We have quite a long game to look at today, so let's jump right in. This is a continuation of a series where I have been analyzing in detail some of the games I played in the recent Mid-America Open. Previously we have looked at rounds 5 and 3.
My opponent this round is FM Gabriel Petesch. I was black this game.
Petesch, Gabriel (2454) - Paciorkowski, Lev (2446)
2026 Mid-America Open, St. Louis, MO (Rd. 4)
40/80 SD30; d30
In my preparation, I was able to find some recent games Gabriel had played online and saw that with white he tends to use a non-specific Nf3-e3-b3 system, which in fact I play sometimes myself. So I did some opening work and figured out exactly how I would want to play as black against this system. As it turned out, my preparation was spot on and I correctly predicted what he would play.
1.d4 This was a slight surprise, as I had seen he more typically starts with 1.Nf3, but we quickly transposed back into what I expected anyhow. 1. ... Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.b3 (D)
4.e3!? In my humble opinion, I think this is slightly imprecise for white and plays exactly into black's hands. I believe white should prefer 4.dxc5 Qa5+ 5.Nbd2 Qxc5 6.Bb2= which is about equal.
Our game continued 4. ... cxd4 5.exd4 Bg7 6.Bb2 0-0 (First playing 6. ... d5!? 7.Bb5+ would at least give white other options) 7.Bd3 d5 8.0-0 Nc6 9.a3!? (D)
I am still in my preparation here, this being one of the possible lines I expected. White's last move was directed against ...Nb4, which would annoy the bishop on d3. At first glance, it does not seem like there would be any danger for white in this structure, but during my pre-game exploration of this middlegame, I learned about a strong maneuver for black that poses white some serious practical problems. In fact, because of this maneuver, I believe black is already objectively slightly better.
9. ... Nh5!=- (D)
There are 55 games in the database here, and of those black has won 36 and lost 9 (the rest draws) for an impressive score of 74.5%. This statistic alone indicates the extent of white's difficulties here.
What is the purpose of this strange-looking knight sortie? The obvious positional threat is ...Nf4, which will win the bishop pair. However, it also opens up the Bg7 to attack d4. This means that black also has a much more serious threat to play ...Bg4 next move, which will make it quite difficult to defend the d4 pawn. A move like c2-c3 would be extremely undesirable for white.
To illustrate how careful white already has to be, the most commonly played move here, 10.Re1?, is already a serious mistake since black just plays 10. ... Bg4! (10. ... Nf4? 11.Bf1 is not as effective for black) 11.Be2 and now 11. ... Nf4-/+ makes white's position very unpleasant [0-1 Yewdokimov (2375) - Dorfman (2575), 1991].
My opponent thought for a little bit and played 10.g3?! (D)
This was one of the moves I had looked at during my pre-game preparation. I confidently played my response, only finding out after the game that I had actually mis-remembered what I recommended for black in this exact position. (By the way, according to the engine, white's best move to limit the damage is 10.Qd2, but still after 10. ... Qc7 11.Re1 Nf4 12.Bf1 Bf5=- black's position is very comfortable and white's queen is awkwardly occupying the Nb1's natural square.)
10. ... Bg4!? Black is still slightly better, but this is a little imprecise. Even stronger, and what I had actually analyzed before the game, is 10. ... Qb6!-/+ (D)
Simply attacking the d4 pawn. The obvious move for white is then 11.Be2 (11.c3!? f5!-/+ quickly generates a strong attack for black after ...f5-f4), after which now black continues 11. ... Nf6! (The knight has done its job on h5 and should be immediately redeployed.) 12.Nbd2 Ne4!-/+ white has no comfortable way to keep d4 defended, and black can continue building the pressure with ...Bh3 and ...Rd8.
11.Be2 Nf6 12.Ne5!? White really should prefer 12.Nbd2=-, continuing development 12. ... Bh3-/+ 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Re1 Ne4 15.Nc3 (D)
The opening has clearly been a success for black, and there are multiple good-looking options here to continue. What I chose here was tempting, but in hindsight a bit too impatient.
15. ... c5?! I somewhat overestimated my chances in the position this led to. In actual fact, it would have been stronger to first play 15. ... f5!-/+ (which I didn't consider), allowing black to recapture on e4 with the f-pawn and open up the Rf8. The break c6-c5 is not going anywhere and can always be played later. In the game, we got 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.c3 White doesn't have any other reasonable options. During the game I saw 17.Bf1? Bxf1 18.Kxf1 cxd4 19.Rxe4 Qd5-+ and rightfully concluded that despite the equal material, this should be strategically winning for black, with ...e5-f5 to follow. 17. ... cxd4 18.cxd4= (D)
I thought this kind of position would be very attractive for black, and indeed white still has to tread carefully here. But the advantage is only minimal (actually, at higher depth, my engine even assesses this as just equality. Definitely could have fooled me!). With careful play, white can keep the d4 pawn adequately protected and maintain the balance. There followed 18. ... Qb6 (threatening to continue with ...Rd8, winning the d4 pawn) 19.Bc4! The only good move, opening up a counter-attack on e4. 19. ... Rac8 (D)
With the idea 20.Rxe4? Rxc4 21.bxc4 Qxb2-+. I was now expecting white to play 20.Qd2, defending b2 and reinstating the threat on e4. In that position, I was considering to sacrifice a pawn with 20. ... Rfd8!? (I also thought I could just play 20. ... Qb7=) 21.Rxe4 Qb7 22.f3 (forced) 22. ... Bf5 23.Re3 (D)
I was trying to evaluate this position while my opponent was thinking. Even with an extra pawn, I didn't think white should be better since my pieces are so active and the Kg1 is always a little weak (this intuitive assessment is correct). However, I didn't see a clear way to break through for black (indeed, there is none). For example, I saw that the attempt 23. ... e5? (23. ... h5=) 24.d5 Bh6 25.f4!+- is suddenly good for white, since I cannot continue 25. ... exf4 26.Qc3!+-.
All of this turned out to be irrelevant though because my opponent instead played his first significant mistake with 20.Qe2? (D)
The problem here is that white is not actually threatening to take on e4 because then black would again have ...Rxc4 followed by ...Qxb2. So I can actually just pick up the d4 pawn right away with 20. ... Rfd8-/+ The game then continued 21.Rac1!? (somewhat more resilient would have been 21.Rad1, when during the game I had the right idea by trying to get my bishop to g4, but hadn't quite figured out the proper execution. The solution is to play 21. ... h5!, followed by ...Bg4, which picks up either the exchange or the d4 pawn) 21. ... Bxd4 22.Bxd4 Rxd4 23.Qe3 After the game my opponent confessed that his intention was 23.Bxf7+? but he forgot that my bishop on h3 still defends the rook on c8! A classic one that I have definitely overlooked before too...bishops move backwards. 23. ... Rcd8 I remember spending a lot of time on this perfectly natural move. 24.Be2 (D)
White threatens g3-g4 to trap my bishop. This is one of the more important critical moments of the game. I spent a significant amount of my remaining time here, as I could not figure out a clear way to make progress. Besides g3-g4, I also saw that white has some real intentions to get counterplay with b3-b4, Rc5, Rec1, then even b4-b5 and Rc6. The Qe3 and Be2 is such a sturdy construction, defending all of white's weak squares on the kingside.
Intuitively, I felt like black should have a near-decisive advantage here. After all, white's king should be weak, and we still have the extra pawn, right? This assessment is correct, but black has to proceed accurately here, otherwise a large portion of the advantage will disappear.
I did at least partially hit upon the correct strategy: we need to exchange off white's Be2. It is such a strong defensive piece, not only guarding entry squares for my rooks like d3 and d1, but also physically shielding the 2nd rank, making Rd2 ineffective. So I thought about 24. ... Qe6?! (to play ...Bg4), but rightfully did not like 25.Rc7, when white gets counterplay of his own.
Unfortunately, I did not really consider the alternative execution of 24. ... h5!-+. This prepares ...Bg4 without readily allowing counterplay on the 7th rank. In fact, black can even throw in a few housekeeping moves like ...Kg7 and ...Qf6 before proceeding with ...Bg4. White is helpless, e.g. 25.b4 Kg7 26.Rc5 Qf6 27.Rec1 Bg4!-+ after the Be2 leaves, black will be able to invade with the rooks.
Why did I miss this? I think I did not quite sense the urgency in this position. I did have the correct intuitive assessment that this position should be at least nearly winning, but as we have discussed before, winning position does not equal easy position! This would be considered as a hybrid of a Type 2 and Type 3 winning position. We have a small material advantage plus a large positional advantage (white's weak king).
In this case, where part of our advantage includes our opponent's weak king, the correct approach is to look for an energetic way to "go for the throat", i.e., play for the attack. We need to do this quickly to make the most of our position before white is able to organize sufficient counterplay of his own along the c-file. We can combine this thinking with asking a useful question, "what is our opponent's most important defensive piece?" (I feel like I did at least subconsciously notice that it is the Be2 during the game) and figure out that we need to play ...h5 and ...Bg4, then look to invade decisively with the rooks. This broader strategy, and particularly the urgency of carrying it out, is what was escaping me in this position.
Watch what happened instead: 24. ... Be6?! 25.b4 Kg7?! (25. ... h5! is still strong) 26.Rc5-/+ already the trend is going in white's direction. 26. ... R4d5 27.Rec1 and here, starting to get into time pressure, I made the practical decision to return the pawn to simplify the position. 27. ... Bf5!? (27. ... Rxc5 28.Rxc5 Bd5=- was at least objectively keeping a small advantage) 28.g4 (now I thought white's king might be a little more exposed) 28. ... Be6 29.Qxe4 Qd6= (D)
Quite the turnaround. At this point both of us have about 4 minutes left to make it to move 40, so we both just started to make some cautious moves. 30.Qe3 Rd4 31.h3 Qf4!? (It was OK to keep the queens on with something like 31. ... h6= but with little time I wanted to lower the stakes) 32.Qxf4 Rxf4 33.R1c2 Rfd4 34.f3!? (D)
The position is about equal, but I thought now I could start to ask white some questions. Instead, 34.Rc7 was perhaps a better practical decision, keeping me honest with my a7 pawn.
34. ... Bb3! This disrupts white's piece coordination. 35.R2c3 Rd2! 36.Re5 (36.Rxb3? Rxe2-+ cannot be good for white) 36. ... Be6 37.Rce3!? (Again, 37.Rc7 probably was to be preferred) 37. ... Ra2 Now black is able to double rooks on the 2nd rank. The position is still equal, but it starts to get tricky for white. 38.f4 Rdd2 39.f5 gxf5 40.gxf5 Bc8!? (D)
Finally we make it move 40, and without any accidents. I did not like 40. ... Bxf5 41.Rxf5 Rxe2 42.Rxe2 Rxe2 43.Ra5 when that endgame gets unclear with both of us having connected passers. If white now plays 41.Rxe7 then I wanted 41. ... Kf6=, and white is in kind of a weird bind. That position would be equal.
My opponent instead played 41.Kf2 to which I responded 41. ... Kf6 (D)
Now if white tries 42.Rxe7, I had prepared 42. ... Ba6 when 43.Kf3 (white has nothing better) 43. ... Bxe2+ 44.Rxe2 Rxe2 45.Rxe2 Rxa3+ 46.Kg4 Ra4 will lead to a rook endgame with an extra pawn for black. That should still be a draw, but white is the one who would have to prove it.
Perhaps wanting to avoid that, white instead played 42.Kg3? but it turns out that now after 42. ... Bxf5 (D)
White can no longer take on e7, because 43.Rxe7? Be6!-+ suddenly wins a piece for black. This is now a very difficult position for white, as I have basically just stolen the pawn on f5 for free.
43.Bf3? (D)
It was not obvious, but the only move to stay in the game for white was 43.Bg4! Bxg4 44.hxg4 e6 45.Ra5 when black has nothing better than 45. ... Rd7-/+ and still has good winning chances, but the game is not over.
Now something strange starts to happen. I felt like something was fishy about this position, and that white's king is kind of in a mating net. So I started to look for anything that seemed to be a forced win, thinking that I might have to find a precise move here or my chance might evaporate.
Turns out my intuition was kind of correct. Black actually is completely winning here (engine gives -4!), but there is not exactly any kind of "forced win". There are even multiple moves that maintain a decisive advantage. This is just a winning position because of the extra pawn which white will not have time to regain, plus the long-term vulnerability of the king on g3.
The best move is the very simple 43. ... e6!, then if white tries 44.Ra5 (the only active move) black has multiple strong continuations. The easiest is 44. ... Rh2, which is similar to what happened in the game.
43. ... Ra1 is also strong, when white's king is just not going to survive long-term after 44.Bg4 Rg1+ 45.Kf3 Rf1+ 46.Kg3 e6. I considered that, but during the game it wasn't necessarily obvious to me that the king is fatally weak there, and white still has some potential counterplay with Ra5.
The move I played is 43. ... Rh2 (D). It's technically not as strong as the other options, but it's still good enough to get the job done. However, the problem is not the move itself, but how much time I spent on it! I used 19 of my remaining 25 minutes in this position, which really was a poor choice on my part. We will see why later.
The threat to take on h3 will be absolutely crushing, so white's next move is apparently forced. 44.Bg4 One reason why my move was not as precise is white actually can (and perhaps should) try 44.Rxf5+!? Kxf5 45.Rxe7 Kf6 46.Rxa7. I kind of assumed that should just be winning for black, but actually one further precise move 46. ... Rhd2!-+ is required there to stop Bd5 (after the game, Gabriel told me that was why he rejected that line, which is fair enough).
44. ... Rag2+ 45.Kf3 (I had correctly seen 45.Kf4 Rf2+ 46.Bf3 (46.Rf3 Bxg4-+) 46. ... e6 47.Kg3 (47.Ra5 Rxh3 48.Rxa7 e5+ 49.Rxe5 Rfxf3#) 47. ... Ra2 48.Bg4 when I at least get the same exact position with the additional free move ...e6 for myself). 45. ... Rf2+ 46.Kg3 Rhg2+ 47.Kh4 e6 48.Ra5 Rf4! (D)
This is the position I had seen back when I was calculating on move 43, and I had further noticed that 49.Rxa7? h5! (there are other moves too) would win immediately, with the intention 50.Kxh5 Bxg4+ 51.hxg4 Rh2+ with mate next move. At this point, my opponent found some very strong defensive resources with little time on his clock.
49.Rf3! This came as a surprise to me. I had seen 49.Rg3 Rh2! when 50.Rxa7 h5! still wins: 51.Kxh5 Bxg4+ with mate to follow. 49. ... Rd4! black is still in control, but now my opponent blitzed out another very strong move: 50.Ra6! (D)
This is such a weird position. White's bishop on g4 is pinned and I am attacking it three times, but my own bishop on f5 is also pinned! To add to the confusion, my e6 pawn is now pinned to my king, so white is actually simply threatening Rxf5+ here! There is nothing for black after 50. ... Rdxg4+? 51.hxg4 Rxg4+ 52.Kh3.
50. ... Kg7! Still in control, because h7-h5 is a renewed threat. 51.Rxa7? h5 52.Kxh5 Rgxg4! (not 52. ... Rdxg4? 53.Rxf5!=) 53.hxg4 (now 53.Rxf5 Rh4+ 54.Kg5 exf5-+ wins for black) 53. ... Bxg4+ 54.Kh4 Bxf3+ with a trivially winning position for black. At minimum we can give the bishop for one of white's queenside pawns, and then two connected passers always beat one pawn in a rook endgame.
51.Rg3! (D)
White keeps finding the most resilient defensive moves. Black is still winning here with pretty much any move that avoids trading rooks (there are no discovered checks because white's bishop is still pinned). But it is still not completely trivial. The strongest move is 51. ... Rgd2!, when after 52.Rxa7 Bg6! white is utterly defenseless against the threat of h7-h5, e.g. 53.Kg5 h6+! 54.Kh4 h5-+.
Unfortunately, I only had 1 minute in this position and didn't see that. Instead I started to get worried about still not finding any forced win and white having two connected passed pawns after taking on a7, and decided to bail out.
51. ... Rxg3? 52.Kxg3 Bxg4 53.hxg4 Rd7 (D)
I knew that playing passively like this is not likely to win me the game (in fact, black is not even better anymore; it's just equal), but at least the position is simplified and I knew I shouldn't lose either. The game ended in a draw after a few more moves. 54.Kf4 Kg6 55.b5 h5 56.gxh5+ Kxh5 57.a4 Kg6 58.Ke5 Kg5 Black just cannot make any progress because my rook is tied to the defense of a7. 59.Rd6 Re7 60.Rd8 Kg4 61.Kd6 Rb7 62.Kc6 Re7 63.Kd6 Rb7 64.Kc6 Re7 1/2-1/2
It was painful not to win that game, but I think it also revealed some weaknesses I still have to work on. To recap what happened:
- My opening prep was spot on, and by move 9 I was already a little better with black, even though I did slightly mis-remember some of the details of my analysis.
- It's a minor note, but my 15. ... c5?! was a little impatient and objectively threw away a large chunk of my advantage, although the position remained hard for white to play. I essentially just over-estimated the objective evaluation of the IQP position we later got.
- After I had won a pawn, around move 23 I correctly felt that I probably should have a near-decisive advantage, and at least intuitively understood that white's bishop was my opponent's strongest defensive piece and should be exchanged. But I didn't quite appreciate the urgency with which I had to carry out that plan. I was correct to reject 24. ... Qe6?! 25.Rc7, but should have been more persistent and asked myself how else I can try to trade the bishops without allowing as much counterplay. This would have led me to appreciate the strength of 24. ... h5!-+.
- After giving the pawn back to "bail out" into an equal endgame, I felt like I was still able to pose practical problems for my opponent from moves 34-42 to eventually reach an objectively winning position again. But my time management was not great, spending 19 of my 25 minutes on move 43. It did not take me that long to see the position where I can effectively force white's king to h4, and a more pragmatic decision would have just been to play that as soon as I saw it, having the foresight to save my time for subsequent critical moments. I should have just trusted my intuition that white's king is not supposed to be able to survive there, even if I didn't see a forced win yet.
- My opponent was extremely resourceful and found all of the most resilient defensive tries from moves 49-51, with little time on his clock. In the final critical moment on move 51, I could not make the best decision because my poor time management had left myself with only 1 minute on the clock. So I bailed out again and the game ended in a draw.
However, because I didn't trust my intuition, I was very indecisive in a couple key moments, burning a lot of my time senselessly. In particular, I spent 19 minutes on 23. ... Rcd8, which was a completely natural (and the best) move that I could have and should have made in maybe 30-60 seconds, or at most a few minutes. Then I burned another 19 minutes later on 43. ... Rh2. That time adds up and if I even had left myself with 10 minutes on move 51, I am sure I would have been able to keep my advantage and probably would have won the game. This indecisiveness led me to not fully trust my position assessments while I was calculating on move 43, and I ended up wasting a lot of time re-checking variations. Perhaps we can also talk about more organized calculation.
Definitely some food for thought, but that's all for now. Later we may look at two other games from this event.
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