2013 Interesting Nat Games-Part 2

[Chexhero]

Here is another one of my favorite games played. Despite the fact Alex Holmes started to struggle a little as the tournament went on, he played me with a lot of confidence and gave me one of my toughest rounds. Normally I could always rely on Alex making some kind of early pp error, or bad blunder late in the game. That was not the case this time, as I had to play as hard as possible and really earn my win.

[Event "11-15, 24-20, 8-11"]
[Date "2013-08-01"]
[Black "Joe"]
[White "Alex Holmes"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. 11-15 24-20 2. 8-11 28-24 3. 4-8 23-18 4. 12-16 26-23(32-28 is also good, but 27-23 loses!) 5. 15-19 24x15 6. 10x26 30x23 7. 6-10(7-10 stronger) 27-24 8. 9-13 24-19 9. 8-12 31-27 10. 1-6(10-14, 18-9, 5-14, 22-17, 13-22, 25-9, 7-10, 27-24, 10-14 and red has a strong man down draw)



The idea of moving 1-6 was threatening with in and out triple, 21-17, 10-15, 19-1, 2-6-WW. Also, 32-28, 6-9, and 18-15 is blocked off as I have a shot set up. Instead, white would continue 27-24, then 10-14, 19-15, 16-19 and red still has very strong position.

The best move for white in this situation is 18-15. Alex was disciplined and figured it out. Game continues as follows:

18-15 11. 11x18 22x15 12. 10-14 20x11 13. 7x16 15-11(while kingsrow has this as a decent move, this put Alex's elbow open for attack, 25-22 would have been better) 14. 6-10 27-24 15. 16-20 32-27 16. 3-7 11-8 17. 14-17 21x14 18. 10x17 19-15 19. 7-10(17-21 is better) 15x6 20. 2x9 8-3 21. 17-21 25-22 22. 9-14 22-18 23. 14-17 18-15 24. 21-25 29x22 25. 17x26 15-11 26. 26-31 3-7 27. 31-26 23-19 28. 5-9 7-10 29. 9-14 10x17 30. 13x22 11-7 31. 22-25 7-3 32. 26-22 19-15 33. 22-18 15-11 1-0

[George Hay]

Joe, what was the loosing move for Alex, and what move in it's place would have salvaged the draw?
--George Hay

[Chexhero]

George, the analysis by the computer is very tight. There are several different moves late in the game, which gave me a winning advantage. However, aside from computer analysis, I feel the real losing move for Alex was 15-11 on move 13 and 25-22 would have given him an easy draw. Set it up on your board and you will see a huge difference in position.

[George Hay]

Thanks Joe, white appears to have a much better centered position with 25 22 than with 15 11.
I can see it after you mentioned it, and after I let KingsRow play from that position! This is a very
good game in more ways than one! The two young Majors Champions are fighting it out in the
Masters Nationals with original play, and the margin of victory is so small that computer analysis is elusive!
--George Hay