Back to the Spanish again, but only for this one game, the next post is about something different again. This one was played on the second round of a tournament called 2014 October Split II that was held at Red Hot Pawn. The second round was played with four players, the group winners of round one. I played rather poorly on this round and I was only able to get one win, one draw and one loss with the black pieces and lost all three of my games where I controlled the white pieces. The only player who I was able to leave behind me on the standings on this second round was SuperMac. SuperMac's only win came from the game he or she played against me with the black pieces. The first big mistake of the game was seen when SuperMac played 13.Nf1.
The knight went away from d2 where it blocked the bishop, but it also left the knight on f3 not as well defended. Had I replied with what now looks so obvious of a move, 13...Nh4, I could have been on my way to victory. For some reason I went with the move 13...Rad8 and allowed my opponent to stay in the game. SuperMac used his or her chance and replied with the move 14.h3, which meant that I could no longer play Nh4. The bishop retreated to e6, which was obviously the only safe square for it. That being said, it was not the only option for me, but not the best one. A stronger move might have been 14...dxe4. It would have opened up the d-file and my opponent would have needed to find the strongest move in order to stay in the game. After the bishop had retreated to e6, SuperMac played 15.Ng3 and it would seem that White has been able to accomplish what he or she wanted. Unfortunately it did not meet the requirements of the position and I got another chance to get a clear advantage.
I then played 15...Nce7, which was not the best move, but at least I was slightly better after that. SuperMac then played 16.Ba4, which did not accomplish anything, except to maybe waste time, since the bishop does not really do anything useful at a4. The game continued be played from my point of view in a good way, though not perfectly up to the move 25.cxd4. I even had a winning advantage after 19.Ng3, which I met with the horrible move Ndf4 and even though I had still a clear advantage, it was less likely that I would win the game.
SuperMac blundered a second time in a row, giving me another chance for a winning advantage by playing 20.Bxf4, which I was able to get this time with my move 20...Nxf4. A few moves later my advantage disappeared with the move 25...Bg6.
The game continued quite evenly until my opponent chose to play 29.f4.
The game did not last long after that 29th move, my opponent resigned after 31...c5. While that position is advantageous for me and SuperMac's position seems to be very dire, I was not in a winning position. With precise play my opponent might have still been able to hold the game and achieve a draw.
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