Never give up

Well here is one of those games where my blindness in an opening trap was made up for by my sheer determination.  I fell for a very obvious opening trap in a 15 min ICC game and then proceeded to win the game 12 moves later.  My opponent played too passively with his material advantage and I was able to take advantage of that.  Here it is.
 

 

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Be2 Nxe4?? Knowing that there was a trap here I captured anyway. During casual games I will grab stuff like this to see what the trap is and remember it so I don't do it in a tournament game. 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.Qxe4 d5 7.Qc2 e5 8.d3 Be7 9.0–0 0–0 10.Nbd2 Here I embark on a plan that involves his undefended bishop on e2 and his undefended queen on c2. The plan is to reroute my c8-bishop to g6 and use my pawns to attack his center using a series of pins and forks and discovered attacks. 10...Bg4 11.h3 Bh5 12.Re1 Bg6 13.Nh2? c4 PIN 14.Ndf3?? This move actually makes my plan highly effective. Now my pawns become superstars. 14...cxd3 FORK 15.Bxd3 e4 FORK 16.Be2?? exf3 DISCOVERED ATTACK Line

　

Benko gone Bad

(1) maestrogaffney (1470) - damarojaxl (1518)

ICC Internet Chess Club, 14.10.2012

A57: Benko/Volga Gambit 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.b6 e6 6.Nc3 Nxd5 7.Nxd5 exd5 8.Qxd5 Nc6 9.Nf3 Rb8 10.Ne5 Qf6 Black threatens to win material: Qf6xe5 11.Bg5??N throwing away the advantage [11.Nxc6 dxc6 12.Qg5 (12.Qf3 Be7 13.Bd2 (13.b7 Rxb7 14.e4 0–0 15.Bxa6 Rxb2 16.Qxf6 Bxf6 17.Bxb2 Bxb2 18.Bxc8 Bxa1 19.Ke2 Bd4 20.Bb7 Rb8 21.Rb1 c4 22.f3 Kf8 23.a4 Ke7 24.a5 Kd6 25.a6 Rd8 26.Rc1 c3 27.Kd3 Kc7 Korotkjevich,S (2307)-Kishnev,S (2488)/Germany 2004/CBM 098 ext/½–½; 13.e4 Rxb6 14.Bc4 0–0 15.Qe2 Qd4 16.Rb1 Rb4 17.b3 Be6 18.Bxe6 Qxe4 19.Qxe4 Rxe4+ 20.Be3 fxe6 21.Kd2 Rd8+ 22.Ke2 Bg5 23.Rhd1 Rd5 24.Kf3 Ree5 25.Rxd5 Rxd5 26.Bxg5 Rxg5 27.Rc1 Rf5+ Rychagov,A (2495)-Bursteinas,R (2200)/St Petersburg 1997/CBM 061 ext/1–0 (64)) 13...Qxb2 14.Bc3 Qxb6 15.e4 (15.Bxg7 Rg8 16.Bc3 Bg4 17.Qe4 Rg6 18.g3 h5 19.h3 Be6 20.Qc2 Bd5 21.e4 Bxe4 22.Qxe4 Re6 23.Qxe6 fxe6 24.Be2 h4 25.0–0 Bd6 26.Bc4 e5 27.g4 Qd8 28.Rae1 Kf8 29.Re4 Rb7 Hillarp Persson,T (2507)-Kallio,H (2360)/Stockholm 2000/CBM 074 ext/0–1 (44)) 15...Be6 16.Qg3 Bf6 17.e5 Be7 18.Qxg7 Kd7 19.Qh6 Rhg8 20.g3 c4 21.Bh3 Qb1+ 22.Rxb1 Rxb1+ 23.Ke2 Rxh1 24.Bxe6+ fxe6 25.Qxh7 Rb8 26.h4 Rc1 Hillarp Persson,T (2548)-Kallio,H (2452)/Gothenburg 2000/CBM 076/1–0 (37)) 12...Be7 13.Qf4 Rxb6 14.Qc7 Bd8 15.Qxc8 0–0 16.f3 Rxb2 17.Bxb2 Qxb2 18.Qxa6 Qxa1+ 19.Kf2 Bg5 20.g3 Be3+ 21.Kg2 g6 22.h4 Rd8 23.Qxc6 Qxa2 24.h5 g5 25.Qf6 Qd5 Zielinska,D (2060)-Li Ruofan (2245)/Zagan 1997/CBM 059 ext/½–½ (58); 11.Nxc6 dxc6 12.Qe4+ Be7 13.g3=] 11...Qe6 [¹11...Qxe5 ends the debate 12.Qxe5+ Nxe5–+] 12.Qxe6+± fxe6 13.Nxc6 dxc6 14.0–0–0 [¹14.Bd2±] 14...Rxb6?? cause more grief [¹14...Be7 15.Bf4 Rxb6±] 15.Rd8++- Kf7 16.Rxc8 h6 17.Be3 [17.Bd2 keeps an even firmer grip 17...Rg8+-] 17...g5 [17...Rg8 doesn't improve anything 18.Rc7+ Kf6 19.b3+-] 18.Bxc5! Deflection: f8 18...Bxc5 [18...Bxc5] 19.Rxh8 Bxf2 [19...Bd4 does not win a prize 20.Rh7+ Kg6 21.Ra7 Bxb2+ 22.Kc2+-] 20.Rxh6 Bd4 [20...Be3+ does not improve anything 21.Kc2 Rb5 22.g3+-] 21.b3 a5 [21...Be3+ doesn't get the bull off the ice 22.Kc2 g4 23.Rh5+-] 22.Rh5 [¹22.e3!? seems even better 22...Bxe3+ 23.Kc2 g4 24.Rh7+ Kf6+-] 22...a4 23.Kc2 Kf6 [23...Kg6 does not solve anything 24.Rh3 g4 25.Rg3 axb3+ 26.axb3+-] 24.Rh6+ [24.e3 makes it even easier for White 24...Kg6 25.Rh3 g4+-] 24...Kf7 [24...Ke7 does not help much 25.e3 axb3+ 26.axb3+-] 25.e4 [25.e3 might be the shorter path 25...Bg7 26.Rh5 axb3+ 27.axb3 Rb8+-] 25...axb3+ 26.axb3 Be3 [26...Bg7 is not the saving move 27.Rh3+-] 27.Bc4 c5 28.Rf1+ Ke7 [28...Bf4 cannot undo what has already been done 29.g3 Kg7 30.Rxe6 Rxe6 31.Bxe6+-] 29.Rh7+ Kd6 30.Rf6 [¹30.e5+ and White has prevailed 30...Kxe5 31.Re1 Kf5 32.Rxe3 Kg6+-] 30...Ke5 31.Rxe6+! a forceful and devastating end 31...Rxe6 32.Bxe6 Kxe6 33.Kd3 Bd4 [33...Bf4 doesn't do any good 34.Rh6+ Kf7 35.g3+-] 34.h4 [¹34.b4!? and White can already relax 34...Ke5 35.b5 Kd6+-] 34...gxh4 35.Rxh4 1–0

This game was not a sparkling gem for me, but I felt like I had a better understanding of the resulting positions, except for that 11.Bg5 fiasco.  Can't remember the justification I had for playing it either...  Oh well.  A couple nice tactics help me win a pawn and Exchange and another tactic killed all chances my opponent had. 

　

Man I've been busy!

Alright so it's been a while since I posted.  I have to analyze a game tonight and post it on this blog.  I have played several good games with openings I've studied and I am feeling like I have more of an idea of what to do in the opening phase of the game.  But I am noticing that it is very difficult to keep up each facet of my game equally.  Sure there is always going to be something that slips a little, but lately it's been so crazy that I almost blew a completely won king and pawn vs. king endgame!  Here is the position.

 

 

Here I almost picked up my king and thought better of it and moved my a pawn to a4.  This move would've come automatically before but now it seems to take a bit more time.  While in the end the king move would still have won it is simpler I think with the pawn move first.  I guess this why my blitz rating, which used to be higher than my standard on ICC, has now gotten about 200-300 point lower.