Annotated Game #301: Cramping is never good

This next first-round tournament game demonstrated multiple themes in analysis, which are worth remembering for the long term:

• The slightly cramped nature of the position for Black early on was unfortunately relieved by my poor decision to exchange minor pieces, which led to immediate equality.
• Later on, I cramped my own position progressively, with misplaced rooks and (more decisively) with a misjudged f2-f3, which created dark-square weaknesses and blocked my own bishop on the light squares.
• In this opening structure, the immediate d4-d5 advance to kick a black knight appearing on c6 is key.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "ChessAdmin"] [Black "Expert"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "E61"] [PlyCount "80"] [GameId "2148113476530356"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. Be2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. c4 c5 7. Nc3 {logical development, but not the only possibility.} (7. d5) (7. b3) 7... Nc6 8. Re1 {while it's good in principle to get rooks into the game, there are more productive things to do immediately.} (8. d5 {immediately kicks the knight to a worse square.}) (8. h3 {restrains ...Bg4}) 8... e5 9. d5 {best and essentially forced, positionally. However, Black now has a better square for the knight to go to and a central pawn on e5.} Ne7 10. e4 $14 {White has a space advantage and Black's pieces will take some more time to re-deploy.} Ne8 11. Bg5 (11. Rb1 {would be faster with White's queenside expansion plan, plus the bishop is all right for now where it is on c1.}) 11... h6 12. Bxe7 {exchanging simply helps relieve Black's more cramped position.} (12. Bd2 $14 {the bishop's journey would not be completely useless, as White now could establish a Q+B battery on the c1-h6 diagonal.}) 12... Qxe7 $11 13. Rb1 {here I thought a while about the best plan. I correctly identify that the b2-b4 break is what White should be aiming for.} (13. a3 {may be the better way to get in the b2-b4 advance, however.}) 13... f5 {the standard King's Indian f-pawn lever. Black will play on the kingside, White on the queenside, and it becomes something of a race.} 14. b4 cxb4 15. Rxb4 b6 {I was surprised by this, but the engine agrees that it's the best move. The Rb4 is now awkwardly placed and should shift position.} 16. a4 {played with the intent to crack open the queenside as quickly as possible.} (16. Rb3 $5 $11) 16... Nc7 {at first this looks a bit weird, but the knight's path to c5 is now clear and comes with tempo, with the rook on b4.} 17. Nd2 Na6 18. Rb2 {the rook ends up being a bit awkwardly placed here.} (18. Rb1 {is the engine's preference, although humans have a problem returning pieces to their original squares, wanting to see at least some progress to show for their moving around.}) 18... Nc5 {this is a key positional plus for Black, being able to occupy this excellent outpost.} 19. f3 $6 {I played this before in a similar position and it also turned out wrong; the ability to further reinforce e4 seemed to outweight the negatives, at the time.} (19. Qc2 {immediately accomplishes the same goal without the f-pawn move creating weaknesses and blocking the Be2.}) 19... Bd7 20. Qc2 Bf6 $17 {Black is now able to activate his dark-square bishop, while my light-square counterpart is walled off and my counterplay inadequate.} 21. Ra1 Bg5 22. Nf1 {at least I spotted the Be3-d4 maneuver that my opponent ideally wanted.} Qf6 23. Bd3 Rac8 24. a5 {here I thought I was doing fine, but I missed Black's simple follow-up, which keeps things shut on the queenside.} bxa5 25. Rxa5 a6 {now my backwards c-pawn will become more of a problem than Black's isolated a-pawn. Note how strong the Nc5 is at both defending a6 and pressuring d3/e4.} 26. Qe2 Qd8 27. Raa2 Qc7 28. Bc2 {this was the point of move 26, to try to exchange on a4.} Rb8 29. Nd2 {unfortunately this does not solve my problems on the b-file. Visually it's clear how Black's pieces are combining their efforts effectively, while mine are uncoordinated and desperately trying to cover weaknesses.} (29. exf5 gxf5 30. Ng3 $17 {is suggested by the engine but still looks miserable.}) 29... Rxb2 30. Rxb2 Rb8 $19 {now I could see how exchanging rooks would let the Black queen in on the b-file, but the alternative turns out just as badly.} 31. Ra2 Qb6 32. Kf1 Qb4 33. Ndb1 Bc1 34. Kg1 {played to avoid tactics on the a6-f1 diagonal, but now Black gets a winning bind even more quickly.} Bb2 35. Qd2 f4 {sealing off the diagonal and protecting h6.} 36. Bd3 a5 {now the idea of Nb5 occurred to me, but in visualizing the variations I did not see that the Bd3 would be left hanging after the queen exchange.} 37. Kf1 a4 38. Nb5 Qxd2 {my opponent however saw this worked, and as soon as he played it I did too.} 39. Nxd2 Nxd3 40. Nxd6 a3 {and with more material losses coming, I resigned.} 0-1

Training quote of the day #52: John Nunn

   

From John Nunn's Best Games 1985-1993, Batsford Chess Library, 1995:

Initiating tactics when you have a serious positional disadvantage usually results in an early train home.

(From the annotations to game 30 in the collection, comment made after Black's move 24.)

[Event "Lloyds Bank op 14th"] [White "Nunn, John DM"] [Black "Howell, James C"] [Site "London"] [Round "?"] [Result "1-0"] [Date "1990.??.??"] [ECO "B81"] [WhiteElo "2600"] [BlackElo "2450"] [PlyCount "63"] [Beauty "8250363765287"] [GameId "1166636823298048"] [EventDate "1990.08.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "10"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "EXT 1997"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1996.11.15"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "1996.11.15"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. g4 Nc6 7. g5 Nd7 8. h4 a6 9. Be3 Qc7 10. Qe2 b5 11. Nxc6 Qxc6 12. Bd4 Bb7 13. O-O-O Rc8 14. Rh3 b4 15. Nd5 a5 16. c4 Kd8 17. Kb1 Nc5 18. Rf3 Rc7 19. Re3 Rd7 20. Bh3 h6 21. g6 fxg6 22. Rg1 g5 23. hxg5 hxg5 24. Rxg5 Nxe4 25. Bb6+ Kc8 26. Rh5 Rxh5 27. Qxh5 Kb8 28. Rxe4 exd5 29. Re8+ Bc8 30. Bxd7 Qxd7 31. Rxf8 Qe7 32. Qe8 1-0

Annotated Game #300: When the initiative turns

In analyzing this final-round tournament game, what struck me about it - other than yet again my failure to play the e3-e4 pawn break at the right time - was how quickly the game turned once I lost the initiative as White. The opening is unusual, but I come out of it in reasonable shape. The missed chance to play e3-e4 was the first inflection point in losing the initiative, but it really hurts only when my opponent targets the queenside pawn weaknesses I had ignored, once I had foolishly fixed the center by advancing the c-pawn. The collapse afterwards of White's structure is both quick and instructive.

[Event "?"] [White "ChessAdmin"] [Black "Class C"] [Site "?"] [Round "?"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [Result "0-1"] [Date "????.??.??"] [ECO "D00"] [PlyCount "50"] [GameId "2108267701342262"] {[%evp 0,50,25,26,13,20,5,-37,2,-3,12,-6,39,27,49,49,48,47,41,31,39,54,38,32,23,10,31,-3,1,-2,19,26,38,-45,12,-60,32,14,46,-99,-94,-466,-436,-461,-472,-516,-512,-549,-469,-565,-572,-586,-591]} 1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Bd3 Bg4 4. f3 {this takes away transpositional possibilities and moves the game into more creative territory. However it's tricky to play right, since the move f2-f3 always creates a weakness.} Bh5 5. c4 {a standard response to Black's early bishop sortie, hitting d4 and opening up the diagonal for White's queen.} c6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Nge2 {so far pursuing standard available development.} Be7 {now White has to make some decisions about how to proceed.} 8. b3 {this is a bit premature, since it's not clear where the Bc1 is best placed, and slow.} (8. Nf4 $5) (8. O-O {is probably the least committal route.}) 8... Bg6 9. O-O Bxd3 10. Qxd3 {I did not mind the exchange on d3, since it brings my queen to a good square.} O-O 11. Bb2 {consistent, if not the most dynamic move.} (11. e4 $5 {gives White some initiative in the center.}) 11... Nbd7 $11 {now Black is very solid.} 12. c5 {this idea backfires on me immediately. The d6 square is not particularly valuable now, and Black will now have the obvious plan of using the e-pawn lever.} (12. cxd5 $11) 12... e5 $15 13. Ng3 (13. b4 {immediately may be better, trying to stir up some counterplay on the queenside.}) 13... Re8 14. b4 exd4 15. exd4 b6 {this is possible due to the weak b4 pawn, which would be exposed after cxb6. White would lose time defending it and Black would gain even more positional dominacne.} 16. Bc1 {the general idea should be correct, repositioning the bishop, but the timing is poor.} (16. a3 $5 {protects the b-pawn and is probably simplest.}) (16. Nce2 {immediately also keeps the rooks connected.}) (16. Rfe1 {getting the rook into play.}) (16. cxb6 $2 Qxb6 17. a3 Ne5 $1 $17) 16... Nf8 {repositioning the knight is positionally justified, but this is too slow.} (16... a5 $1 {would immediately break things open on the queenside.}) 17. Nce2 {I play similarly slowly, however, so Black can catch up.} (17. Nf5 {immediately would be much better.}) 17... N6d7 18. Nf5 a5 {I missed seeing the possibility and the potential strength of this break, although I could do a reasonable job of containing it.} 19. Bd2 {after a long think, this seemed to be the least worst approach; however, my position quickly falls apart.} (19. cxb6 $1 {takes a lot of the sting out of the situation. For example} Qxb6 20. bxa5 Qxa5 21. Nxe7+ Rxe7 22. a4 $11) 19... axb4 $19 20. Nd6 {largely done out of desperation, but I was still hopeful that I was not yet losing.} Bxd6 21. cxd6 Ra3 $1 {now I'm lost, as the Ne2 is hanging after the queen is chased away.} 22. Qb1 Rxe2 23. Bxb4 Rae3 24. Rf2 Qh4 25. Rxe2 Rxe2 {and with the d-pawn also about to fall, it's past time to resign.} 0-1

Annotated Game #299: What the Caro-Kann is good for (part 2)

The below third-round tournament game is thematically similar to Annotated Game #294, in which White first presses Black - this time in a Panov variation of the Caro-Kann - then missteps, not sensing the danger. This is typically what Black is going for in the Caro-Kann overall, being patient and then seizing counterplay when it becomes available. Here I deliberately chose the most dynamic middlegame plan on move 13, after a long think, which is what opens up the opportunity later on for White to stumble.

[Event "?"] [White "Class C"] [Black "ChessAdmin"] [Site "?"] [Round "?"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [Result "0-1"] [Date "????.??.??"] [ECO "B14"] [PlyCount "56"] [GameId "2108266128867374"] {[%evp 0,56,25,16,59,71,77,47,47,24,10,3,32,20,39,35,25,13,4,-10,15,-17,-20,-17,-10,-14,-5,-2,0,0,14,12,3,3,3,0,0,-64,-12,-87,-96,-88,-94,-77,-73,-68,-26,-149,-213,-231,-231,-231,-238,-264,-204,-693,-669,-29993,-29994]} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 {Panov variation.} Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 {this seemed to be the end of my opponent's opening familiarity.} 6. Nf3 Be7 7. Bf4 {a non-standard move here.} O-O {no reason not to castle here, although I had to check to see if the Nb5-c7 idea would work for White.} 8. Rc1 (8. Nb5 {and Black can simply ignore the supposed threat to play Nc7, as the Bf4 is vulnerable. For example} Nc6 9. Nc7 $2 Nh5 10. Nxa8 Nxf4 $19 {and White's knight is lost.}) 8... Nc6 (8... b6 {is the engine preference, preparing to develop the bishop on the long diagonal and restraining c4-c5.}) 9. c5 {I was not concerned about this advance at the time, since in analagous positions it's not a real threat. However, here it is worth preventing, since it creates a potential outpost on d6 which both the Bf4 and a future Nb5 could use.} Nh5 {not a bad idea to chase the bishop, but it leaves me a little underdeveloped.} (9... Ne4 $5 {and Black would welcome a trade on e4, which would expose the suddenly weak d4 pawn.} 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Ne5 Nxd4 $19) (9... a6) 10. Bg3 Nxg3 {this was perhaps a little too hasty, giving White the half-open h-file while removing a key defender on the kingside. It is still theoretically balanced, but it causes stress for me later.} (10... a6 {again would restrict the Nc3 from reaching b5.}) (10... f5 $5 {the engine considers White vulnerable to a kingside pawn advance, the immediate threat being f5-f4.} 11. Be5 g5 $11) 11. hxg3 Bf6 12. Bd3 g6 {I felt for defensive purposes it was better to blunt the bishop's diagonal, although ...h6 would be good as well.} 13. Qd2 Nxd4 {long think here. I can in fact get away with the pawn capture, which is the most dynamic choice and the engine agrees is best (slightly).} (13... Bg7 $11 {is the simpler way to play.}) 14. Qh6 Nxf3+ 15. gxf3 Re8 16. Qxh7+ Kf8 17. Kf1 {I had correctly calculated/visualized to this point. Black has several options here, I went with the one I could best visualize as limiting White's counterplay.} a6 {I decided prophylaxis was most important here, taking away the b5 square from my opponent and not letting the knight get into the fight that way.} 18. Ne2 $6 {looking to redeploy, but this gives me time to gain some piece activity. This type of error was why I chose this middlegame approach in the first place, since it gave my opponent more difficult problems to solve, and along with that more opportunities to go wrong.} (18. Kg2 $11) 18... e5 $17 {while a nice way to help restrict the Ne2, it more importantly also frees the Bc8 on the diagonal.} (18... Bg7 $17 {I also considered, with the point being that it opens up the diagonal for the Qd8's use. The engine considers it best; during the game, I was unable to confirm its safety during calculation, so chose the text move.}) 19. Nc3 Be6 {I had envisioned this defensive idea from move 17. Black has now consolidated the extra pawn.} 20. Kg2 {connecting the rooks and thereby renewing plans for the h-file attack, but with a loss of time.} Ke7 {finally getting out of the corner, although the king is not safe yet, with tactics having to be calculated.} 21. Qh6 {the queen of course was in danger of being trapped, with the path to h8 cleared for a rook.} (21. Bxg6 $2 Rh8 $19) 21... Rh8 $6 {this allows the queen to escape without consequence.} (21... g5 $1 $17 {keep the pressure on.}) 22. Qd2 $11 Qd7 {...Bh3+ looks dangerous, but I cannot actually make progess with it - until my opponent attempts to block it with} 23. g4 $2 {a decision made based on the fact that the g-pawn visually looks safe, being protected by another pawn. However, this is tactically incorrect.} (23. Bc2 Bh3+ 24. Kg1 {and the position is certainly awkward-looking for White's king, but there is no breakthrough.}) 23... Bxg4 $1 $19 {now the White king's shield is broken and Black is winning.} 24. Be2 (24. fxg4 $4 Qxg4+ 25. Kf1 Rxh1#) 24... Bh3+ 25. Kg1 {otherwise it's mate} Be6 {this was the simple approach for my still-stressed brain, at the time.} (25... Rad8 {is preferred by the engine, bringing the rook into play and protecting the d-pawn at the same time.}) 26. Kg2 (26. Rxh8 Rxh8 27. Bf1 $19 {would have forced Black to maneuver some more to get at the White king.}) 26... Rh5 (26... Bh3+ 27. Kg1 Rad8 {would free up the queen by reinforcing d5.}) 27. b4 $2 (27. Rxh5 gxh5 28. Rg1 Rg8+ 29. Kh1 {and there's no immediate win, although White will still lose once Black consolidates the center.}) 27... Bh3+ {now the bishop returns with deadly force.} 28. Kh2 Bf1+ $1 {and the queen will be able to come to h3 and then mate.} 0-1

Annotated Game #298: No pawn lever, no plan (part 2)

This next tournament game is another excellent illustration of the saying "no pawn lever, no plan" - unfortunately not the first time; see the first part here. As White, I did in fact have several good pawn breaks available - including the thematic Colle/Stonewall e3-e4 in the center - but did not play any of them at the correct time. After that, my position deteriorated rapidly under pressure until I made a visualization blunder. That's pretty much the story.

 

[Event "?"] [White "ChessAdmin"] [Black "Class B"] [Site "?"] [Round "?"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [Result "0-1"] [Date "????.??.??"] [ECO "D00"] [PlyCount "40"] [GameId "2108264990683174"] {[%evp 0,40,33,18,29,9,9,-7,13,-11,-12,-6,-9,-60,-35,-35,-21,-25,-29,-27,9,9,35,29,52,-18,1,-4,8,-7,-7,-66,-66,-70,-72,-73,9,-62,-69,-59,-4,-616,-597]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 d5 3. Bd3 e6 4. Nd2 {choosing to prevent an early ...Ne4.} c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. f4 {reaching the Stonewall formation.} c4 7. Bc2 b5 {a popular move in the database, as Black quickly expands on the queenside, a logical follow-up to the previous move. However, it should not pose White any problems.} 8. Ngf3 {simple development in response.} Be7 9. O-O (9. e4 {is the key idea, reacting with the e-pawn lever after Black closes the center; it is already possible to execute.} dxe4 10. Nxe4 $11) 9... Bd7 $6 {putting the bishop on the long diagonal seems more logical.} 10. Ne5 a5 {my opponent is nothing if not consistent with pursuing queenside expansion plans.} 11. Qf3 $16 {long thought about a plan here. This is a good move, but is not followed up properly.} g6 {guarding against the f4-f5 advance.} 12. Qh3 {not a bad move, but White has multiple pawn breaks available that would cause more problems for Black.} (12. e4 {proceeds with White's play in the center.}) (12. a4 $5 {disrupts Black's queenside plans.} b4 {now allows the tactic} 13. Ndxc4 $1 {as the Nc6 is under-protected after the recapture on c4.}) 12... b4 13. g4 {an indication that I do not understand the needs of the position.} (13. e4 $1) 13... a4 $11 {now the queenside pressure is more meaningful (and concerning).} 14. g5 {the wrong pawn advance. It simply drives the knight away - to a decent square - and does not help with breaking through Black's defenses.} (14. f5 $11) 14... Nh5 {the knight is well-placed here to interfere with White's kingside plans, and can redeploy via g7 when needed.} 15. e4 $2 {played too late and now tactically flawed.} (15. Ndf3 $15) 15... Nxe5 {now either recapture is bad for White.} 16. dxe5 (16. fxe5 O-O $19 {and Black's king is safe, while White's advanced pawn shield and/or the queenside is about to collapse under pressure, with loss of material. One sample continuation:} 17. Nf3 b3 18. Bd1 a3 19. axb3 axb2 20. Bxb2 Rxa1 21. Bxa1 cxb3 22. Bxb3 dxe4 23. Nd2 Bc6 24. Bc2 e3 25. Qxe3 Bxg5 26. Qe1 Bxd2 27. Qxd2 Qh4) 16... Qb6+ $19 17. Kh1 Ng7 18. Re1 {I spotted the possibility of the queen penetrating on f2, but failed to calculate the consequences correctly.} Bc6 19. Nf3 Qf2 {this is actually not critical, and I recognized that, but then screwed up the calculation under pressure.} (19... Bc5 $19) 20. Nd4 $4 {this was a failure of visualization; the knight was the only piece protecting the Re1 and I did not change that piece status mentally, only focusing on the Bc2 and the possibility of Be3 trapping the queen. This is also an example of mental assumptions, specifically that normally the rooks are connected and therefore protected on the back rank.} (20. Qg3 {and things are still bad, but Black's queen has nothing better to do than retreat, as an exchange would release most of the pressure.} Qxg3 $2 21. hxg3 $15) 20... Qxe1+ 0-1