CHESS IN MOVIES

I have two chess movies on my CD rack, The Luzhin Defence and Innocent Moves (or sometimes called Searching for Bobby Fischer). However, there are many chess movies made which I love to get a hold on. Some of the movies in the list here are taken from Movies and Chess website:

• Chess Fever (1925) was a hilarious old Russian short film. A bride nearly gets mad because her betrothed (played by the russian comidian Pudovkin) has more interest in chess than in her (and everybody around her likewise). The grandmaster tournament Moscow 1925 plays an important part in the plot. The world champion in this movie is played by J.R.Capablanca.
• The Seventh Seal (1957). A Knight and his squire are home from the crusades. Black Death is sweeping their country. As they approach home, Death appears to the knight and tells him it is his time. The knight challenges Death to a chess game for his life. The Knight and Death play as the cultural turmoil envelopes the people around them as they try, in different ways, to deal with the upheaval the plague has caused.
• Return From the Ashes (1965) Stanislaus Pilgrin, a Polish chess master and handsome gigolo, marries wealthy Jewish widow, Dr. Michele Wolf, an X-ray technician and has an affair with her step-daughter, Fabienne and then plots to murder them both in a scheme that will have him inherit their money.
• Night Moves, a 1975 Classic Detective movie not to be confused with the more recent Knight Moves, this movie featured Melanie Griffith and Gene Hackman as a detective who uses the famous game where the GM missed the sacrifice of his queen to mate with three little "Knight moves" to illustrate how he feels he is overlooking something important to solve a murder.
• The Great Chess Movie (1982) with an interview with Igor Ivanov. Chess and the best players of the game are the focus of this video which examines and analyzes players such as Anatoly Karpov, Viktor Korchnoi and Bobby Fischer.
• Dangerous Moves (Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1985) Two very different men compete in the World Chess Championship Games. One is a 52-year-old Soviet Jew and chess master for the past 12-years, and the other is a 35-year-old genius who defected to the West several years earlier.
• Born American (1986) It was really a very bad movie, 3 young Americans decide to test the security on the Finnish-Soviet border, get caught and thrown in a gulag, in the gulag they find that the prisoner society is run by chess games, with human pieces, that decide who is the strongest.
• Knight Moves (1992) A chess grandmaster is in a big tournament, and when his lover is found painted up and the blood drained out of her body he becomes a chief suspect. After he gets a call from the killer urging him to try and figure out the game, he cooperates with police and a psychologist to try and catch the killer, but doubts linger about the grandmaster's innocence as the string of grisly murders continues.
• Searching For Bobby Fischer or Innocent Moves (1993) Notice in the scene where Josh is playing the guy at the Manhatten Chess Club (the Gummy Bear guy) and notice what colour he has when the game begins. Then notice what colour the guy is playing when he tips over his king and resigns. It is a very good movie about a father and son relationship in which chess takes an important part. But it's not a film "about chess".
• Fresh (1994) Michael (or Fresh as he's well known) is a 12-year-old drug pusher who lives in a crowded house with his cousins and aunt. His father has become a street bum,but still meets with fresh on occasion to play chess. Fresh is rather quiet in a crazy world. Fresh' sister is a junkie who sleeps with the dealers that fresh sells for. As the story progresses Fresh realizes that he doesn't want to sell drugs anymore, he wants revenge.
• Long Live the Queen (1996) A Dutch childrens' movie, Esme Lammers. Tiba Tossijn stars as a bright but misunderstood schoolgirl who escapes unhappiness when, in her imagination, chess pieces come alive and the White Queen (vivacious Moniqe van de Ven) advises her both on the best moves to make on the chess board and in life itself.
• The Luzhin Defence (2000) Set in the late 1920s, The Luzhin Defence tells the story of a shambling, unworldly chess Grand Master who arrives in the Italian Lakes to play the match of his life and unexpectedly finds the love of his life. Discovering his prodigious talent in boyhood overshadowed by his parents' failing marriage, Luzhin's lyrical passion for chess has become his refuge and rendered the real world a phantom. Already matched up by her family to the very suitable Comte de Stassard, when Natalia meets Luzhin, she is drawn to the erratic genius and offers him a glimpse outside of his chess obsession. But it is a world he is not equipped to deal with and his two worlds collide to tragic effect.
• Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine (2004) Campbell and Hsuing-Tsu had worked side by side with master chess player Joel Benjamin to create a machine that could compete with the top human chess experts, and while Kasparov easily bested Deep Blue in their first tournament, it was a different story a year when he returned for a rematch. In the second game of the series, Kasparov was so roundly defeated that the champion began suggesting IBM was the computer as a decoy for a human player, and what started as a friendly exercise between Deep Blue's designers and the champion became an increasingly ugly battle of egos with many viewing the event as a publicity stunt used to prop up IMB's sagging public image.
• Schwarz und Weiss wie Tag und Nacht which is in German and has English subtitles. It's a little corny, a computer genius programs computer to play chess, it loses badly to the World Champion who makes fun of the programmers effort, so the genius learns to play at the top level himself with the idea of getting even.
  

CHESS ONLINE

I like playing chess online. Pitting my brain skills against opponents from all over the world. There are several places where I usually play online chess.

1. Gamecolony.com


The graphic is quite okay, but the bubble sound is a little bit intimidating. There's only one playing hall to choose from, and it is the biggest drawback of the site, even though the strength of the players are good sometimes. It sends your games to your e-mail.


2. Chesscube.com


Great graphic display, easy to play, and save my games in .pgn format by just a click. It has plenty of chess cafe to choose from, even though the quality of the players remains to be seen.


3. ItsYourTurn.com


This is actually is a correspondence chess, where moves being made without the players sitting in front of their computers at the same time. You can also send a message with each of your moves and keeping notes on what you intended to do for each position. It is a good place to make your best moves on the board.

MANCHESTER UNITED 'CHECKMATED'!

At last! Fergie's Sicilian Scheveningen is not invincible after all. Without Liverpool's double Knights Gerrard and Torres, they still beat their fiercest rivals, albeit in their own Anfield fortress. What makes it sweeter is that they won it by coming from a goal down, trailing after just 2 minutes of the game played, courtesy of Tevez's goal. However, both the wing pawns Riera and Kuyt created enough chaos inside Man Utd's castle. The former harassed Wes Brown until he scored an own goal, while the latter fed Babel to score the winner.

Babel and co. reeled away in delight as Rio Ferdinand looked in dejection

LIVERPOOL vs MANCHESTER UNITED

Anfield, 13 September 2008

7.40p.m. Malaysian time

The most awaited fixture of the season is finally here. I can't wait to see LFC beat Man Utd at home turf. It is interesting to see how Rafa the chessmaster overcome Alex this time as he failed to do it for three seasons running (in the league, at least, as we won the FA Cup contest). No Gerrard, no Torres, Keane have to be at his very best to get through Fergie's chessmen. If I were the LFC manager, I would play the wing attack against Man Utd's tough Sicilian Scheveningen (just to stay within chess terms and territorries), pushing my g and h pawns up to shatter their defense. So, my g pawn (Albert Riera) and h pawn (Dirk Kuyt) should supply the much needed ammonition to the centre pawns (Robbie Keane and Ryan Babel) to produce the checkmate! It means I have to postpone my Terawikh prayer tomorrow night.

Robbie Keane

My line-up

GK Pepe Reina
LB Andrea Dossena
RB Steve Finnan
CB Daniel Agger
CB Jamie Carragher (c)
LM Albert Riera
RM Dirk Kuyt
CM Xabi Alonso
CM Javier Mascherano
ST Robbie Keane
ST Ryan Babel

MEMORABLE COMBINATIONS

Yours Truly - Lim Yeang Khee
GACC III (Round 6), 28.10.1998

This position arose from the Pirc Defense, and both sides were attacking their opponents King vigorously. Black has just played 26...Nd5, attacking my Queen. Do I run away, or do I plot another move?

27.Rxh7+
My first coach was an ex-National player who drills everybody into sacrificing, sacrificing and sacrificing your pieces in order to gain an advantage, or to burn your opponent's castle. Moves like this were filling my head during that time due to many exercises he gave us during the training sessions. Actually, if you really look into the position deeply, you can see that there is a possibility of a King hunt. You only have to pry open the castle's door by sacrificing a piece.

27...Kxh7 28.Qf7+ Kh6 29.Rh1+ Kg5 30.f4+ Nxf4
Even 30...Kg4 cannot help in view of 31.Qxg6+ Kxf4 32.Rh5 and mate is not that far away. I cannot help but smiled when he moved the Knight and captured the sacrificed (yes, another sacrifice, and its called 'clearance sacrifice' - according to some books) little pawn. It only made my task easier. By now there were many spectators gathering around our table; our teammates included.

31.Nf3+ Kg4 32.Rh4+ Kg3 33.Qxf4+ Kf2 34.Nd4+ 1-0
Boy, what a great feeling to come out victorious after the see-saw battle! Black surely had nightmares afterward, I know I will after being defeated by a junior like me (I was still in matriculation when summoned to play for the University team).

Final position

AGE AND CHESS

Now, the second question pertaining age and chess - when is the right time to TEACH chess to your descendant? My son will be six-month-old this coming September, and he already has a piece of chessman as his first toy! I hope it is not too early to introduce him this global game as a hobby. Seeing the chess piece in his hands makes me extremely happy - he just holds it firmly in his tiny little hand. It is true that we parents determine the colour of our children, whether they will be as white as cotton or as black as cave. So if you so happen to be a chess enthusiast, and a football crazy, it is likely that your children will follow suit. When you look at the pictures, you'll see what I mean!





Football fanatics!

MAKSAK Penang

Date: 1-3 August 2008
Venue: Sri Penang Hall, Penang Road

MAKSAK Chess, Carom and Dart was held at the Sri Penang Hall, a beautiful building comprises of many halls situated near the sea. This year, I was selected to play for Kelantan in chess along with 5 other government servants (4 teachers and a policeman). Kelantan were paired with WP Labuan, WP Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Perlis in Group B where we manage to get a total of 12 points to enter the Winners Pool along with KL, Johor, Terengganu, Pahang, Sarawak, Selangor and Penang. However, the Kelantan team finished poorly with only 12.5 points to show for our efforts. Individually, I was not satisfied with my own performance, albeit I played most of my games (7/8 games) with Black! Even though I cannot make it as an excuse, but surely playing with Black pieces for the whole tournament will effect your performance, as you have to defend opposition's onslaughts most of the time.

Group B Match Results

Game 1: WP Labuan 1 - Kelantan 3
Game 2: Kelantan 2 - KL 2
Game 3: Johor 1 - Kelantan 3
Game 4: Kelantan 4 - Perlis 0


Winners Pool Results

Game 1: Penang 3 - Kelantan 1
Game 2: Johor 1 - Kelantan 3
Game 3: Terengganu 3.5 - Kelantan 0.5
Game 4: Kelantan 2 - KL 2
Game 5: Kelantan 2 - Selangor 2
Game 6: Pahang 3 - Kelantan 1
Game 7: Kelantan 3 - Sarawak 1

Final Standings

1st Terengganu 21 points
2nd WP Kuala Lumpur 15.5 points
3rd Pahang 15 points
4th Selangor 14.5 points
5th Sarawak 13 points
6th Kelantan 12.5 points
7th Johor 12.5 points
8th Penang 8 points

For full MAKSAK chess results, please browse to Muhammad Arshad's blog and Hairul's blog.

Finally, do enjoy some pictures from the tournaments.

Chess playing hall

Carom playing hall

Dart playing hall

Kelantan chess team

Yours Truly concentrating

Hotel where Kelantan team stayed

Kelantan vs Pahang

Kelantan vs Terengganu

Champions Terengganu

THE UNBREAKABLE KING

UKM Hardcore - Yours Truly
KUiTTHO Chess Challenge (Round 3), 23.03.2002

This is my third encounter with him. The first was played during our friendly match with UKM, discussing the Classical variation. Our second was in the Merdeka tournament 1999, debating the Sveshnikov variation. However, this is the first time I played with Black, so the Najdorf variation is very much expected.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0–0–0 Nbd7 10.g4 b5 11.Bxf6 gxf6

After 11…gxf6

This position offers chances for both players. From the White side, the mobility of his pieces and clear-cut plan (usually attacking the pawn mass in the center) makes his game freer. However, Black’s defensive resources are not to be underestimated. The pawn mass in the center and counter attacking chances in the Queen’s wing balances White slight advantage. Black can castle Kingside, or not castle at all, if he so wishes.

The irony is that not many players are courageous enough to play this line, opting instead for 11…Nxf6 or 11 Bxf6. In fact, I can say that I am the only player in Malaysia who play this line, and with great results! Among those who have been my victims were Muhammad Arshad and Nor Ilhamuddin, both were Terengganu’s best players. The cause of their defeat was that they were unprepared to face this line, as they have not encountered it anywhere. This is the case here in this game. The fact that White spend 15 minutes on his next move shows.

12.Bh3

The usual move here is 12.f5, exerting pressure on the e6 pawn – the crux of White’s plan. It is then followed by Qh3 and Nc3 - e2 - f4, adding to the misery of the e6 pawn. I don’t know what is his idea with this move.

12…Nc5 13.Nb3
This knight move from the center is not to be recommended.

12… b4 14.Nxc5 dxc5 15.Ne2 Bb7 16.Rhe1 Rc8 17.f5
Trying to open the game, as for now Black has all the spaces he needed.

17… e5

Denying White’s Knight the access to d4 and f4. 17… Qe5 is playable, with the idea of pushing the a-pawn down the board to a3. However, I was not going to give him any counter play.

18.g5 c4 19.gxf6 Bxf6 20.c3 Bc6

I try to complicate the position with the threat of 21…Ba4. The b4 pawn is a temporary sacrifice, as Black will get it back with devastating position.

21.cxb4 Qb7
Threatening both the e4 and b4 pawn, thus gaining the material back.

22.Nc3 Qxb4 23.Kb1 Rb8
Pressuring White’s defense with the immediate threat of mate.

24.Re2 h5 25.Bf1
The unfortunate Bishop is trying to get to the defense of White’s King.

25…Rg8

The last piece to enter the game, after watching it from the edge of the board. The h5 pawn in immune because of the undefended Knight. Can you believe this rook will help in the final mating attack?

26.Rc2 Rg4 27.Bxc4?

Frankly speaking, this move is beyond my expectation. The idea is to lure Black Queen in the line of the rook on c2. With 28.Nd5 to follow, threatening the Bishop and the Queen, White can hope to get better exchange. However, White is in for surprises!

After 27.Bxc4

27…Qxc4! 28.Nd5 Bxd5! 29.Rxc4 Bxc4
Black’s exchange of the Queen for three of White’s pieces is totally justified.

30.Qc3 Rxe4 31.Qf3

White desperately tries to get into the Black’s camp. The rook seems lost as moving it will allow White’s Queen to penetrate into c6 with check. However, White is in for more surprises!

31…Rxb2+!

After 31… Rxb2+!

I spend about 5 minutes on this spectacular move. It is unbelievable that despite the absence of the Queen, Black can still sacrifice his rook!

32.Kxb2 Re2+ 33.Ka3??

A bad blunder in time trouble. The best defense is 33.Kc1, when Black is to play accurately to realize his advantage. Even then Black’s control of the board will prevail. Some sample line 33….e4 34.Qxh5 Bb2+ 35.Kb1 Be5 36.Rd5 Bd3+ 37.Rxd3 exd3 38.Qh4 Bc3 39.Kc1 Re1+ 40.Qxe1+ Bxe1 41.Kd1 Bc3. However, White’s best would be 34.Qf4 Bb2+ 35.Kb1 Bxa2+ 36.Kxa2 Be5+ 37.Qd2 Rxd2+ 38.Rxd2 Ke7 (diagram), when accurate play by Black is needed.

Analysis position

33…Be7+ 0–1

Unavoidable mate. Notice that Black’s King has not move an inch from the start of the game until it ends. It is unbreakable!

Final position

KELANTAN OPEN 2008

Date: 11th - 12th July 2008
Venue: State Stadium, Kota Bharu
Format: 6 rounds Swiss

Open chess tournaments are a rarity in Kelantan these days. Therefore, you must take the opportunity whenever there is one. Last weekend (11th - 12th July 2008), an open chess tournament was held at the state stadium, and I was never going to miss it. Fortunately, it is this Saturday that I have to attend a course at my school, thus enabling me to participate in the tournament. I was eager to test my competitive chess nerve as well as my knowledge in chess theories, whether I still have it or I already lost it in a drain. That and the added motivation of dubbing this tournament as a selection for MAKSAK which will be held at Penang earlier next month made it necessary for me to participate in it. Given the 9th seed among the 50 odd players in the Open category made my path easier for the first 3 rounds. The 4th round pitted me against a former national player Azhari whom I beat before going down fighting to Abdullah Che Hassan (picture below).

The last round was an anti-climax as my opponent blundered away 2 pawns in the opening which he never got back. Finishing with 5 points placed me 4th, but considering that 4th place's prize money was RM100 shorter than Kelantan's Best Player, I was given the latter. It was really so, as the first to third came from Johor, Terengganu dan Pahang, respectively.

See also Muhammad Arshad's blog on this tournament here.


Final Standings

Open Category

1. Abdullah Che Hassan
   
2. Muhammad Arshad
3. Mohd Khair
4. Yours Truly (Best Kelantan Player)
5. Azahari Mohd Nor
6. Kamal Azmi
7. Abd Khalid Musa
8. Ali Akbar Kuning
9. Mohd Zainuddin
10. Fairul Yusoff
11. Hamidi

Under-15 Category

1. Ahmad Zulhilmi
2. Laila Husna
3. Wan Emilia Elisha
4. Fadhil Aiman
5. Mohd Afiq Aiman
6. Mohd Muhaimin
7. Najihah
8. Mohd Fadhil
9. Mohd Afham
10. Mohd Ahza

CHESS LEARNING AGE

When is the right time to start learning chess? In my case, I learned chess when I was fifteen. I just finished my PMR exams and there was nothing to do except attending some post-PMR programmes organized by the school which was made compulsory for PMR students. I, however, went to the AV room and found several of my friends were playing chess. I learned the moves and no more than a year later I had beaten every one of them. So, is learning at an earlier age gives an advantage over late learners, or is it the other way around? The famous story of the Polgar sisters, who were trained by their father when they were merely 4 years olds, seems to stress the point. Nevertheless, a blogger by the name of Half Sigma does not agree and wrote an article refuting the works of Laszlo Polgar. In contrast, there's another father who initially did not make his child play chess, rather the child himself was a natural prodigy. Fred Waitzkin, and his chess prodigy Josh (picture right), were potrayed in a film The Innocent Moves (Searching for Bobby Fischer).

CHESS - RIGHT OR LEFT BRAIN?

Several years ago, at a time when my eyes can still perceive details, I used to like drawing portraits very much. However, I am not an artist who can draw life portraits from life human models, rather I draw portraits from pictures. Among the portraits I drew were those of artists (most of them female) such as Fauziah Latiff, Haleeda and Gillian Anderson of X-Files. I also drew the portrait of myself and one of my chess teammate during my time at the Matriculation Centre, IIUM.

I once learned that art, like drawing portraits and painting, involves the right side of the brain, while logical thinking and calculating invokes activities at the left side of the brain. Thus, a question can be raised - which side of the brain a chess player use? Actually, a study has found that chess activates both side of the brain. "Imagine yourself as a chess player about to checkmate your opponent," Grafman said in describing the work of the brain. "All your knowledge and experience are being retrieved for your next move. First, you perceive the pieces on the board and mentally separate the colour-coded pieces. Then you analyze their positions on the board, identify the value of the different pieces, and retrieve the rules of the game for any move. If you are a skilled player like the 10 subjects in this study, you also recognize specific patterns that signify when you have an advantage over your opponent. Finally you have to analyze the consequences of your potential moves and the countermoves of your opponent."

The Functions of the Brain

Here are the differences between the characteristics of both sides of our brain. And here is a test to determine which side of the brain we use more than the other.

CHESS IN GUA MUSANG

Gua Musang Chess Team 2008

The city of Gua Musang - who would have known that there are chess activities in this rural territory of Kelantan. Even before I come to this city, there already were chess selections for the students who wish to participate in MSSM chess tournaments. Notwithstanding the fact that the aboriginal people or 'Orang Asli' once form the majority of the population, participations from Gua Musang always lighten up MSSM Kelantan chess tournaments. Last year, after I came to prominence as the Head Coach of Gua Musang chess team, we brought 24 enthusiastic students to MSSM Kelantan. As a result, one of our students, Nor Laila from SMK Tengku Bendahara, Jerek, nearly selected to represent Kelantan for the national MSSM chess tournament. For this year, we decided to bring along 34 students to storm the selections. And storm we did, as one of our under-12 kid, Lokman from Paloh, was selected to represent the state to the nationals in Malacca.

Here are some of the pictures at the Gua Musang selection in Jerek:

Sulala Anjang - An Orang Asli who plays chess

Nur Dalilah - Under-15 Female Champion

Mohd Helmy (right) - Under-18 Male Champion

Click here for more pictures.

And click here for pictures of the Gua Musang team at the state selection at SM Teknik, Kuala Krai.

FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE

FM Anas Nazreen Bakri

Yours Truly - Anas Nazreen (2193)
Malay Open (Round 8), 03.02.2003

Sicilian Najdorf

This was my first encounter against Anas in a real competitive game. I had played him once at KYM during the blitz tournament. It was unfortunate that I forgot the game where I completely smashed his king shield before blundering during the time trouble. I could’ve repeated the variation though, if only I can recall it during this game. I always enjoyed pushing my g-pawn up to shatter my opponents’ Scheveningen pawn structure. Kasparov once said that if his opponent wants to win against his Najdorf – Scheveningen set up, they must push the g-pawn. That’s how I destroyed Anas’ King’s fortress then, but this time the push was a little too late.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.a4 Be7 8.Be3 Nc6 9.0–0 0–0 10.Kh1

After 10.Kh1

This was where I deviated from the above-mentioned game, although this game quickly transposes back to that game continuation three moves later. [refer note on move 13] I timely pushed the g-pawn up, destroyed his King’s shelter, and sent him on the run to seek refuge on the Queenside. However, during the time scramble, and his King already at d7 from his previous position at g8, I blundered away a checkmate. What an anti climax ending to a relatively interesting and pulsating game. Here I give you the variation, even though not to the end because it was a blitz tournament, and I could not remind it correctly.
[10.f4 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 b6 12.Bf3 Bb7 13.g4 h6 14.Be3 Qc7 15.g5 hxg5 16.fxg5 Nd7 17.Kh1 Rad8 18.Bg2 Ne5 19.Qh5 Nc4 20.Bc1+- Me - Anas Nazreen, KYM 2002 Blitz, 18/5/2002 0–1]

10...Qc7 11.f4 b6 12.Bf3 Bb7 13.Qe1
This was where I should push my g-pawn. I couldn’t quite remember why I chickened out during this game and move the Queen instead. I’ve played this position many times before against coach Rizal in training and spectacularly won some of them. Moving the Queen to e1 involves some positional play, whereas 13.g4 is purely a direct attacking play.

13...Na5 14.Qf2 Nc4 15.Bc1 Rac8 16.b3 Na5 17.Bb2 Nc6 18.Nxc6 Bxc6 19.Rae1
I’ve mistakenly put this Rook on the wrong square. Correct is 19...Rad1 controlling the half opened file: a basic Rook maxim.

19...e5 20.f5 b5 21.axb5 axb5 22.g4
Now this move is a little too late. Black threatens to win a pawn at c2, therefore I must consider giving up the exchange.

22...b4 23.Nd1 Bb5 24.Ne3 Bxf1 25.Rxf1 h6 26.h4 Nh7 27.Be2 Qd8!
An incredibly good move from a young boy like Anas. Suddenly I found myself giving away pawns after already lost the exchange. Nevertheless, I soundly develop an attacking position against his King using my two Bishop arsenal.

28.g5 hxg5 29.Bd3 gxh4 30.Rg1 Ng5 31.Qg2 Bf6 32.Nd5 Kh8 33.Bc1 Nh7 34.Be3
Threatening 35.Bb6, pushing his Queen away from the defense of the Bishop at f6. Once the Queen moves away, I can safely take the Bishop while threatening mate at g7. Yet, this wonder kid have anticipated the threat and moved…

34...Rb8 35.Bd2 Rg8 36.Bxb4 g5 37.Qg4 Rg7 38.Be1 Ra8 39.Bf2 Ra2 40.b4 Be7 41.Bb6 Qf8 42.Qh5 Kg8 43.Be3
This was the critical position. I should have played 43.Qh6!, threatening to fork the Rook and the Bishop. It was hard to find this simple Queen move during the time pressure. Oh, did I mention that at this very moment, I had 2 minutes to his 10? Analyzing this game afterward, I found that Black is lost in all variations:

Analysis diagram after 43.Qh6

43...g4 (43...f6 is a mistake. 44.Nxe7+ Qxe7 45.Bc4+ winning the Rook, while 43...Bd8 44.Bxd8 Qxd8 45.Bc4 Rxc2 46.f6 Rg6 47.Ne7+ also wins the Rook) 44.f6 Bxf6 45.Nxf6+ Nxf6 46.Qxf6 +-

43...Nf6 44.Qh6?
Now this move is a mistake. I should have played 44.Nxe7 Qxe7 45.Bxg5! Nxh5 46.Bxe7 Rxg1 47.Kg1 where position is roughly equal.

44...Nxd5 45.exd5 f6 46.Qh5 Qf7 47.Qxf7+
Keeping the Queens with 47.Qf3 is the best option. However, as my time clocked away, I thought that playing without the Queens was safer.

47...Rxf7 48.b5 Bd8 49.Rb1 Rb7 50.Kg2 Bb6 51.Bd2 Kf7 52.Kf3 Bc5 53.Be4 Ra4 54.Rb3 g4+ 0–1

Final position