Ep. 74: Inside the Mind of a Tournament Chess Player feat. Dan Levin

Neal: 0:38

Welcome everyone. My guest this week is Daniel Levin. Dan is a friend. He is an attorney here in New York, he's a fellow amateur, a Long Island chess club regular and a battle-hardened tournament player, and I'm happy to have him back on. This is Dan's second appearance on the podcast, so, dan, welcome back. Thank you, neil. It's a pleasure to be here, absolutely, and I'm looking forward to this because we're going to be reviewing and discussing and analyzing some of your tournament games and we're going to be looking at two tournaments. I'm not sure how much time we'll have to get to all the games, but we'll get through as much as we reasonably can. So the first tournament was the Eastern Class Championships in Connecticut you played in the Class A section and also the National Open in Vegas, where you played in the under 1900. And so what I want to do is I really want to get into the games themselves right, like I don't need the whole. Oh, it was a great experience and I enjoyed meeting new people. We're going to skip that part. I just want to get right to the games and really get into, like moves, openings, your thought process, what your opponents were like and the whole deal Just kind of a very practical overview of your games. I think that'll be kind of cool, so why don't you start with your first game?

Dan: 2:10

I'll let you take it away, dan, okay the Eastern Class Championship, round one for me, but round two of the tournament because I took a round one by. I was paired with a man named Christopher Potts who looked like about the same age as me and I looked him up afterwards and I discovered that I had played him before 20 years ago at the same venue when we were both rated about 100 and my entire and we're both 20 years younger I had white. I played my usual d4. We got a d4, d5, the Queen's Gambit change variation. On move six, I played Queen c2, which is designed to stop Bishop f5. And Mr Potts took a big think at that point, which I was a bit surprised that he would have a big big think on move six. I thought perhaps he had prepared Bishop f5 for the exchange variation and my Queen c2 move order through him. I talked to him a little bit after the game and he said that that wasn't it. He was unfamiliar with Queen c2. He knew e3 as being the main line and he was looking for a way to punish it, which of course did not exist. This Queen c2 is a perfectly sound move. We continued down a fairly main line until I varied based on a misconception of what was required in the position. I wanted to make sure to trade my dark squared Bishop for his dark squared Bishop and not for his knight. In order to make sure that that happened when he played Knight f8, I retreated the Bishop from g5 to h4 to avoid the line of h6, Bishop h4, Knight g6, hitting the Bishop again. It was not really necessary. I could have just played f3 and then, if I retreated the Bishop to h4, if it gets kicked by h6 and if Knight g6 happens, f2 would be available for the Bishop. I ended up losing a tempo, as I did eventually trade that Bishop for his Bishop on e7. The game progressed nicely for me. I got a center formation that was not usual for that opening but seemed good. I made a trade on the e4 square, resulting in a black pawn on e4 that I could target with Knight g3. Faded Queens got into an end game and with somewhat weak pawns. I got a bit of an advantage in an initiative Without really doing anything special. I got a really serious advantage and I did not really have to do anything deep. I just played the natural moves and got a clearly winning position. My opponent did something that almost never happens at the club he resigned in a position where material was equal, Pawns were going to fall and it was clear that I was going to get a material advantage. I was a bit surprised that he resigned. When he resigned, despite the fact that I really was pretty sure I was winning, Going over the game. Afterwards, the point he resigned, the computer said plus six for White. We did not really talk about perhaps early resignation. I did not really think it was a really early resignation. Okay, but you were surprised, yes, I was surprised that he did not at least make me show some technique.

Neal: 6:27

It happens, they just do not want to play it out. Okay, so that was a nice one.

Dan: 6:32

Round two, actually round three of the tournament, second game for me, second game of the day. It was two games a day. The time control was pretty slow. I think it was 40 moves and 80 minutes and then suddenly 30 with a 10 second delay. My opponent for I guess I will call it round three was a 15 year old girl named Claire Chang. According to the cross table she was rated in the high 1600s, which I found surprising because the rating range for the class A section was 1700 to 1999. Not sure how the person rated under 1700 got into that section, but I think I found out later, which I will get into at the appropriate time?

Neal: 7:23

Oh yeah, because I definitely want to hear that, because we are still talking about the Eastern Class Championship, right? Yes, bye.

Dan: 7:31

I had black. Naturally, after having a white game you get a black game and she opened with the d4. I played d5 and we got a Queens gambit position and Before the tournament I had kind of intended to play the last variation of the Queens gambit decline. If it came up With the idea that it's a very solid opening, I'm playing, I'm playing. Basically I'm playing somewhat playing up, even though it's I'm in the rating range. My rating is in the low 1700s. The rating range is 1700 to 1999. I'm expecting I'm even playing mostly higher rated players. So at the board against who I thought was a lower rated player, I changed my mind and I went into the Tartacover variation of the Queens gambit to get a more dynamic position which Worked out reasonably well. We did, we did get a dynamic game. She did point out to me after the game that I played a second best move in the opening. When there's a trade D5 without a trade of Bishop for Knight on f6, it's better for black to recapture on d5 with the Knight. But I took back with the pawn to get the structure that I that I wanted it's, it's, it's sound, but it's, but it's, but it's not best. We had a fairly complicated game. I don't want to get into too much into the details. Game went into an end game with I had an extra pawn and I ended up Blundering my extra pawn and offering a draw right after I blundered my extra pawn, which was accepted. When the tournament was rated, my opponent, this young lady, actually had an entering rating of about 1860. She had previously played a, an amateur team tournament and had a very good result and Gained over a hundred points, which I think is the explanation for why she was in class a. Her live rating put her in class a, even though her published Rating did not all right, so you're doing well so far. Yes, I've got one and a half out of two plus a plus a buy, so actually two out of three for tournament scoring. And I get to have a night's sleep because I did not stay at the hotel, the the I my brother lives in Hartford. I stayed at my brother's apartment. Save some money.

Neal: 10:11

I was gonna say that save a lot of money. Yeah, those hotel rates add up.

Dan: 10:15

My opponent for around four was another another man about my same, the same age as me, which I like to see, okay, so another 39 year old.

: 10:27

No, thank you.

Dan: 10:31

I'm probably over 50. Look, 50 is the new 30, dan, maybe it is, maybe it is. I'm feeling pretty pretty energetic. Okay so, guys, so you're white, right? Yep, so I'm white, and After I played D4 at night of six and I play the Trump house key, bishop G5.

Neal: 10:48

Oh, that's part of your regular bag. You've played that against me a number of times.

Dan: 10:52

I've been playing. I've been playing the Trump house key for about a year now and I like to have having it as an option. I'm playing it some rather exclusively after D4 night of six. I Spoiler alert, I don't plan on playing it exclusively for forever. D4 night of six. C4 is in in my repertoire and I'm gonna trot that out as well as the feeling strikes me. I can see that my opponent did not like the fact that I played the Trump house key. He took his time on move two before coming up with with E6.

Neal: 11:27

Okay which is normal.

Dan: 11:29

Yeah, yeah, it's Perfectly sound. I played night D2 with the idea that if he plays H6 I have the, the option of playing Bishop H4, which is how it went. We got a, a reversed Carl's bad pawn structure. Each, each side, has a as a D pawn, d4, d5 and I had, I had the C pawn, he had the E pawn and we each have a half open file. Makes for interesting strategic middle game. He played some passive moves and got a rather bad Bishop. It's light squared Bishop really never, never got activated. I was able to get some some, some king side activity got a night on E5. I supported it with F, f4. The f file eventually opened. He played. I had, I got to, I got the. We had a trade, a trade of Knights on E5 which put a pump, my. I got a white pawn on E5. He played F5. I took on passant and a trade of Rookson on F6 and because my Bishop was in the attack and his Bishop wasn't, I was big I was basically Attacking a piece up Queen, rook and Bishop. He was only defending the Queen and Rook. He couldn't hold. I was able to to break through with the major pieces and Force either a checkmate or a win of a win of his Queen. Before move 30 again, I I didn't do anything really special. He just kind of Never figured out a good development for his first light squared Bishop. Just natural moves led to a winning position.

Neal: 13:15

You know what, and that happens so often sorry to jump in Dan, at this level not all the time but where your opponent just sort of self-destructs like they lose the game for themselves and, like you said, you just sort of play regular chest, quote-unquote, and you know they just sort of hang themselves and then you very easily just March on to victory. Like that type of thing happens a lot. So Sounds like you haven't agreed to orney so far. Right, that's like what? Three very good games.

Dan: 13:47

Yes, two wins with white and Draw with black against what turned out to be a higher rated opponent, although at the time I thought it was a lower rated opponent. And so after round four I have three out of four. And it turned out that I got paired on the on the on the top board because One person had four out of four and no one had three and a half in this section, and I guess I drew the short stick because I got paired against that, the hot hand, and I have black.

Neal: 14:18

And what was his or her rating?

Dan: 14:21

His rating was about 1770, of course going off because he was four and, oh no, going into the into the game, so gonna be 1800 is a teenager Late teenager I, I would say was 17 or 18 years old his look. I can't be 100% sure. That's my guess. The person on the board next to me had played him in the previous round and talked to him a bit, and so I learned a few things about him that he plays very fast, so I'd be prepared for that. I won't. What I wasn't prepared for is the manner in which he played fast after I made my move. He would make his response before writing down my move, which is not what I'm used to seeing and a classical time control game I'm used to seeing. I make my move, my opponent records my move and then thinks about it and makes a reply, even if he knows exactly what he's gonna do. I Usually it's like Expect the opponent to write the move down, write my move down before making his move and was he making his move Like immediately after yours? Yes, not always, but if he was prepared to, he did see.

Neal: 15:31

now I'm wondering is that just his style, because he plays a lot of speed chess, or is that some kind of technique to Annoy you, because some players do that? I'm not saying that this young man did that, but some players do that. It's kind of a sort of a what's the I'm blanking on the word for it but it's sort of like this rapid-fire method of playing where they just try to annoy you by Playing so fast, as if you're saying you know you're not challenging me and you're thinking like how is it possible that he's Making these fans I mean, what was your read on that? Do you think that was his style? Do you think he was trying to get into your head?

Dan: 16:06

I think it was his style, or or perhaps he wants to get into everybody's head and that's his, and it's his style because it has an Unnerving effect on his opponents.

Neal: 16:17

Yeah, and he's 4-0.

Dan: 16:18

So it's got to be working, I would imagine it worked for me, it worked against me as they. I made some. I made some errors that I might not Ordinarily made, but before I made some the major errors he offered a draw in a fairly early position. I'm still in the opening and I felt somewhat honor bound to refuse.

Neal: 16:38

Why do you think he offered the draw and he guesses?

Dan: 16:42

he offered the draw because he was a point ahead of the field. He had four closest competition at three. If he gets the four and a half, he wins.

Neal: 16:52

Okay, so he's trying to Sort of not game the system, but he's he's thinking about yeah, he's thinking of the big picture, not this particular game.

Dan: 16:59

Okay and that's that's why I thought I had to refuse to draw. On the personal level, I Need to win to to tie for the top. If I was somebody else on Three points, I wouldn't want the person who has four points to get a draw without a fight. No, I respect that. Yeah, I thought I should protect the field. The opening was odd it was D4, d5 and then knight C3. I'm thinking maybe Jabal the lovin is coming, but after I played Knight f6, his third move was not Bishop f4, was f3. I had not seen that before. I'm on move 3 and I got a new position. I played e6. He followed up consistently with e4 and I played Bishop b4, pinning, pinning the C3 Knight that's got upon on f3. He developed his his king side knight to h3 and I missed a Tactical or strategic combination where I could have won a pawn but I got fixated On a different plan. It's like if I get this tunnel vision sometimes where I'm thinking, I think about what I want to achieve Rather than looking for the opportunities that the position is giving.

Neal: 18:16

Sometimes you're so concerned about winning a pawn but, you know, is it worth it? Like you'll win a pawn. But then it's this very odd position, I and it's like, oh great, I won a pawn, but at what cost? And if the cost is that you now have a position that's very unfamiliar, so it might have been a better choice strategically to go into the plan that you saw and that you're comfortable with, rather than go into a plan you're not sure about to win a pawn. I don't know, maybe not all the time, but sometimes these are things. You have to weigh the pros and cons of.

Dan: 18:53

It would have been great if I had weighed the pros and cons of it, but I wasn't aware of the opportunity. I didn't consider all the candidate moves, I just went for the plan that I had formulated two moves previously, which squandered an opportunity, and eventually I lost the game. I got overrun on the king side by major pieces and had a resign on move 32. It happens. So still a decent tournament plus one. No prize money. If I had accepted the draw, I would have gotten some small amount of money back.

Neal: 19:34

All right, so you played four games total, is that right?

Dan: 19:38

I played four. It was a five game tournament. I took a round one by. The schedule was one round Friday night, two rounds, two games Saturday and Sunday. They offered a two day schedule where you play two games at a faster time control and then merge for the round three at the normal longer time control. But I didn't want to play three games in one day. I thought it better to just take the half point by and play the two games a day on Saturday and Sunday.

Neal: 20:08

Anyway, just listening to it, other than that last game, I mean pretty nice outing for you, yeah.

Dan: 20:15

I was certainly pleased with the overall trajectory of that tournament.

Neal: 20:20

So now we're going to move on to Vegas, right.

Dan: 20:23

Yes.

Neal: 20:24

Okay. So I know they say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but we're going to break that rule a little bit because we're going to learn about your games.

Dan: 20:34

For the national open. The time control for national open was game 90 with a 30 second increment.

Neal: 20:44

Okay. Now when they use an increment. An increment is it as in your gaining time on the clock, like when you play online? Yes, Just for our listeners who may not be familiar, a standard delay is just kind of a countdown, but with the increment you actually get that time back that you're not using.

Dan: 21:03

So you start your game with 90 minutes and after the first five moves in the opening you may have 92 minutes. So first round I was paired with a young woman at, say, maybe 16 years old, rated about 1550.

Neal: 21:24

Okay, and just to remind everybody, you're now playing in the under 1900 section, correct?

Dan: 21:31

Correct, which means that my entering rating was above the midpoint because I got paired down in round one, so a lot of people play up.

Neal: 21:46

Well, yeah, for you know what it's funny. Let's talk about playing up for a major event like that. I'm not really a weekend guy, but if I did, I would actually play up because presumably every game you're going to have a decent pairing. So if you lose, let's say round one, instead of like, oh, I'm now going to be paired down because you're playing up, you'll still get a decent pairing, presumably for round two, and all your games will be in structural. I mean, there's playing up and there's playing up. I wouldn't. You know, if you're a 1600 player, I wouldn't play in the open section. But you know, if you're a 1600 player and you're playing in, let's say, the under 19 or under 2000,. You know that might be something to consider.

Dan: 22:31

I had black in the first game and she opened D4. I played D5. She played C4. I played E6. Knight C3, knight F6 and knight F3. So fairly standard Queens gambit position. Knight F3 is rather flexible. You know, bishop G5 was an option. I kind of wanted to see bishop G5, so I anticipated and played bishop E7 and was somewhat surprised to have E3 as the response. I thought a fairly passive way for white to play. I castle, she played bishop D3 and I played at that point took the pawn on C4. If the bishop's going to recapture it, the bishop's already moved and after the bishop recaptured I broke in the center with C5. We got a game game on. I don't want to get too much more detail about just the exact moves. I'm going to kind of describe a bit of what happened. I got a chance to expand on the queen side using some tactics, not winning any material, but I got in B5 and C4 pawn pushes and with the C4 pawn push in the square, d3 became available as a target outpost for a knight, which I got there. I got a knight on D3 supported by C4, putting a nice cramp on her position. I thought I had a fairly serious advantage, but I was taking time. I got myself into some time not exactly time trouble, but I was aware of the clock. I was trying to speed up, avoid getting into real time trouble, but the negatives of being in time trouble I was experiencing anyway, not thinking deeply, and I let the advantage slip and, in a position that was getting more equalish, with their getting some counterplay, I made a blunder that I make with alarming frequency I interfered with my own defense. I retreated a piece that cut off a very important line of protection in my camp. Basically, I moved a knight backwards that interfered with I think it was my queen's defense of a forking square. It might have been a bishop's defense of a forking square. The outcome of the game is I allowed a fork on a square that would have been defended before I made my final move. I'm turning a position, a game that I think I was at some point, if not winning something like 1.5 ahead by stockfish analysis, into a clear loss, which I found very upsetting, not the way I wanted to start a major event that I had been looking forward to for a very long time.

Neal: 25:48

Yeah, I mean we've all been there. I mean I'm sure everybody listening to this is like, yep, I've done that more times than I want to remember. So when you made that blunder, when you retreated that night, you had, I mean, am I correct that? You had, I guess, a positional or a strategic idea in mind and you just lost sight of the tactical drawbacks of it.

Dan: 26:10

Well, at that point I was defending against an initiative and I needed to make a concession. The knight retreat that I made was an attempt to hold everything without making a concession, but the tactics of the position required a concession. There was a different retreating move that did hold everything together. The knight move that I made was intending a reroute that would have tried to arrest the initiative back. I was trying to do more than the position really allowed.

Neal: 26:50

Yeah, Now was it the kind of thing. Did you see the fork before she played it? Did you move it in like 10 seconds later? Uh-oh, Did you not see it until she played it.

Dan: 27:01

It was the former. I knew it was coming.

Neal: 27:05

So I'm just saying it's like, because I go through that too, it's the worst. You make the move and you're like, oh, and then you start and this is like the worst place to be. Oh, maybe they won't see it. And as soon as you're thinking, maybe they won't see it, you're in trouble. It happens, it happens. I did something similar a week or two ago, where I was thinking because this is one of my biggest mistakes is I'll be focused on something so, positionally, I don't check the tactics enough, or I do it superficially, or I get lazy or I'm tired, and it's kind of what you went through and the response, like the fact that it's a mistake, like the winning move to take advantage of the mistake it's really not that hard to see.

Dan: 27:51

Yeah, that's the life of the amateur chess player.

Neal: 27:55

Several players go through this on a different level, but even title players will express something similar, but that's how it goes, but anyway.

Dan: 28:05

So I got over my being upset about that game, got a decent night's sleep, got a good breakfast and was ready for round two where I had the white pieces. I was paired with a player rated in the 1600s, a young man, probably late teens, 16, 17. So I have white. I play my usual d4. It's got a d4, e6, c4, d5, knight c3, knight of six and I played the exchange variation of the Queen's Gambit, which is what I've been playing recently. I'm going to stick with it for a while. It's another way to get the Carl's Bad pawn structure. You get the Carl's Bad pawn structure and then Queen's Gambit declined exchange variation when Black plays pawn to c6. My opponent played knight c6, which I don't think is a good move in the Queen's Gambit exchange, and he followed it up immediately with knight to b4, hitting my queen on c2, which then moved the bitch to b3. And then he played bishop f5, which targets the C2 square, threatens a fork which I have to defend with Rc1, and he shocked me by coming into C2. Anyway, I've got C2 defended by the Queen in the Rook he's. He puts Bishop on the square. I take twice on C2 and I've got two pieces for a Rook. That's advantageous Absolutely. I'm happy. But I'm surprised I I built a fairly clear winning advantage from From that head start that he gave me. There was a point in the game where he attacked a minor piece and I saw that that if I that I don't have to retreat it I could, I could do a counter attack and get some simplification, which I went for. But there was a point of the game where I I lost that mindset of Looking for the attack. I Don't remember what the material balance was exactly at that point, but he was attacking on the King side and I was looking for defense. I found an offense and the Queen trade but it had to give away a pawn. You know, material balance at that point was I had a, I had parlayed the two pieces for a Rook into a Piece for a pawn. But I was facing that, that King side attack and Found a defense where I get to get the Queens off at the cost of a pawn. So being up a piece for two pawns and Rook knight and four pawns versus Rook and six pawns, which was not that simple. If I had looked for counter attack rather than defense, stackfish tells me I had an attacking move that was gonna put me up plus six, so I made it much harder on myself and then that was that was required. But I did find a way to win the Rook knight and four pawns versus Rook and six pawns in game.

Neal: 31:28

So Back to. Even so, that's two games so far for the national open.

Dan: 31:35

So game three is later. That same day I Paired with another player who was lower rated than me and then the I didn't write down the rating that are. I think it was a, it was in the 1500s and I had black. After e4, I played the carot con and my opponent play the so-called fantasy variation 3f3. I play e6 against that kind of a French structure make, make the, make the triangle Kind of it, kind of inviting e5, but he didn't play e5 played Bishop d3. Eventually In the opening I got an opportunity to Win a pawn, but the pawn was the B pawn and the piece that that captures it was like Queen. It's a well-known fact that taking the, the, the B pawn, with the Queen, is dangerous and and I did have to suffer an initiative you grab in hot pawns. Now, dan Yep, I grabbed the hot pawn and the course of the game was the, the attempts to consolidate, which I pretty much did, beating back the, the attack, but I I did kind of falter a little bit at the end. I I missed the fact that my opponent could play his knight from g6 To h8 and give a check. I overall I literally overlook that move and not consider that that candidate move, which is a Cardinal sin you should always look at every check and the results of that knight h8 check move was a perpetual. Had I seen the possibility of the knight h8 check I could have played a different move before that. That would have Given me other options and then taking the perpetual in a position where I was a pawn up and and surviving against the attack. So it was a probably a half point mistake not not seeing that the knight h8 check was gun was was Gonna force the perpetual. So a draw in game in round three, a fighting draw.

Neal: 33:53

Not not too bad. Could have been worse.

Dan: 33:55

So I was feeling, I was feeling okay, even score, and I get white for First game of the next day from round four, playing against a man who looked like he was probably in his late 20s. So a kid Kids, you and me, but but not, not, not a, not a real kid. Yeah, and I got to. I got to play the trump house key for the first time in Las Vegas. My opponent responded with night e4. I had been playing the Raptor variation but I didn't like for this tournament. I decided that the that there was too much, too much to memorize and learn In the Raptor. So I played the more calm retreat of Bishop to f4 and again I got a fairly shocking reply from my opponent. He went back to night f6. So let me give you the first three moves d4 night of six, bishop g5. Night e4 Chits my bishop Bishop f4. Night back to f6. That's a pretty serious loss of tempo.

Neal: 35:04

But I mean, it's probably not gonna hurt him that much.

Dan: 35:08

I think you're right.

Neal: 35:08

I didn't really hurt him that much because I mean it's not, it's not like a double question mark.

Dan: 35:14

No, it's, it's it's question mark exclam I think dubious, I think it is bad, it's just not terrible.

Neal: 35:20

Yeah, that's what I mean. It's not like, it's not like awful, but it's. It's not great either, but it's not. He's not losing the game or anything.

Dan: 35:28

No, not losing the game. So I went c4, he went d5, e3, bishop f5, knight c3, c6 and the position now looks like a slob. In a certain sense it looks a little bit like a. It could also look like a reverse London. I was fairly familiar with that structure and some of the possible plans. I played Queen B3, just the B pawn and puts pressure on D5. He played Queen B6, the queens were looking at each other. I pushed forward C5, trades queens on B3, queen B3, ab3. So I've got a double pawn, but I got an open A file.

Neal: 36:12

I was going to say it sounds like a London type of sequence, but you got the better end of it because you're better off with those double pawns and the open A file, and then you could push your B pawn.

Dan: 36:26

I think I played some inaccuracies and I think he equalized the position with some counterplay in the center. But he made a mistake by breaking the tension in the center by pushing forward. He had played E5, creating pawn tension. But he broke the tension by playing E4. And once he broke that tension, my queen side initiative or my queen side space advantage became the factor in the position. He kind of killed his own counterplay by locking the center. I was able to create a pass pawn on the queen side and advance it and trade off rooks on the A file and he couldn't handle the pass pawn. So it was another fairly easy win because my opponent made it easier for me than he really had to.

Neal: 37:23

Yeah, and mishandling the pawn tension in the center, those sort of overextending or knowing when to push, knowing when to take, that's very common. A lot of times that happens, I think, if players don't have an idea or if they just don't analyze well enough. But all it takes is one inaccurate pawn move like that and the game completely turns.

Dan: 37:45

Yeah, he did make a blunder later, a tactical blunder, where he lost a pawn by capturing with the wrong piece. But his game was already under pressure at that point. But that made it easier. When you're a pawn up and have a pass pawn, it's pretty easy. So that's four games.

Neal: 38:11

Now, how many games did you play in Vegas? Total Seven, seven. Okay, you know what? I think we may be able to get through the whole thing because we're four. So this is now going to be game five. So lay it on me, game five.

Dan: 38:25

Another man who's closer to my age than a teenager I think he was probably in his 40s and his rating was good. He was rated in the upper 1800s. I had black and got exactly the same opening as game one. Which surprised me, that five E3 move in the Queen's Gambit, or White's first move in the game. That five E3 move in the Queen's Gambit or White's first five moves are D4, c4, knight, c3, knight, f3, then E3, locking in the bishop. So not only do I think it's not the most challenging opening to face, I was prepared for it because I went over my game from game one. I knew what to do and I got a very good game, but not a very dynamic game. I'll cut to the chase. I felt like I had the initiative throughout the game, but pieces were coming off and I offered a draw in the position at move 30, where I thought I had let an advantage slip to complete equality, and he accepted it, and that was the third day.

Neal: 39:37

All right, so that's six games.

Dan: 39:39

And we've got two wins one loss, two draw.

Neal: 39:44

I'm sorry, that was game five. I'm ahead one, so now we're going to talk about game six.

Dan: 39:49

Yep Game six the following day. I've got White against the player rated about 1850. Another maybe 30-something man, definitely mature looks like an experienced player. I played D4. He plays F5. And so I got a choice on move two. Sometimes I've played the Staunton Gambit against the Dutch. I didn't want to play the Staunton Gambit against the Class A player and the National Open though, so I played G3 and he went for the Leningrad variation 9F6 and G6 and Fion Kedowing, the Bishop. It's kind of like a King's Indian with F5 already in. What I remembered about the Leningrad Dutch is that White can play D5 so that if Black ever plays E5, white can capture Ampe-Saint and not have a E5, f5, ponduot staring at you. But I think I played D5 too early. I played on a move seven and he did the maneuver Knight A6 to C5, which was a good square for the Knight. After I've got very pushed D5. So I think I got into some trouble. In the opening. I was on the back foot, I was defending, but just not what you want to be doing with White. I need to sharpen up what I'm going to do against the Leningrad Dutch. A little too vague on my preparation there. I put up a decent defense though, and got to an end game position where he had penetrated with his rook to the seventh rank second rank in algebraic notation when he's Black and White and I found a resource. He had put his Knight on the rim I think it was on H5, defended by a G4 pawn. I got in an F5 push which potentially destabilized the Knight, and if he doesn't capture, I can get a protected pass pawn by pushing F6, which is what happened. In the meantime, he's winning a pawn on my Queen side with his roving rook, making a very, very tense position where I've got a protected pass pawn on the King side but he's got an extra pawn on the Queen side. Turned out when I went over the game with the computer with Stockfish F5 was the right move, but F6 was the wrong idea. Instead of pushing F6 and making the protected pass pawn, I should have captured G6 to open another file, and then I would be able to get my rook to his seventh rank, creating a more dynamic balance. After the game it occurred to me that when I had played F5, that would have been an ideal time for me to offer a draw. We were both in time pressure. We're both down to about five minutes. The position had just become much more complicated than it had been before I pushed F5. It was a three result position, I think. If I had offered a draw, I think he would have accepted it. Those messy positions in end games and time pressure. Even if he wasn't accepted it immediately, I would have given him something more to think about with his clock ticking. I'm kicking myself for not offering the draw, but it didn't occur to me to offer a draw. I was very much in the moment and I thought that I might have something with that protected pass pawn, but I didn't. I was not able to make anything of that protected pass pawn. I couldn't advance it. He was able to blockade it and he had an extra pawn on the queen side and so he won. It was a four-hour game.

Neal: 43:33

That's tough. That's a tough loss. Even if you had offered the draw, you still don't know that he would have taken it. But, like you said, when it's a complicated position and you're both in time pressure, that is like primo time to offer if you want to shake hands and get half the point. You don't know what he would have done, but should have, would have, could have those types of rook pawn, end game counterplay. They're tricky.

Dan: 44:00

Since it was a four-hour game I had an hour and a half before the last round. I get some food. I was a little bit vulnerable, I think. For the final round I got paired with another young girl rating them 1500s this time a really young girl, small child, I think eight years old. I didn't ask, I'm just guessing by the size of the child. I was black. She played e4. I played the caro con, I got an exchange variation and she played an early h3. When white plays an early h3 in the exchange variation, that makes it somewhat tricky for black to develop the light-squared bishop. White already has a bishop on d3, so f5 is not available and h3 takes away the g4 square. But I was somewhat prepared for that. The line is to play g6, not with the idea of fiancadowing the dark-squared bishop but with the idea of protecting the f5 square for the light-squared bishop. That's how the game went. I played g6 and bishop f5, and she did not take it. She'd take the bishop f5, take back with the g pawn, Got double pawns on the king side but she got a very nice well-protected square for an e4 for the f6 knight to jump to. I probably should have traded the bishop, but I didn't want to give her the free queen development. I played queen b6. My idea on playing queen b6 was that if she takes the bishop on the next move, I could grab the pawn on b2. She hasn't moved the b1 knight, so the a1 rook hangs. My thinking was she would then move the knight and then I would take recapture the bishop. But she didn't move the knight. She retreated the bishop, letting me take the rook on a1. And then she played queen b3. And now my queen has a hard time getting back into the game. So I'm up an exchange upon an exchange, but my queen is kind of trapped. After I went into that line it occurred to me that this was not the line to go into against an eight-year-old girl Rated 1500. Eight-year-old girls rated 1500 are probably tactically very sharp and I should not have sharpened the position. I really should have exchanged the those light-squared bishops, even though it gave her an extra development move and played a Normal strategic position.

Neal: 46:32

Yeah, that's what I try to do against kids, you know, anyone basically like under the age of 15. I try to keep it as boring and as simplistic and as strategic as possible Because, like you said, if you go into, like messy tactics and puzzle rush type of position or anything, those wild open tactical positions that's, you know they excel at that, whereas if they really have to think, and it's more dry and boring, they sometimes go wrong.

Dan: 46:57

My queen spent the rest of that game sitting sitting on a one, while my queen was sitting on a one. I was being attacked, had a give back the exchange and give back the pawn, you know. So that's equal material, except my queen is still sitting on a one, and with my queen sitting on a one and her queen in the attack, I got made it. So I lost both my games on the last day. That's a national all right. What are you gonna do? I'm gonna do is I'm gonna stop taking the B-point with my queen in the carot con leave that for Yasa, sir One yeah, I do want to say, if you, something about the atmosphere at the National Open. It is an electric atmosphere. It's it's Chest player heaven. When I, when I got there the first day to try to check out the the, the layout walked into so we're tongue the area where there was two simultaneous exhibitions going on. Then find gold and Eric Rosen were both giving a simultaneous exhibition in the same area, so it was a simultaneous simul. Do you? Well, that sort of set, the set, the, the flavor for what's what's what's gonna, what was gonna gonna happen. The rest of the weekend, the Chess is in the air. There's a great bookstore on site. I bought a pair of chess socks green socks, chess pieces on them. I'll wear them to the club one of these days. I'm sure I also bought a buck on the carot con. Need to sharpen up some of my lines there. If anyone has the wherewithal and I know most people probably don't take me in the trip to Las Vegas for the National Open in June. It's something that Will leave good memories, even if you don't have a great result, like I did now this year.

Neal: 48:44

I have to do it one time. I'm definitely gonna do it at some point. I went to Vegas once many years goes not to play chess, and great time, great town. So I guess this year I had to live vicariously.

Dan: 48:55

Through you, dan, I'll get there at some point one last little anecdote after I lost my game to the eight-year-old girl fairly quickly, I Went over to watch the top boards and the top board was Hans Nieman. Actually was board board 2, but board 1 had to reach, finished to the quick draw in the last round.

: 49:18

So I made.

Dan: 49:19

I made contact, eye contact with with Hans Nieman while he was Playing his last round game. I was trying to give him good vibes. I'm a Hans Nieman. I'm a Hans Nieman supporter.

Neal: 49:29

Yeah, that must have been cool. It was probably a big crowd around it. I'm assuming, right well they had.

Dan: 49:33

They had a. The top boards were were kind of on a stage set off. They're roped off and it was a demonstration board and chairs were set out so that people could could sit down and look at the demonstration board, try to analyze the position, relax a little bit. Yeah, I'm probably doing it again next year, although because of my bowling tournament that I do at the same time, I may be forced to play one of the accelerated schedules.

Neal: 50:03

So you're gonna play an accelerated schedule so that you can go bowling.

Dan: 50:06

Yes, the bowling tournament is also the big event in Las Vegas.

Neal: 50:12

That's cool. You're a man of many talents.

Dan: 50:14

Yeah, or an ill spent youth.

Neal: 50:16

No, no, it's good.

Dan: 50:17

Listen, you know you got to stay active, you got to do things if all the time I put into bowling I had put into chess, I would probably be a national master.

Neal: 50:25

I didn't know that about you. That's very cool. So if you go next year we'll definitely have you back on, you know, to go over your games again, if that's cool, sure.

Dan: 50:34

And no problem, I'm sharing honestly both the ups and the downs.

Neal: 50:39

Yeah, no, and I like these kind of episodes as we're actually talking about the games themselves and, like just you know, practical Things that happen in the whole tournament scene. So, dan, really appreciate you coming on. Great episode. Really enjoyed listening to your story about your games. I'll see you with the club. For those of you at home, as always, we appreciate you listening and I hope you win your next game. Have a great day you.