[continued]
perrypawnpusher - apurv83
Giuoco Piano tournament, Chess.com, 2015
At this point I decided that Black was behind enough in development - either blocked on the Queenside or over-shifted in that direction - that I could use up a few tempos myself.
19.Qh3 Rh8 20.Qh6 Qd8
Well, my opponent had "un-developed" his two pieces in his last two moves - that had to count for something, right?
Maybe I could now get a Rook into play like I tried to do against Hywel2 and Heler.The ongoing question is: what can Black do in the meantime?
21.Rf3 Nxe4 22.Qh5+
I found this move after initially wanting to play 22.Rg3, which would fall to 22...Bxf5 23.exf5 Nxf5 and while Black would have returned his extra piece, White's "Jerome pawns" would be all gone (and he would be a pawn down). True, then 24.Qg5+ Ke6 would get all weird - and then I noticed that the simple refutation of 22.Rg3 is 22...Ne2+. Oops!
22...Kf8 23.Rg3 Ne2+
A surprise move, but encouraging. Black giving back a piece to displace the White Queen meant I was getting close to something.
24.Qxe2
24...c6 25.Qh5
Very committal, but logical. Black's Bishop is still parked at home, and it still blocks the neighboring Rook. If Black takes the Knight, then exd5 will open the e-file against the King for my other Rook.
Instead, 25.Nf4 seemed playable, but slow. After the game, Stockfish 6 pointed out that 25.Qg4 was the killer move.
25...cxd5 26.Qh6+
Here I expected 26...Ke8, when, after 27.exd5 White will have too many open lines into Black's position for the latter to survive. Instead, my opponent gave me one more important tempo, and this led to mate.
26...Ke7 27.Rg7+ Ke8 28.Qh5+ Kf8 29.Qf7 checkmate
It looks like the defense based on ...Kf7, ...Rh8 and ...Qd8 will have to be re-thought a bit.
That is a good thing. Only one more game needs to be completed in the Italian Game tournament at Chess.com before I move on to the next round and try my hand at some Jerome Gambits (if allowed this time).
In the Giuoco Piano tournament at Chess.com, where this (i.e. perrypawnpusher - apurv83) game was played, I had given up on advancing to the next round, as only one player from my group will make the cut. However, the aggression between players has been strong enough that I now find myself at the top of the heap, a half-point ahead of auswebby, whose last game sees him currently down the exchange and a couple of pawns (his opponent has three connected passed pawns). Of course, if auswebby is able to recover and win, he will leap over me to first place; and if he draws, his tie-break (he beat me twice) should be enough to again assure that he advances. More nail-biting, but I have been here before.
19.Qh3 Rh8 20.Qh6 Qd8
Well, my opponent had "un-developed" his two pieces in his last two moves - that had to count for something, right?
Maybe I could now get a Rook into play like I tried to do against Hywel2 and Heler.The ongoing question is: what can Black do in the meantime?
21.Rf3 Nxe4 22.Qh5+
I found this move after initially wanting to play 22.Rg3, which would fall to 22...Bxf5 23.exf5 Nxf5 and while Black would have returned his extra piece, White's "Jerome pawns" would be all gone (and he would be a pawn down). True, then 24.Qg5+ Ke6 would get all weird - and then I noticed that the simple refutation of 22.Rg3 is 22...Ne2+. Oops!
22...Kf8 23.Rg3 Ne2+
A surprise move, but encouraging. Black giving back a piece to displace the White Queen meant I was getting close to something.
24.Qxe2
24...c6 25.Qh5
Very committal, but logical. Black's Bishop is still parked at home, and it still blocks the neighboring Rook. If Black takes the Knight, then exd5 will open the e-file against the King for my other Rook.
Instead, 25.Nf4 seemed playable, but slow. After the game, Stockfish 6 pointed out that 25.Qg4 was the killer move.
25...cxd5 26.Qh6+
Here I expected 26...Ke8, when, after 27.exd5 White will have too many open lines into Black's position for the latter to survive. Instead, my opponent gave me one more important tempo, and this led to mate.
26...Ke7 27.Rg7+ Ke8 28.Qh5+ Kf8 29.Qf7 checkmate
It looks like the defense based on ...Kf7, ...Rh8 and ...Qd8 will have to be re-thought a bit.
That is a good thing. Only one more game needs to be completed in the Italian Game tournament at Chess.com before I move on to the next round and try my hand at some Jerome Gambits (if allowed this time).
In the Giuoco Piano tournament at Chess.com, where this (i.e. perrypawnpusher - apurv83) game was played, I had given up on advancing to the next round, as only one player from my group will make the cut. However, the aggression between players has been strong enough that I now find myself at the top of the heap, a half-point ahead of auswebby, whose last game sees him currently down the exchange and a couple of pawns (his opponent has three connected passed pawns). Of course, if auswebby is able to recover and win, he will leap over me to first place; and if he draws, his tie-break (he beat me twice) should be enough to again assure that he advances. More nail-biting, but I have been here before.
