Jason Lohner's Chess blog!

Edmonton International chess tournament

2011-08-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

Wow I forgot I had this blog... it has been awhile since I have played any organized chess. I still play online though and I love to read my chess books. I have recently moved to Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. For those of you that don't know, this small (17-18000) town is about 1/2 hour out of Edmonton. This allows me to join the very well run Edmonton chess club. I go into work from 8-12 and then I drive 15 minutes to the club and can play chess on Saturday.

This last weekend I played in their 'main' tournament. I got to see 4 times US champion GM Alexander Shabalov in action. I ended up 14/24 in the reserve section. Not great, but actually was tied for 5th at the beginning of the last day. Of course this puts me in the boards with all the big fish (all experts or master class players).

My first game was against David Miller. David is a very nice guy who challenged me to a game of blitz before the tournament started. I am terrible at blitz and he wiped the floor with me. I am just guessing but I would say that David is around 17 and he just got his expert rating. David is also hoping to represent Canada at the world juniors. He just needs to get the money saved up!

Jason Lohner - David Miller
Round 1

1. d4 Nf6
2. Nf3 g6
3. Bf4 Bg7 - I am playing the London system. The London is a solid system against almost any setup played by black. This cuts down on all the 'booking up' on various openings. The London is also quite 'positional'. David chose a KID/Sicilian type setup against my opening.

4. h3 0-0 - I prefer h3 here when blacks knight is on f6. This stops any Nh5 nonsense.

5. e3 d6
6. Bd3 Nd5?! - although computer engines like this move by black, I think its a waste of time. As black I would continue my development.

7. Bh2 Nb4 - I move my Bishop back where I had planned all along. Black then threatens my light square bishop.

8. Be2 Bf5 - I think I have the better position. David is just making one move threats that can be easily countered.

9. Na3 c5?! - Probably a little premature to attack my center. I would have continued development with black. Perhaps Nd7

10. c3 N4c6 - I make the obvious move to drive his knight back. I am not sure about his move back to c6 though. I would have saved that square for my queenside knight.

11. 0-0 cxd4
12. Nxd4?! Bd7 - my first mistake. I spent awhile thinking about this move. I did consider capturing with my e pawn but decided against it because I had plans to move it up and wanted to use it in a king side attack. In retrospect I was the best move.

13. Nac2 Qb6
14. Rb1 Na6
15. b4 Rfc8 - this move of mine is risky. I have created a backwards pawn on c3 and David immediately takes aim at it.

16. b5 Nxd4 - Now I spent awhile on this move, trying to calculate the variations. b5 was the correct move, but it also highlights my mistaken capture on move 12. I did see Davids move ahead of time, but didn't see his following move.

17. bxa6?? Nxe2+ - the losing move. Terrible, just plain terrible. exd4 was again the correct move. Brain Fart. Up to this point it was still even, but this blunder was disastrous.

18. Qxe2 Qxa6 - My move is pretty much forced.

19. Qxa6 bxa6 - although he has doubled pawns now, my queenside is in shambles and is the weak pawns are going to fall very quickly.

20. Rb7? Bc6 - I am just falling apart now.

21. Rxe7? Bf8 - for some idiotic reason I thought he would move his king.

22. Bxd6 Bxe7

23. Bxe7 Bb5

0-1

No point insulting him by continuing on. This is an easy win for black. Sad part is that I was doing just fine, probably had the advantage until move 12. At that point it was pretty even still, but my tactical blunder on move 17 gave me the loss.

David is a 2055 rated player so he was 600+ points higher rated than I was. All I can say is that I had the advantage at one point, but blundered it away with a tactical miscalculation.

Portable Chess products

2010-08-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

Recently on Chesstalk there was a discussion about the Monroi Personal Chess Manager. For the record I think this is a pretty good device, but my problem is the price. $359 US dollars ?!?!? sorry but that is FAR too expensive. I could buy a netbook and load it with chess software for the price of this device. When you break it down, all this device does is record chess games with a touch screen. I purchased a cheap touchscreen chess machine for $20... the monroi actually does less.

So what devices do I use and recommend?

Multi-purpose devices

Nintendo DS ***** 5/5

Cost : Around $120 + $20 for Chessmaster

Yes the Nintendo DS is a great portable chess player. Currently I have a copy of Ubisoft's Chessmaster - The art of Learning and it is probably the device that I use the most to play chess.

Pro's
- Very high quality machine
- multipurpose, can do everything from chess to learning a new language
- dual screen and touchscreen
- Chessmaster plays up to a 1850 rating
- Chessmaster has multiple options and minigames.
- Chessmaster keeps your rating.
- Chessmaster is probably the best program for multiple skill levels
- DS's are just plain cool :)

Con's
- must have 2 copies of Chessmaster to play against another person
- Initial investment might be too steep for some
- no internet capabilities.

Most kids today own or want a Nintendo DS so many parents have already purchased one. In this case, all one has to do is find Chessmaster. I found my copy for $20 at Zellers. For adults, they might not want to buy a portable video game system for just playing chess. Everyone in my family owns a DS and I would highly recommend this option.

http://www.amazon.com/Chessmaster-Art-Learning-Nintendo-DS/dp/B000RF4PLS

Palm Pilot + Chess Genius **** 4/5

I purchased a Palm TX several years ago. Yes it was quite expensive, but I would be lost without it. The first thing I did was purchase the program 'chess genius' which is rated around 2400.

Pro's
- very high quality device
- touchscreen works well
- currently sells for around $60 on ebay + around $20 for chess software
- analysis is good for a PDA
- multipurpose machine

Con's
- They no longer make the Palm TX
- Chess genius is not the greatest program to play against

This is my main portable analysis machine. Chess Genius is easy to use and I use it when working my way through books. At 2400 ELO, it is fairly strong and it has often found mistakes in older chess books (ie ones before computer analysis).

Next time I will post on dedicated chess machines.

Pining for days gone by...

2010-01-20T19:27:00.001-08:00

Throughout my short chess career I have noticed a disturbing trend amongst chess players above a certain age... Pining for days gone by. Specifically pining for the late 60's to early 70's when Fischer reigned supreme. Recently a certain Canadian GM posted a whine-a-thon about the 'good old days' of Fischer. Lets look at this from a different perspective.

According to this article, Chess is on the decline because it has to 'stand on its own merits' instead of cult champions such as Fischer. Is this a bad thing? Not in my opinion. This author berates current #1 Magnus Carlsen as someone who never has come close to winning the world championship... well DUH... hes only 19. Thanks for stating the obvious! Then he complains that the current world champion isn't the #1 player in the world... um hello? how soon we forget our history... The longest world champion in history, Emanual Lasker, was not considered the #1 player for long periods of time when he held the title...

But Fischer was #1 BEFORE he held the title I read the whining... umm now you are proving my point. Carlsen is #1 right now, and thats why most people consider him a future champion. Fischer was a personality... um he was a JERK who was better known for his idiotic behavior than he was for his game play. I would take someone like V. Anand anyday because he has CLASS. Carlsen has CLASS, as does all the other champions after (and most before)Fischer. Vishy Anand isn't attracting people to chess like Fischer did... he is... in his home country of India. There has been a chess boom in India.

Oh but he's unknown and wheres the TV sponsorship... I'm sorry to break this to people but chess will NEVER become a TV past time. Chess is a complicated game and the tactics/strategy are hard to understand. Chess is also a relatively slow game with large amount of 'lag' time between moves when the players are thinking through variations... this is where technology comes to the rescue! Today there are many sites that are relaying the Corus super-GM tournament live! From a computer anywhere in the world where you can get internet access you can watch this great tournament move by move on any of the boards! In most places you will also get great commentary from GM's who will analyze the game and give their opinions. This is FAR better than TV as you can also 'kibitz' your ideas... interactive entertainment. I have been watching this tournament on the Chessbomb website. This site even has Rybka 2.2 running computer analysis on every move, giving variations and possible moves so even a patzer can see and evaluate the game. This is EXACTLY what chess needs. I would guess that a far larger percentage of the population watches chess online than they would if it was on TV. Chess already has a huge audience.

Ahh but what about Morphy? yet another case of cultic chess player worship. Even after Steinitz moved to the US and showed the players of his day the mistakes that Morphy made. Yet the chess players all pined for the days of Morphy... CULTIC... HERO... WORSHIP... Steinitz couldn't get any respect in his day either because of this crying for the 'good old days'. Well at least Morphy was a nice guy, he did go insane, but he didn't become a racist idiot in the process.

I am going to make a bold statement... Fischer is the WORST THING TO HAPPEN TO CHESS in the last 50 years. Why? first of all he was an idiot in public life. He is the stereo typical picture of the 'crazy nerd chess player' who lost all touch with reality. Now the general population automatically thinks of this jerk when they here about the game of chess... great public relations. People can't stop talking about him has taken the spotlight of the current world class players. GET OVER IT... I for one am sick and tired of hearing about him. I am FAR more excited over the games of Carlsen than Fischer. The reason for this is the age bracket of the people who continue to whine about the 'good old days'. Almost every one of them are in the 'baby boomer' generation. Of course they go on and on about him... he was from their era! This is the same generation who believes that the only 'real rock' is from their own generation! Arrogance.

Last but not least is the claim that the ranks of chess players swelled with the popularity of Fischer. I'm sorry to break this to you but this is a complete load of CRAP. Sure there was an initial boom, but what has changed isn't the population but the LOCATION of where the game is played. Chess is HUGELY popular online. While chess federations are struggling to keep members, Chess servers are crammed with players. I use to play on Chessworld.net. This is a UK based chess server. On this one server there are more Canadians than the CFC has known! Canada is ranked 3rd on membership! yes, this is just one site, now factor in ICC, FICS, PlayChess, RedHotPawn, Yahoo, etc.. and you will quickly see that chess is thriving! On a simple Facebook application I can play against people from around the world. Where else would I have the chance to play people like IM Yelena Dembo other than online? The reality is that computers have opened up chess to a far larger percentage of the population than was ever known before. Do 99.9% of the kids today quit chess when they are older??? NO! they play online. This is the heyday of chess and these neo-luddites pining over the days of Fischer should open their eyes and get over it.

New files added

2010-01-03T22:14:00.000-08:00

I have added all the games of Kevin Spraggett with White annotated by Fritz 10 on my webpage Defeating Kevin Spraggett

Time article with Magnus Carlsen

2009-12-29T22:04:00.000-08:00

How can anyone not respect this humble, soft spoken player. This guy is such a class act... now if other GM's could follow his example... I'm thinking of one 'highest ranked' Canadian (non resident)GM in particular.

Magnus interview :)

Two great Kasparov interviews on coaching Carlsen

2009-12-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

Carlsen - Kramnik... The worlds #1 rated vs the former world champion in the London Chess Challenge. Carlsen won in convincing fashion. Here is a couple interviews with Garry Kasparov on his training of this future world champion.

Facebook Game

2009-12-04T13:52:00.000-08:00

I have been playing on Facebook using the Chess.com app. In a recent game I played my regular Bird's opening against an opponent who is slightly above my rating. Here is my game. When I look for games I set it up so I challenge people 100 points under my rating to 200 points more than my rating. 100 points less is still in my class level and and 200 points is one class above which gives a good challenge. I use the software Personal Chess Trainer (now called 'chessimo'). Several of the tactics problems are similar to the checkmate in this game and during the game this motif just seemed to 'jump out' of the position. At least some of my tactics training is working! :)

1. f4 Nf6
2. Nf3 d5
3. e3 Nc6
4. Nc3 Bf5 - a good defense to the Bird's opening

5. Be2 Nb4
6. d3 e6
7. a3 Nc6
8. 0-0 Bc5
9. b4 d4? - Birds opening often allows Queenside expansion with tempo. Blacks move is weak

10. bxc5 dxc3
11. Qe1 0-0
12. Qxc3 Nd5 - black just drops a pawn
13. Qb2 Qf6
14. Qxf6 Nxf6 - I will gladly remove queens when I am up material
15. e4 Bg4
16. h3 Bxf3
17. Bxf3 Nd4 - a strong place for blacks knight
18. Bd1 Nd7
19. Bb2 Nc6
20. d4 Nf6
21. Bf3 Rad8
22. e5 Nd5 - Rad1 is also a pretty good move
23. Bxd5 Rxd5
24. Rad1 Na5
25. Bc1 Rfd8
26. c3 Nc4
27. Rf2 b6
28. cxb6 cxb6
29. Ra2 Rc8 - black is doing a good job of using his knight vs bishop

30. Rd3 Na5
31. Rb2 Nc6
32. Kf2 Ne7 - I missed Nxd4 with black equalizing luckily black also missed this move
33. g4 Ng6
34. Kg3 Ne7
35. Rc2 g6
36. h4 b5 - c3 becomes a target. I am up a pawn, but I have lost the initiative.

37. Bb2 a5
38. Kf3 Rc4
39. Ke4 b4
40. axb4 axb4
41. Rc1 Rb5
42. Ra1 bxc3
43. Ra8+ Kg7
44. Ba3 c2 - black doesn't have time for this move

45. Bxe7 f5?? - the critical error
46. exf6+ Kh6
47. Bf8#

Certainly not my best game, but I found a nice checkmate at the end :)

A trend in Chess Tournaments

2009-11-22T14:16:00.001-08:00

Saturday Nov 21... I was in Vernon for a small one day chess tournament. One day affair with time of 15+10s or 25min per game. This tournament was a replacement for a CFC tournament that was run for 27 years in a row... The Vernon Silverstar Classic was no more. The Silverstar classic was a CFC rated event where the winner was entered into the BC Closed. Not this year, and probably won't be run again. For $10 donation this one day event had 13 people and fun was had by all. This seems to be a trend in tournaments here in BC. The TD said that there wasn't many players that wanted to dedicate a weekend to playing chess and the cost of playing in a CFC rated event was too much these days.

People are dumping CFC rated events here in BC. There is more non CFC events being played than CFC rated events. Why? well cost seems to be the #1 factor. Nobody wants to buy a membership to the CFC for $36+ dollars and then have to pay $60-70 per event. There used to be a low cost option of paying $10 for a tournament membership for that one event but those in power (mainly Torontonians who don't have this problem) couldn't see past their own nose and realize what kind of effect this would have in non Torontonian areas in Canada. What does this mean here? The last Vernon event had a total of 4 people! For a non CFC event 13 showed up... and I believe that in future more people will show up. I personally know one casual club level player who sets up 2 non-cfc tournaments a year for zero cost and are probably the most fun I've had in any chess tournaments. Vancouver has a very popular monthly active events that are also non-cfc rated. I know of three CFC rated events a year in BC... One in Langley, One in Victoria and the Keres open. Thats about it now... everyone else has gone to non-cfc events. This is a direct result of actions taken by the CFC to milk more money out of people who play tournament chess... and guess what? people have found out that you don't need the CFC to play chess!

I had a great time on Saturday and did relatively well. My first game I lost by blundering badly in a Froms Gambit against Luke Campbell... and he admitted after that he spent the last week preparing against my opening!! flattering :). Second was another blunderfest by me in a Sicilian... after the second game I played a fun game against this same opponent and I beat him in the endgame... after that I played quite well and won my next three games before getting a bye in the last round. My first win was a typical Birds opening game where I tied up the center and then proceeded with a crushing kingside attack. My second win my opponent castled queenside and during his kingside attack I was able to trap his queen. My last victory was in a Sicilian against the TD where he dropped a pawn and then tried to complicate the position where it backfired on him and I was able to see through the complications and win a piece... my first victory against this opponent! :) Officially I was 3/5 but if you count my rematch I went 4/6 :) The TD said that he might plan another non-cfc event in January because of the good result. I believe Sean Kelman won the tournament... or at least he had the most points when I left. Congratulations Sean!

Files added

2009-11-14T13:36:00.000-08:00

I have added a new file to my website Defeating Kevin Spraggett.

Its a Fritz10 annotated selection of his losses with black. Enjoy.

AICE - Rybka a c3 Sicilian game

2009-11-08T08:29:00.000-08:00

The c3 Sicilian... This opening has become very popular and seems to be a 'quiet' way for white to combat the sharp nature of the Sicilian Defense. To 'resharpen' the position, black responds with Nf6... a quieter choice is d5.

For black the main battle is for the pawn on e5. In the following game, Rybka shows how easily this can be achieved. In many games black can force an Isolated Queen Pawn position.

White has several gambit options as well and black should be careful because it is easy to fall behind in development.

Once again I turn to an engine vs engine computer match.

AICE - Rybka
1. e4 c5
2. c3 Nf6

3. e5 Nd5 - hoping that white overextends his pawns a-la the Alekhine defense
4. Nf3 Nc6 -
5. Bc4 Nb6
6. Bb5 a6
7. Bxc6 dxc6 - white gives up the bishop pair for weakening blacks pawn structure
8. 0-0 Qd3 - blacks queen moves deep into enemy territory
9. Qb3 Nd5
10. e6 f6 - a move with long term consequences for black, gives the bishop an ideal square
11. Ne1 Qb5 - offering to trade queens
12. Qd1 Qb6 - no trade for you!
13. c4 Nc7 - white pawn is as good as gone
14. Nc3 Bxe6 - black greedily grabs the pawn

15. d3 Bf7
16. f4 e6 - whites move is almost forced, can't let black dominate the center with e5
17. Na4 Qa7 - Not the best place to put your queen, but black doesn't have much choice.
18. Be3 a5 - pressure builds on blacks weak pawn
19. Nf3 Be7
20. Qc2 0-0
21. Qf2 Na6
22. d4 b6
23. dxc5 bxc5
24. Nd2 Rad8
25. Nb3 e5 - more and more pressure on c5

26. Qe2 exf4
27. Rxf4 Rfe8 - blacks rooks are ideally placed
28. Qf2 Bd6
29. Rh4 Re5
30. Bd2 Nb4 - great spot for the blacks knight!
31. Bc3 Rg5
32. Qf3 Bg6
33. a3 Nc2 - dangerous knight!
34. Rd1 Rf5

35. Qe2 Qb8
36. Nxa5 Bxh2! - great decoy
37. Rxh2 Rxd1+
38. Qxd1 Ne3
39. Qe2 Rf1+ - there goes the white queen
40. Qxf1 Nxf1 - tough choice take knight or lose rook
41. Rh3 Ng3
42. Be1 Ne2+
43. Kf1 Nf4 - all white can do is react to this deadly knight
44. Re3 Nd3
45. Bg3 Qa7 - white loses another piece

46. Nxc6 Qxa4
47. Ne7+ Kf7 - whites check only moves the king where he wants to go
48. Nxg6 Qd1+ - the queen moves in for the kill
49. Be1 Kxg6
50. b4 Nf4
51. Kg1 Qc1 - whites last rook is overworked

White resigns

In my own engine vs engine collection I have found that Rybka
Wins - 100
Draws - 34
Losses - 6
Total Games - 140

a pretty respectable win/loss percentage for black.

Recommended books
- Starting out: the sicilian - (John Emms)
- c3 sicilian - (Joe Gallagher)

Online chess

2009-11-07T21:15:00.000-08:00

I am playing some games on Facebook.
If you have a facebook account feel free to challenge me :) It is the chess.com application
Challenge me to chess :)

I also play on Chessworld under the name 'Inconnux'.
They have free limited accounts

File update

2009-11-05T13:08:00.000-08:00

I have added a couple of files to my webpage Defeating Kevin Spraggett in the Fritz annotated section.

Magnus Carlsen Interview

2009-10-26T21:20:00.000-07:00

A great interview with GM Magnus Carlsen. Note, if you don't see any english subtitles go to the bottom right of the viewer, press the arrow and click on CC.

GM Magnus Carlsen is probably my favorite current world class GM. This young man has class. I remember 5 years ago reading an article about this young GM and that is what encouraged me to pick up Chessmaster. Amazing to see the growth of this great player.
And he is from Norway too! :)

Rybka beta 1.0 vs Aice

2009-10-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

Many people recommend that you study GM games to get better, these games will show you how the Pro's do it... I have taken this one step further. The most dangerous opponent today isn't V. Anand, V. Topolov or M. Carlsen... its Rybka. Rybka is the top rated chess engine on the market and is rated in the 3100's. That is almost 300 points greater than the world champion. So why shouldn't we study the games of this dangerous opponent? I use the Fritz 10 interface and load the free version of Rybka (version 2.2). I set up my favorite openings and then have Rybka play 2 games against 72 different chess engines. I then study these games. This is also a great way to decide how 'sound' your specific opening is. Rybka actually wins more games with the unorthodox Bird's Opening than it does using the classical Kings Indian Defense. I have also found that Black does better against the Bird by responding with 1...d5 instead of 1...e5 (Froms Gambit) I then print these games out and file them into a binder. I set up a standard board and play through the games...

Here is one of the earlier versions of Rybka released vs Aice

1. f4 f5
2. Nc3 e6 - I once played 2. e5!? g6?? 3. exf5 gxf5?? 4. Qh5# :)
3. Nf3 Bb4
4. e3 Nf6 - another very common setup. I generally don't play this move order though.

5. a3 Bxc3 - retreating the bishop is more common, white now has the bishop pair.
6. bxc3 O-O
7. a4 d6
8. Bc4 d5 - Be2 is more common but this opens the a3-f8 diagonal which is crucial in this game.

9. Be2 Bd7
10. 0-0 Re8
11. Bb2 Na6 - a great place for white's dark squared bishop, black is heading to c5
12. Ne5 Nc5 - This is the ideal spot for whites Knight in the Bird's opening.

13. a5 Ne4 - pointless move for black, although it allows him to make a long maneuver to get rid of the white knight on e5
14. d3 Nd6
15. Rf3 Nf7 - Rook moves in for the attack! After using several key tempo's black can finally get rid of the powerful e5 knight.
16. Rg3 Qe7
17. c4 Nxe5
18. fxe5! Ng4 - Much better than capturing with the bishop
19. Bxg4 fxg4 - Wins a crucial pawn, opens the f file and creates a mating threat!

20. Qxg4 dxc4?? - pointless, white has a completely dominating position
21. Ba3! Qf7 - corralling the queen
22. Rf1 Qxf1+ - Goodbye to blacks regal lady
23. Kxf1 g6 - What else can black do?
24. Qh4 cxd3 - exploit the holes in the defense
25. Rh3 Rf8+ - pointless check

26. Bxf8 dxc2 - is this pawn a threat?
27. Qxh7+ Kxf8
28. Qh8+ Ke7 - if only black had one extra temp...
29. Qf6+? Ke8 - astounding that Rybka missed Rh7#!
30. Rh8# Game over

A great game that shows some typical themes of the Bird's opening.

E Williams - H Staunton (1851)

2009-10-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

Mr Williams shows Mr Staunton that he too can use the Bird's opening!

1. f4 d5
2. e3 c5
3. Nf3 e6
4. Bf5+ Bd7

A typical position in the Bird's opening

The ideas behind this position is pretty obvious, White has a King side attack started and black is preparing the counter attack on the Queen side. Now we need to resolve the center before too much action can be taken! I have seen this position hundreds of times in my games.

5. Bxd7+ Nxd7
6. 0-0 g6
7. c4 d4 - I personally don't care for c4 here, c4 is great while you can recapture with the light squared bishop. Kind of like a Queens Gambit Accepted.

8. Qe2 Bg7 - a fianchetto by black! Staunton had ideas that were far ahead of his contemporaries.
9. e4 Nh6 - Staunton sees the upcoming threat of f5
10. d3 0-0
11. h3 f5
12. Nd2 a6 - I certainly like whites position now, black has a poor choice between locking the center or opening up a file that leads to his king.
13. Ng5 Re8
14. e5 b5
15. b3 Rb8 - Now that the center is locked up, blacks only hope is on the queenside
16. Ndf3 Bf8
17. Qf2 Rb7
18. Qh4 Nb8 - cxb5 is a good alternative for white
19. Ba3 Qc7 - come play on this side my dear black lady!

20. Nxd4 b4?? - perhaps Qd8 for black?
21. Ndxe6 Rxe6
22. Nxe6 Qe7
23. Qxe7 Rxe7
24. Nxf8 bxa3 - I kinda like Nxc5
25. Nxg6 hxg6 - blacks pawns are in shambles its really game over now
26. b4 cxb4
27. d4 Rc7 - wow look at the power of those three central white pawns!

28. Rac1 Kf7
29. d5 Rc5
30. Kf2 a5 - oh yeah way to go Mr King... send your wife out to do the dirty work and now come out and claim all the credit
31. Ke3 a4
32. Kd4 Na6
33. Rb1 Ra5
34. Rfc1 b3 - Rf3 is also a good choice
35. c5 Nb4
36. Kc4 Na6
37. c6 Ng8

38. d6 Ke6 - can the pawn make it to Thailand???
39. c7 Nxc7 - almost, but not quite. It cost black a thoroughbred though.
40. dxc7 Ne7
41. Kb4 Ra8
42. Kxa3 Kd7
43. axb3 axb3
44. Kxb3 Nc6 - there goes the blacks last hope on the Queen side
45. Rxc6! Kxc6
46. Rc1+ Black resigns

Resigning makes perfect sense to me at this point! Fear the power of a well played Bird's opening :)