I NEVER Lose in the Caro-Kann Tartakower

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[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2023.05.26"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Zhang, Cijun"]
[Black "Jensen, Matt"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15"]
[Annotator "mjens"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2023.??.??"]
[SourceVersionDate "2023.05.26"]
{Last round of the tournament. A win would be a really nice finish with 4 draws and 3 wins. That would allow me to break-even rating wise since most opponents were in the 2000-2099 range.} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 {The Caro-Kann Tartakower Accepted. I have had great results with this opening OTB and was excited to play it.} 6. Bc4 {A rare move, but not a bad one.} Bd6 7. Ne2 {Another rare move. I was expecting Qe2+.} O-O {I continue with normal development.} 8. O-O {Now normally here I play Re8, Nd7, Nf8 and so on. For some reason I was afraid of his attack on the f7 pawn?! I don't have any good explanation for this except maybe fatigue after six rounds of chess.} Qc7 (8... Re8 {Is completely fine.} 9. Ng3 Be6 10. Bxe6 Rxe6 (10... fxe6 11. Re1 Nd7 12. Ne4 Nf8)) 9. Ng3 Re8 10. b3 Nd7 11. Re1 Rxe1+ 12. Qxe1 Nf8 13. Qe8 {I had this cute move prepared, Rb8.} Rb8 {Threatening Be6.} 14. Qe4 Bd7 {This position is equal.} 15. Be3 Re8 16. Qf3 Ng6 17. Nh5 {Now this move really threw me off. And it's a blunder! I spent 15 minutes looking at all of the options. For some reason I didn't think Bxh2+ worked.} Be6 (17... Bxh2+ 18. Kh1 Bd6 19. Bh6 {Both Bf8 and Qa5 followed by Bf8 here are close to winning.}) 18. Bxe6 Rxe6 {In hindsight I should have taken with the f-pawn.} 19. g3 Qa5 20. c4 Ne7 {My opponent begins grinding me down to convert the extra queenside pawn advantage.} (20... h6 21. Qe2 Ne7 22. Nf4) 21. Nf4 Bxf4 22. Qxf4 g5 {I liked this move a lot! Allowing the capture on b7!} 23. Qf3 (23. Qb8+ Kg7 24. Qxb7 Nf5 {I felt my position was better here and the engine confirms!}) 23... Rd6 24. Qe4 Qd8 25. Re1 Re6 26. Qd3 f5 $6 {We were both down to about 15 minutes to make 14 moves. The better plan is to play h5 and Kg7. Leave the pawn on f6.} (26... h5 27. Bd2 Qd7 {Rxe6 can be met with fxe6. The bishop on d2 is not a great piece and the position is balanced.} 28. Bc3 Rxe1+ 29. Bxe1 Kg7 30. Bb4 Ng6 31. d5 cxd5 32. cxd5 Ne5 {This is the sort of dynamic position you want with the Tartakower. Lots of play for Black here to counter the passed pawn.} 33. Qe4 Qc8 34. d6 Qc1+ 35. Kg2 g4 {Threatening Nf3 and Qg1 mate!}) 27. Rd1 Rg6 {Now I'm in some trouble. My kingside pawns are weak and the d-pawn for White is rolling down the board.} 28. d5 cxd5 29. Bc5 $1 {Super crisp move.} f4 $2 (29... b6 30. Bxe7 Qxe7 31. cxd5 Qd7 {This was my best chance which is a horrible position to have to play.}) 30. cxd5 fxg3 31. hxg3 Nc8 32. d6 Qd7 33. Qd5 h6 {White controls everything and I have no counterplay.} 34. Qd4 Re6 35. a4 h5 36. Qd5 Rg6 37. Qe5 h4 38. Bd4 f6 39. Qd5+ Kh7 40. Rc1 Nxd6 41. Bc5 h3 42. Bxd6 h2+ 43. Kxh2 Rh6+ 44. Kg1 Qh3 45. Rc7+ Kg6 46. Qf7+ Kf5 47. Rc5+ 1-0

[@cijunzhang9696]

Thank you Matt! I also learned a lot from the fantastic game. This video made it even more profound!

[@ChessGoals]

You played a great game!! Thank you for the lesson :-)

[@bluefin.64]

Good video. I always enjoy your OTB game recaps. I'd like to see Game 5. You mentioned it a couple of times, but it hasn't been posted.

[@ChessGoals]

ruclips.net/video/JBzdo5mstMY/видео.html

[@bluefin.64]

@@ChessGoals Ah. Of course I already watched it. Didn't notice the TMNT costume. I just automatically click on your videos.

[@eujra16]

All good, Matt. Appreciate you showing the losses and your honesty. Good game!

[@shikshapragati315]

Does this means that chess is the best horror game without ghosts

[@Zonnymaka]

Dunno how long you've been playing chess but in 5 years you'll have a good laugh while listening to your own comments (especially the one about the bad bishop!)

[@KeepChessSimple]

Nice video. What resource do you use for your Caro repertoire?

[@ChessGoals]

It's from our own Caro course. Just 100 lines for the whole opening courses.chessgoals.com/courses/caro-kann

[@shubhamkumarmajhi8943]

😂😂

[@NILESH-lp2zd]

I realy like your vidio