Annotated Game #322: Calculated disappointment

This next game was my most disappointing of the tournament, although it also was my only score and I therefore avoided "castling long" (0-0-0) on the standings sheet. I was slightly surprised by my opponent as White choosing the Panov Variation of the Caro-Kann, since these days it seems a lot more people play the Exchange Variation with this move sequence start. In any case, I was still well-prepared to take advantage of an early mistake by him on the queenside, and for most of the game I had what should be a strategically winning advantage.

Although there are a couple examples of less-active piece placement here, that was (thankfully) not the main theme of the game. My calculation (and evaluation) was sub-optimal in several key instances. In two cases, it even resulted in minor panic when my opponent found a backwards bishop fork - thereby equalizing - and when I thought I might be in trouble due to my opponent's charging passed a-pawn in the endgame. While the late middlegame issues were in large part due to time pressure, that points to managing the process better, and also hopefully thinking more clearly before then to begin with.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Class A"] [Black "ChessAdmin"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "B14"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "98"] [GameId "2218878855508069"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 {heading into the Panov Variation.} Nf6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O (7... dxc4 $5 {would take more advantage of the early bishop development.}) 8. c5 {this is not dangerous, as long as Black knows to respond with} b6 9. b4 a5 10. bxa5 $6 {an obvious error, but I took a little while here to make sure my follow-up was correct.} (10. Na4 $11) 10... bxc5 11. dxc5 {now Black has several good options.} Bxc5 {this recapture is not the strongest. Black can delay it and achieve a more dominating position.} (11... Qxa5 {is better and what I considered as the principal alternative. At the time, I erroneously felt my queen would be too exposed.} 12. Bd2 Qa3 13. O-O Ba6 14. Bxa6 Qxa6 $19 {the c-pawn is still doomed and Black's pieces are more active.}) (11... Ba6 $5 {immediately I did not consider.} 12. Bxa6 Nxa6 13. O-O Nxc5 $19) 12. O-O Nc6 $17 {now delaying the capture of the a-pawn is not so good, although still advantageous.} 13. Bg5 Be7 (13... h6 $5 {would immediately kick the bishop, leaving the Bc5 on a more active square.}) 14. Re1 h6 15. Bd2 {Black's overall strategy now is to win the advanced a-pawn and simplify down, having dominated the center.} Bb4 {a reasonable follow-up. Other options were still present in the position.} (15... Ba6) (15... Qxa5) 16. Nb5 Qxa5 {the main point of the sequence, as I am guaranteed to exchange off the bishop.} 17. a3 Bxd2 18. Nxd2 Qd8 {an unnecessary retreat. I was still skittish about having my queen "exposed" when it was not, really.} (18... Bd7 $19 {develops a piece and protects the Nc6, while leaving the queen on an active square. Simple and effective.}) 19. Nf3 Ba6 {now this move is not as strong.} 20. Rc1 Bxb5 21. Bxb5 Na7 {correctly kicking the bishop.} 22. Bd3 Qa5 $19 {now the queen is active again. There is very little White can do to improve his position, so I should be able to consolidate my advantage with some maneuvering.} 23. a4 Rfc8 (23... Nc8 {would also be a good alternative; this is my worst piece, so getting it off the rim and repositioned, in this case heading for d6, is an easy way to make progress.}) 24. Ra1 Nc6 {the knight has some more traveling to do from here to be most effective, although I am still positionally much stronger.} 25. Bb5 Ne4 {eyeing c3 and beautifully centralizing the knight.} 26. Rc1 Ne7 {after a long think, I went for safety, which is validated by the engine. Here we are seeing how although my advantage is considerable, it would have been easier to position the knight differently, as in the earlier variation.} 27. Qd4 {I missed this centralizing idea for the queen, which apparently rattled me.} Rc7 {by this point I was low on time and decided to try to exchange down more.} (27... Nf5 $5 {would be a simple and logical follow-up.}) 28. Qe5 Rac8 29. Ra1 Rc2 {I was pressured to make the time control here, and missed White's backwards bishop move, with a double attack on the Rc2 and Ne4.} (29... Rc3) 30. Bd3 R2c5 $2 {made the time control, but gave up the pawn and the advantage, because I could not see anything better under pressure.} (30... Nc6 $1 {this counterattacking defense is found by the engine. The point is that the f-pawn is still hanging, with the rook on c2.} 31. Qf4 g5 $1 {is also necessary} 32. Qe3 Rc3 $19 {and the bishop is pinned.}) 31. Bxe4 $11 dxe4 32. Qxe4 Ng6 {this is still equal, but there is no reason to make the knight passive like this.} (32... Rc4) (32... Nd5) 33. h4 Rc4 34. Qb7 Rc2 {While White has the passed a-pawn, my rook activity fully compensates for it.} 35. Qe4 $2 Qa7 $6 {I was too focused on threatening f2 to see how to exploit White's last move.} (35... R8c4 $1 {targets White's over-extended h-pawn, giving the Ng6 something to do finally.} 36. Qd3 Nf4 $19 {and once Black's queen is transferred over to the kingside, ignoring the a-pawn, Black should have winning threats.}) 36. Qe3 Qxe3 $6 {this is in fact equal, but I give the move a dubious mark because I did not in fact understand how to draw the position after the queen exchange.} (36... Qa5 $11 {physically blocks the pawn and Black's queen is at least as good as White's.}) 37. Rxe3 $11 Rb2 {still OK by the engine, but with the wrong idea in the position.} (37... Ra8 {perhaps the most straightforward way to block the pawn.} 38. a5 Rc6 39. Ne5 Nxe5 40. Rxe5 Rca6 $11) 38. Ree1 Rcc2 39. Rf1 Kf8 40. a5 {at this point I realized that Ra2 did not by itself stop the pawn and was not able to see how it would in fact work, so repositioned the rooks.} Rc8 (40... Ra2 41. a6 Rxf2 $1 $11 {the only move}) 41. g3 Ra8 42. Ra4 Rb5 43. Rfa1 Ne7 44. Nd4 {here I start losing the thread a bit again, overcomplicating my calculations.} Rd5 (44... Rb7 $11) 45. Nc2 {now it's easier for me.} (45. a6 $5 {would keep the pressure on.}) 45... Rc5 46. Ne3 Nd5 47. R4a3 Nxe3 48. Rxe3 Rcxa5 49. Rxa5 Rxa5 {reaching a rook ending that is a theoretical draw. White's rook is sufficiently active so that I have no advantage, so draw agreed.} 1/2-1/2

New addition to "Chess Blogs That Used to Be Good (and might be again)"

Blogs That Used to Be Good (and might be again)

These chess blogs used to frequently titillate the reader with witty, useful or simply entertaining content, but no one really knows when they'll be updated again or if the blogger still cares about his/her followers. Bloggers who are dead (or at least dead to the chess world) are ineligible. 

Today we have a new entry in the above-linked collection - also in the sidebar - of (formerly?) great chess blogs: TheOnoZone's Blog at lichess.org. I've recently gotten active at the site, mostly for purposes of playing more regular online training games versus humans, and have also dipped a curious toe into the blog feed. 

The post entitled "Your (Chess) Personality" was the first one to catch my eye, since the chess style/personality topic has been one examined here as well, in "Playing Styles Deconstructed". "Ono" is an excellent writer, and has a somewhat different (and much more entertaining) take on it. I was going to leave a pithy comment on that particular post, to engage on the subject, then noticed it was from 2022 and that the last blog entry was from November 2024. It's therefore been gone long enough to qualify for the (dubious?) honor of inclusion on this list.  

Because chess improvement is an evergreen topic, I'd say that all of the blogs in the linked list are still worth perusing, even if Temposchlucker's is the only one currently active. If he can resurrect himself, however, perhaps there's hope for TheOnoZone's return.

[EDIT] The blog is back, as of April 2026! Apparently it took him that long to achieve chess enlightenment (read it for yourself).

Annotated Game #321: The supremacy of piece activity

This next tournament game follows a common pattern that has been more evident as of late, a lack of an ability (or desire?) to maximize my piece activity. The game itself is reasonably hard-fought, but after I end up with an isolated queen pawn (IQP) in the middlegame, piece activity becomes even more important to offset the long-term structural weakness, and my play is not up to the task. Structurally, I should have opted for hanging pawns, since my pieces were actually well-placed to support them. As is the case with many "lost" games, my opponent gave me opportunities to re-enter it on even terms. In particular I failed to spot the "heroic" engine defense (as I labeled it in the annotations) on move 35, which is an excellent example of the supremacy of piece activity, as opposed to an overly materialistic and sometimes passive approach. 

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Class A"] [Black "ChessAdmin"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "A13"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "117"] [GameId "2218878855508068"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 {the Keymer Variation.} Nf6 3. b3 e6 {not bad but unnecessarily passive, blocking the c8 bishop in immediately, and although it is the #2 choice in the database, it scores notably worse than the main alternatives:} (3... Bg4) (3... Bf5) (3... c5) 4. Bb2 Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. Be2 b6 $11 {heading for a solid Queen's Indian formation.} 7. O-O Bb7 8. cxd5 exd5 {all of the recaptures work here. The engines slightly prefer the knight recapture, which is paralelled by the results in the database.} 9. d4 Nbd7 {the engine validates this choice of a developing move. Naturally the knight does not want to go to c6 and block both the Bb7 and the c-pawn.} (9... Ne4 $5 {I considered, but it does not seem to lead to anything special.}) (9... c5 {seems a little premature. However, I wait too long for this pawn break during the game.}) 10. Nc3 Rc8 {placing the rook to support a c-pawn thrust.} (10... a6 $5 {preparing to improve a piece with ...Bd6, by preventing Nb5. This is a mirror idea of the Colle-Zukertort for White.}) (10... Re8 {this rook is doing nothing, unlike the Ra8 potentially doing something where it is, so no reason not to do this first.}) 11. Bd3 {White spots a similar idea, to centralize and improve his bishop.} Re8 {Black does well to activate both rooks.} 12. Bf5 {this was unexpected, but after a short think I decide the simplest path is to kick the bishop back. White is not in a position to exploit the dark squares around Black's king.} g6 13. Bd3 Bf8 {done primarily to free the Re8's power projection. The bishop is fine on f8, retaining its mobility along the f8-a3 diagonal and watching the dark squares around my king.} (13... a6 {is still a good plan, as the bishop would be better on d6 and does not in fact have to plug the kingside dark-square holes.}) 14. Re1 Ne4 {I'm fine with an exchange on e4, something White wisely avoids.} 15. Qe2 Bg7 {while this adds to control of e5, the bishop is not actually better here.} (15... c5 {is better, gaining space and putting pressure on d4. However, I would end up with an IQP or hanging pawns, which I was reluctant to go for at the time.} 16. dxc5 Nxc3 17. Bxc3 bxc5 $11) (15... c6 $5 {would consolidate the queenside and keep the position more closed.}) 16. Ba6 {I was surprised by this, but it is not to White's advantage.} Nxc3 17. Bxc3 Bxa6 18. Qxa6 {while the queen threatens the a7 pawn, this could easily lead to it being trapped. I had a long think here and decided to play actively, if perhaps not optimally.} c5 {not bad, but I did not find some other resources in the position.} (18... Nc5 $5 {would activate the knight, nicely taking advantage of the pin on the long diagonal against the hanging Bc3.} 19. Qe2 Ne4) (18... Nf6 {I rejected because I thought the White queen could sneak away after} 19. Qxa7 Ra8 20. Qb7 {but now} Qd6 $1 {I did not see this possibility during calculation.}) 19. Rec1 Rc7 {deciding for safety first, guarding a7 and also opening the c8 square for another heavy piece.} 20. Qf1 {no better square for the queen's evacuation.} Qc8 {another think here, without an obvious plan to follow. Improving the queen's reach by doubling on the c-file is in any case a positive idea.} (20... c4 $5 {would create an imbalanced pawn structure after} 21. bxc4 dxc4 {which the engine evaluates as equal, but at the time I did not like White's apparent central dominance.}) 21. dxc5 Nxc5 {not terrible, but this gives me an IQP and appears to be the worst of the recapture options.} (21... bxc5 $11 {Black is OK in the hanging pawns structure, with adequate support for them.}) (21... Bxc3 22. Rxc3 Rxc5 {and Black will have pressure on the c-file unless the Rc5 is exchanged, creating hanging pawns again.}) 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Qd1 Qb7 {another long-ish think in an unclear position for me. I go for supporting the pressured d-pawn, although there were other active options I did not see.} (23... Ree7 {the engine line.} 24. Qxd5 Red7 25. Qe5+ f6 26. Qb2 Nd3 27. Rxc7 Rxc7 28. Qe2 Rc1+ 29. Rxc1 Qxc1+ 30. Qf1 Qxf1+ 31. Kxf1 Nc1 $11 {and Black recovers the pawn.}) (23... Ne4 $5 {should have been an obvious move candidate to improve piece activity.} 24. Qd4+ Nf6 $11) 24. Qd4+ {White correctly plays actively with his queen.} f6 $6 {unfortunately, unlike in the above variation, this now creates a permanent weakness on the 7th rank.} (24... Kg8 $11) 25. Rd1 $14 Rd7 (25... Ne4 {the engine prefers active play again, over static defense.} 26. Qxd5 Qxd5 27. Rxd5 Rc2 28. Rd7+ Kf8 $14) 26. b4 {this should simply drive my knight to a better square, but} (26. Qb2 Ne4 27. Nd4 $14) 26... Ne6 $6 {is not optimal.} (26... Ne4 {I still was not considering this idea.}) 27. Qb2 Rc8 28. Rd2 {while the engine now considers the position equal, Black has strategic problems here, having to defend the IQP.} Kf7 $6 {rather than attempt to bring the king into the action - we are still in the middlegame - it would have been better to activate the queen, as White's pieces are better coordinated and more threatening.} (28... Qc6 29. Rad1 Qc3 30. Qxc3 Rxc3 31. Rxd5 $4 Rxd5 32. Rxd5 Rc1+) 29. Rad1 $14 Rcd8 $2 {now a difficult position has become close to losing.} (29... Rc4 {with a more active defense, is the engine preference.} 30. h4 h5 31. Nd4 Nxd4 32. Rxd4 b5 $14) 30. Nd4 $16 Ng5 $6 (30... Nxd4 {it would be better to exchange, since White's knight is simply better.}) 31. f3 (31. Qb3 {adding pressure to d5.}) 31... Re8 $6 {a one-move threat which is well answered by White.} (31... Ne6 {it would be no shame to return, having provoked f3.}) 32. h4 $18 Ne6 33. Nxe6 {now this makes more sense, since Black's rooks are misaligned.} Rxe6 34. e4 $1 {the classic exploitation of an IQP, attacking it while it is effectively pinned to an inadequately defended piece.} Red6 35. e5 $6 {missing a forcing sequence that establishes a brutal pin on the remaining black rook. However, this is not immediately fatal, so my opponent likely overlooked it.} (35. Rxd5 $1 Rxd5 36. exd5 Rxd5 37. Qb3 Ke6 38. Qc4 $18) 35... fxe5 (35... Re6 $1 {is the heroic engine defense.} 36. exf6 Qb8 {the pawn is temporarily sacrificed so that the queen can penetrate on the kingside, for active defense.} 37. Rd4 Qg3 $11) 36. Qxe5 Re6 $2 {as often occurs, a move played too late becomes a liability rather than a good idea.} 37. Qh8 $1 $18 {I did not see the power of this move. White now has a won game, since the queen cannot be evicted without destroying Black's kingside in the process.} h5 {I decided to at least save the pawn, though I realized the seriousness of my position.} 38. Rd4 $6 Qc6 $2 {almost the right idea.} (38... Qc7 $1 $11 {I rejected because of the eventual skewer on the 7th rank, but after} 39. Rxd5 Rxd5 40. Qh7+ Kf6 41. Qxc7 Rxd1+ {saves the day; I did not see this finish.}) 39. Qh7+ Ke8 40. Qh8+ Ke7 41. Rf4 {correctly bringing another piece into the attack.} Kd6 {I still thought I might wriggle out of White's net, but my opponent plays accurately and does not let me escape.} 42. Qb8+ Rc7 43. Qf8+ Rce7 44. Rfd4 {now White threatens to simply capture on d5.} Re2 {desperation, but also an admission that Black simply cannot parry all of White's threats.} 45. Qd8+ Ke6 {time was very low for both of us at this point, which helps explain the following sequence.} 46. Rxd5 $6 (46. Qg8+ $18) 46... Kf7 $16 {the best move, but also the most obvious. White's queen is no longer such a direct threat to the king.} 47. R5d4 Qf6 48. Qd5+ Kg7 49. a3 R2e5 $6 {now playing at blitz speed} (49... Kh6 $5 $16 {would tuck the king away more, but I was concerned it did not have an escape route .}) 50. Qd6 R5e6 $2 (50... Qxd6 {I should have seized the chance to go into a pawn-down double-rook endgame.} 51. Rxd6 Kh6 $16) 51. Qg3 $18 {because of Black's relative 7th rank weakness, there are no good moves here.} Qf7 (51... Re2 52. Kh2 Kh7 53. Rd6 R2e6 54. a4 {is one sample line. White's more effective queen makes a big difference.}) 52. Rd5 Kh7 53. Rd8 Qg7 54. Qf2 Re2 55. Qd4 {evidently the idea of the queen transfer. Now, with no time to spare, I simply exchange down.} Qxd4+ 56. R8xd4 Re1+ {this quickens the loss.} (56... Kh6 57. Rd7 $18) 57. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 58. Kf2 Ra1 59. Rd7+ {making it clear why the king was better on h6. With further material loss coming and no time on the clock, I resigned.} 1-0

Video completed: The Golden Rules of Chess Strategy by Mihail Marin

  

I recently completed The Golden Rules of Chess Strategy by GM Mihail Marin, as part of my "Back to Basics" study series. Although this is one of ChessBase's shorter "60 Minutes" video products and the content description does seem fundamental at first glance - how to strategically organize placement of the pieces - the analysis and guidance provided by Marin is at a fairly complex level; this is probably not a surprise to those familiar with his theoretical products. However, the "golden rules" of the middlegame for dynamic piece placement are themselves universal, and can be recognized in our own games, even if the product's examples are not exactly pitched at the beginner level. 

You can see a description of the contents in the below screenshot, as well as in a list at the above ChessBase link.

As shown above, the videos are divided into three sections:

• The first one focuses on the idea of achieving optimal piece placement prior to effectively executing a strategic plan. Marin uses the concept of piece harmony to describe how they are working together, ideally at their maximal/most harmonious level. He offers examples from three different high-level games, in which the primary plan would fail if extra piece(s) were not brought into play, sometimes in non-obvious ways. At a more complex strategic level, this idea reflects the "always seek to improve your worst piece" general middlegame principle. The examples in this section (and subsequent ones) illustrate a sophisticated strategic approach of envisioning what you want to accomplish, then working backwards from that to calculate where the pieces can be placed to best execute the idea. Sometimes this means they need to move out of the way proactively from the opponent's threats, thereby gaining you a tempo in subsequent calculations, rather than doing something directly threatening. 
• The second section examines the power of looking for moves that do multiple things at once, in particular when they create more than one threat at a time. Here Marin is not talking about double attacks - he even states this in the video - although that is the most basic tactical expression of the idea, such as with a knight fork. Instead he looks at moves that have multiple different positional threats - although threatening material gain could be one of the ideas - that make it more difficult for the opponent to block all of them. There is some synergy of ideas with the first section, in terms of describing optimal piece placements and similar examples of finding retreats (for bishops and the queen) that can do multiple things for the position. These "backwards" type moves are typically harder to spot and we may also think (consciously or unconsciously) that retreating a piece is normally bad, when in fact the piece can become more powerful as a result, and/or enable the success of other pieces.
• The third section shifts perspective to the player defending against threats. As Marin notes in the introduction, one should look for an economy of force in defense - in other words, don't move pieces to over-defend weaknesses or only passively confront your opponent's threats. Rather, if you can, use just the right amount of defensive action to leave yourself more flexibility and opportunities for counterplay. The power of preparatory moves, which is also a theme in the first section in order to enable the main strategic idea in a position, is further demonstrated here, along with the idea of countering threats by following your own "dream plan" if you can.

Marin chops through many of the move sequences rather quickly, so this is definitely not a "move-by-move" type product. Neither does he explain how to find the correct plan in the first place during the middlegame, although he discusses what the principal ideas are for the players in each initial game position. Periodically he makes some useful comments about how to conduct practical calculation of variations during a game, in contrast with some of the longer analytic lines presented. This is a useful distinction and makes it explicit how we (including professional players) should not expect to be able to fully solve and analyze complex lines to the end while at the board. Rather, we need to confirm moves do not lose and also appear to be the best available, then continue refining our calculations as the game continues.

Thanks to Marin's deep level of theoretical knowledge, along with his long study and evident love and enthusiasm for chess, this thoughtful discussion of core middlegame principles and the practical illustrations contained in this video are worth the study time. Just don't expect to keep up with every click of his mouse on the board, or to automatically achieve the same depth of strategic vision (and calculation) as the GM-level players in the examples. As usual with ChessBase products the games are also available in an accompanying database with some annotations by Marin, so that can be a supplemental method of study for those who want to go over them at leisure.

Training quote of the day #53: Tim Gallwey

 

From The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey:

How to Make Best Use of Technical Instructions

So the question that remains is how one person's greater level of experience can help another person. The short answer is that a valid instruction derived from experience can help me if it guides me to my own experiential discovery of any given stroke possibility. From the point of view of the student, the question becomes how to listen to technical instructions and use them without falling into the Self 1 traps of judgment, doubt, and fear. For the teacher or coach, the question has to be how to give instructions in such a way as to help the natural learning process of the student and not interfere with it. If insight can be gained into these questions, I believe they would be applicable to the learning of skills in many different domains.