Annotated Game #364: Always capture en passant

In this next tournament game, my positional troubles can be directly traced to passing up the chance for an en passant capture. While no chess decisionmaking rule is 100%, usually the burden of proof should be on not capturing en passant, whenever there is a chance for it. Here I over-estimated the worth of my advanced e-pawn and instead gave my opponent a nearly strategically won game, after what had been a rather unambitious approach by White in a Dutch Stonewall. Despite that, I perservered and achieved an equal position after sorting out my cramped pieces. My opponent, apparently disappointed in seeing her edge vanish, then decided on a somewhat speculative - but difficult to meet in practice - deflection sacrifice. At first I calculated the response well, but got tired/lazy at the end of the sequence and my opponent pounced on the mistake.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Class B"] [Black "ChessAdmin"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "A84"] [PlyCount "45"] [GameId "2345579122020421"] 1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. c4 d5 {the Dutch Stonewall.} 5. Be2 c6 6. O-O Bd6 7. b3 Qe7 {the standard response to prevent White from exchanging the dark-square bishop after Ba3.} 8. Bb2 O-O 9. Nbd2 Ne4 (9... b6 $5 {allows Black to develop the light-square bishop, which has even fewer prospects than normal on the kingside, thanks to White's Be2.} 10. Ne5 Bb7 {and Black is very solid.}) 10. Nxe4 {an unambitious choice by White.} fxe4 11. Ne5 Nd7 $11 {Black should have a relatively easy game now, which however I took too much for granted.} 12. f4 Bxe5 $2 {I thought for a while here about what I considered the three main possible choices in response, and picked the worst by far.} (12... exf3 $1 {the engine shows as equal. I did not want to give up what I considered as my strong e4 pawn on (mistaken) principle.} 13. Nxf3 e5 $11 {and Black has an equally dynamic game as White in the center.}) (12... Nxe5 $6 13. dxe5 Bc5 14. Bd4 Ba3 $14) 13. fxe5 {now White's pawns are at least as strong as Black's, while the light-square bishop is better by far and the dark-square bishop can later be activated on the a3-f8 diagonal.} Rxf1+ {I recognized that my pieces were rather clogged up, so I thought exchanging would help.} 14. Qxf1 Nf8 15. Qf2 $16 {a "good enough" move by my opponent, to continue to increase the pressure on the f-file.} (15. a4 $1 $18 {with the idea of Ba3 would be strategically winning.}) 15... Bd7 $6 (15... b6 {I did consider as an alternative way of getting the bishop out. However the b-pawn's greatest utility would be in fighting for the c5 square, which becomes important later.}) 16. Rf1 $6 (16. a4 $1 {is still the way.}) 16... Ng6 $11 {now I should be fine, with my pieces untangled.} 17. Ba3 $6 {I saw this sacrificial idea (deflection tactic from f7) only after playing the previous move. It looked difficult to meet, and my opponent after much thought chose to play it.} Qxa3 {after much calculation, I decided (correctly) that this was best. All other moves in fact lose.} 18. Qf7+ Kh8 19. Qxd7 Qxa2 $15 {again the correct choice. I do not like grabbing pawns on principle, but the queen needs to stay active and make threats against the Be2 and the weak e3 pawn, and it is best to take a pawn as well. The engine evaluates this as a slight Black advantage.} 20. Qxb7 {now however I fail to grasp the needs of the position and lose. I was concerned about White's queen vacuuming up my pawns, but my own queen's activity in White's backfield would tactically defend.} Rf8 $4 (20... Rd8 $5 21. Bg4 Qd2) (20... Rg8 {was simplest to defend and the idea had occurred to me earlier, but for whatever reason I did not sufficiently consider it here.} 21. Bg4 Qd2 {White cannot defend e3 and as a result cannot bring additional forces to bear in the attack.} 22. Bxe6 Qxe3+ 23. Kh1 $11) 21. Rxf8+ Nxf8 22. Qf7 $1 {other queen moves work, but this is most forcing. I simply had not made the effort to calculate this far ahead, assuming that the lone queen could not be dangerous after the rook exchange.} Qa3 {a desperation defense, although I expected my opponent to play} 23. c5 {to block the diagonal and she did so, therefore I resigned.} 1-0

Annotated Game #363: Opening knowledge matters

As in the previous Annotated Game #362, my lack of familiarity with the opening - this time as Black in the Dutch vs. a London System - is a fundamental flaw in my play. As I continue to learn and absorb lessons in my new openings (Colle System as White, Dutch as Black), the dynamic of "learn by losing" is certainly evident. In this second-round tournament game we can see a lack of understanding over where best to place Black's pieces repeatedly undermining my position, along with a lack of awareness of potential opportunities early in the opening (6...g5!) While tightening up on my thinking process obviously would help - that is always the case - there has been a curious and notable difference between confidently knowing where my pieces should go and what structures are good in an opening, and flailing around in new territory where my assumptions about what "looks good" are not necessarily valid. This is why the process of analyzing your own games is so important, to make sure there is a feedback loop that is identified and then implemented for long-term learning.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Class B"] [Black "ChessAdmin"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "A80"] [PlyCount "51"] [GameId "2345579122020420"] 1. d4 f5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. e3 {a London System move-order that defers placing the knights.} e6 4. Bd3 b6 (4... Be7 {the text move seems fine, and is the most played, but developing the dark-square bishop first scores better in the database.}) 5. Ne2 {a rare move. This does not seem like the best square for the knight, with no good squares to move to next.} Bb7 $11 6. O-O Be7 $6 {this seems like a normal developing move, but is not active enough and gives White a pass for his relatively lackadaisical opening play.} (6... g5 $1 {this did not occur to me, for probably obvious reasons - sacrificing the g-pawn does not immediately look like a profitable idea. However, the engine has no such prejudice and identifies White as the one who would lose from the opening of the g-file. A characteristic of the position, given a Bb7 with a clear view of g2.} 7. Bxg5 (7. Be5 Nc6 $17) (7. Bg3 h5 8. h4 Ng4 $17) 7... Rg8 $19 {with a devastating pin.}) 7. Nd2 O-O {now the ...g5 idea does not have as much bite, with the Nd2 available for kingside support.} 8. h3 $14 {clearing h2 for a bishop retreat, if needed.} d6 {I had better options than this slow, stereotyped move.} (8... Bd6 $5 {looks strange, but after the exchange of bishops - White's is certainly better than Black's, so it makes sense - the doubled d-pawn would perform a useful function for Black. White has at most only a slight advantage.} 9. Bxd6 cxd6 $14 {followed by ...Nc6 and Black has a comfortable game.}) (8... c5 {would immediately challenge White in the center.}) 9. c4 Qe8 {a standard developing move for the queen, looking for a more useful diagonal (e8-h5).} (9... c5 $5 10. d5 exd5 11. Bxf5 dxc4 12. Nxc4 d5 13. Ne5 Qe8 $14) 10. Qc2 {while not an immediate problem, this move cuts off the Bd3's retreat and could cause problems if White is not careful.} Nbd7 $6 {"long think, wrong think" here. The knight does better on c6 in most cases.} (10... Nc6 {here it threatens to go to b4 and force an exchange of White's light-square bishop, as well as support e6-e5.} 11. a3 $2 e5 $1 $17 {with the threat to go to e4 and win the Bd3.}) (10... Qg6 $11 {would be a natural follow-up to the previous move, placing the queen on the g-file and controlling e4.}) 11. Nf3 h6 $6 {this ends up being weakening and missing several other good ideas.} (11... Kh8 {a common prophylactic move to get the king off the g8-a2 diagonal and clear g8 for a rook.} 12. Ng5 $6 {is not good because e6 is tactically protected.} e5 13. Ne6 $2 e4 $1) (11... Bxf3 {I considered, but did not want to give up my lovely-looking bishop. However, the structural damage inflicted would be worth it.} 12. gxf3 Kh8 $11 {renewing the idea of playing ...g5}) (11... Qg6) 12. Bh2 {smartly withdrawing the bishop in advance. This now leaves f4 open for the knight.} g5 $2 {too slow; piece activity is what is needed. White now takes advantage of my clogged center.} (12... Ne4 {and if} 13. Nf4 Qf7 $14) 13. d5 $1 $16 {I only appreciated the strength of this move after it was played, not having adequately considered it before, just vaguely assuming an exchange would be fine. Unfortunately I do not have enough pieces actively playing - a rook on c8 would be nice now, for example, to cover the c-file weakness.} Nc5 {it is best to counterattack, and I play accurately through the next sequence, but this is not enough for the defense.} 14. Nfd4 $1 {nicely using control of the center to further target my weaknesses, in this case e6.} e5 15. Bxf5 $1 {another strong follow-up; sacrificing the Nd4 had not occurred to me as a possibility. There is no immediate knockout tactically, but White has two pawns for the piece and should have a dominating attack.} (15. Nxf5 e4 $14) 15... exd4 16. exd4 {the lesser option, leaving the Ne2 out of the attack for longer.} (16. Nxd4 $1 $18) 16... Ncd7 17. Ng3 $6 (17. f4 $16 {gets on with the attack by exchanging on g5 and opening the f-file.}) 17... Kg7 $2 {wrong square. I was mistakenly fixated on trying to cover g6, but the king is too vulnerable here.} (17... Kh8 $1 $14 {solves most of Black's problems, tucking the king in the corner and making g8 available for a piece.}) 18. Rae1 {now White's attack largely plays itself.} Bc8 $6 {trying to oppose the Bf5, but unfortunately this is too slow.} (18... Ng8 {this is better immediately. I could not decide between this and the text move after a long think, so decided to play the text move to (sort of) activate the bishop.}) 19. f4 $18 {now White is fully in control.} Ng8 {best but still losing.} 20. fxg5 {good enough to continue the attack.} (20. Be6 $18) 20... hxg5 21. Qe2 $6 Ndf6 $2 {I was eager to play this - visually it looks like the knight is riding to the rescue while the Bc8 is activated - but now there is a winning forcing sequence after White's next move, which I did not sufficiently check, thinking it would be a great thing to eliminate the Bf5. Unfortunately, it is replaced by an even stronger knight on the square.} (21... Kh8 $1 $16 {this at first glance looks terrible, with all my pieces backed up in a jumble, but White has no knockout blows.}) 22. Bxc8 $1 $18 Rxc8 23. Nf5+ Kg6 $2 {all moves lose, this one does it faster.} (23... Kh8 24. Nxe7 Nxe7 25. Qxe7 Qxe7 26. Rxe7 $18 {and White has a winning endgame.}) 24. Qd3 Kf7 25. Nxd6+ cxd6 26. Qh7# 1-0

Annotated Game #362: Naivete in the King's Indian

In this first-round tournament game, my naivete as White about the King's Indian Defense (KID) is on display. While I am never worried about facing it, my relative lack of experience sometimes means that my opponents can get away with over-aggressive or incorrect ideas. Here I was not sure what to do in the center initially, then allowed myself to be overly concerned about essentially empty threats on the kingside. My opponent however did an excellent job of taking advantage of my awkward piece placement via a decisive knight move toward the center that set up the winning sequence.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "ChessAdmin"] [Black "Class B"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "E61"] [PlyCount "45"] [GameId "2345579122020419"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Be2 O-O 5. O-O d6 {unsurprisingly going for a King's Indian setup.} 6. c4 Nbd7 7. Nc3 Re8 {Black overwhelmingly plays ...e5 here.} 8. Qc2 {normal queen development and the most played move here in the database. However, it does not attempt to take advantage of Black's move-order deviation.} (8. b4 $5 {might be a bit more challenging, grabbing more space on the queenside and clearing b2 for the bishop.} e5 9. Bb2 e4 10. Nd2 $14) (8. e4 {is recommended by the engines. The point being that after} e5 9. d5 $14 {is now possible. With the normal move-order, Black would have the option of exchanging on d4.}) 8... e5 9. dxe5 {as White, I still do not have a clear idea of what is best with regards to the central pawn structure in the KID. The d-pawn is faced with the options of exchanging, advancing, or doing nothing. The engine slightly favors maintaining the tension and playing a useful move.} (9. h3 $5) (9. Rd1) 9... Nxe5 10. Nxe5 (10. e4 $5 {to me seemed a bit loose, as my pieces would be tied to protecting the e-pawn.}) 10... Rxe5 $6 {I correctly felt this was an awkward place for the rook, but did not follow up strongly enough.} (10... dxe5 11. Rd1 $11) 11. b3 $11 (11. e4 $14 {I thought this would be good if the pawn had recaptured on e5, but for some reason did not consider it as much as a candidate move here. It can be supported as needed with f2-f3, controls d5 and f5, and the Bc1 can get out to a good square (e3/f4/g5).}) 11... Bf5 {this is always an annoying bishop development to deal with, but I was happy trading pieces equally.} 12. Bd3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Rh5 {this should not be a threat, but I over-thought things here.} 14. f3 $6 {the idea was to prevent ...Ng4 without allowing sacrificial ideas against the h-pawn.} (14. h3 {however would do the job just fine.}) (14. Bb2 {White can also simply ignore the rook and develop, protecting the Nc3 again and clearing the first rank for the Ra1.}) 14... Nd7 15. Rf2 {I am still OK here.} (15. Bd2 Qh4 16. h3 Nc5 17. Qc2 $11) (15. Bb2 Qh4 16. h3 Rg5 17. Kh1 $11) 15... Qh4 {after this very aggressive move I had a long think and played the second-best defensive option.} 16. h3 (16. g3 Ne5 {I saw this as a major threat, with the knight attempting to take tactical advantage of the queen's position and potential to take on f3.} (16... Nc5 17. Qc2 Qe7 18. Bd2 $11) 17. Qe2 {I was too worried about the hanging Nc3 and dismissed this prematurely. The advantage is that the queen reinforces f3 and the kingside better.} Qh3 {I failed to properly account for the fact that the queen would have to lose a tempo by moving first, giving time to protect or move the Nc3.} 18. Bb2 $16 (18. Nd5 $5)) 16... Be5 {now I simply fail to calcuate properly and ignore the possibility of ...Nc5, having been focused on ...Ne5 threats, which however were no longer possible.} 17. f4 $4 {I was too concerned about preventing ...Qg3, which gets Black nothing, in reality.} (17. Bb2 Qg3 18. f4 $1 {now defends, although White drops a pawn.} Nc5 19. Qd1 Bxc3 20. Bxc3 Qxe3 21. Bd4 Qd3 22. Qxd3 Nxd3 23. Rf3 Nb4 24. Bc3 a5 25. g4 Rc5 26. f5 $11 {White's excellent bishop is sufficient compensation for the material, along with Black's awkwardly placed pieces.}) 17... Nc5 $1 $19 {White is now lost, thanks to the new possibility of a Black knight fork.} 18. Qc2 Bxc3 19. Qxc3 Qxf2+ $1 {my opponent finds the best way to use the coming ...Ne4 fork. I resigned here, thinking I was simply down too much material. After the following sequence Black in fact would only be up an exchange, but White's position is shattered and lost anyway.} 20. Kxf2 Ne4+ 21. Kf3 Nxc3 22. Bb2 Na4 23. bxa4 $19 {and Black will easily pick up the a-pawn and proceed to win the endgame.} 0-1

Book completed - Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion's Life

      

I recently completed Mind Master: Winning Lessons From A Champion's Life (Hachette India, 2019) by GM Viswanathan Anand. Along with furnishing a number of highly appropriate "Training quotes of the day" the book provided unique insights into the former World Champion's mindset, training practices and toolkit for performing at the highest level. Here's a look at the table of contents:

The book itself is a mix of genres: personal memoir, professional/self-improvement advice, and chess history/politics from a first-person perspective. Despite the mashup format and being presented in a non-linear way, it actually works well and lives up to the title, mixing chess and life lessons in way accessible to the general (chess) public. It also relatably reflects Anand's personal voice - sometimes painfully, during candid descriptions of his low moments - although apparently it was professionally written from interviews with him.

The chess references are (thankfully) not dumbed down, although it is written with a non-chess professional audience in mind and is not really a "chess book" in the traditional sense of having a technical focus on the game. GM Yasser Seirawan's Chess Duels is perhaps the most similar to it in content, although Seriawan's focus is ultimately on the annotated games, while Anand's book contains only some key illustrative positions. 

Anand himself remains relevant in the chess world and this book is a rare, valuable and highly self-reflective treatment on what it takes to be a champion, including dealing with ugly personal and professional moments. This makes it a useful resource for serious aspiring chess improvers as well as an interesting inside look at world championship history. As is common with other top-level sports, the role of mindset and non-technical factors for a player is often decisive for performance, both on individual days and when striving long-term for increased levels of skill. These lessons are still very much applicable for those of use who are looking to achieve a level of chess mastery below that of World Champion.

Annotated Game #361: The Stonewall does its job, but I let it down

Often you will see players complaining about how their openings let them down, but I tend to have the reverse problem. The opening gives me the best result it can, but I let it down instead by not fulfilling its promise. The following last-round tournament game is a perfect illustration of this, as I could not have asked for anything more out of the Stonewall as Black, but was not able to press an overwhelming attack to its conclusion. However, it is precisely these kinds of specific failures that merit close analysis and study. For example, here a key idea was for me to play ...Ne4, the same blind spot recently highlighted with colors reversed in Annotated Game #360.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Class B"] [Black "ChessAdmin"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "A85"] [PlyCount "69"] [GameId "2339533383637239"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 c6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 f5 {we now have a Slav Stonewall.} 5. e3 Nf6 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. Bd2 O-O 8. Qc2 Ne4 {correct Stonewall play. The knight hops into the e4 strong point and bottles up White's pieces, while projecting its influence into the enemy camp.} 9. cxd5 {I got the impression my opponent was expecting/hoping for a recapture with the c-pawn, which is in fact OK for Black. However, the superior recapture on d5 in the Stonewall formation is usually with the e-pawn, as it gives the Bc8 more scope while keeping the c-file from opening.} exd5 $15 10. Ne2 {White looks to transfer his knight to a more useful square, while keeping castling options open.} Nd7 {controlling e5, with the option to go to f6.} 11. Rf1 $2 {with the intent of protecting f2 prior to castling queenside. However, this is too slow.} (11. O-O $15 {the engine prefers kingside castling, although Black would have a comfortable, classic Stonewall kingside attack plan afterwards.}) 11... Ndf6 $17 {while this is a good move and increases the activity of both the knight and the Bc8, I should have better remembered the principle of forcing open the position when the opponent's king is in the center.} (11... c5 $5 {dissolving the Stonewall formation with the ...c5 break is an art, which I need more experience with. Here my pieces fully control c5 and White is in no position to exploit the c-file. I also immediately threaten ...c4 and pose my opponent more problems.} 12. dxc5 Ndxc5 $17 {with the simple but effective threat to follow of ...Bd7 followed by ...Rc8.}) 12. O-O-O Qe7 (12... Nxd2 {it is also an art knowing when to "cash in" the Ne4 with a piece exchange. Here the engine assesses eliminating White's dark-square bishop is worth it.} 13. Nxd2 Qe7 $17) 13. Be1 {this looks strange but the engine validates it as the best available move. White overprotects f2, thereby freeing up the rook; the bishop was doing nothing on the c1-h6 diagonal anyway.} Bd7 14. Kb1 a5 $6 {it would be better to "invite all the pieces to the party" before moving ahead with the pawn storm attack.} (14... Rfc8 $17) 15. Ng3 $2 {it is difficult for White to find something useful to do, but this was simply detrimental to my opponent's defense. Now the pawn storm gains significantly in strength, with one less piece available to defend the king.} b5 $1 $19 16. Nd2 a4 {the most straightforward continuation of the attack.} (16... Nxg3 17. hxg3 a4 $1 {is perhaps a better version of the idea, found by the engine. At the time I wanted to keep the f-pawn, but snatching it would be too materialistic, eliminating the defending light-square bishop in exchange and displacing White's queen for a tempo.} 18. Bxf5 Bxf5 19. Qxf5 a3 $1 20. b3 (20. Qc2 axb2 $19) 20... Ne4 $19) 17. Ndxe4 fxe4 {by this point I was (correctly) confident in the overwhelming strategic advantage I had, with White's pieces in disarray and his king in the crosshairs.} (17... dxe4 {might be even better, to open the g8-a2 diagonal for the attack.}) 18. Be2 b4 19. Qc1 Rfc8 {the strongest placement for the rook, creating threats opposite the queen.} 20. f3 c5 {correctly ignoring White's attempt at counterplay and driving forward with the pawn lever.} 21. fxe4 {I spend a good deal of time on the next few moves, knowing they were critical.} cxd4 {a "good enough" move.} (21... Bxg3 {is evaluated as even stronger by the engine. The dark-square bishop is not required to support the attack, and eliminating the defender of e4 would allow my knight into a strong central post.} 22. e5 Ne4 23. hxg3 cxd4 $19) 22. Qd2 b3 {still playing strong moves, this was the best follow-up.} 23. exd4 {I now had the longest think of the game and was beginning to tire of the calculations.} Rc2 {still "good enough" for an attacking continuation.} (23... a3 $1 {I rejected this during the game because I did not see the key follow-up after} 24. axb3 {as} Bxg3 $1 {again the idea of enabling ...Ne4} 25. hxg3 Nxe4 26. Qb4 Nf2 $1 (26... Nc3+ {also works.})) 24. Qe3 Ba3 $6 {not the best.} (24... Bxg3) (24... Ng4) 25. Bc3 {this surprised me and the resulting complicated calculations wore me out.} Rc8 {the correct reaction, with the Ba3 tactically protected.} 26. Rd2 Rxd2 $4 {I thought this was the "bail-out" line, but it has a fatal flaw. I should have gone for it with} (26... bxa2+ {which I decided against because} 27. Kxc2 {I thought ended all my attacking chances, but Black has} Qb4 $1 $19 {with unstoppable threats, due to the pin on the Bc3 and the lack of escape squares for White's king.}) 27. Qxd2 $18 {the problem I did not see until too late is that the Ba3 has no retreat square, due to a pawn fork on e5.} dxe4 {I decided on this as the best practical attempt at obtaining counterplay, but my opponent rises to the occasion and closes out the game with solid play.} 28. bxa3 $18 Qxa3 29. Bb4 $1 bxa2+ 30. Qxa2+ Qxa2+ 31. Kxa2 Nd5 32. Bc5 Rb8 33. Bc4 Be6 34. Ka3 e3 35. Nf5 1-0