Spanish Four Knights Game
1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. 0-0 0-0 6. d3 d6 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8. exd5 Ne7 9. a3 Ba5 10. c4 h6 11. h3 c6 12. dxc6 bxc6 13. Ba4 Bb6 14. Bc2 Nf5 15. b4 Nd4 16. Nxd4 Bxd4 17. Ra2 a5 18. bxa5 Rxa5 19. a4 Qh4 20. Qf3 c5 21. Be3 Be6 22. Bxd4 Qxd4 23. Qe4
The first 22 moves were pretty straightforward. White rejected the Alekhine, and a symmetric four knights game emerged. Once the symmetry was broken, both sides played normal moves to enter the middle game. White's 23d move is a blunder, but I did not see it to my shame. With Qxe4 dxe4 Bxc4 black has a winning game. Instead....
23. ... Rfa8 24. Qxd4 exd4 25. f4 g6 26. Kf2 Kg7 27. Kf3 d5 28. Bb3 dxc4 29. Bxc4 Bxc4 30. dxc4 Rxa4 31 Rxa4 Rxa4
Oblivious of the blunder made earlier, black has made progress. An extra pawn (passed and protected!) and active rook should be enough to win, even though rook end games are notoriously drawish.
32. Rc1 Kf6 33. Ke4 Ke6 34. Rc2
This time I did see the right move - but only after I had played the wrong one. With Ra3 black puts white in a very messy situation: the sudden mate threat means white has to sacrifice the f-pawn. I was really kicking myself for playing:
34. ... f5+ 35. Kf3 Ra3+ 36. Kf2
In spite of the blunders black still has a comfortable end game. A move like Kd7 would probably eventually result in a win. I thought I could do it easier: exchange rooks, force the white king to the queen side and break through with the king on the kingside to promote one of the pawns. Well, that worked, but not as well as I thought it would. So my next move goes down as yet another blunder:
36. ... Rc3 37. Rxc3 dxc3 38. Ke2 g5 39. Kd3 gxf4 40. Kxc3 Ke5 41. Kd3 f3 42. gxf3 Kf4 43. Ke2 Kg3 44. Ke3 Kxh3 45. Kf4 h5 46. Kxf5 h4 47. f4 Kg3 48. Ke5 h3 49. f5 h2 50. f6 h1=Q
This is basically what I had envisaged when I played 36. ... Rc3. The problem though is that black cannot easily prevent that the white pawn will also promote, given the great position of the white king. Not easily, but it is possible. After f7 I should have played Qh6! Alas....
51. f7 Qe1+ 52. Kf6 Qc3+ 53. Ke7 Qe5+ 54. Kd7 Qf5+ 55. Ke7 Qe4+ 56. Kd7 Qxc4 57. f8=Q
Seeing no realistic way to stop the promotion I decided to go into the KQ vs KQp ending. However, I did not find the right strategy from now on. Once the white queen starts checking, the black king should have gone to the king side to allow the black queen to get in-between with check on the white king. Instead I went for the queen side (to protect the pawn in some variations) but that was doomed to end in a draw.
57. ... Qd5+ 58. Kc7 c4 59. Qg7+ Kf3 60. Qc3+ Kf4 61. Qf1+ Ke4 (Kf5 was probably winning) 62. Qh1+ Kd4 63. Qg1+ Kc3 64. Qa1+ Kb4 (Kc2 would give black another chance to go for the right kingside strategy) 65. Qb2+ Ka4 (I had planned Kc5 - which fails to a mate in one....) 66. Qa2+ Kb4 with a draw offer that white accepted. 1/2-1/2
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