Vidovdanski rejting turnir
V kolo
Krivenko – Ja
1. d4 c5 2. d5 f5
Old Benoni Mujannah formation
According to engine, white played perfectly whilst I made 2 blunders and 4 inaccuracies. This variation gives tough and heavy game for black; Timman played it once in Netanya 1975 (in Benoni order), and I hoped that with it I would last at least 40 movies.
3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. Nh3 d6 6. a4 Na6 7. O-O Bg7 8. Nf4 Nc7 9. Nc3 Rb8 10. Re1 O-O 11. e4 a6 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Ne4 Qd7?
I should’ve captured on e4: 13. ...Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Bxe4 15. Rxe4 Qd7 and engine gives white only +0.4. I evaluated the position completely wrong. Better than 15. ...Qd7 was even 15. ...Rf5! with following ...Qf8. I wasn’t that bad as I thought. But I felt so despondent. No courage what so ever, and at the same time, paradoxically, I hated my incompetence, inability to calculate moves and evaluate the position. So I wasn’t that bad after all, but my spirit was very low. After 13. ...Qd7?, however, I was in serious trouble.
14. Ng5 b5 15. axb5 h6 16. Nge6 Nxe6 17. Nxe6 Bxe6 18. Rxe6 axb5 19. Qe2 Rb7 20. Bd2 Kh7 21. Re1 Ng8?
21. ...Qe8 would've given me some chance to last 40 moves.
22. h4 Bd4 23. Be3 Bxb2 24. Be4 Nf6 25. h5 Nxe4 26. hxg6+ Kg7 27. Bxh6+ Kxh6 28. g7+ Kxg7 29. Qg4+ *
Black resigned
Vidovdanski rejting turnir
VI kolo
Ja – Smiljković
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5
French Winawer Retreat
6. b4 cxd4 7. Nb5 Bc7 8. f4 Ne7 9. Nxd4?!
I couldn’t retreive from my memory the theory from Chess Encyclopedia. I felt like tabula rasa. I thought that I even might've run into a trap and that black knows all the right moves. 9. Bd3, 9. Bd2 and 9. Nxc7+ were here better moves.
9. ...Nbc6 10. Ngf3 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 Nc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Bd3?!
Too slow. 13. a4 and Bb2 would’ve been better. As said I was dancing in the dark and was mad at myself for not been able to remember the ordinary moves in chess opening.
13. ...a5! 14. Bb2 axb4?!
Black is constantly giving me time to recover from my sloppy play. 14. ...Bb6 was better and I would play 15. c4
15. axb4 Rxa1 16. Bxa1?
I wanted to keep my queen ready for h5, but engine says 16. Qxa1 was better
16. ...Bb6 17. Qh5?
Well, my idea was bad. I had to play 17. c4 and think about saving my skin.
17. ...Qe7 18. Bc3 Be3?!
Black had -0.7 and now I have +0.3, so bad was this move. I was phantasizing about attack, and so was he about material. 18. ...c5 was right way to exploit my exposed king.
19. Qf3 Qa7 20. Ke2 Bb6 21. Qh5 g6 22. Qf3 h5 23. Ra1 Qc7 24. g3 O-O 25. g4 hxg4 26. Qxg4 c5 27. Rg1 cxb4??
I saw what would happen after this move. Black had to play 27. ...Ba6, it was the only move for him to save the game, but that would’ve been a sacrifice, this is a move for a 2200 rated player, and he wasn’t in the mood for giving material up, rather to collect it. After 28. Bxa6 he had 28. ...cxb4 and after I move attacked rook to, let’s say, g3, he can recapture my bishop on c3. Interesting: 29. Rg3 bxc3 30. Qh4 and although it looks dangerous, black has 30. ...Qa7 with double threat to capture my bishop on a6 and to pin my queen with ....Bf2! I would have been forced to accept perpetual with 31. Bd3 and 32. Bxg6
28. Bxg6 Bxg1 29. Bf5+
Black resigned
So the "preparational" tournament is over, and I scored 50%. In 12 days Serbia Open 2024 begins and I will play in a section which will hopefully suite me better.
