My latest effort...fight not without surprises...

Here we go. So, this game involves me playing white against - none other than my good old loved chess computer! Game was played like correspondence chess, I used analysisboard, not databases this time though. And definitely not chessengines! Chess came purely out of my own head. And from ehm computers "brains". So I am talking about classic tablecomputer, made in eighties and one that actually at its heyday won european microcomputer championship! And this computer is enhanced version of it. Computers rating is about 1600 - 1700 at its best, that´s an estimate Ive found from Internet. If it doesn´t sound too much, it sure does give me run for my money I can assure you! Tough game ahead..I can also tell beforehand that Ive played and watch it play tons of games before, also at this best level that it has, so I do have fairly good picture of how it plays...

ChessWanderer - Chess 2001 (Level 11, 15 min./move thinkingtime)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3 Nc6

So, Sicilian opening it has been..Next move is my standard move in this kind of openingposition, it keeps good control of opponents queenside. However, later on I thought I would have been better to make a move like 0-0, f3, Qd2...

9. a4 Be6 10. 0-0 d5 This is the reason for my thinking. Computer makes its good counterplay in center, and equalices easily, leading to piece exchanges. 11. exd5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd5 13. Bb6


When playing, I thought this move was very good. Playing that blacksquare bishop into an active place, guarding square d8! I felt like these little advantages are how I can beat this machine that I am up against most efficiently.. 13. -0-0 14. Qxd5 Bxd5 15. Rfd1 I feel like being more active than computer and really gaining some advantage here already..Well, did not notice next move´s bishops exchanging forcing nature. 15. -Be4 16. Bd3 Bxd3 17. Rxd3


So, now, can you see how that bishop has good vision? Together with my rook on d3 I have control on position, quite right? Well, I thought next move could be Bd8, equalising, that is if I would face "best move". I assumed (correctly) that my playingpartner would not do it, being aggressive it wanted to grab some space rather and attack! Like this. 17. -e4. Well, I immediately thought of this as a weakness in black´s camp. Just simple threat, doesnt develop, I have time to use my control better..Typical weakness for this machine. 18. Rd7 Rab8 19. Bc5 Rfe8. In this position, I thought how would I make progress..wasn´t easy to find anything clear. With this many pieces on board. So, I decided to exchange some of them, leaving me another active rook. 20. Bxe7 Rxe7 21. Rxe7 Nxe7 22. Rd1 Rc8 23. Rd7 Ng6. 24. c3 Good move, keeping nice control of the position. 24. -b6. So, situation is like this...



How to make best of advantages I have? Black has some seriously weak pawns...Backrank-weakness (me too though), knight is little offside..Possible continuations being rook to either b7 or d6, knight to d4, or, as I calculated being best, this one: 25. Nd2 attacking the weak pawn, thus gaining time. 25.-Ne5 bit of a surprise, noticed this only as a chance, I thought computer would make move f5. Well... 26. Rb7 f5 here it is then. Now, I can snap one black pawn, but as it seems, black gets some seriously active counterplay too! But I choose to take it, even my knight will get very passive, I thought this is more momentary though... 27. Rxb6 Rd8 28. Nf1 (only move) Nc4 29. Rb4 Ne5 and this position arises.



How to continue? Rd4 would not be so clear endgame to me... So I wanna free the knight, giving my king some space. However, f3 is not an option, and h3 doesn´t do much after Rd1. Thus, I chose this one... 30. g3? Mistake, really. Should not give weakness like that voluntarily. Black exploites it immediately, as expected. Better would have been to try that h3 anyway I guess. It´s bit hard to see continuation though. Notice that Rb6 is out of question, because of repetition. 30.-Nf3+ 31. Kg2 Ne1+ 32. Kh1 Nd3 This is the reason, knight gets really active now, and also, has double threat on me. Should have noticed that one. Well, I thought now that losing one pawn still not so bad, I felt my queenside pawns are gamewinning asset. 33. Rb6 Nxf2+ 34. Kg2 Nd1 35. Rxa6 Nxb2 36. a5! Well, I felt this pawn that I finally get to move, gives me some advantage, and I was sure black cannot stop it without some damage... 36.-Nc4 37. Kf2 What else? 37.-Rd3 38. Ra8+ Gaining time! Kf7 39. a6



Rxc3? Mistake! Only move seems to be e3+. Now I was sure I am winning this game. 40. a7 Rc2+? Again! e3+ only try. 41. Kg1 Ra2 42. Rc8 Nb6 43. Rb8 Now I will win machine´s knight. 43.-Rxa7 44. Rxb6



I am winning! Right? Well, having extra knight...Okey black has two pawns more, but I should snap them at some point. To be honest, with black´s next move, it is truly not so easy as you will see! Black is more active, white is passive, and I must really be careful not losing my own pawns, cause without them I just cannot win this! 44.-g5 45. Rb2 Tough choise. Seems like best. 45.-Kf6 46. Ne3 Ra1+ 47. Kg2 (better than Kf2, leaving more options, and a trap which I didn´t think machine would fall for =), but anyway: 47.-Re1 48. Kf2 Rh1?? 49. Nf1! winning black rook) 47.-f4


We have come to critical point. Black pawns are getting active! I do not wish to exchange pawns, but knightmoves don´t seem to bring anything clear. Thus, I chose a move, that let´s black get evenmore active, cause I felt I would get position more close one (one that requires more positional understanding), and so my knight would have more effect! 48. Rf2 f3+ 49. Kh3 Re1 50. Nc2 Rd1 and now, my next move..I thought I will give my king more activity. Also, hard to find concrete other good continuations, obviously knightmanouvers would come into account, didn´t find anything clear. 51. Kg4? Threatens Kh5, and takes away move h5 from black. However... 51.- Kg6! This simple move gives black the advantage! My king is trapped now, in a very uncomfortable place. Now as I calculated, I was actually losing the game and instead of trying to find a win, was desperately seeking a draw! 52. Ne3 Rd3


53. Ra2! Surprise! Here it is. Sacrificing my knight. Now you may ask, is this really drawing the game?! No, it is not. I mean, in theory. I should be losing anyway. BUT. Against my opponent, I knew through my calculations and knowledge, that all other continuations were hopeless. This was the only one giving me chance to escape! You will see now why and what happened... 53.-h5+ Of course, first making active move putting my king calmly back. 54. Kh3 Rxe3 And now, comes the final chapter of this game. I will simply start give my beloved machinefriend some checks, let´s see how she deals with those. 55. Ra6+ Kg7 56. Ra7+ Kh8 57. Ra8+ Kg7 58. Ra7+ Kg6 59. Ra6+ Kf7 60. Ra7+ Kf6 61. Ra6+ Ke7 62. Ra7+ Ke6 63. Ra6+ Kf5 64. Ra5+ Kf6 65. Ra6+ Kg7 66. Ra7+ same exact position occurring third time, and draw! What happened, huh? Well, machine just didn´t want to give away her two pawns for win, that´s what happened! Guess you can call this also the horizon effect. It simply saw it would lose not just one, but two pawns, if it´s king would escape, and didn´t want to allow that, uhm, in fear of losing I guess. So, this lucky break gave me a draw and not a loss! This is where knowing your opponent came into play. I knew I had a chance. This is how chess is many times, you think you have advantages, you push, and push, it´s real close, you push some more, and find yourself being almost dead until manage miraculously to save the game! Woah. Beauty of chess. More detailed analysis of this game will be added later...Here´s the final position: