Tournaments Galore

Happy March. It's supposed to snow 14 inches tonight. Here is a game from my Slav-themed tournament, which I am currently leading with a score of +10 -2 =0. This was a very fun game. Drew Parker_Carlo Benarrivo_2009_2_25_12_43.pgn Comments: 9. Be2 loses a pawn. Bd3 instead keeps the pawn. 12 ... f5 13. Ne5 The move f5 opened up the a2-g8 diagonal to black's king, weakens e6, and gives my Knight a outpost on e5 where he cannot be molested by black pawns. 14. Nc5. There is probably a better move, but the series of exchanges that follow do a few good things. It exchanges my knight on the rim for black's centralized knight, and establishes a blockade on the c6 pawn so black cannot open up the diagonal for use by his bishop. 18. Nxc6 Nxc5 19. Nxb4 Reestablishing material equality, and starts a pretty knight maneuver as he jumps round and round and lands back on his outpost on e5. 23. Rc7 Didn't want to passively defend the b2 pawn, instead we exchange weak pawns. 24 ... g5 Black isn't going to get anywhere with his kingside pawn majority as long as his e-pawn is blocked. 27. a4! The rook can't continue to defend the knight. The correct move for black is 27... Rb7 supported by the knight. 27... Nxa4? Leads to a forced win for white. At first, I thought it was a clever move as it offers the knight as a sacrificial lamb in order to take the e5 knight, but I found a much better move. 28. Rcc7! The fatal zwischenzug. Rxe5 fails to the mate in 3 (28... Rxe5 29. Rg7+ Kh8 30. Rh7+ Kg7 31. Rag7#, a familiar mating pattern.) 28 ...Rd8 gives the king some space to move, but my doubled rooks on the seventh will deliver the fatal blows. 29 ... Kf8 Raf7+ Ke8 Rg8# and the knight protects the rook on f7. Alternatively, 29 ... Kh8 30. Rxh7+ Kg8 31. Rag7+ Kf8 32. Rf7+ Kg8 (32 ... Ke8 Rh8#) 33. Rhg7+ Kh8 34. Ng6#, a very pretty mating combination. I just participated in a mamer tourney on FICS which was a 3-round 15 0 tournament. I was ranked 6th out of 8 players. In game one, I drew against a 1720 opponent, in game two I upset a 1737 opponent, and in game three I was slaughtered mercilessly by a 2168 opponent. Here is the second round game, which was a Benko gambit with 5. b6. I was worse for the majority of the game so I threw some pawns at his kingside and managed to open up a very nasty h-file attack after he blundered with 27. ... Bd4. Some themes from this game that I have learned about from watching videos on youtube: The rook on a3 to swing over to the kingside, controlling the b5 outpost, the Nf3-Nd2-Nc4 maneuver, restraining the advance of black's center pawns. But I was down a pawn the entire time so my position wasn't that great. waparker_illdf_2009_3_1_23_53 15 0 tourney.pgn