Highlands Open Update

MY final score of +5=2-2 at the Czech Tour's Highlands Open in Trebic was enough to gain 16.8 Fide rating points … and a four-figure sum in prize money.
Unfortunately, the four-figure sum was 1,000 Czech crowns - about £34.

Lake Lubi - actually man-made by a local angling club - is part of the attractive surroundings that draw me back to Trebic

Pretty Finish

MANAGED to pull off a pretty finish this morning against a Polish junior in the ninth and final round of the Czech Tour's Highlands Open in Trebic.

White has just played 24.Na4-b6 in Spanton (1923) - Szymon Skurniak (1763)

24...Rad8?
It takes Komodo9 something like two minutes to see what is wrong with this natural-looking move.
If SS had seen what was coming, he would have preferred 24...Bc6 25.Rxc6 bxc6 26.Nxa8 Rxa8, when White has decent drawing chances after 27.Rc4.
25.Nd5 Qd6 26.Nf6+ gxf6?
Slightly better is 26...Kh8 27.Rh4 gxf6 28.Qh6 Qd3 29.Qf6+, but White has an overwhelming attack.
27.Rg4+ Kh8 28.Qh6 Qb6+ 29.Kh1 1-0

Double Rounder

TODAY was a double-round day in the Czech Tour's Highlands Open at the Hotel Atom, Trebic.
My two games could hardly have been more different - game one being effectively decided in the opening, game two deep in the ending.

Spanton (1923) - Jan Kalveus (1854), Round 7
English Opening v Dutch Defence
1.c4 f5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 c6!?
Not a popular choice, but it has been played by a 2418.
4.Bg2 d6!?
Aiming for a Stonewall with 4...d5 looks more natural.
5.d4
By transposition we have reached a position that occurs 127 times in ChessBase's 2018 Mega database.

Black's fifth move is surprising but has a certain logic

5...Be6?!
Threatening the c4 pawn, but this awkward-looking move was not played in any of the database games.
6.d5 Bf7 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.Nh3 g6 9.Be3 Bg7 10.Ng5 0-0 11.Rd1 h6?
It cannot be nice as Black having a White knight hanging around on g5, but the text spends a tempo to make White play a move he wanted to play anyway.
12.Nxf7 Rxf7 13.c5
White already has a winning advantage, according to my main analysis engines Stockfish9 and Komodo9.

Neither player has connected rooks, but Black is busted

13...cxd5
The engines suggest 13...Ng4 or 13...Na6, but have White winning.
14.Nxd5 Nc6 15.Nxf6+ Bxf6 16.Bd5 (1-0, 44 moves)

My second game today reached a knight-and-pawn ending after 39 moves.

White has just captured a rook on d1 in Miroslav Zacharias (1727) - Spanton (1923), Round 8

It is often said a knight-and-pawn ending is the closest you can get to a pawn-ending. This is true in the sense that it is much closer than, say, a rook-and-pawn ending is to a pawn-ending.
But really there are some major differences, not least the fact that one player may sac his knight to get rid of the opponent's last pawn.
With the help of Stockfish9 and Komodo9, and later the Nalimov six-figure endgame tablebase, I will try to use John Nunn's endgame convention to annotate these moves.
39...Ke5?
Black is much better after 39...Nf5 or 39...Ke6, but the natural-looking text turns a probable Black win into a drawn position.
40.Kd2?
Again natural-looking, but the engines give 40.Nc6+! Kd5 41.Nb4+! Kd4 (or 41...Kc5 42.Nd3+ Kd4 43.Kd2) 42.Kd2 and Black cannot make progress.
40...Kd4?
I had seen the superior 40...Kd5, which threatens to trap White's knight, but then played the king too far forward.
41.Nc6+ Kc5 42.Ne7 Kb4?!
Better seems to be 42...Nb7, but probably not winning.
43.Kc2 Kc5
Dead drawn is 43...Nf5? 44.Nxf5 gxf5 45.Kb2
44.Kc3 b4+ 45.Kd3 Nb5 46.Ke4
46.Ng8 is possibly the more sure-fire draw, eg 46...Nd4 47.Nf6 Nxb3 48.Nxh7 Kb5 49.Nf8 Nc5+ 50.Kc2 b3+ 51.Kc3 g5 52.Nh7 Ka4 53.Kb2 Nd3+ 54.Kb1
46...Nd4 47.Nd5 Nxb3 48.Nxb4?!
This may draw, but Komodo9 strongly prefers 48.Ke5. Stockfish9 reckons both moves draw.
48...Kxb4 49.Kxf4 Kc5 50.Kg5 Kd6 51.Kh6?
Almost certainly drawing was 51.Kf6, eg 51...Nd4 52.h4 Kd7 (Komodo9's best shot, but not good enough) 53.h5 gxh5 54.Kg5 Ke6 55.Kxh5 (tablebase draw)
51...Ke6 52.g4 Nd4 53.f4
MZ offered a draw in my time.
53...Kf6 54.Kxh7

Black to play and win

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54...Ne6?
I was torn between this and the correct 54...Ne2 (54...Nf3 also wins)
55.h4?
On 55.f5, I planned 55...Ng5+ 56.Kf6 Nf7+ 57.Kh7 g5, and wins. But we both missed that White draws in this line thanks to 56.Kg8!
If I had played 54...Ne2, then 55.f5 loses trivially to 55...g5
55...Nxf4 56.Kh6 Ne6 57.g5+ Nxg5! 58.h5
Or 58.gxh5 Kf5 etc.
58...Nf7+ 0-1

Who Is Trapping Whom?

MY round-six game today from the Highlands Open in Trebic - part of the Czech Tour - featured a move by White in the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon that at first sight looks like a blunder … but it has been played by strong players, including Lothar Vogt (2515).
Jindrich Habada (1761) - Spanton (1923)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.e5 Nc6 6.Qh4?!
This move probably deserves a straight question-mark, but there are 74 examples of it being played in ChessBase's 2018 Mega database, and White scores a not-so-dreadful 44 percent.

Black to play and win material

6...Nxe5
Felipe de Cresce El Debs (2531) preferred 6...Nd5?!
7.Nxe5 Qa5+ 8.Nc3 Qxe5+ 9.Be2

How would you assess White's compensation?

Black has won a pawn but White has a slight lead in development and the prospect of good play for his rooks on the central files.
Perhaps it is not so surprising that the analysis engine Komodo9 reckons Black's advantage is not quite worth a third of a pawn. Stockfish9, on the other hand, has Black almost two-thirds of a pawn ahead.
9...Bg7 10.Bf4
Vogt (2515) - Markus Schaefer (2270), Bad Woerishofen 1992, saw 10.Bh6 0-0 11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.0-0-0, with chances for both sides, but it is hard to believe Black is not better (½-½, 53 moves).
Also sensible looking is 10.0-0 0-0 11.Bg5 d6 12.Rfe1, and White went on to win in John Dodgson (2135) - Spanton (2010), Paignton 2008.
10...Qa5 11.0-0 0-0 12.Bh6
Viktor Ianov (2360) - Alexander Vaulin (2510), Policka 1995, saw 12.Bf3 d6 13.Rfe1 Be6, when Black is clearly better, but the game was drawn in 47 moves.
12...d6 13.Rae1 Be6 14.Bd3?! Qh5 (0-1, 31 moves)
So, to get back to my original question, who is getting trapped? I guess the answer has to be White, but there is no doubt White gets some compensation, and practical chances, even if most Whites, I suspect, play 6.Qh4?! without realising it loses a pawn.
In conclusion, then, annotating White's sixth move as "dubious" rather than "bad" may well be right after all.

Bad Loss

LOST rather feebly to a much-lower rated player today in round five of the Highlands Open in Trebic, Czech Rep.

White to play and avoid defeat in Spanton (1923) - Sylwester Grabraczyk (1782)

Despite Black having the bishop-pair, White is only a little worse after a consolidating move such as 30.Ra3 or 30.Rba1.
Instead, I played 30.Kf1, which effectively loses on the spot.
Can you find Black's game-winning idea?
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Black played 30...Bxe3 31.Nxe3 Rxe3! 32.fxe3 Bxc2 33.Rab4 Bxb1 34.Rxb1
Black has won a pawn and cannot be prevented from winning the b5 pawn (0-1, 48 moves)

Missed Opportunity

FLUFFED a golden chance to claim a notable scalp in round four of the Highlands Open in Trebic, Czech Republic.
I had black against International Master Josef Pribyl, after whom the Pribyl Pirc (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6!?) is named.
I sacrificed the exchange to gain light-square control and attacking chances, reaching the following position after JP had played 29.Ra1-e1:

Black to play and win

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I played 29...Nxb3?, which felt wrong, but I became materialistic and anyway could find nothing better.
After 30.Nxe4 fxe4? (30...Rxe4 is better, but I had missed White's next as it had been impossible for so long because my bishop covered the key square) 31.Qxg2 c6 32.Rxe4 Rxe4 33.Qxe4 Nxd2 34.Qxd3, the position is roughly equal.
Or at least it would have been if I had played 34...Qxf4.
Instead, I played 34...Qxd3?, and was ground down in a long ending after 35.Rad3 Nxc4 36.Rd7+
Going through the game later with Ian Heppell, the latter found 29...Nf3+!
I had rejected it because it seemingly lost two pieces for a rook, but in fact the move wins instantly, eg 30.Rxf3 Bxf3 31.Rxe8 Qxf4+ 32.Kg1 Qg3+, and mate next move.

A Tale Of Three Draw Offers

THERE were three draw offers in my round-three game today from the Highlands Open in Trebic, Czech Rep.

Black has just played 21...Bc8-e6, pressed his clock and offered a draw in Spanton (1923) - Lubos Svizensky (1937)

Black had been under the cosh for much of the game, and his king still looks a little unsafe, but the draw offer surprised me as Black's pawn-structure is clearly better.
I really should have accepted the draw, but after a long think I played …
22.Qc3?!
… and the game continued ...
22...Rd8
We both thought White had been threatening to win with 23.d5, but even a purely defensive move such as 22...b6 was fine as 23.d5? loses a pawn to 23...Rd8, the point being that the d pawn is pinned because of Black's back-rank mating threat.
23.Ra5??
White is just about holding on after 23.Bc2, as 23...Bxa2?? loses to 24.Qa3+
23...Rxd4??
Black wins after 23...g6 as White's bishop is trapped.
24.Qxd4
Also drawing is 24.Ra8+ Rd8 25.Qb4+ Ke8 (but not 25...Qe7?? 26.Rxd8#) 26.Rxd8+ Qd8 27.Bc2
24...Qxa5 25.b4 Qc7 26.Bb1 Qd7

Black has just played 26...Qc7-d7, pressed his clock and offered a draw

I decided to play on, hoping to somehow generate an edge thanks to the possibility of creating an outside passed pawn.
27.Qxd7 Bxd7 28.f4 Ke7 29.Kf2 Kd6 30.Ke3 c5 31.a3
Fearing that Black, not White, was starting to stand better, I offered (correctly) a draw, and was relieved when LS accepted almost immediately.
In fact the position does seem to be dead-equal, as Black's king has no way of penetrating White's queenside.

Decent Draw

DREW against a Chinese junior in round two of the Highlands Open in Trebic, Czech Rep.
It was a good result, but arguably was at least partly due to my good luck from yesterday's game carrying over to today.

Position after 26...Ne2-c3 in Ruotong Chu (2199) - Spanton (1923)

White's extra pawn and the bishop-pair give her a comfortable advantage even though White's pieces are not well-coordinated.
27.a3?
Chu had won the congress's speed-chess tournament (10mins + 5secs a move) earlier in the day, but here she misses a tactical shot based on the restricted number of squares available to White's king.
27...Bxa3
White is still better, according to Stockfish9 and Komodo9, but Black's drawing chances have hugely increased.
28.Bb6 Re2 29.e6!? fxe6 30.Bh3
This takes away Black's mating threat, so now the a3 bishop is really hanging.
30...Rd1+ 31.Rxd1 Nxd1 32.Bxe6+ Kf8 33.Bd4 Bb2 34.Bc5+ Ke8 35.Bf5 h6 36.Bc3 Nd3 37.Bd4 Kf7 38.Bxb5 Nxb5 39.Bxb2

Black to play and save the game

The engines reckon White has the upper hand, ie plus-over-minus. But in reality this ending should be drawn with reasonable care by Black.
39...h5
Gaining space, but more importantly starting to get Black's pawns off the same-coloured squares as the White bishop.
40.Ke2 g6 41.Ke3 Ke6 42.Kf4 Nd6 43.Kg5 Kg7
The Black king will defend the pawns while the knight harasses White's king and pawns.
44.f4 Ne4+ 45.Kh6 Nd6 46.Kg5 Ne4+ 47.Kh6 Nd6 48.Be5 Nf5+ 49.Kg5 Ne3 50.h3 Nf5 51.h4 hxg4 52.hxg4 Ng3
And now the knight waits to sac itself as soon as the f pawn advances.
White can lose a tempo with her bishop, but even if the knight cannot cover f5, White will have no winning chances once a pair of pawns is exchanged.
RC played on for another 34 moves, but eventually conceded the half-point.

Blunder? The Engines Disagee

PLAYING in the Highlands Open in the southern Czech town of Trebic.
I had a lucky win in round one today against a much lower-rated opponent.

Position after Black exchanged queens on f2 in Spanton (1927) - Jan Divis (1526)

I do not know what was going through JD's mind here, but I guess it was an example of relaxing when the danger seems over, as the game saw:
33...Kf6??
Strangely, the analysis engines Komodo9 and Stockfish9 flash yellow, but not red, when this move is played. Black had to play 33...b6, or 33...Bf6 (threatening b2).
34.Bxb7 Ke5
The engines give 34...Bc1 with a big, but not winning, advantage for White after 35.b3 or 35.Be4 (threatening h7).
35.Be4 h6 36.a4
This is why I am positive the position is winning for White. By creating a passed pawn on the queenside, and having the threat of a passed pawn on the kingside, White makes it impossible for Black to defend on both sides of the board.
36...bxa3 37.bxa3 Kd4 38.a4 Bd8 39.Kf3 Ke5 40.Kg4 Kf6 41.h4 Ba5 42.Kf3 Be1 43.h5 Kg5 44.g4 Bc3
During the game I was worried Black could prevent my king penetrating to the queenside by playing 44...Kf6 45.Bf5 Ke5. But, as Ian Heppell pointed out, White wins easily by creating a second passed pawn with g5. In fact, White can play 46.g5! immediately as the bishop is immune, ie 46...Kxf5 loses to 47.gxh6.
45.Bf5 Kf6 46.Ke4 Ke7
The game finished:
47.Kd5 Be5 48.Kc6 Kd8 49.a5 Bc3 50.a6 d5 51.a7 1-0
That was pretty easy. So why don't the engines rate Black's 33rd move a blunder? Could it be the horizon effect of the winning process being long drawn-out, even though a human can quickly assess the position as (almost) certainly winning?

Notorious f+h Pawns

"ALL rook (and pawn) endings are drawn" is an aphorism often attributed variously to Tarrasch or Tartakower.
It sounds much more like the latter, but in any event there is a lot of truth in it, sometimes even when one player is two pawns up.
The ending of rook, f-pawn and h-pawn versus rook "has been notorious ever since the famous game Marshall-Rubinstein, San Sebastian 1911," according to Reuben Fine in Basic Chess Endings.
I reached such an ending last month in the second round of the Highlands Open in Trebic, part of the Czech Tour.
Here is the position after White's 51.Rxa3:

Black to play and draw in Spanton (1858) - Svante Norlander (1583)

Because this position can be analysed perfectly thanks to the Nalimov endgame tablebases, I shall use the John Nunn endgame convention to punctuate the moves.
Here is a subbed down version of the convention (a fuller explanation is available on Wikipedia):
!: The only move which maintains the current evaluation of a win or a draw. An ! is used no matter how trivial the move in question, unless it is the only legal move.
!!: A particularly difficult-to-find ! move.
?: A move which negatively affects the evaluation of the position. ie turns a win into a draw or a draw into a loss.
??: An obviously bad ? move.
51...Rd1+
Seven other moves maintain the draw, including 51...Rc1 and 51...Kd7 - evidence that the drawing margin in this ending is wide indeed.
52.Ke3 Rh1 53.Ra4 Ke5 54.h5 Kf6 55.h6 Re1+
No fewer than 10 moves maintain the draw here, but they do not include 55...Rxh6?, which becomes a lost pawn ending after 56.Ra6+ Kg7 57.Rxh6 Kxh6 58.Kf4 (or Ke4 or Kd4, or even Kd3).
56.Kf4 Re8?
Only one rook move draws, 57...Re7, and so does the natural-looking 57...Kg6 and even 57...Kf7.
57.Ra6+
57.Ra7 also wins.
57...Kf7

White to play and find the only move that keeps the position a win

58.Kf5!
That wasn't so difficult. Clearly White's king and f-pawn need to advance.
58...Re1

White again to play and find the only move that keeps the position a win

59.f4?
I needed to find 59.Ra8! The point is that Black's king has no useful move, while 59...Rh1 can be simply met by 60.h7 (60.Kg5 also wins).
59...Rh1 60.Ra7+ Kg8!
A fairly obvious choice, but a sign that the drawing margin has significantly narrowed.
61.Kg6 Rg1+! 62.Kf6 Kh8?
Black had to play 62...Rh1! He may have been worried by the line 63.h7+ Rxh7?? 64.Ra8mate. But 63...Kh8! draws.

White has two winning moves in this position -  I didn't find either

63.Rg7?
White wins with the understandable 63.f5 and the less obvious 63.Re7.
63...Ra1?
63.Rf1 and 63.Rh1 draw.
64.Rg6?
Again, 64.f5 and 64.Re7 win.
64...Ra6+ 65.Kg5 Ra1 66.Re6 Rg1+! 67.Kf6 Kh7 68.Kf7 Rf1 69.Rf6 Rg1
69...Rxf4?? is the only move that loses in this position!
70.f5 Rf1! 71.Kf8

My plan over the last few moves has been to sacrifice the h-pawn in return for reaching a winning Lucena position, but Black has three moves that foil it

71...Rg1?
Black had to keep his rook on the f file. After the text, I get to execute my plan.
72.Ra6 Rf1
Stockfish8 reckons 72...Rg8+ draws, but Nalimov (and Komodo9) show White winning after either legal king move.
73.f6! Kxh6 74.f7+ Kh7 75.Ra4 76.Rh4+ Kg6 77.Kg8 1-0

How To Lose In 13 Moves

I PLAYED at the Highlands Open, a nine-round swiss held in Trebic from Sep 23-30 as part of the Czech Tour.
My score of +4=1-4 was good enough to gain 25 elo points, but in the sixth round I had the embarrassment of losing in 13 moves.
The game began reasonably enough ...
Jan Bartos (FM2209) - Spanton (1858)
Catalan Opening
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 c5 5.Bg2!?

Black to make his fifth move

This is quite a common idea in the Catalan: White ignores Black's threat to demolish his centre and instead gets on with developing his kingside. I was already out of book.
5...cxd4
Most popular is 5...Nc6, but the text has been played by some strong players, including Aronian.
6.0-0 Nc6
6...dxc4 is possible, but White replies 7.Qxd4, leaving Black even further behind in development.
7.Nxd4

How should Black play in the centre?

First, it is important to realise that the ambitious 7...e5? loses a pawn to the simple 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Nc3, eg 9...Be6 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Bxf6 etc.
7...Bc5 drives the d4-knight from the centre, but there is no gain of tempo as White hits the c5-bishop with 8.Nb3.
Instead, I came up with ...
7...Qb6?!
This drives away the knight with gain of tempo, and I later discovered it had been the move of some strong players. But I think it is more significant that the queen becomes a target for White's minor pieces.
8.Nc2
By no means the only reply. The most popular line runs 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Nc3 Be7 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.e4 dxe4 12.Nxe4, with an excellent position for White thanks to the powerful Catalan bishop on g2.
8...d4?
The text is liked by the analysis engine Stockfish8, but Bartos's strong reply shows it to be an error.
Komodo9 prefers 8...dxc4, but that hardly convinces after the straightforward 9.Nba3.

Bartos's ninth move proved very strong

9.e3!
I had not been worried about White giving up the bishop-pair to grab a pawn with 9.Bxc6 Qxc6 10.Qxd4 - Black's compensation is obvious. But the text gives White a strong game, whatever Black replies.
9...Bc5??
I rejected 9...dxe3 10.Bxe3 Qxb2 as too risky. The analysis engines at first disagree, until they find the move that caused me to reject this line, namely 11.Nba3.
Best may be 9...e5 10.dxe4 dxe4, although Black's passed d-pawn is probably weak rather than strong.
10.b4 
Even better, according to the analysis engines, is 10.exd4! eg 10...Nxd4 11.b4, which wins a piece.
10...Nxb4?
Black is still just about in the game after 10...Bxb4, but 11.exd4 gives White the upper hand.
11.exd4 Be7
11...Qd8!? is a computer-suggested near-save, and does keep the game going, but White should win comfortably enough after the forcing 12.Nxb4 Bxd4 13.Nc2 Bxa1 14.Qxd8+ Kxd8 15.Nxa1.
12.c5 Qb5 13.a4 Qd3
Losing instantly, but the b4-knight could not be saved, eg 13...Qc4 14.Nba3 Qb3 15.Rb1.
1-0
So how do you lose in 13 moves? There are many ways, but this game shows three things that help:
1. Pick a variation where you know very little theory.
2. Develop your queen early.
3. Push a pawn across the halfway line when it will be difficult to support it.