Annotated Game #332: If it's not in the repertoire, it must be bad (?)

This second-round game taught me another opening repertoire lesson, this time in the Advance Caro-Kann. I had never seen White's move 7 before and thought it must be bad, or at least would provide me with an edge. The most direct response, 7...a5, would indeed have been excellent if it weren't for White's 8. Bb5! with an annoying pin. This is how learning and repertoire-building take place most effectively, however: by filling in repertoire holes whenever they are discovered, and taking the time in home analysis to understand the relevant ideas and comparison positions.

In the late middlegame I finally play actively enough to put my opponent under pressure, but then did not spot variations on a winning endgame idea, which involved sacrificing a pawn to get my knight into the action decisively. An interesting game, in any case, where my opponent gets props for spotting how to take advantage of some incorrect ideas and passive moves - although he then over-pressed with moves like 19. f4, giving me the better chances in the end. This is a common theme seen by Caro-Kann players, and one reason I remain very satisfied with the opening as Black.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Class C"] [Black "ChessAdmin"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "B12"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "68"] [GameId "2262411026308464"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. dxc5 {White accepts the gambited pawn.} Bg4 6. c3 {while this move is multipurpose, it is important to recognize how it opens the d1-a4 diagonal for the White queen.} e6 7. b4 {this was the first time I had seen this move, so I thought it was sub-par and could be refuted by targeting White's pawn structure. However, this is still fine for White.} a5 $6 {has one major flaw, which my opponent finds and for some reason I did not consider. Black has several reasonable options, including:} (7... Bxf3) (7... g6) (7... a6) 8. Bb5 $1 $16 {this pin is now very annoying and prevents Black from consolidating the position. With the previous options, Black would have either prevented Bb5 or kept ...a6 in reserve.} Nge7 {making the best of it, by continuing to develop and reinforce the Nc6.} 9. O-O Bxf3 $6 (9... Ng6 $5 $14 {I considered and is best according to the engine. However, I was worried about White's queen swinging over to a4 to help the Bb5 exert pressure, so I decided to divert the queen to f3.}) 10. Qxf3 {White at this point simply has more space and better piece activity.} Qc7 {targeting e5} 11. Re1 Ng6 12. Qg3 $6 {this actually relieves the pressure considerably, as I now catch up in development and my weak f7 square is no longer targeted.} (12. Nd2 $16 {better to continue with piece development.}) 12... Be7 $11 13. Bg5 O-O {now the Nc6 is unpinned and taking on e5 is threatened.} 14. Bxc6 bxc6 $6 {an example of where the "automatic" recapture should be thought about first.} (14... Bxg5 15. Qxg5 bxc6 $11 {is the engine's preference. Pressure is retained on e5 and the Ng6 helps guard the kingside.}) 15. Bxe7 Nxe7 $6 {played with the idea of placing the knight on f5. However, this takes time and shuts off the queen from a better square.} (15... Qxe7 16. Nd2 f6 $11) 16. Nd2 $14 axb4 $6 {I had a long think here, and mis-evaluated the resulting position.} (16... d4 {is an idea I considered and the engine prefers.} 17. cxd4 axb4 18. Nc4 {the knight having d6 and b6 available just seemed wrong, but it does not have any major threats.} Ra4 19. Nb6 Ra3 $1 $11) 17. cxb4 $16 Ra4 {the best follow-up.} 18. a3 Rfa8 {I realized that I was probably a little worse, which the engine confirms, but thought I was active enough to hold the balance.} 19. f4 $6 {is overly aggressive, as the f-pawn can be effectively shut down by my knight, which now has something to do. White's king position is also now less secure.} (19. Qc3 $16) 19... Nf5 $11 20. Qd3 Qa7 {I spent some time here as well, to good effect, as this tripling of major pieces against the a-pawn forcibly equalizes.} 21. g4 Ne7 22. Qc3 Rxa3 23. Rxa3 Qxa3 {with the win of the a-pawn, material equality is restored and I prefer Black's position, with control of the a-file.} 24. Re3 $2 (24. Qxa3 $11) 24... Qxc3 $6 {I should have preserved the queen here, as White's king is much more vulnerable at this point.} (24... Qa2 $19) 25. Rxc3 $15 Ra1+ {I was getting a bit low on time here, so went with the check on a1.} (25... Ra2 26. Nf3 h6 $15) 26. Kg2 $2 {my opponent was also relatively low on time and under pressure.} Ra2 $1 $19 27. Rd3 {a sufficient defense, since I was not able to find the subtle endgame idea leading to a win.} Rb2 $6 {going for the b-pawn.} (27... g5 $1 {wins, as pointed out by the engine. Getting the Black knight into the fight would be decisive.} 28. fxg5 Ng6 $19 {and e5 will now fall, with a won endgame for Black.}) 28. Rd4 f6 $6 {another miss} 29. Kg3 Kf7 $6 (29... h5 $1 $19 {is the winning idea here, the point being to deflect the defender of f5 and bring the knight in.}) 30. h4 fxe5 $6 {now it's a draw.} (30... h5) 31. fxe5 Ng6 32. Nf3 Rb3 33. Kf2 Rb2+ 34. Kg3 Rb3 1/2-1/2

Book completed: Peak Mind by Amishi P. Jha, PhD

    

I recently completed Peak Mind by Amishi P. Jha, PhD. For chess improvement purposes, this falls under the category of mental cross-training; you can see particularly relevant excerpts in Training quote of the day #56 and Training quote of the day #58.

The core message of the book is valuable and essentially boils down to what is on the cover: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day. For chessplayers at whatever level, there is no doubt about the benefits of increasing your ability to focus and to pay full attention to everything on the board in front of you. Mind-wandering is inevitable, as the book discusses at length in a scientific fashion, but the trick is to recognize what is going on and be able to re-channel your focus back to the present moment.

For the "12 minutes a day" part, this was the minimum effective dose (MED), determined by the author via experimentation, of mindfulness training that demonstrated a measurable positive difference in performance outcome in practitioners. She offers up a menu of three types of mental training and a suggested training plan. While this may well be an effective template, other types of mental training and mindfulness practices can also be as effective - this is not a new concept and various aspects of "mindfulness" have been touched on in previous posts. There is a reason various types of focused meditation have been integrated into martial arts practices - including modern military special forces training - for millennia: it gives the practitioner a mental edge in what Jha termed "periods of high demand", be that competition over the board, in an athletic event, or on a battlefield. The ability to calmly evaluate what is happening in real time, put aside both external and internal distractions, then effectively apply your skills and training to the situation is often the key to victory. This is in contrast to instinctually attempting to overcome a problem via the increasingly desperate application of raw strength (physical or mental), which is what fear and adrenaline do to us.

I have to say that for me the writing style falls firmly into the rather formulaic self-help category, and perhaps a majority of the book ends up being rather "fluffy", as I tend to put these things. That said, the core precepts are valid (and validated), and worth paying attention to.

Annotated Game #331: Derailing in the opening

This next first-round tournament game saw me derail as White in an unfamiliar opening. I've been learning the Colle and my opponent deviated from anything I had in my new repertoire on move 4. The principles are similar to other lines - chase the light-square Black bishop and exchange it - but it was nonetheless unfamiliar and the first time facing the position over the board. Black played well and surprised me with 8...Bd6, threatening h2, which I focused on directly opposing with 9. f4? rather than countering with 9. Qb3, which is a key idea in these types of positions. The power of a significant lead in development is then demonstrated by Black, as my opponent is able to make natural moves and achieve a major positional plus, which he then accurately leverages to collapse my position. Learning an opening the hard way can be...hard.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "ChessAdmin"] [Black "Class C"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "D04"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "52"] [GameId "2271414718836533"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 Bf5 4. Nh4 $5 {an independent Colle line that challenges both players early on.} Be4 5. f3 Bg6 6. c4 $6 {there's really no benefit to not taking immediately on g6.} (6. Nxg6 hxg6 7. c4 c6 8. Nc3 e6 9. Qb3 {1-0 Maksimovic,B (2488)-Goryachkina,A (2545) Titled Tuesday intern op 30th Jul Early Chess.com INT blitz 2024 (8)}) 6... e6 (6... Bxb1 $11 {is now a better option for Black, keeping the kingside pawns intact.}) 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. Nc3 (8. cxd5 {appears best, to preventively lessen the impact of a ...c5 break by Black.} Nxd5 (8... exd5 $6 9. Qb3 $14) 9. Nc3 $11 (9. Qb3 {no longer threatens taking on b7, with Nf6-d5 having cleared the d8-h4 diagonal, as Black can immediately counterattack:} Bd6 10. Qxb7 Nd7 11. Nc3 Rb8 12. Qc6 Rb6 13. Qa4 Qh4+ $15)) 8... Bd6 $6 {this was an unwelcome surprise to me at the time, targeting h2. White however can simply ignore the threat to the h-pawn.} (8... c5 $11) 9. f4 $2 {the direct solution for the attack on h2, blocking the bishop, unfortunately turns out to be worse than the original threat.} (9. Qb3 Bg3+ (9... Rxh2 $2 10. Rxh2 Bxh2 11. Qxb7 {material balance is immediately restored and with no rook on the h-file, Black is hardly threatening White's king.} Nbd7 12. cxd5 $18 {White wins material and has the better piece placement, along with control of the center.}) (9... Bxh2 $2 10. Kd1 $16 {and the Bh2 is pinned against the rook, which cannot move off the file.}) 10. Kd1 dxc4 11. Qxb7 Nbd7 12. Qc6 Rb8 13. Na4 $14) 9... c5 $1 $15 {I did not anticipate this break, expecting castling first. However, both kings are in the center and Black is a little better developed, so benefits.} 10. cxd5 (10. dxc5 Bxc5 $15 {I didn't like Black's space advantage and targeting of e3, so did not consider this option for very long.}) 10... exd5 11. Qf3 $2 {this looks active, but Black is not fooled.} (11. Be2 cxd4 12. Qxd4 Nc6 13. Qd3 $15) (11. dxc5 $5 {would limit the damage.} Bxc5 12. Be2 $15 {White is awkward, but at least has some play.}) 11... cxd4 $1 12. exd4 O-O $19 {now I'm simply too far behind in development. Black can play natural moves and gain an easy, large positional advantage.} 13. Be2 Nc6 14. Be3 Re8 {simple and strong.} 15. O-O Qb6 $1 {also missed during my thinking process. Now my position is falling apart, with b2 and d4 simultaneously threatened.} 16. Nb5 {the idea is to block the b-file and at least pose some kind of challenge to Black, but this is easily resolved.} (16. Bb5 $19 {I briefly looked at.} Nxd4 {may be simplest in response.} 17. Kh1 (17. Qf2 Rxe3 $19) 17... Re6 $17) (16. Na4 $2 Qb4 17. b3 b5 $19) 16... Bf8 {unfortunately, now I can do nothing good with the tempo gained against the bishop.} 17. Rfd1 a6 18. Nc3 Qxb2 {I had thought to try to trap the queen, or at least threaten it to regain material or for a draw by repetition, but Black has too many active threats.} 19. Bf2 {protecting the Nc3 with the queen, but now} Bb4 $1 {the bishop returns with a vengeance and the knight has nowhere good to go.} 20. Bd3 (20. Nxd5 Nxd5 21. Qxd5 Rxe2 $19) (20. Rab1 Qxc3 $19) 20... Qxc3 {this is now resignable.} 21. a3 {sheer desperation, as the bishop can just take the pawn, but my opponent finds an even more effective finish.} Nxd4 22. Bxd4 Qxd4+ 23. Kh1 Bc3 24. Rab1 Re3 25. Qf1 Rae8 26. Bc2 Qc5 0-1

Training quote of the day #58: Amishi P. Jha, PhD

   

From Peak Mind by Amishi P. Jha, PhD:

In my work, I research how to best train high-performing groups as they prepare for periods of high demand. For a lot of those groups, we know exactly when that period will be. For soldiers, it's deployment. For students, it's exams. For athletes, it's competition or playing season...Periods of high demand are really the circumstances of our lives. Mindfulness training allows you not only the peak mind you need to navigate through those periods successfully, but also the embodied confidence that you can. That you can be present, focused and capable through difficult circumstances.

"The Most Underrated Chess Opening for Black Against 1.e4" by Remote Chess Academy

 

I recently looked at the 15-minute video "The Most Underrated Chess Opening for Black Against 1.e4" by the Remote Chess Academy (GM Igor Smirnov). The subtitle is "Opening Crash Course: Caro-Kann Defense", which is what I have played my entire tournament chess career (see "Why I Play the Caro-Kann"). Here is my take on it, from an experienced if not expert player.

Smirnov does a good job of describing the basic ideas and trade-offs behind the first two opening moves, including key points such as defensively blocking the a2-g8 diagonal (for a White Bc4, for example) and how the c6 pawn takes away the Nb8's natural square. After 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5, White reaches a "crossroads" since the e-pawn is attacked, so must make a committal decision - advance it, trade it, or protect it.

• The first one presented is the Advance Variation, probably the main line these days. White gains space with the pawn push 3. e5. Unsurprisingly for a short video, he recommends 3...c5 for Black, given the different complexities of all the White variations after 3...Bf5, calling it the best option below master level. The goal with 3...c5 is to obtain a better version of the French Advance, with the light-square bishop outside the pawn chain. Smirnov does a good job of covering the ideas behind standard minor piece and queen placements, although the most critical White lines with taking on c5 - effectively accepting Black's gambit - are not treated.
• The next one is the Exchange Variation, which is always popular at the club level. Smirnov points out that White has solved Black's problem with the c6 square, which is now open for the knight. Natural development for both sides is good, with Black refraining from playing ...e6 before the bishop goes to g4.
• The third segment is on the old "main line" with 3. Nc3, where White defends the e4 pawn. Black is effectively obliged to take on e4, since nothing else makes sense. After 4. Nxe4, Smirnov shows the 4...Nf6 variation with the "super-solid" 5...exf6 after a knight exchange by White. This - the Tartakower variation (which Smirnov doesn't mention by name) - has relatively simple rules for further piece development and Smirnov also shows some typical middlegame ideas. Again, the most critical modern lines aren't shown, but the play presented is reasonable. He also addresses the unsound but difficult-to-face "Alien Gambit" with White playing 5. Ng5 instead of taking on f6.

Although a number of sidelines are not shown (the Two Knights with 2. Nc3, the Fantasy Variation with 3. f3, the King's Indian Attack, etc.), for the core ideas and most popularly-encountered variations, this video - perhaps somewhat surprisingly - actually does live up to being a "crash course" for the Caro-Kann, with enough ideas and examples to get someone started reasonably well at the club level.