Annotated Game #322: Calculated disappointment

This next game was my most disappointing of the tournament, although it also was my only score and I therefore avoided "castling long" (0-0-0) on the standings sheet. I was slightly surprised by my opponent as White choosing the Panov Variation of the Caro-Kann, since these days it seems a lot more people play the Exchange Variation with this move sequence start. In any case, I was still well-prepared to take advantage of an early mistake by him on the queenside, and for most of the game I had what should be a strategically winning advantage.

Although there are a couple examples of less-active piece placement here, that was (thankfully) not the main theme of the game. My calculation (and evaluation) was sub-optimal in several key instances. In two cases, it even resulted in minor panic when my opponent found a backwards bishop fork - thereby equalizing - and when I thought I might be in trouble due to my opponent's charging passed a-pawn in the endgame. While the late middlegame issues were in large part due to time pressure, that points to managing the process better, and also hopefully thinking more clearly before then to begin with.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Class A"] [Black "ChessAdmin"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "B14"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "98"] [GameId "2218878855508069"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 {heading into the Panov Variation.} Nf6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O (7... dxc4 $5 {would take more advantage of the early bishop development.}) 8. c5 {this is not dangerous, as long as Black knows to respond with} b6 9. b4 a5 10. bxa5 $6 {an obvious error, but I took a little while here to make sure my follow-up was correct.} (10. Na4 $11) 10... bxc5 11. dxc5 {now Black has several good options.} Bxc5 {this recapture is not the strongest. Black can delay it and achieve a more dominating position.} (11... Qxa5 {is better and what I considered as the principal alternative. At the time, I erroneously felt my queen would be too exposed.} 12. Bd2 Qa3 13. O-O Ba6 14. Bxa6 Qxa6 $19 {the c-pawn is still doomed and Black's pieces are more active.}) (11... Ba6 $5 {immediately I did not consider.} 12. Bxa6 Nxa6 13. O-O Nxc5 $19) 12. O-O Nc6 $17 {now delaying the capture of the a-pawn is not so good, although still advantageous.} 13. Bg5 Be7 (13... h6 $5 {would immediately kick the bishop, leaving the Bc5 on a more active square.}) 14. Re1 h6 15. Bd2 {Black's overall strategy now is to win the advanced a-pawn and simplify down, having dominated the center.} Bb4 {a reasonable follow-up. Other options were still present in the position.} (15... Ba6) (15... Qxa5) 16. Nb5 Qxa5 {the main point of the sequence, as I am guaranteed to exchange off the bishop.} 17. a3 Bxd2 18. Nxd2 Qd8 {an unnecessary retreat. I was still skittish about having my queen "exposed" when it was not, really.} (18... Bd7 $19 {develops a piece and protects the Nc6, while leaving the queen on an active square. Simple and effective.}) 19. Nf3 Ba6 {now this move is not as strong.} 20. Rc1 Bxb5 21. Bxb5 Na7 {correctly kicking the bishop.} 22. Bd3 Qa5 $19 {now the queen is active again. There is very little White can do to improve his position, so I should be able to consolidate my advantage with some maneuvering.} 23. a4 Rfc8 (23... Nc8 {would also be a good alternative; this is my worst piece, so getting it off the rim and repositioned, in this case heading for d6, is an easy way to make progress.}) 24. Ra1 Nc6 {the knight has some more traveling to do from here to be most effective, although I am still positionally much stronger.} 25. Bb5 Ne4 {eyeing c3 and beautifully centralizing the knight.} 26. Rc1 Ne7 {after a long think, I went for safety, which is validated by the engine. Here we are seeing how although my advantage is considerable, it would have been easier to position the knight differently, as in the earlier variation.} 27. Qd4 {I missed this centralizing idea for the queen, which apparently rattled me.} Rc7 {by this point I was low on time and decided to try to exchange down more.} (27... Nf5 $5 {would be a simple and logical follow-up.}) 28. Qe5 Rac8 29. Ra1 Rc2 {I was pressured to make the time control here, and missed White's backwards bishop move, with a double attack on the Rc2 and Ne4.} (29... Rc3) 30. Bd3 R2c5 $2 {made the time control, but gave up the pawn and the advantage, because I could not see anything better under pressure.} (30... Nc6 $1 {this counterattacking defense is found by the engine. The point is that the f-pawn is still hanging, with the rook on c2.} 31. Qf4 g5 $1 {is also necessary} 32. Qe3 Rc3 $19 {and the bishop is pinned.}) 31. Bxe4 $11 dxe4 32. Qxe4 Ng6 {this is still equal, but there is no reason to make the knight passive like this.} (32... Rc4) (32... Nd5) 33. h4 Rc4 34. Qb7 Rc2 {While White has the passed a-pawn, my rook activity fully compensates for it.} 35. Qe4 $2 Qa7 $6 {I was too focused on threatening f2 to see how to exploit White's last move.} (35... R8c4 $1 {targets White's over-extended h-pawn, giving the Ng6 something to do finally.} 36. Qd3 Nf4 $19 {and once Black's queen is transferred over to the kingside, ignoring the a-pawn, Black should have winning threats.}) 36. Qe3 Qxe3 $6 {this is in fact equal, but I give the move a dubious mark because I did not in fact understand how to draw the position after the queen exchange.} (36... Qa5 $11 {physically blocks the pawn and Black's queen is at least as good as White's.}) 37. Rxe3 $11 Rb2 {still OK by the engine, but with the wrong idea in the position.} (37... Ra8 {perhaps the most straightforward way to block the pawn.} 38. a5 Rc6 39. Ne5 Nxe5 40. Rxe5 Rca6 $11) 38. Ree1 Rcc2 39. Rf1 Kf8 40. a5 {at this point I realized that Ra2 did not by itself stop the pawn and was not able to see how it would in fact work, so repositioned the rooks.} Rc8 (40... Ra2 41. a6 Rxf2 $1 $11 {the only move}) 41. g3 Ra8 42. Ra4 Rb5 43. Rfa1 Ne7 44. Nd4 {here I start losing the thread a bit again, overcomplicating my calculations.} Rd5 (44... Rb7 $11) 45. Nc2 {now it's easier for me.} (45. a6 $5 {would keep the pressure on.}) 45... Rc5 46. Ne3 Nd5 47. R4a3 Nxe3 48. Rxe3 Rcxa5 49. Rxa5 Rxa5 {reaching a rook ending that is a theoretical draw. White's rook is sufficiently active so that I have no advantage, so draw agreed.} 1/2-1/2