Found a rhythm...
So... I think I ended the slump. I played three games today, all pretty quick, and scored 2.5. The first game was a draw, if you saw my earlier post where I said I have only scored 16 draws in over 270 rated USCF games then you know this is a rarity. And I made this sucker work hard for this draw. I had a nice position, my knight was much better than his bishop, but he got me to trade. Then we were in a queen ending, then a pawn ending, then another queen ending, and I thought I would be able to pull something off the whole time but no, he earned his draw. Then the next game I was going to lose! But I found my game...
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nge2 e5 6.d3 Nge7 7.Be3 d6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bh6 f5 10.h4 Nd4 11.Nxd4 cxd4 12.Nd5 Nxd5 13.exd5 Qe7 14.h5 Bd7 15.hxg6 hxg6 16.0-0-0 Rac8 17.Bxg7 Qxg7 18.Rh6 Rc5 19.Rdh1
This position is so bad... I had originally thought that I could get away with Qxh8 and getting two rooks for the queen. But now that I am faced with the prospect of Rh8 I see the following... 19...Rfc8 20 Rh8+ Qh8 21 Rh8 Kh8 22 Qh6 and I am cooked. If only I could get Be8 and Rfc8 in I would be ok... or....
19...f4!! These kinds of moves end my slumps. This is a beautiful move, since the only problem in my position is the Queen coming to the h-file, I simply prevent it, and now I can carry on my attack and we end up in a good bishop vs. bad bishop endgame which white gets thoroughly lost in.
20.Rh8+ Qxh8 21.Rxh8+ Kxh8 22.gxf4 Rfc8 23.fxe5 Rxc2+ 24.Qxc2 Rxc2+ 25.Kxc2 dxe5 26.Be4 g5 27.Kb3 b6 28.Kb4 Kg7 29.Kc4 Kf6 30.b4 Ke7 31.Bg6 a6 32.f3 Kd6 33.Bf7 Bb5+ 34.Kb3 Bxd3 35.a4 Be2 36.Bh5 Kxd5 37.Bf7+ Kd6 38.Bc4 Bxf3 39.Bxa6 Bd1+ 40.Ka3 g4 41.Bd3 g3 42.Bf1 Bf3 43.a5 bxa5 44.bxa5 g2 0-1
After this game I felt pretty good and I took a break to look at a couple Kasparov pawn sacrifices from Chess Strategy in Action. Then I made an exchange sacrifice in my last game of the day...
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Qc7 7.Bd3 Nf6 8.0-0 Bd6 9.f4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Bxf4 11.Bxf6 Bxh2+ 12.Kh1 gxf6 13.Rxf6 Be5 14.Qf3!? I figured that Black losing the right to castle and the weak Bishop were adequate compensation.
14... Bxf6 15.Qxf6 Rg8 16.Rf1 d6 17.e5 Qe7
Black figures he can simplify and be OK, that I was relying on my attack to be compensation. But no! I was ready to exchange Queens, my activity is compensation (a theme of positional sacrifices, my work is paying dividends).
18.Qxe7+ Kxe7 19.exd6+ Kxd6 20.Rxf7 Bd7 21.Ne4+ Kc7? This is an ugly move, now White is just winning
22.Nc5 Rad8 23.Nxe6+ Kc8 24.Nxd8 Kxd8 25.Rxh7 Bc6 26.Rh2 Re8 27.Kg1 Re1+ 28.Kf2 Ra1 29.a3 Ra2 30.Rh8+ Ke7 31.Rh7+ Kf6 32.Rf7+ Kg5 33.Rf5+ Kh6 34.g4 Rxb2 35.g5+ Kg7 36.Re5 Ra2 37.g6 Rxa3 38.Re7+ Kf8 39.g7+ Kxe7 40.g8Q Kd6 41.Qg6+ Kc5 42.Qf5+ Kb6 43.Qe6 Ra5 44.Ke3 Rc5 45.c4 a5 46.Kd4 a4 47.Qd6 Ra5 48.Qb4+ Ka7 49.Be4 Kb8 50.Bxc6 Kc8 51.Qxb7+ Kd8 52.Qd7# 1-0 Mate with 0.4 seconds to spare... close call but a smooth win.
Beginning with 19...f4 I was ready to bring some creative solutions to the table and to think in more abstract terms. And it produced results. I need to study more...
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nge2 e5 6.d3 Nge7 7.Be3 d6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bh6 f5 10.h4 Nd4 11.Nxd4 cxd4 12.Nd5 Nxd5 13.exd5 Qe7 14.h5 Bd7 15.hxg6 hxg6 16.0-0-0 Rac8 17.Bxg7 Qxg7 18.Rh6 Rc5 19.Rdh1
This position is so bad... I had originally thought that I could get away with Qxh8 and getting two rooks for the queen. But now that I am faced with the prospect of Rh8 I see the following... 19...Rfc8 20 Rh8+ Qh8 21 Rh8 Kh8 22 Qh6 and I am cooked. If only I could get Be8 and Rfc8 in I would be ok... or....
19...f4!! These kinds of moves end my slumps. This is a beautiful move, since the only problem in my position is the Queen coming to the h-file, I simply prevent it, and now I can carry on my attack and we end up in a good bishop vs. bad bishop endgame which white gets thoroughly lost in.
20.Rh8+ Qxh8 21.Rxh8+ Kxh8 22.gxf4 Rfc8 23.fxe5 Rxc2+ 24.Qxc2 Rxc2+ 25.Kxc2 dxe5 26.Be4 g5 27.Kb3 b6 28.Kb4 Kg7 29.Kc4 Kf6 30.b4 Ke7 31.Bg6 a6 32.f3 Kd6 33.Bf7 Bb5+ 34.Kb3 Bxd3 35.a4 Be2 36.Bh5 Kxd5 37.Bf7+ Kd6 38.Bc4 Bxf3 39.Bxa6 Bd1+ 40.Ka3 g4 41.Bd3 g3 42.Bf1 Bf3 43.a5 bxa5 44.bxa5 g2 0-1
After this game I felt pretty good and I took a break to look at a couple Kasparov pawn sacrifices from Chess Strategy in Action. Then I made an exchange sacrifice in my last game of the day...
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Qc7 7.Bd3 Nf6 8.0-0 Bd6 9.f4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Bxf4 11.Bxf6 Bxh2+ 12.Kh1 gxf6 13.Rxf6 Be5 14.Qf3!? I figured that Black losing the right to castle and the weak Bishop were adequate compensation.
14... Bxf6 15.Qxf6 Rg8 16.Rf1 d6 17.e5 Qe7
Black figures he can simplify and be OK, that I was relying on my attack to be compensation. But no! I was ready to exchange Queens, my activity is compensation (a theme of positional sacrifices, my work is paying dividends).
18.Qxe7+ Kxe7 19.exd6+ Kxd6 20.Rxf7 Bd7 21.Ne4+ Kc7? This is an ugly move, now White is just winning
22.Nc5 Rad8 23.Nxe6+ Kc8 24.Nxd8 Kxd8 25.Rxh7 Bc6 26.Rh2 Re8 27.Kg1 Re1+ 28.Kf2 Ra1 29.a3 Ra2 30.Rh8+ Ke7 31.Rh7+ Kf6 32.Rf7+ Kg5 33.Rf5+ Kh6 34.g4 Rxb2 35.g5+ Kg7 36.Re5 Ra2 37.g6 Rxa3 38.Re7+ Kf8 39.g7+ Kxe7 40.g8Q Kd6 41.Qg6+ Kc5 42.Qf5+ Kb6 43.Qe6 Ra5 44.Ke3 Rc5 45.c4 a5 46.Kd4 a4 47.Qd6 Ra5 48.Qb4+ Ka7 49.Be4 Kb8 50.Bxc6 Kc8 51.Qxb7+ Kd8 52.Qd7# 1-0 Mate with 0.4 seconds to spare... close call but a smooth win.
Beginning with 19...f4 I was ready to bring some creative solutions to the table and to think in more abstract terms. And it produced results. I need to study more...