MCC Summer Solstice Swiss: Round 3

It's round three at the club and I'm leading the U1600 section with two straight wins.

In round 3, I'm paired up with Jenshiang Hong, a very strong U1600 player who just recently swept the U1700 section last month with four straight wins.

Jenshiang and I have played twice before and our series was even before this game; Jenshiang winning the last time we played. Here is the rubber match game...enjoy!

Hong,Jenshiang (1454)
Smith,Warner (1562)
[B26] Closed Sicilian
MCC Summer Solstice Swiss Natick MA (3), 16.06.2009

Going into this game as Black against Jenshiang Hong, I knew that I would face his favorite opening; the Closed Sicilian. With that knowledge, I planned to attack swiftly on his Queenside, play 5...e6 versus my usual ...e5, wait to develop my Queenside Knight until White plays f4 and play to eliminate his Knights quickly or at the very least, keep them contained.

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 e6
As a Najdorf player, I tend to play e5 in almost all forms of Sicilian openings I play. But this time, I ventured for e6. Why, well, I wanted to give my fianchetto bishop the ability to apply immediate pressure in the early stages of the game. Moreover, this pawn move helps to eliminate any prospective Knight from entertaining an outpost on d5.

6.Be3 d6 7.Qd2 Rb8 8.Nge2 b5



All book up to here. As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to play quick and fast on the Queenside, keeping White pre-occupied and away from his main goal: a kingside pawn storm.

9.0–0
I was expecting 9. d4 and was ready to play out the following line:
[9...b4 10.Nd1 Qb6 11.dxc5 dxc5 12.Nc1 Ba6]

9...b4
White castling on move 9 was not his best move. Ignoring Black's Queenside intent at this juncture only gives Black the tempo he's been looking for. By playing ...b4, I'm sticking to plan and keeping White's Knights off their "horse shoes" so to speak.

10.Nd1 Nd4
I'm going after his Knights. In the Closed Sicilian, Knights tend to have stronger prospects than Bishops due to the locked pawn centers that naturally arise in this sort of opening. If White decides to exchange my Knight for his Bishop, I'm OK with that too. Such an exchange makes the ever wanting move of f4 weaker; exposing White's King to a weak g1–a7 diagonal.

11.Nc1 a5 12.c3 Nc6
White may see the Knight reatreat as a moral victory, but I had planned for its retreat the moment I played Nd4. My plans are still in place and succeeding, I'm pushing Queenside and White has been removed from focusing on a king side attack.

13.f4



I've been waiting for this move; the plan? Develop my Queen Knight to e7 and if White decides to follow up with g4 in the near future, I'll respond with ...f5!

13...Nge7 14.Ne2 0–0
Now that my fianchetto bishop is safe from the prospect of White playing Bh6, I can finally castle.

15.d4?!
I expected this move earlier, but certainly not now. This move gives Black exactly what he's been striving for; active Queenside play and as we'll soon see, White's fortunes on the King side never come to fruition after this move.

15...bxc3 16.bxc3 cxd4 17.cxd4 Ba6



This is beautiful! I've got open files for my Rooks and I've corralled one of White's Knights with a pin while the other sits on the back rank grazing. I'll of course exchange an inferior Bishop for a stronger Knight anytime.

18.Re1 Bxe2 19.Rxe2 Rb4
A natural Rook lift to add pressure on White's weakened d5 pawn.

20.e5 dxe5 21.dxe5 Nd4 22.Bxd4 Rxd4



My Knight on d4 was strong enough to force White into an exchange, thus giving up the g1–a7 diagonal. Black will make immediate use of this diagonal as he begins an antagonistic crusade against White's vulnerable Queen.

23.Qc2 Qb6 24.Nf2
This move sends White's Knight into permanent sleep for the remainder of the game.

24...Rc8
Black has domination along all open files and the important g1–a7 diagonal. It's only a matter of time now.

25.Qb3 Rb4 26.Qd3 Rd8 27.Qc2
White's Queen is under continuous bombardment and is forced into constant retreat and protective modes. With this move, Black is able to keep tempo while improving his position and exerting more pressure in the center of the board with 27...Nf5!



28.Qc6? Qa7?!



Naturally, White wants to exchange Queens at this point in the game, but the move 28.Qc6 is just plain bad for White. I immediately saw the following line:

[28...Nd4 29.Qxb6 Nxe2+ 30.Kf1 Rxb6 31.Kxe2 Rb2+ 32.Ke3 Rdd2]

In retrospect, I should have probably played this line out, after all, it is the most accurate play and Black gains a material advantage as well as having a stronger position.

So why did I play 28...Qa7? Basically I liked my Queen; she's quite active and applying a lot of pressure, whereas White's Queen is purely in defensive mode. Secondly, I liked keeping the Knight pinned and I don't believe that White can spare the tempo moving his King from the pin at this juncture. Finally, I truly believed that if I gave my opponent enough rope, he would eventually find a way to trip over it, granting me an opportunity to gain a larger material advantage than what was readily available to me at the time.

That's what makes this game so endearing, it's not always about the most accurate or computer generated lines the creates the "art of chess"; sometimes it's about gut feelings and playing out those emotions.

29.Qc3 Rbd4
Rooks are locked and loaded to continue antagonizing White's Queen, but more importantly, it makes White's attempt to unpin his Knight a little more tricky.

30.Qb3 Bf8
Perfect time to get Black's Bishop active and into the game. The plan is to play for Bc5 and free up the Queen from "Pin" duty.

31.Rb1??



Ooops, my opponent just tripped over that rope. By playing 31...Rb4! White pretty much loses his Queen. His best play is to take the Rook on b4. Should White try and save his Queen with something like 32.Qc2, then Black would follow with:

32...Nd4 33.Rxb4 Bxb4 34.Rd2 Nxc2 35.Rxd8+ Kg7 36.Rc8 Bc5!

After move 31, my opponent gracefully resigned. 0 -1

Steady Play

With each passing game, a growing confidence evolves within me. An insatiable growth in playing strength; afforded to me as result of sound judgement, positional understanding and tactics, make for steady play. Finally, study, time, effort and coaching are beginning to pay off dividends.

Granted I lost the first two rounds, but it wasn't due to any opening or middle game failures and may I remind the reader that I just returned from a 3 month hiatus. In both matches, I was quite solid into the late stages of the game with winning positions. It was only some old habits, cockiness and lack of concentration during the end game that led to my undoings in those games.

In the final round of this month's tournament, I was, once again, paired up against Doug Thompson. But before I get to the game, I need to say that Mr. Thompson is one classy guy and a credit to our club. A while back I wrote about "Chess Mannerisms"; Doug has all the class and sincerity that all club players should espouse too.

OK, so on to the game...

Smith,Warner (1471)
Thompson,Douglas (1477)
[C00] French: Kings Indian Attack
MCC New Years Swiss Natick MA (4)

1.e4 e6
Doug likes the French Defense. Last time I played him I was rather aggressive and played into the "Advance" version of the French Defense with 3.e5. However, I wanted to give Doug a different look this time around. So I decided to play a line I don't play much anymore...something a little less "edgy" and more conservative -- Kings Indian Attack.

2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Bd6
I considered a pawn push with 5.e5, but I was in prophylactic think mode with this particular player and wanted to continue with my opening development before putting together a solid attack plan. Moreover, I find that players of the French Defense sometimes forget about the simple pawn fork that can arise in this position with ...Nf6?

5.g3 d4!?
I found this early pawn push interesting and rather happy to see it, as I thought this move helped to justify White's development with the King's Indian Attack; blocking the important a7-g1 diagonal.

6.Bg2 Nd7 7.0–0 e5 8.Nc4 +=













Black has pushed for center space early on, but his pieces aren't well coordinated to make use of this current advantage. Meanwhile, White has finished with his preliminary development and now begins to form a solid strategy -- putting pressure on Black's pawn at e5 and await Black's intentions.

8...Bc7 9.a4
I don't want to make it easy for Black to push my Knight off of c4

9...Ngf6 10.Bh3
I begin to put into motion the "Removing of the Guard" at d7. Black's development is slow and his pieces appear "stuffy". I was waiting for Black's intent, but I can't sit around all day. I have development, sound strategy and tempo galore!

10...0–0 11.Bg5 Re8
A good move by Black and just in time. With this move, Black finishes his opening development and secures the life span of his pawn on e5.

12.Nh4
White begins to put into place a new strategy; one that focuses on Black's King directly! With the center now locked up, White entices Black to play 12...h6. The idea, is once Black plays this move, the white squares around his Monarch become weakened and White would follow up with a Bishop retreat to 13.Bd2 to later play Nf5! adding heavy pressure to h6.

12...h6 13.Bd2
Everything is going according to plan...

13...Nb6
Black's first counter play; but I like the options available to me. I want to exchange my light colored bishop with Black's. Remember what I said about the weak light colored squares around Black's King? Removing his biggest protector of such squares is beneficial for White.

14.Nxb6 Bxb6 15.Bxc8 Rxc8 16.a5
I want to keep Black's remaining Bishop in a bad state and inactive. With the center locked up, Black's Bishop becomes insignificant, whereas, White's lone Bishop enjoys his activity along the c1–h6 diagonal with strong pressure on h6!

16...Bc7 17.Nf5=













A fantastic outpost for White's Knight that helps to put pressure on h6. Black can't kick White's Knight out without losing material.

17...Re6
Black's best move! He's behind the eight ball here and needs to get his pieces well coordinated to defend against White's oncoming assault.

18.Qc1
I'm only probing here to see what Black will do next.

18...Nh7 19.Qd1
Hmmm...let's see if Black decides to bring his Knight back to f6.

19...Rg6?!
Not a good move for Black. I understand the reasoning behind the move to guard against Qg4 and to assist in Black's defense of his King. But this move is an illusory stay, as White will soon evict the Rook from it's fragile post. His best move is 19...Nf6 which helps guard against a Queen's invasion along the g and f-files.

20.h4! Nf8?
Better is 20...Kh8. Now, the Knight can't get to its elite post on f6, moreoever, his King is locked into a tight corner, accentuating the monarch's vulnerability to a sacrificial attack by White.

21.h5 Ra6 22.Qg4!±













White is about to win some material regardless of Black's next move.

22...g5 23.Nxh6+! Rxh6 24.Bxg5! Qd7
Forced.

25.Qxd7 Nxd7 26.Bxh6 Kh7 27.Bg5 Rg8 28.Bh4+-













Better is 27. Bd2; come back to assist with a Queen-side assault and the move would also have prevented the loss of my h-pawn. However, White is clearly winning and my immediate focus at the time was maintaining a vigilant guard over my King, while looking for exchanges whenever possible. I know that the end game will play itself out.

28...Kh6 29.Kg2 Kxh5 30.Rh1 Kg6 31.Ra4
Now that my King is well secured and up material, I begin a Queen side push seeking exchanges wherever they may be.

31...Re8 32.c3 Re6 33.cxd4 cxd4
Ahh...another file for my Rook to play with; biding time.

34.Rc1 Bd6 35.b4 b5 36.axb6 axb6 37.Rc6 b5 38.Ra7 Nf8 39.Rb7+-













I missed the perfect opportunity here to end the game quickly. The following line is much better for White: [39.Be7 Bxe7 40.Rxe6+ Nxe6 41.Rxe7 Kf6 42.Rb7 Nf8 43.Rxb5 Nd7]

39...Bxb4 40.Rxe6+ Nxe6 41.Rxb5 Bf8 42.Rxe5
Black keeps missing his pawns; so White picks them up for him. At this point Black is desperately playing on hope alone that would, at most, grant him a draw.

42...Bd6 43.Rd5 Bb4 44.f4 Nc5 45.Rxd4
Chomp...chomp...chomp...

45...Bd2 46.f5+ Kg7 47.Kf3 Nb3 48.Rd6 Bc3 49.g4 Be5 50.Rd7
Better is 50.Rd5

50...Nd4+
Black begins a dream of checks in hopes of a potential fork; but will soon find out that he will only awaken to a nightmare.

51.Ke3 Nc2+ 52.Kd2 Nd4 53.Bf2 Nb3+ 54.Kc2 Na5 55.Bd4
Another exchange...another nail in Black's coffin.

55...Nc6 56.Bxe5+ Nxe5 57.Ra7 Nxg4 58.Ra6 f6 59.d4
A few moves later and Black resigns to the worthless effort ahead of him. 1–0

Rating Watch: 1472

Exchanging Habits

You ask, exchanging habits? How do you exchange a habit? Ah yes, of course; remember, this is a blog about chess! And in chess, there is this concept called exchanging. You know, exchanging pieces on the board to improve your position or swap out a bad piece for your opponents good piece etc., etc..

Well, I have a bad habit of exchanging for the sake of exchanging. I don't know why; maybe just to help me simplify things on the board, especially when the position is sharp or overly complicated and I just don't feel like thinking. Yea...pretty lame and down right lazy for a chess player. That's why it's a bad habit!

Anyway, I've been studying and working to improve my play over the last couple of months and my highest priority is to rid myself of this bad habit!

Now, if you have been reading my blog, you know that I have been away from over the board play for over three months. So, you could say I'm a little rusty. Competitive chess always adds an unknown element of excitement and when you don't play for a while, that unknown element plays against your psyche.

Last Tuesday, I returned to play chess at my local club: Metrowest Chess Club. This month's tournament is a 4 round Swiss -- MCC New Years Swiss. For round 1, I am paired up against James Williams and the game that follows is an interesting one for three reasons:

1) It illustrates my improved understanding of positional play and opening theory.

2) The game also demonstrates a strategic concept I recently studied and blogged about; Good Bishop vs. Bad Bishop

3) Finally, in classical fashion illustrates my habitual nature to exchange pieces for the sake of exchanging!

White: Smith,Warner (1471)
Black: Williams,James (1557)
[B76] Sicilian: Yugoslav Attack
MCC New Years Swiss Natick MA

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0–0 8.Qd2













White's plan is quite simple and true to the Yugoslav Attack; castle queen side and begin a king side attack. Moreover, White's queen is positioned to help alleviate Black of his strongly placed bishop along the a1 - h8 diagonal.

8...Re8
Black has no intention or desire to trade off his dark colored bishop. First priority to ensure this; move the king's rook out of harms way.

9.Bc4 Nc6 10.h4
White begins the traditional pawn trek down the h-file in hopes of sacrificing his pawn for an enlightened half-open h-file!

10...Nxd4!?
I give this move a point of interest because it is "telling" in how Black plans to play out his game. He doesn't want any complications in the center; he wants a simple and non-controversial position here. So he simply decides to take the knights off the board. Traditionally, Black plays ...e5 followed up by ...Nc4 forcing White to exchange his light colored bishop. But, Black can't do that here as his Queen's rook is not yet positioned to support such endeavors.

11.Bxd4
White's only move. If [11.Qxd4 Ng4!] and White loses his prized dark colored bishop.

11...a6 12.0–0–0 Qa5
Black is wanting to put some pressure on White's queen side; specifically focusing on White's weak a-pawn and temporarily assigning a status of "inactive" to White's knight with a pin against the queen. But Black doesn't have any real help here to give legitimacy to an attack. He must still develop his light colored bishop and Queen's rook to give this move any merit for concern.

13.g4
I spent some time thinking about this move, and in retrospect, it's not the most accurate move to make here. I wanted to play 13. h5, but for unfounded fears, I did not want Black pushing his g-pawn; temporarily blocking access along the c1 - h6 diagonal. Yes, I know, pushing the g-pawn would have strained Black's king side position and White could then play to win the g-pawn with 14. Be3. As I said, my fears were unfounded.

13...Be6!?
This move is in line with Black's play thus far. Black is looking to keep his play in the center and establish dominance there. But before he can do so, he must first take the venom out of White's pieces in the middle board. Obviously, Black wants the exchange and is prepared to weaken his king side position to do so. Moreover, knowing White's intention to push h5, Black prepares an escape route via f7 for his royal monarch.

14.Bxe6 fxe6 15.h5 e5?
My eyes lit up when I saw this move! Black, in his attempt to keep play in the center, closes off the important a1–h8 diagonal and renders his strong bishop to an inactive piece. White's strategy is to keep Black's bishop inactive. We have the perfect Good Bishop vs. Bad Bishop in the making here.

16.Be3 Kf7 17.hxg6+ hxg6













White's strategic plans are just about complete. I've castled queen side, I've attacked and opened up Black's king-side and with one more move 18. g5! I can put a nail in the coffin for Black's bishop. White's position is much stronger here and if I were to exercise good judgement and stick to the game plan, a win should be forthcoming!

18.Bh6?
If I could add a second "?" mark here I would. For all intents and purposes, this move is a positional blunder! White should focus on his newest strategic development: Good Bishop v Bad Bishop. Black's king side is weak, and can only strengthen itself with the help of White's inaccurate play on that side of the board. The most accurate move here would be to get the queen out of harms way, adding flexibility to my position and unleashing the knight. 18. Qd3, would prepare for immediate play in the center and enable me to bring my active bishop to d2.

18...Rh8!
Black takes full advantage of White's inaccurate play and with one sweeping move solidifies his king side position. At this point, Black is on his knees begging me to exchange my good bishop with his inactive bishop.

19.Bxg7?
Ah the irony...suddenly, I am on auto-pilot and not taking the time to think things out. I'm still caught up on my original strategic plan: King side attack with the intent of removing Black's dark colored bishop. I have totally ignored recent developments due to that "unknown element" of competitive chess and a very strong desire to EXCHANGE pieces. So as habitual as a lighter is to a smoker, I oblige Black's plea to exchange my bishop for his very bad bishop; in two lazy moves, all of White's positional advantage is vanquished!

If I'm going to play with the bishop on the king side, much better would have been to support my bishop with 19. g5 and create some tension on that side of the board. This move would still leave Black with a bad bishop, forcing his hand to make the bishop exchange, thus granting White some tempo.

19...Kxg7 20.Rh2
Another inaccurate move on my part. Anger with my recent play has effected my judgement going forward. Here I am adamant on achieving dominance along the h-file and will exchange every piece I own to get it! With unclear thought, I'm thinking of doubling up my rooks and jamming the h-file down Black's throat. At this point, Black is in the driver's seat.

20...Rxh2!
However, it will be Black who jams the h-file and it's not going to be his throat he's jamming!

21.Qxh2 Rh8 22.Qg2 Qc5
A very good move by Black. Now that I have no active bishop patrolling the center diagonals, Black's queen begins a smooth territorial invasion into White territory.

23.Rh1
Better 23. Kb1. Now if Black's queen decides to visit 23...Qe3, White can reply 24. g5 Nd7 25. Nd5!

23...Qe3+
I saw this move coming, but once again, I'm playing for the h-file.

24.Kb1 Rxh1+ 25.Qxh1
Haha! I stake my claim along the h-file!

25...Qh6!
Doh!! OK, so now our positions have equalized. White is still in the game. Just need to concentrate.

26.Qg1?
I can only explain this as not taking the time to analyze the position. Best is 26. Qg2. Protecting the back rank and my backward pawn on the f-file. Then follow up with a4 to prevent any back rank mate ideas.

26...Qh3! 27.a4??
Bad...very bad. Total loss of concentration. My thoughts from the previous move are on auto-pilot. With intention to play a4 to prevent a cheap back rank mate, I overlook my opponent's play. This move loses for White.

27...Qxf3!
Black is winning! White's energy dissipates and the desire to carry on play lies in lost hopes.

28.g5 Nxe4 29.Nxe4 Qxe4 30.Qh2 Qf5 31.Qh6+ Kg8 32.Qh4 e4 33.Kc1 Qf3 34.Qh6 Qh5!
White resigns. 0–1

Follies of a "C" Rated Player

Round 2 of the MCC Independence Day Swiss was a great game that I happen to lose because of time on the clock. I didn't lose on time, I lost because of my interpretation of the time display.

Let me explain. I recently made a new purchase; The Game Time Chess Clock manufactured by Excalibur, you know the sleek black looking game clock with two bozo big-top hand stompers...er ah plungers. When I received my new clock, I faithfully read the directions that came with its purchase. Bam...enough said.

Lets go to the game I'm eluding to in the opening paragraph and I'll explain further as we go through some critical moments in the game.

White: Warren Newland
Black: Smith
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 O-O 5.Bg5 d6 6.e4 h6 7.Bh4 Nc6 8.Be2 e5 9.d5 Ne7

The opening line is a Classic Kings Indian Defense with 6...h6. I push an early Nc6 move followed by e5 to entice White into closing off the a2-g8 light diagonal, a common theme in the Kings Indian Defense. White obliges.

Moves 10 through 34 brought about some interesting play. Warren was steadfast in his deliberation of chess moves and brought about a certain edge to the game that made it very enjoyable. For a couple of C rated players, I believe we both played quite strong in our match. Of course, I felt comfortable with my play throughout the game and believed that my position was better than White's after 34. ...b6

**Note: Chess diagrams are viewed from the perspective of Black

At this point, White was using up some time on his clock; giving the position at hand a real good study. As my opponent continued to analyze the position, I looked over to my clock and saw that I had 17 seconds left to play out my next six moves!! Suddenly confusion flooded the senses. How did I suddenly have 17 seconds left on the clock? I could have sworn I had more time to play with than my opponent. His clock showed 5 minutes and some odd seconds as they ticked downward. Quickly, I began to analyze the position some more and hurried to find a combination of moves to keep a favorable position until I can settle in on move 40.

35. Re2 g4 36. hxg4 hxg4 37. Qg3

Damn it! I have a winning position here! I know I do...but I only have 16 seconds left! I hurried off the last two moves in about 6 seconds; the five second delay is helping me preserve a little time. In retrospect, I have to laugh at the faces Warren made while I slammed the plunger with each passing move. Obviously he was irritated and probably felt that I was a poseur of some sort, but hey, I only got seconds to play with here...so tough luck.

Anyway, back to this position. Given even a little time, you can see that Black wins material here and eventually should garner a win with the passed pawn along the d-file. But, I didn't even have that. I had to maintain the position and quickly before time runs out, so the obvious queen exchange was the quickest and most safe without using any time.

The correct play is of course, 37. ...Rxe6!

BAM! Plunger down and I still have 16 seconds. Man I'm good! Warren once again looks at me with that, "What the hell is wrong with you look?"

37. ...Qxg3+ 38. Kxg3 Re7 39. Kxg4 Rg7+ 40. Kh5 Kf7 41. bxc5 bxc5 42. e5 dxe5 43.Rxe5 Kf6 44. Re1 Kxf5 45. Kh6 Rg6+ 46. Kh7

So, interestingly enough, I discover that at the completion of move 40, my time control displays 46 minutes on the clock. Huh? You mean to tell me that I had 16 minutes left to play?! Damn...I had the game won at move 37 and because I didn't know how to read the time on my own stupid clock, I played in haste, overlooking the solid rook move to capture the pawn along the e-file.

Ah well...I'm still looking pretty good here and I have a passed pawn. Yes, so does White, but my king is placed well to defend. All I need to do is exchange the rooks and I'm golden. My thought process here was; keep my rook posted along the 6th rank to prevent White's pawn push and find a way to entice White into exchanging rooks.

Hmmm...that e file is looking good, I'll play 46. ...Re6?! Good move if you're sitting on White's side of the board.

Yup, my eyes betrayed me in that game for sure...so are the follies of a C rated player I guess. Good game Warren. Since that game, I've adjusted my clock to always display seconds when there is less than an hour left on the clock.

First Game Of The Year

First game of the year was a success as far as a win is concerned; and that's pretty darn good after taking a five year hiatus from the game! However, the game had its share of questionable moves...but as Bill Belichick would say, "We just happen to make one more play than our opponent and come out with a win."

The game was played at my local chess club against a D rated player. I played white and fortunately for me, my opponent played into a simple Ruy Lopez Exchange variation. Fortunate, because the exchange variation doesn't really serve up a whole lot of complications and line variations. I was hoping to play into this variation, just to help break the ice and remove some rust, as it is one of several openings I'm most comfortable with; making the "Chess Saddle" a heck of a lot easier to jump back on to.

Here is the critical position that arises after black plays his 24th move ...Qe7:

White: Smith
Black: Dan Callahan


Immediately, I wanted to play Qa6+. I was up material with a better position and wanted to keep the tempo in my favor. It was the lack of competitive play over the last several years and nerves that was driving me to play impulsively. Obviously, Qa6+ does not really buy me anything here accept an extra move. Suddenly and thank the Lord, a silent bell began ringing in my head, "Slow down! You have plenty of time on the clock." So, I got up from the table on my move, got a drink of water to calm myself down and returned to the board only to play 25. Qxg5?

The idea was to eat up another pawn, try to force a queen exchange and play for the end game. Eventually, that was exactly what happened. It was not a very pretty game, but I did outplay my opponent for a win 20 moves later.

For the ego, it was good...if at least to know that I was still capable of playing competitive chess and recognized in game that I had plenty of room for improvement. With each passing move, my eyes began to focus, the pieces shown brighter and the abstract of chess began to reveal itself to me once again on the board.

Days later, I reviewed this game and saw the following variation for a stronger position: 25. d4 Rd6 26. Ra3! Rb6 27. Ra8+ Kb7 28. Rxe8 Rxb5 29. Rxe7 Rxb2 30 Nxg5!

Hey, at least I'm beginning to see the board better, and that's an improvement.