Man de la Maza v. Dread Pirate Josh

G/60. Fight to the death and for the lead in the hotly contested Kaissa May-June Ladder championship. Not a bad game. I was up the exchange and then I steered it into an endgame where I almost nullified my advantage. With time getting short, I squeeked a passer to bring me home the gold.


Evans (1650) - Dread Pirate Josh (1371) [D51]
08.06.2006

1.d4 As promised 1...d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 a6 7.a4 0-0 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nb6 10.Ba2 Bb4 11.0-0 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Nbd5 13.Qc2 b5 14.e4 Somewhat of a nut crusher. I had been looking at the c pawn advance for so long I forgot about the e pawn. The push starts blacks probs. 14...Ne7 15.Bxf6 [Fritz likes 15.e5 Nfd5 16.Bb1 g6 17.axb5 Bb7 18.bxa6 Rxa6 19.Rxa6 Bxa6 20.Rd1+-] 15...gxf6 I prefer the simple doubled pawn with kingside weakness. 16.axb5 axb5 17.e5 f5 18.Qd2 Ng6 19.Qh6 f6 20.d5 Rxa2 [20...exd5 This actually works fine because 21.Bxd5+ can be met by 21...Qxd5 and the queen defends the rook. Both of us missed this OTB] 21.Rxa2 Qxd5 22.Rd2 Qc5 23.exf6 Rxf6 24.Ng5 Qe7 25.Rfd1 Rf8 26.Rd8 Qg7 27.Rxf8+ Nxf8 28.Qxg7+ Kxg7 29.f4 Bb7 30.Kf2 Bd5 31.g3 Nd7 32.Ke3 Black's position isn't bad at all. He has a lot of compensation for the exchange, and white is playing like a big wussbag. 32...c6 33.Ra1 h6 34.Ra7 hxg5 35.Rxd7+ Kg6 36.fxg5 [36.h4 is much better] 36...Kxg5 37.Kd4 f4 38.gxf4+ Kxf4 39.Rg7 e5+ 40.Kd3 e4+ 41.Ke2 Bc4+ 42.Ke1 c5 43.h4 b4 44.cxb4 cxb4 45.h5 Bd5?! Good idea. I thought this held the draw. If the pawn on e4 is on e3 it might. 46.h6 b3 47.Rg2 b2 [47...e3 48.h7 Bxg2 49.h8Q+-] 48.Rxb2 Bg8 49.Rb7 Ke3 50.h7 Bxh7 51.Rxh7 Black Resigns 1-0