Well, what we will be seeing here and in the next article will be two games where the main line was not played. Actually, in both cases, it was move 8 by White where the main line was avoided. Here, we will be looking at a line of the Slav Defense where White plays a side line on move 8 while the next article will feature a King's Indian Defense where White also deviates on move 8. The game I am going to cover here is more recent than the other one, but the reason I am covering this one first is that this one has a more obvious explanation behind what it was that Black did that was wrong. This will show why it is critical to know the other variations of the defense you are playing, even if you decide never to actually play them. The game that will be shown in the next article won't feature any blatant errors by Black in the opening moves unlike this game, and Black's mistakes are far more subtle in that game, and so rather than covering them chronologically, I decided to cover this one first as the concepts are far simpler to grasp and understand.
So with that said, let's take a look at the game played.
Tuesday Night Action 48, Round 1
W: Patrick McCartney (2057)
B: Michael Kliber (2024)
Slav Defense
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5
What we see here is the starting point of one of the two main lines of the Slav Defense, known as the Central Variation. The other main line is the Dutch Variation, which is 6.e3. Then there is a fairly popular "sideline" (there's that word again!) in 6.Nh4, chasing after the Bishop pair early on at the cost of development. As you can see, a sideline is a sideline for a reason. In the case of 6.Nh4, it's White lag in development.
But anyway, Black has a couple of options here, and I want to delve into the line that Black did not play. The most popular response in this position today is indeed the move that was played in the game, but that was not the case some 20 years ago. Back 20 years ago, all the rage was in the Bishop Sacrifice line, which runs 6...e6 7.f3 Bb4 8.e4, which leads to the following position:
Now it is well known that 8...Bg6 is just outright bad here where Black's opening strategy has completely failed and he has nothing more than a cramped and prospectless position. This is why Black sacrifices a piece in this line, and it's always the Bishop, never the Knight. After 8...Bxe4! 9.fxe4 Nxe4 10.Bd2 Qxd4 11.Nxe4 Qxe4+ 12.Qe2 Bxd2+ 13.Kxd2 with a playable position for both sides. White has an extra piece while Black has three pawns. This position has been played numerous times, and was once upon a time the most popular and ultimate main line of the Central Variation. Its popularity has waned, and there is no need to go deeper in the theory of this line, but the important thing to get out of it is that this option for Black is clearly superior to playing 8...Bg6. We will see in a matter of moments why understanding this is so important despite the game not being played with this specific line.
6...Nbd7
This move has taken over as the main response to 6.Ne5.
7.Nxc4 Qc7
This is one of two lines Black can play. The other is 7...Nb6 8.Ne5 e6 (8...Nbd7? 9.Qb3! with advantage) 9.f3 Nfd7 10.a5 Nxe5 11.axb6 Nd7 12.e4 and now 12...Bg6 is correct as we have a completely different position that is not cramped for Black and he doesn't have the Knight on f6 to capture a second time on e4, and so here the retreat is correct when 13.bxa7 leads to a roughly level game.
8.f3!?
After the game, Black gave this speel about how White was supposed to play 8.g3 and how after 8...e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Bf4 Nfd7 11.Bg2 f6 12.O-O Nc5 13.Ne3 Be6 14.b4 Rd8, we have this exciting position that is playable for both sides and White has options here where supposedly 15.Qb1 can lead to a very slight edge for White. Sure, this is main line theory, and all is well and good, but do you understand it? Do you have any idea why these moves are superior to the sidelines? If you don't, what good does this do you?
8...e6?
And already we see that Black simply doesn't "get it". Why did he play 7...Qc7 in the first place? To play 8...e5. So why did he not play 8...e5 here? Why 8...e6? That's something you will have to ask the player that played Black, but Black is at least "OK" after 8...e5 9.e4 dxe4. Neither side is specifically "better" here, but White threw out a sideline (8.f3 is a legitimate line - it's just not the ultimate "main line"), and Black responds with a clear sign that his prep was memorized and not understood.
9.e4!
Now let's look at this diagram compared to the one in the analysis of the Bishop Sacrifice line. Black's Bishop is not developed and not pinning the White Knight to the King, and so White has an extra piece controlling e4. Black's Queen is not on the semi-open file, pressuring d4, like she was in the Bishop Sacrifice line, and so White's center is completely intact. All of this makes the piece sacrifice impossible, and so White is going to gain a tempo on top of it while Black retreats his Bishop to g6, and we are going to see that Black will be virtually down a Bishop until it is too late, and by the time this Bishop is active and doing anything, Black will LITERALLY be down a Bishop! If Black had understood the Bishop Sacrifice line, even if he never decided to actually play it, he would have known how bad 8...e6 really was. It looked like such an innocent move, but it has already lead to a complete disaster for Black, not just a "slightly inferior" position compared to 8...e5, but again, a complete disaster.
Hopefully by now you see the extreme emphasis that I am putting on making sure that you understand the opening you are playing and not just memorizing it! Again, I refer back to The French Connection Volume 9 referenced and link provided above, where a clear explanation of what is going on and the reasoning behind all of Black's moves and the ability to compare and contrast to various main lines lead to successful execution by Black in both games. Now you are seeing what happens when you don't have this basic understanding, albeit with a different opening this time.
With White already having a significant advantage after 9 moves, for the rest of this article the emphasis will be on how to execute in a superior position.
9...Bg6 10.Be2
It makes no sense for White to get fancy here. Complete development and get castled. The best way to execute against a player that is "virtually" down a piece is to get all of your pieces in the game so that in the area of the board that matters, Black really will be down a piece. Given that White wants to keep the Black Bishop on g6 hemmed in, he won't move his e4- or f3-pawns, and White's play will clearly be on the Queenside.
10...Bb4
It's too late for pins like this one. White's ready to castle already and the damage is done in the center. Black should instead do everything he can to get the Bishop back in the game, and this starts with 10...e5. He still has to be able to move the Knight on f6, find a way to cover e6 so that he can advance the f-pawn, and then get the Bishop out via f7. This sounds like a four-move affair, but it really isn't and it will take a lot of prep to be able to execute. The first move, 10...e5, can be played right now and is indeed Black's best option in a bad position, but it's still going to be a while before all four moves can be executed, and in the mean time, White would be hitting hard on the light squares and doing what he can to control e6 to make that pawn advance a problem for Black. But without such an attempt by Black at activity, White can continue on his merry way, completing his development.
11.O-O O-O 12.Be3 Rfe8 13.Rc1 a6?
This move serves no purpose. Black getting in ...b5 without major consequences is a complete pipe dream. Black should gain some space and protect the Bishop with 13...a5, which we will see him play a mere two moves later, admitting that this move was a complete waste.
So now here is a critical concept that many amateurs find themselves walking right into a trap door. Normally, when you have a lead in development, you think it is time to blow open the position, and the move 14.d5 is one of those moves that just looks really tempting for White, especially with a White Rook on the same file as the Black Queen, potentially leading to explosive tactics that will go his way. The problem with that logic is the fact that Black is not BEHIND in development. He has just as many pieces developed as White does. The difference is that his pieces are POORLY PLACED! If White were to blow open the position, all it would do is bring pieces like the lousy Bishop on g6 back to life! So White should not be tempted into such a bad move like 14.d5. If Black's Knight were still on b8, and Black's Bishop were still on c8, with the Rook buried in there on a8, only then are you looking to blow open the position for positional reasons. Otherwise, there must be concrete tactics to make this move valid.
So now that we have knocked out the idea of 14.d5, what should White do? Well, there are still pieces in White's camp that can be improved. The Bishop on e3 might look attractive, but it is really doing nothing. In addition, while ...b5 is bad for Black at the moment, White cannot consider his Knight on c4 completely stable, and he will want to be able to use the Knight in an attack at some point. However, the very moment that White moves his Knight on c4, the Bishop on e3 will be loose, and there could be potential tactics for Black given his Rook on e8, such as ...f5, which if White takes on f5, he will have problems on the e-file, and if he doesn't, the Bishop on g6 might become a "Born-Again Bishop". Therefore, the Bishop on e3 should be re-located. In addition, the Queen should get off of d1 as the f1-Rook belongs there since White is looking at a Queenside attack, leaving the Kingside as it is and doing little other than keeping it intact. So we want to re-route the e3-Bishop, move the Queen, and get our other Rook to d1. Once we do that, then we can start looking at going for the kill. It is not time for any kill yet, and so again, I want to re-iterate that 14.d5 is not a good move here.
14.Bf2
The Bishop is headed to g3 to combine with the Knight to dominate the weak d6-square.
14...Qd8 15.Qb3
If we are looking to relocate the Queen, not being 100% sure specifically where to, why not gain a tempo while we are at it?
15...a5
Basically admitting his error on move 13.
16.Rfd1 Qe7
Once again, Black did not like having his Queen be on the same file as the White Rook, but there is a major problem with the move Black just played, and 16...Qb8 was to be preferred.
White has a move here that leads to a winning position. He does not win any material, or at least not yet, but it's a positional idea that wins for White. Do you see the move?
17.Na2!!
Often times, moves that involve either retreating or bringing a Knight to the edge of the board, let alone both in this case, can be very hard to spot. However, Black's last move blocked the Bishop's escape. Prior to now, any Na2 move could be answered by ...Be7 or ...Bf8 and the Knight would just look silly on a2. But now, with the Black Queen blocking the way, Black has no way to avoid having to part with the Bishop for the White Knight, and this is just the piece that White wanted eliminated. He has the light-squared blockade hemming in the Bishop on g6 and making the Knight on f6 somewhat ineffective as well, and so that leaves the dark squares for the White pieces, and for White to have an uncontested Dark-Squared Bishop is fatal to Black, and he is complete busted at this point.
17...c5 18.Nxb4 cxb4
Sadly, Black has to take this way and can't at least open up his Rook on a8 as 18...axb4 19.dxc5 Nxc5 20.Qxb4 nets White a pawn.
Now, in addition to White having total domination on the dark squares, he also has a clean 5-on-4 Kingside majority while Black has a crippled majority on the Queenside, yet a third feature on the board that is adventageous for White (to go along with the out of play Bishop on g6 and the dark-square domination).
19.Bg3 Nh5 20.Bd6 Qg5
21.Qe3!
When you have a winning position, there is no need to always think that you have to go after the King. This move takes the life completely out of Black's position. The a8-Rook, e8-Rook, d7-Knight, and g6-Bishop are virtually doing nothing. The Queen on b3 was not ideally placed at this point as she did her job on b3, getting Black to hem in his own Bishop with pawn moves and the Queen move to e7. Now there are better things for the White Queen to do, and here, it is to trade itself off for what amounts to be the only Black piece that is actually doing something. Black was getting ready to play something like 21...Nf4, forcing White to either give back his dominant dark-squared Bishop, or else play passively and doing something like placing the Light-Squared Bishop on f1 to stop the mate threat. White wants nothing to do with such shenanigans that give Black even a glimmer of hope of coming back to life. This move is a cease and desist order on Black.
21...Qxe3+
This move was forced, which is once again, unfortunate for Black! 21...Qf6 22.g4 traps the Knight while if Black plays 21...Qd8, now is the time to release the Bishop with 22.e5! as the Bishop still has no life and no real entry points into the White position, and the problem is now shifted to the Black Knight on h5 which is about to be trapped, and so Black was forced to trade Queens, and it gets the White Knight out of the way so that the raking Bishops and Rook can intrude into Black's position while he STILL has that lifeless Bishop on g6.
22.Nxe3 Nb6
This move is no good, but it's hard to recommend anything better as the pin after 23.Bb5 is just as unpleasant for Black.
23.Bb5 f5
Black finally gets around to getting his Bishop out of the cage, but it's too little, too late, for any of this to work.
24.Bc7!
White has absolutely no interest in trading his dominant Bishop on b5 for the passive Rook on a8. You might be asking yourself "Aren't you taking the Rook on e8?", but you have to think of the resulting position. If you take on e8, Black is going to take back with the Rook, and what you have is basically a position where you just yank the b5-Bishop and a8-Rook off the board and there is your resulting position, and so what you really did was give up the beautiful Bishop on b5 for the piece of junk on a8. The move played in the game is better, where Black can tie himself up even further with a move like 24...Nc8, or else drop a full piece rather than an exchange.
24...Re7
Black decided to hold on to the Rook and jettison the Knight. The problem here is, White still maintains his raking Bishops, and now he's up a full piece as well.
25.Bxb6 fxe4 26.Rc7
Eliminating all useful Black pieces and not worrying about pawn recaptures at this point.
26...Rxc7 27.Bxc7 exf3 28.gxf3
Only now does White take back, mainly to avoid any annoying tactics, but even here it wasn't completely necessary, but pretty much no matter what White does here outside of something completely off the wall stupid, he will win this game.
28...Nf6 29.d5
Being up material, White is out to get more stuff off the board! Black can't afford to let White advance the pawn to d6. Therefore, the capture is forced.
29...exd5 30.Nxd5 Bc2
All this move does is allow White to force the Knights and the Rooks off the board.
31.Nxf6+ gxf6 32.Rd8+ 1-0
Black threw in the towel as after the Rook trade, the a5-Pawn is going to be the next to fall and the endgame with the extra Bishop is a cake walk for White.
So what we saw here was a case of total domination through the use of positional understanding. White played a sideline against the Slav Defense, and Black, who relied on the memorizing of the main lines, plays a horrible move on move 8 due to lack of positional understanding of what was going on in the opening. After that, White takes full advantage of the situation via the following:
- Knowing which side to attack, namely the Queenside as he used his e4-f3-g2 pawn chain as a cage to the Black pieces on the Kingside, and so not wanting to break that cage, he executes his attack on the Queenside. The fact that a couple of pawns and no pieces were needed to tie Black down played a major role in the form of giving White a "Local Piece Superiority" on the Queenside.
- Avoiding Temptation! This is a critical concept in chess. In this case, the move 14.d5 is the move that is screaming "Play me! Play me!" in the head of White, and White was correct not to listen to those pesky creatures and recognizing that being poorly developed is not the same as being undeveloped, and that sometimes, busting a position open might do nothing more than turn a poorly developed army into a well-developed army, and White was correct in not allowing that for Black.
- By paying very close attention to detail and playing moves to entice Black to enclose his own Dark-Squared Bishop, White immediately attacked the Bishop on b4 with his Knight the very moment that the Bishop could not escape, and not a move sooner. Seeing as that White's barricade was a light-squared pawn chain, domination on the dark squares is just what White's position called for, and what better way to do it than to force Black to give up his Dark-Squared Bishop for a Knight!
- Another important concept to get out of this is that when you have a winning advantage, not all winning advantages come in the form of an attack on the King. The other type of winning advantage is a technically won endgame. The only piece of Black's that had sprung to life was his Queen, and White put the kibosh on it immediately with the strong move 21.Qe3!, and with the raking Bishops, the better Knight, along with the Rooks already being on the two files that they belonged on, it was a no-brainer for White to remove the Queens off the board and use the technically won endgame as his route to victory instead of a direct attack at the Black King.
This concludes part 1 of showing why positional understanding, even in the opening, is more crucial than memorizing lines. Next time, we will cover the second half of this topic with a game where Black's mistakes are a lot more subtle, and what we will see is more along the lines of what should actually happen in a game when one side doesn't follow the main line, and the errors made in that game won't be because of the opening moves themselves, but rather later on in the game, where emphasis will be more on how to handle areas of confusion in the middle game as a result of one side playing a sideline rather than the total domination we saw here due to an immediate reaction in the opening that was outright terrible. Until then, good luck in all of your games!
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