100 minutes x 40 moves + 30 minutes to finish + 30 seconds/move. As usual, you can play through the variations I underlined.

Enjoy it!

[Event "Campionati d'Italia - Categoria CM"] [Site "Civitanova Marche(ITA)"] [Date "2012.07.22"] [Round "8"] [White "Giancotti, Eraldo (2062)"] [Black "Simeone, Giulio (1984)"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2062"] [BlackElo "1984"] [ECO "A40s"] 1.d4 g6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 {When after 1. d4 g6 white plays Nc3 and e4, I usually try to transpose in a minor Caro Kann variation: upon 4. Nxe4 I would have played 4. ...c6. Giancotti, though, had other ideas ...} 4.f3 c5 {I knew similar gambits, but not this specific one: maybe my opponent did know it, and so I thought I was wise to decline the pawn: after} ( 4...exf3 5.Nxf3 {followed by Bc4 and 00 it seemed to me that white's attack on the 'f' column could be dangerous. The move I played, instead, seems quite logical, because the move f3 weakens white's king position in the likely event of a kingside castling: the move c5 opens the diagonal g1 - a7 by which it can be attacked.} ) 5.d5?? {In my opinion, this is already a bad mistake. Now, the pawn sacrifice makes much less sense, because the centre is closed and is much more difficult to exploit the extra tempi to build an attack.} 5...exf3 {I took the pawn without thinking too much about it, we can say that white has already lost a pawn without compensation.} 6.Qxf3 {From now until move 11th Giancotti will play seemingly aggressive moves in the awkward attempt to justify his pawn sacrifice: but black has nothing to worry about, white will only worsen his position ...} 6...Bg7 7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.Nge2 Bxb5 {Misplacing white's knight} 9.O-O {I haven't seen this move, but there is nothing to worry about.} 9...Nf6 {Trying to keep the piece leads to a perpetual check:} ( 9...Bd4+ 10.Kh1 Bxe2 11.Qxf7+ Kd7 12.Qe6+ Ke8 13.Qf7+ {but, besides the fact that during the game I was afraid of something worse, why on earth should I accept an half point? I was a pawn up ...} ) 10.Nxb5 O-O 11.d6 {Another move that looks aggressive but is completely useless.} 11...Nbd7 {I played this move because I was a bit afraid of} ( 11...Nc6 12.dxe7 Qxe7 13.Bg5 {attacking and pinning the knight; actually, black hasn't much to worry about even here, white isn't treathening to win the knight because he also has (at least!) one hanging knight ...} ) 12.Qxb7? {I can understand that isn't pleasant to be a pawn down, but white can't really win the pawn back, so this is another move that only makes white's position worse.} 12...Rb8 13.Qa6 Rb6 14.Qa4 exd6 {Now black is again a pawn up, with the rook that makes pressure on a poorly placed knight and the queen that has to defend it. But white wanted to keep material equality at all costs ...} 15.Nxa7?? {When I saw this move, I couldn't believe it!! Even if the knight manages to survive, it will have a very hard time moving away from this ridicolous square ... in order not to stay a pawn down, black has practically gone a piece down.} 15...Qa8 16.Nc3 Rb4 {After} ( 16...Rb7 17.Ncb5 {we have a quite absurd position ... I could take the two knights for the rook, I could more smartly leave them there ... but two knights are worth little more than a rook, and the two knights of the current position are worth much less than a rook. I thought that I could do much better than taking or trapping two weak knights ...} ) 17.Qa3 Rg4 {Is not common, in the earlier stages of the game, to see a rook "flying" horizontally to one side of the board to another: this can happen because white has most of his pieces out of the game!!} 18.Rf2 {It is clear that very soon this rook will be pinned by the black bishop, but} ( 18.g3 Nh5 {doesn't seem a safer alternative.} ) 18...Re8 19.Bf4 Nh5 20.Bg3 Bd4 {The bishop pins the rook, and white's knight and queen are still in a very bad position. Game is finished.} 21.Ncb5 {This weird looking move is suggested also by the computer, because it is the only way to prevent black's rook from taking in g3, which would be lethal, the rook is pinned and isn't defending g2!!} 21...Bxf2+ 22.Kxf2 Qe4 {The move I played forces white to swap queens and gets a winning endgame. The complete helplessness of the white king, though, and the very bad position of practically all the white pieces, should have suggested me that by bringing my queen into action before white's one, I could have put an immediate end to the question. I had practically three active heavy pieces against the queen in a3, so I shouldn't have minded saccing one of them:} ( 22...Nxg3 23.hxg3 Re2+!! 24.Kxe2 Qxg2+ 25.Kd1 Qf1+ 26.Kd2 Qf2+ 27.Kd1 {and white can resign either after} 27...Rxg3 {or after} ( 27...Re4 {with mate in 4 moves.} ) ) 23.Qd3 Nxg3 24.hxg3 Re6 {I didn't swap queens immediately because the pawn d3 would have prevented Rg4-e4 and I was afraid that that rook's way back into the game would have been a bit long.} 25.Rd1 Qxd3 {Sincerely, I can't explain why I changed my mind, however my opponent didn't retake with the pawn.} 26.Rxd3 {That endgame is clearly won, rook vs knight without queens on the board is a quite consistent advantage. White's outside passed pawn is still on its starting rank; an even more important factor is that in the current position both white's knights are away from the centre, and control a small number of squares. My thought was: "My pieces are much better placed, so I should try to raid white's pawns as quickly as possible and before the 'a' pawn can become any dangerous". That I could exploit the black knights' bad position was absolutely true, the thing that I didn't realize well was that I could do even more than capturing white's pawns: in this position the white's king is completely helpless, the two rooks and the knight can create serious checkmate threats.} 26...Ra4 {This move is good, it prevents the b5 knight from capturing in d6 and, at the same time, wins an useful tempo by attacking the a2 pawn.} 27.a3 Nf6 {The move ...Ra4 gave me the time to bring the knight into action: by getting in g4 it can become very dangerous, because from there it controls important squares near the helpless white king.} 28.b3 Rae4 {Despite the fact that the a4 rook is attacked, black here can win immediately with a variation that demonstrates the terrible strength of the black knight stated above:} ( 28...Ng4+ 29.Kf3 ( 29.Kf1 Rae4 30.Rd1 Ne3+ ) 29...Ne5+ {white can play only} 30.Kf2 {and black takes the rook with check!} 30...Nxd3+ 31.cxd3 Rg4 ) 29.g4 {Trying to give an escape square to the king, but in this way black gets a 3 - 1 kingside majority that can advance very quickly, either promoting or checkmating the white king. That's a computer-like move, that only delays the end of the game ... at least, the supposed end of the game.} 29...Nxg4+ 30.Kg3 Ne5? {Without calculating any variation, it is clear that this is a "geometrically wrong" move, because it places the knight just between the two rooks and on the only line along which they have freedom of movement. I was beginning to run short of time, like ten minutes for ten moves: also for this reason I shouldn't play a move like that, which complicates the position a bit. When a player has a decisive advantage, but is short of time, he shouldn't complicate the game for any reason in the world ... he should behave like those soccer players that, when their team is winning, kick the ball 60 meters away!!} 31.Rd2 {He could also win back a pawn, with some slight chances due to the 3 - 1 queenside pawn majority: after} ( 31.Rxd6 Rxd6 32.Nxd6 Re2 {I believed to capture back at least a queenside pawn, but due to the bad position of the knight I don't:} 33.c3 Re3+ 34.Kf4 {.The move my opponent played, though, is more malicious, because it leaves my knight between the two rooks ...} ) 31...f5 32.Nc7 f4+ 33.Kh3 Re7 34.Nab5 {In this position white is beginning to have some slight counterplay: my rooks have little manuevering space because of the silly knight in e5, and the white knights are threatening to seriously bother them with Nd5, Nc7, Nxd6.} 34...Re3+ 35.Kh4 f3 {As my time was running out, it wasn't very wise to consciously put and leave my rooks in such a way that his knight could fork them and with my knight still awkwardly between them. I wanted to push the f3 pawn, but there was absolutely no hurry to do that: I had an overwhelming material advantage and the only thing I should do in order to win was to eliminate my opponent's last counterchances. Kick the ball 60 meters away!! A good move is} ( 35...Re1 {after which one of the rooks recovers a lot of space, gets out from the knights' range and creates serious checkmate threats. The move I played still wins, but black has to pay a lot of attention about white's knights, and with a few minutes on the clock it may not be an easy task ...} ) 36.Nd5 Re4+ 37.Kh3 Re6 {Now one of the rooks gets trapped. The funny (well, for me it wasn't that funny) thing was that I touched the e7 rook, moved it to the winning square and changed my mind one tenth of second before leaving it!! Usually, when I touch and move a piece, I immediately leave it on the destination square without further thinking; this time, though, one instant before leaving the rook on f7, I saw that white could take on d6, forking the two rooks. Then I brought back the piece to e7, and signaled to my opponent that I would have moved the rook according to the rules. Finally, I left it on e6. Actually, after} ( 37...Rf7 38.Nxd6 f2 39.Rxf2 Rxf2 40.Nxe4 Rxc2 {I think that with a bit of attention black should win, surely he doesn't lose, 37. ...Re6 still wins, but complicates things a lot, and I had still three moves to play until the time control ... if the rule was that, once a piece has reached a square, it should be left on that square, I would have won this damn game!!} ) 38.Nbc7 Re2 {This is a good move, if white takes either of the two rooks, he clearly loses, if he retreats the rook like he did, the black rook can raid the second rank.} 39.Rd1 Kf7 {Unfortunately, with a few seconds on the clock, I didn't realize that it was useless to capture back the knight with the king, because there was a terrible fork coming up. Again, the black knight in e5 obstacles the two black rooks, in this position it can be said that they are weaker than the two black knights. Instead, it was much more important to advance the pawn, the variation} ( 39...f2 40.Rf1 {(otherwise after Re1 black promotes)} 40...h5!! 41.Nxe6 Ng4 {was winning: now the passed pawn is protected, next move black will play ...Re1 and white will have to give the rook on it, with a clearly lost endgame. Also 39. ...fxg2 was winning. Unfortunately after 39. ...Kf7 I can't say "Black is still winning" like I did in the last comments, this was practically the last chance to get a sure win!!} ) 40.Nxe6 f2 {There I realized that I couldn't capture back the knight, I got shocked and mistaked also the last move before the time control. With} ( 40...fxg2 {not only I eliminate an important white pawn, but my pawn has also better chances to reach the last rank: white has to deal with the threats Nf3, Rd2 and Kxe6 and the best he can do is} 41.Ng5+ Kg7 42.Rg1 ( 42.Kg3 Rd2 {capturing the d5 knight} ) 42...Kh6 43.Nxh7 Kxh7 44.Rxg2 Rxg2 45.Kxg2 {and maybe black has still some winning chances because of the "g" outside passed pawn.} ) 41.Ng5+ {I hadn't seen that with this check the knight saves himself. After move 40th I got 30 extra minutes on the clock, but it was too late, now the best that black can do is to fight for a draw.} 41...Kg7 42.Rf1 {The only, but very effective, way to prevent ...Re1.} 42...Rxc2 43.Ne4 Rb2 {After this move black wins another pawn: if white captures on f2, black captures both the queenside pawns. But ...} 44.a4! {It's very important to keep the 'a' pawn, because knights are not good in controlling wing pawns and so I have only one piece that can obstacle his march. I think that after this move white has a won position.} 44...Rxb3+ 45.Nec3?? {This seems a very bad move, after it both knights can't move, and it seems that they won't be able to move at least for 3 - 4 moves. I was almost sure he would play } ( 45.g3 {: the f2 pawn falls, at least one of the "c" and "d" pawns is likely to fall and then, with 2 pawns against 3, I think white pieces can easily support the 'a' pawn's march to promotion.} ) 45...Nd3 {What can black do while white tries to "unlock" his knights? A first good idea is to support the f2 passed pawn, so that black will always have to keep an eye on the f1 promotion square.} 46.Kg3 {If white manages to put his rook behind the pawn, he has an almost sure win, but he can't still do that because of the "f" pawn: } ( 46.Ra1 Ra3 ) 46...c4 {The only thing that black can do is pushing its pawns forward and hope that they will become dangerous before white's "a" pawn. Around this move I heard my opponent clearly saying "No, I'm not going to win this game". Unfortunately, he was wrong.} 47.Kf3 g5 48.Ra1 h5 {Here I could still play } ( 48...Ra3 {but I hadn't even realized that possibility. After } 49.Rf1 h5 {the g5 and h5 pawns are likely to become dangerous, and to support the f2 pawn, that some moves before seemed a lost pawn. Moreover, in order to free his knights white has probably to give away his passed pawn: after that, white will have practically no pawns left as the g2 pawn is very likely to be exchanged. A white win seems almost impossible, while black's kingside pawns look dangerous, maybe they can successfully breaktrough. After the move I played, instead, the "a" pawn can advance very quickly, the five pawns still give to black some counterplay, but he has to play very accurately and resolutely in order to stay in the game.} ) 49.Ke2 g4 {There are two ways to try to breaktrough on the kingside, this one is indeed interesting. Black has to sacrifice the 'h' pawn, but the g3 - f2 pawns can turn out to be very strong: they not only have promoting chances, in some variations they can also threaten checkmate as they control many squares near the king. Let's see what happens, instead, after } ( 49...h4 {and the subsequent pawn race. } 50.a5 g4 51.a6 h3 52.gxh3 Rb2+ {A key move that forces the king to go to a square where black promotes with check.} 53.Kf1 gxh3 54.Ne4 {White has to stop the 'h' pawn with a knight to avoid disaster: on} ( 54.a7 {there follows } 54...h2 55.Kg2 f1=Q+ {that is double check; white has to take with the king and the other pawn promotes with checkmate. } ) 54...Rb8 55.a7 {Another possibility, that keeps black from going in a8 is } ( 55.Nc7 h2 56.Nxf2 Nxf2 57.Kxf2 {but black manages to get behind the "a" passed pawn with a surprising maneuver} 57...Rb2+ 58.Ke3 Ra2! {and then pushes his 'c' pawn: } 59.Rh1 c3 60.Kd4 c2 61.Kc3 Kg6 62.Kb3 {It seems that white wins, but black has another resource} ( 62.Rc1 ) 62...Ra5! {and white loses either the pawn or the knight, with a likely draw ... remember that rook and knight versus rook with no pawns is drawn.} ) 55...h2 56.Nxf2 Nxf2 57.Kg2 Ra8 58.Kxh2 {on } ( 58.Kxf2 {black promotes and then captures white's only pawn, with a very likely draw.} ) 58...Nd3 59.Nb6 Rh8+ 60.Kg3 c3 61.Ra2 d5 {Apparently the last desperate trial, actually a drawing move!! The point is that black can draw by giving either the knight or the rook on the a7 pawn. On } 62.Nxd5 {black plays Ra8 and then manages to capture the a7 pawn with the knight, reaching a no-pawns drawn endgame; on } ( 62.a8=Q Rxa8 63.Nxa8 Nb4 {the rook has to give herself on the "c" pawn, again with a draw. The idea that we can abstract from all these variations is that in the position after ...h4 white hardly manages to control all black's four passed pawns, and has to give at least a piece on one of those; also black surely has to give a piece on the 'a' passed pawn, but that's the only white pawn left and so in many variations he can reach an 1-against-2 piece endgame, which is drawn. The varations above show that in order to survive black has to push pawns very quickly and to use some tactics.} ) ) 50.g3 Rb2+ {I don't think this move is good, it only helps the king to get nearer to the most dangerous black pawns. Moreover, in this way it will be impossible for the rook to get behind the 'a' pawn in the event that the white rook will have to leave the 'a' column. I was about to play the move } ( 50...h4 {, then it seemed to me that after } 51.gxh4 g3 52.Kf1 {I wasn't going to get nothing and changed my mind. Actually, the move } 52...Ne1 {would have been very tricky, I had seen it but I had not realized that it threatens 53. ...g2+ 54. Kxf2 Rb2+ and the 'g' pawn promotes. White then has to play } 53.Ne2 {, but after} 53...Rd3! {there is another terrible threat: Nc2 - e3 mate!! In order to avoid it white has to play } 54.Rc1 Rxd5 55.Rxc4 {with perhaps some winning chances because of the two outside passed pawns, but in order to get there white has to play at GrandMaster level!! I didn't trust enough the two passed pawns: considering also that they were my only hope, I should have tried to get them as quickly as possible.} ) 51.Kf1 Nc5 {I doubt black can still stay in the game with} ( 51...Rb8 {or} ( 51...h4 {but the move I played is useless as the maneuver Nc5 - b3 - d2+ won't work.} ) ) 52.a5 {The 'a' pawn now advances very quickly, and black won't be able to stop it. Game is finished.} 52...h4 {Two moves before that would have been a very interesting move, now is only a desperate trial that doesn't lead anywhere.} 53.gxh4 g3 54.a6 Nb3 55.a7 Nd2+ 56.Kg2 f1=Q+ 57.Rxf1 Nxf1+ 58.Kxf1 Rf2+ 59.Kg1 Rf8 60.Nc7 Kg6 61.Kg2 {Wasn't for the h4 pawn, I wouldn't have resigned, because two knights have a very hard time winning with any number of pawns!! Another funny consideration is that at move 16th I had the chance to kill both white knights, I didn't and now they are the only masters of the board!!} 1-0