From the recent Schenectady Open I did not manage to collect many games from the lower sections. One game did come my way from the Under 1100 section. There are some points in it useful for pointing out typical errors of the less experienced players.
Eson, Charles - Rudzback, Alexander [D02]
Schenectady Open Schenectady, NY, 12.06.2011
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.e3 Bg4 4.Nbd2 e5 5.dxe5 Nxe5 6.Be2 Bxf3?!
Without an e-pawn to put on e6 giving up the light squared Bishop for the Nf3 is can be a positional problem for Black. When the light squared Bishop goes off for a Knight, the standard receipt for Black is to put pawns on e6, d5 and c6 to reduce the influence of the White light squared Bishop.
Absent the e-pawn the fence is not so effective as with it.
7.Nxf3 Bb4+?
Black began the game with the evident intention of simplifying early. That is not an incorrect approach to take with Black. T. Petrosian, the late World Champion, used the Rubinstein French (1e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3/d2 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nbd7, etc.) heading for a simplified middle game where his knowledge of the positions insured him against loss and made his opponent’s life difficult if they did not have the same understanding. As Petrosian said; “I fed my family for years with the King’s Indian and the Rubinstein French.”
The last move played however, is a flat out mistake. Masters, International Masters and Grandmasters all seek out and seem to enjoy increasing tension in a game, while the rest of us tend to avoid tension or release it as soon as we can. The key to playing more like the masters is the ability to see. That is, you have to clearly grasp when there is a balanced kind of tension in the position with chances to keep things even, and when the momentary tension introduced will just lead to a loss of some kind. This move is textbook example of the latter.
Best for Black is 7..., Nxf3+ 8 Bxf3 c6; undertaking to cover the light squares as best as can be done with pawns.
8.c3,..
A good move. Now Black has three points in danger; the Bb4, the Ne5 and the pawn on d5. If there were but two, he could get away without material loss. Three threatened points are too many.
9..., Nxf3+ 9.Bxf3 Bc5 10.0–0?,..
White fails in his own turn to be tactically alert. Here 10 Bxd5, secures a one pawn advantage without risk. Doing so would give White a solid edge that is very close to winning. If White was worried about 10 Bxd5 c6 11 Bf3 Qxd1+; he shouldn’t have been. With the Queens off, the King probably is better near the center, so castling is not needed now. Even after passing on this chance to get a big edge, White is somewhat better.
10..., c6 11.b4!?,..
Not bad but somewhat more complex than is necessary. If White wants activity then 11 c4, fills the bill. If 11..., dxc4 12 Qa4, planning to answer 12..., b5?; with 13 Bxc6+!, netting a decisive material gain of a couple of pawns probably. Since this is so, play would continue after 11 c4, with 11..., dxc4 12 Qa4 Nf6 13 Qxc4 Bd6 14 b4, and White has a comfortable disposition of his pieces, while Black will have to stay alert to a possible minority attack happening against his Q-side.
11..., Bb6?
Queried on purely positional grounds. The Bishop has an aggressive role to play from d6 in attacking h2. Going through b6 to c7 takes too much time (moves) to set up a too obvious B+Q battery that is easily stymied. An example of a time wasting operation.
12.Bb2 Qd6 13.Qe2 Bc7 14.g3 Nf6 15.Rfd1 0–0?
A tactical oversight.
16.a3?,..
White defended against the obvious attack and logically put a Rook opposite the Black Queen on the d-file, then at the critical moment does not take action. Why? Routine thinking is the answer I come up with. There are moments in a game where tension exists and you can make a routine move, or exploit the tension. This is such a moment. By playing 16 c4!, a very, very usual kind of move in positions like this, White obtains a considerable advantage. If a) 16..., Qxb4? 17 Bxf6 gxf6 18 cxd5, and White is much better than Black. If b) 16..., Bd8 17 a3, and White is a full tempo ahead of the game continuation, again with a solid plus.
16..., h5?
In light of the preceding comments, Black should play something like 16..., Qe6. He just does not see the danger and allows White to get in the c3-c4 break.
17.c4 b5?
Almost anything would be better. Nothing, however, will repair the problems in the Black formation, but worth trying is 17..., d4; just giving up the pawn and planning to make a stubborn endgame fight, or 17..., a5 18 cxd5 Nxd5?! 19 e4 Nf4 20 gxf4 Qxf4; betting White won’t see 21 e5! The text losses decisive material and the game in short order.
18.cxd5 cxd5 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Bxd5 g6?
Discouraged by another pawn about to drop, all focus is lost by Black. Here he overlooks a loss of the Exchange. The balance of the game is no more than mopping up.
21.Bxa8 Rxa8 22.Qxb5 Qc3 23.Qa4 a5 24.Rac1 Qb2 25.Rxc7 Qe5 26.Rc5 Qe4 27.Rxa5 Rc8 1–0
Mr. Eson did not avoid all mistakes, but he did have ideas. While he missed getting a couple of shots in as soon as possible, he did get them in eventually scoring a well deserved point.
Educational if not chess perfection. The central lesson is about seeing! To see what there is in a position, you have to work at it hard. It also means being skeptical about what you think about the position and avoiding assumptions. In this game White assumed at move 10 castling was good, and at move 16 that b4 required more support by the a-pawn. Black did similar things at moves 7, 11 and 16. Listening to the Grandmasters commenting on their peers at tournaments such as the recently completed event in Medias, Romania you hear them going over and over variations looking for some feature or possibility that can change the obvious evaluation of a position. The commentators are fearful of being shown up by all the listeners with Rybka and the like running on their home computers no doubt. But, from my contact with GM’s when taking lessons or just passing the time of day, what the commentators say out loud about the GM games is very like their own internal dialogue in their own games. They work at the position, and only when very far ahead do they sometimes slip into assuming all is clear. That is a more important lesson to learn than is which particular line in the Semi-Slav is favored by the 2700+ crowd at the latest big time event.
More soon, in particular the results of the Greezers - Saratoga A and Schenectady A - Albany A matches.
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