Welcome to my Réti Opening (ECO A05) ICC online game with az2112 page!

On this page I have posted one my chess games in which I played the Black side of the Réti Opening. I got outplayed in the opening but was able to get my material back when White made an error. This entire game is a comedy of errors but my opponent made the last one and lost. In the future I will be trying a different strategy as Black against the Réti Opening. This game is my fourth game at ICC that I should have won on time forfeit! My opponent went way over the time control on move number 11 and got off with just a warning and an extra 20 days to play out this game! It is crap like this that has caused me to decide that I will not play any more correspondence chess game at ICC! My opponent is from Hayward, California. The ratings listed below are for each player at the conclusion of this game.

[Event "ICC correspondence 2007Seven.02.21"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.08.25"]
[Round "-"]
[White "az2112"]
[Black "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[Opening "Réti: King's Indian attack"]
[ECO "A05"]
[NIC "EO.26"]
[Time "18:02:54"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. c4 c5 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nc6 8.
Nc3 a6 9. c5 Ne8 10. Bxc6 dxc6 11. Nxc6 Qc7 12. Nd5 Qd7 13. Ncxe7+ Kh8 14.
Nb6 Qxe7 15. Nxa8 Bh3 16. Re1 Qxc5 17. Be3 Qc6 18. f3 Nf6 19. Rc1 Qe6 20.
Bf2 Rxa8 21. Rc7 b5 22. Qc2 Qxa2 23. g4 h5 24. g5 Nd5 25. Rxf7 Be6 26. Qxg6
Bxf7 27. Qxf7 Rf8 28. Qxh5+ Kg8 29. g6 Nf6 30. Qh4 Qxb2 31. Bd4 Qc2 32. e4
Qd3 33. e5 Qxg6+ {White resigns} 0-1

Correspondence Chess Game
ICC
Dates Played: 25 August 2007 to 31 December 2007
White: Sean McKinney (1541) Black: Mike Serovey (1595)

White's move order is the Kings Indian Attack. However, his next move takes it out of that and into a symmetrical English.

5. c4 c5 6. d4 cxd4

In the grandmaster game that I was trying to copy White played 7. Qxd4 and Black chased it away with 7... Nc6. In this game White played what I believe to be a better move.

7. Nxd4 Nc6 8. Nc3 a6 9. c5 Ne8??

This blunder ended up costing me the exchange and 2 pawns! However, White's blunder on move 19 gave back the material. Better here was 9... Re8 or even 9... b5.

10. Bxc6! dxc6 11. Nxc6

By playing my Knight to e8 I cut off the Rook's protection of my Queen. If 11... Qxd1 White can play 12. Nxe7+ and then capture the Queen on d1. That would leave Black down 2 pawns. However, I missed White's next move which left me down even more material! The reason I didn't resign after losing all of this material was because White went over on the time control on move 11 and I had filed a time complaint. I was hoping to win on time forfeit but they let White off with just a warning! So, I played on hoping to get him to overstep the new time control.

Qc7 12. Nd5! Qd7 13. Ncxe7+ Kh8 14. Nb6 Qxe7 15. Nxa8 Bh3

This seems to be Black's only shot at counterplay. White is now up a Rook and 2 pawns for a Bishop. I knew that I could win back the pawn on c5 after White moves his Rook to safety.

16. Re1 Qxc5 17. Be3 Qc6 18. f3 Nf6

White's last 3 moves were exactly what I expected them to be. His next move was a pleasant surprise because it allowed me to win back my lost material. I expected 19. Nb6 followed by Nd5. After 19. Nb6 I intended to play 19... Ng4 tempting White to capture the Knight on g4 in which case Qg2 mates.

19. Rc1? Qe6!

White now has to decide whether to give up his Knight at a8 or his Bishop at e3. White chose to save his Bishop which may have been the better option as the Bishop helps to guard his King.

20. Bf2 Rxa8 21. Rc7 b5 22. Qc2 Qxa2

I don't know why White gave up the pawn at a2 but I couldn't see any reason not to take it. White has doubled up on the c file and can even triple up on it by playing Rc1. However, The Black Bishop at h3 is helping to protect c8 so White decided to play 23. g4 in order to cut the Bishop off from c8. Note that after taking the pawn on a2 Black has a Bishop and Knight for a Rook.

23. g4 h5 24. g5 Nd5?

I played the Knight to d5 with the intention of moving it to b4 after White moved his Rook. I then saw myself winning the pawn at b2. It was immediately after committing to this move that I realized it was a blunder because the Knight on d5 cuts off the Queen's protection of f7. Once f7 fell I lost all of my kingside pawns! Better was 24... Ne8. After that Black is better and probably winning.

25. Rxf7 Be6

I expected White to move the Rook to b7, not to exchange it for a Bishop and 2 pawns. I believe that 26. Rxg7 wins for White. I'm not going to do the analysis that supports that conclusion. I'll let you figure that one out.

26. Qxg6?! Bxf7 27. Qxf7 Rf8

White was going to capture the h pawn no matter what I did. Capturing the White pawn at b2 would have dropped the Knight at d5. It seemed that the best idea for Black was to bring the Rook over to help defend the Black King. White's next two moves were exactly what I expected him to play.

28. Qxh5+ Kg8 29. g6 Nf6

White must move his Queen or lose it. The question is, what is the best square for the White Queen right now? I believe that h3 is the best square because of Qe6+. Black is winning here so White needs to try for the perpetual check by moving his Queen back and forth between h3 and e6. The Black Knight is preventing the checkmate at h7, so White does try to kick the Knight away in a few moves. White now plays the Queen to h4 in order to support Bd4 later.

30. Qh4 Qxb2 31. Bd4

If White captures the Black Knight with his Bishop Black can play Rxf6 and then have an escape square for is King after Qh7+. I looked at both 31... Qc2 and 31... Qd2 and decided that both moves lead to a win for Black. The reason that I went with 31... Qc2 was because that move puts pressure on the White pawn at g6. White's next move cuts the Black Queen off from the pawn at g6 and therefore was his best move after 31... Qc2. However, I believe 33. e5 was a blunder.

Qc2 32. e4 Qd3

Black is threatening both the Bishop at d4 and the pawn at f3. White's best move is 33. Be3 protecting both the White Bishop and pawn. White's next move does threaten the Black Knight at f6 but it drops the White pawn at g6 with check and then White's mate threat is gone.

33. e5? Qxg6+ 0-1

I was pleasantly surprised when White resigned here. I expected him to play 34. Kh1 Nh5 35. Rg1 Qf5 and Black will win the pawn at f3 with check.

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