Heh ok maybe not that common :P too bad you started drifting after winning material, but happens to everyone from time to time. 4/6 is still good, get that rating group prize (ajezz too).

I saw the Re7 idea during the game, but I thought that after Rb5 his rook gets too active (X b2, f3). I calculated a bit (the lines you posted, though not that far obviously), but didn't like it. After Re7, we are playing for three results which I did not want to...

Playing for 3 results is one of the most exciting things in chess IMO...
That's why I derive a sick pleasure from time trouble

I'll have a deeper look at the position soon, probably devote a thread to it, it's very interesting indeed.

In round 7 today a 2148 rated German gentleman waited for me.

K., K. - Ajezz
Vienna Open (7), 21.8.

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Qc2 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bg4 6. Nc3 Nbd7 7. Bf4

The critical line is 7. e4 Bxf3 8. gxf3 e5. His plan is very slow and doesn't put Black under pressure. Also, the bishop on f4 might become vulnerable tactically.

7... e6 8. e3



After the game a friend suggested 8... Nb6 9. Qd3 Bd6 but I don't like it. I tghink the knight should stay on d7 for the time being (X e5, c5), and Qa5 looks active.

8...Qa5 9. Nd2 Nd5

I thought for 20 minutes here but saw nothing better.

10. Nb3 Qb4 11. Bg3 a5

To win space on the queenside and maybe hit the knight with a4.

12. a3 Qxc4 13. Bxc4 Nxc3

Yeah, well. This is probably pretty bad as I might get problems on the b-file. Just 13... a4 looks better.

14. bxc3 a4 15. Nd2 h5 16. Ne4



Now I have a very nice move with 16... h4 which I overlooked. I thought that after 17. Nd6+ Bxd6 18. Bxd6 my bishop gets shut in with f3 and e4, so I played Bf5 to bring it to an active diagonal. This thinking is bad on so many levels. Firstly, Nd6+ just loses because of Ke7. Secondly, even if that was not the case, it is my move after Bxd6 so I can just play h3 there. And thirdly, h4-h3 is just a very good idea. After the text move I get into a bad position very quickly.

16... Bf5 17. Nd6+ Bxd6 18. Bxd6 Nb6 19. Be2 Nd5 20. c4 Nc3 21. Bf1

A strong move. When I calculated all this, I was just expecting Bf3.

21... Kd7 22. Bb4 Ne4 23. f3 Nd6 24. e4 Bg6 25. h4



So I have a difficult position now. I am very cramped, and White has all the time he needs to bring his pieces to the best squares and then break through with d5 or so and open up the position for his bishop pair. I think I found the strongest defensive plan.

25... b6 26. Kf2 Nb7 27. d5

I think this move is not good. White could have just put his bishop to c2 and doubled his rooks on the d-file. Now I get c5 for my knight.

27... Nc5 28. Rd1 Rhd8 29. Be2 Kc7 30. Bxc5 bxc5 31. dxe6 fxe6 32. Rxd8



Here he offered a draw which I gladly accepted. He could have played on for a while with his kingside pawn majority but I don't think I would have had too much difficulties in reaching the draw. My pieces all get to good squares now.

1/2-1/2

So the second game in a row where I manage to get bad positions and then draw them. I am not really happy with my play but as long as I draw 150 points better opponents I probably can't complain too much.

NoirDesir lost again today; he said he is going to post his games once he is back home at his computer.

I think if there is anyone fighting for a win in the ending position it's black. White has quite a lot of problems actually.. After simple Rxd8, what does white do? 1. Rd1 is met by Rb8, with the idea of playing e5 next move and invasion of a rook, where both a3 and c4 are week and your pieces are perfectly placed. White is probably going to hold with a perfect play, but it's only you who got chances there IMO. 1. Bd1 can be met by Rd3 2. Ba4 Ra3 3. Bd1 e5, again with pressure against c4. Finally 1. Ke3 can be met by the same e5, with the ideas of Rb8, or, if white plays 2. Rb1 then simply set up Bf7, Be6, and you will actually be the one who might try to brake through in king side with g5. Basically, white has several weaknesses, while your King on c7 and pawns c6, c5, pretty much defend everything perfectly. It's probably not winning, but playable for a win for sure IMO.

You are right, I should have thought about the draw offer for a while. However, White also has the plan Rh3-Rg3, and it is not easy for me to get organized.
For example, 32... Rxd8 33. Rh3 Rf8 34. Ke3 and then if 34...Bh7 35. g4 or if 34... Bf7 35. Rg3 g6 36. e5 both look good for White.

This is probably not the type of position where one should get fancy against a better player. Black doesn't really have clear-cut plan how to exploit the open files and queenside weaknesses. Whenever such a plan is absent, it is so easy to get outplayed by the better player.

By the way, the manoeuver Rh3-g3 is very strong, because the rook is also able to defend the 3rd rank by means of f4. Fritz sees a clear advantage for White (+1.30).

Oops, I admit that I completely missed Rh3-g3, and that changes the evaluation completely - good job on taking a draw!

That's my point, it's so easy to miss such resources, so normally I'd prefer to play it safe in technical positions like that.

So round 8 is over, and I lost by overlooking one-move tactic like a little kid. It's been a few hours (and drinks) now, but the game is still too painful to comment, sorry. We played like 20 moves of theory, then I declined a draw offer in a position where I can play on very comfortably, then I drop a pawn like a beginner. I might not have followed up correctly, and he played very precise till the end. I totally ****ed up this one.

So after the awesome first four games the rest of the tournament so far is very bad. Tomorrow I play a 2137 with black and will probably offer draw after the opening to get it over with. The good news is that even if I should lose tomorow, I am still outperforming my rating, and that does not even include my round 3 win because that opponent had no Fide rating.

Final round 9 today. My opponent didn't want to draw, so I had to play.

S., C. - Ajezz
Vienna Open (9), 23.8.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. a4 Nf6 5. e3

5... e5 should equalize immediately, but my move is also okay.

5... Bf5 6. Bxc4 e6 7. Nge2 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Ng3 Bg6 10. Na2



Now I thought that after a bishop retreat he plays b4 with a space advantage so I played Qe7. After 10... Bd6 11. b4 e5 however, my position is okay. Maybe I should give my bishops more love and not exchange them against knights all the time...

10... Qe7 11. Nxb4 Qxb4 12. b3 Rd8

And here Re8 is probably more precise, to prepare e5.

13. Ba3 Qb6 14. Qf3 Nbd7 15. Bd6 a5 16. h4 h6 17. h5 Bh7 18. Ra2 Re8 19. Rd2



I could play 19... e5 here, but during the game I did not like the position after 20. dxe5 Nxe5 21. Bxe5 Rxe5 22. Rfd1, but it is totally okay for Black. I decided to play this line but exchange one pair of rooks.

19... Rad8 20. Rfd1

But now I realised that after the line given above (including the exchange on d2) White has Rd7 (X f7). I really wished at this point I had played e5 earlier. This line is probably still best for Black, however. My move is a mistake.

20... Qa7 21. e4 b6

Well, things have gone horribly wrong and I am probably just losing now. 21... b6 is to prepare c5 and also cover f7 in some lines.

22. Ba3 e5

Now that he has given me the opportunity, I play e5, but I am not convinced it is best. Maybe just play passively with Qc7?

23. Nf5

I think a plan based on d5 is best, but almost any line is winning for White, so it doesn't matter probably.

23. exd4 24. Be7



But now he really should have taken back on d4. He became confused of all the winning lines, I guess. After the game he told me he wanted to achieve more here than with Rxd4; but he simply overlooked...

24... Bxf5

,,, after which he is just lost. The funny thing was that in the analysis after the game he kept on overlooking the move Bxf5 in several other lines. It's maybe a psychological thing, with the bishop standing so hidden.

25. Bxd8 Bxe4 26. Qf4 Rxd8 27. Rxd4 Bd5 28. Bxd5 cxd5 29. Qd6



Tactics are over and I am winning. I have to be careful though. Here after 29... Qb8 for example, 30. Rxd4 Nxd4 31. Qxd4 and the pin on d7 could give me a headache.

29... Rc8 30. Qh2 Qc7 31. Qh3 Re8 32. R4d3 Nc5 33. Rc3 Qf4 34. Rf3 Qb4 35. Rxf6

Probably just desperation. Now after Re1+ he doesn't play Rxe1 Qxe1 Kh2 Qe5+, but Kh2, and I was not so sure about a possible perpetual (which there most probably isn't but why take chances). My move is the safe choice.

35... gxf6 36. Qg3+ Kh7 37. Rxd5 Qxb3 38. Qd6 Kg7 39. Rf5 Qb1+ 0-1

So yesterday, I had a nice position and blundered horribly, while today my opponent had an almost winning position and I was lucky that he blundered. Undeserved victories are always sweet.

So now the tournament is over and I am going back home tomorrow. I will make a final summarizingpost once I am home.

Nice tripreport, even though i havent played chess for years and i have never been good at it it almost makes me want to start chess again!

Sadly I had to go back today, I really would have liked to stay a little longer in Vienna. So much left to do; I didn't even go to a casino once.

I was really happy with the tournament result. I finished 174th after being seeded 263rd. At the beginning I thought that anything over 3.5 points would be very good. Now I even have 4.5 points which is even better as I made a lot of points in the first rounds and thus got better opponents; I played a very hard tournament with the average opponent rated 170 points better than me.

Regarding the quality of my games I am not so happy. I played the first four rounds quite good, the rest was less than optimal, to put it mildly. I made a lot of mistakes, culminating in the round 8 disaster. I like the game from round 4 best as I think I played it mistake-free.

I used to think that the weakest part of my game was tactics and openings, and that I am okay with positional and endgame stuff; but when I review the games here I think that I have mad some really dumb positional mistakes (like giving up the bishop pair in games 6 and 9), and I should probably try to get better in that area. If any of the strong players around here has any advice on where I could do better I'd be really grateful.

Some statistics:
Average move count: 45
Average opponent Fide rating: 2189
Elo performance: 2146
Outperforming rating expectation by: + 1.25 points
Won rating points: 19
Openings: French (3x), Slav (3x), Ruy Lopez (2x), Sicilian (1x)
Points won with White: 1.5/4
Points won with Black: 3/5

Finally, thanks for reading this trip report and for all your nice comments and support.

Great report Ajezz

Congrats on your better than rating performance!