The Real Story: Fake Moves Wins US Amateur Team North [GALLERY]

[pgn] [Event "US Amateur Team North"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.02.19"]
[White "Friedel, Joshua"]
[Black "Turgut, Aydin"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A80"]
[Annotator "GM Josh Friedel"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2017.02.24"]1. d4 f5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 d5 4. Bxf6 exf6 5. e3 Be6 6. Bd3 Qd7 7. Nge2 Nc6 8.
a3 O-O-O 9. Na4 {A strange looking move, but White wants to develop a
queenside attack with b4-Nc5 or challenge the center with b3-c4.} g5 {I like
this enterprising move. If Black plays slowly he'll just get trounced on the
queenside.} 10. f4 $2 {I was trying to put a stop to his kingside play, but
this is too loose} (10. O-O {was simpler and better, as it will take Black a
long time to develop a kingside attack.}) 10... Na5 $1 {A nice move which I
underestimated.} 11. Nac3 {A sad move.} (11. b3 Nc4 $1 {is the point, and
while it might be playable after} 12. Qc1 {I didn't like my position here.}) (
11. Nc5 {was the original plan, but after} Bxc5 12. dxc5 Nc4 13. Bxc4 dxc4 14.
Qxd7+ Bxd7 {I thought I can only be worse since my central pawns are quite
weak and Black has a lot of activity. While this is true, objectively this was
probably better for me than the game.}) 11... Nc4 12. Bxc4 dxc4 13. O-O (13.
Qd2 {and castling queenside was possible, but that looked like the riskier
wing to me.}) 13... Qc6 {Not a terrible move, but not one I understand.} (13...
Kb8 {followed by an eventual h5-h4 looks pleasant for Black. I just don't have
a plan here, as any attempt to mix up the game will open up his bishops.}) 14.
Qe1 Bd5 {And this move is completely baffling. Perhaps my young opponent was
getting a little impatient, and now I'm able to simplify into a better
position.} (14... Kb8 {and I'd still rather be Black, although the queen on c6
looks a little out of place.}) 15. Nxd5 Qxd5 16. fxg5 fxg5 17. Qf2 {I'm
guessing that Aydin missed this idea. Sometimes we forget that our opponent
can undouble our pawns!} Re8 18. Nc3 Qd7 19. Qxf5 (19. Rae1 {would be a
mistake, since after} Bg7 20. Qxf5 Qxf5 21. Rxf5 Bxd4 $1 {and the tables have
turned once more.}) 19... Rxe3 (19... Qxf5 20. Rxf5 Rxe3 21. Rxg5 {would
actually turn out similar to the game.}) 20. Qxg5 Qxd4 (20... Bg7 {was what I
anticipated, but after} 21. Nd5 $1 ({not} 21. Qxe3 $4 Bxd4) 21... Re2 22. c3 {
I thought Black's bishop would be rather unhappy.}) 21. Rad1 Re5+ {Forced.} (
21... Rd3+ $2 22. Kh1 {and Black is simply lost.} Qd8 (22... Rxd1 23. Rxd1 {
and Black loses the queen or gets mated.}) 23. Qf5+ Rd7 24. Rxd7 Qxd7 25. Qxf8+
$1 {ends the game.}) 22. Rxd4 Rxg5 23. Rxc4 {White is a healthy pawn up, but
technique won't be easy.} Bc5+ 24. Kh1 Rd8 25. g3 {I want to bring my king
into the game. Note how Rd2 runs into Ne4.} Re5 26. Re4 Bd4 27. Rxe5 Bxe5 28.
Kg2 h6 (28... Bxc3 29. bxc3 h6 30. g4 {and I thought my kingside would be too
fast.}) 29. Rd1 {A nice technical move.} Rf8 {Black has no interest in trades.}
30. Rd3 c6 31. b3 {I want to free my knight.} Kc7 32. a4 {While I doubt this
move is bad strictly speaking, it does give Black options for counterplay. I
should probably just play with h4 right away as I did in the game.} Rf7 33. h4
Kb6 {The king probably isn't going anywhere, but it was clever of my opponent
to attempt to provoke weaknesses. And it worked!} 34. Ne4 Re7 35. Nd2 Bg7 36.
b4 $6 {Diagram [#] In an effort to prevent counterplay, I actually allow more
of it. It is rare you want to play too many moves on the side you aren't
better, and in this case I should have listened to conventional wisdom instead
of ignoring it like usual.} (36. Kf3 {bringing the king into the game was my
first intention, and I should have stuck with it. Black's king isn't really
going anywhere.}) 36... a5 37. c3 (37. Nc4+ Kc7 38. Nxa5 {was a better option,
but during the game I thought my knight would be out of play after} b6 (38...
Re2+ 39. Kf3 Rxc2 40. Nxb7 {would be good for White.}) 39. Nb3 Re2+ 40. Kf3
Rxc2 {but I missed I could simply play} 41. Nd4 $1 {forcing a rook ending
which should probably be good enough.}) 37... Kc7 {Another clever move, which
I completely miss the point of.} (37... Bxc3 $2 38. Nc4+ {wins for White.}) 38.
bxa5 Bxc3 $1 {My original thought was that all rook endgames were easily won
for me, but this turns out to not be the case.} 39. Rxc3 Re2+ 40. Kh3 {I
wanted to make sure I had this Rf3 resource, but it isn't as strong as I
originally thought.} (40. Kf3 {keeping my king closer to the c-pawn was likely
better.} Rxd2 41. Re3 Kd6 42. g4 {and I'd still have good chances to win, but
it is by no means easy.}) 40... Rxd2 41. Rf3 c5 42. Kg4 Rd5 $1 {It is
important to cut my king off.} 43. Rf7+ Kc6 44. Rf6+ Rd6 {Well calculated by
Aydin, who had little more than a minute left. I originally thought his king
couldn't get back in time, but it turns out it was an illusion.} 45. Rxd6+ {
I have nothing better.} Kxd6 46. Kf3 (46. Kf4 Kd5 47. g4 Kd4 $1 {also draws,
since he'll queen with check on c1.}) 46... Ke5 (46... h5 $2 47. g4 hxg4+ 48.
Kxg4 c4 49. Kf3 {would be an easy win for White.}) 47. g4 c4 48. Ke3 c3 49. Kd3
Kf4 50. Kxc3 (50. g5 hxg5 51. hxg5 Kxg5 52. Kxc3 Kf5 53. Kc4 Ke6 54. Kc5 Kd7
55. Kb6 Kc8 {and Black arrives on c8 just in time. It took me some time just
to believe this was possible.}) 50... Kxg4 51. Kb4 Kxh4 52. Kb5 Kg3 53. Kb6 h5
54. Kxb7 h4 55. a6 h3 56. a7 h2 57. a8=Q h1=Q+ {I'm up a pawn, but with my
queen in the corner a perpetual is unavoidable. Aydin makes no mistake.} 58.
Ka7 Qg1+ 59. Kb8 (59. Ka6 Qf1+ 60. Ka5 Qe1+ {and it will be death by checks.})
59... Qb6+ 60. Kc8 Qe6+ 61. Kc7 Qe7+ 62. Kb6 Qb4+ 63. Kc7 Qe7+ 64. Kc8 Qe8+ 65.
Kb7 Qe4+ 66. Kb8 Qe8+ 67. Kb7 Qe4+ {And with that, my opponent secured the
well-earned draw as well as the win for his team. While there was no reason
for him to end up in a pawn-down endgame, he fought extremely well once we got
there and forced me to show good technique, which I failed to
demonstrate.} 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]