| As of August 27, 2000, although I am excited by
all of the future possibilities at UMBC, where I am now attending college,
I sincerely regret that I have left the Michigan tournament circuit.
Probably a lot of Michigan chess players have seen me around, as I play
about 200 rated games a year, but that will cut back severely as I am now
living in Maryland during the school year. |
| The 2000 World Open was a fantastic tournament for
me and for Michigan. Personally, I took seven points out of nine
with no losses, tying for second in my section (U2200). However,
not only did Ariel Levi match my score in the same section, but Nate Solon
trailed by only a single point… in the Open. He also beat GM Anatoly
Lein in the fourth round! Meanwhile, Zaremba was winning against
the likes of GM Vasilios Kotronias!! So, OK, in this company, what
I managed was not so exceptional. Nonetheless, it was probably one
of my best tournaments ever. I felt that my most convincing game
was the seventh round: |
Tom Hartwig (2121) - Igor Schneider (2084)
[B01] Scandinavian: Modern
World Open U2200, Philadelphia
|
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxd5 4.c4 Nb6 5.d4 g6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.c5 Nd5
| 7...N6d7 (Levi) also deserves analysis. Black tries
to avoid playing into white's hands by posting up on the d5-square where
he immediately comes under pressure. Instead, black will chip away at the
center by ...b6 and/or ...e5. |
| This looks too dogmatic and I don't see what it
does for black here. 10...Nc6 is what I had expected during the game.;
10...b6 (Levi). |
| My favorite move of the game because it looks impossible.
However, it is easy to calculate that black cannot win a pawn. As for the
damaged structure, anyone who plays the Dragon knows that winning the dark
squared bishop is worth some effort. |
| 13...Qxe5 14.Bh6 Rd8 15.Bxf7+ Kh8 16.Be3 Qf6 17.Rad1± |
| Another key move. Since there are no immediate sacrifices
to utilize the queen via f7, she needs to get back into the game. Incidentally,
...Rd8 is obvious but plays into white's hands because it weakens the f7-square. |
| 15...Nd7 is a much stronger try: 16.g4 Be4 (16...Be6
17.Bxe6 fxe6 18.f4 Rad8 19.Qb3² with a lot of space.) 17.f3 (17.Qd4
Bf3 18.Bf4 e6 19.Qe3 Bxg4 20.Bh6+ Kg8 21.Bxf8 Rxf8÷) 17...Bd5 18.Bxd5
cxd5 19.Qxd5 Nxe5 20.Qxe5+ Qxe5 21.Bd4 Qxd4+ 22.cxd4÷ |
| It is important not to get distracted by false leads
around this point. This is a good moment to contrast against my game with
Rosenberg coming up. 17.g4 Be6 is simple and good for black. 17...Nxe5
18.Qg3÷ |
| 18.Bxf7 Kxf7 (18...e6?! even works.) 19.e6+ Nxe6
–/+ is also one to avoid. |
| 19...Be6 seemed best to me, but white retains a
dangerous attack: 20.Bxe6 Nxe6 21.f4. |
| Surprisingly, this move is the big culprit in black's
defeat. Just because the dark-squared bishop has said 'A'.. . Despite everything
I've said so far, 21...Rd8 looks OK for black. |
| Winning by force because of black's weak dark squares.
The fairly crude idea is Bg5-f6 and Qg7#. 22.Qc1 aiming at the trapped
rook on d3 is much less effective: 22...Rd8 23.Qc2 R3xd4 24.cxd4 Rxd4 ...Rd5 |
| 24...Rxd1 25.Rxd1 Nxc5 26.Be7 Ne4 27.Rd3! (27.Rd4
Qe8) 27...Kh8 28.Rd4 Qe8 29.Bh4+-; 24...Nxc5 25.Rxd3 Nxd3 26.Rd1 Nc5 27.Be7
Ne4 28.Rd3 is the same thing. |
| 25...Rxc5 26.Rxd7 Qxd7 27.Bf6 |
| The last key move. After 27. Rd8+ I may be winning
but it would still be a long slog ahead. The game move prevents ...Qf8
and continues the mating attack. |
| 27...Ne4 is a better try but white is still winning:
28.Rd3! Kh8 29.Rd4 +/-. |
| 28...Qe8 would be a better last fling: 29.Rh4 (Not
29.Bf6?? Qf8 30.Qxh7+? Kxh7 31.Rh4+ Qh6 –/+ which wins for the wrong side!)
29...Qxe7 30.Qxh7+ Kf8 31.Qh8#. |
| Black resigned as I was reaching for my queen. |
|
|
| Strangely enough, my results immediately following
the World Open were a letdown, and over the following four tournaments
I lost about 50 rating points. I don’t think that I have forgotten
how to play chess, but I seemed to be getting all of the solid 1800-1900
players who wanted to draw with white, and I was allowing that or worse.
Anyway, I use the past tense because I can always hope that the next event
will be more generous. And there was a lot of food for thought from
those tournaments, for example one miss which I’ll annotate here: |
Tom Hartwig (2121) - Evan Rosenberg (1816)
[B15] Caro-Kann: Knight (Tartakower)
US Open, St. Paul, Aug 2000
|
| Looking over this game will indicate a lot of mistakes,
but I think it is still an interesting game to analyze. I had some
crazy ideas during the game which, it turns out, mostly didn't work.
But maybe on another day everything would have fallen together. |
| A good move, but here is why white doesn't develop
a piece: 6. Bd3 loses a pawn while 6. Nf3 allows 6... Bg4. Now, white
is ready to meet 6... Bf5 with 7. Nf3 or to play 7. Bd3, 8. Ne2 against
other lines. |
| Again, this isn't just a random move. The
idea is to deny black's light-squared bishop the g6-square after the maneuver
...Bg4-h5-g6, which will be the result after ...g6 or ...h6. (8.Ne2 Bg4
9.Qc2 is also OK |
| 13.Be3 since if: 13...Rxe3?! 14.fxe3 Qxe3+ 15.Kh1
Qe5 16.Nf4 g5? 17.Rae1 favors white. |
| I considered 14. Nxc6 but this was supposed to be
really clever - see notes to move 16 |
| Based on a miscalculation that would probably be
of interest to someone like Dvoretsky, as I had failed to keep an accurate
mental picture of the position a few moves down the road. 16.Be2 Bxh3 17.gxh3
Qxh3 18.Rfd1 Rad8 also appears promising for black, but it is much more
natural than 16.Qd1. |
| If 16...Bxh3 17.gxh3 Qxh3 18.Re1 Ne5 19.Nxe5 Bxe5
(This position was at the heart of my mistake -- I had mistakenly visualized
black's light-B as still being on c8, so I thought that I could play 20.
Bf4 here.) 20.Qc2 Bh2+ 21.Kh1 Bc7+ 22.Kg1 f5 –/+. |
| On the surface, a nice shot that recovers white's
normal advantage. 19.Re1 is probably better. |
| 19...Bxh3! would have been much more challenging:
20.Bf4 Qf5 21.Qxd6 Bxf1 22.g4 (22.Rxf1 g5 ) 22...Qd3 23.Qxd3 Bxd3 24.Bxb7
Rad8 and the burden is on white to show compensation for the exchange. |
| Now this was actually a blunder. However,
I quickly noticed 20...Bxg3 after my move, calculated to 27.b3, and then
began to hope he would play it. 20.Kh2. |
| 20...Bxg3 21.fxg3 Qxe3+ 22.Kh2 |
| A) I had actually considered
only the fanciful: 22...f5 23.Re1 Qxe1 24.Qxe1 Rxe1 25.Rxe1 Rb8 (25...Be6
26.Bxb7? Rb8 is another clear improvement) 26.Re8+ Kg7 27.b3 Bxb7. |
| B) 22...Bf5 23.Qf3 Qxf3
24.Bxf3 Be4 25.Bxe4 Rxe4 26.Rf2. |
| Not without luck, white has gained a solid advantage
in the form of well-developed, centralized pieces, and a queenside majority
which is not compensated on the kingside. During the game, I was
under the impression that I had played extremely well to this point, and
I was especially proud of 19.g3 and the accidental 20.Bg2. |
| Somewhat lamely, my opponent offered a draw here
which I correctly declined. However, my advantage quickly deteriorates. |
| A greedy and bad move, after which black takes over the
initiative. |
| Black even had some other tempting possibilities
too, but this was the one I expected and the one he played, so, since it
also seems promising, let's focus on it. I was satisfied that there
wasn't a mate -- in fact, I thought my next two moves were just story over
-- and didn't realize that b2 hangs and black has quite a lot of chances. |
| It is not so easy for white to take control of the
position: 32.Qd5?? Qb6+ 33.Qd4 Qxb2 –/+ |
| 34...Rxa2 35.g5+ Kh5 36.Qd1+ Kh4 37.Qe1+ Kg4 38.Qd1+
Kh4 is a draw, as I had correctly calculated during the game.
Even here I was too optimistic, however, because I thought the draw was
in the bag and I could look for a win, but there is _only_ a draw.
One essential point that I had missed is that black's drawn-out king has
become relatively safe. |
| 36...Qg4+ is also very difficult for white to meet:
37.Qxg4+ Kxg4 38.Rd7 Kg3 |
| 40.Re2!? offers an endgame which I was unable to
evaluate confidently in my remaining time -- in fact I played 40.Ke3 with
exactly one second left on my clock: 40...Rxe2+ (40...Kg4 41.Qxb6 Rxb6
42.Re7 Kxf4 43.Rxf7+ Kxg5 44.Rxh7 Rb2+ 45.Kg3 b6 46.Rb7=) 41.Kxe2 Qxd4??
{This, the endgame in question, turns out to be winning for white.} 42.cxd4
Kg4 43.d5 Kf5 44.Ke3 f6 45.Kd4 fxg5 46.fxg5 b5 47.a3 Kxg5 48.Ke5+-; 40.Ke3
Qc6 41.f5+ may also be an improvement, but I simply sucked up all of my
time looking at 40.Re2. |
| At this point my opponent offered his second draw,
which should have been accepted. However, through inertia and because
of the rating difference, I fatally played on. 41...Rxa2!? is a draw: 42.f5+
Kh3 43.Qg4+ (43.Qe5 Rg2) 43...Kh2 44.Qf4+ Kg1 45.Qc1+ Kh2 46.Qf4+ |
| This is a mistake because white is getting mated
instead of black. It is impossible to explain this conceptually but
the following complicated variations seem to bear it out. |
| 42...Rxa2 43.Qg4+ is still a draw. |
| Losing immediately. 44.Qd1! is apparently the best
try, but the following analysis by Hiarcs indicates that white is nonetheless
lost: 44...Kh2 (44...Rxa2 45.Qh1+ Rh2 46.Qf1++-) 45.Qf1 (45.Qc1 Qh5+ 46.Ke4
Qe2+ 47.Kd4 Rg4+ 48.Kc5 Qc4+ 49.Kd6 Qc6+ 50.Ke5 Qe6#) 45...Rxa2 46.Qc1
…Rd2+ 46...Qh5+ 47.Ke4 Qe2+ 48.Kd4 Rd2+ 49.Kc5 Qe7+ 50.Kc4 Qe4+ 51.Rd4
Rxd4+ 52.cxd4 Qc6+ 53.Kd3 Qxc1–/+. |
| That's about it. 49...Qxf3+ 50.Kxf3 Kxg5 was my
only hope although black is probably winning here too. |
| A difficult game. However, I think that I
still have cause for optimism, and my luck will bounce back. To all
of my chess friends in Michigan, I’ll still be seeing you around, and best
of luck now that it probably won’t be at my expense! |
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