Missed Shots and Good Play

The week before this game was played Mr. Glessner won very handily from the tournament leader Dilip Aaron. This week is quite different. David Connors had not been doing well this event up to this game. This time out he plays nearer to his true strength and wins. Glessner missed a shot that would have given him a second victory in a row.

Connors, David - Glessner, Isaiah [A08]
SCC Consolation Tourney Schenectady, NY, 01.03.2012

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 c5 4.0–0 Bf5 5.d3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 e6

The King’s Indian Attack was known sometimes in my youth as the Reti Opening, Barcza System. It became popular in the decade after the end of WWII. It faded as Soviet players showed their wares from the long war years; new lines in the Sicilian and the double edged play of the King’s Indian Defense. Larsen gave this way of playing a late resurgence in the 1970s as an occasional weapon, and then it went out of style once more. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with it other than granting Black more space than he deserves.

Black does something similar in the KID is because he doesn’t want to defend the very slightly inferior positions that come about from the QGD. The KID is a risky attempt to get White into a difficult game where Black has chances to win. The KID player knows he is playing for one of three results; win lose or draw. All the Queen’s Gambit positions offer decent chances for White where he does not have to give up space, and he is playing for just two results; a win or a draw, and so the KID tries to drag White into something complicated.

So why the King’s Indian Attack? The thought process for White I imagine is; if the KID can be played by Black, playing the same moves for White must be as good because of the extra tempo and maybe even better. Two specific reasons for choosing the KIA are; 1), White thinks the first few moves are easy to remember and easy to play. Because he does not engage closely with his opponent’s pieces he can get to the latter part of the opening or the early middle game without much drama. 2) The long range plan is clear; attack the Black center from the flanks and perhaps keep opportunities open to push the f-pawn through to f5 in preparation for a direct attack on the Black King.

The problem with all this is space. Black obtains more room in which to maneuver, and White accepts being somewhat crowded. Taking up such a restrained position when there are the rich fields of the Queen’s Gambit lines are available is not logical. I quote GM Har-Zvi; modern Grandmasters value space highly. With more space winning or drawing are easier. Cramped and lacking space makes defending difficult and losing more likely. I don’t always understand everything Grandmasters write in their notes or say in their lectures. The comments about space however make a lot of sense to me.

7.Re1?!,..

Sometimes a necessary preparation for the advance of the e-pawn but not so here. White can play 7 e4, right away, then; 7..., dxe4 8 dxe4 Nxe4 9 Nh4 Nd6 10 Nxf5 Nxf5 11 c6, and for the pawn White has the Bishop pair, a clear diagonal for the Bg2, with easy development of his pieces; the Queen goes to a4, the Knight goes to c4 then on to e3 to eliminate the Nf5, and eventually the Bishop goes to e3, and finally bringing the Rooks come to the center. It is not at all clear that the e-file is the best place for the Rook at this moment.

W.W. Adams, a strong but variable American player from the 40s and 50s, and Hans Berliner, the fifth Correspondence World Champion wrote and said much about the Options principle in chess. Shortened they defined the principle as; choose moves that leave as many options for your next move as possible. This will make things as hard as possible for your opponent. Remember f2-f4, f5, is a possibility White may want to use. Once the Rf1 is placed on e1 that possibility is unlikely to be available. The text move violates the Option principle for no great benefit.

If White does not care to give up a pawn, he can continue in the reversed KID mode and play; 7 c4, then if 7..., dcxc4 8 Nxc4, and begin to think about trading a Knight for the Bf5 obtaining the two Bishops advantage.

7..., Bd6?!

An interesting slip. In positions where a Bishop is on f5, putting minor pieces on f6 and d6 invites e2-e4 because the continuing threat of e4-e5 makes the pawn charge dangerous to Black. When the White e-pawn advances, Black will have to give up one of his Bishops at the least to avoid worse.

8.a3?!,..

When played in the game, this move struck me as off the mark. My thought was 8 e4 Bg4 9 h3 Bxf3 10 Nxf3, when Black must either submit to the ugly 10..., e5; or the Bishop retreat to e7. In either case White has a pleasant game and the advantage of the two Bishops. My objection to this move is it grants Black a tempo he may use to correct the problematical disposition of minor pieces in the center making the pawn push to e4 less effective.

8..., 0–0?!

And Black ignores the opportunity.

9.e4 dxe4 10.dxe4 Bg4 11.c3?,..

Anxious about a Black Knight coming to d4, White takes time out to prevent that possibility. A good intention poorly timed. White either is unable to calculate the complications in the lines; 11 h3, and a) 11..., Bxf3 12 Nxf3, or b) 11..., Bh5 12 g4 Nxg4; or he did not reach a correct conclusion about them. Both alternatives lead to a significant advantage for White. It is true the alternative b) has to carried out for a number of moves to reach a conclusion, but in the long run, the piece sacrificed is too large a weight for the initiative Black gains to offset. Once more White hands over a tempo letting Black off the hook.

11..., Qc7 12.Nc4 Be7 13.Qc2?!,..

Slow playing when activity is required. Here 13 Bf4, would force Black to make an unpleasant choice: Agree to simplification with 13..., Bxf3 14 Bxc7 Bxd1 15 Raxd1 Rac8 16 Bd6 Bxd6 17 Nxd6 Rc7 18 e5, with threats. Or, accept a retarded development with 13..., Qc8; and after 14 Qe2 b5 15 Nd6, the Black game looks shaky. Either way Whites has the better position.

13..., e5

Getting closer to equality with 13..., Bxf3; is better. Two things seemed to get in the way of making that choice; Black wants to win the game, and too great of a reliance on the sometimes overstated principle that Bishops are always better than Knights. It is generally true, but tactics can always modify that truth. Black can obtain a favorable position with 13..., Bxf3 14 Bxf3 b5 15 Ne3 c4; when Black’s pawns well placed to cover a great many light squares, White is crowded in by the Black pawns, something still needs to be done with the Bc1, and the Black dark square Bishop has reasonable prospects. Many times we see players sacrificing a pawn for a tempo or two and increased activity. It is much rarer to find these same players giving up the Bishop pair to obtain the better game. Such is the effect of the drumbeat about the power of two Bishops by chess authors. Remember the admonition of the Russian School; concrete calculation should trump reliance on general principles.

14.Ne3 Be6 15.c4?,..

After using a valuable tempo on move 11 to keep a Black Knight out of d4, White now changes his mind. A litany of moves are better; 15 b4, 15 Ng5 15 Bd2, 15 Rd1, and even 15 b3. They all have some point. The point of the text move text move is far less clear. After the Black Knight lands on d4, White will have to trade creating a protected passed pawn or risk having his Queen awkwardly placed.

15..., Nd4 16.Nxd4 cxd4 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.exd5 Rac8

All logical and good for Black. He is concentrating pressure on the c4-pawn. The lagging White development makes defending this point not easy. It is however defensible by indirect means reminiscent of the famous game from Zurich, 1953; Averbakh - Gligoric, in a King’s Indian where the Yugoslav was burdened with a backward d-pawn on an open file, and White concentrated his fire there. In a lovely series of tactical operations Black made taking the d-pawn so risky that survived a long time.
When it was finally liquidated, Black got full value for it, and additionally, White was forced to weaken several points in his position. Black capped this performance by winning the game. If you have not seen this game, here it is:

(36584) Averbakh, Yuri L - Gligoric, Svetozar [E68]
Candidates Tournament Zurich (5), 06.09.1953
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0–0 5.d4 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.0–0 e5 8.e4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Nc5 10.f3 a5 11.Be3 a4 12.Rf2 c6 13.Nc2 Qe7 14.Rd2 Nfd7 15.Rc1 Be5 16.Bf2 Re8 17.Ne3 Nf8 18.Ne2 Qc7 19.Rb1 a3 20.b3 h5 21.Qc2 Be6 22.Nc3 Nh7 23.b4 Na6 24.f4 Bg7 25.f5 Bd7 26.Qb3 Nf6 27.fxg6 fxg6 28.c5+ Be6 29.cxd6 Bxb3 30.dxc7 Bf7 31.b5 Nxc7 32.bxc6 bxc6 33.Rb7 Rac8 34.Rc2 Na6 35.Bf1 Nc5 36.Rxf7 Kxf7 37.Bc4+ Kf8 38.Nf5 Ncxe4 39.Nxg7 Kxg7 40.Nxe4 Rxe4 41.Ba6 Rd8 42.h3 Rb4 43.Rxc6 Ne4 44.Rc7+ Kh8 45.Be3 Rb2 0–1

While this GM game does not speak directly to the positions we see in today’s game, Mr. Connors undertakes a similar kind of defense of the c-pawn.

19.f4 Bd6 20.fxe5 Bxe5 21.Bh3?!,..

Getting it exactly right in such play is hard. Here White could play 21 Qd3, slipping out of the nasty pin on the c-file. As long as the Be5 has no other defender other than the Qc7, White can make repairs to his position.

21..., Rce8 22.Qd3?,..

White fails to appreciate what is going on. Now the Be5 is defended twice and the Re1 is loose on an open file. This is a prescription for tactics.

22..., Re7?

And Black does not see the possibility. Now is the moment for; 22..., Bxg3!; and then White is lost after 23 Rxe8 Bxh2+ 24 Kg2 Rxe8 25 Bg5 Re3! 26 Bxe3 Qg3+ 27 Kh1 Qxh3; and if 28 Qxd4 Bf4+; wins, or 28 Qf1 Qh5 29 Bf2 Bd6+ 30 Kg2 Ne4 31 Qh1 Qg4+ 32 Kf1 d3; and so on leading to a win for Black. The lines are on the longish side and maybe Isaiah just did not carry out his calculations quite far enough. It would not so bad just missing a tactical shot, but Black more or less writes off his d-pawn in subsequent play. White then has a large mass of Q-side pawns, some protected and passed. They are inadequately opposed by only two Black foot soldiers.

23.Bd2 Rfe8 24.Bb4 Bd6 25.Rxe7 Qxe7 26.Bxd6 Qxd6 27.Qxd4 Re4 28.Qxa7 Qe5?!

In this last segment, up this move, play was pretty much as Rybka recommends. The most obvious move, and the recommended move is 28..., Rxc4. This line of play did not appeal to Mr. Glessner, I think. It could go; 28..., Rxc4 29 Qa8+ Qf8 (forced) 30 Qxf8 Kxf8 31 Rd1 Rc2 32 d6 Ke8 33 b4 Rc3 34 Re1+ Kd8 35 Re7, and while all is not completely clear, White has a big edge. Black must have judged that positions without the Queens on the board offered him few chances to hold the game. He therefore pins his hopes on direct action against the White King.

29.Qa8+ Ne8

This is the only way to keep the Queens on. With Knight stuck and the back rank, Black has just his Rook and Queen with which to engineer threats. White has his Rook and Bishop immediately available for defense. They seem sufficient for the task.

30.Qxb7 Re1+?

Black gives up on making mating threats with this move. He must have hoped a perpetual checking opportunity would present itself, for without a piece to support the Queen, mate will be impossible. I’d prefer 30..., Qd4+ 31 Kh1 Re2 32 d6 Nxd6 33 Qb8+ Ne8 34 Bg2 Qf2 35 Rg1 Re1 36 Bf1 Qf3+; and the game is drawn by repetition. White can try to improve with 34 Rf1, in this line. Then play continues; 34..., Qe4+ 35 Kg1 Qe3+; with a perpetual.
White would have to be willing to offer one of his many Q-side pawns to make headway with; 30..., Qd4+ 31 Kh1 Re2 32 d6 Nxd6 33 Qa8+ (The Queen will be useful on the long diagonal.) 33,.. Ne8 34 Bf1 Re7 35 Rb1, consolidates White’s advantage

31.Rxe1 Qxe1+ 32.Bf1 Qe3+

Black’s problem is unless he can keep checking the White King, the opportunities for picking off more than a single White pawn are nonexistent. Making things even tougher is the nascent back rank mating threats White has in hand. To deal with those Black must take a tempo to move the King or make a luft. It is a classic predicament from studies and problems; the need to keep checking and at the same time defend against a potential mate.

33.Kg2 Qe4+ 34.Kf2 Qd4+ 35.Kf3 Qf6+ 36.Kg2,..

White had worked out this maneuver while evaluating the position somewhere around move 30. He played the subsequent moves with no hesitation and confidently. There are no more checks and White has time to consolidate.

36..., Qe5 37.Qb3 1–0

With the White Queen back home to shore up defenses, the four passed pawns are too big a problem for Black to solve. Resignation is reasonable and appropriate.

Both sides slipped as the game transitioned from the opening to the middle game, and both sides also showed creative flair in the complications. They both brought ideas to the fight making the game interesting.

More soon.