GM Turnier Bremen: Runde 4
A little endgame study
Do you know the situation when your opponent is very well prepared and you have no idea of the variation? It´s terrible! It is even worse when this situation occurs after 7 moves like in my game against IM Sven Joachim. The feelings I had alternated between self-blame (“Why the hell do I not know this variation?”), despair (“Damn it, I simply don´t know what to play”) and some kind of defiance (“Ok, let´s do the best out of it”).
After 20 moves, I had to fight for draw in a slightly worse endgame… not a good result for white. In addition to my disadvantageous position, I had not so much time left. Nevertheless, I was quite confident. In general, I tend to overestimate my position and I often play for win although my position is anything but good. This is why I refused his offer of a draw one move before time control. Afterwards, I regretted my decision because I realized that the resulting knight-endgame was rather difficult to play for me. But later on, I was glad about continuing the game. Otherwise we wouldn’t have had such a nice ending which reminded me of some endgame studies. Judge yourself:
Ohme - Joachim
Position after 46...Kd5 47. Kf3 Kxc5 48. Kxf4 Nc4 49. h4 Kd5 50. h5 e5+ 51. Kf5
51...Nd6+ 52. Kf6 Ne4+ 53. Kf7 53....Nd6+ 54. Kf6 Ne4+ 55. Kf7 Ng5+ 56. Kg6
56...Ne6 57. h6 e4 58. Kf6 58....Nf8 59. Kg7
59...Ne6+ 60. Kf6 Nf8 61. Kg7 Ne6+ 0,5-0,5
I think my boyfriend couldn´t appreciate the final movements that much. He arrived just before time control and, understandingly, couldn´t make out why I didn´t accept the offer. So he had to wait for another two hours until I finally finished. Sometimes, my fighting spirit combined with a good deal of optimism can be really annoying… However, he knows me long enough and I highly appreciate he never complaines about my eternal lasting games :-)