0169 CARO-KANN
Wendy's XXIII, Rd:3, 3-14-01, Charlotte, NC
Alphonse Ashamalla (1302) Frank Johnson (1300)

This game should be titled "I'd rather be lucky than good any day!" I'm
sure after Alphonse must of felt very disappointed and frustrated not to
come away with this win. First, a little history for those that are
interested in such things: Alphonse and I are good friends. We have
been since 1996 when I first started coming to the CCC. I have always
enjoyed our games, and he brings out some of my best and very worst
chess. There's just something about the way he plays with those
bishops!! He kills me with the Guioco Piano, with all the pressure he
brings to bear on f7. I have beaten it a few times, but I always "feel"
like I'm losing. So now that a few years passed without me coming,
Alphonse and I have once again renewed the friendship we once had, and
the competition. Over my off-time, I have tried adding 1...d5 to my
repertoire, just for Alphonse! And I fully expected to play the counter
game against him on this occasion. But, for some unexplained reason, I
settled on 1...c6. This was my first ever tournament game using the
Caro-Kann. (Maybe I took him by surprise, and I certainly wasn't
expecting 3 Bd3?) Here it is, my lucky day.  1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Bd3 (very unusual, but that seems to always be expected with my opponent. He once played 1 e4 d5 2 Bd3??) 3...dxe4 4 Bxe4 Nf6 5 Bf3 e6 6 Be3 Bd6 7 Nc3 0-0 8 Nge2 Nbd7 9 Qd3 Qc7 10 0-0-0 Nd5 11 Be4 N7f6 12 g4 (where did that come from? The surprise can really be seen by my response:) 12...Nxe4 (I missed a tactical surprise here, namely: 12...Nb4!) 13 Qxe4 Nxe3 (it seems a little silly now, but I just wanted
to play my two bishops vs. his two knights) 14 fxe3 f5 15 Qg2 b5 16
Nxb5?!? (mmm, can he get away with this??) 16...cxb5 17 Qxa8 Bb7 18 Qxa7
Ra8 19 Qxa8+ Bxa8 20 Rhf1 Be4?? (I had so much better, and I really
needed to look closer at my pawn structure, or lack thereof, to really
see that even though in a very technical sense we are even in material,
my pawns need help. 20...fxg4 is very necessary!) 21 Nc3 Bxh2?? (two
very bad moves in a row, and now I should be punished badly) 22 Rd2
(possibly Nxe4 would have been better) 22...Bc6 (because I was eyeing
how badly Nxe4 would hurt me) 23 gxf5! exf5 24 Rxf5 g6?? (this was
probably my worst blunder yet. I immediately saw the response 25 Rc5!)
25 Nxb5? (Alphonse had touched my b5 pawn to remove it, then placed it
back, I knew he had to take with the Rook or the Knight, but I think in
retrospect he might have seen Rc5 a little late) 25...Qd7? (I missed a
good chance to really take control of the game with 25...Qg3! I saw the
move, but with my limited amount of vision, I couldn't see it clearly
enough to pull the trigger. However, my Chessmaster 8000 showed me a
clear victory with this move. But then again, I'm rated 1300 for a
reason) 26 Rc5 Bxb5 27 Rxh2 Qe6?? (I thought I had a perpetual check
coming, but I missed the coming response, mostly because of time
control) 28 Rxb5 Qxe3+ 29 Rd2 Qe1+ 30 Rd1 Qe3+ (time control was over, I
had 40 minutes to finish the game, and I offered Alphonse the
draw....silly me! A definite No! was the answer, and rightly so.) 31 Kb1
Qe2 32 Rb8+ Kg7 33Rb7+ Kf8 34 Rh1 h5 35 a4 (according to CM8000 35Rh7 is winning) 35...Qe4 (Qg2!! I missed again) 36 Rb8+ Kg7 37 Rd1 Qg4 38 Rd3
h4 (my last hope) 39 Rbb3 g5 40 c4 Qe4 41 Ka2 g4 42 a5 h3! (I'm fighting
hard now, but what if 43 Rxh3 gxh3 44 Rxh3 Qxd4 45 b3 can I still win
with the lone Queen??) 43 a6 h2! 44 Rb7+ Kg6 45 Rd1 h1=3DQ 46 Rxh1 Qxh1
47 d5 Qh8 48 a7 Qa8! 49 Re7 Kf6 50 d6?? (CM8000 says Re6+ is winning)
50...g3! 51 Rc7?? (Re2 according to CM8000) 51...g2 52 d7 g1=3DQ 53 Rc6+
Ke7 54 Ra6 Kxd7 55 Kb3 Qb7+ (and Black has a forced mate in four) 0-1 (Notes by Johnson)