You've Got Another Thing Comin'! Part III

Game Of The Week

Part II (https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/2014/02/youve-got-another-thing-comin-part-ii.html)

Round III

The players with 3 city championships include a couple of National Masters.  Jim Burden opted for the fast approach and became the 1st and only back-to-back-to-back champion by rattling off 3 titles in a row in the late 80s and early 90s, a la the Chicago Bulls of the same era.  However, Richard “Buck” Buchanan followed up Jim’s performance with the slow method, waiting close to 10 years between each of his titles.

3x Champions (2):

1989 Jim Burden
1990 Jim Burden
1991 Jim Burden
1992 Richard Buchanan
2003 Richard Buchanan
2012 Richard Buchanan

In round 3, I move up to the top board and remain as one of the 3 players with all victories (2.0).  I am guessing that I might have a shot at another title now, as the top seed NM Josh Bloomer suffered a loss in the second round, leaving me a slightly easier task of beating the #2 and #3 seeds for the title.  However, I have to face the #2 seed, Imre Barlay, right away.  We have played 6 times in USCF-rated tournaments and have an equal result (2 wins, 2 losses, 2 draws).  So, I figure I have a 50/50 shot to get the win.

You can catch a glimpse of Imre, as the deaf chess player, in this video clip from the 2011 CS City Championship.

I feel I can increase my chances with a little preparation.  So, I call on my preparation partner, Tim Brennan.  As the author of the Tactics Time books, he has collected a huge database of games from Colorado chess players.  Unfortunately, the clearest idea I can glean from the games is that I should not play like Rhett Langseth does against Imre.  As Imre’s most common foe, Rhett has only 1 win in 10 tries.  So, I don’t go into the game with a good idea of what to do.

Anderson,Paul - Barlay,Imre [D63]

CSCC Championship Colorado Springs (3.1), 22.10.2013

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 0–0 8.Rc1 b6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Bd3 Bb7

We remain in the book line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined.  I feel this favors Imre with his years of experience and much deeper knowledge of chess openings.

11.0–0 Ne4 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Qb3 Nxc3 14.Rxc3 c5 15.Qa3 Rfe8 16.Bb5 c4 17.Qa4 Red8 18.Bxd7 Qxd7 19.Qxd7 Rxd7 20.a4 f6

I thought that the c4 Pawn push might become a liability in the endgame and figure it is fine for me to trade off Queens and try to find a plan to take advantage of it by creating a Passed Pawn on d4 or an Isolated Pawn on d5.  However, my ideas are more fantasy than anything concrete.

21.Ra1 Rdd8 22.Ne1 Bc8 23.Nc2 Bf5 24.Nb4 Kf7 25.Kf1 a5 26.Na2 Rdb8 27.Nc1 b5 28.axb5 Rxb5 29.b3 cxb3 30.Rxb3 Rab8

I was having a hard time deciding where I wanted to put my Knight, but I didn’t want to trade it off.  I felt that the Knight to b4 and the King to f1 put the game in Imre’s favor, as I didn’t realize the problems with the Pawn attack on a5.  All my pieces seem to be getting in each other’s way, and I am just hoping to hold off possible mating threats.

31.Rba3 Rc8 32.Nb3

Black to move

32... Bd3+ 33.Ke1 Rc2 34.Nd2 Bc4 35.Nxc4 dxc4 36.R3a2 Rxa2 37.Rxa2 f5 38.f3 Ke6 39.e4 fxe4 40.fxe4 Rb3

I am thrilled to have survived his invasion and begin to think maybe I can still win this and hold on to my shot at the title.  However, time is a huge factor now for both of us.  I was hoping to keep him behind in time and hope for a time pressure blunder.  Imre’s clock went under 5 minutes first, but I quickly dropped below him trying to figure out how to save my connected Passed Pawns.  I still felt a draw would ruin my chances at the title and ignored Imre’s draw offer.  After a few more pointless moves, I came to my senses and realized that my only choices were going to be a loss, due to pride, or a draw, with humility, and focus on winning 2nd place.

41.Ke2 Rd3 42.d5+ Ke5 43.Rxa5 Kxe4 44.Rc5 Rxd5 45.Rxc4+ Ke5 46.Rc7 Kf6 47.Rc6+ ½–½

To be continued...

You've Got Another Thing Comin'! Part III

[Event "CSCC Championship"]
[Site "https://cschessnews.blogspot.com/"]
[Date "2013.10.22"]
[Round "3.1"]
[White "Anderson, Paul"]
[Black "Barlay, Imre"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D63"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2013.10.08"]
[TimeControl "5400"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 O-O 8. Rc1 b6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bd3 Bb7 11. O-O Ne4 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Qb3 Nxc3 14. Rxc3 c5 15. Qa3 Rfe8 16. Bb5 c4 17. Qa4 Red8 18. Bxd7 Qxd7 19. Qxd7 Rxd7 20. a4 f6 21. Ra1 Rdd8 22. Ne1 Bc8 23. Nc2 Bf5 24. Nb4 Kf7 25. Kf1 a5 26. Na2 Rdb8 27. Nc1 b5 28. axb5 Rxb5 29. b3 cxb3 30. Rxb3 Rab8 31. Rba3 Rc8 32. Nb3 Bd3+ 33. Ke1 Rc2 34. Nd2 Bc4 35. Nxc4 dxc4 36. R3a2 Rxa2 37. Rxa2 f5 38. f3 Ke6 39. e4 fxe4 40. fxe4 Rb3 41. Ke2 Rd3 42. d5+ Ke5 43. Rxa5 Kxe4 44. Rc5 Rxd5 45. Rxc4+ Ke5 46. Rc7 Kf6 47. Rc6+ 1/2-1/2

https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=90211

This Week In Chess

On March 4th, the Colorado Springs Chess Club held an unrated Speed tournament (2RR, G5).  I went unbeaten to claim the 1st place tour points.

Here are the results:

Score Player

18.0 Paul Anderson
14.0 Daniel Herman
12.0 NM Buck Buchanan
10.0 Joe Pahk
9.0 Mark McGough
8.0 Koji Del Conte
7.0 Earle Wikle
5.0 William Benedek
4.0 Shirley Herman
1.0 Eugin Pahk

Tuesday Night Chess Tour Standings for 1st Quarter

MAX POSSIBLE 32.00 32.00

1 Paul Anderson 19.50 19.50
2 Richard Buchanan 17.50 17.50
3 Daniel Herman 17.00 17.00
4 Koji DelConte 14.00 14.00
5 Joe Pahk 10.50 10.50
6 Mark McGough 10.00 10.00
7 Josh Bloomer 8.00 8.00
8 Shirley Herman 8.00 8.00
9 William Benedek 7.50 7.50
10 Eugin Pahk 6.00 6.00
11 Mike Madsen 5.00 5.00
12 Sara Herman 4.00 4.00
13 Dean Brown 4.00 4.00
14 Katie Wise 3.00 3.00
15 Kevin Kaaoush 3.00 3.00
16 Alex Torres 3.00 3.00
17 Gary Atkinson 2.00 2.00
18 John Byrne 2.00 2.00
19 Robert Jimenez 2.00 2.00
20 Ron Dotson 2.00 2.00
21 Chris Wynkoop 2.00 2.00
22 Alex Freeman 2.00 2.00
23 Imre Barlay 2.00 2.00
24 Larry Klezdik 2.00 2.00
25 Bobby Dzagen 1.00 1.00
26 Earle Wikle 1.00 1.00