Canadian Chess, Eh

My first rated game since May 2009 was last night. I was paired with Dan Raats. The time control was SD/50 minutes + 20 seconds (Bronstein) which is an interesting time control.

The game was sooner than I had originally targeted to start playing again (mid-October) so other than some middlegame and tactics work I didn't feel fully prepared - I haven't even looked at endgames or openings since restarting my study. So I was quite pleased to get out of the opening intact!

[Event "KW September Quick Regular"][Site "Kitchener"]
[Date "2014.09.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Raats, Dan"]
[Black "Mallon, Christopher"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "1955"]
[BlackElo "1767"]
[Annotator "Christopher Mallon"]
[PlyCount "68"]


1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 b6 4. Bd3 Bb7 5. O-O Be7 6. c4 d5 {I am going to try
to open or half-open the c and d files, leaving pawns on b6 and e6 and
capturing with pieces. The alternative is to capture with pawns and play with
the two floating c and d pawns with pieces in behind.} 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. a3 {A
curious move. White was concerned about having his Bishop kicked off d3, and I
suppose something like Nb4, Be2 .. Be4 might be awkward... except that White
has Qa4+ under his sleeve, so he was safe at least until I castled. I never
actually planned for my Knight to go to b4 at all, as it happens.} O-O 9. e4
Nf6 10. Nc3 Nbd7 11. h3 {Another curious move. White was apparently worried
about an eventual Ng4 but surely a move like e5 or b5 would be better in this
position, or even Bg5. I was personally worried about b5 as it would slow down
or stop my plan to go after e4.} c5 12. Re1 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Nc5 14. Bc2 e5 {I
used 7 whole minutes on this move, up to this time I was more or less using my
Bronstein increment time. It turns the usually quiet Queen's Indian into a
fairly tactical game for a while, but what I've noticed about this opening is
that you rarely get a lot of chances to start something, so when a chance to
do so comes along you have to grab it. Interestingly I also considered Nxe4
which almost works.} 15. Nf5 Re8 16. Qxd8 (16. Qe2 {and e4 is safe, leaving
White slightly better especially after b5 and Bb2 putting pressure on e5.})
16... Raxd8 17. b4 Nd3 {Things are going to get ugly! But I didn't like how
scrunched-up my position would be after either Ne6 or Ncd7. I do admit I
completely missed that Nxe7 was a check though.} 18. Rd1 Nxc1 19. Nxe7+ Kf8 20.
Ned5 Nxd5 21. exd5 Rc8 22. Ba4 Rxc3 (22... Nb3 23. Bxb3 (23. Bxe8 Nxa1 24. Rxa1
Kxe8 25. Ne2 Bxd5 $19) 23... Rxc3 24. Rab1 $11) 23. Bxe8 Nb3 24. Bc6 Bxc6 25.
dxc6 Nxa1 {I had to take a few minutes to consider 26. b5 as a response to
this and whether or not it might be better to snap the pawn now instead to
avoid that.} 26. Rxa1 {Played instantly, which meant all my worrying and
calculating what happens after 26. b5 were for nothing.} Rxc6 27. Re1 f6 28.
Re3 Rc1+ {This move was alright for a tempo and getting his King way out of
the way, but the next two were probably wastes of time. His rook can't win by
penetrating the d-file, it's too slow.} 29. Kh2 Rc2 30. Kg3 Rc4 31. Kf3 Ke7 32.
Ke2 Rd4 33. Rc3 Kd7 34. g3 g5 {Draw offer accepted. Black of course has all
the chances in this ending but after 4 minutes I hadn't figured out exactly
what plan to go with, and I only had 17 minutes left. Best plan probably
involves b5, h5, f5 and e4 before pushing in with King and Rook, eating White
pawns faster than the White rook can eat the Black pawns.} 1/2-1/2


Well, according to Houdini 1.5 the b5 idea was definitely correct, followed by the Rook penetrating to the 2-line. Endgame review coming soon I guess! Still, overall I am pleased with how the game went, I thought I was getting crushed and had basically hung a piece before I found 21. .. Rc8. On to the next!