Yesterday (Sat, Sept 10) I competed in my second NH vs Maine Team Chess Challenge, also known as the “Border Battle,” now an annual event, at the Portsmouth library. The time control was G/60 with five-second increment.
My opponent was the slightly higher-rated, Joshua Quint, now back in his home state of Maine from Vegas where he was 2010 Vice-Champ of the Clark County Chess Club. We each took a full point.
In the first game, a couple inaccuracies with White in the opening landed me in an unpleasant defensive crouch from which I was only too happy to burst forth with reckless abandon. It almost paid off too. Unfortunately, when the time was right, I failed to play the winning shot I’d planned some moves earlier.
Why I got distracted, I’m still not sure, probably the clock had something to do with it as time trouble was fast approaching. Nevertheless, this game is now extremely painful to play over and to think what could have been (i.e., a stunning reversal).
As last year, the weather cooperated, so many of us walked together into town for lunch at Me & Ollie’s. I had the Vegan Veritable Veggie, a hummus and olive sandwich.
Game 2 with colors reversed saw an even longer tactical skirmish and a pretty queen pseudo-sac.
A couple weekends ago, I had the opportunity to play my first rated chess games in almost two years! I had no idea whether the rust would show, but seeing as I was competing as a representative of the state of NH, in what I believe was only my second team event since high school, I put a little study in prior and sought to concentrate fully.
My first game was a blast, and it made me very happy to discover my tactical vision had survived the unplanned hiatus.
[Event "NH vs Maine Team"]
[Site "G/60"]
[Date "2010.09.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Dame, Erin"]
[Black "Savov, Andrey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "1947"]
[BlackElo "1880"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Qb6 8. O-O Nxd4 9. Nxd4 Qxd4 10. Nc3 a6 11. Qe2 Ne7 12. Rd1 Qb6 13. Be3 d4? (The temptation to fork had to be resisted.) 14. Bxd4! (Better than 14. Ne4 when Black doesn’t have to play 14...dxe3 15. Nd6+ etc., but instead can just ignore the Bishop by 14...Nc6 with a pleasant position.) Qxd4 15. Bb5! Qxd1+ 16. Rxd1 axb5 17. Nxb5 Nd5? 18. Rxd5! exd5 19. Nc7+ Kd8 20. Nxa8 Bc6 21. Qd2 (I was proud of this quiet move, ensuring the knight gets out and simultaneously threatening both flanks.) Kd7 22. Qf4 Be7 23. e6+! Kxe6 (23... fxe6 fails to 24. Qc7+) 24. Nc7+ Kd7 25. Qxf7 Rf8 26. Qe6+ Kd8 27. Nxd5 (Junior 10.1 likes 27. Qe5 Rf6 28. Ne6+ Kd7 29. Nxg7 Rg6) Bxd5 28. Qxd5+ Kc8 29. g3 Rd8 30. Qe6+ Rd7 31. Qg8+ Bd8 32. Qxh7 Bb6 33. Qf5 Bd4 34. b3 b6 35. h4 Kd8 36. Qf8+ Kc7 37. h5 Bc5 38. Qf4+ Kd8 39. g4 Ke8 40. g5 Rd4 41. Qe5+ Kf8 42. g6 Rd6 43. b4! Rd1+ (43... Bxb4? 44. Qf4+) 44. Kg2 Be7 45. Qe6 1-0
After the dust cleared, we all took a lengthy lunch break with ample time to wander around Portsmouth, NH enjoying the nice weather and plentiful food options. I left the guys at the nearest sandwich shop and kept walking to one of my old regular dining spots when I used to work in town — a vegan smoothie and wrap place that’s changed hands many times, the menu remaining essentially the same throughout.
Game 2 with colors reversed had fewer fireworks as White blundered a pawn early. After rebuffing his attack, I was able to grind out the win with the extra material. The ironic thing is, during my pre-match preparations, I could only find a few games of my opponent, all with him as White. So, it was this game for which I was more prepared; I knew he would play the 6.Bg5 of the Samisch and was looking forward to the skirmish.
[Event "NH vs Maine Team"]
[Site "G/60"]
[Date "2010.09.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Savov, Andrey"]
[Black "Dame, Erin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E81"]
[WhiteElo "1880"]
[BlackElo "1947"]
[EventDate "2010.09.18"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "2"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Bg5 Nc6 7. Qd2 a6 8. Bd3? Nxd4 9. Nge2 c5 10. Nxd4 cxd4 11. Nd5 e6 12. Nxf6+ Bxf6 13. Bh6 Re8 14. O-O-O d5 15. Kb1 dxc4 16. Bxc4 b5 17. Bd3 e5 18. f4 exf4 19. Qxf4 Be5 20. Qf2 Be6 21. h4 Rc8 22. Bd2 Qf6 23. Qe2 h5 24. Bg5 Qg7 25. Rc1 f6 26. Bd2 Rxc1+ 27. Rxc1 Rc8 28. Rxc8+ Bxc8 29. Bc4+ Kh7 (Not 29... bxc4 30. Qxc4+ Kh7 31. Qxc8) 30. Bd5 Qc7 31. Qd3 Bb7 32. Be1 (32. Ba5 is interesting, but after 32...Qxa5 33. Bxb7 Qe1+ Black’s infiltration proves stronger than White’s) Bf4 33. Qc2 Bxd5 (33... Qe7 was suggested by the computer, keeping queens on board.) 34. Qxc7+ Bxc7 35. exd5 Kg7 36. Kc2 Kf7 37. Kd3 Be5 38. Bf2 (And this may be why, since 38. Bb4, recommended by my opponent in the postmortem, poses some problems and may just equalize.) Ke7 39. Bxd4 Kd6 40. Bxe5+ Kxe5! (Black can actually still lose the game with 40... fxe5?? 41. Ke4 a5 42. b3) 41. d6 Kxd6 (Now the rest is easy.) 42. Kd4 g5 43. hxg5 fxg5 44. b3 h4 45. a4 g4 46. Ke4 h3 47. gxh3 gxh3 48. Kf3 Kc5 49. Kg3 Kb4 50. Kxh3 bxa4 51. bxa4 Kxa4 52. Kg3 Kb3 53. Kf2 a5 54. Ke2 Kc2 0-1
The local paper, the Portsmouth Herald, picked up the story, with a few pictures taken by the beautiful Ioanna Raptis. You can see me in the red shirt, way back on the right.
For more pictures, check out this write-up from ChessMaine.net. There you’ll see a couple closer glimpses of me in mid-ponder and a really good one of Andrey deep in thought. Oh, and one of the library where we battled.
