Watertown Chess Club

Bob Kratzat forced a perpetual check in game three of the Club Championship Match on Tuesday by sacrificing his knight with 23…Nxe4 +. The match remains tied and game four will decide the 2016 club champion. Mr. Prieto requires only a draw to secure his third club title. Mr. Kratzat must win the game. Mr. Prieto entered the match with draw odds based upon his higher seed and a regular season club record of +25-1=7, superior to Mr. Kratzat’s record of +16-8=8. Mr. Prieto seemed passive in the Nimzo-Indian Defense. The move 5. Ne2, a Rubinstein Variation allowed Mr. Kratzat’s strategic 5… Ne4 invasion. The move restricted White’s movement and coordination while Black was snuggly castled and ready to either attack or develop his queenside. A flurry of trades left Mr. Kratzat with tempo to active his queen bishop. Mr. Prieto now seemed fixed on using his queenside pawns to restrict Black s queenside sector development, which left White’s kingside pieces on their home squares and eventually blocked from entering the fray. This writer is puzzled with Black’s choice of 11…dxc4 rather than 11…Bb7, a piece move that gains tempo. The continuing surprise is that White recaptured using the Queen rather than 12. Bxc4, which would develop the king bishop and allow castling. At this point Black easily continued his development while White continued his queenside pawn push. By the time Black’s queenside pieces were deployed, White was still struggling with his Kingside development. The time it took White to overcome his kingside paralysis allowed Black to start his attack.

[pgn]
[Event “WCC 2016 Championship Match”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2016.12.07”]
[Round “2.3”]
[White “Prieto, Adolfo”]
[Black “Kratzat, Robert”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “E46”]
[WhiteElo “1906”]
[BlackElo “1710”]
[PlyCount “53”]
[EventDate “2016.12.07”]
[EventType “match”]
[EventRounds “4”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Nge2 Ne4 6. Qc2 d5 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8.
Nxc3 Nxc3 9. Qxc3 b6 10. b4 ({…developing a piece and opening the oportunity
to castle.} 10. Bd3 a5 11. O-O {gives White a better game.}) 10… a5 ({
…developing the Queen Bishop places pressure on White’s kingside.} 10… Bb7
11. cxd5 (11. c5) 11… Bxd5 12. f3) 11. b5 dxc4 {Diagram [#]} 12. Qxc4 $2 (12.
Bxc4 Bb7 13. O-O Nd7 14. a4 Nf6 15. Ba3 Nd5 16. Qd2 Nb4 17. Rfb1 Qg5 18. f4 Qg6
19. Bxb4 axb4 20. Rxb4 Ra7) 12… Bb7 {Whites kingside is now under serious
pressure} 13. a4 Nd7 14. f3 Rc8 {… is very defensive.} ({If instead} 14…
Qh4+ 15. g3 Qh5 16. Bd3 Bxf3 17. O-O e5 {Black has a serious attack kingside
attack underway.}) 15. e4 {…again, White keeps moving pawns.} (15. Be2) 15…
c5 16. Bb2 Nf6 ({this White position offers Black opportunity.} 16… Qg5 17.
Qb3 c4 18. Qc3 f5) 17. Rd1 Qc7 18. Ba3 (18. dxc5 bxc5 19. Be2 Nd7 20. O-O {
and White would have wriggled out of trouble.}) 18… Rfd8 19. dxc5 Rxd1+ 20.
Kxd1 Rd8+ 21. Ke1 Qd7 22. Be2 Qd2+ 23. Kf2 (23. Kf1 {It is surprising how one
square can change the course of a game.} bxc5 24. Bc1 Qd4 {, now White enjoys
the advantage. After the Queen trade White’s King travels to f2 and allows
access for the king rook to enter the fray.}) 23… Nxe4+ $3 {Diagram [#]} 24.
fxe4 Qf4+ 25. Ke1 Qd2+ 26. Kf2 Qf4+ 27. Ke1 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]

Adolfo Prieto won the second game of the 2016 Watertown Chess Club
Championship playing the Black side of the Scotch Game, a favorite of Mr.
Kratzat. What was different in this game was that Mr. Prieto deviated from
the normal ECO lines on move 3.Nxd4. The slight change presented Mr. Kratzat
with the task of seeking out the best response over the board. The game
continued evenly till 10..Nd7, when 11.Bg5 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 f6 13.exf6 Nxf6
would have left White a pawn up. However Mr. Kratzat played 11. exd6, a
natural move, but it only left the game level. Eventually Mr. Prieto was
able to attack with a series of trades that left the White Kingside with
doubled pawns at f3 and f4. This weakness tied down Whites King and Bishop
to their defense and Black marched his three queenside pawns backed up by
his free Knight down the board to attack Whites two. The eventual trades
created a passed pawn that won the day.

 
[pgn][Event “WCC 2016 Championship Match”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2016.11.29”]
[Round “2.2”]
[White “Kratzat, Robert”]
[Black “Prieto, Adolfo”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C44”]
[WhiteElo “1710”]
[BlackElo “1906”]
[PlyCount “74”]
[EventDate “2016.11.29”]
[EventType “match”]
[EventRounds “4”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 {The Scotch Game} Nxd4 ({MCO13 and Fritz recomend}
3… exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 {or} (4… Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6)) 4. Nxe5 Ne6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6.
Bd2 Nf6 7. Bd3 d6 8. Nf3 ({Fritz suggests} 8. Ng4 O-O 9. O-O Nxg4 10. Qxg4 $11)
8… Nc5 9. e5 Nxd3+ 10. cxd3 Nd7 $2 (10… Bxc3 11. Bxc3 dxe5 12. Bxe5 O-O 13.
O-O $11) 11. exd6 (11. Bg5 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 f6 13. exf6 Nxf6 {leaving White a
pawn up} (13… gxf6 14. Be3 Ne5 15. d4 Nxf3+ 16. Qxf3)) 11… Bxd6 12. O-O O-O
13. Re1 Nf6 14. Nb5 Bg4 15. Bc3 Nd5 16. Nxd6 Qxd6 17. Be5 Qg6 18. Bg3 Qf6 19.
h3 Bxf3 20. Qxf3 Qxf3 21. gxf3 {Diagram [#] the doubled ‘f’ pawns will prove
to be problematic for White} c6 22. a3 Rfe8 23. Kf1 f6 24. Rxe8+ Rxe8 25. Re1
Rxe1+ 26. Kxe1 Kf7 27. f4 $2 Ke6 28. Ke2 Kf5 29. Kf3 h5 30. h4 c5 31. Bh2 b5
32. Bg3 a5 33. Bh2 a4 34. Bg3 b4 35. axb4 cxb4 36. Ke2 a3 37. bxa3 bxa3 {
Diagram [#]} 0-1

[/pgn]

Bob Kratzat overcame top seed Adolfo Prieto’s pressure attack on his King position after his opponents poor choice at move 21. Mr. Prieto’s choice of 21. Bc1 lead to a series of moves through 27. C5? that left his rooks disconnected, his Bishop still on c1 and a Black Knight invading his position with 27…Nd4 and 28…. Ne2+, which won a pawn and forced White to place his Queen on a white diagonal. Mr. Kratzat then created a queen pin with his own Bishop enabling him to win the Bishop –Rook exchange with 32…Bxb1. The loss of material and the significant change in board position allowed Mr. Kratzat to invade along the ‘e’ file with his doubled Rook. The game ended quickly when Black forced a queen- bishop fork with 37… Re3. Mr. Kratzat, the #2 seed draws first blood in this four game championship match.

[pgn][Event “WCC 2016 Championship Match”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2016.11.22”]
[Round “2.1”]
[White “Prieto, Adolfo”]
[Black “Kratzat, Robert”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “E41”]
[WhiteElo “1906”]
[BlackElo “1710”]
[PlyCount “74”]
[EventDate “2016.11.22”]
[EventType “match”]
[EventRounds “4”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Nge2 Nc6 7. O-O d5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. a3 Bxc3 10. bxc3 cxd4 11. c4 $2 {overlooking 11….Nc3 and allowing an
isolani at c4} (11. cxd4 f5 12. f3 Qd6 13. Bd2) 11… Nc3 12. Nxc3 dxc3 13. Qc2
h6 (13… Qf6 14. Bxh7+ Kh8 15. Be4 Bd7) 14. Qxc3 Qc7 15. Bb2 e5 16. Be4 Re8
17. f4 f6 18. Bd5+ Kh8 19. Qd3 (19. f5 {or}) (19. Rab1 {either seems better!})
19… Qb6 (19… exf4 20. Rxf4 Ne5) 20. Rab1 exf4 21. Bc1 $4 {Diagram [#] What
a poor location for this Bishop.} (21. Bd4 Qd8 22. Rxf4) 21… Qc7 22. Qg6 ({
either} 22. exf4 {or}) (22. Rxf4 {…keeps the position balanced.}) 22… Be6
23. Be4 Bg8 24. exf4 Ne7 {forcing the menacing Queen away, but…} (24… Re6
25. Re1 Rae8 26. Bd2) 25. Qh5 Nc6 $1 {now we see the power behind 24… Ne7}
26. Bg6 (26. Bd5 {…seems to be the best White can offer.}) 26… Re7 27. c5
$2 {Diagram [#]} ({Moving the c1 Bishop to b2 prevents 27… Nd4.} 27. Bb2)
27… Nd4 28. Bb2 Ne2+ 29. Kh1 Nxf4 30. Qg4 $2 {White has less than 3 minutes
left.} Nxg6 31. Qxg6 Bh7 32. Qh5 Bxb1 33. Rxb1 Rae8 34. Bc3 Qc6 35. Rf1 Re2 36.
Qg6 Qe4 {…forcing the queen trade.} 37. Qg3 {White has just 2 minutes left
for the game against Black’s 23 minutes.} Re3 {and White resigns. Mr. Kratzat,
the #2 seed, draws first blood in this four game match.} 0-1

[/pgn]