{"id":7745,"date":"2018-05-26T19:50:43","date_gmt":"2018-05-26T17:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mvlchess.com\/?p=7745"},"modified":"2018-08-30T23:47:59","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T21:47:59","slug":"baden-baden-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mvlchess.com\/en\/2018\/05\/26\/baden-baden-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Baden-Baden\u00a0again!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bundesliga regular season had ended on May 1st with a tie between my team of Baden-Baden and Solingen. The rules required a playoff to be played as soon as possible. Despite the normal difficulties to organize such an encounter where numerous world-class players are involved, the date of Thursday, May 24 prevailed; in particular, it had the advantage of being located just before the Norway Chess super tournament in Stavanger, where a few protagonists of the Germanic duel were expected to land next Saturday.
\nThanks to our lead in the game points tiebreaker, we were welcoming the playoff in Baden-Baden, and it took place at 3pm inside the town large cultural complex. Placed on board 2 behind Caruana, who by the way made his season\u2019s first appearance, I thought I would play against Rapport with white, as Harikrishna, my opponent in the regular season\u2019s match, was in China. But finally, it\u2019s the Austrian Markus Ragger who sat in front of me, and who chose to play the same Berlin line that Howell already tried against me on the previous weekend. <\/p>\n

\"On
On my way to a Berlin against the Austrian Markus Ragger (photo: schachbundesliga.de).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was the first to deviate, opting for the 12.b3 variation, against which he reacted a bit weirdly with 12\u2026f6. Black instantly admits that he\u2019s going to play with a bad structure and open lines, although it is true that he keeps the Bishop pair, with a still solid position. Certainly, I allowed him to repair his damaged structure and to switch to \u00ab\u00a0opposite coloured Bishops mode\u00a0\u00bb, after the exchange 22.Nxd6+. But I believe he underestimated the blocus of his pawns on dark squares after 26\u2026Nxe5 27.Nxe5 fxe5 28.c3!, leaving me with a potential lever on each side.<\/p>\n

\"After
After 28.c3!, three white pawns control four.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before the time control, Ragger took the radical decision of sacrificing a pawn with 32\u2026c5!?. I understand his will not to be limited to a passive defense, which would have been difficult and tedious, and his practical choice is not foolish. But I believe in either case, White would have kept very good winning chances anyway. I cannot say if my play was optimal before move 40, but it is certain that the transposition into a pure opposite couloured Bishops endgame looked winning to me
\nUnfortunately, I took a wrong decision, thinking I was going to win after 49.Kf4? Bxh5 50.Kxe4, which was not to be. Instead, I should have kept my h pawn and played 49.Kh4! which actually wins.<\/p>\n

\"A
A crucial\u00a0moment: 49.Kh4! wins, but not 49.Kf4?.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After 49.Kh4! Kg7 (49\u2026Kf6 50.Be3 Kxf5 51.Bxh6 ou 50\u2026Kg7 51.f6+ is also hopeless, Black will not cope with both the c and h pawns at the same time) 50.Be3 Bc4 51.f6+ Kh7 (51\u2026Kxf6 52.Bxh6 and again, the two passers make all the difference) 52.Kg4 Bf7 53.Kf5 Bxh5 54.c4!, the strenght of white pawns prevails.
\nIn the game, I had to keep my pawn on c3 as if I rushed to push it to c5, Black\u2019s King would have blocked it on c6. Thus, even after taking his last pawn on h6, the position wasn\u2019t winning anymore, despite my two c and f pawns remaining. Indeed, the Black Bishop stays on the a2-g8 diagonal, and the Black King navigates between e8 and b5, preventing any advance of the c pawn, while keeping an eye on the f pawn. <\/p>\n

\"With
With Etienne Bacrot, two frenchies in the world\u2019s strongest chess team\u2026 (Video: Baden-Baden).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is always frustrating not to convert a winning endgame, but the important thing was that my modest half-point could contribute to the win of the match.
\nAnd so it was, as we won 2-1, although the final score doesn\u2019t reflect the overall match. We had better positions on most boards, and we lost the only one where we were slightly in danger (Giri beat Caruana).
\nWith this victory, Baden-Baden is again German Team champion in 2018, for the twelfth time in thirteen years, matching the absolute record held by\u2026 Solingen.
\nThat looks like a ready-made challenge for the next season\u00a0!<\/p>\n

[otw_shortcode_quote border=”bordered” border_style=”bordered” background_pattern=”otw-pattern-1″]Twitter<\/b>