I played 3 tournaments in January and February, so I need to catch up on my reporting. I started the year in Clarksville, TN with the North Tennessee Winter Open over the MLK holiday weekend. I managed the same equal first as last year, but had a chance to do better. In the first round I was black against Tempo teammate James Wu. I was making some progress in the knight versus bishop ending after 40...Ne5, but it was only his next move that caused his defeat
41. Bxc5? better was 41. b3 intending 42. c4 to fix the c5 pawn on a dark square and meeting 41...c4 with 42. dxc4+ bxc4 43. b4 with a level ending 41... Kxc5 avoiding 41... Nxf3+? 42. gxf3 Kxc5 43. b4+ Kd5 44. d4+- when the White king stops the h-pawn and Black is powerless against the protected passed d-pawn. 42. d4+ Kd5 43. dxe5 Kxe5 44. b4 He wants to prevent a5, but I thought this made things easy. Also straightforward was 44. Ke3 a5 45. Kd2 Kf4 a bit trickier is 44. Kd3 when 44... Kd5 45. b4; 44... a5 45. c4; and 44...Kf4 45. Kd4 all give White some counterplay, but it seems that Black still wins with 44...h5. 44... Kf4 45. Ke2 Kg3 46. Kf1 f4 47. Kg1 h5 48. Kf1 h4 49. Kg1 h3 50. gxh3 Kxh3 51. Kf2 Kh2 52. Ke2 Kg2 53. Kd3 Kxf3 54. c4 bxc4+ 55. Kxc4 Ke4 56. Kc5 f3 [0:1]
In round 2, I had White against my Knoxville clubmate Matthew Marsh. I missed a chance to put this game away early after 14...Qb4? instead of 14...Qb6-a5
15. a3 I was so eager to push my e-pawn, that I missed the retreat 15. Bd2 which puts his queen in hot water 15...Qe4 16. Nc3 Qf5 (16... Qb4 17. Nb5) 17. Ng5 Qxe5 18. Bxg4 winning a piece. 15... Qa5 16. e6 fxe6 17. dxe6 reaching the position we should have gotten to, but with me having the extra move a3. I went on to win, but this was a real blemish on the game.
I was up to top board in Round 3, with Black against Tempo #1 Ron Burnett. I played the middle game pretty miserably and had to shed a pawn and hope to draw an ending with not many pawns left after 27...Bc6
28. Rg4?! It is logical to try to restrict the Black king, but there is a tactical hole. Instead, 28. Re2 Kg7 (28... Rf8 29. Bc4) 29. Bc4 still gives White some winning chances. 28... Rf8 with a draw offer. He thought a long time and found one last idea. 29. Bc4 Rf2+ 30. Ke3 Rxg2 incidently preventing Rg8#, he probably had overlooked this when playing Rg4. 31. Rxg2 Bxg2 32. Kd4 b6 Black seems to fall a tempo short in the pawn ending after 32... Kg7 33. Bd5 Bxd5 34. Kxd5 Kf6 35. Kd6 33. Bd5 Bh3 34. Ke5 Kg7 35. b4 designed to keep the Black king from going to c5, but now I am able to hold up his queenside pawns with my bishop. 35... h6 36. Be4 Bf1 37. Bc6 Bc4 38. a3 Bb3 39. Kd6 Kf6 40. Bd7 Bc2 41. Kc7 Ke7 42. Bh3 Bd3 43. Bd7 Bc2 44. b5 Ba4 45. h4 Bd1 46. Bc8 Ba4 47. Kc6 Bb3 48. Kb7 Kd8 49. Bf5 Ba4 50. Kc6 Ke7 51. Bd3 Bb3 52. Be2 Ke6 53. Bg4+ Ke7 54. Bh3 Ba4 55. Kb7 Kd8 56. Kc6 [½:½]
The next morning I had White against Joshua Suich, who had nicked Burnett for a draw in Round 2. I calculated some long tactics after 16...Ne5
17. f4 Nfg4 17... Nc6 18. Ncxb5 Ng4 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20. Bxg4 Bxg5 (20... axb5 21. e4) 21. Nd4 and 17... Neg4 18. f5 are both really good for White 18. Nxe6 Qxe6 I thought 18... fxe6 was a better try when Black is OK after 19. Bxg4 Bxg5 20. fxg5 Rxf1+ 21. Kxf1 b4, but White has 19. Bxe7 Nxe3 20. Qd4 Nxf1 21. Bxf8 winning. 19. Bxg4 Nxg4 20. f5 I think a lot of players would just throw in the towel here. Instead, he went into the tank for 45 minutes before giving up his queen with 20...Bxg5 21. fxe6 and White won on time a few moves later.
That gave me a chance to take clear first if I could beat another Tempo teammate, Gerald Larson, with White in the final round. We played a very entertaining game. Things heated up after 18... Raf8
19. Re1 The queenside pawns were both immune because of 19...Bxh3 threatening mate on both f1 and g2. 19... Bxh3!? anyway 20. Qxh3 Rf5 21. Rxc6 21. Nxe4 Rh5 22. Qxh5 Qxh5 23. Nxd6 Qd5 and the White knight is well out of play after 24. Nb7. Afterwards we thought 21. Nxb5 might be an improvement overlooking the simple 21... Rxb5 21... Rh5 22. Qxh5 Qxh5 23. Rxd6 Qf5?! It looks like he could have won here with the subtle 23... Qh4 provoking the weakening 24. g3 since 24. Rf1 is refuted by the beautiful 24... Rxf1+ 25. Kxf1 e3 26. g3 Qh2 27. Nd1 Qh1+ 28. Ng1 Qxg1+ 29. Kxg1 e2; 24. Nd1 e3 25. c4 I was eager to get the queenside pawns rolling, but White should be slightly better with 25. Rc6 intending Rc3xe3 25...b4 26. Rc5 25... Qd3 26. Nec3 b4 27. Rxe6 bxc3 28. bxc3 Qc2 29. R6xe3 I wanted to play 29. b4 but was put off by 29...Rf2 although the computer still finds some resources for White after 30. Nxe3 Qd2 31. Ra1 29... Qxb3 30. c5 a5 31. c6 Rc8?! with his clock starting to get low, he allows a draw I thought I'd be OK after 31... Qc4 32. Re5, but was more worried about 31... a4 32. c7 Qb6 33. Re7 a3 34. Ne3 a2 35. Nc2 when Black is still better. 32. Re8+ Rxe8 33. Rxe8+ Kf7 34. c7 Qxd1+ 35. Kh2 Qh5+ 36. Kg1 Qd1+ [½:½]