This is my only win at the
tournament, and it was achieved by a rather unusual method - making the opponent
run out of time. On the other hand, my position was much better, but probably
not a 100% win. In such positions 'slow' play is the method advised by most
endgame books. By moving my rook for 20 moves I was improving my own
understanding of the position, studying its hidden resources. Finally, as both
me and my opponent had not been doing too well at this tournament by that game,
both of us needed a win desperately; as a result the struggle was very 'dense'
and hard, even though it was full of mistakes.
Another important point about this game is that
the structure was familiar to me, almost the only time at the tournament. This
gave me extra confidence.
White: Angelini,
D
ARGENTINA
Black: Jiganchine, R
(2115) CANADA
[D12] World Youth U-18 (8), 18.10.2000
[annotatted by
Roman Jiganchine]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Bd3 Eventually the opening chosen
by my opponent lead to a structure very similar to my game from the last
Canadian open: [5.Nc3 e6 6.Bd2 Nbd7 7.h3 Be7 8.Nh4 Bg6 9.Nxg6 hxg6 10.Bd3 0-0
11.b3 Re8 12.0-0 Rc8 13.Rc1 Bf8 14.e4 dxe4 15.Nxe4 Nxe4 16.Bxe4 Nf6 17.Bg5 Qa5!
18.Bxf6 gxf6 Here, instead of putting pressure on the d4 pawn (this was the
right plan), I began a kingside attack, which was successful because of my
opponent's inaccuracies: 19.Qc2 Kg7 20.Rcd1 Bd6 21.Rd3 Rh8 22.Rfd1 Qg5 23.Rf3
Rh4 24.Qe2 Rch8 25.Kf1? (25.Qe3!?) 25...f5 26.Bb1 Rg4!
27.Qe3 f4 28.Qe4 Rxg2
29.d5 Rg1+ 30.Ke2 Rxd1 31.Kxd1 cxd5 32.Qd4+ Be5 33.Qxa7 dxc4 34.Qxb7 Rd8+ 35.Ke2
Qg1 0-1 Quiring,J-Jiganchine,R/Canadian Open 2000] 5...Bxd3 6.Qxd3 e6 7.Nbd2
Nbd7 8.0-0 Be7 9.b3 0-0 10.Bb2 Re8 11.e4 dxe4 12.Nxe4 Nxe4 13.Qxe4 Qa5
[13...Nf6 14.Qe2 c5 15.Rad1 Qc7 16.Ne5 cxd4 17.Bxd4 (17.Rxd4 Rad8 18.Rfd1
Rxd4 19.Rxd4 Rd8 20.Qd1 Rxd4 21.Qxd4 a6=) 17...Rad8 18.Rfe1 Bb4=] 14.Rfe1
Rad8 15.a3 Qh5 16.Rad1 Bf6 17.Qc2 Qg6
18.Qxg6?!
As White is the side with more space, it is hardly reasonable for him to
trade queens. Now the weakness of the 'd4' pawn becomes more noticeable [18.Qe2]
18...hxg6 19.Rd2 Nb6 20.Rde2 Na8 21.Ne5 Nc7 22.g3 Bxe5 23.Rxe5 [23.dxe5
Rd3 24.Re3 Red8 and Black is much better] 23...Rd7 24.f4 b6 25.Kf2 Red8
26.R5e3 Na6 27.Rd1 Nc7 [I certainly did not want to play 27...c5 28.Red3
cxd4 29.Rxd4 Rxd4 30.Rxd4 Rxd4 31.Bxd4 and White is clearly better] 28.Red3
f6 29.Ke2 Kf7 30.R1d2 Rh8
at this stage
my doubled pawns are rather compact and because of them I have an open 'h' file
31.Kd1 Rh5 32.Kc2 Rd8 33.Re2 [33.h4 g5 34.hxg5 fxg5 35.Rf3 g4 36.Rfd3=]
33...Rh3 34.Bc3 Rh5 35.a4 Rd7 36.Rd1 Ne8 37.Ra1 Nd6
38.a5?
[38.Rae1 f5 39.Rxe6 Rxh2+] 38...b5 39.Kd3?! Here my opponent offered
a draw, but it happened to be the only draw offer at the tournament that I
rejected 39...f5?! [39...bxc4+! 40.bxc4 c5 gave Black a serious
advantage.] 40.Bb4 Ne4
I managed to
put the knight on a beautiful square, but White has gained time to occupy the
'c' file 41.cxb5 cxb5 42.Rc1 Rh8 43.Rec2 Rhd8 44.Rc7 Ke8
45.Rxd7
[45.Ke3!? Rxc7 46.Rxc7 Rd7 47.Rc8+ Rd8 White has a guaranteed draw, but has
excellent winning chances after 48.Rc6 Kd7 49.Ra6] 45...Kxd7 46.Rc2
[46.d5] 46...a6 47.Bc5 [during the game I was worried about ideas
like 47.d5!? exd5 (47...Ke8 48.Rc7 Rxd5+ 49.Ke3 and White is OK)
48.Kd4 Nf6 49.Re2! would give White clear compensation for the pawn.]
47...Rc8 48.b4 my opponent just puts the pawns on the dark squares, which
can hardly be recommended [The big question is whether or not the endgame after
48.Bb6 Rxc2 49.Kxc2 Kc6 is winning. I think it is, even though the weakness of
my g7 pawn may cause Black some troubles] 48...Nf6 49.Rc1 Rh8
at this point
the maneuvering part of the game begins. During the game I was sure that Black
had a decisive advantage, but now I have some doubts about this. White put all
his pawns on the squares of the same color as his bishop, I have a knight
against this horrible bishop and even my rook is more active than the
opponent's. However, it now seems to me that White has a lot of chances for
counterplay and long struggle should decide whether or not Black's advantage is
decisive.50.Rc2 Nd5 51.Re2 Rh3 52.Kd2 Nf6 53.Kd3 Rh8!? Here I realized
that my dreams of a simple win were not going to come true: [the obvious
53...Ng4? would be a mistake because of 54.d5! exd5 (54...Rxh2 55.Rxe6)
55.Re7+ and all 3 of White's pieces become very active 55...Kd8 56.Rxg7 Nxh2
57.Rxg6 Ng4 58.Rxa6 Rxg3+ 59.Kd4 Rf3 60.Kxd5 Rxf4 61.Kd6 is just exactly what
White wants] 54.Rc2 Rg8 now I have to decide what am I going to do if I
cannot win the h2 pawn. Bringing the rook to h5 and playing g6-g5 is an obvious
plan, but my opponent's behavior gave me another idea: Angelini was not looking
at the board when it was his move, his sad eyes were either following a pretty
girl that was entering the room from time to time or he was just staring into
space. I repeat, this all was happening while his clock was running... 55.Re2
Rc8 56.Re1 Nd5 57.Re2 Rh8 58.Kd2 Rh3 59.Kc2 [59.Kd3?? Nxf4+-+] 59...Nf6
60.Kd3 [60.Kd2 Ng4 61.d5 Rxh2 62.dxe6+ Ke8 63.Rxh2 Nxh2 64.Kd3±] 60...Rh5
61.Bf8 Rh7 62.Bc5 Ne4 63.Rc2 Nf6 64.Re2 Rh8 65.Rc2 Nd5 66.Re2 Rd8 [after
66...Rh5 I was worried about 67.Bf8 g5 but 68.Bxg7 does not seem to be possible:
68...gxf4 69.Be5 Nxb4+µ and Black is probably winning] 67.Re1 Rc8 68.Re2 Ra8
69.Re1 Nc7 70.Re2 Rh8 71.Bb6 Nd5 72.Bc5 During the last 20 moves the
position has almost not changed. In fact, I was very worried about not repeating
the position 3 times by accident. However, something else happened: by this
point my Argentinean opponent had only about a minute left on his clock. He
spent about half an hour of them during my planless rook and knight moves
between moves 50 and 75 72...Rh5 73.Kd2 g5! 74.fxg5 Rxg5 75.Kd3
75...f4?!
I missed White's next move; as now White cannot take on f4, I was thinking I
can just win a pawn. [It was probably better to keep the position more closed;
push the pawn to g5, transfer the knight to e4, possibly - the king to d5. By
maintaining the tension I would also make my opponent's chances of losing on
time much higher 75...Rh5 and now 76.h4 is bad because of 76...g5 77.Rg2
(77.hxg5 Rxg5 78.Rg2 Nf4+-+) 77...f4-+] 76.Re5! At this point my
opponent had about 40 seconds left, I - about 5 minutes. This is just the moment
when I stopped recording, the rest of the moves is what I managed to restore. I
was sincerely thinking that my position after the exchange of rooks was winning
and gave my opponent a lot of winning chances in this time scramble:
76...Rxe5 [76...Rg4 was probably still better 77.gxf4 Nxf4+ 78.Ke3
(78.Kd2 Rg2+ 79.Ke3 Nd5+ 80.Kf3 Rxh2 81.Rg5 Rh7 82.Rg6 Nf6 and Black
keeps an extra pawn) 78...Nd5+ with Black maintaining some advantage]
77.dxe5 fxg3 78.hxg3 Nc7 79.Ke4 Ke8 80.Kd4 Kf7 [80...Kd7!? 81.Bb6 Nd5
82.Kc5 Nc3 and Black is OK] 81.Ke4? I am not 100% sure that this was
exactly the way the game developed, but the major routes of the king have been
restored. In desire to win as well as hallucinated by the opponent's time
trouble, having little time myself, I went for a crazy king march. White missed
a couple of winning opportunities, this seems to be one of them: [81.Bd6 Ne8
(81...Nd5 82.Kc5 Kg6 83.Kc6 Kg5 84.Kb7+-) 82.Kc5+-] 81...Kg6?
[81...Ke8 82.Kd4 Kd7 83.Bd6 Kc6! 84.Bxc7 Kxc7 85.Kc5 g6 86.g4 (86.Kd4 Kd7
87.Ke3 g5 88.Kf3 Kc6 89.Kg4 Kd5 90.Kxg5 Kxe5 91.g4 Kd4 92.Kf6 e5 93.g5 e4 94.g6
e3 95.g7 e2 96.g8Q e1Q=) 86...g5=] 82.Kf4? [82.Bd6 Nd5 83.Kd4 Kf5
84.Kc5 Kg4 85.Kc6 Kxg3 86.Kb7 g5 87.Kxa6 g4 88.Kb7 Kf3 89.a6 g3 90.a7 g2 91.Bc5
Ne3 92.Bxe3 Kxe3 93.a8Q g1Q 94.Qa7++-] 82...Kh5 83.g4+ Kh4 84.Bf8 g6 85.Kf3
Nd5 86.Bc5 Kh3 87.Bf8 Kh2 88.Bc5 Kh1 89.Bd6 Kg1 90.Bc5+ [90.Ke4 Kf2 91.Kd4
Kf3 92.Kc5 Kxg4 93.Kc6 g5 94.Kb7 Kf3 95.Kxa6 g4 96.Kb7 g3 97.a6 g2 98.Bc5
(98.a7 g1Q 99.a8Q Qb6+ 100.Kc8 Ke4 101.Kd7÷) 98...Ne3÷] 90...Kf1
91.Ke4 Ke2 92.Kd4 Kd2 93.Bf8 Kc2 94.Kc5 Kb3 95.Kc6 Nxb4+ 96.Kb6 Ka4 97.Bxb4 Kxb4
98.Kxa6 Kc4 99.Kb7 b4 100.a6 b3 101.a7 b2 102.a8Q b1Q+ 103.Kc7
We reached
this queen and pawn ending with me having about 2 minutes and my opponent - with
6 seconds103...Kd4 104.Qa4+ [104.Kd6? Qb6+; 104.Qa5!? Qb3!? 105.Kd7 Qd5+]
104...Kxe5 105.Qa5+ Kf4 106.Qa4+ Qe4 107.Qxe4+ Kxe4 And White lost on
time...His position has become completely lost by this point too. 0-1
