It was a pretty interesting game (also long, so varied). Here's some payback for delaying the tournament a month.
http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=61569980

***Opening***

I was following Vigus's Slav book, which gives Van Wely-Sokolov 2004 here for the opening until this point:
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qe2 Bg4 10.Rd1 Qa5 11.e4 Qh5 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Qxf3 Qxf3 14.gxf3 Nbd7 15.Be3 Rfd8 16.Na2 Be7 17.Nc1 Ne5 18.Be2 Ng6 19.a5 a6

I wouldn't say that I was in love with the position, maybe I would look to deviate around move 14/15 (with ...a5) or something, or much earlier and play mainlines (Qa5 is the repertoire but uncommon).

In either case, my idea here was something like Rc8-c7-d7 which looked solid, with an idea of then Ne8-c7-b5. I don't have notes from this part of the game, but I believe my motivation for this came from 20...Rd7 21.Ne5 and I can't capture the knight, although 21...Rc7 looks OK to me now. Nc5 was the bigger worry.

There was a bigger problem with this idea:
20.Nd3 Rac8 21.b4 Rc7

I didn't even see this possibility; a combination of being focused on that pawn as a support for the knight and considering it blockaded.

***Middlegame***

The next few moves were played well by ganstaman; the idea is just to breakthrough on the queenside before I can coordinate my pieces. Otherwise Black would be OK with the pawn and central control for the exchange.

(Postscript: while checking these lines with a computer, my engine actually thinks Black's OK here -- I'm curious whether other humans agree; it's possible I am underestimating the d4-d3 ideas noted below, or am missing something else important.)

22.d5 cxd5 23.Bb6 Rcd7 24.e5 Nh5 25.Bxd8 Rxd8 26.Rdb1 Nhf4 27.Nxf4 Nxf4
The main choice amounts to timing when to play f6 or whether d4-d3 works at any point. (26...f6 was a little different). 28...d4 was the only important alternative (intending d3 to block the bishop on f1). 29...axb5 is preferable because the b7 pawn is harder for White to round up (he can't use the bishop).

28.Bf1 f6 29.b5 axb5 30.Rxb5 Rd7 31.Rc1 fxe5 32.Rc8+ Kf7 33.Rb8 Rc7 34.R5xb7 Rc1
I had been thinking of resigning for a few moves, but played to this point since there was one last trick; now White blunders here with

I could play 38...Rf1+ directly reaching

(Analysis: after 38...Rf1+/41.Rxa8)

Continuing with the game is similar except for the knight position: 35.a6 Ne2+ 36.Kh2 Rxf1 37.a7 Rxf2+ 38.Kh1 Ng3+ 39.Kg1 Ra2 40.a8Q Rxa8

After 38...Ng3+/41.Rxa8

***Endgame***

An unusual material imbalance has been reached.

My first thought was just to aim for something static and hold a draw, like

but I didn't want to have to play on forever with no chances, so I decided to play a little more aggressively, with the bishop outside of the pawns.

It took me a few additional moves to realize that I had reasonable winning chances, especially once White allowed his king to get separated from the pawns, e.g., Kd2 is hard to understand, as White's king is never going to get around the central pawns, but was doing useful defensive work on the kingside.

I don't have anything in particular to say about this unwinding phase; it seems mostly Black stumbles around with where his pieces belong, but White does more serious damage by mislocating the king.

Skipping ahead:
41.Rxa8 Nf5 42.Ra6 Kf6 43.Rb5 Kf7 44.Kf2 Bh4+ 45.Kg1 Bg5 (45...Nd4!?, intending Bf6) 46.Rb7+ Kf6 47.Rb5 Be3+ 48.Kf1 Ne7 49.Ke2 Bd4 50.Rd6 Ng6 (50...Nxf5 51.Rbxd5=) 51.Rb7 Nf4+ 52.Kd2 h5 53.Rdd7 Kg5 54.Rxg7+

[Aside: if 54...g6 55.f4 exf4 56.Kxd4 h5, what's the evaluation?]


54...Kh4 55.Rg8 Kxh3
This still looks drawn, but it also looks like Black is making progress. My first idea is to push the pawn to h3, stick a piece on g3, and then get the king out of the way.

This doesn't exactly work, but I am able to trade the e6 pawn for the f3 pawn, which is a big achievement, although I suspect it's still a theoretical draw.

56.Rb1 Kh2 57.Rf1 h4 58.Rg4 h3 59.Rc1 Bf2 60.Rc2 Ng2 61.Rc6 Bg3 62.Rxe6 Nh4 63.Rh6 Nxf3+
I threw in a repetition just to show who's boss (as GM games have taught me is necessary to win these sorts of positions)--but more honestly just to reach the weekend, so that I could figure out whether there was any risk of losing by pushing the pawns.

The rest is unwrapping the bishop and just jamming the pawns down the board. I'm pretty sure White can draw this with best play. For example:
64.Ke3 Ne1 65.Ke2 Ng2 66.Kf3 Ne1+ 67.Ke2 Ng2 68.Kf3 e4+ 69.Ke2 Bb8
I think 70.Rh7 (asking what Black is really going to do if Ba7 is prevented) with the ideas of:
70...Bd6 71.Rd7 Bc5 72.Rxd5 Ne3 73.Rdg5 Nxg4 74.Rxg4
70...Be5 71.Re7 Bf4 72.Rxd5 Ne3 73.Rxf4 Nxd5 74.Rxf4
It's not too hard to see these endings are drawn; Black's king is stuck, and the minor piece is too tied down defending the e-pawn to him it escape.



Instead, 70.Rg7 was played. This is still OK, after 70...d4 71.Rgh7 is a draw, via 71...Kg1 72.Rxh3 d3+ 73.Rxd3! Nf4+ 74.Ke3 exd3; 72...Nf4+ 73.Ke1 Nxh3 74.Rxg3 is also a draw, although harder to see. This idea, though, of just doubling on the h-file and playing Rxh3+ works even more simply on subsequent moves.

Instead, what followed was 70.Rg7 d4
71.Kf2 Nf4 72.Rb6 Be5
73.Rg5 d3 74.Rxe5 d2 75.Rd6 Nd3+ 76.Ke2 Nxe5 77.Rxd2 Ng4 and White resigned.

After 77...Ng4 0-1

73.Rg5 may be the losing move; I think 73.Re7 holds. (Postscript: looks like 73...d3 wins there, too. 72.Rb6 may be to blame, then, with 72.Rgh7 possibly drawn, e.g., 72...e3+ 73.Kf3 e2 74.Rxh3+, or 72...Be5 73.Re7 d3 74.Rxe5 d2 75.Rxe4 d1=Q 76.Rxf4=.)

Thanks for getting this up. I hope others find it as interesting as you and I.

I'm not sure how I feel about learning this...

Anyway, here are my thoughts for comparison to yours.

1. d4

Don't hate. I had just started to play 1. d4 so I wasn't sure what to expect.

1...d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 Bg4 10. Rd1 Qa5 11. e4



I wasn't using a book like Sholar, but I was following along with the chessgames.com Opening Explorer (and did find the Van Wely - Sokolov game as well). I was happy with my position so far, feeling that I had a good center with some well-placed pieces. It interested me that no one seemed to have tried 11...Bxc3 12. bxc3 Qxc3, seemingly winning a pawn. I wasn't too worried since no one had done it, and it seemed that white still had good piece activity and could maybe almost trap the black queen, but I hadn't actually worked out 13. Bd2 Bxf3 14. gxf3 Qxd4 15. Bb4 Qb6 16. Bxf8 winning the exchange for the 2 pawns.

11...Qh5 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Qxf3 14. gxf3 Nbd7 15. Be3 Rfd8 16. Na2 Be7 17. Nc1 Ne5 18. Be2 Ng6 19. a5 a6 20. Nd3 Rac8 21. b4 Rc7

Sholar has a diagram here. 21...Rc7 seemed to me to be losing the exchange, but Sholar is rated around 2200, about 400 points higher than I am so naturally I was a bit skeptical. I thought that if he wanted to double his rooks, he could have just as easily played 21...Rd7. So in my mind, we had 3 possible scenarios:

1) He just missed it. I know it happens, but when rooks line up on diagonals it should set off alerts for a bishop pin (or skewer? which is the right word?)
2) It's not actually good for white and I'm just missing out on how.
3) Sholar thinks it's about equal but finds it a more exciting line (with more chances for him?) and is hoping to get me to play it.

I otherwise considered 22. Nc5, which I thought left white with a better position but I wasn't sure I could actually make anything of it. I couldn't find the fault of 22. d5, so I felt I had no choice but to play it even if it was a trap.

22. d5 cxd5 23. Bb6 Rcd7



When I first analyzed to this point, I tried 24. Bxd8 Rxd8 but felt a little uneasy. If then 25. e5 Nd7 26. f4, hmmm, I don't remember what I was thinking but there was something I didn't like. If 25. exd5 Nxd5 26. R[either]b1 was giving black too much activity (the computer prefers 26. Rac1 here, not a move I saw). So I played 24. e5 first to prevent ...Nd7. I really wish I could remember why this mattered to me.

24. e5 Nh5 25. Bxd8 Rxd8 26. Rdb1 Nhf4 27. Nxf4 Nxf4 28. Bf1 f6 29. b5 axb5 30. Rxb5 Rd7 31. Rc1 fxe5 32. Rc8+ Kf7 33. Rb8 Rc7 34. R5xb7 Rc1

Sholar has a diagram here as well. I was pleased with the last series of moves. The bishop on f1 isn't so bad as it defends h3 and aims at squares I need on the queenside. The rooks got positioned to create a passed pawn and they succeeded. I felt this pawn was important for me to win this, and that's why I rejected 31. exf6 Bxf6 32. Rab1 Bc3 33. Rxb7 Rxb7 34. Rxb7 Bxa5.

Back to the diagrammed (by Sholar) position, I considered 35. Rb1, but ultimately rejected it for 2 reasons.
1) I can't figure out the line I thought I saw, but I was concerned that black would be able to blockade the a-pawn and/or run his d-pawn down the board and I thought it would make a draw more likely than a win. I must have been doing something stupid because neither I nor the computer can find the line that concerned me.

2) I figured it was simpler to just run my passed pawn to the finish line. It would win me another exchange, and without looking too much at the resulting position, I thought that being up the double exchange would be winning. Seems lazy, and ultimately wrong

35. a6 Ne2+

Sholar and the computer recommend 36. Kg2 here, but on 36. Kg2 Nf4+ I saw either 37. Kg1 with repetition or 37. Kg3 with another line I can't recreate, but it seemed bad for me. Just add this to the list of miscalculations.

36. Kh2 Rxf1 37. a7 Rxf2+ 38. Kh1 Ng3+ 39. Kg1 Ra2 40. a8=Q Rxa8 41. Rxa8

Sholar diagrammed this endgame. It is indeed an interesting imbalance. Chessgames.com has an endgame explorer available to premium members, but the closest I could search was RR vs B+N+3P -- there were no games with this imbalance.

I was honestly not sure if this was winning, losing, or drawn. Black does have 3 extra pawns, but my f-pawn keeps the central pawn mass from advancing unimpeded. My thought was to try to keep my rooks coordinated so I could make use of their advantages over the minor pieces.

41...Nf5 42. Ra6 Kf6 43. Rb5 Kf7 44. Kf2 Bh4+ 45. Kg1 Bg5 46. Rb7+ Kf6 47. Rb5 Be3+ 48. Kf1 Ne7 49. Ke2 Bd4 50. Rd6 Ng6 51. Rb7 Nf4+



Sholar questioned my move of 52. Kd2 here. At this point, it seemed to me that my rooks alone weren't enough. I was setting up pins but not making progress. Black's bishop and knight were now limiting my king's mobility. If I was going to win this, I thought I would have to get my king all the way around to help my rooks attack the pawns. Yes, I thought I could make it there.

52. Kd2 h5 53. Rdd7 Kg5 54. Rxg7+ Kh4 55. Rg8 Kxh3 56. Rb1 Kh2



I'm still happy, but also not sure what to do. Black's king is stuck blocking his own pawn on the h-file due to one of my rooks. My other rook is free to either give some checks or help my king in keeping the center pawns from becoming a problem. But can I do anything to win? I chose 57. Rf1 here figuring that it was drawn like everything else, but in the event that the knight moves away and I can play Kd3, then f3-f4 becomes a threat.

57. Rf1 h4 58. Rg4 h3 59. Rc1 Bf2 60. Rc2 Ng2 61. Rc6 Bg3 62. Rxe6 Nh4



Oh. Not until now did I realized that f3 was hanging. If I defend it, black plays ...Kg2 and I'd have to give up an exchange for the h-pawn. With 63. Rh6, which is what I was planning before seeing the hanging f3-pawn, 63...Kg2 64. Rxh4 Kxf3 65. Rxg3+ Kxg3 and I have a rook for 3 pawns. Turns out it's a tablebase draw, but at the time I at least figured I wouldn't be worse.

63. Rh6 Nxf3+ 64. Ke3 Ne1 65. Ke2 Ng2 66. Kf3 Ne1+ 67. Ke2 Ng2 68. Kf3 e4+ 69. Ke2 Bb8 70. Rg7 d4 71. Kf2 Nf4

Sholar has a diagram after 70. Rg7 d4. I played 71. Kf2 with a cool (imo) mate threat of Rxg2+ ...Kh1 Rxh3+ ...Bh2 Rxh2#. The threat comes back if the black knight ever gives up control of g2. For this reason, I considered keeping my rooks on the g and h files instead of 72. Rb6. However, it wasn't likely that Sholar would walk into mate. Also, once I looked at 72. Rb6, it looked fine, so I searched hard for a reason it would lose so I could stick to my original plan, but I couldn't find the loss no matter how hard I tried. It seemed still drawn to me so I played it.

72. Rb6 Be5 73. Rg5 d3 74. Rxe5 d2 75. Rd6 Nd3+ 76. Ke2 Nxe5 77. Rxd2 Ng4 0-1

I had foreseen the possibility of this final sequence and found it rather aesthetically pleasing -- black giving up his bishop with 74...d3 in order to push the pawn to d2, at which point I stop the pawn from queening with 75. Rd6 (75. Rb1 loses). Black then plays 75...Nd3+, simultaneously forking my king and rook and blocking my Rd6 from attacking the d-pawn.

The problem was that in the final position, I planned 78. Rd4. I somehow missed 78...Kg3, the only winning move, despite looking at this position multiple times.

Sholar, question for you about the opening. How common is the 10...Qa5 and 11...Qh5 idea? I've never seen/played that before and am curious if you've got prior experience with it and what you think.

Btw guys, very interesting game, particularly the endgame. Thank y'all both for your thoughts during the game, the commentary was fantastic.

"could have just as easily played 21...Rd7"
I didn't like this because of Ne5. My position is already not great, but mostly because of the Nc5 threat. My obsession with those moves and struggle to make the position work were a big cause of the error.

"I considered 35. Rb1, but ultimately rejected it"
This seems simpler to me--the flaw in your logic is that the game wins an exchange, but this wins a full rook.

"recommend 36. Kg2 here, but on 36. Kg2 Nf4"
Yeah, there's no repetition, and you just keep the f2 pawn. I'm not sure it changes the evaluation (I suspect it's a draw in both cases), but it's much harder for me to annoy you with my minor pieces, and I would have likely played for a fortress in that case.

"If I was going to win this, I thought I would have to get my king all the way around to help my rooks attack the pawns. Yes, I thought I could make it there."
OK, you should not have been playing for a win at this point :-)

I do confess that I had to look up KRR v kbn (it's won for the rooks).

"Turns out it's a tablebase draw, but at the time I at least figured I wouldn't be worse."
In the next move or so, White is going play rook checks to prevent Black from promoting; no need for the tablebase here.

"I considered keeping my rooks on the g and h files instead of 72. Rb6"
This might have worked earlier, e.g., 70.Rb6. I remember thumbing through lines with Rb1 or Rb3 on my phone, but this endgames are hard work for a human.

Practically, I think you need to find the Rxh3 ideas, otherwise I'll just move my minor pieces around, and it's going to be hard for you to defend accurately forever.

"How common is the 10...Qa5 and 11...Qh5 idea?"
It's rare. Vigus recommends it in "Play the Slav" and I like to follow the repertoire books in these correspondence tournaments, since people can prepare the openings to find gaps.

I've played this way a few times with good results, but this might be the first that followed the critical line and I didn't take it seriously enough. I'd look for improvements before repeating.