Training Log
Classical Game - 3 hours, 20 minutes
A bit of a heartbreaker today. I faced IM Mark van der Werf (2408) of the Netherlands. He played the Benoni, which I had prepared against, but in general it is quite a difficult opening to face! Although I liked my position, it also felt very easy to go wrong.
Things got quite complicated early on, as both sides started to send their pieces towards the kingside. I then found a rather creative exchange sacrifice, which led to my opponent’s queen surprisingly getting trapped! Black ended up getting a rook and bishop for the queen, but their king was simply too weak to hope for any chances. I felt I converted well, with my queen and knight coordinating perfectly, until I blundered into a very unfortunate swindle.
It was here that I spotted a cute idea, playing 20.Raf3!? Ng5 21.Rf4! sacrificing the exchange. There followed 21…Nxf4 22.Rxf4 Bd4+ 23.Kh1 Qe1 (D)
Originally I had other designs here, but on the way to this position I eventually found 24.Bd2! Qxe2 25.Ng3! (D)
…and surprisingly, Black’s queen is trapped! The game continued 25…Qxd2 26.Qxd2 Be5 27.h4!+- with a decisive edge for White. I continued well from here, but unfortunately ended up relaxing just a moment too soon:
I already had in mind my next few moves, but I failed to properly blunder check. I went for 36.Nxd6 Rg7 37.Qxe5 Rf1+ 38.Kh2, only accounting for 39…Rf2 40.Nf5+-, where White wins comfortably. Instead came 38…Nf6! (D) as an absolute shock:
All of a sudden Ng4+ is threatened, either winning the queen or possibly delivering mate! I had seen the fork on g4, but in my mind the knight on f6 was pinned, and I could go Nf5. A bad hallucination. After the initial panic, I bunkered down and found 39.Qd4, the only move not to lose. We then repeated with 39…Ng4+ 40.Kg3 Ne5+ 41.Kh2 Ng4+ and a draw was agreed.
Afterwards, I was quite upset with letting this one slip. Normally I take losses well, but not when I rush or do something dumb, as happened here. Not only would this have been one of my best games ever, it would put me in the clear lead with 5/6, and I’d even have some norm chances to boot.
I worked very hard in this game, and even doubled down on my focus once I achieved a winning position. But at the last moment, I simply rushed. There were quite a few ways to convert the position. In fact even 36…Rg7 was a blunder, I could have still played 37.Qe1!+- and likely win had I noticed the trick in time.
As usual, chess is hard. It’s certainly not the first game I’ve spoiled due to carelessness. In fact this may be my biggest weakness. But I will keep working on it.
Kavutskiy - van der Werf, Montesilvano 2024
4.5/6. Still tied for first with GM Alsina Leal, but definitely bummed about the missed chance. Will aim to continue strong tomorrow.
We know you can pull this off! Tomorrow is a new day.