Watertown Chess Club

Bob Kratzat, left records a move against Adolfo Prieto, right, in the game one championship match

Robert Kratzat pulled off his second match upset of the 2018 Watertown Chess Club Championships by defeating three time club champion Adolfo Prieto on December 18th. Mr. Kratzat, the #4 seed in the four player championship tournament had upset seven time club champion Dr. David Kistler, the #1 seed in a championship semi-final match 1.5-0.5. Now in the finals, Mr. Kratzat had lost game one of the four game match to #2 seed Mr. Prieto, placing his back against the “proverbial wall”. Mr. Kratzat rebounded with a game two win, then, with the black pieces, held Mr. Prieto to a draw in game 3, keeping the match tied. With the white pieces in game four, Mr. Kratzat errored on move 17 Be3?, to lose a pawn on e5. With the extra material it appeared that Black would at least be able to hold the advantage and either win or draw the game, thus claiming the 2018 championship. Mr. Prieto returned the favor with his own error on move 25….Na4 ??. The result of using 15 plus minutes of his allotted 90 minutes to consider all the opportunities and consequences on this move provided the spark that Mr. Kratzat needed to both regain the lost material and to gain a large time advantage on their respective clocks. After this position change at move 25…Na4, it was White who dictated the flow of the game. Within three moves White had a back rank checkmate threat blooming (see diagram below at 27.Rxd2) that further eroded Black’s time on the clock. Mr. Kratzat was able to convert his position and time advantage into the upset victory. The 2018 WCC Championship game four score follows:

Kratzat, Robert (1616) – Prieto, Adolfo (1873) [C45]

WCC 2018 Championship Finals (2.4), 18.12.2018

[This is the 4th game of the club championship match, which was tied at 1.5–1.5. White, as the lower #4 seed, needed a win to claim the club championship; Black, the #2 seed, needed only a draw to claim the championship.]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Nb6 9.b3 a5 10.Bb2 a4 11.Nd2 axb3 12.axb3 Rxa1+ 13.Bxa1 Qa3 14.Qd1 Bb4 15.Bd3 Qa5 16.Bd4 0–0 17.Be3? [17.Qc2 c5 18.Bb2 h6 19.Ke2 Qa8 20.Bh7+ Kh8 21.Be4 Bb7] 17…Qxe5 18.0–0 d5 19.Nf3 Qh5 20.Be2 dxc4 21.Nd2 Qh4 22.g3 Qe7 23.bxc4 Bh3 24.Re1 Rd8 25.Qc2  25…Na4?? [Black wasted a great deal of ‘clock time’ on this move. With his slight material advantage, prudence suggests both a wait and see approach and attention to his king safety.] [25…g6 (or 25….h6) Black needs to provide an escape route for his king. 26.Qc1 Na4 . Now this knight move to a4 works for Black. (Also 26…Nd7 27.Rd1 Nf6 works well also.) 27.Qc2 Nc5 28.Rd1] 26.Qxa4! Bxd2 27.Bxd2 Rxd2 28.Qxc6? [White’s target should be the black queen.] [With the back rank mate threat made available by Black’s negligence to provide a king escape… 28.Qa5 Rd8 is necessary. 29.Bg4 and Black’s queen is gone.] 28…h5? [28…g6 …as recommended before… 29.Qa8+ Rd8 30.Qf3] 29.Qa8+ Kh7 [Again, Black spent a great deal of clock time on this move.] [an alternative 29…Rd8 30.Qa5 Re8; or 29…Qd8 30.Qxd8+ Rxd8 31.Bxh5 g6 32.Rd1 Rb8] 30.Qa5 Qd7 31.Qxh5+ Kg8 32.Rd1 [32.Rb1 is a nice aggressive alternate.] 32…Be6 33.Rc1 [33.Rb1] 33…Qd4 [White, with nearly 35 minutes left is forcing Black to move quickly knowing that his clock is approaching 5 minutes. The strategy is to move quickly into an end game with the extra pawn advantage.] 34.Qf3 g6 35.h4 Ra2 36.Rd1 Ra1 37.Rxa1 Qxa1+ 38.Kg2 Qe5 39.Qe3 Qxe3 [Black should not trade queens. His clock is now below 5 minutes for the game leading to this poor choice. 39…Qd6 40.Kh2 c5 41.Kg2] 40.fxe3 Kg7 41.Kf3 Kf6 42.Kf4 Bd7 43.g4 c5 44.g5+ Ke7 45.Ke5 Bc6 46.h5 gxh5 47.Bxh5 Bg2 48.Bg4 Bc6 49.Be2 Bb7 50.Bd3 Bc6 51.Be4 Bd7 [Black’s clock stands at 2:08 left for the game. White has nearly 15 minutes left.] 52.Kd5 f5 53.gxf6+ Kxf6 54.Kxc5 Ke5 55.Bf3 Be8 56.Kb6 Kd6 57.c5+ Kd7? […the alternative matters not.] [57…Ke6 58.Kb7 Bb5 59.c6 Kf5 60.c7 Bd7 61.c8Q Bxc8+ 62.Kxc8] 58.Bc6+

Game, Kratzat, 1–0 ; Match, Kratzat 2.5-1.5.