We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.
Marcel Proust
It is time to start my journey back towards 2100. Yesterday I sat down at my chess desk and logged on to chess.com. The time was 11 PM, which was late, but it was first now all the daily chores were done. I would most likely have called it a night if not because I was motivated to get started on this project. Here are the highlights from the first game that I’m quite pleased about.
Say_Chess (2028) vs psicosisordinaria (1974)
Date: 28.07.2023
Result: 1-0
Tiredness level: 4/5
Accuracy: 96.0
The game was decided in: Endgame
Rating change: 2039 (+11)
The opening — D34 Tarrasch Defense: Two Knights, Rubinstein, Prague Variation
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 c5 5. O-O Nc6 6. c4 Be7 7. cxd5 exd5
I burned a lot of time in the opening, where I was a bit unsure about how to bring my pieces into play. Here was the first moment I used some time, around a minute, and played 8. Nc3. IM Christof Sielecki recommends 8. dxc5 with the idea to play a3 and b4 to push the Black Bishop away and place the White Bishop on b2. I did consider it without knowing it was the recommendation. I thought about it mainly because Black spent a tempo on Be7. However, there was nothing wrong with Nc3, which develops the Knight to a good square.
8. Nc3 Be6 9. Bf4 a6 10. dxc5 Bxc5
In this position, I spent a whopping 2 minutes and 48 seconds. I considered a wide range of moves: Ng5 (attacking the Bishop and opening up for the Catalan Bishop), Ne5, e3, Na4 (kicking the Bishop back to a7). I ended up picking Rc1, because it would put some heat on the Bishop on c5 and be placed on an open file.
The engine likes my move, but I’m not sure that the large time investment was worth it. The many candidate moves made me think.
The Middlegame
I think I survived the opening pretty well. Black has more advanced pawns, but they are split into 3 pawn islands and the backward c-pawn is a weakness. The White Bishop is slicing the board and is a lot better compared to Blacks.
Here I was reminded of the classic game Rubinstein vs Salwe (1908) which had a similar structure, where Rubinstein demonstrates how to exploit a weak backward c-pawn.
I, therefore, played Na4 with the idea of playing Nc4 blocking the c-pawn and then building pressure on the c-pawn. A little later in the game, I had the following position. Black is still holding things together, but I think I found a good solution, I think.
I played e4 and Black is almost forced to play Rb4 if dxe4 Qxd7 Bxd7 Bxe4. After Rb4 followed Qd3 dxe4 Qxd7 Bxd7 Rxa5.
I still had pressure on the c-pawn and the e-pawn is also a bit weak.
The endgame
My play started to drift a bit in the endgame due to the fact that I had used all my time and was playing on increments. In this position, I missed the best move.
Bc4+! and Black would be having a hard time getting his own Bishop into the game. I opted for the lesser move Ra7 aiming at the Bishop. My move actually lets Black off the hook and my opponent started to get counterplay with advancing pawns. In the below position, I would be in some problems after f3! which I was a bit worried about. Instead Black blundered with Rd1+ and I happily played Kg2. Suddenly Black is almost lost.
Here is the full game:
Overall I’m happy about the game. I could have played better in the endgame, which would have been easier if I had not burned so much time in the opening of the game. I at least understand this line a bit better now. I also felt that knowing that I was to share the game forced me to stay focused throughout the game.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments about my play.
/Martin
Thnx for sharing. I play the Reti and After 1.Nf3, Nf6 I might go for d4 instead of c4. If Black plays d5, I am considering your approach in this game.
This analysis is very insightful to me. Thank you so much and congratulations on such a strong game!