Game 4: Kevin Bonham v Zwischenzug (1/2-1/2)

[Kevin Bonham]

PGN Viewer

 

43...Ke7 is forced and my next move is 44.R5c7+

Then if 44...Kxe6 45.Rxg7

[Zwischenzug]

PGN Viewer

 

[Kevin Bonham]

PGN Viewer

 

My next move, wherever you move your king on ...46, is 47.Rxf6

Then if 47...Kxf6, 48.Rg6+ followed by 49.Rxh6 irrespective of where you've moved your king on move ...48

Hope that's clear enough - that should speed things up a bit.

[Zwischenzug]

PGN Viewer

 

My next move, wherever you move your king on ...46, is 47.Rxf6

Then if 47...Kxf6, 48.Rg6+ followed by 49.Rxh6 irrespective of where you've moved your king on move ...48

Hope that's clear enough - that should speed things up a bit.

If 48.Rg6+, then 48...Kh7
If 48.Ra6, then 48...Rxh5
If 48.Rc6, 48.Rd6 or 48.Re6 then 48...a5

Hope this is clear also .

[Kevin Bonham]

PGN Viewer

 

... and having won my meaningless pawn, this is a tablebase draw, therefore I offer a draw.

[Zwischenzug]

PGN Viewer

 

... and having won my meaningless pawn, this is a tablebase draw, therefore I offer a draw.

And I accept! Well played Kevin, I tried holding on as long as I could.

[Kevin Bonham]

You played well to defend it, as even after my move-misread slip-up on move 19 I still managed to maintain at least the appearance of winning chances for a very long time. The ending was interesting but I doubt that I ever really had enough to do anything - just an edge that kept fizzling out. At times I thought I might win, but you played some good moves that I hadn't looked at.

That move-slip probably ended up costing me half a point. I expected 18...Rxf5 19.Na4 Qb4 20.Nc5 etc when white is winning, but had I realised you had played 18...exf5 instead I would have switched to 19.Nxd5 which wins a pawn, because if ...Qxb2 20.Re2 and white's queen having no good squares ...f4 then swaps queens but at the cost of the f-pawn; again white should win from there.

I thought you made at least one error in the opening. That was 11...Bxd2 - this is getting rid of your good bishop leaving you with the bad one, and also helping me by developing my queen to d2. The Closed Tarrasch is a sharp line and generally Black ensures equality by active counterplay not by swaps that make concessions - even small inaccuracies can give white a serious plus. I thought 11...f6 was clearly better and that way if I swap bishops you will gain time by taking with the knight and threatening to win the minor exchange.

Thanks for the game.

[Zwischenzug]

You played well to defend it, as even after my move-misread slip-up on move 19 I still managed to maintain at least the appearance of winning chances for a very long time. The ending was interesting but I doubt that I ever really had enough to do anything - just an edge that kept fizzling out. At times I thought I might win, but you played some good moves that I hadn't looked at.

That move-slip probably ended up costing me half a point. I expected 18...Rxf5 19.Na4 Qb4 20.Nc5 etc when white is winning, but had I realised you had played 18...exf5 instead I would have switched to 19.Nxd5 which wins a pawn, because if ...Qxb2 20.Re2 and white's queen having no good squares ...f4 then swaps queens but at the cost of the f-pawn; again white should win from there.

I thought you made at least one error in the opening. That was 11...Bxd2 - this is getting rid of your good bishop leaving you with the bad one, and also helping me by developing my queen to d2. The Closed Tarrasch is a sharp line and generally Black ensures equality by active counterplay not by swaps that make concessions - even small inaccuracies can give white a serious plus. I thought 11...f6 was clearly better and that way if I swap bishops you will gain time by taking with the knight and threatening to win the minor exchange.

Thanks for the game.

I felt that you were slightly better throughout the entire game. Your pieces were quite active and I was forced on the defense much of the game. I wonder what effect 8...c4 instead of 8.cxd4 would have on the game.

9...Be7 and 10..f6 would have been a bit better for me I agree.

[Kevin Bonham]

I felt that you were slightly better throughout the entire game. Your pieces were quite active and I was forced on the defense much of the game. I wonder what effect 8...c4 instead of 8.cxd4 would have on the game.

There are some lines in the Winawer and Advanced where ...c4 is justified but in the Closed Tarrasch it typically leads to black getting smashed, because Black has shut down queen-side counterplay while leaving white's kingside attack intact.

9...Be7 and 10..f6 would have been a bit better for me I agree.

Or 9...f6 straightaway without committing the bishop yet which is perfectly normal.

I used to play this line myself habitually and won some nice games in it (including one where I kept sacrificing rooks on f3, the opponent kept not taking them but I got him anyway ), but these days I usually play 7...cxd4 with 8...f6 - not because it is "better" but because I was finding it easier to remember the theory.