A Game From the Consolation and Some News

Thursday evening at SCC a CDCL match was played between the Capital Region team and the Geezers. The Geezers won the contest 3 - 1. On the surface the victory was as predicted by the team ratings. On the boards it was by no means routine. After Richard Chu on Board Four made an error and lost his game to Jason Denham of the Capital Region team, the other three Geezers all got themselves into trouble. They then had to resort to the guile of old age to triumph over youth and talent. It was a close run race for the Geezers. Much credit has to be accorded the Capital Region team for their fearless effort trying upset a much higher rated side. At leat one game from the match will be the subject of my next blog.

Here is a short game, one could almost call it a snippet. It was played a week ago Thursday at the Schenectady Club. Both participants were fighting for honor and rating points. They were well out of reach of a high place in this event when the game was played.

Connors, David - Clough, Matthew [A48]
SCC Consolation Tourney Schenectady, NY, 22.03.2012

1.d4 Nf6 2.e3 g6 3.Bd3 Bg7 4.Nd2 0–0 5.Ngf3 d6 6.c3 Nc6

Lately I have seen several games with this sort of layout; White plays the Colle and Black counters with a KID formation. Most often the game transposes into some offbeat line of the KID. The Black set up is by no means bad. In fact it is one of the recommended ways theory suggests to meet the Colle formation. White can have his e3-e4 without much fuss, and Black can strike back in the center with .., e7-e5. Black has equalized and maybe a bit more here.

7.Qc2?!,..

This move allows Black to claim some small advantage. Probably most correct is; 7 e4, e5 8 d5, heading into the Classical KID type position. The move played allows Black to get in the push to e5 favorably.

7..., e5 8.0–0 Nd5?!

This move, however, is mistaken. Better is 8..., Re8. Black should be aiming at trading off his e-pawn to open the long diagonal. An early occupation of the e-file by the Rook works well in conjunction with that idea. Right now White’s development lags a bit because of the Nd2 and the e-pawn hampering moves by the Bc1. So, after 8..., Re8; if play continues; 9 dxe5 Nxe5 10 Nxe5 Rxe5 11 Nf3 Re8 12 e4 Bg4; Black is at least slightly better than White.

What may have tempted Black to play as he did in the game was the advance of either the White c-pawn or the e-pawn looks at first glance unpalatable because of entry of a Black Knight at b4 or f4. It is possible; 9 e4 Nf4 10 d5 Ne7; is not good for White. It is not so bad to give up the light squared Bishop for the Knight if the pawn chain e4/d5 could be maintained. Unfortunately for White, Black can advance his f-pawn to the 5th and trade off the pawn on e4. Then things become quite interesting. After 11 Nb3 Nxd3 12 Qxd3 f5 13 Bg5 fxe4 14 Qxe4 Bf5 15 Qh4 Rh7; Black has some edge but nothing overwhelming. The problem for White is more the long term issue of the Black Bishop pair.

9.Bc4?,..

Suspect from a positional perspective. With a lagging development, White moves the Bishop a second time. This is a classic error made by club level players.

9..., Nde7?

And this is another classic. Better 9..., Nb6; forcing a further move by the wandering Bishop.

10.Rd1?,..

White overlooks the potential central expansion by Black. Up to this point, concern about not opening the a1-h8 diagonal has motivated some of White’s choices. It seems here he assumes that reasonable judgment from earlier in the game must still be true. It is a good example of Aagaard’s dictum about forced and unforced thinking. Here taking an unforced approach and examining 10 dxe5, Nxe5 11 Nxe5 Bxe5 12 e4!, with f2-f4 to follow if the Bishop does not retreat gives White a pretty good game. Forced thinking, assuming previous conclusions hold true without verification, leads White to error.

10..., d5 11.Be2 e4 12.Ne1,..

And so, in the space of a couple of moves, a promising position has been turned into a congested and difficult situation.

12..., Nf5!?

Now the critical point of the game has arrived for Black. He has to chose a plan. Here Mr. Clough decides on a direct piece attack on the White King, but is the position ripe for such action? The White defender on f3 has been driven off, however, Black will have to use some time to muster forces near the White King, hence the “!?” mark against the move. The line selected is certainly the most critical, and one that both sides should have considered. Alternatives are; a) 12..., a6; restricting the range of the Be2, followed by .., f7-f5; and permitting willingly c3-c4. Black counts on a good post for the Knight if subsequently White captures on d5 with the c-pawn. b) 12..., a5; playing for tactics in the center. If 13 c4 Nf5 14 cxd4? Ncxd4! 15 exd4 Nxd4 16 Qc4 b5; recovers the piece with a complicated position. Black has a big advantage according to Rybka.

13.Nb3?!,..

More careful is 13 g3. Although the suggested move weakens the light squares, White has the resources to defend them.

13..., Qg5 14.c4 Nh4?

A sober consideration of the possibilities should tell Black his forces on the field are not quite enough to carry the day on the K-side. That is not say he is entirely wrong about the demonstration launched. At this point Black could have played 14..., Nd6; leading to great complexity. The looming presence of the Black Queen on g5 challenges White to calculate carefully while things get sorted out in the center.

15.cxd5 Ne7?

Giving up material but obtaining no advantage for the sacrifice. Better 15..., Qxd5; and the issue is still to be resolved.

16.Qxc7 Nef5?

Allowing a second pawn to go makes things worse.

17.Qf4?! 1–0

Black resigns. A questionable decision. White’s last move was not the best. A good way for him to finish the game is; 17 Nd2 Re8 18 Bb5 Qe7 19 Qc5 Rd8 20 Qxe7 Nxe7 21 Nxe4, then the attack is gone leaving White two pawns ahead. The win is a technical problem only: White gets his say on the c-file quickly, and his central control is too great for Black to hold the game.

My guess his confidence was wrecked because he missed the capture on c7 with the Queen then coming to f4. If Black tries to keep the Queens on, the Nh4 is in trouble. Trading Queens breaks up the White pawns, but getting at them is not so simple. Nonetheless, that offers some hope after 17..., Qxf4 18 exf4 a5. White has an advantage, but Black can hope to get back a pawn to make a fight of the endgame.

When things go awry in your game, recovering your balance is terribly difficult. The good players seem to have the knack of doing so. It is a trait we all should try to acquire.

To update the standings in the Consolation Tourney: Isaiah Glessner had to withdraw due to work commitments. He had played more than one-half of his schedule. The games not played by Mr. Glessner are scored as forfeit wins for his opponents. There is but one game still to be played; Caravaty - Clough. If Caravaty wins he can finish in clear third place and a draw will tie him with Northrup for third place. The standings are:

1 Dilip Aaron 6-1
2 Herman Calderone 5 ½ - 1 ½
3 Cory Northrup 4 - 3
4&5 David Connors 3 ½ - 3 ½
4&5 Chris Caravaty 3 ½ - 2 ½ with one to play
6 Isaiah Glessner 2 ½ - 4 ½
7 Matt Clough 2 -4 with one to play
8 Michael Stanley 0 - 7

More soon.