Sjeng : NK2001 games

Week 2 - Day 1

Game 7 : Sjeng - Morphy

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 Qa5+ 4. Bd2 Qa6

In the opening, do not bring out the queen early, or she will end up on
a bad square :)

 5. Qc2 d6 6. e4 g6 7. Nc3 7. Bg7

Misses the tactics that exploit the bad position of blacks queen.

8. Nb5 Qb6 9. Qa4



Threatening Ba5

9 . .. Nc6 10. dxc6 bxc6 11. Nc3 O-O 12. Qc2 Rb8 13. b3 Bh8 14. Nf3 h5 15. g3

The last 2 moves by both sides look rather doubtfull.

15 . .. Bg4 16. Bg2 Bc8 17. O-O Nd7 18. Bg5 Re8 19. Bh6

A pure tempo loss. Sjeng has not locked onto the right plan yet.

19 .. Nf6 20. h3 Nd7 21. Rfd1 Qa5 22. Rd3 Rb6 23. Rad1

Now slowly but surely the pieces start moving into the right direction.

23. .. Ra6 24. a4 Rb6 25. Bd2 Rb8 26. Bf4 Qb4 27. Ne2 Bg7 28. Qc1 Qb6
29. Qe3 f6 30. Bh6 Bh8 31. R1d2 Kh7 32. h4 Nf8 33. Nf4 Nd7 34. Rd1 Qa5



35. Ne6 Rb6 36. e5

With all pieces set up, it's time to crack open the weak black position.

36. .. Nxe5 37. Nxe5 dxe5 38. Nf8+ Kg8 39. Nxg6 Kf7 40. Nxe5+



Closes the mating net.

40. ..  fxe5 41. Qe4 Qe1+ 42. Rxe1 Bg4 43. Qh7+ Kf6 44.Bg5+ Ke6 45. Qg6+ Bf6
46. Rxe5+ Kxe5 47. Qe4#
1-0

Game 8 : Crafty - Sjeng

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Bd3
c5 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. O-O O-O 10. Qe2 h6 11. Bf4 b6 12. Rad1 Qe7 13. a3 a5 14.
Nd2 Bb7 15. Nb3 Nd5 16. Bg3 Bd6 17. Bxd6 Qxd6



This opening looks very drawish, something I certainly didn't mind. Crafty's next
move raised my eyebrows though.

18. g3 Qc7 19. Nd4 Rad8 20.Be4 Rfe8 21. Rfe1 Qc8 22. c4 Ba6 23. Nb5 Bxb5
24. cxb5 Qd7 25. a4 Qc7

This move highlights a difference in positional assesement. Sjeng has been thought
that having a queen vs two rooks is a nice advantage in computer games, whereas
Crafty is much more conservative in this regard.

26.Bxd5 exd5 27. Qxe8+ Rxe8 28. Rxe8+ Kh7 29. b3 Qc2
30. Rxd5 Qxb3 31. Rd4 Qc3 32. Red8 h5 33. R8d6 f6 34. h4 Kg6 35. Kg2 Qc5
36. Rd7 Qe5 37. R7d5 Qe1 38. g4 Qc3 39. gxh5+ Kh7 40. Rd7 Qc8 41. f3 Qc2+
42. Kg3 Qc1 43. Rd1 Qe3 44.R7d5 Kh6 45. R5d4 Qe5+ 46. Kf2 Qxh5 47. R1d2 Qf5
48. Kg2 Qe5 49. Rd5 Qe1 50. Rd1 Qe2+ 51. Kg3 g6 52. R5d4 f5 53. R1d2 Qe1+
54. Kg2 f4



There is no way for white to make progress. I offered a draw, which was refused
by Crafty's operator. Crafty already had a 0.00 score for several moves here.

55. Rf2 Qe5 56. Re4 Qf6 57. Rf1 Kh5 58. Rfe1 Kh6 59. Re6 Qd8 60. Rg1 Kh7
61. Re4 Qf6 62. Rd1 Qb2+ 63. Kg1 Qc3 64. Rdd4 Qxf3 65. Rxf4 Qe3+ 66. Kf1 Kh6 67. Kg2
Qe7 68. Rfe4 Qb7 69. Rc4 Qd5 70. Rd4 Qa2+ 71. Kf3 Qf7+ 72. Rf4 Qb3+ 73. Ke4
Qe6+ 74. Kd3 Kh5 75. Rfe4 Qb3+ 76. Kd2 Qb2+ 77. Ke3 Qc3+ 78. Kf2 g5 79.
hxg5 Qb2+ 80. Kf3 Qc3+ 81. Kf4 Qc5 82. Rc4 Qxg5+ 83. Kf3 Qf6+ 84. Rf4 Qa1
85. Ke4



Being outsearched by several plies for the whole game, Sjeng finally makes
a mistake and lets the white king escape to the center.

85. .. Kg5 86. Kd5 Qh8 87. Rg4+ Kf6 88. Rcd4 Qa8+ 89. Kd6 Qb8+ 90. Kc6 Kf5
91. Rg7 Ke5 92. Rgd7 Qc8+ 93. Kxb6 Qb8+ 94. Kxa5 Qa8+ 95. Kb4 Qf8+ 96. R7d6
Qf1 97. b6 Qb1+ 98. Ka5 Qh1 99. R6d5+ Kf6 100. b7 Qh8 101. Rd8 Qh7 102.
b8=Q Qf5+ 103. R8d5 Qxd5+ 104. Rxd5 Ke6 105. Qe5+ Kf7 106. Rd7+ Kg6 107.
Rg7+ Kh6 108. Qg5#
1-0

Game 9 : ChessTiger - Sjeng

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Nf3 b5
8. Qc6 Rb8 9. Bf4 Nd5 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Nc3 Nxc3 13. Qxc3 Bb7
14. Qxc7 Qb4+ 15. Qc3 Qxc3+ 16. bxc3



White is a pawn up, but black has good pressure on the c-file. Jeroen Noomen,
operating ChessTiger, did not like the situation at all.

16. .. Nb6 17. Rc1 O-O 18. O-O Bxf3 19. Bxf3 Rfc8 20. e3 Rc7 21. Rfd1 Rbc8
22. d5 exd5 23. Bxd5 Na4 24. c4 Kf8 25. Bf3 g6

This move got Jeroen even more worried.

26. Rd6 Rxc4 27. Rxc4 bxc4 28. Bb7 Rc5 29. Bxa6 c3 30. Rd1



The question here is if black can get the c pawn far enough that white
will have to sacrifice a piece for it.

30. .. Ra5 31. Bf1 Nb2 32. Rc1 Ra3 33. Rc2 Ke7

Tiger finds the right plan: the black king must help!

34. Kg2 Kd6 35. Kf3 Kc5 36. Be2 Kb4 37. Ke4 Rxa2 38. Kd4 Ra7
39. Bf3 Rd7+ 40.Bd5 Rxd5+ 41. Kxd5



Now white will have to sacrifice his rook for blacks passed pawn. Sjeng's evaluation
was -3 at this point, and the game looked lost to me, but Jeroen got very upset:

The white king is in an excellent position to eliminate all three remaining black pawns,
and black cannot mate with a knight alone!

To my happyness, Sjeng was indeed planning to take those pawns, and ChessTigers
eval started to drop steadily.

41. .. Kb3 42. Rc1 Nd3 43. Rb1+ Ka2 44. Rf1 Kb2 45. Kd4 Nb4 46. Ke5 c2 47. Kf6 Nd5+
1/2-1/2

With ChessTigers eval going negative and Sjeng planning to eat the last blacks pawns, Jeroen
offered a draw here, which I happily accepted. A narrow escape, but still a draw vs the later
winner!

Week 2 - Day 2

Game 10 : Rebel - Sjeng

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Bd3
b6 8. O-O Bb7 9. c3 Be7 10. Qe2 O-O 11. Bf4 a5 12. Ne5 a4 13. Rad1



The moves a5 and a4 filled me with horror. Sjeng was totally lacking a plan.
Rebel on the other hand was improving its position move by move. I already wanted
to resign at this point, as I considered the position totally hopeless.

13. .. c6 14. Rfe1 a3

Uhhh.

15. b3 Re8 16. Qf3 Rc8 17. Bc2 Qd5 18. Qh3 b5 19. Bg5 h6 20. c4 bxc4
21. bxc4 Qd6 22. Bxh6



And there it goes. Black gets blazed of the chessboard. By far Sjengs
worst game of the tournament.

22. .. gxh6 23. Qxh6 Bf8 24. Qxf6 Qe7 25. Qf4 Bg7
26. Re3 c5 27. Rh3 f5 28. Rdd3 Qf6 29. Rdg3
1-0

Game 11 : The King - Sjeng

1. Nc3 e6 2. e4 d5 3. d4 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Bd3
c5

This move leads to a much more playable position than the b6 in the previous game.

8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. Bg5 Qb6 10. O-O Qxb2



Greedy! Several kibitzers thought that the outcome was already decided at this point.
The King would punish Sjeng for its greedyness. 'You cannot play that versus The King'.

The King was displaying a near-zero score, while Sjeng had a very optimistic +2.  
I was not very confident in it as it is obvious that white has a great deal of compensation.

But is it enough?

11. Qd2

I was expecting Rb1 Qxa2 Bb5+ and black must play Ke7, which looks harder to hold
than the game variation.

11. .. Nd5 12. Rab1 Qc3 13. Qe2 O-O 14. Bd2

Gaining tempi on the black pieces.

14. .. Qa3 15. c4 Nf6 16. Bg5 Be7 17. Rfd1 Re8

I would have liked Rd8 here better, but the difference between both moves is
rather small.

18. Rb3 Qc5 19. Qc2 h6 20. Bf4 Rd8 21. Rb5 Qc6 22. Be5 Qe8



White has pushed black back, but still doesn't have anything tangible
to show for the pawn. Now black simply regroups his pieces in the
next few moves.

23. c5 Nd5 24. Nd4 Bd7 25. Rxb7

Appearently regaining the pawn, but black has a nice counter.

25. .. Ba4 26. Nb3 Qc6

And the rook is shut in.

27. Rxe7 Nxe7 28. Bd6

The King considered this strong bishop to be sufficient compensation. Sjengs
score hadn't been below +1.6 in the last 15 moves. Black now regroups
again.

28. .. Qd7 29. Bh7+ Kh8 30. Be4 Bc6
31. Bd3 Re8 32. Rd2 Nd5 33. Qc4 a5 34. Nd4 Nb4



35. Bb1 Qb7 36. a3 e5

Bd5 was a possibility, with a funny position resulting. Sjeng thought the
loose e-pawn gave better chances.

37. Nxc6 Nxc6 38. Rd1 Rac8 39. Bf5 Rcd8 40. Qd5 Qb5
41. Qxf7

With the very dangerous threat of Qg6. But black is to move and he has
a plan of his own!

41. .. Nd4 42. Bd3 Qa4

Teasing white's vulnerable back rank.

43. Rb1 e4 44. Bf1 e3 45. fxe3 Rxe3 46. Rb7 Rg8



White's threats mean nothing and he is a quality down. Now black takes
the offensive.

47. Qc4 Qd1 48. Rf7 Re1

The King's score plummeted now, as it realized g3 was not an option.

 49. Re7 Rxe7 50. Bxe7 Nf5 51. Qe4 Nxe7 52. Qxe7

Up a full quality, and white still has back rank troubles which cost
him the c-pawn, and with it his last hope.

52. ..  Rc8 53. c6 Qd4+ 54. Kh1 Qf2 55. Bd3 Qd2 56. Bf1 Qc1 57. Kg1 Qxc6
58. h3 Qb6+ 59. Kh2 Qf2 60. Qd7 Qf8 61. Qd1 a4 62. h4 Rb8 63. Qc1 Rb3
64. Kh1 Rxa3 65. Bb5 Ra2



Johan De Koning did not believe in miracles anymore and resigned on behalf of
The King.

Needless to say, I was very very very very very happy :)

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