Olympiads 2004 : Merlin defeats Matacz and gives a draw to H

[Nicolas Normand]

Geschrieben von:/Posted by: Nicolas Normand at 18 September 2004 15:39:29:

hello,
after two nice games , Merlin really motivated defeats clearly Matacz and saves hunagry from defeat.
here are the ranking so far ( only two match plaid :

Country Score Games Won Games Lose
USA 2 7 0
Hungary- 1 3 3
Poland
Balkan 0 0 7


Now Central Europe challenge CIS
here are the games :

[Event "Olympiades 2004"]
[Site "P00536"]
[Date "2004.09.17"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Matacz0998_HT18"]
[Black "Merlin 2.0 beta"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl "3600"]
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 Nc6 7.Be3 Bf5 8.Nc3 e6
9.Nf3 Nb4 10.Rc1 c5 {This is the last match of the Polish-Hungarian
Encounter.
Merlin must win his two games vs Matacz to draw the match.
Merlin attack now the center after all thje centered white pawn advance.}
11.a3 cxd4 {11....Cc6?! 12.d5} 12.Nxd4 Nc6 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Qxd8+ Rxd8 {
Matacz choose to simplify the games and enter in endgame.
The two balck pawn queenside are isolated but the centered white pawn in
e5 is isolated too and can becomle a target for black} 15.Be2 Be7 16.O-O
Bd3 17.Bxd3 Rxd3 18.Bxb6 {now the black pawn structure will be better }
18...axb6 19.Na4 Bg5 {a nice maneuver , to protect b6} 20.Rcd1 Be3+ 21.Kh1
Rxd1 22.Rxd1 Ke7 {the castle is now useless . The endgame begin and the
king will be better at the center. it is not the case of matacz whose king
is isolated from the center and the queenside} 23.Re1 Rd8 24.g4 Rd3 {
merlin pieces are actives....} 25.g5 b5 26.cxb5 cxb5 27.Nc3 Bxg5 28.Nxb5
Rb3 29.Nd4 Rxb2 {with 4 pawns and a Bishop vs a Knigth Merlin have an
advanatge in this endgame} 30.Re4 Kd7 31.Nf3 Bh6 32.a4 Rf2 33.Ne1 Kc6 {the
black king can be efficient here} 34.Nd3 Rd2 35.Nb4+ Kc5 36.h3 Bg5 37.Rg4
Be3 38.Na6+ Kb6 39.Nb8 Bd4 40.Re4 Kb7 41.Nd7 Kc6 42.Nf8 Kd5 43.Rf4 {
another pawn falls} 43...Rd1+ 44.Kg2 Rg1+ 45.Kh2 Bxe5! {win a pawn and
forces a rook exchange} 46.Kxg1 Bxf4 47.Nxh7 Bc7 {now the balck advanatge
is enough to win.} 48.Kf1 e5 49.h4 f5 50.h5 e4 51.Ng5 f4 52.Kf2 Bb6+ {the
bishop has enough mobility to block the a-pawn and to support his own
pawn.
In this position , the bishop is really better than the Knigth!} 53.Ke2
Ke5 54.Nf7+ Kf6 55.Nd6 f3+ {white threat is Nc4 followed by a5 , but
merlin have time to advance his pawns} 56.Ke1 e3 57.Nc4 Bd4 58.h6 Bc3+ 59.
Kd1 e2+ 60.Kc2 f2 {the game is over now !} 61.Ne3 e1=Q 62.Ng4+ Kf5 63.hxg7
1-0
[Event "Olympiades 2004"]
[Site "P00536"]
[Date "2004.09.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Merlin 2.0 beta"]
[Black "Matacz0998_HT18"]
[Result "0-1"]
[TimeControl "3600"]
1.d3 {the last game for Hunagary poland match. Now Merlin must win this
game to avoid a polish victory.} 1...c5 2.e4 Nf6 3.c4 {Merlin choose a
very close variation , and rely on strategic game.} 3...Nc6 4.Nc3 e5 5.Be2
Be7 6.Nf3 O-O 7.O-O d6 8.Ne1 Qb6 9.Nc2 Nd4 10.f4 {his pieces are
developped and aims the balck king , so merlin choose to open the game
now.} 10...Nxe2+ {i am not sure that is those position this is a good
exchange.} 11.Qxe2 Bg4 12.Qe3 Be6 13.f5 {the black bishop is isolated from
the king side} 13...Bd7 14.Qh3 h6 15.Rf3 Kh7 16.Rg3 {slowly merlin engages
his pieces} 16...Rh8 17.Ne1 Kg8 18.a4 Rh7 19.a5 Qa6 {matacz pieces are not
coordinated . White have a possible attack in h6 with 20.Bxh6 Kf8
21.Bg7+ Rxg7 22.Qh6 Ne8 23.Qh8+ Rg8 etc...
Even if this doesn't work (this is a short analysisto be confoirmed) ,
this show white potential.
} 20.Nc2 Qc6 21.Kh1 Qc7 22.a6 b6 23.Ne2 Qc8 24.Ne3 {once again we can see
that merlin aims all his pieces kingside , not matacz who din't see any
danger} 24...Bc6 25.Nc3 Qc7 26.Kg1 Qd7 27.Nc2 Rc8 28.Ne1 Qc7 29.Rf3 Rd8
30.Nc2 Rd7 31.Re3 Qc8 32.Rg3 Ne8 33.b4 Nf6 34.b5 Ba8 {little by little ,
matacz loose space.} 35.Ne1 Qe8 36.Kh1 Bd8 37.Nf3 Bc7 38.Nd2 h5 39.Nb3 h4
40.Re3 Bd8 41.Re1 Nh5 42.Ra2 Bf6 43.Rf2 Rc7 44.Nb1 Be7 45.Qg4 Nf6 46.Qf3
Rd7 47.Qh3 Qd8 48.Kg1 Rh5 49.Rfe2 Rc7 50.Ra2 Qb8 51.Nc3 Qc8 52.Ra1 Kh8 53.
Re2 g5 54.Re1 g4 55.Qe3 Kg8 56.Qe2 Qf8 57.Nd1 h3 58.g3 Rd7 {for a long
time now the game seems to be blocked. Human player should probably
signed a draw ... but the players are computers} 59.Nf2 Qg7 60.Qc2 Bd8 61.
Nd1 Bc7 62.Qf2 Qf8 63.Ne3 Rd8 64.Nc2 Kh7 65.Nd2 Kh8 66.Qe2 Qe7 67.Nb3 Rg8
68.Qf2 Rg7 69.Ne3 Kg8 70.Qe2 Qe8 71.Rf1 Bd8 72.Qd1 Rhh7 73.Re1 Bc7 74.Qc2
Rh5 75.Nd1 Bd8 76.Qe2 Qe7 77.Nf2 Bc7 78.Nd2 Qe8 79.Nf1 Kh8 80.Ne3 Qg8 81.
Qd1 Rhh7 82.Ra4 Bd8 83.Re2 Be7 84.Rc2 Rh5 85.Ra1 Bd8 86.Kf1 Bc7 87.Ke1
Rhh7 88.Re2 Bd8 89.Rea2 Be7 90.Qe2 Rh5 91.Ra3 Bd8 92.Rc3 Bc7 93.Rb3 Rhh7
94.Kf1 Bd8 95.Rba3 Rh5 96.Ke1 Kh7 97.Rb3 Be7 98.Qd1 Kh8 99.Rba3 Rhh7 100.
R3a2 Rh5 101.Qe2 Bf8 102.Rc2 Be7 103.Qd1 Rhh7 104.Qd2 Rg5 105.Qe2 Rgg7
106.Kf1 Bd8 107.Nd5 Bxd5 108.cxd5 Qe8 109.Rb2 Be7 110.Kg1 Kg8 111.Rb3 Bd8
112.Qd1 Rh5 113.Qc2 Kf8 114.Qe2 Bc7 115.Qd1 Kg8 116.Rb2 Bd8 117.Qe2 Be7
118.Kh1 Qd8 119.Rb3 Rhh7 120.Kg1 Kh8 121.Nd1 Rh5 122.Ne3 Qg8 123.Ra4 Qa8
124.Nd1 Kg8 125.Ra1 Rgh7 126.Nf2 Rg7 127.Rbb1 Bd8 128.Qd1 Qc8 129.Rb3 Kh8
130.Qe2 Qd7 131.Rb2 Qe8 132.Qc2 Rhh7 133.Qd1 Qd7 134.Rb3 Bc7 135.Qc2 Bb8
136.Qc4 Rh5 137.Kh1 Bc7 138.Qc2 Rg8 139.Kg1 Bd8 140.Qd1 Be7 141.Qe2 Bf8
142.Nd1 Bg7 143.Ne3 Bh6 144.Rb2 Bxe3+ 145.Qxe3 Re8 146.Qe2 Re7 147.Rbb1
Qc8 148.Rb3 Qe8 149.Qc2 Rc7 150.Rb2 Kg8 151.Kh1 Qc8 152.Rb3 Qd7 153.Kg1
Kh8 154.Rb2 Qc8 155.Ra4 Kg8 156.Rba2 Re7 157.Ra1 Qc7 158.R4a2 Qd7 159.Rb2
Qe8 160.Qc3 Rc7 161.Qc4 Nd7 162.Rf2 Rc8 163.Qa4 Nf6 164.Rb2 Qd7 165.Qc2
Qc7 166.Qc4 Rd8 167.Rb3 Qe7 168.Qc2 Rf8 169.Rc3 Qd7 170.Qa4 Ne8 171.Qd1
Kh8 172.Qxg4 Nf6 173.Qd1 Qxb5 {with ths exchange matacz gets a passed pawn
queen side but merlin open the games kingside.} 174.Kh1 Rg8 175.Rb3 Qd7
176.Kg1 b5 177.Qe2 b4 178.Qc2 Re8 179.Qf2 Qb5 180.Qe2 Re7 181.Kh1 Rc7 182.
Qe1 Rd7 183.Kg1 Re7 184.Qd1 Qb6 185.Kh1 Qd8 186.g4 Qg8 187.g5 Rh4 {merlin
cannot take the knigth in f6 because of :188.gxf6?? Qg2#} 188.Qg1 Nd7
189.g6 Rh5 190.Bg5 f6 {this create a passed pawn but other move seems to
be really too bad!} 191.Bd2 Kg7 192.Qg4 Qh8 193.Bc1 Rh4 194.Qf3 Qh5 195.
Qxh5 Rxh5 {matacz simplify once again the game but this is not to his
advantage} 196.Ra2 Nb6 197.Rf2 Na8 198.Be3 Rd7 199.Ra2 Nc7 200.Ra1 Rh8
201.Kg1 Rh5 202.Kf2 Nxd5 {Matacz gives a Knigth for three pawns.} 203.exd5
Rxf5+ 204.Ke2 Kxg6 205.Rg1+ Kh7 {the king is out of game now.. } 206.d4
Rd8 {206....exd4 seems better even if white are better.
206....exd4 207.Bxd4 Re8+ etc...} 207.dxc5 dxc5 208.Bxc5 Rh5 209.Rxb4 Kh8
210.Be7 Rc8 211.Bxf6+ Kh7 212.Rb7+ Kh6 213.Bg7+ Kh7 214.Bxe5+ Kh6 215.Bg7+
Kh7 216.Bc3+ Kh6 217.Bd2+ Rg5 218.Rxg5 Re8+ 219.Re5+ Kg6 220.Rxe8 Kf5 221.
Kf3 Kf6 222.Re6+ Kf5 223.Rf7# {a nice end for this very long game....
Hungary Poland draws due to merlin's feats !} 0-1


regards
Nicolas