You know it's bad when The Onion does a story on you losing at chess:
https://theonion.com/befuddled-magnus-carlsen-bested-by-dreaded-checkmate-gambit/
03 June 2025
Annotated Game #310: A just result (karma-wise)
I unexpectedly had two Whites in a row in this tournament, so was able to immediately rectify my error of an incorrect e3-e4 pawn push in Annotated Game #309 with an example of a correct e3-e4 pawn lever. The difference here is that Black closes the center early, making the pawn break possible since White's d-pawn cannot be undermined or exchanged as a result. My opponent then makes a tactical error which should have led to a loss, but I fritter away my advantage into an even endgame. A late blunder as we officially agreed a draw was bad, but given that I should have easily won earlier, perhaps it was just karma evening out.
02 June 2025
Annotated Game #309: Don't assume the move is good
In this next tournament game, I make two bad assumptions about a move being good, and am punished for it. The first one is the e3-e4 break in the Stonewall Attack, which has to be more carefully prepared. The second one is the result of a hallucination and assuming that I could escape a pawn fork, which in fact I could not. For whatever reason I was more mentally tired than I should have been during the game, which led to the unfortunate short-circuiting of my thinking process.
31 May 2025
Annotated Game #308: A practical swindle
This next first-round tournament game was useful for my study of the Caro-Kann Exchange, which seems to be more popular lately (at least for the opponents I've been facing). If Black ignores his queenside counterplay for too long, as happens here, White can get some kingside momentum. After my opponent builds up what should be a winning attack, I decide to go all in on the counterplay for practical chances, aided by my opponent's time pressure. This pays off when I spot a key equalizing tactic, then hold on for the simplified endgame draw.
25 May 2025
Book Completed: Bologan's Caro-Kann - A Modern Repertoire for Black
I recently completed Bologan's Caro-Kann: A Modern Repertoire for Black (New In Chess, 2018) by GM Victor Bologan; sample pages containing the variation choices can be found at the above link. As is normally the case with repertoire books, it doesn't fully match up with my personal choices of opening variations, but I found it quite useful for new insights into general position-types, as well as fleshing out certain parts of my Caro-Kann repertoire. It is worth mentioning that this is not a "pure" repertoire book, as he does offer multiple choices for Black responses fairly frequently.
My main intention was to focus on typical plans and how to play the position-types reached, which was at least partially satisfied. Bologan is a Caro-Kann tournament player himself and this comes through in his comments and choices based on experience, not just pure analysis. As with any reference work, reviewing the lines using an up-to-date games database and engine in your own opening repertoire database is still necessary. This also makes the learning process an engaging one, rather than simply accepting the author's judgments on everything. It also helps to stimulate your own thinking and allows you to make your own personal choices, based on what you can understand in a position and is best suited for your style of play.
Here are some comments on his treatment of different parts of the Caro-Kann, from the point of view of an improving player:
Part I - Minor Lines:
- This was the first treatment of 2. Ne2 that I had seen, so it was enlightening to examine the ideas involved. Essentially Black treats it very similarly as the Advance Variation with 3...c5, but has to watch out for different ideas involving Ne2-d4, as well as Ne2-g3. On the other hand, the white knight's absence from f3 helps Black target the advanced e-pawn. Black has to be careful to not be too aggressive, but is fine in all variations.
- Bologan has the most detailed treatment of the King's Indian Attack (KIA) that I've seen, with detailed recommended lines against different White choices, including earlier (move 5) than normal. In some cases he provides useful explanations and insights into his repertoire choices for Black; in others, not so much. This is generally the case throughout the book. For example, I would have liked more discussion about a locked vs. mobile center, and the question for Black about when and where to develop the light-square bishop.
- There is no discussion about the White setup with Nf3 and d2-d3, which can be reached in the typical KIA move-order after 3. Nf3. This is likely due to the fact it did not become more popular until after the book was released.
- For the Fantasy Variation, Bologan recommends the solid 3...e6, which I don't play. His treatment of it seems comprehensive, though.
- The Two Knights Variation is included in this section and he shows the lines with 3...Bg4, which are reliable for Black.
- Although these are treated as "minor" lines, Bologan presents them in more depth than introductory books and the preparation he shows will be valuable for Black at the Class level, where especially the Fantasy, Two Knights and KIA are all relatively popular.
Part II - The Steiner System, Panov Attack, Exchange Variation
- I don't play his recommendations for the first two variations, but I found his analysis of the Exchange Variation again to be the best for Black that I have encountered. This is important, given it is certainly popular at the Class level - I've personally encountered it recently - and seems to have had at least a minor resurgence in master games.
Part III - Classical System
- This part was a mixed bag for me, as there are a number of sidelines in the so-called Main Line Classical (4...Bf5). Most of his recommendations up to move 7 were very useful for me, and he treats in-depth the setups involving 6. N1e2 and 6. Bc4, as well as seriously examining the early f2-f4 ideas for White on moves 6 and 7, which is often under-analyzed or not treated in Caro-Kann references.
- I don't play the standard main line starting from move 8, and Bologan seems to like castling queenside versus kingside for Black, which is not my preference.
Part IV - Advance (Closed) Variation (with 3...Bf5)
- I don't play this.
Part V - Positions for Solving
- Bologan at the end presents 40 positions drawn from tournament (including ICCF) play, for solving from both the White and Black perspectives. I found this useful for boosting pattern recognition of typical tactical and positional ideas in the Caro-Kann, including situations with opposite-side castling, ideas of undermining of White's center with pawn breaks (...b5, ...c5 and ...f6) and identifying vulnerabilities allowing White to sacrifice successfully on e6 or g6/h6.
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