Watertown Chess Club

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]

Robert Kratzat (1- 1=0) won game two of the first round of the 2016 Championship semi-final match against Don Klug on Tuesday night. Mr. Kratzat held draw odds, thus the win propels him to the Championship round match against #1 seed Adolfo Prieto. Mr. Prieto won his match against#4 seed Paul Archibald 1-0 on Nov 8^th.  The four game match begins next Tuesday Nov 22^nd thru Dec. 13^th. Mr. Prieto holds draw odds in this match. Following are the two games between Mr. Kratzat and Mr. Klug.

[pgn]
[Event “WCC Semi Final Championship”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2016.11.08”]
[Round “1”]
[White “Klug, D C.”]
[Black “Kratzat, Robert”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “D05”]
[WhiteElo “1673”]
[BlackElo “1710”]
[PlyCount “53”]
[EventDate “2016.11.08”]
[EventType “match”]
[EventRounds “2”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 e6 3. Bd3 c5 4. Nf3 d5 5. O-O Nc6 6. c3 (6. c4 dxc4 7. Bxc4 Be7
8. Nc3 O-O 9. dxc5 Bxc5) 6… Bd6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. e4 {(-0.24)} (9.
b4 Bd6 10. b5 Na5 11. Bb2 e5 12. e4 dxe4 13. Nxe4 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Nc4 15. Qe2
Nxb2 16. Qxb2 {(-0.35)}) 9… e5 10. h3 Be6 11. Qe2 $2 {(-0.47)} (11. Ng5 h6
12. Nxe6 fxe6 13. b4 Bb6 14. b5 $11) 11… Qc7 12. Re1 Rfe8 13. Ng5 Rad8 14.
Nxe6 Rxe6 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Ne4 Be7 17. Ng5 $6 (17. Rd1 Nf4 18. Bxf4 exf4 19.
Bc4 Re5 20. Qf3 Rf5 21. Rxd8+ Nxd8 $11) 17… Bxg5 18. Bxg5 Nf6 (18… Nf4 19.
Bxf4 exf4 20. Qc2 $11) 19. Rad1 h6 20. Bh4 Rde8 $4 (20… Red6 21. Bf5 Rxd1 22.
Rxd1 Rxd1+ 23. Qxd1 g5 24. Bg3 Ne7 25. Bc2) 21. Bf5 Rd6 22. Rxd6 Qxd6 23. Rd1
Qe7 24. Rd7 $1 {Diagram [#]} Qc5 $4 {(+6.70)} (24… Qxd7 25. Bxd7 Nxd7 26. f3
{(+2.24)}) (24… Qf8 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26. Rxb7 Rb8 27. Rc7 Nd8 28. Rxa7 Nc6 29.
Qg4+ Kh8 30. Rd7 Ne7 31. b4 {(+4.26)}) (24… Nxd7 25. Bxe7 Rxe7 26. Be4 Nd8
27. Qd1 Kf8) 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26. Qg4+ Kf8 27. Qh5 {with mate in 5} 1-0

[/pgn]

[pgn][Event “WCC Semi-Final Championship”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2016.11.16”]
[Round “1.2”]
[White “Kratzat, Robert”]
[Black “Klug, D C.”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A00”]
[WhiteElo “1710”]
[BlackElo “1673”]
[PlyCount “123”]
[EventDate “2016.11.16”]
[EventType “match”]

1. b4 Nf6 2. Bb2 e6 3. a3 d5 4. e3 Be7 (4… Bd6) 5. d4 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. c4
c6 8. Nc3 Bd6 (8… Qc7) 9. Bd3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 e5 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Bxe5
13. O-O Bf5 14. Be2 $2 (14. f4 Bc7 15. Ne2 Qe7 16. Bd4 Rad8) 14… Qxd1 (14…
Qe7 15. Qb3 Rad8 16. Rfd1 Rfe8 17. Rxd8 Rxd8 18. Rd1 Rxd1+ 19. Qxd1) 15. Rfxd1
Rad8 16. Na4 Bxb2 17. Nxb2 Bc2 18. Rxd8 Rxd8 19. Rc1 {Diagram [#]} Bb3 (19…
Rd2 20. Kf1 Bb3 21. Nd3 Nd7 22. Ke1 Ra2 23. b5 cxb5 24. Rc8+ Nf8 25. Nc5 Ra1+
26. Kd2 Ra2+ 27. Ke1 Ra1+ 28. Kd2 Ra2+ {1/2-1/2}) 20. Nd3 Be6 21. Kf1 Kf8 22.
Ke1 Ke7 23. Nc5 Bc8 24. Bf3 h6 (24… Nd7 25. Nd3 Nf6) 25. Rd1 Rxd1+ 26. Kxd1
Kd6 27. Kd2 b6 28. Nd3 Bf5 29. Nb2 Be6 $11 (29… Be4 30. Ke2 Bxf3+ 31. gxf3 {
(-0.30)}) 30. Kc3 Nd5+ 31. Bxd5 Bxd5 (31… Kxd5 32. f3 f5 33. Kd3 g5 34. Nc4
c5) 32. g3 f5 (32… Ke5 33. Kd3 Be4+ 34. Ke2 f5) 33. h4 g5 (33… Ke5 34. Nd3+
Ke4 35. Ne1) 34. hxg5 hxg5 35. f4 gxf4 36. gxf4 Be4 37. Nc4+ Kd5 38. Ne5 Kd6 (
38… Bg2 39. Nd7 Ke6 40. Nf8+ Ke7 41. Ng6+ Kd6 42. Nf8) 39. Nf7+ Kd5 40. Ng5
b5 $2 (40… c5 41. bxc5 bxc5 42. Nh7 Bf3 43. Nf6+ Ke6 44. Nh7 Bg2) 41. Nh7 Bb1
42. Nf6+ Ke6 43. Ne8 Kd7 44. Ng7 Kd6 45. Kd4 a6 $2 (45… Be4 46. Ne8+ Ke7 47.
Nc7 Kd7 48. Na6 Kd6 49. Nc5 Bd5 50. a4 bxa4 51. Nxa4) 46. Ne8+ Kd7 47. Nf6+ Kd6
(47… Ke6 48. Nh7 Kd6) 48. e4 fxe4 49. Nxe4+ Bxe4 50. Kxe4 c5 51. bxc5+ Kxc5
52. Ke5 a5 53. f5 b4 (53… Kc6 54. Ke6 b4 55. axb4 a4 56. f6 a3 57. f7 a2 58.
f8=Q a1=Q 59. Qc8+ Kb6 60. Qb8+ Kc6 61. Qd6+ Kb7 62. Qe7+ Kb6 63. Qc5+ {(+0.28)
}) 54. axb4+ axb4 55. f6 b3 56. f7 b2 57. f8=Q+ Kc4 58. Qc8+ Kb3 59. Qb7+ Kc2
60. Qc6+ Kb1 (60… Kd1 61. Qf3+ Kc2 62. Qe2+ Kc1 63. Qc4+ Kd2 64. Qb3) 61. Kd4
Ka2 62. Kc3 {Black resigns} 1-0

[/pgn]