Welcome to my Queens Gambit Declined (ECO D37) game with Renato Dacany page!

On this page I have posted one my chess games in the Queens Gambit Declined. I had watched Renato play at a few tournaments so I was familiar with his style. Even so, I was a little surprised when he opened with 1. c4 and again when he transposed into a Queens Gambit. I surprised him by going into something resembling the Semi Slav, Meran. I actually made a blunder on move 32 and got away with it! That blunder turned out to be one of the key moves to winning this game for me. Renato was down on time in a sudden death time control, Game in 45 minutes, when he resigned. The game could have lasted another 20 moves if he made me play it out to checkmate like my opponent in the previous round did. However, Renato could have run out of time before he got mated.

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5

Right now we have an English opening. White's next move turns it into a Queens Gambit. After 3. d4 I played e6 intending to turn this into a Semi Slave or Cambridge Springs defense, depending on what White played here. I played 3... e6 but if I had played 3... g6 I would have transposed into a Gruenfeld defense. My second move seemed to have surprised White.

3. d4 e6 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. a3 c6

White's fifth move prevents Bb4 which kind of messes up the Cambridge Springs idea that I had but is OK for the Semi Slav. I had looked at several Grand Master games in which the Semi Slav, Meran was played so I had some idea of what I was doing here. I didn't want to go into the Reynolds variation so I played b4 on move 8 in order to try something different.

6. e3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 b4 9. axb4 Bxb4 10. O-O O-O 11. Qc2 a5

I had two ideas in mind when I played my last move. First was to anchor my Bishop at b4 and the second was to play Ba6 in order to trade off my bad Bishop. White allowed this exchange of bishops which was just fine with me.

12. Ne2 Ba6 13. Bd2 Bxd3 14. Qxd3 c5

If 15. dxc5 Nxc5 hitting White's Queen 16. Qb5 Bxd2 17. Nxd2 Qxd2 18. Qxc5 Qxe2 and Black is up a Knight. If instead of 17. Nxd2 White plays 17. Qxc5 then 17... Bb4 hitting the White Queen again and Black should be OK.

15. Bxb4 cxb4 16. b3 Qb6 17. h3 Rfc8 18. g4 Qc6

Black's last move threatens the White Knight at f3 and also Qc2 forcing the exchange of queens. Black wants to control the c file and get a Rook at either c3 or c2.

19. Ne5 Qc2 20. Rfc1 Qxd3

I don't remember how long White thought about move 21. Most people will just recapture the Queen on d3 without much thought. However, White could have played 21. Rxc8+ Rxc8 22. Nxd3 and Rook back to a8 is probably the safest course of action for Black.

21. Nxd3 Rxc1+

White has 3 ways to recapture on c1. If White captures with the Rook then Black cannot play 22... a4 because he will eventually lose the pawn at b4 and end up with awkward placement of his knights after Rc8+.

22. Ndxc1 h6 23. Nd3 Nb6 24. Nc5 Kf8

I had considered playing Nbd5 here but then realized that I needed my King over on the Queenside to support the advance of my pawn to a4. Besides, it is usually a good idea to centralize your King in the endgame. When White saw my King going to the Center he decided that it was time to get his King there too.

25. Kf1 Ke7 26. f3 Kd6 27. e4 Nfd7

Black wants to get rid of the White Knight at c5 because it hinders the pawn advance to a4. White is advancing pawns in order to get some play here but he seems to have forgotten that every pawn advance creates weak squares behind the pawns and that over extended pawns can become targets. On move number 29 White gives up the Knight at c5 but then creates some problems with his other Knight.

28. e5+ Kd5 29. Nxd7 Nxd7 30. Kf2 Kc6

I realized here that the Black King can become trapped and mated if it stayed at d5 because Rc1 cuts off The Black King's escape squares. Also, the Black King is needed at b5 in order to support the pawn advance to a4.

31. Ke3 Nb6 32. Kd3 a4?

This is the blunder that I got away with. Because White allowed me to advance that a pawn to a3 White had to guard against my queening that pawn and thus his Rook was tied up and couldn't do much else. If instead of 33. Rc1+? White had played 33. bxa4! I would have replied with 33... Rxa4. Then play could continue with 34. Rxa4 Nxa4 35. Kc4 and Black cannot hold onto the b pawn.

33. Rc1+? Kb7 34. Rb1 a3!

Even though the material is even Black is now winning because of a passed pawn with a Rook behind it. After 35... Nd5 the b pawn is protected and the Black King can come to b5 to lend support if needed. White tries to get his King over to the Queenside to attack the Black b pawn but it doesn't work.

35. Ra1 Nd5 36. Kc4 Rc8+

If White had played 37. Kb5 I would have played 37... Rc2 followed by Rb2.

37. Kd3 Nc3

If 38. Nxc3?? Rxc3+ wins at least one pawn.

38. Nc1 Kb6 39. Kd2 Kb5 40. Nd3 Nd5 41. Nc5

Because Black got away with an earlier blunder and now has a passed pawn on a3 and his King in an active position he can afford to sacrifice a Rook for a Knight and a pawn. Black then proceeded to mop up most of White's pawns and gets compensation for the sacrificed Rook.

Rxc5! 42. dxc5 Kxc5 43. h4? (Better was 43. Kd3 to keep the Black King off d4.) Kd4 44. g5 hxg5 45. hxg5 Kxe5 46. Kd3 Kf4 47. Ke2 Kxg5

Black now has a Knight and 3 pawns for his Rook. White's Rook has to keep an eye on that passed a pawn. Soon Black will have 3 passed pawns for White to deal with.

48. Kf2 Nc3 49. Ke3 f5 50. f4+ Kf6 51. Kd3 g5 52. fxg5+ Kxg5 53. Ke3 e5 54. Rg1+ Kf6

Black now has a Knight and 3 passed pawns for his Rook. I couldn't see this far ahead when I made the Rook sacrifice but I had a feeling that it would work out OK for me. The White King cannot stop the advance of the pawns on the e and f files and the Rook is needed to stop the a pawn from queening. If the White King goes after that b pawn then Black should have no trouble queening one of his pawns on the Kingside. Even so, that may have been White's best chance of getting a draw here.

55. Kd2 e4 56. Ke3 Ke5 57. Kd2 a2 58. Ra1 f4 59. Ke1 e3 60. Kf1 f3 61. Ke1 Kd4 62. Rc1 Kd3

I think that White's last 3 or 4 moves can be explained by that fact that he was in some time pressure. He made a big mistake allowing the Black King and pawns to advance as far as they did. Black is now going to get his King to b2 and queen the a pawn.

63. Kf1 Kd2 64. Ra1 Kc2 65. Re1 Kb2

Black is going to queen the a pawn no matter what White does here. Now White decides to grab the e pawn and then to block the check with his Rook. Black can sacrifice the Queen for a Rook and also give up the e and f pawns because after he captures White's last pawn White cannot stop him from queening the b pawn.

66. Rxe3 a1=Q+ 67. Re1 Qxe1+ 68. Kxe1 Kxb3 69. Kf2 Ka2 70. Kxf3 b3 0-1

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