PLAYING AGAINST THE HIGHER-RATED OPPONENT: PART 4 - PRACTICAL EXAMPLES https://onlinechesslessons.net/2014/12/30/playing-higher-rated-opponent-4/#.VKRa2HtSLBQ PRACTICAL EXAMPLES: PROVOKING WITH A DRAW This time I was the higher-rated opponent in the game with 178 rating points of advantage. POSITION 1:Georgiadis 2312 – Aroshidze 2490 Obviously, White is better as his pieces are more active, but probably Georgiadis decided to force the draw (or it was just a provocation) and started repeating the moves after 35.Na5 Kd7 36.Nac4. Taking on b7 would be a weak decision due to Rb8 and Black would take the pawn on b2. 36… Ke7 37.Na5 It was a very difficult moment for me, as a draw would cause the loss of rating points. Furthermore, I did not want to share my tournament points with a lower-rated player while I still had to play five more rounds with higher-rated players. Due to these circumstances, I forced myself to avoid a repetition of moves and continue the game by playing 37… Rb8? but this move is very bad. It gives up the c file and the rook becomes very passive. Generally, trying to win and making some risky decisions in order to get additional winning chances is a normal playing process. However, it is very important to understand when you may still allow yourself some anti-positional decisions and when it is already too much and they may lead to irreversible consequences. My opponent reacted very well and, despite his disadvantage in the rating points, he demonstrated very good technique. As we mentioned before, many higher-rated players are losing games in this way. In fact, 37… Rb8? was not a try to play for a win – it was already a loss of feeling reality and overestimation of Black’s position. 38. Nec4! Kd8 Unfortunately, exchanging this knight is not possible, as White will answer dxc4! and Black gets an additional problem with the h7 pawn due to the Rh3 idea. 39.Nb6 Nc7 40.Ke3 Ne8 41.d4 exd4+ 42.Kxd4 Ke7 43.Nd5+ Kd7 44.Nc4 b5 45.Ncb6+ Kd8 46.a5 White got a decisive advantage and shortly won the game. POSITION 2: Yudin 2546 – Nakamura 2775 A similar situation appeared in the game of Yudin – Nakamura. Black has an extra rook but the only normal way to protect the mate on e7 is 31… Rd7, which leads to the move repetition after: 32.Rc8+ Rd8 33.Rc7. Nakamura decided to sacrifice the Queen in order to continue the game: 31… Qd7?? 32.Rxd7 Rxd7 33.Ne3 but now he is lost. The black King is stuck in the center and the h8 Rook is out of play. Furthermore, White may take the a5 pawn at any moment and get a2-b3 passed pawns on the Queen’s side. Nakamura makes one more emotional move: 33… f5? and after 34.exf6 Bg6 35.Qxa5 White easily won the game. PLAYING ONLY FOR A DRAW POSITION 3: Sulashvili G 2191 – Aroshidze 2379 In the third example, I suppose that my opponent was playing only for a draw and he decided to exchange as many pieces as possible in order to achieve the result he needed: 20. Bxd6 Rxd6 21. Nxe4? High4_04But it is quite a dangerous strategy, as the player does not concentrate well on the playing process and he does not have ambitions to achieve something more than a draw. It reduces the quality of his moves and many little details are escaping his attention: 21… Bxe4! 22.Bxe4 e5! -/+ Black saved from an exchange pair of the minor pieces and created the pawn structure that limits White’s bishop. In addition, control of the d line and an advantage in the center will guarantee a solid and long-term advantage.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 20:52:41 +0000
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