Chess, emotional or rational

Before this game I had been talking to Erik Marquise about the ideas of the German philosopher F. Nietzsche and his belief that humans approached/perceived the world through emotional attachments rather than their intellectual/rational understanding; for he would argue that how we choose to understand a subject was a matter of what we already wanted to see or believe, or some other predisposed position and not some inherent truth in the subject/object itself. This game is certainly a testimony to that line of thought. Objectivity takes a back seat, indeed if it makes an appearance at all.

R. Samuel Open (Game 6)

D. Fair vs A. Deleon

1.e4, c5 2.Nc3, e6 3.f4, d6 4.Nf3, Nc6 5.Bb5,a6 6.Bxc6, bxc6 7.d3, Rb8 8.0-0, Ne7 9.b3,Bd7 10.Bb2,Nc8 (I was talking to Bruce Baker a week before this game about the emphasis modern Masters placed on "opening" study; his response was, "the next time you have a game that you won in the opening, show it to me.") 11.e5,d5 12.Ne2,(I plan to play c4 making his light squared bishop bad)Be7  13.c4,Nb6 14.Nc3, (inconsistent, doesn't the knight have anything better to do? Of course I saw the psuedo sac on c4 but chose to take it lightly!?)...dxc4 15.dxc4,Nxc4 (although a lot of WHT's positional pressure is gone, bxc4,...Rxb2 still leaves BLK with poorly placed bishops) 16.Qc1,Nxb2 17Qxb2,c4 18.Ne4,0-0 19.Rfd1,Qb6+ 20.Kh1 (Qf2 or Qd4 would have still maintained equality)...Rfd8 Now WHT becomes wreckless 21.Nf6+ (here Alfredo spent about 25 minutes before deciding he could take the piece with impunity)...gxf6 22.exf6,Bf8 23.Qe5,(the worst continuation. I did not see Alfredo's retort)...Qb5 24.Qe4,Qf5 25.Qxc4,Qxf6 (c5 was stronger, giving the bishop some freedom) 26.Rac1,Rb5 27.Qd3,Rd5 28.Qxa6,(maybe I'll get a chance to march one of these guys in??! Hope springs eternal)...Bc8 29.Qf1,Ba6 30.Qe1,Bb4 (he's chasing my Queen around?!)31.Qg3+, Qg6 32.Rxd5,cxd5 (closing off the file? Can that be good, perhaps he wants the game to play itself!?) 33.Qh4 (here I am reminded  of a dictum by the English GM John Nunn, "loose pieces drop off")...Re8? 34.f5,Qxf5 35.Qxb4, (equality has been restored)...Bd3 36.Qc3,e5 37.Qd2 (Marty Lower pointed out that Qc6 was better, but I was too concerned with BLK's center pawns)...e4 38.Qg5+?, Qg6 (Alfredo is probably shell shocked at this point for again he misses the best continuation, Qxg5) 39.Qxg6+(Qe3 was best)...hxg6 40.Ne1,Be2 41.Kg1 (BLK still has the best chances, but that will soon change)...Re6? 42.Kf2, (the vulnerable bishop provides a gain of tempo)...Ba6 43.Ke3,Kg7 44.Rc5 (Here I offered a draw in what I believed to be a better position. I thought it would be hard to play with plenty of room for error on my part. It was also my intent to cause my opponent the luxury of relaxing, and should he decline the offer, afford me the "will" to play for the win! After running his clock down to 30 minutes for game, Alfredo accepted the draw. This was a good result for me and of course it offers me the opportunity to study this endgame. Of course the words of Master Bruce Baker are clearly understood. Study the endgame "grasshopper"