Learning from "Poba" games

by Jonathan Speelman
9/8/2019 – A slightly larger column this week as Jon makes up for lost time. A fan of "moba" games sent in some of his (shall we say) "Playchess online battle arena" experiences. | Send in your own games! Jon can always use more material from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!
FM Claus Dieter Meyer has put under the microscope a comprehensive fund of topical and timeless games / fragments. On video Hamburg GM Dr. Karsten Müller has outlined corner points of Meyer's work and created 14 tests plus 10 interactive test sets.

Speelman's Agony #105

Apologies first for the week's delay I knew at the end of last month that another one would be beginning (apparently that's how the calendar works) but hadn't quite realized how late in the month it was and so Sunday, September 1st rather sneaked up on me!

This week's games are by John Isaac Torres-Piccio who is from Bacoor in Cavite province in the Phillipines and writes:

John Torres-PiccioI'm 27 years old  and just started playing chess again after a gap of about 7 years from when I played 2 seasons of NCAA during college for Colegio de San Juan de Letran. I am the eldest out of two I have one brother and have been married for almost 2 years.

Aside from chess I used to enjoy playing moba games [JS Multiplayer online battle arena for people out of touch like me] like dota [JS: Defense of the Ancients] and league of legends which helped me cope with the frustrations of losses played in the NCAA and also mobile legends.

I enjoy spending time with my family, watching movies, listening to Queen, Elton John, Red Hot Chili Peppers, playing with our dogs, visiting places, trying out new kinds of coffee, draft beer, wine and whisky, Formula1, cars and going on occasional road trips with my wife.

John sent me a number of games from Playchess. Normally I prefer just a couple (a nice win and vile loss) but there were a number of very interesting moments, so I'm presenting a selection in which very modestly, he has suffered more than triumphing. The notes are all mine.

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.g3 d5 4.b3 Bg4 5.Bg2 e6 6.d3 Nbd7 7.0-0 Be7 8.Bb2 0-0 9.Nbd2 a5 10.a3 Qb8 11.Qc2 Rc8 12.Rac1 Bf5
13.cxd5 A bit tame. If 13.Nh4 Black retains the bishop by returning to g4 Bg4 and now perhaps 14.Ndf3 or 14.e3 13...cxd5 14.Qxc8+ 14.Qb1 looks more normal though still about equal. 14...Qxc8 15.Rxc8+ Rxc8 16.Rc1 Rxc1+ 17.Bxc1 h5 17...h6 kept things more compact 18.Bb2 Kf8 19.Nd4 Bg6 20.N2f3 Ke8 21.Nb5 Kd8 22.Ne5?! This frees Black's pieces. 22.Bc3 b6 22...Nxe5 23.Bxe5 Ne8 24.a4?! fixing a weakness on b3 f6 25.Bd4 25.Bc3 b6 25...Kd7 26.Bb6 Bd8 27.Bc5 Be7 28.Bxe7?! Kxe7
Black is now better because his king is closer to the queenside than White's and the b3 pawn is a nice target. White should have rushed his monarch towards the queenside starting with Kf1 but instead played a move that made things worse. 29.e4? 29.Kf1 Nd6 29...dxe4 30.dxe4 30.Bxe4 Bxe4 31.dxe4 Nd6 32.Nc3 Nf7! is also pretty bad since if 33.Nb5 to prevent the immedaite Ke7-d6-c5-b4 Ng5 34.Nc3 Kd6 the king enters and Black is winning. If 35.f4 Nf3+ makes things even worse. 30...e5 31.f3 Kd7 31...Bf7 32.Bf1 Bf7 33.Bc4 Bxc4 34.bxc4 Kc6 35.Kf2 Kc5 35...Nd6! was even cleaner 36.Nc3 The pawn ending after 36.Nxd6 Kxd6 37.Ke3 Kc5 38.Kd3 Kb4 is completely dead 36...Kc5 37.Ke3 Kxc4 36.Ke3 Kxc4 37.f4 Kb4 38.fxe5 fxe5 39.Kd3 g5 40.Nc3 40.h3 h4 41.g4 b6 42.Na7 Kxa4 43.Nc6 Kb3 44.Nxe5 a4 40...Nd6 40...Nc7 kept even more control. If 41.Nd5+ Nxd5 42.exd5 Kc5 43.Ke4 Kd6 44.h3 h4 45.g4 b6 46.Kf5 b5 47.axb5 Kxd5 not 47...a4 48.b6 a3 49.b7 Kc7 50.d6+ Kxb7 51.Ke6 a2 52.d7 a1Q 53.d8Q 48.Kxg5 a4 and wins 41.h3 Nc4 42.Nd5+
42...Kxa4?? Up to here, John has played excellently but things happen in blitz games and after this horrible blunder he was somewhat lucky to draw. 43.Kxc4 b5+ 44.Kc3 b4+ 45.Kb2 Kb5 46.Nf6 h4
47.gxh4 It seems that 47.g4! was winning though it was impossible to judge at speed and indeed looking quietly and slowly I'm only confident of this because my engine, which can easily claculate such a position, says so: Kc4 48.Nh7 a4 49.Nxg5 a3+ 50.Ka2 Kc3 50...Kd4 51.Nf3+ Kxe4 52.Nxh4 Kd3 53.Ng2 Kc3 53...e4 54.g5 54.g5 b3+ 55.Kxa3 b2 56.Ka2 Kc2 57.Ne1+! 51.Nf3 b3+ 52.Kxa3 b2 53.Nd2 47...gxh4 48.Ng4 Kc5 49.Nxe5 Kd4 50.Nc6+ Kxe4 51.Nxa5 Kf3 52.Nc6 Kg3 53.Nd4 Kxh3 54.Nf5 Kg4 55.Nxh4 Kxh4 56.Kb3 Kg4 57.Kxb4
John played very well up to the blunder losing the knight. His calm inprovement of his pieces in the endgame was excllent. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Cwille1488Jipiccio1620½–½2019A12Unrated 5m+5s
Jipiccio1620Sanceol16120–12019C01Rated 5m+5s
Lungavilla21813Jipiccio1620½–½2019B44playchess.com
Dukic1842Jipiccio16551–02019D15playchess.com
Jipiccio1620Schuster569114351–02019B32playchess.com

Click or tap the second game in the list to switch

The aim of these Dvd's is to build a repertoire after 1.c4 and 2.g3 for White. The first DVD includes the systems 1...e5, the Dutch and Indian setups. The second DVD includes the systems with 1...c5, 1...c6 and 1...e6.

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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