Think and decide

Think and decide - Part 2

My opponent was one point ahead of me and he was leading the event together with Bernadkiy of Ukraine.Prior the game I felt my opponent wouldn’t hesitate much for draw and also at the same time if he gets a chance to win,he might take the risk. I anyways wanted to have a full blooded fight irrespective of my final standings.So I decided to play a double edged line and got the above mentioned position.

I was desperate to complicate the position and after a long thought I played 15…Ng4.Game continued 16.e5 de5 17.hg4 ef 4 18.Re8 Ne8 19.Nb3 and we got below mentioned position

Position after 19.Nb3

When playing my 15th move I knew I would get this position and had planned 2 different ways to continue the game.
A] 19..hg4 20.Bf4 gf3 21.Bb8 Bg4 22.gf3 Qb8 with atleast a draw after Qg3.However tournament situation demanded me to play for win.

B] So I played 19..g5 20.gh5 Nd6

Position after 20..Nd6

This was the position I had in my mind when playing my 15th move. I stopped my calculation around here. I felt that the position is more dynamic and double edged and the kind of position I was hoping for.White has to watch out for c4,Bd4 etc and after few moves we got below mentioned position

Position after 27.Kg1

This was the position white was aiming for when playing his 23rd move since he managed to control all the key squares and also simultaneously created threats as well.My rook on b8 is under attack and i dont have time to move that as it gives time for white to consolidate his position by developing his pieces and so considering all these factors my next move is quite obvious.I played Bd7 here,attacking the c6 knight, to gain control over the key ‘d4’ square.

Position after 27...Bd7

We both had less than 30 mins on our clock.When he was pondering over his next move,I was also calculating certain variations.I felt most of my pieces are placed where exactly they have to be.If any minor changes in the piece placements,then certain tactics may not work in my favor.I was thinking what could be the best way for white to disturb my piece co-ordination.Then I found 28.h6.I cannot take the pawn with any of the 3 pieces as they are perfectly placed by controlling the key squares.So,I have to play Bh8 to maintain the bishop in the important h8-a1 diagonal.then white has 29.h7+ and forcing my king to leave the g8 square where it felt very safe.
During the game I could just intuitively feel that there could be some difference and when I was about to evaluate the difference between these 2 king placements,my opponent played 28.Nb8 and i was bit relieved.

May be readers can try and figure out the difference between below mentioned and above mentioned positions J

Position after 29..Kh7[analysis]
30.Nb8 works here! Why is that?

Position after 30...Qh2

Here white played 31.Bf4 which turns out to be a blunder.can you find out why? J

Whats the best move for white here?

To conclude the article on this subject,I believe sticking to our playing style in critical game/tournament situation would help us fetch better results.However we should also be very strong in what we are good at.We have to keep strengthening our strong points simultaneously overcoming our weak spots as well J