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This is the second time I've played Polly. I played her last round in the sligo tournament of 2022. I had the black pieces then as well. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 C02 French Defense: Advance Variation, Euwe Variation 6. Be2 Qb6 7. O-O Nge7 8. Na3 cxd4 Now is the right time for Black to take the centre pawn as the knight will have to move again to get back to c2 9. cxd4 Nf5 10. Nc2 Be7 11. a3 a5 I did this to stop a5 but a better move would have been Na5 with access to b3 or c4 and also to release my light squared bishop and swap off if desired. Wheres Simon Williams DVD when you need it lol. 12. g4 Nh4 13. Nxh4 Bxh4 14. Be3 Qd8?! To support my bishop and meet g5 etc. The engine doesnt particularily like this move. It recommends going back to e7.... Certainly not Qxb2 as thats way to risky. 14... Be7 15. Bd3 a4 16. Rb1 Na5 17. Qe2 O-O-O 18. Na1 Kb8 19. b3 axb3 20. Nxb3 Nxb3 21. Qb2. 14... Qxb2 15. Rb1 Qc3 16. g5 Ne7 17. Bd2 Qc6...+1.8 for White Polly offered me a draw and I immediately declined. Not because I felt I had any advantage but because I felt I needed to test myself a bit more. I spoke to her dad afterwards and he told me that if she finished early she would get an early nights sleep and be more ready for the following day ahead. Considering we ended up slogging it out till the very end maybe I should have accepted lol. 16... g6 I figured g5 would open the game up too much for white and allow a clear attack wheras I think g6 blunts that attack whether it's the best move or not. 16... g5 17. f5 a4 18. Nb4 Qb6 19. Nxc6 Bxc6...White +3.4 I figured a few moves back that I could get here in time to stop any serious attack by white 18. Bf2!? White can't really allow my knight to stay there for ever. So I think Bd3 is better 18. Bd3 Nf5 19. Bxf5 gxf5 20. Ne1 Bb5 21. Rf3 hxg5 22. fxg5 Rh5 23. Ng2 Bxg5 24. Rg3 Bxe3+ 25. Qxe3 Rh8...Black should be ok here.. 18... Bxf2+ 19. Rxf2 Nf5 20. Ne3 hxg5 21. Nxf5 exf5 22. fxg5 Qb6 I considered 22... Rh4 23. Raf1 Rc8...Black is doing quite well here This looks better to me. 24. Rc5. 24... Rc8 25. Rf4 Rxf4 26. Qxf4 Qxb2 27. Qe3 Rc3 28. Rd3 Qc1+?! I had a feeling this wasnt the best move, and it's not. But I wanted to try to get Queens off the board as if I'm only a pawn up and white still has a Queen it's usually very hard, or impossible to win that game. So Rc1 is better. So I considered ... 28... Rc1+ 29. Rd1 Rxd1+ 30. Bxd1...However I hadnt worked out in my mind that I could at least win an extra pawn with something like... 30... Qa1 31. Qe1 Qxd4+. 29. Qxc1 Rxc1+ 30. Rd1 Rxd1+ 31. Bxd1 Bb5? This is the wrong approach. I should advance the pawns supported by the Bishop and whites task is tough. Perhaps the game might go something like... 31... b5 32. Kf1 a4 33. Ke1 b4 34. axb4 a3 35. Bb3 Be6 36. Kd2 f4 37. b5 Kd7 38. Kc3 f3 39. Bc2 f2 40. Bd3 Bh3 41. Be2 f1=R 42. Bxf1 Bxf1 43. Kb3 a2 44. Kxa2 Bxb5. 32. Kf2 Bc4 33. Ke3 Kd7 34. Kf4 b5 35. h4 Ke7? Again the wrong approach. We were both in terrible time trouble and this despite appearances is quite a tricky position. 35... b4 36. axb4 axb4 37. h5 gxh5 38. Bxh5 b3 39. Bd1 Ke7 40. Kg3 b2 41. Bc2 Ba2 42. Bxf5..and similar to my earlier king side pawn advance variation (-5.52 ? -3.32) Mistake. b4 was best. 37... b4 38. axb4 axb4 39. Kf4 b3 40. Kg3 b2 41. Bc2 Ba2 42. Kh4 b1=Q 43. Bxb1 Bxb1 44. Kxh5 Kf8 45. Kh6 Be4 46. Kh5 Kg7 47. Kh4 Kg6 48. Kg4 Bf5+ 49. Kf4 Be6 50. Kg3 Kxg5 51. Kf3 Bf5 52. Kg3 Bg4 53. Kf2 Kf4 54. e6 Bxe6. (-3.58 ? -1.58) Mistake. h4 was best. 38... h4 39. Kg4 a4 40. Kxh4 b4 41. axb4 a3 42. Bb3 Bc4 43. Bc2 a2. Last chance to play b4. But any win would be extremely complicated now. Time trouble makes us blind. 39... b4. 40. Bg4+ Ke7 41. Be2 b4 42. axb4 axb4 43. Bd1 Ke6 44. Bg4+ Ke7 45. Bd1 Ke6 Polly offered me a draw again and I gladly accepted. I was shattered lol. 1/2-1/2 Annotator(s): Dermot Earls. Source(s): Dermot Earls, via Craig DuBose. Event information: Tournament report. |
