This is at least my 100th post to this blog! When I began it was uncertain how long and how frequently posting would continue. So far, so good. A couple of equipment and some software changes make it unclear if my count of posts includes everyone actually made, but I do have 100 recorded posts in the files now. It has some kind of odd sense of neatness to reach the 100 mark on the first day of the new year. It would have been neater if I could have gotten this post yesterday, but post-retirement work habits do not include the recognition of such artificial deadlines.
Wednesday evening the AACC held a G/15 Quick event. Arthur Alowitz finished in first place with a 4-1 score ahead of Tim Wright, Bill Little and Jon Leisner and others. A very nice result for Arthur to finish the old year.
Thursday there was only a single make up game played at the Schenectady Club; Bill Little and Patrick Chi played to a 26 move draw in the Caro-Kann. There are still several make up games to be played in both qualifying sections. A short discussion among Richard Chu, Bill Townsend and Little reached a consensus it will be the end of January before the Preliminaries finish.
John Phillips has had two rather successful years in a row in the Schenectady Championship. He made it to the Finals in both years. In last year’s Preliminary event Brij Saran defeated John, however Phillips overcame that small upset to go on and qualify. This year Mr. Phillips had a qualifying spot locked up before he and Mr. Saran met in a make up game after the last regularly scheduled round of play. Nevertheless, it was a tense game with both players making a serious effort.
Phillips, John - Saran, Brij [B10]
SCC Ch Prelim A Schenectady, NY, 23.12.2010
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Qg4,..
This move has been John’s favorite reply to the French this year. He played against Mockler in a short draw earlier in this event.
4..., Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7
Capturing on d4 with the c-pawn is a more active way to treat this position. The position of the White Queen is looming threat to the Black K-side, that is if she does not get run off. The usual argument in the French is; will Black’s better pawn structure balance the space advantage White has on the K-side? And, can Black build enough pressure on the potential White pawn chain b2/c3/d4/e5 to obtain active employment for his pieces?
6.Bd3 cxd4
As often is the case in early Qg4 variations, White sacrifices a center pawn in hopes of using the time gained to make the K-side utterly inhospitable for the Black King. The pawn won is by no means secure, but Black is not terribly concerned about hanging on to material. He now has the slightly better pawn formation which is his strategic aim in the French.
7.0–0 Nb4!?
Motivated by the general wisdom that it is good to have the two Bishops, Brij errs ever so slightly. It is better to focus some force on the other White center pawn at e4 to make the recovery of the pawn difficult. Saran could do that with 7..., Qc7; or could reinforce d4 with 7..., Qb6; or even take a measured approach with 7..., Nge7; eyeing both f5 and g6 as opportunity presents itself.
8.Nbd2!?,..
More reasonable is 8 Qxd4, when White will have a small edge. Mr. Phillips is determined to make this a difficult game, for himself as well as his opponent.
8..., Nxd3 9.cxd3 Nh6 10.Qxd4 Nf5 11.Qg4?,..
This move gives Black a clear advantage. Better 11 Qf4, if White wants to continue pressing on the K-side.
11..., Bb5 12.Ne1 h5
Mr. Saran puts a finger on the bruise. The White Queen will now have to give up her aggressive post. Black now has a small but clearly discernable
advantage.
13.Qd1 Qb6 14.Nb3?!,..
Better is 14 a4, driving back the Bb5.
14..., d4!?
There is some doubt about this move not so much for some immediate tactical problem, rather because it goes completely contrary to the positional needs for the Black side of the French, or at least the generally accepted wisdom about the positional needs. One big issue for Black almost always is what to do with the light squared Bishop. The text foregoes the chance to get rid of this problem child of the French by pinning the Nb3 over the Queen with 14..., Ba4. After that move White would be fighting for equality with his best hope being to get to a double Rook ending where his wrecked pawn formation is not so vulnerable. There is no way White can avoid doubled b-pawns.
The move Black plays is creative. He is thinking of using the light squared Bishop on the long diagonal maybe. Creativity is a good thing but sometimes it can go too far. This may be the case here. There is a good enough idea behind Black’s play that the weakness of the artificially isolated d-pawn does not become a factor.
15.Bg5 Be7?
This is not the best way to continue. A more cogent plan is 15..., a5; threatening to evict the Knight from b3. If then 16 a4 Bc6; and b4 is a good future post for Black’s dark squared Bishop. Otherwise, 15..., a5 16 Rc1 a4 17 Nd2 Bc6 18 Qc2 a3 19 b3 Bb4; again finding a comfortable home for the dark squared Bishop. None of this by any means says Black has a significant edge. It is, however, a way to fight for an advantage. The text move surrenders the Bishop pair. It was here perhaps that Brij decided on a general liquidation of forces. Equality follows.
16.Nf3 Bc6 17.Bxe7 Kxe7 18.Re1 Rac8 19.Rc1 Bd5 20.Nfd2 Rxc1 21.Qxc1 Qc6 22.Ne4 Qxc1 23.Rxc1 Rd8 24.Ng5 f6 25.exf6+ gxf6 26.Ne4 Rd7 27.Kf1 e5 28.Nbd2 Nd6 29.Nxd6 Rxd6 30.b3 Rc6 31.Rxc6 Bxc6; and a draw was agreed. Even now in circumstances of reduced material Black can make life difficult for White, but the ending is drawn. ½–½
Harking back to a post in early December, last Wednesday night Jonathan Lack and Glen Perry questioned my comments about their recent game. In particular they had some doubts about the sacrifice of a Knight on e6 at move 14. We did not have the game score at hand and reconstruction of the position from memory was a bit off. Coupled with the uncertain position was my inability to exactly recall the line my electronic friend Rybka had pointed out. As soon as I could the subject position was tossed once more into the maw of the electronic wizard. The following is the result.
Lack, Jonathan - Perry, Glen [B23]
AACC Prelim 2 Guilderland, NY, 01.12.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 3.a4 Nc6 4.Nge2 Nf6 5.g3 d5 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.Bg2 Be6 8.d4 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Bd5 10.0–0 e6 11.Be3 b6 12.Nf4 Bxg2 13.Kxg2 g5?
My original comment in a posting from 12/5/10 was: “This a more significant error by Glen. White now can have a marked advantage with the sacrificial line; 14 Nxe6! fxe6 15 Qh5+ Kd7 16 cxd5 Qe8 17 Rfd1+ Kc7 18 cxb6+ Kb7 19 Qxg5, netting four pawns for the piece and keeping the initiative.”
In the game Jonathan played 14.Qf3. Rybka and my recommendation was 14 Nxe6. The question by Lack and to a lesser extent by Perry was; what about 14..., Qd5+(!?)?
a) 15 Kg1, and of course 15..., Qxe6; is met by 16 d5, forking the Queen and Knight recovering material. Then if; a1) 16..., Qd6 17 dxc6 Qxc6 18 Bxg5, and White is a pawn to the good. Or if; a2) 16..., Qd6 17 dxc6 Rg1 18 Bxg5! Insisting upon a piece sacrifice, then 18..., Rxg5 19 Qf3, sets up powerful threats of c6-c7+ and Ra1-d1. And if a3) Black trades Queens right away things are not much better: 18..., Qxd1 19 Raxd1 Rxg5 20 Rfe1+ Be7 21 Rd7, leading to White having both Rooks on the 7th rank and a winning position.
The alternative b) is 15..., fxe6. White then should play 16 Qh5+, and b1) 16..., Kd7; loses to 17 dxc5. Black can obtain nominal compensation, R+N for his Queen, but the White Queen is well placed to do what Queens are especially equipped to do; move fast and far attacking multiple weaknesses picking up material along the way. Example: 16 Qh5+ Kd7 17 dxc5 Bxc5 18 Rad1 Bxe3 19 Rxd5 exd5 20 fxe3 Raf8 (Probably best, other moves allow 21 Rf7+ and disaster looms for Black.) 21 Rxf8 Rxf8 22 Qxh7+ Ne7 23 e4 dxe4 24 Qxe4 Rf6 25 Qb7+ Ke8 26 Qxa6 Rc6 27 Qb5, and the Rook and Knight simply can’t cope with the Queen’s appetite for pawns. A key feature to keep in mind in such endings is all pure pawn end games are likely lost so even a mating net with the Knight magically on e3 and the Rook charging down the f-file to f1 are adequately defended by the Queen covering f1.
The remaining choice is b2), 16..., Ke7. Then White continues; 17 dxc5 Rg8 18 Rad1 Qf5 19 cxb6 g4 20 Qxf5 exf5 21 Rfe1 Kf6 22 Bf4, and here Rybka says White is better by 1.27 pawns. A nice advantage in theory but very long way from a won game. The challenge to White is can he hang on to the three pawns that compensate for the missing Knight? His pieces; both Rooks and the Bishop are active and there is no immediate danger to his King. All to the good, but how to continue?
Black’S best move is likely 22..., Rg7; preventing 23 Rd7. White then has to find the difficult move 23 Bd6!?, with idea of threatening to bring both Rooks to the 6th rank after 23..., Kg5 24 Re6, and so on. This is quite murky and one has to be alert tactically to play this way. The notion of offering a trade of the finely placed Bf4 for the fairly inactive Bf8 is one that I suspect to be hard for a club level player to choose. I believe we would see it and put it aside for the general principle of not trading well developed pieces for undeveloped pieces. In this case, such a trade makes sense. In hindsight and with the aid of a strong chess engine, the trade frees d6 for a Rook increasing the activity of both Rooks.
The answer to the Lack/Perry question appears to be; 14..., Qd5+; is an excellent alternative that requires White to play actively entering tactically dangerous positions if he wants to win. White is further pressed by the fact that he has given up a piece for some pawns, and there are few paths that lead the game back to a balanced equality. This sort of decision is hard to make in an event where the players want to qualify for the next stage. This is even more true in a short tournament as is the AACC Preliminaries, six contestants playing five rounds for a single spot in the Final match. In light of the sporting conditions, and the complications on the board, Mr. Lack’s choice of 14 Qf3, is more than reasonable.
The question raised by Lack and Perry led us into interesting territory. It is the kind of discussion that uncovers much of the beauty in chess very often hidden in the variations of what might have been. Finding such questions is one of the goals I hope to reach when this series of blogs commenced.
Accuracy demands a correction to my comments. Black's 13th turn should be given (?!) as try with lots of risks attached rather than an outright error with (?). And, my recommendation 14 Nxe6; probably is only (!?), dangerous to Black but not entirely clear.
Happy New Year to all! More soon.
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