Example games
Bob asked me for a few examples. It was difficult to find a few good ones, since I'm a terrible score writer. Because I have no standard endgame plans, I'm starting to eat up time and end up in time trouble. Where I both start to make blunders, and start to write wrong. But these two games will give you an idea, hopefully. In the first game I didn't finish him off, tactically, although I came far. I'm working on that. But I shouldn't lose an endgame when I'm a pawn ahead, should I?
In the second game I first won the exchange (he sacrificed it), which I later converted to a full rook. I didn't know how to stop his pawns, though, so I blundered in time trouble. The list of the past half year is long. Outplaying players with a rating between 1850 and 2000, then converting it into a winning ending, then getting into time trouble due to lack of a sensible plan, then blundering something away.
[Event "Computer chess game"]
[Site "STUDIE-PC"]
[Date "2022.11.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tempo"]
[Black "Albert"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "1855"]
[ECO "D01"]
[Opening "Richter-Veresov, 3.Bf4"]
[Time "16:28:38"]
[Variation "2.Nc3"]
[WhiteElo "1720"]
[TimeControl "1/259200:300"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[WhiteType "human"]
[BlackType "human"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 c6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O Nh5 8.
Re1 Nxf4 9. exf4 c5 10. f5 Nf6 11. Bb5+ Bd7 12. fxe6 fxe6 13. Rxe6 O-O 14.
Bxd7 Qxd7 15. Re2 Qc7 16. dxc5 Qxc5 17. Nd4 Qb4 18. Ne6 Rf7 19. Qd4 Qxd4
20. Nxd4 Bb4 21. Re3 Ng4 22. Rf3 Rxf3 23. Nxf3 Bxc3 24. bxc3 Rc8 25. h3 Nf6
26. Rb1 b6 27. Rb3 Ne4 28. Nd4 Rxc3 29. Rxc3 Nxc3 30. a3 Nb1 31. Nc6 Nxa3
32. Nxa7 Nxc2 33. Nc8 b5 34. Ne7+ Kf7 35. Nxd5 Ke6 36. Nf4+ Kd6 37. Kf1 Kc5
38. Nd3+ Kc4 39. Ke2 b4 40. f4 b3 41. g4 Nb4 *
[Event "Computer chess game"]
[Site "STUDIE-PC"]
[Date "2022.11.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tempo"]
[Black "Kees"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "1971"]
[ECO "D01"]
[Opening "Richter-Veresov, 3.Bf4"]
[Time "18:04:47"]
[Variation "2.Nc3"]
[WhiteElo "1720"]
[TimeControl "1/259200:300"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[WhiteType "human"]
[BlackType "human"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 c6 4. e3 Bf5 5. f3 e6 6. g4 Bg6 7. h4 h6 8. Bd3
Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Bb4 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. Nh3 Qa5 12. Kb1 Nb6 13. g5 Nh5 14. gxh6
gxh6 15. Be5 O-O-O 16. Bxh8 Rxh8 17. Nf4 Nxf4 18. exf4 Nc4 19. Ne2 Qb6 20.
Qb3 Rg8 21. c3 Rg2 22. Rhe1 Be7 23. Qxb6 axb6 24. b3 Ne3 25. Rd2 Nf5 26.
Rg1 Rh2 27. Kc2 Bxh4 28. Rg8+ Kd7 29. Nc1 Rh3 30. Nd3 f6 31. Re2 Rxf3 32.
Rb8 Nd6 33. Rh2 Kc7 34. Rh8 Nf5 35. Kd2 Bg3 36. Re2 Kd7 37. Rh7+ Kd6 38.
Rxb7 Bxf4+ 39. Nxf4 Rxf4 40. Rxb6 e5 41. dxe5+ fxe5 42. a4 e4 43. a5 Kc7
44. Rg2 Nd6 45. Rg8 Rf2+ 46. Ke1 Rf3 47. Rh8 Rxc3 48. Rh7+ Kc8 49. Rxh6 Kd7
50. a6 Rc1+ 51. Kd2 Rg1 52. Rh7+ Kd8 53. Rb8+ Nc8 54. Rh8+ Kd7 55. Rhxc8
Ra1 56. Ra8 Rxa6 57. Rxa6 Kxc8 0-1
PART I:
ReplyDeleteThis is my “stream of consciousness” review of your first game. I’m not criticizing your play; just trying to figure out what was going on in your mind as you played. My interest is in trying to see (if possible) potential deficits in knowledge/skill that we may share. I have never played this opening with White, generally preferring a more traditional Queen’s Gambit approach with the potential to attack on the queenside with a minority attack rather than a piece/pawn attack on the kingside.
I have no idea how far into the opening you had studied/memorized this variation, but it seems you had a better feel for it than your opponent.
In this first game, Black’s plan (7...Nh5; 8...Nxf4) to exchange off the WBf4, doubling White’s f-pawns (and also opening the e-file for White and creating a pawn break on f5) seems dubious to me because White has completed development and is prepared to begin active operations. Back still has to get his king out of the center and his queenside piece development has far lagged behind. Playing 9...c5 seems foolhardy under the circumstances. You rightly saw the possibility of cranking open the e-file with 10.f5. After 10...Nf6 11. Bb5+ you saw the tactical possibility of gaining a pawn with attacking chances on the kingside. After 11...Bd2 12. fxe6 fxe6 it appears that you immediately went for the pawn gain.
I’m curious: I know you like attacking play and I know you can SEE the outline of the potential tactics in this position. Why did you reject 13. Ng5? It appears to give you the extra pawn AND to also get your knight into e6 (the ‘octopus knight”!) with tempo. You would have had an even stronger initiative as a result. Does GM Smirnov’s “To take is a mistake!” aphorism apply?
This s one of the areas I have been working on (and still need to work on) – rather than striving to gain material at the first opportunity, perhaps deferring the material gain (or foregoing it altogether) in favor of increased piece activity and complications (i.e., tactical threats that put the pieces in more active positions).
Black appears to be setting up for a potential raid on h2 after 16...Qc7. The WNf3 might be captured by the BRf8, with a strong attack of queen and knight against your king. Why capture on c5? It brings Black’s queen to a stronger position in the center, and does not improve your piece positions. Why not try to get the White queen off the 1st rank (perhaps d3) and bring the a8 rook into the action on either the d-file or e-file, putting immediate pressure on the IQP? As GM Aagaard says, bring ALL of the pieces to the party when you are attacking!
Why did you immediately play 17. Nd4? Were you already looking at 18.Ne6, to be followed with an exchange of queens by playing 19.Qd4? Did you consider a plan of getting the queen off the 1st rank (17.Qd3) followed by developing the a8-rook as needed to increase pressure on d5 or e7? It appears that you were applying “one piece at a time” thinking, rather than trying to coordinate ALL of your pieces toward potential targets (a frequent failing of mine).
Black’s 18...Rf7 appears to be a mistake. With 19.Ng5, White gains a strong attack because his pieces are very well coordinated. The BRf7 and BBe7 are targets, and the BRa8 is doing nothing. I started having “fantasies” of things like grabbing the BBe7 (if the Black rook reverts to f8 and/or the Black queen takes on b2) and also a potential classic smothered mate pattern (WN takes on d5, BN takes back, WQ takes with check, BK moves to h8, WN goes to f7 with check. Black would probably give up the exchange and take the knight, rather than permit the smothered mate with BK to g8, WN to h6++, BK to h8, WQ to g8+, BRxg8, WN to f7 mate). Somewhere in there I would have to figure out what to do about the a1-rook (under attack if Black captures on b2 and the WQ is on f7), but it certainly looks more promising than Black’s possibilities.
PART II:
ReplyDeleteI did not understand your decision to trade queens and go into an endgame, even though you are a pawn ahead at the moment. You lost the initiative and Black ruined your pawn structure in short order, enabling him to regain his material with interest. Did you assume that getting rid of the queens made it easier to win the IQP? The classical method for capturing the IQP requires the major pieces (and that c3 pawn assassin). Black is able to force doubled c-pawns (because of the combined threat against your rook on e3 and the f2-pawn, which is more than adequate compensation for the pawn minus and the IQP (which can no longer be won using the classical plan).
Assessing the position after 24...Rc8, I think Black has the advantage of better pawn structure. Both sides have three pawn islands but Black’s IQP is easily protected with the BN and the two connected queenside pawns are better structurally than the isolated a-pawn and the double c-pawns. White’s 3:2 majority on the kingside will not be a factor until very late in a pawn endgame, if at all.
After 29...Nxc3, the primary consideration is that a knight and pawn endgame should be played essentially as if it is a pawn ending (Botvinnik’s “rule”). It is crucial is to get the king to the center of the board ASAP. I’m doubtful that it would hold the draw, but at least it’s a chance. Trying to advance the 3:2 kingside majority to create a passed pawn is too slow in light of the advanced b-pawn; it merely weakens the pawns for when the Black king comes calling. Perhaps a better way would be to try to get the White king in front of the b-pawn, trying to keep the Black king tied to its defense, freeing up the night to shepherd the kingside pawns forward. However, if the knights can be forced off, then the “fox in the chicken house” strategy works: White is forced to spend time going after the b-pawn, while the Black king is free to raid the kingside pawns.
I look forward to your critique of my thoughts! Thank you!!