St. Joseph: Game Notes by Saravana Krishnan

[Event "St Josephs Rating 2016"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.07.17"] [Round "8.1"] [White "Saravana Krishnan, P."] [Black "Ravi, T.S.."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E12"] [WhiteElo "2313"] [BlackElo "2312"] [PlyCount "123"] [EventDate "2016.01.24"] [SourceDate "2016.01.20"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 {The current world championship challenger Karjakin's favorite move and may be we could expect some games in the WC match later this year.} 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Qc2 c5 {Not the most popular move order although the best option by both sides transposes to the main line after e4.} 8. e3 {Thought of creating some problems for my opponent for early c5 with Bb5+ ideas} cxd4 9. exd4 Be7 10. Bb5+ Bc6 11. Bd3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Nd7 14. Bf4 (14. Bxh7 {wins a pawn but black gets complete control of the dark squares with Qc7} Qc7 {=+}) 14... Bg5 15. Bg3 {I believe I have a slight edge in this position as Black has not completely solved his problems. I did not play the next few moves accurately and allowed my opponent to equalise.} Qe7 16. Be4 ({May be the direct} 16. O-O {was better practically as the threat of Be4 still exists.}) 16... Rd8 17. O-O g6 18. f4 ({I did not like my position after} 18. Qa4 O-O 19. Qxa7 f5 20. f4) 18... Bh6 19. f5 { Tactically removing the doubled pawns..} O-O 20. fxg6 $6 {I took the wrong pawn and after this black had no problems at all.} (20. fxe6 {was clearly the better option with pressure on the e-file.}) 20... hxg6 21. Rfe1 Nf6 22. Bf3 Nd5 23. Be4 Qg5 24. Rad1 Rc8 {suddenly all of Black's pieces start looking good. Though position still being equal it is easier to play with Black} 25. c4 Nf4 26. Kh1 Qh5 27. Qb3 Rfd8 28. Bf3 Qf5 29. Be4 (29. Re5 Qf6 30. Re4 {and I could have kept it in balance still}) 29... Qf6 $1 30. d5 e5 31. Bf3 Qd6 32. Bg2 {it was time for defence and I wanted to get back my Bishop to f1. Both of us were almost less than 10 mins and I decided to play faster to have practically better chances in the last hour.} Rc5 {Black is better but it's not so easy to convert practically and also he always has to watch out for my favourable opposite colour bishop conversions.} 33. Bf1 Ra5 34. Ra1 f6 35. Qb4 Rc5 36. Rad1 Kf7 37. f3 Qd7 38. Bf2 Rcc8 39. a4 Bf8 40. Qb2 {There were some practical tricks he needed to solve after taking the pawn. we were already low on time and I thought it was my best shot.} Qxa4 41. Be3 Nh5 $6 {falling for the trick..} (41... Bh6 $1 $15) 42. Bh3 $1 Rxc4 (42... f5 {was the other alternative possible and which is not so easy to finalise upon.}) 43. Ra1 $1 { I was feeling very confident here and before my opponent played the next move , I got a huge time advantage of around 5 minutes more than my opponent because of the change in the nature of the position creating more practical problems for black.} Qb4 44. Rxa7+ Ke8 45. Qa1 Rh4 46. Rb1 (46. Bd2 {was my initial intention but I saw something more in the main line and stopped my analysis in half here. but black actually can play} Ng3+ 47. hxg3 Rxh3+ 48. Kg2 Qxd2+ 49. Kxh3 Qh6+ 50. Kg2 Qd2+ 51. Kf1 Qd3+ $11) 46... Qc4 47. Bf1 $2 {A huge mistake which both of us did not see initially but later spotted by both.} (47. Rxb6 $1 {was the winning move as after} Rxh3 48. Re6+ Be7 49. Raxe7+ Kf8 50. Re8+ Rxe8 51. Qa3+ Kf7 52. Qa7+ Kf8 53. Bh6+ $18) 47... Ng3+ 48. Kg2 Nxf1 49. Rxf1 { In one move the game has completely shifted, with accurate moves black should win but I did not allow my opponent's clock to reach more than 30-40 seconds and knew it was still not easy with the king on e8} Bc5 50. Qb1 {xg6} f5 51. Bxc5 Qxc5 (51... bxc5) 52. Qe1 {xe5 and h4} Qd4 53. Qg3 {xg6} Rd6 (53... Rh6 { was actually the correct defence.}) 54. Re1 {after this white is winning.} Qd2+ 55. Kg1 Qd4+ 56. Kh1 Qf4 (56... Rf4 57. Qg5) 57. Rxe5+ {I had seen White's 58th move 3-4 moves before itself and was hoping for it.} Kf8 (57... Kd8 { loses to} 58. Re8+ Kxe8 59. Qe1+ {though this was not spotted immediately.}) 58. Rxf5+ (58. Re8+ {is also possible.}) 58... Qxf5 (58... gxf5 59. Qg7+ Ke8 60. Qe7#) 59. Qxd6+ Kg8 60. Ra8+ (60. Qd8+ {and taking on h4 should also win but I wanted to finish this off.}) 60... Kg7 61. Qe7+ Qf7 62. Qe5+ {and with this win I got more nearer to defending my title.} 1-0