Winter League: Round 8 (Studer method 04)
In light of the accident, my postop followup, which was originally scheduled for 6½ weeks out, has been bumped up to 4½ weeks. All I have been able to think about since yesterday has been the potential damage to my implants, and it was with this emotional turmoil that I arrived at the chess club today for rounds 7 and 8 of the 2026 Winter League. My round-7 opponent was a no-show and I was awarded a win by forfeit; but in round 8, although I succeeded in shutting out the noise of yesterday's ordeal, my opponent got the better of me in a sharp endgame.
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| Position 1: White to move |
Assigned the White pieces against one Gershon Salomon, who before the game said his name was Hirschman, I opened 1.d4. After 1...d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bf7 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Nf3, Black's 6...h6 demanded my bish state its intentions and we exchanged with 7.Bxf6 Nxf6. I find this line of the Queen's Gambit Declined, where Black emerges from the exchange with a knight still on f6, mildly annoying, and I should note for future reference that with White's knight on d7 the engine prefers 7.Bh4 to exchanging.
I continued 8.Bd3, and Black replied 8...b6. With Black making obvious his intention to fianchetto on b7, I sought to make his bish there bad by fixing his pawn on d5 and played 9.cxd5. He couldn't recapture with the queen, and if he chopped with 9...Nxd5 I would still be happy because after 10.Nxd5 I'd have succeeded in my original plan of eliminating his f6-knight. Black replied 9...exd5, and I castled with 10.0-0. Castling felt natural and the engine doesn't disapprove of my move per se, but as it reduced my advantage from +0.9 to +0.3 it merits closer examination.
1. Why did I choose 10.0-0?
To complete development, I needed to get my queen off the back rank and connect rooks. Castling brought me a step closer to that goal.
2. Why is my move not ideal?
With Black not yet castled and his king potentially vulnerable on the a4-e8 diag, I should have considered the outcome of checking with my bish or the queen.
3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
10.Bb5+, the engine's top recommendation, would probably have prompted 10...Bd7. White typically avoids surrendering his light-square bish in the Queen's Gambit, but after exchanging with 11.Bxd7+ Qxd7 White can continue 12.Ne5 attacking Black's Queen; and after, say, 12...Qe6, White's 13.Qa4+ poses a problem for Black. Black's best move is the awkward 11...Kf8, otherwise after 11...Nd7 12.Qxd7+ Qxd7 13.Nxd7 Kxd7, White wins Black's only remaining center pawn with 14.Nxd5.
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| Position 2: White to move |
After Black castled with 10...0-0, I set up a battery toward the king with 11.Qc2 -- which also followed a common theme in the Queen's Gambit of controlling the semiopen c-file with major pieces. Black fianchettoed with 11...Bb7 and I continued 12.Rac1. A sequence of mostly uneventful moves followed with 12...c5 13.dxc5 Bxc5 14.Rfd1, and I was exceedingly pleased with my position. Black finally connected rooks with 14...Qe7, and after 15.Qb3 Kh8 16.Be2 Rfd8 17.Na4 d4 my advantage was back at +0.9. It even grew to +1.2 after 18.Nxc5 bxc5 19.exd4 Qxe2 20.Qxb7 Rdb8. We each had queens on our opponents' seventh ranks and were targeting undefended pawns. I chopped with 21.Qxf7, and Black chopped with 21...Rxb2. Black was threatening mate in two with 22...Qxf2+ and 23...Qxg2#, but my 22.Rf1 put an end to his attack. Black chopped my iso d-pawn with 22...cxd4, and here I had an important choice to make. 23.Nxd4 was the wrong one.
1. Why did I choose 23.Nxd4?
Black had two major pieces on my second rank and a pawn that was about to advance to d3 where, given Black's queen on e2, it would be defended en-route to its promotion square. That felt to me like the most pressing concern, and 23.Nxd4 also came with a tempo on Black's queen that would delay 23...Rxa2.
2. Why is my move not ideal?
With the benefit of the engine it's clear the threat of Black's d-pawn promoting was negligible. Even with all the pieces off the board, the pawn would not get past my king.
3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
Danger levels. The moves 23.Rc7 and 23.Rce1 would lead to my having a rook and queen on the seventh rank with the threat of 24.Qxg7#. Black would be compelled to reply 24...Rg8, whereupon my knight could chop on d4 under more favorable circumstances.
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| Position 3: White to move |
After Black's 23...Qe4 attacking my knight, I should have threatened checkmate with 24.Rc7 but instead threatened with 24.Ne6. Black found 24...Rb7, exploiting the fact that my rook wasn't on the seventh rank to attack my queen. I defended and counterattacked with 25.Rc7, and we exchanged with 25...Rxc7 26.Nxc7. White pinned my knight with 26...Qb7, and after 27.Rc1 Rc8 we arrived at the position shown above. The eval bar indicates that at 0.0 neither side had an advantage, but after my 28.Qc4 Black gained a winning advantage of -2.6 and rode it to my eventual resignation.
1. Why did I choose 28.Qc4?
Anticipating 28...Nd5 as Black's next move, I saw no way to save my knight on c7. It would be triple-attacked and only twice-defended. Complicating matters further, my king on the back rank was vulnerable to threats of mate in one. All I could hope for was a perpetual check with my queen, but I was sure it was wishful thinking.
2. Why is my move not ideal?
I was correct in looking for a perpetual check but not in the manner I ultimately went about it.
3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
After 28.h3, the triple-attack would no longer work. It's a tricky line to calculate, but if 28...Nd5 then I can basically wait. For example, 29.h4; and if 29...Rxc7 then I have a perpetual with 30.Qf8+. I needed to understand more deeply how my threat of a perpetual check was a counterweight to Black's threats against my knight.
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