As mentioned in Part 1, this article, Part 2, we will be covering a Petroff Defense game, and unlike the first one, this opening error turns out to be more fatal than it initially looks as Black's game plays itself, and shortly after White's error in the opening, all it takes is one very innocent looking, slightly inferior move by White to go from a slight advantage for Black after 13 moves to a dead won position for Black after 14 moves, and unlike the last game, Black never really looks back. One could quibble over whether Black played the best move every time or not, but from moves 15 onward, the assessment is never anything but -+. So while the first article may have given the false impression that making errors in the opening through lack of understanding of what is actually going on doesn't mean much because you still have the middle game and end game, this one ought to show you what actually can happen if you don't understand the opening you are playing. I am not saying that the player playing White falls under this category, but this is a common thing that can happen when amateurs either try to be walking databases and try to memorize lines rather than taking the time to understand what their Opponent's objective really is, or it is also common for a person who tries to work off principles alone, and doesn't pay attention to the granular details of the position and tends to miss the whole point of what their opponent is up to.
We will be looking at one of Black's main objectives in the Modern Main Line (5.Nc3) of the Petroff Defense, and how what White did clearly shows that he did not understand Black's objective. With that, let's take a look at the feature game.
Reverse Angle 94, Round 3
W: Vishnu Vanapalli (2103)
B: Patrick McCartney (2049)
Petroff's Defense, Modern Main Line
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxd4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7
So what we have is the first position in the Modern Main Line of the Petroff Defense where White must make a decision. First, before making that decision, let's note a few features in the position:
- White has doubled c-pawns and four pawns cramped on three files, similar to what Black gets in the Exchange Ruy Lopez or Berlin Defense. By no means the end of the world for White, but probably the one thing that White doesn't want to see is a pure King and Pawn endgame.
- In return for the slightly wrecked Pawn structure, White has easily development. Both his Bishops are wide open and free to roam. He can lift the Queen to d2 or e2 to connect the Rooks once he castles to one side or the other. Black, on the other hand, in return for the better pawn structure, has slightly limited mobility in his Bishops, especially the Bishop on e7, which is blocked by the Pawn on d6.
- White's easy development and high mobility compared to Black's limited mobility combined with White's lack of desire for an endgame states that White should be looking at going after Black immediately rather than playing a maneuvering game. If both sides simply maneuver, Black will catch up in development and free his pieces, whereas White will still have the slightly inferior pawns. So while it is clear that Black is highly likely to castle Kingside, White should be thinking about castling Queenside as the extra c-pawn can act as additional protection on the White King, the semi-open d-file would help White's cause for a battery there created by the Queen lift to d2 and the Rook landing on d1 from castling, and White would be able to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the Black King, Pawns included, since there is no need to maintain cover on the Kingside like he would need to if he castled over there.
- The hard part is seeing and understanding what Black wants to do. Clearly Black wants to get his King out of the center, and he's almost surely going to castle Kingside. What does he want to do with the rest of his pieces? Well, the Light-Squared Bishop is not a major issue. He has an open diagonal for it, and can develop it to e6, f5, or g4. But what about the passive Dark-Squared Bishop on e7? What about the Knight on b8?
A lot to take in, right? And still something to figure out. That last bullet. Well, let's start from the diagram position. We see that White wants to put up a fight and not sit back. We determined that White is best off castling Queenside. Therefore, the first thing that White should do is develop the Dark-Squared Bishop. We don't want to develop it to d2 because that's where the Queen needs to go. That leaves e3 and f4. As it turns out, theory has it that White has 2 main lines here, Be3 and Bf4. Through simple understanding of the position, we were able to figure this out ourselves. Note that we are not sure yet what White wants to do with the Light-Squared Bishop, and the fact that White doesn't want to castle in that direction anyway, make moving the LSB a dubious idea. Black can easily respond to that with a waiting move of his own, 7...O-O, as there is no Greek Gift sacrifice because g5 is well covered by the Queen and Bishop. In the normal Greek Gift, Black usually has a Knight, not a Bishop, on e7.
So we have determined that White should play 7.Be3 or 7.Bf4, and which White plays is a pure matter of taste. Both are perfectly sound. However, what White does with that Bishop dictates Black's next move, and it answers the question of what Black does with the Knight on b8. With a White pawn on c3, Black has no opportunity to create an outpost on a square like d4 or b4. So the Knight will need to be looking at squares like c5, e5, or f6. Well, f6, while it might protect the King, is passive, and blocks in the already passive e7-Bishop. Therefore, more desirable would be c5 or e5. The development of White's Bishop on the previous move should answer the question of where the Knight goes. If the Bishop goes to e3, we target e5 as the outpost for the Knight. If the Bishop goes to f4, covering e5, we go for c5. Now one might argue that putting the Knight on d7 allows Black to go to either square. However, it also blocks in the c8-Bishop. If we can avoid blocking it, that's what we want to do. So if we are looking to get to e5 because White played 7.Be3, then our answer is 7...Nc6! The Knight will be headed for e5, and our Bishop on c8 is still free to develop itself and keeps an eye on the light squares. If White plays 7.Bf4, then we have to go to d7, which does temporarily block the c8-Bishop, but it is the only way to get to c5 as going through a6 would allow White to capture, and while it may cost him the Bishop pair, our pawns are wrecked.
So now we answered half the question of the final bullet. What we are doing with the Knight solely depends on what White does with his Dark-Squared Bishop. So now we need to answer what Black is looking to do with his Dark-Squared Bishop. Sure, we can move the Bishop to f6, but unless Black is coerced into doing it due to something inferior by White, it isn't best because from there, it is staring at a White pawn chain on c3 and b2, and it doesn't help Black in other aspects of the game, such as trying to gain space and free his slightly cramped position. Instead, that phrase "gain space" should give a hint of what Black wants to do. He would like to free his Dark-Squared Bishop by advancing his c- and d-pawns. Instead of having the pawn structure of d6-c7-b7-a7, Black would like to be able to get the c-pawn to c6 and the d-pawn to d5, so that he has the pawn structure of d5-c6-b7-a7. This would lead to a gain in space for Black. It would open up his Bishop on e7. One could argue that it worsens the Light-Squared Bishop, but if we were going to g4 or f5 anyway, does that matter? Also, one Bishop will almost always be slightly inferior to the other until all the central pawns are traded off. Well, the only way to get them traded is to advance them, and advancing them gives Black more space to maneuver his heavy pieces.
So now we have Black's ideas in mind. He wants an active central square for the Knight, either e5 or c5, solely dependent on where White develops his Dark-Squared Bishop, and we want to try to be able to advance ...c6 and ...d5. White should be keeping these ideas in mind when developing his pieces. So let's see what happens in the game.
7.Bf4 Nd7!
With the Bishop on f4, Black goes for c5 for his Knight.
8.Qd2 O-O 9.O-O-O Nc5
Ok, so we now have precisely one of the possible positions that we envisioned, specifically the one based on White playing 7.Bf4. Both 7.Bf4 and 7.Be3 have their pros and cons. The line White played forced Black to develop his Knight to d7, which meant he needed to get it to c5 sooner rather than later to keep from having his c8-Bishop and a8-Rook blocked for ever. Black also got himself castled. White developed two pieces, and castled, and it's his move. So this 7.Bf4 line gained him a move in development and he has a small lead. But for everything that is good, there is something bad in return. Not bad as in worse for White, but if everything about the position was good for White, everybody would play this line, and lines like 7.Be3 or 5.d4 would never be seen. The downside to the position is that while it appears as though White is heavily pressuring d6, and while it may look like Black can't get in his desired ...c6 and ...d5 advance, it turns out that Black threatens to do so tactically. If it were Black's move here, he could play the move 10...c6 immediately as it does not drop a pawn because after 11.Bxd6 Bxd6 12.Qxd6 Qxd6 13.Rxd6, Black has the move 13...Ne4!, which will win back the pawn on f2.
So now we need to consider White's possible 10th moves. There are 5 main moves that are played in practice, and then there's a 6th move that is played at times at the amateur level but it serves no purpose. Let's recall what we said before. Endgames, and especially King and Pawn endings, likely favor Black, or are at worst equal for Black. White wants to stir up trouble.
First, I should point out that the inferior move played by amateurs is 10.Bd3. White gets nothing after 10...Nxd3+! 11.Qxd3 Be6 12.h4 Qd7 (intending 13...Bf5) 13.Nd4 Rae8. Note that 11.cxd3 also gets White nothing. Sure it undoubles his pawns, but now we have a symmetrical position with White having a battery on a completely closed file, which is basically useless.
So that takes us to White's other 5 possibilities. In order, from worst to best, they are 10.Kb1, 10.Bc4, 10.h4, 10.Nd4, and 10.Be3.
The move 10.Kb1 looks logical. It gets the King off of the open diagonal. The problem with it is that it is overly slow, and White has to be on the constant lookout for his soft spots, especially e4. For example, after 10...Bf6 11.Be3 Qe7, the move 12.Rg1 would already be a mistake and after 12...Ne4, Black has the advantage.
The move 10.Bc4 was played in the game and we will look at that when we get back to the game.
The move 10.h4 can be played to test the validity of Black's tactical defense, and after 10...c6 11.Bxd6 Bxd6 12.Qxd6 Qxd6 13.Rxd6 Ne4 14.Rd4 Nxf2, White was fine after 15.Rg1 Ng4 16.Bc4 Bf5 17.Bd3 Bxd3 18.cxd3 Nf6 as in Topalov - Gelfand, Wijk ann Zee 2006, but Black should have no problems maintaining the balance, and that game eventually ended in a draw.
The move 10.Nd4 used to be the old main line as it would attempt to get White's pieces going and prove 10...c6 to be too slow, but then came 10...Re8!, virtually forcing 11.f3 (to stop the threats of the Knight coming to e4), and after 11...Ne6, Black is already on his mission to trade off pieces, leaving White with virtually no attack, and so this line is rarely played any more.
In the main line, 10.Be3, White recognizes what Black is trying to do and is willing to surrender the Bishop pair to avoid it. After 10...c6 11.Bxc5 dxc5 12.Qf4 Qa5 13.Bd3 Be6 14.a3 Rad8, a highly theoretical position arises with chances for both sides. Note that 13...Qxa2?? would be a horrible blunder as 14.Qe4 then wins the game since White threatens both mate on h7 and the Bishop on e7.
In the game, White plays the fourth most popular move, but we will soon see that he clearly did not understand Black's idea.
10.Bc4 Be6
The best reply to 10.Bc4. Black's idea is to capture on e6 with his f-pawn and play with the "small center", a common coined phrase often used in lines of the Sicilian with pawns on d6 and e6.
11.Bd5?
Here is White's opening error, and the more you look at it and think about it, the more you realize that White probably had no idea what Black is looking to do because if he did know, he would never have played this. As mentioned above, White should take on e6, forcing Black to play with the small center. This idea would actually make it difficult for Black to play ...c6 and ...d5. With the Black pawns on f7-g7-h7 along with a7-b7-c6-d5, Black has an excellent pawn structure, but move that f7-pawn to e6 and now it doesn't look so hot. From f7, the pawn can advance to f6 if necessary to control e5, and it would itself be protected by the pawn on g7. But shift it over to the e-file, and we have a weak, backward e6-pawn, and a weak e5-square, and so advancing ...c6 and ...d5 would not be advisable in this line and we would have a completely different game.
But here, White invites Black to trade on d5, and as we see step by step what Black is able to do, we realize that White clearly missed the plan completely as if he saw it, he would not allow it to happen in this manner.
11...Bxd5
No reason not to. This drags the White Queen to the d5-square.
12.Qxd5 c6
Now Black gets to start his Pawn advancing idea, only this time it's with gain of tempo!
13.Qd2
White is forced to waste more time saving the Queen.
13...d5
And so now Black got his desired a7-b7-c6-d5-f7-g7-h7 Pawn structure at zero cost what-so-ever, and actually gained time while in the process of doing it! His Bishop has gained scope. His Queen is ready to swing out to the Queenside, which will connect his Rooks. He also is ready to execute any threats involving the Knight coming to e4. Black is already slightly better, and White's next move virtually puts a nail in his own coffin.
14.c4?
What purpose does this move serve? Black has the initiative with Dark-Squared Bishops on the board. So why would White want to advance c4 and open up the dark squares around his King? In addition, even if White is able to trade on d5, Black doesn't care if he gets an isolani on d5. With Black now having the initiative, as can be plainly seen from the fact that if you compare the last two diagrams, White has virtually done nothing except trade off the Light-Squared Bishop while Black has advanced his pawns onto the Light squares after trading Light-Squared Bishops and all of his pieces are ready to come out while White's have just sat where they have been all along. White needs to force the issue on Black, not give Black more time and open diagonals on the dark squares just to make his attack all the more lethal. A move like 14.Be3 would be a better idea, holding Black's advantage to just a small one. Black would be forced to immediately decide whether to put the Knight on e4, or attempt to complete his development at the risk of allowing White to trade off his Bishop for that powerful Knight. I would have moved the Knight to e4 in that case, but at least his pawns would be blocking the dark-square diagonal, and any ...Bf6 idea could be contested with Bd4 as well.
From here on out, Black is winning. He may not end up playing the absolute best move on every move from here on out, but his winning advantage will never go away for the rest of this game.
14...Ne4 15.Qe2 Qa5
Threatening the a2-pawn, and not fearing a trade on d5. Sure, Black gets an isolated pawn, but all it does is open up more lines towards the White King, such as the c-file.
16.Kb1 Bf6
Why not? White graciously opened the diagonal for us, and his Bishop is in no place to contest ours on the diagonal. Let's attack the dark squares around the White King!
17.Nd4
This move doesn't help White's cause, but not many moves do. Maybe 17.Ne5 was relatively best.
17...Qb6
Now with threats of taking the White Knight on d4, playing 18...Nc3+ winning the Queen, and the X-ray threat on f2, White is forced to lose material.
18.Nb3 Qxf2 19.Qf1
And now, with the fork if White initiates the Queen trade, the problems with Black bringing a Rook to the e-file if 19.Qe3, and the attack on the Bishop on f4, this move is, sadly enough, the best White's got.
19...dxc4
Tactically winning a second Pawn due to the hanging Bishop on f4.
20.Nd2 Qxf1
Now that Black has gained a second Pawn, he has no issue with initiating the trade down.
21.Rhxf1 Nxd2+ 22.Bxd2
It might appear to make more sense to play 22.Rxd2, but after 22...Rad8, even more material is going to get traded, which isn't what White wants.
22...Rad8 23.Be3 b6
Black did not want to initiate the trade on d1 with a7 under attack as after 23...Rxd1+ 24.Rxd1, Black would have to take time to play 24...b6, allowing the White Rook in on d7. By playing the move 23...b6 first, Black only now threatens to play 24...Rxd1+ and 25...Rd8.
24.Rde1 Rfe8 25.c3 Kf8 26.Kc2 h6 27.Rf3 Bg5 28.Bxg5 hxg5 29.Rxe8+ Rxe8 30.Kd2
So now we have a completely winning endgame for Black, two Pawns up. However, since the four-on-three on the Queenside is smacked within three files, and there is no real way for Black to create a passer there, Black operates on his 3-on-2 on the Kingside. The main objective here is for Black to not allow White to penetrate with his Rook until it is too late and Black's pawns are too far advanced. There is no reason to rush, and observe the maneuvers that Black makes to completely prevent entry by the White Rook on the e-file and h-file.
30...f6 31.h4
Occupying the h-file with the Rook is useless here. After 31.Rh3 Kf7!, Black will follow up with 32...Kg6 and the Rook covers h8 while the King covers h7, h6, and h5, and Black will next advance the f-pawn.
31...Rd8+
The reason behind this check may not be so simple. From the King's perspective, if it goes to c1 or c2, it is way out of the game and Black's task is easy. If it goes anywhere on the e-file, that forbids the White Rook from getting to the e-file as Black will pin it with ...Re8 and trade it off, leading to a won King and Pawn endgame.
The more important factor is the White Rook on the following moves. Black is getting ready to play 32...gxh4. This allows White to play 33.Rf4, hitting the h4 and c4 Pawns. Black will want to protect the c-pawn to control d3. So he will need time to play 33...b5. By putting the Rook on d8, Black does not allow White to play 34.Rd4, trying to infiltrate instead of taking the h-pawn. Of course, he can't go to the e-file unless the King went to c1 or c2, and he would have fewer entry points on the e-file than the d-file anyway. Therefore, Black prepares the prevention of 34.Rd4 by playing this move, 31...Rd8+, which is possible because it comes with check, forcing White to take time to save the King.
32.Ke2
White decides not to put his King into a totally passive position on the c-file, but this now forbids the White Rook from going to the e-file.
32...gxh4 33.Rf4 b5 34.Rxh4
With no entry point on d4, there is no reason not to recapture the h-pawn.
34...Kf7 35.Rg4 g5!
Removing h4 and f4 from White, and virtually making the 4th rank useless for the White Rook.
36.Rg3
And so the White Rook retreats back to the third rank, where we control the d3-square with the Pawn on c4.
36...Re8+
And so now we return the Rook to the e-file since White has no contest on the d-file any more.
37.Kd2 Kg6
And here we have the idea covered earlier where the King controls h5, h6, and h7 while the Rook covers h8, and so while the White Rook can go to h3 at this point, there is no entry point on the h-file to harass the Black Queenside pawns from behind.
38.Rf3 f5 39.g3 Re5
With the White King cut off and our pawns advanced to the 5th rank, Black is ready to break through. He moves the Rook to e5 to cover the f5-pawn so that he can walk the King around from g6 to g4 via h5. If White prevents it with 40.g4, Black will have a protected passed Pawn after 40...f4! with the King cut off.
At this point, if White wanted to, he could try to play something like 40.Rf2 Kh5 41.Rh2+ Kg4, but it would be way too slow trying to grab the Queenside pawns as Black will have already grabbed the g3-Pawn and his pawn duo on the Kingside would be off to the races long before White is able to do anything.
Instead, he plays a waiting move, but soon sees that any type of resistance is futile.
40.Kd1 Kh5 0-1
With the Black King coming into g4, there is absolutely nothing White can do, and he resigned.
So unlike the first game on the English Opening, where we saw Black many times not follow up properly, we saw a scenario here where understanding the opening was far more critical. In the first article, the position that resulted from the opening errors by White were still extremely complicated. But here, Black's position almost played itself. We saw in this game that Black had a true understanding of what was needed in the position. His development of the Queen's Knight was solely dependent on what White did with his Dark-Squared Bishop, and that he needed to expand in the center with ...c6 and ...d5 to open up the Bishop on e7 and the Queen in order to conduct a Queenside attack and connect his Rooks. White clearly missed this idea entire as he allows Black to do exactly what he wanted to do with tempo, which is even worse then simply letting Black get his way uncontested. The follow-up blunder, completely opening the dark squares for Black, is literally all it took for Black to be completely winning, and not once did White have a single opportunity to rectify his position, partially because Black's position was so simple to play that it played itself. Many mistakenly label the Petroff as drawish because of its symmetrical nature, but many symmetrical games are not drawish at all. Instead, a more accurate assessment is that they are often simpler to play because there are rarely any tricks in the position, and simply understanding the position is more critical than calculating wild tactics. The lack of wild tactics and basic understanding taking over the importance factor of the game is why it ends up with a very high draw ratio at the top level. Grandmasters understand these positions. They don't memorize moves like amateurs do. These simpler, less tricky, often symmetrical positions are often the most vital to understand because one or two simple errors, like moves 11 and 14 in this game we looked at, are all it takes to win the game as there is no real room for error like there is in more dynamic positions, where the assessment of the game will often bounce back and forth, like the first game we looked at that went anywhere from a slight advantage for White to a winning position for Black. Here, once Black was winning on move 14, the assessment never changed from then on out, and so this game probably is one of the best games to use to illustrate the fact that memorizing moves or playing strictly off principles is insufficient, and that understanding the plans for both yourself and your opponent are vital to success, even in the opening phase of the game.
In the next and final article of this topic, we will be looking at a King's Indian Defense where, once again, it is White that makes the opening error. Until then, good luck in your games.
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