'12-13 Game 3

Round 2 was against a player rated 1425.  This was a long game; going 73 moves.  I think this was my 2nd game I've played against a 1400+ player.  The first one I played against a 1400 player, that game went about 60 moves.  Against 1500 players, my games go into the 30-40 move range, but against 1400 rated players, the games go longer.

Anyway - here's the game.  I played with the white pieces.

The game was pretty equal; the queens game off the board fairly early; he went up a pawn at about the same time we swapped queens ... again, I failed to count well and he went up a pawn.

I kept seeing ways he could win against me, but he didn't choose those moves that would have given him an advantage.  Instead, he let me off the hook a few times and I took advantage.

I was able to equalize again by taking his pawn that was one row away from queening.

Then we came to this point.  He was threatening Ne2 forking K and R.  I responded with Kf1.  I figured he would take my bishop, then I'd have doubled pawns, thus giving him a slight advantage.  But he played f5 after which I played a5 ... I had in mind that I could take his c pawn, the knight and bishop would come off and then perhaps the rooks would come off and I'd have to figure out a way to queen a pawn without him queening first.  Now that I'm thinking of it, not sure a5 was the best move.

Anyway, after a5, he played Kf7 and then I played Bb7, he moved Rc7 and I then defended the Bishop with a6.  From there, we eventually swapped rooks.  My bishop and a-pawn stayed put and I was able to go gobble his pawns with my king and eventually queen a pawn and win.  He offered me a draw after I played a6, but I suggested we played a few more moves ... I felt pretty good at that point that I had good chances of winning.