The O’Hanlon aren’t leaving Division 4 without a fight after a massive 5-1 win over Finglas last night, while the Heidenfeld picked up six draws en route to a 4-4 draw against Inchicore.
Since the drubbing by relegation rivals Curragh, every game has become a must-win, and so far, they’ve been up to the task. Four of the team came into Wednesday’s game on the back of good performances in Gonzaga last weekend, and it showed. Desmond and Ross both picked up draws, and that was as bad as it got all night. Desmond even acknowledged afterwards that he managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory, being just 2 clear pawns up early on after a successful queen-side opening attack but was unable to convert. Still, Odhrán and Eddie won to make it 3-1, Dan finished off his opponent for 4-1 and Nicky, who’d earlier been in a complicated position, rounded off the night with a win of her own to make it an unbeaten 5-1 on the night.
We’re a week ahead of everyone else with our round 9 games, so we can sit back and watch the other results come in in the knowledge that no-one of relevance is likely to match that result, so we’ll have caught up on almost all the teams around us. The table looks like this –
Curragh v Bray B is the outstanding round 8 result, while the important round 9 games are Trinity v Curragh and Bray B v Dublin. But now if anyone bar Drogheda has an awful round 9, we’re right on their heels.
In the next room over, the Heidenfeld were hosting Inchicore in what we both hope was a meaningless mid-table clash. Michael and Ger drew early on, which set the trend – Ciarán drew, as did Steven Dixon, as did Dylan Boland, and as did I the next evening. Kev was the only one to lose, while Brendan Cuffe was the only winner – just as well, as he’s the only one still on for a board prize.
Again, we’ve played round 9 a week ahead of everyone else, so the table looks like this ahead of next week’s games –
Dylan’s game was worthy of closer attention. After just five games for the Bodley – in which he’s only lost to an FM – he was bumped up to Heidenfeld duty as the O’Hanlon were playing at the same time. He was slightly out-rated – 726 points going on ratings at the start of the season, though he’s since closed the gap to a mere 505 – but played out a mad, if admittedly imperfect, game which has a few learning points in it –
Dylan Boland (545) v Chris Sheridan (1271)
Heidenfeld Cup, 6 February 2012
Annotated by Kevin Burke (and Fritz 12!)
1. Nf3
The Reti. 1. e4 is a perfectly ok opening, but there’s nothing wrong with experimenting with a few others. They don’t bite!
1. … d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4
White indicates he has no intention of giving black an easy ride. Black, meanwhile, should aim to seek king-side counter-play.
5. … O-O 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Qd2 Re8 8. Bd3 Nf8 9. h3 Ne6 10. Bh6?
Fritz doesn’t like this; black’s position is already quite cramped, and swapping off relieves a bit of pressure. In the game, black returns the favour by avoiding the swap, so white keeps his opening advantage (which Fritz is already giving as +1)
10. … Bh8? 11. O-O c5
A very important move for black is almost all 1. d4 games. Indeed, Fritz has been calling for this for the past couple of moves.
12. d5 Nc7?
Now white has a clear advantage. Fritz reckons black is grand after 12. Nd4 13. NxN PxN – the pawn looks cut off and weak, but the bishop on h8 is protecting it, and the queen can jump to b6 to lend a hand too. Instead, black is going backwards and cramping himself more; this move denies his queen of moves.
13. Rae1 e6 14. Bc2 Bd7? (D)
White’s position isn’t going to get much better, so it’s time to attack. Fritz wants 15. e5! here. There might follow 15. … de 16. d6 Na6 17. NxP Nb4 18. Bg5 NxB 19. QxN, when the pawn on d6 is a monster that black will have to keep a constant eye on. Fritz gives +2.5 here.
15. Re2? e5 16. Bg5 b5 17. b3 Qc8 18. Kh2?
Now Fritz gives black a minuscule advantage.
18. … Rb8 19. Qe3 Nh5 20. Nd2 f6 21. g4!
Fritz has a slight preference for Bh6, but this is more fun!
21. … Qd8 22. PxN PxB 23. hg hg 24. Rg1
Fritz wants white to cut out threats on the queenside first with 24. cb
24. … Bf6 25. f3?
Again, Fritz wants white to swap pawns to create other opportunities, and wants black to push … b4, leaving him free to concentrate on defending his king and then hitting h3. g5 is well protected, and white will get no joy attacking it.
25. … Kg7 26. Reg2?
Now Fritz scores +2…for black. The black king is quite solid, and h3 is still a big weakness in white’s position. The past couple of quiet moves don’t help get an attack going, and black takes full advantage.
26. … Rh8 27. Rg3 Rh5 28. Kg2 Qe7 29. Ne2 Rbh8 30. Rh1 Qe8 31. Rh2 bc?
The ? isn’t for the move as such, and more for the fact that for the past ten moves or so, Fritz has wanted white to swap here and black to push – and instead, black swaps! The b4 push would shut white’s pieces in and doom him to a game of passive resistance. Instead, white’s position gets freed a bit.
32. NxP Qd8 33. Ng1 Nb5 34. Kf2 Nd4 (D) 35. Bd1
Compare black’s knight and white’s bishop! Black certainly wasn’t thinking about swapping; white could have considered 35. Qc3 or Qd2 here instead, just to give the queen a few more squares.
35. … Bb5?
With h3 well protected now, Fritz wants black to turn his attention to the half-open f-file, which can be further opened with a g4 push and which currently contains the king. As a result, it suggests 35. … Rf8.
36. Rhg2 Rh6
Still following the wrong plan; h3 is well protected!
37. Rh2 g4??
With a rook on f8, this would be crushing. Instead, it’s just a free pawn.
38. fg Bg5 39. Qc3 Qf6+ 40. Kg2 Rh4
The consequence of black’s last few moves – the rook is basically out of the game here.
41. Rd3
Played to avoid Bf4, picking up an exchange, no doubt. But sometimes initiative can be worth material. Here, Fritz suggests 41. Qa5, and if 41. … Bf4 42. QxP+ Kg8 43. Qb8+ Kg7 44. QxP and white will have three pawns for the exchange and black’s rooks are still awful.
41. … Bf4 42. Rh1 Bd7 43. Qa5
White has an advantage again.
43. … Qe7 44. QxP Rh8 45. Nf3 (D) NxN??
Fritz spots a nice tactic – 45. … Rxh3! 46. RxR RxR (47. KxR?? BxP+ and 48. … QxQ). Black has won one pawn back and Rg3+ is coming. Fritz scores this dead level. Swapping knights just leaves white two pawns up for nothing.
46. RxN Rf8 47. Nb6 Rd8 48. Be2
No need to swap off yet; white can twist the knife some more! On the same idea, 48. b4! is better, threatening Ba4 and also aiming to wreck black’s central pawns, giving another advantage as the game reaches an endgame.
48. … Kf7 49. Rf1 Rhh8
Now 50. b4 creates an open file for the rook on f1 to invade along.
50. R1f2 Ke8 51. NxB QxN 52. QxQ KxQ 53. Bb5+ Kc7 54. Bc6 Rb8 55. Rb2 Rb6 56. a4 Rhb8 57. a5?
57. Bb5 and white can win at leisure. Instead, white weakens his pawns, making them viable targets.
57. … Ra6 58. Ra2 Rb4 59. Re2?
I’m not sure what the point of this move was! But ceding the passed a-pawn gives up all white’s advantage, and settles for the draw.
59. … Rxa5 60. h4 Ra3 61. Ba4 Rb8 ½-½
And a draw was agreed.
stbenilduschessclub 
That’s not a Pirc-like structure, so much as a Classical King’s Indian Defence. You’re really not up on your queen’s pawn openings, are you Kev? 🙂 6.Be2 is normal, though what Dylan played is fine.
You haven’t bolded moves 13 and 14.
You’re also being very harsh on Black. Instead of 14…Bd7, …exd5 would have achieved a normalish Benoni position in which Black is doing fine. Fritz doesn’t get Benoni structures. So, …Bd7 is a mistake, but the preceeding three questions marks are too much – if they were actually bad moves, White would be close to won by now. Missing the best move doesn’t merit an automatic question mark.
Your diagram after White’s 35th is actually the position after Black’s 34th move. And 35…Bd5 is impossible in that position. 35…Bb5, maybe?
Love you too! 😡
Minor errors corrected.
I’m going off Fritz for some of the comments obviously. The early moves I’ve marked with a ? are almost a point worse than the best couple of alternatives. If opening theory knows better, that’s fair enough! One set of ?s is mutual, cancelling each other out, so it’s not a case that black’s made three bad moves yet isn’t lost. Fritz says the game goes from 0 to +1 to 0 to +1 again (give or take).
The position after move 5 is the exact same as a classical Pirc, but with c4 played. That’s the basis for my comment! Maybe c4 makes it very much different. But yes, d4 is the tool of the devil.
Also, I just realised I’ve been pronouncing the Pirc wrong for ever. Mr Pirc was Slovenian, so it’s the “Peerts” defence, not the “Perk” defence.
A pirc with c4 played is a king’s indian!
Leon, we would have won if I hadn’t missed my opponent’s perpetual threat when a pawn up in a nice position. Ger was a pawn up a one stage too from what I remember.
a good result for your o’hanlon team for sure but a draw against inchicore in heidenfield is not a great result would have expected you to win that one.Kevin you should listen to John as he knows his openings and is quite correct on the above example.By the way if you two get your thinking caps on both your bodley teams may get promoted but make sure your A team does not need too many points in last round as you face my team.Also one think i noticed in our game in last round your team travelled with no confidence expecting to be beaten instead you should go out with the attitude your going to beat anybody regardless of there rating.For example when i was 750 years ago the first big player i beat in one of my first tournaments was jim mccarty who played for your club who was 1800 at the time so it can be done.
“[John] knows his openings.” Nicely done, Leon. 🙂
Our Bodleys are learning fast. You might not find them so timid next time around.