tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76068238920651010632024-03-14T03:31:17.571-07:00Charlotte Chess Center BlogKeep up with Charlotte Chess Center events, players, and much more!Charlotte Chess Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13571268741761423413noreply@blogger.comBlogger230125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-843774047752595942020-08-08T08:12:00.002-07:002020-08-08T10:10:30.157-07:00Game Analysis: Different Openings Doesn't Mean Different Ideas!Hello everyone and welcome. For the previous five months, activity has been restricted to online rapid play and correspondence, and since rapid play usually has little to show for it, and correspondence games, and at that, decisive correspondence games, take for ever to occur, we haven't seen a lot of usable material for articles this year.
<br /><br />That said, we now at least have the "Prohibition" series at the Charlotte Chess Center, playing one game a week on Tuesday nights. It's not much, but it's something, and hopefully will allow for somewhat more frequent publication here.
<br /><br />This week, we are going to look at a game from this past Tuesday. As the article title implies, we are going to see a theme in this game that has been seen multiple times before, and not always with the same opening.
<br /><br />First, if you look at <a href="http://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-french-connection-volume-31.html">The French Connection: Volume 31</a>, you will see that we have an Advance French where Black's Light-Squared Bishop is not very good, but yet, it held Black's position together, and White eliminated it and won shortly after that.
<br /><br />Next, in the lone July publication, <a href="http://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/07/game-analysis-developing-your-pieces.html">Game Analysis: Developing Your Pieces Wisely</a>, we saw an offbeat Closed Sicilian with Black's Light-Squared Bishop ended up not being a very good piece, but yet again, the elimination of it was ultimately the move the caused Black to resign!
<br /><br />Well, this time, we are going to be looking at a more mainstream line of the Closed Sicilian, and you guessed it, Black's Light-Squared Bishop ends up not being very good, but getting rid of it is exactly what White does, and this time, it will lead to a local piece superiority for White on the Kingside, where ultimately a "4-on-2" scenario will force Black's resignation.
<br /><br />So without further ado, let's take a look at the feature game:
<br /><br /><br />Prohibition, Round 2
<br />W: Patrick McCartney (2059)
<br />B: Garrett Browning (1734)
<br />Closed Sicilian
<br /><br /><b>1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.d3 Nf6</b>
<br /><br />While this move is ok, more common, and more flexible, is 5...d6. As we will see, Black will end up playing this move anyway, and actually it's Black's very next move. However, this gives away Black's plan. One unique feature about the Closed Sicilian is that there is a ton of flexibility, and often times, one line can easily transpose into another.
<br /><br />For example, after 5...d6, the two main lines for White are 6.Be3 and 6.f4, and then there are also the slightly offbeat lines which mainly involve developing the King's Knight, whether it be the most common 6.Nge2, Duncan Suttles' favorite move, 6.Nh3, or even in some cases, though not common in the Closed Sicilian without advancing the f-pawn first, the move 6.Nf3 is occasionally played.
<br /><br />Against the two main lines, Black has 6...e6, 6...e5, 6...Rb8, and 6...Nf6 all as legitimate options against both main moves, and they can easily transpose into each other. For example 6.Be3 Rb8 7.Qd2 b5 8.f4 can also arise from 6.f4 Rb8 7.Be3 b5 8.Qd2. While theoretically, with best play, the Closed Sicilian is basically equal, the massive number of options, and accounting for all the transpositions between the 6.Be3 and 6.f4 lines, can easily cause Black to wrongfully intertwine ideas across different lines, especially when transpositions actually do occur.
<br /><br />So the moral of the story is, flexibility is almost always better than early commitment, but flexibility can also bite you if you are unable to account for all scenarios in what is a fluid situation.
<br /><br /><b>6.Be3 d6</b>
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<br /><br />So now we have the line with 6.Be3 Nf6. This response by Black is actually slightly tricky. While not an issue against 6.f4, when White plays 6.Be3, he has to watch out for ...Ng4 tricks by Black. The reason for White to play an early 6.Be3 is actually to trade off the Bishop in most cases, but White does not want Black's Knight for it. He wants Black's fianchettoed Bishop, leaving Black with weak dark squares on the Kingside.
<br /><br />Therefore, to prevent this issue, White's next move is actually forced.
<br /><br /><b>7.h3</b>
<br /><br />Preventing 7...Ng4.
<br /><br /><b>7.O-O 8.Qd2 Bd7</b>
<br /><br />In the other Closed Sicilian article referenced in the introduction, we saw Black play an early ...Be6, which turned out to not be very good, despite the number of decent options that Black had. It got kicked back with an early f5 by White, and remained passive. Here, once again, we see Black with a number of decent options. Guess what? Moving this Bishop wasn't one of them. It can sit passive on d7, or it can sit passive on c8, and actually, from c8, it's more flexible as it can also to go b7 or even sometimes a6 becomes a good square for the Bishop with White's Bishop being fianchettoed. Why waste a move relocating a piece from one passive spot to another. It is not like it is immediately in the way of the other pieces. Seeing White's goal is to eliminate the dark-squared Bishops and execute a direct attack on the Kingside, Black's focus should be on the Queenside or in the center, and therefore, Black is best off playing either 8...Rb8, getting off the diagonal of White's g2-Bishop and also promoting the idea of storming the b-pawn down the board. The other idea is to play ...Nd4 and ...e5, which in this case, since the White Knight has not been developed yet to e2, Black can play these moves in either order. Had the Knight already been there, it might be most desirable to play ...e5 first and only then ...Nd4.
<br /><br />So we see multiple possibilities for Black that all focus on executing counter-play on the Queenside or down the middle. This Bishop move does none of that. That said, we are about to see White set up a Kingside attack, and eventually get Black to relinquish this piece that appears so passive and bad, despite it playing a fairly key defensive role. For example, take the French Defense, which is the first game in the introduction referenced, and take the Closed Sicilian. What is a key pawn break for both openings for White? The f5-push! Once the f-pawn is traded off, the f5-square for White's pieces can be a valuable source. If Black doesn't aggressively use the Bishop to attack down the f1-a6 diagonal or the long diagonal from b7, it can often be a valuable defensive piece to contest one of Black's weaker squares in this opening, f5. We will see White virtually force Black to relocate and then trade off this passive but valuable piece just like we did in the two games referenced at the beginning.
<br /><br />So what we see here is another case of mis-handling of what appears to be a bad piece that instead can play a vital role.
<br /><br /><b>9.Bh6 Rb8 10.Nge2 Nd4</b>
<br /><br />So now, suddenly, we see Black blending both of the ideas mentioned earlier, but why not do this without moving the Bishop and saving yourself a tempo?
<br /><br />At this point, due to the threat of the Knight deflecting the Queen away from the guarding of the h6-Bishop, it is time for White to release the tension and trade the Bishops.
<br /><br /><b>11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.g4</b>
<br /><br />White starts his Kingside expansion, and opens up the g3-square for the Knight if Black doesn't trade soon.
<br /><br /><b>12...Qa5</b>
<br /><br />On one count, this move appears to be extremely annoying. White did not eliminate the Bishops just so that the Queens could get eliminated and we head closer to an endgame. White is ready to attack. On the flip side, this also puts a critical piece of Black's on the Queenside, and is one less piece to defend the King. Keeping in mind that Black is, for all intents and purposes, a move behind from the norm due to his Bishop move on move 8, going for the center and advancing his Queenside pawns may be better than trying to throw his pieces out to the Queenside. If it means Black wins a pawn eventually, or even two, so be it. White doesn't care. With this abandonment, White is going full-fledged at this point for a Kingside attack.
<br /><br />The best move here was probably 12...e5, with a fairly balanced position.
<br /><br /><b>13.f4</b>
<br /><br />Another thing should be noted here for those that want to play this line as White. In the 6.Be3 lines of the Closed Sicilian, where White often plays Qd2 early on, if there is a Black Knight on d4, you always have to watch out for forks of the King and Queen. This is especially true when there is a dangling pawn on h3, or if the Bishop is already on g4. In this particular case, it is not critical to advance before castling. But sometimes it is. For example, had White not already advanced g4, and the g-pawn was still on g3, then castling would be a big mistake because Black could then take the pawn on h3 with the Bishop because if White takes back, there is a royal fork on f3. By not castling, the Rook covers h3. Therefore, often times, this advancement of f4 can be critical before castling in these lines with a Queen on d2 so that when White does castle, there is no ...Bxh3 trick because the Bishop can recapture since the Rook on f1 would then cover the f3-square, which it is not covering if the pawn is still on f2.
<br /><br />Therefore, while this f4 move may not be critical in this particular scenario, even if White did castle now, he's gonna play f4 the next move anyway, so why not do it now? In addition, it takes advantage of Black not playing 12...e5. With 12...e5, Black can answer this move with 13...exf4, not allowing the f5-advance. Here, we will see Black play the move ...e5 a move too late, and White will get his pawn to the f5-square.
<br /><br /><b>13...e5 14.f5 b5 15.O-O Bc6</b>
<br /><br />Here, Black sees no future in the Bishop on its current diagonal, but we will see White now put f5 to good use. It was probably best for Black to play 15...Nxe2. Now the White Knight will move away, leaving the d4-Knight dangling out there, and we will soon see this become a problem for Black.
<br /><br /><b>16.Ng3 b4</b>
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<BR><BR>So what should White do here? Should he play 17.Nd5, enticing a trade from Black? Should he play 17.Nce2 offering a Knight trade? Should he play 17.Nd1, re-routing to e3? Should he play 17...Nb1, guarding the Queen? Or should he ignore it, let Black take, and attack the Kingside with a move like 17.fxg6 with ideas of 18.Qg5 if Black takes the Knight?
<BR><BR><B>17.Nd5</B>
<BR><BR>It turns out this move and 17.Nd1, rerouting the Knight to e3 with an attack on the Kingside, are both very strong. 17.Nce2 is ok and enough for a slight edge for White, but no more. 17.Nb1 is just passive and not good at all, and 17.fxg6 just doesn't work in this case. Black can safely take the Knight and is simply winning with just a little bit of care taken for his King.
<BR><BR><B>17...Bxd5 18.exd5</B>
<BR><BR>So here we see the theme again of the elimination of what appears to be a bad Bishop. Turns out it was simply passive, not bad. Now the d5-pawn will play an important role.
<BR><BR><B>18...Rbc8</B>
<BR><BR>And now, with Black on the brink of defeat, White plays the wrong move here.
<BR><BR><B>19.Nh5+?!</B>
<BR><BR>Correct here is either 19.c3 or 19.fxg6 and then 20.c3. The idea in the former case is that after 19...bxc3 20.bxc3 a6 (The pawn is pinned, and so the Knight doesn't need to move) 21.g5 Nd7 22.f6+ Kh8 23.Ne4 Nf5 24.Rxf5! gxf5 25.Nxd6 c4 (Black has nothing better here) 26.d4 exd4 27.Qxd4 Rcd8 28.Nb7 Qb6 29.Nxd8 Qxd4+ 30.cxd4 Rxd8 31.Rc1 h6 32.h4 Kh7 33.Rxc4 Kg6, the endgame is completely winning for White.
<BR><BR>White still has a clear advantage after the game move, but the 19.c3 idea is outright winning.
<BR><BR><B>19...Nxh5</B>
<BR><BR>The only move! 19...gxh5 20.Qg5+ gets the Knight back and Black's position is a train wreck.
<BR><BR><B>20.gxh5 f6</B>
<BR><BR>Neither pawn can be taken. If either is taken with the g-pawn, you have the Qg5+ problem again. 20...Nxf5?? loses immediately to 21.Rxf5! and if 21...gxf5??, then 22.Qg5+ Kh8 23.Qf6+ Kg8 24.h6 and Black is mated on the next move.
<BR><BR><B>21.fxg6!</B>
<BR><BR>The correct pawn to take with, opening up the f-file.
<BR><BR><B>21...hxg6 22.hxg6?</B>
<BR><BR>This move throws away the advantage. 22.Be4! is the correct move. If 22...f5, White can ignore the threat and play 23.Qg5!, winning.
<BR><BR><B>22...Qd8??</B>
<BR><BR>Black misses out on his one and only opportunity. 22...c4! and now it is White that has to play the right moves to draw the game. The idea is that 23.c3?? is too slow now and 23...bxc3 24.bxc3 cxd3! and the White c-pawn will fall. Therefore, White would have to settle for 23.Qf2 or 23.dxc4 with an equal position.
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<BR><BR>White to move and win!
<BR><BR><B>23.c3!</B>
<BR><BR>This move does the trick. Remember how it was mentioned that the d5-pawn would play an important role? If you look at all the places the Knight can go, there is only one safe square, b5. This is about as far away from the action as possible. Black would like to play ...f5 to open up his Queen and bring his pieces to the defense of his King. However, with this move, White deflects the Knight away to la-la-land, and the f5-square will be in White's total control before Black is able to free his position via advancing the f-pawn. By blocking the f-pawn, the Queen and f8-Rook have limited effect on the defense of the Black King, and the c8-Rook and Knight are basically useless. Meanwhile, White can easily bring all of his pieces to the Kingside, creating a 4-on-2 scenario via putting his Bishop on e4, and tripling on the f-file with his heavy pieces, which will eventually swing to the g- and h-files and swarm the Black King to his misery.
<BR><BR><B>23...Nb5 24.Rf5!</B>
<BR><BR>The blockading move that is key to White's victory.
<BR><BR><B>24...Kxg6 25.Raf1 Rg8 26.Qf2 1-0</B>
<BR><BR>Black resigned as there is no stopping the attack. The moment the King goes to f7, in any attempt to run, the f6-pawn falls as does then the King, and if Black waits, White can play Be4 and then swing the heavy pieces to the g- and h-file.
<BR><BR><BR>So what we saw here is repeated themes from previous articles, including those involving different openings like the French Advance. It is critical to realize that when you study a subject like openings, it's not like you can compartmentalize each opening into its own little box like a bunch of separated hamsters. It's not like all ideas in the French don't apply to other openings - such as the game shown here and in the second referenced game in the introduction, where many of the ideas in the French, especially those ideas of White's, are virtually carbon-copied in the Closed Sicilian. This can be said for many other pairs of openings that do not even feature the same pawn structure, but the same ideas often apply.
<BR><BR>Therefore, when studying openings, do not just think that each opening is by itself and that each have strictly their own ideas. If you truly put in the work to understand an opening, and all of it's ideas beyond the opening moves, you will soon realize that other openings can easily have the same or at least similar ideas, and that often can be, and should be, used to decide your opening repertoire as a whole. Some openings are simply night and day, like the French and the Grunfeld. There is very little, if anything, that can be learned from one of those openings and applied to the other. But openings like the French and the Sicilian (blockades and pawn breaks - d5 in the Sicilian, e5 in the French, along with levers, like f5 for White) or the Queen's Gambit and Nimzo-Indian (Carlsbad Pawn Structure, the e4-lever for White, etc) can have extremely similar ideas and this should be used to your advantage when trying to expand your repertoire, rather than saying something like "Man, I'd tired of the Sicilian Najdorf, let's put all the other King Pawn openings in a hat and draw one at random for what I should study next!". In cases like that, you really are starting over, but that is not at all necessary. Those that have known me for the full 25 years that I've played will know that while I have played the French religiously that I have also played the Sicilian (Najdorf and Taimanov), and there is a reason that I played those, and not something random like the Pirc, which I haven't played since 1996 except the couple of rare cases that come from a transposition from the King's Indian Defense where usually it's an insipid line by White that gives him nothing, but the Pirc proper I have not played since the 90s.
<BR><BR>Greater success will come if you put together a repertoire that meshes together well rather than random selection and thinking of "Studying White", "Studying Black vs e4" and "Studying Black vs d4" as three separate projects. It shouldn't be. It should be one big project where everything goes together nicely.
<BR><BR><BR>This concludes this article on "Different Openings Doesn't Mean Different Ideas". Until next time, good luck in whatever games you are able to play, and stay safe during this pandemic.Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-22402684744825760712020-07-11T07:50:00.001-07:002020-07-12T04:11:55.663-07:00Game Analysis: Developing Your Pieces WiselyHello everyone and welcome. As chess continues to be unavailable over the board, I am continuing to cover decisive games and exciting draws in the world of correspondence chess. The feature game today comes from the IV Argentine Cup, a large, 35 bracket tournament with 7 players per bracket and multi-entry. The cost to get in was 10 Euro, but there was a 6-for-5 deal, and so I am one that decided to take up on that offer, and have 36 games going across 6 brackets in that tournament. The top finisher in each bracket moves on to the semi-finals, and then there will likely be a few second places finishers that advance to fill up the brackets for the semi-finals. There was also an option for players over 2300 that they could pay $20 per bracket or 6 for $100 if they wanted to start in the Semi-Finals and not have to qualify in the preliminaries.
<BR><BR>While the games themselves are not visible to the public, you can follow the results by clicking <a href="https://www.iccf.com/event?id=84781"><U>HERE</U></a>. If you are looking to follow specifically my results, I can tell you that I'm in brackets 7, 9, 12, 13, 17, and 22. Thus far, only 3 of my 36 games have completed as this only started in mid-June. I have a win and a draw in bracket 12 (the win being the feature game of this article) and a draw in bracket 17.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's analyze today's feature game.
<BR><BR><BR>IV Argentine Cup, Preliminaries, Bracket 12
<BR>W: Patrick McCartney (USA - 1900)
<BR>B: Giel Massy (NED - 2221)
<BR>Closed Sicilian
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6</B>
<BR><BR>This move is often played by Najdorf players to avoid getting move-ordered. For example, after the most common move, 2...Nc6, White can play 3.Nf3, and after 3...d6 4.d4, a Najdorf player has just been tricked as the Knight almost always goes to d7 in the Najdorf, and so you have to be careful how you respond to 2.Nc3 and make sure that your lines in the Open Sicilian, Closed Sicilian, and Grand Prix Attack all mesh together.
<BR><BR>Another common move by both Najdorf players and Kan players is 2...a6, and Kan players can also play 2...e6. Those that play a line of the Sicilian where the Queen's Knight goes to c6 anyway, like the Dragon or Classical or one of many other variations, you are probably best off playing 2...Nc6 only because it's the most flexible move, not because it is in any way systemically better.
<BR><BR><B>3.g3</B>
<BR><BR>White reveals his intentions. 3.Nf3 would lead to the Open Sicilian while 3.f4 would be a Grand Prix attack.
<BR><BR><B>3...e5</B>
<BR><BR>While this Botvinnik type of structure is a common defense to the Closed Sicilian, and particularly in White's two main lines of the Closed Sicilian, which are 6.f4 and 6.Be3 (after 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6), it may be a tad early to commit to this as White does have other sidelines where this may not be best. That said, it is not an outright bad move, and is surely not what lost Black this game, though we will see White put d5 to good use later on in the game.
<BR><BR><B>4.Bg2 Nf6 5.d3</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoKY6blHE3WBW1LgfwPWd7wusxpnzxL9VuW99R2cXBTi0A3MNzY4_yB1FRqizIBaDo761pEAijsBcZJAisTly2ddeZ7FjwuqwwO_fLO_IX1stTAG4lmn-m1-2Bkxcsdse6ojuneLDETgU/s1600/DevelopWisely1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoKY6blHE3WBW1LgfwPWd7wusxpnzxL9VuW99R2cXBTi0A3MNzY4_yB1FRqizIBaDo761pEAijsBcZJAisTly2ddeZ7FjwuqwwO_fLO_IX1stTAG4lmn-m1-2Bkxcsdse6ojuneLDETgU/s320/DevelopWisely1.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Now, this is actually a slightly unusual position already for the Closed Sicilian, but that doesn't make it bad. This is why I always harp on not "memorizing" openings, but rather, "understanding" them. Ask yourself the question, "What is White looking to accomplish?" White has committed his Knight to c3, blocking the c-pawn. He has already played d3 instead of d4. He has not developed his King's Knight yet, leaving the f-pawn free to advance. He "could" try to advance a3 and b4, but does this make sense here? Sure, if Black does something weird to force the issue, White might advance on the Queenside, but in normal circumstances, is White going for a Queenside attack? His two main features are domination of the d5-square, controlled with the Knight on c3, Pawn on e4, and Bishop on g2, and Kingside mobility. So White is likely to play on this sector of the board. Therefore, Black's counterplay is likely to be on the Queenside, and possibly the d4-square, a very weak square for White. So there are a number of moves that Black can play here:
<BR><UL><LI>He can play 5...Nc6, developing a piece toward the center, adding to his control of the d4-square, and covering e5 in anticipation of an advancement of the White f-pawn.
<LI>He can play 5...Be7, looking to get his King castled before expanding on the Queenside.
<LI>He can still play 5...g6, though the early commitment of the Knight to f6 may limit a few of his options, though it's not "bad".
<LI>He can expand on the Queenside with his pawns starting with 5...a6, looking to play ...b7-b5-b4.
<LI>He can even play a move like 5...h6 to simply prevent a pin by White, though it is highly unlikely that White will be looking to do this. The Bishop will usually be developed to e3 in the Closed Sicilian to eye d4 and continue to point to the Kingside.
</UL><BR>So as we can see, one feature about the Closed Sicilian, while maybe not as advantageous for White as the Open Sicilian is, is that it is a very flexible opening. There are many ways that the game can go, and those that have played tournament chess long enough will also know that it's an excellent opening for rated blitz tournaments, the idea being that with there be literally so much choice for Black, he will waste a lot of time early on trying to figure out the best moves. Now, of course, this is a correspondence game, and so that is not an advantage that White can take in this case, but with books and machines, sometimes the flexibility leads to a more interesting game than playing 45 book moves of Dragon and agree to a draw!
<BR><BR>All of that said, what Black does here is not a wise move at all!
<BR><BR><B>5...Be6?</B>
<BR><BR>After everything that we described in the previous note, how, in any way, does this move make any sense at all? If there is one piece that Black doesn't want to play here, it's the Light-Squared Bishop. The main reason for this is White's current flexibility. In this structure, the Knight is almost surely going to c6. The Bishop can go to e7 or g7, but it needs to move anyway for Black to be able to castle. But moving this Bishop early just dictates to White what he needs to do. Going 5...Bg4 makes no sense either as 6.f3 just drives it back and White can time f4 at his free will. By going to e6, Black is just screaming for White to advance his f-pawn. In many lines of the Closed Sicilian, White's f-pawn is one of the key breaks, and especially going to f5. Now if the Knight were not on f6, one could argue that Black intended to respond to an f4-push with the move ...f6 and tuck the Bishop on f7, similar to what White does in many lines of the Closed Sicilian where he retreats the e3-Bishop to f2 in order to avoid any pawn forks on d4, and also if Black plops a Knight there, White could trade a Knight on d4 without getting his other Knight on c3 and Bishop on e3 forked by the re-capture.
<BR><BR>All of that said, with the Knight already on f6, this Be6 move is probably the most illogical move on the board that doesn't outright hang a piece.
<BR><BR>White needed no time at all to figure out his next move.
<BR><BR><B>6.f4!</B>
<BR><BR>Of course! Intending to play f5!
<BR><BR><B>6...exf4 7.gxf4</B>
<BR><BR>Yes! Taking with the pawn and maintaining the threat to the Bishop is the right way to recapture. Remember this concept of flexibility I mentioned in the Closed Sicilian? Here, it might look tempting for Black to just try to throw everything at the Kingside, despite that not being the usual side for Black to attack in the Closed Sicilian. Well, White hasn't castled yet, and so if he sees Black throwing all of his forces over there, he still can actually castle Queenside and with confidence, despite it not being the usual way for White to play this line. So yes, do not fear taking with the g-pawn. In addition, this will lead to attacks on the King if Black castles that way, and with his c-pawn advanced, it's not like the Queenside is all that terribly safe for Black either while White's Queenside is still intact.
<BR><BR><B>7...Nc6 8.f5!</B>
<BR><BR>White does not fear the slight weakening of another central dark square, in this case e5. Black's Knight on f6 is misplaced and it will take Black a while to create any kind of dark-square domination, unlike White, who already has the light squares under total control. Black's light-squared Bishop is being pushed back, whereas White's dark-squared Bishop can influence d4 and/or e5 by putting his Bishop safely on f4, e3, or b2. He also still has the flexibility of where to put his King.
<BR><BR>All told, White already has a clear advantage, mainly due to the unwise placement of Black's light-squared Bishop early on in the game.
<BR><BR><B>8...Bd7 9.Nf3</B>
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<BR><BR>I put up another diagram to point out something very important for White. Yes, he has total domination of the light squares, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have to be extremely careful. He always has to watch out for the move ...d5 by Black. Here, it wouldn't work very well as after 9...d5?! 10.exd5 Nd4 11.Bf4 and now 11...Nxf5 12.Qe2+ or 11...Bxf5 12.O-O, Black would be so far behind in development that White already has a winning advantage. That said, if Black catches up in development and is able to break this barrier of White's, the story may be very different!
<BR><BR><B>9...Qb6 10.Rb1</B>
<BR><BR>The Queen's Rook is usually the last piece to get into the game for White in the Closed Sicilian anyway, and so he plays this move so as to free the Bishop to develop. While the move b3 does come in the near future, 10.b3 here isn't very good as it commits too early to the weakening of additional dark squares. White can handle d4 and e5. He is not interested in making every dark square weak though.
<BR><BR>This does expose where the White King is going, namely the Kingside, but now the Queen is on b6 instead of a place like h4 or any other square near the White Kingside.
<BR><BR><B>10...Be7 11.O-O O-O</B>
<BR><BR>White should not fear the discovered check, and in fact, it's outright bad for Black. After 11...c4+? 12.d4!, White is winning as he dominates the center completely, and undermining moves like 12...d5 fail to 13.e5, and once the Knight moves, 14.Nxd5!
<BR><BR><B>12.Kh1</B>
<BR><BR>Now you might be asking "Why did you do this if the discovered check is bad? Don't you want Black to play 12...c4+?" Here you are asking for pipe dreams. If Black was so anxious to do it, he would either play the move right away, or else play a move that possibly threatens to do the discovery in a way that doesn't just win for White. For example, the 13.e5 push in the previous note hits the Black Knight. Maybe if he moves the Knight, he might be thinking about the discovery followed by ...d5. Not saying this works by any stretch of the imagination for Black, it's the concept that I'm illustrating here. Castling did nothing to improve Black's situation in the center, and so yes, the discovery is not a threat.
<BR><BR>That said, the purpose of White's move is not to get out of the discovery. It actually serves a completely different purpose all together. Remember when we took with the g-pawn on move 7 instead of the Bishop? Now that the Black King has castled to the Kingside, White has a semi-open g-file with which he would like to place a Rook, and so the King moved over not to avoid the discovery, but rather to give way to a Rook going to g1 eventually. It turns out that the Rook doesn't go there until 15 moves later, as other priorities arise, but the square is available for the Rook once White needs it.
<BR><BR><B>12...a5 13.a4</B>
<BR><BR>There is no need to rush the attack on the g-file. First, White settles orders on the Queenside. Black is looking for counter-play by trying to expand on the Queenside. White puts a stop to that with this move, and soon upcoming, he will advance the b-pawn to b3, creating a light-square wedge with a single weakness on c2, and put his Bishop on the long, open diagonal, which combined with a Rook on g1, eyes the g7-square, right in front of the Black King.
<BR><BR><B>13...Nd4 14.b3 Rfe8</B>
<BR><BR>Black clearly sees what White is doing when he plays b3. In response, he gets his Rook out of the way so that he can place his Bishop on f8 to guard the g7-square.
<BR><BR><B>15.Bb2 Qc7</B>
<BR><BR>The Queen serves no purpose at all on b6 at this point, and does nothing but block the b-pawn. It may be very difficult for Black to get a pawn break in like ...b5, but surely it's not happening with a Queen sitting in its way. The problem is, after Black's early mistakes, and especially the time lost from developing his light-squared Bishop to a bad square early on, it is hard to recommend anything to Black. We will see that the remainder of the game is going to mostly see Black as a sitting duck and White slowly but surely mounting a massive attack on the Kingside.
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<BR><BR>So now let's consider White's situation. With the Knight well-entrenched on d4, White will not see his Bishop putting pressure on g7 anytime soon. The Rook on b1 needs to get out as well, and so it's time for White to do a re-grouping. The White Rooks have a number of arrangements that they can use, depending on what Black does. They could go to e1 and f1, e1 and g1, f1 and g1, or create a battery on the g-file. It is also important to see which squares can be used and which are controlled by Black. If White is going to do a Rook lift to the third rank, he'll want to do it on the e-file or g-file. It is also important to figure out which piece or pieces of Black's are a problem for White. At initial glance, it looks like the d4-Knight is the only active piece for Black. However, it turns out, White can pretty easily work around this obstacle. Other than controlling e2 and f3, two squares that White doesn't need for the flow of his pieces, it doesn't do much. However, Black will likely need to advance g6 at some point if pressure mounts on the g-file. As we will see, this will open up a wedge for White where he will be able to advance f6. The downside to f6 is that it will open up Black's light-squared Bishop, and as we shall soon see in the game, this light-squared Bishop, that was so poorly developed early on and what currently looks like a bystander, turns out to be the key piece to eliminate from the Black camp, mainly because White will need access to the h3-square for his Rooks.
<BR><BR>So let's see how White's plan is executed.
<BR><BR><B>16.Qd2</B>
<BR><BR>He starts by getting out of the way of the Rook on b1 to come to the e-file.
<BR><BR><B>16...Rac8 17.Rbe1</B>
<BR><BR>The other Rook comes out to a more active place.
<BR><BR><B>17...Bf8 18.Qf2</B>
<BR><BR>With the Bishop coming to c1 in the near future, there is no reason to keep the Queen on this diagonal. It is better suited on f2 where it can come in at h4 and possibly a Rook lift will bring a Rook behind it to h3.
<BR><BR><B>18...Ng4</B>
<BR><BR>A move that White should actually be glad to see. It forces White to make a move he wants to make anyway, and it removes the guard of the d5-square, allowing the White Knight on c3 to take on the active d5-outpost.
<BR><BR><B>19.Qh4 Ne5 20.Nd5 Nexf3</B>
<BR><BR>It turns out this trade really only helps White. If he trades twice, White won't even need to re-locate the dark-squared Bishop. By trading once, it re-routes White's Bishop for him to d1 to take care of all issues of loose pawns on the Queenside. Eventually, White would let them drop like flies if it means a raging attack on the Black King, but here, it just makes White's life easier.
<BR><BR>The move 20...Qd8 would put up more resistance. After both 21.Qxd8 Rexd8 22.Nxd4 cxd4 23.Rf2 Nc6 24.Rg1 and 21.f6 Nxc2 22.Bxe5 dxe5 <I>(22...Nxe1?? 23.Ng5 h6 24.Nxf7 and now 24...Kxf7 is mate in 6 starting with 25.fxg7+ while 24...Nxg2 25.Qg3 will force Black to part with his Queen with something like 25...Rxe5 26.Nxd8, which is easily winning for White)</I> 23.Ng5 h6 24.Nxf7 Kxf7 25.fxg7+ Kxg7 26.Nf6 Kh8!, White is winning, but there is still much work to be done in both cases. For example, in the latter case, only the move 27.Qg3 maintains the winning advantage. All other moves are equal or worse for White!
<BR><BR><B>21.Bxf3 Qd8</B>
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<BR><BR><B>22.f6! g6</B>
<BR><BR>22...Nxc2?? loses to 23.Bh5!!. Now 23...Nxe1?? allows White to force mate with 24.Bxf7+ and now either 24...Kxf7 25.fxg7+ Kg8 26.gxf8=Q+ Rxf8 27.Qg3+ with mate after a couple of useless interposes or 24...Kh8 25.Bg6 h6 26.fxg7+ and no matter which legal move Black plays, it will be followed by 27.Qxh6 and mate the following move.
<BR><BR>If instead, after 22...Nxc2?? 23.Bh5!!, Black plays a move like 23...Re5, then 24.Bxf7+ still works, but it will take longer to hunt down the King.
<BR><BR><B>23.Bd1 Re5 24.c4!</B>
<BR><BR>Stopping any thoughts of a breakthrough by Black of ...b5 to get active.
<BR><BR><B>24...Be6 25.Bc1</B>
<BR><BR>Bringing the final piece into the game.
<BR><BR><B>25...Rb8</B>
<BR><BR>25...Bxd5 would voluntarily help White eliminate the one problem piece that is covering h3.
<BR><BR><B>26.Ne7+ Kh8</B>
<BR><BR>The other two legal moves are worse. Of course taking with the Queen makes no sense at all. After 26...Bxe7 27.fxe7 Qe8 28.Qf6 Bh3 (to open up e6 for the Knight) 29.Rf4 and there is no way for Black to avoid getting his Bishop trapped. The pin doesn't work for Black as after 29...Bf5, White can just take it with the Rook and opening of the g-file with the pawn capture is fatal, and so Black still drops a piece.
<BR><BR><B>27.Rg1 Qe8 28.Ref1 Bd7 29.Nd5</B>
<BR><BR>White has no interest in allowing Black to sacrifice the Rook for Knight and Pawn. Yes, he can still take the Knight with the Rook, but then the f6-pawn stays!
<BR><BR><B>29...Be6</B>
<BR><BR>This move and the next actually helps White. If instead, Black just sits and says to White "Prove it!", and plays something like 29...b6 followed by maybe 30...Rb7, White's idea, based on the fact that the f8-Bishop and f7-Pawn are stuck, blocking Black's other pieces from defending the g- and h-files, is to double the Rooks on the g-file with Rg3 and Reg1, making any captures with the g-pawn impossible as Rg8 would then be mate, and then playing Nf4 and Bh5 (again, based on the Rg8 tactic), and sacrificing a piece (likely the Bishop) on g6 to break through at the King once all of White's pieces are ready since it will open up Black's 7th rank for him when he plays ...fxg6.
<BR><BR>Instead, Black sets himself up for immediate disaster.
<BR><BR><B>30.Nf4</B>
<BR><BR>With the idea of what was just mentioned, doubling the Rooks next, but this Knight move was played first specifically in response to Black's last move because the moment he plays the following move ...
<BR><BR><B>30...Kg8?</B>
<BR><BR>White has the green light to take the Bishop, the piece that we noted back after 15 moves would likely be the problem piece for White!
<BR><BR><B>31.Nxe6! 1-0</B>
<BR><BR>Black resigned here, which may seem early at first glance, but this is not unusual in correspondence chess, where your opponent has tons of time and you will not beat him due to time pressure. All recaptures for Black are terrible.
<BR><UL><LI>Of course, the reason for taking specifically when the King moves to g8 is that now 31...fxe6 32.f7+ wins the Queen.
<LI>31...Rxe6 simply allows 32.Rg3 and 33.Rh3, with the assistance of the other Rook going to g1 if necessary, and the Bishops cover all the squares in front of the pawns, stopping Black from blocking White's attack down the h-file. Advancing the h-pawn is also fatal for Black.
<LI>31...Nxe6 allows 32.Rf3 with a similar idea to taking with the Rook, only now the other Rook is already on the g-file.
<LI>Taking with the Queen via 31...Qxe6 is relatively best, but Black is still totally busted. 32.Bf4 allows a Rook sacrifice that at least temporarily ties White down after 32...Rxe4 33.dxe4 Qxe4+ 34.Rg2, which is annoying, but White will get out of it with still a winning advantage, and 32.Rg3 allows the annoying 32...Nf5 33.exf5 Rxf5 34.Rxf5, but all that it is is annoying, nothing else. White is still easily winning after both 34...Qxf5 or 34...Qe1+, which does win the d1-Bishop as the Rook on g3 is pinned to the Queen and therefore cannot interpose, but it's not enough.
</UL>
<BR><BR>So what we saw here was Black being tied down to a passive position, and White having basically all the time in the world to build the attack on the Black King, and then White proceeded to eliminate Black's key piece that was stopping White's main idea, doubling up on the h-file, at the right tactical moment such that Black could not recapture with his pawn and open up the 7th rank for his heavy pieces to defend his King, and so with Black's King blocked off by his own pawn on f7 and Bishop on f8, neither of which could afford to move, White used that to his advantage to get at the Black King.
<BR><BR>So remember, when you have an attack on the opposing King, and the opponent has no counter-play, there is no need to rush the attack. First, you prevent all counter-play by the opponent with prophylactic moves like 24.c4 was in the game, you get all of your pieces into the game, not just one or two, you eliminate that one loose nail that is holding the entire structure intact, which in this case was the light-squared Bishop, and only then do you go for the kill on the opposing King.
<BR><BR>On the flip side, to avoid getting into this mess, it is vital that you clearly understand and envision what your opponent is doing early on, and make sense out of where each of your pieces need to go. Don't just randomly place them and say "Hey, they are controlling the center". What we saw here was a case of poor development of the light-squared Bishop. The problem was that the best square for the Bishop was not clearly defined. White could have been going for ideas with an early f4, or he could be holding the pawn back and developing with moves like Be3 and Qd2. Now given the fact that Black hasn't fianchettoed his Bishop, the f4-idea is probably pretty obvious. What is White attacking with that battery on e3 and d2 if Black doesn't fianchetto? He doesn't have weakened dark squares like he does if he plays ...g6 and ...Bg7? So the holding back of the King's Knight should have been an obvious sign for Black that f4 was coming, and with ...Nf6 already played, not enabling ...f6 to retreat the Bishop to f7, it should have been obvious that 5...Be6 was not a good move, and that it would lose time for Black, and ultimately the game. The Queen's Knight had a defined place to go, c6. The dark-squared Bishop had 2 options and that was it. Go to e7, or fianchetto. The situation for the light-squared Bishop was fluid. When you develop, unless there is a tactical reason not to do it, you should always develop the pieces that have known roles first. This is why the old adage came out "Knights before Bishops". Now that is a little too generic to say that it always applies, but Knights almost always want to go toward the center, and so c3, f3, c6, and f6 are usually the most desired squares, with d2, e2, d7, and e7 usually next in line, and only rarely do they develop to the edge. Bishops have a number of squares on the diagonal, and it is often best to see how the opposing pawns are set up, and your own pawns for that matter, before automatically developing your Bishop except in known cases from theoretical openings, like here in the Closed Sicilian, fianchettoing the King's Bishop early is almost never a bad idea, but the Queen's Bishop is often the last or sometimes second-to-last minor piece developed - sometimes the King's Knight is delayed for specific reasons in this opening.
<BR><BR><BR>That will conclude this article on Developing Your Pieces Wisely. Once another decisive game or really amusing draw comes up, I'll be back to cover it. Until then, stay safe, and good luck in whatever online play you may be doing during the pandemic.
Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-10604212336860764842020-06-29T17:54:00.000-07:002020-06-30T04:46:31.901-07:00The French Connection: Volume 39Hello everyone and welcome to the thirty-ninth edition of The French Connection. Back in <a href="https://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-french-connection-volume-9.html"><U>The French Connection: Volume 9</U></a>, we looked at what Black should do when facing what I referred to as "Garbage Lines". Well, we have another one here, and so this article will mainly be of use to players that play specifically the Black side of the French Defense. While going through the game, take a look not at what the material count is, but rather, which pieces are actually doing something on the board. We will see one piece in particular being utterly useless for virtually the entire game!
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's take a look at the feature game.
<BR><BR><BR>2020 Lockdown Cup - (Prelim Bracket 2)
<BR>W: Steve Malone (Unr)
<BR>B: Patrick McCartney (1900)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2</B>
<BR><BR>We saw this same move played in <a href="https://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-french-connection-volume-37.html"><U>The French Connection: Volume 37</U></a> as well. The difference is in that game, we saw the normal follow-up where White goes after Black's weak g7-pawn in return for opening the center. In the current game, we are going to see some very weird play by White, and it is critical to understand why White's moves are inferior, and why simply "memorizing lines" is insufficient.
<BR><BR><B>4...dxe4 5.g3?</B>
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<BR><BR>The only good move for White here was 5.Qg4, as seen in Volume 37. Another bad move is 5.Nxe4 as Black simply answers with 5...Qxd4! and White has no compensation for the lost pawn.
<BR><BR>But now what? What does 5.g3 do? Why would White play this move? Well, clearly he wants to play 6.Bg2, where the Bishop would be attacking e4 along with the Knight on c3. Can White really get away with this? The benefit for Black behind the 5.Qg4 line is that it takes White a number of moves to get the Queen back into the game after she grabs the g7-pawn, and those extra tempi are what keep Black in the game as that line is very tricky, as we saw in Volume 37.
<BR><BR>So if we give White the pawn back without making him waste time, he will likely be better. So the first thing to realize is that Black cannot give the pawn away to White that easily. So the next couple of moves should be fairly clear to understand.
<BR><BR><B>5...Nf6</B>
<BR><BR>Protecting the e4-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>6.Bg2 Bxc3!</B>
<BR><BR>Yes, Black is giving up the Bishop pair voluntarily, but it is the only way to continue to make White work to get the pawn back.
<BR><BR><B>7.Bxc3</B>
<BR><BR>Now there is no good way for White to attack the d5-square, and so if necessary, Black can always put his Queen on d5. Of course, here, there is no threat at all, and so Black takes the time to castle.
<BR><BR><B>7...O-O 8.Ne2 b6</B>
<BR><BR>Preparing to put the Bishop on b7, adding another defender to the e4-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>9.O-O Bb7 10.Qd2</B>
<BR><BR>Other than connecting the Rooks, what has White achieved? The answer is basically nothing! The Bishop on c3 lacks scope. The e4 pawn impedes the g2-Bishop. The Knight on e2 is passive. The Queen on d2 isn't doing much. And then which files does White intend to put the Rooks on?
<BR><BR>Black has a more clear cut plan. He needs to develop his Knight, but he also has the semi-open d-file, which clearly screams for a Black Rook. Therefore, he gets the Queen out of the way.
<BR><BR><B>10...Qe7</B>
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<BR><BR><B>11.Bb4?</B>
<BR><BR>This is a classic case of forcing your opponent to do what he wants to do anyway. The c-pawn wants to expand to c5. The reason Black hasn't done it yet is that he wants to get his pieces ready before opening the position for the White Bishops. By going to b4, White is wasting time just to force the issue. Better would be to attempt to impede Black's expansion with 11.b4, giving the Bishop the b2-square if it needs to retreat, and at the same time, making ...c5 not look all that attractive for Black.
<BR><BR><B>11...c5 12.Ba3?</B>
<BR><BR>Ok, the first think to ask is why did White not play 12.dxc5? It is the only move that makes sense, opening up the long diagonal for the Bishop where it can return to c3, and giving White isolated a- and c-pawns. Black is still winning in this line, but it still requires work. With his Queen on e7, Black can answer 12.dxc5 bxc5 13.Bc3 with 13...e5! and Black has a winning position. That said, at least White is trying to put up a fight.
<BR><BR>With the move played in the game, he does nothing to weaken c5, and where is the Bishop going? It is now going to take multiple moves just to get it back in the game. For the moment, White is "virtually" down a full piece!
<BR><BR><B>12...Rd8 13.c3</B>
<BR><BR>Putting yet another White pawn on another dark square.
<BR><BR><B>13...Nc6 14.Rad1</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOkXFm_CTI0Zlr7rpMtL-Qa2F2WB0N38R3H1lmjBbo3jGa417OT2nsZF2iRM6JtuAzR_JDLH49qSK_zLQgM77V-nhoAyoYNUBLdWZUy2TsdasYkgRWYgOoQXjF5Ko1EN6-AD-tm0eLo7j1/s1600/FC39_3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOkXFm_CTI0Zlr7rpMtL-Qa2F2WB0N38R3H1lmjBbo3jGa417OT2nsZF2iRM6JtuAzR_JDLH49qSK_zLQgM77V-nhoAyoYNUBLdWZUy2TsdasYkgRWYgOoQXjF5Ko1EN6-AD-tm0eLo7j1/s320/FC39_3.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>So now let's look at the position. Both sides have one very inactive piece. For White, it's the a3-Bishop. For Black, it's the a8-Rook. The difference is that all Black has to do to activate the Rook is lift the d8-Rook and then move the a8-Rook to d8. Problem solved.
<BR><BR>White, on the other hand, has a major issue. The Rook has moved from a1 to d1, so if White wants to lift the b-pawn and bring the Bishop back to c1, he needs to play b3, Bc1, and move the Queen out of the way somehow, just to bring life to the Bishop. Three moves. The d-pawn is pinned by the Black Rook to the White Queen, and playing b4 to try to crack the c5-pawn is highly risky. Therefore, White's best hope is the plan of b3, Bc1, and moving the Queen.
<BR><BR>So with that said, this calls for an attack by Black. If Black slow-plays it, the Bishop comes back into the game and White is alive. So three quiet moves allows White to give scope to the Bishop, and a fourth quiet move will allow the Bishop out to an active location. If Black doesn't make a lot of quiet moves, he will virtually remain up a full piece as until it comes out, the Bishop on a3 is utterly useless.
<BR><BR><B>14...Ne5!</B>
<BR><BR>Using the pin on the d4-pawn to threaten an incoming wedge on f3.
<BR><BR><B>15.Qf4</B>
<BR><BR>This does nothing to stop it, and so therefore ...
<BR><BR><B>15...Nf3+! 16.Kh1</B>
<BR><BR>No better is 16.Bxf3 exf3 17.Nc1 e5 18.Qxe5 Qd7 19.Nd3 Re8 20.Qg5 Ba6. Even if White somehow grabs the f3-pawn after something like 21.Qf4, all that will do is open up the diagonal for the Black light-squared Bishop, and in this case, White would have no Bishop to contest it, and the long diagonal would be fatally weak.
<BR><BR><B>16...e5! 17.Qc1</B>
<BR><BR>What does this do other than further impede his own Bishop on a3? The answer? Pretty much nothing! That said, even after 17.dxe5 Rxd1 18.Rxd1 Nxe5, Black is winning. With no pawn on d4, there is zero pressure on the c5-pawn, forcing the Bishop to take the back door route to get out.
<BR><BR><B>17...exd4 18.Bxf3</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnVhXR7i1_E5axuLweJy5RoArxAGGaMI5SsQvCa8leWcABeF9UUSaG30GNJVZ_vTdiPKiAydQeZDAhi0h_6Cj4PYY-py6ZeEbGqsyY8gJm3Uy9KYTYcV0dYdqIEUSylXk9eggH7CtoWCb8/s1600/FC39_4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnVhXR7i1_E5axuLweJy5RoArxAGGaMI5SsQvCa8leWcABeF9UUSaG30GNJVZ_vTdiPKiAydQeZDAhi0h_6Cj4PYY-py6ZeEbGqsyY8gJm3Uy9KYTYcV0dYdqIEUSylXk9eggH7CtoWCb8/s320/FC39_4.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Now the automatic reply would be 18...exf3, and that would of course win for Black, but Black went for a more sophisticated approach. By taking on f3 and allowing White to take on d4, White could potentially open up the long diagonal and work on getting the Bishop to b2 to activate it.
<BR><BR><B>18...d3!</B>
<BR><BR>Two White pieces are under attack, and so Black will regain the piece eventually. Even if it does cost Black a pawn, he was already two pawns up, and the advanced pawn will force White to spend more time stopping it instead of getting his Bishop back into the game.
<BR><BR><B>19.Nf4 d2!</B>
<BR><BR>Forcing a White piece onto a dark square.
<BR><BR><B>20.Rxd2 Rxd2 21.Qxd2 exf3</B>
<BR><BR>And now it is finally time to take the piece back.
<BR><BR>Black is still up a pawn, and the Bishop on a3 is still there, and it still will take 3 moves to activate. The diagonal to do that on has changed, and now the three moves to activate the Bishop are c4, b3, and Bb2. We will see that White gets ONE of these moves in.
<BR><BR><B>22.Re1 Rd8!</B>
<BR><BR>Black uses tactics to activate the Rook. White can trade the Queens if he wants, which Black would not object to at all, but he doesn't have time to take the Bishop due to an unusual back rank mate as instead of the King being blocked by all White pawns, one square is instead guarded by the Black pawn on f3.
<BR><BR><B>23.Qc1</B>
<BR><BR>White of course preserves the Queens, but it has been chased off of the open file to an inferior square.
<BR><BR><B>23...Qd7 24.c4</B>
<BR><BR>Black used a quiet move to save the Queen, and gave White his first opportunity to work on getting the Bishop out. He still needs to find two more moves to get the Bishop out.
<BR><BR><B>24...Ne4 25.h3</B>
<BR><BR>Now, of course, Black can take on f2 and he'd be completely winning, but Black wants more.
<BR><BR><B>25...g5!!</B>
<BR><BR>This move is extremely strong. It eliminates any back rank issues, freeing the heavy pieces to do as they need. The Knight can't be moved anywhere other than 26.Ne6, which Black can easily take as the Knight on e4 guards g5, giving Black just enough time to take the Knight without having to worry about White's Queen taking on g5 and annoying the Black King.
<BR><BR><B>26.g4</B>
<BR><BR>White, of course, doesn't move the Knight, and tries to block the route for the Queen.
<BR><BR><B>26...Nxf2+</B>
<BR><BR>And so now Black takes the pawn with check.
<BR><BR><B>27.Kh2</B>
<BR><BR>27.Kg1 Nxh3+ is even worse.
<BR><BR><B>27...Qc7!</B>
<BR><BR>Pinning the attacked Knight to the King, which in turn blocks the Queen from attacking the pawn on g5.
<BR><BR><B>28.Kg1 Nxh3+ 29.Nxh3</B>
<BR><BR>This allows mate in 2, but even after the best move, 29.Kf1, White is getting mated in 8 moves instead of 2.
<BR><BR><B>29...Qg3+ 30.Kf1 Qg2# 0-1</B>
<BR><BR><BR>So what we saw was pretty much a debacle. The 4.Bd2 line of the French is not popular, but it's also not busted. However, White must be willing to take time to regain the pawn in the form of the g-pawn, not the central pawn, and the Queen goes out in the open early. Here, White tried to get the central pawn back, and tried to do it only developing minor pieces initially. To understand how one must react to this unusual idea, you have to think about what it is that White was trying to achieve, and realize that you cannot just blindly allow it. Otherwise, you lose all those gained tempi that you get in the main line with the Queen out there in the open. So Black started off by doing what had to be done to hold on to the extra pawn, despite having to give up the Bishop for a Knight. Then White does nothing to pressure e4, and goes completely the wrong way about activating the uncontested dark-squared Bishop, and instead it ends up locked on a3. Black must now realize that it will not be locked for ever, and that he needs to play very actively, and so he got his Rook instead of his Queen onto the d-file, used the pin to get the Knight into White's territory, took the opportunity to remove the possibility of cxd4 for White with the in-between move, 18...d3, and then used tactics against the White Knight that was at first overworked and then pinned, and Black kept the foot on the gas, playing only one quiet move that gave White time to get only one of his three needed moves in to activate the Bishop, and so while "officially", White played the bulk of the game down a pawn, in reality, he was playing down a full piece!
<BR><BR>When your opponent plays garbage in the opening, compare the threats of the weird move to what Black normally gets from White's "normal" threats after a "normal" move, and use that to determine what must be done against the weird move. In this case, it was to keep the pawn, and things fell apart after that for White. In another case, it may be something else, like taking control of a square, or eliminating a certain piece. Always make sure you understand the strategy of the opening you play and not just memorize lines.
<BR><BR>This concludes this edition of The French Connection. Till next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White!
Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-60387138227263835102020-06-03T20:03:00.001-07:002020-06-04T09:42:03.420-07:00State of the CCCSA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><u>State of the Charlotte Chess Center</u></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Written by Founding Director, FM Peter Giannatos</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dear CCCSA Members and Center Supporters:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I miss you! It feels like it's been so long since we've seen one another. I am fortunate to have kept up with many of you virtually through email and streams. I wanted to draft a note about the current state of the CCCSA, what we have done, and where we are going. I hope you find this post helpful and informative.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Peter Giannatos</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Founder and Director</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">peter.giannatos@charlottechesscenter.org</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>Synopsis of Events Since March</u></b></span></div>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Free Weekly Chess.com Tournaments</span></b></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nearly 500 members in our <a href="https://www.chess.com/club/charlotte-chess-center" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">online chess.com club</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over 100 Unique Players Participate Weekly</span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoQtXDLipbOu4Up4PwikV4UnUFkpHc1DfJHiFqTxwAfCNcoOeI2eoJ9JP21jHBAHX4HCeqChuibYy9QF3rNMQB64qTXyZIWTugspENdlTznTHEGduMGGMqDHg67awxXiRJzDDffhPJYHk/s1600/online+tournament.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="892" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoQtXDLipbOu4Up4PwikV4UnUFkpHc1DfJHiFqTxwAfCNcoOeI2eoJ9JP21jHBAHX4HCeqChuibYy9QF3rNMQB64qTXyZIWTugspENdlTznTHEGduMGGMqDHg67awxXiRJzDDffhPJYHk/s320/online+tournament.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Free Live Weekly Lectures/Streams</span></b></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nearly 1800 followers on our <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/charlottechesscenter" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Twitch channel</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over 40 streams with 70+ average viewers/stream</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Instructional Content for Adults and Students</span></li>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Matches Between CCCSA and Other Chess Clubs in the US</span></b></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Team Matches Against: Saint Louis Chess Club, Mechanics Chess Institute, Memphis Chess Club and Marshall Chess Club.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Featured CCCSA member/players of all ratings levels</span></li>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Custom Videos for CCCSA Students in Our School Programs</span></b></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Coach Chris Callahan made over 30 videos for our students.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During the school year, the CCCSA taught 2000+ students weekly in school programs</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In an effort to reach more students in need during the pandemic, the CCCSA offered these videos to <u>all students</u> in our member schools.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sample video below:</span></li>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Virtual Elite Day Camps</span></b></li>
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<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Top Instructor Names Include: <b>GM</b> Judit Polgar, <b>GM</b> Peter Svidler, <b>GM</b> Lenier Dominguez, <b>GM</b> Sam Shankland, <b>GM</b> Ruslan Ponomariov and many more!</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(4) 2700 FIDE Rated GM Instructors, (15) 2600 FIDE Rated GM Instructors</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Students all over the US participated in these camps</span></li>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Online Academy Classes</span></b></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The CCCSA moved all of its <a href="https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/online" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Academy Classes</span></a> online.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Students received lessons via zoom and had supplement homework for each class</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Coaches Alex Velasquez, David Cogswell and GM Daniel Naroditsky led the classes.</span></li>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: red;">New</span> <u>Online Tournaments and Camps</u></span></b></div>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Charlotte K-12 Online Championship Series (Begins June 13)</span></b></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4 Round Tournaments Online (lichess.org)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">20 Custom Medals Each Tournament (mailed to winners)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Live Game Analysis</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">More Information: <a href="https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/k12online"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/k12online</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Watch quick summary of these events below:</span></li>
</ul>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Chess Fundamentals Camps</span></b></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Led by local masters: FM Peter Giannatos and NM Dominique Myers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Designed for rated players under 1300</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Learn from instructors you will see again ☺</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Distinct topics of discussion ranging from opening play to endgame play</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">More information here: <a href="https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/fundamentals"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/fundamentals</span></a></span></li>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Chess and Art Camps</span></b></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Feature our top beginner instructors</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Great for beginners and non-tournament players</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Art teacher from local school system leading art portion</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">More information here: <a href="https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/chessart"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/chessart</span></a></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Elite Chess Camp (Wee</b><b>k)</b></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For the top juniors in the US.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Features top trainers: <b>GM</b> Jacob Aagaard, <b>GM</b> RB Ramesh, <b>GM</b> Boris Avrukh, G<b>M</b> Daniel Naroditsky</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Camp is completely full with over 40 students.</span></li>
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<li><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Online Chess.com Tournaments + Lectures to Continue</span></b></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We plan on keeping these tournaments going until we resume similar play at the Center. See our plans below.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">See Weekly Schedule Here: <a href="https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/events"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/events</span></a></span></li>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;"><u><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Center Reopening</span></u></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Plan on opening with limited offerings in <b>mid July</b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Safety precautions will be taken, including but not limited to: temperature checks, mouth covers (masks), hand sanitizer stations, extra cleaning measures.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Activities likely to be offered:</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Small classes</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Small camps</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Small tournaments</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Online events will likely continue for a few months after the phased reopening of the CCCSA</span></li>
<li><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All of the above contingent on recommendations of local health officials. At this time, the CCCSA is legally permitted to open, but we have decided to take additional precaution and wait until July.</span></i></li>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;"><u><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ways to Support</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The CCCSA wants your support much more than it wants your donations. As you can see, we are offering quite a bit to our members and supporters (free and paid). I was a bit taken aback by the lack of participation of our local junior players in camps and classes. I'd like to hear from members about what they would like to see from the CCCSA moving forward (see meeting below).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ways to Support:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/membership" target="_blank"><b>Renew/Extend Your Membership</b></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Support Online Options (Free and Paid)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=EZPB82DN6NZN6&source=url" target="_blank"><b>Donate</b></a></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why support your local club?</span></div>
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You will have to see us again ☺</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We will continue to provide opportunities for years to come</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Students should become comfortable and familiar with local coaches who they will engage with throughout their chess growth</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Chess clubs do not grow on trees, OK, I say that with a bit of humor, but you get the point. We want to continue to provide the Charlotte area with the best in chess, in order to do that, we need your support!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I would like your input. Therefore I have scheduled a live zoom meeting for this Saturday at 11:00am. All parents and members are welcome to attend this meeting. See link below:</span></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Topic: CCCSA Members Meeting</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Time: Jun 6, 2020 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i>Open to First 100 to Join</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Join Zoom Meeting</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86811372521</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Should you want to donate to the CCCSA, please reach out to us. All donations ensure the longetivty of the CCCSA and support our instructors.</span></i></div>
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Charlotte Chess Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13571268741761423413noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-29798758979602668152020-05-31T07:27:00.000-07:002020-05-31T07:27:28.560-07:00The French Connection: Volume 38Hello everyone and welcome to the thirty-eighth edition of The French Connection. In this one, we are going to be looking at an interesting early check for Black in the Tarrasch Variation and be looking at another game from the Lockdown Cup. With the feature game, we will be looking at what is one of only two lines that White can play that pose any question at all to Black's idea, and so we will be looking at that line along with why other lines just don't do the job, and maybe we'll take a look at the other main line in another article when we see it featured in an actual game.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's take a look at the feature game.
<BR><BR><BR>Lockdown Cup 2020 - (Prelim Bracket 2)
<BR>W: Lester Weiss (2153)
<BR>B: Patrick McCartney (1900)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Ngf3 Nc6 6.Bb5</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEstvJ5sL40CIuYsnyuHqSLbixmvTia0ICZ_Lwo_wTbKSAz9F6qGYIjJwsXlXQ-YwZ5G31qTsvlYLDowwg2zNjQOVy70SLAULK6Vw_YfyvfqKiI6idzc_4ev_93b3TiRhiuvqPemP8u1KH/s1600/FC38_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEstvJ5sL40CIuYsnyuHqSLbixmvTia0ICZ_Lwo_wTbKSAz9F6qGYIjJwsXlXQ-YwZ5G31qTsvlYLDowwg2zNjQOVy70SLAULK6Vw_YfyvfqKiI6idzc_4ev_93b3TiRhiuvqPemP8u1KH/s320/FC38_1.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Some that may have followed this blog all the way back to 2017 when I wrote the French repertoire along with posts on chess.com might be wondering why I didn't play the line I preached, which is 5...Nf6 (instead of 5...Nc6) 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.Bxd7+ Nxd7 8.O-O Be7 9.dxc5 Nxc5 10.Nb3 Nce4. I still play this line as well, but I play almost any line of the French Defense.
<BR><BR>That said, the old main line, which is still played today, sees Black playing 6...Bd6 here, after which we see White trading on c5 with 7.dxc5 Bxc5 and then 8.O-O Nge7 9.Nb3 and the Bishop retreats to d6 (more popular) or b6. I still to this day have little interest in that line as Black.
<BR><BR>However, Black has another interesting move here that caught my eye and is why I went ahead and played 5...Nc6 instead of 5...Nf6.
<BR><BR><B>6...Qe7+</B>
<BR><BR>This might, at first glance, look like a dubious move, putting the Queen on the same file as the King. In the line with 5...Nf6, after 6.Bb5+ Bd7, instead of trading on d7, there is the line where White tries to grab a pawn, at least temporarily, with 7.Qe2+ Be7 8.dxc5. The major difference between that line for White and this line for Black is that Black has no intention of staying on e7 with the Queen, whereas the other line for White, he actually leaves the Queen on e2, trying to hold the extra pawn, and if Black finds the right response, he really has to let it go, but if he doesn't, White just ends up a pawn ahead, but that's a big if, and if Black does play it right, it results in a major waste of time for White.
<BR><BR>Here, however, the idea is simple. Just like in the 5...Nf6 line, Black would really like to develop the Knight actively on f6 rather than the passive e7-square. In the normal main line with 6...Bd6, White's development flows smoothly. He hands Black the Isolated Queen Pawn. He makes the Bishop move twice, similar to the battle of the tempo in the Queen's Gambit Declined. He gets his Knight out of the way of the Dark-Squared Bishop with the gain of tempo by making the Bishop move a third time, and to avoid problems on the e-file, Black has to develop his Knight passively on e7. By giving this check, White's decisions are highly limited. Unlike the line where White tries to win a pawn mentioned above, in this case, the King's Bishop has already been developed to b5. Interposing with the Bishop doesn't develop the Bishop like it does for Black when White plays 7.Qe2+. It in some ways "undevelops" it. Forces White to move it to a more passive position. But it turns out, that really is White's only choice if he wants to try to maintain any sort of an advantage, and so therefore, the move played in the game was as such.
<BR><BR><B>7.Be2</B>
<BR><BR>Other moves either get White nothing, or lose outright. For example, 7.Ne5?? f6 drops a piece, and 7.Kf1 just hems in the Rook. The only other practical choice is 7.Qe2. The problem is that it achieves absolutely nothing for White. After 7...Qxe2+, you've got 8.Kxe2 and the amateurish 8.Bxe2. The problem with the latter is that Black now has 8...Bf5!, a move that is ineffective if White immediately retreats with the Bishop as the Queen covers c2. Here, both 9.dxc5 Bxc2! 10.b3 Nf6 <I>(taking the pawn is dubious as 10...Bxc5?! 11.Bb2 creates the dual threats of 11.Bxg7 and 11.Rc1, skewering the Bishops, forcing 11...Bf8, and after 12.Rc1, he must retreat his other piece, and the lack of development is worth the pawn, and so Black should leave it alone)</I> 11.Bb2 Bg6 and 9.c3 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nxd4 11.cxd4 Rc8 give Black no problems at all. That leaves 8.Kxe2, but now, Black can force White to surrender the Bishop pair with 8...a6!, when after 9.Bxc6 bxc6, White must play 10.Re1 just to maintain equality, forcing Black to play 10...f6, taking the desired square away from the Knight, and after 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Nb3 Bd6 13.Be3 with either 13...a5 or 13...Ne7, we have a dynamically level position. Black has an extra pawn island, but he also has the Bishop pair in a fairly open position.
<BR><BR>There is absolutely no reason to be afraid of the Queen trade. However, now that the Bishop has been forced to retreat, Black is ready to re-locate the Queen.
<BR><BR><B>7...Qc7</B>
<BR><BR>The reason for playing this move immediately is the c5-pawn. If Black does not move the Queen now, then White can take on c5 and Black will have to take back with the Queen, which is undesirable. Now, if White takes, Black will take with the Bishop and develop yet another piece.
<BR><BR><B>8.dxc5</B>
<BR><BR>More normal here is 8.O-O Nf6 and only now 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Nb3 Be7, which the game transposes to after Black's 10th move. I mention this move order because the alternative to 9.dxc5 is the prophylactic move 9.Re1, which is supposedly the most challenging move for Black, and if I ever am faced with this line, I will likely cover it in another article, but this one here is all about the 9.dxc5 line, the only other options that poses any questions at all to Black's 6th move, along with earlier deviations and how Black should react to them.
<BR><BR><B>8...Bxc5 9.Nb3 Be7 10.O-O Nf6</B>
<BR><BR>Transposing back to the main line. Now, the question becomes, where does Black want to place his pieces? In this line, the ideal setup is to get his King's Knight to e4 while the other stays at c6, temporarily brings out the Light-Squared Bishop to connect the Rooks, create a battery with the Rooks on the e-file, and then retreat the Bishop back, with a dominance on the e-file, as we will see here in the game.
<BR><BR><B>11.Bg5 O-O 12.c3 Be6 13.Nbd4 Rae8</B>
<BR><BR>The right place for the Black Rook. This is more desirable than the passive 13...Rad8, simply guarding the pawn. Now the onus is on White to play the right move.
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<BR><BR><B>14.Re1!</B>
<BR><BR>The correct move here! Taking either the Knight or Bishop will only help Black's pawn structure, and the dubious idea of trying to re-route the Bishop with 14.Bh4?! only backfires after 14...Ne4, removing all dreams of taking over the h2-b8 diagonal, and after 15.Bxe7 Rxe7 16.h3 Bc8 17.Qd3 Rfe8, Black has the perfect setup that we just talked about.
<BR><BR>Now, we have an interesting position, and I came up with Black's next move, which I have yet to see be played anywhere.
<BR><BR><B>14...h6</B>
<BR><BR>This Queen check line was covered in New In Chess Yearbook 119 back in 2016 by Dejan Antic, a Serbian Grandmaster. Here, he cites the game Mladenov - Trella, Germany 2014 to illustrate the idea behind 14.Re1, giving 14...a6 15.Qc2 Ne4 <I>(Here he recommends 15...Ng4 on the basis that if the Queen and Bishop are still lined up on d1 and e2, go to e4, but if one of them has changed diagonals, possibly going to g4 is better, which here he gives an exclam to 15...Ng4, calling it unclear)</I> 16.Be7 <I>(Here he points out that White can also play 16.Nxe6 fxe6 17.Bxe7 Rxe7 18.Bd3 with a small advantage and is probably why he favors 15...Ng4)</I> 16...Rxe7 17.Bd3 Nxd4 18.Nxd4 Nf6 19.h3 Rfe8 20.Rad1 Bc8 21.Rxe7 Rxe7 22.Qb3 g6 23.Bf1 h5 24.Be2 Re5 25.Bf1 Kg7 26.a3 Bf5 27.Nxf5+ Rxf5 28.Be2 Re5 29.Bf3 Qe7 30.g3 with an unclear position.
<BR><BR>This is all fine and good. However, I think he misses the ship completely. I do not believe 14...a6 is very good for Black at all, and that White should answer not with 15.Qc2, but 15.Nxc6!. Now after 15...Qxc6 16.Nd4 Qc5 17.Bd3, White is for preference as the freeing move 17...Ne4? drops a pawn for nothing after 18.Bxe7, and otherwise, Black's position is really bottled up while White is free to maneuver. Artificial intelligence also claims +/= for White. The other option, 15...bxc6, looks at first like Black should be ok since after 16.Bxa6, Black can play 16...Qb6 and force White to either give the pawn back, or else put his Queen on the dangerous open e-file with 17.Qe2. The problem is, the latter works thanks to Black's two Bishops being in the way, giving White just enough time. For example, after 17...Bd8, threatening discoveries on the Queen, White has 18.Be3! with a practically winning position. Of course, this is not all forced, but a pawn is a pawn, and while White might have to spend an extra move to re-group, the compensation Black gets for the pawn is nowhere near enough.
<BR><BR>Therefore, I think Black should keep the a-pawn back for as long as possible, and hence my novelty of 14...h6. It kicks the Bishop back with tempo, and prepares Black's expansion that comes up shortly. He should not be afraid of a Knight or Bishop coming to b5. With the Knight, Black can simply retreat to b8 and then when the time is right, kick the Knight back by playing ...a6 with tempo. In the game, White never goes down that rabbit trail, and rightfully so.
<BR><BR><B>15.Bh4 Ne4</B>
<BR><BR>There's the freeing move, getting the Bishops off the board and opening up for Black to double on the e-file.
<BR><BR><B>16.Bxe7 Rxe7 17.h3 Bd7</B>
<BR><BR>It seemed like this square was better than going all the way back to c8. There is nothing to worry about on b7, and since ...a6 was not played, I over-protected the c6-square in case the Bishop thinks about coming to b5. It should also be noted that the abandoning of the protection on d5 is not a problem for tactical reasons.
<BR><BR><B>18.Bd3</B>
<BR><BR>18.Qb3 poses no threat to the d-pawn because Black has 18...Rfe8! where 19.Qxd5 can be answered by 19...Nxd4 20.Qxd4 Nxc3! and one could even argue a miniscule advantage for Black in this line.
<BR><BR><B>18...Rfe8</B>
<BR><BR>Completing the mission of getting the Rooks lined up on the e-file. Next we will see Black start to expand on the Kingside.
<BR><BR><B>19.Qc2 Qf4</B>
<BR><BR>Also possible here are 19...g5, and the more reserved 19...Qd6. Either way, the position should be dynamically equal. The important part for Black is to remain active. If he sits back for too long, what might be a teeny-tiny advantage for White will turn into a big advantage because of the isolated pawn. The player with the isolated pawn is the one that needs to stir up activity to compensate, and so Black is coming in to attack the White Kingside.
<BR><BR><B>20.Rad1 g5 21.Re3 f5</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzkPbncAZlaxEc7aichfbORdq_OY7EZz7XYxuF8etZHgwDxdL6T_RZSFbZrj1MZ9GzySYBTSLulGC3BKz1YkxqvzmcknIbShYB6WPENRGS2uhwJE0WBKPzJpmNcUyg7zBL09YXgA7Mnbsm/s1600/FC38_3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzkPbncAZlaxEc7aichfbORdq_OY7EZz7XYxuF8etZHgwDxdL6T_RZSFbZrj1MZ9GzySYBTSLulGC3BKz1YkxqvzmcknIbShYB6WPENRGS2uhwJE0WBKPzJpmNcUyg7zBL09YXgA7Mnbsm/s320/FC38_3.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>So now Black has the space advantage, but he is still saddled with that weakness on d5. White can kick the Queen out with 22.Ne2, which might leave White once again with that "teeny-tiny" advantage that Black should have no real problems holding on to the balance. However, White sees two hanging pawns on b7 and d5 and plays ...
<BR><BR><B>22.Qb3</B>
<BR><BR>The only problem with this move is that it allows Black to force a draw immediately. Do you see how?
<BR><BR><B>22...Nxd4!</B>
<BR><BR>All other moves pretty much lose for Black.
<BR><BR><B>23.cxd4</B>
<BR><BR>Of course, 23.Qxd5+?? would lose to 23...Ne6!
<BR><BR><B>23...Nxf2!!</B>
<BR><BR>And there is the dagger. All hopes of winning for White are gone!
<BR><BR><B>24.Qxd5 1/2-1/2</B>
<BR><BR>White realized this now and offered the draw, which I accepted. Just to show the lines, let's say this game went on. First thing to note is that 24...Be6?? is losing due to 25.Rxe6!! Rxe6 26.Kxf2 Qe3+ 27.Kf1 g4 28.Ne5 g3 29.Qf3 and White is winning. If 29...Qxd4, then 30.Qxg3+. Moving the King anywhere also fails to 25.Rxe7 followed by 26.Kxf2. So 24...Re6 is forced. Now White has a couple of ways to draw, but taking the Knight loses. The following are White's options:
<BR><OL Type="A"><LI>25.Kxf2?? loses to 25...Qxe3+ 26.Kf1 and now any type of Re1 move is not a saving grace for White like it is in line B because Black can take the Bishop with check, and so therefore, after 26...g4 27.hxg4 fxg4 28.Qxd7 gxf3 29.Qh7+ Kf8 30.Qf5+ Ke7 31.Qc5+ Kd8 32.Qd5+ Kc7, white only has one more check if he wants it or can take the pawn on f3, both of which win easily for Black.
<LI>25.Qxd7 does draw for White only because of one saving grace. After 25...Qxe3, White has the miracle draw with 26.Re1 and Black loses too much material if he doesn't take the perpetual, and White gets mated if he tries to avoid it. After 26...Nxh3+, both sides have to repeat via 27.Kh1 Nf2+ 28.Kg1 Nh3+ etc, as both 27.Kh2 and 28.Kh2 lose. After 27.Kh2 (with the Black Knight on h3), Black wins after 27...Qf4+ 28.g3 <I>(28.Kxh3 g4+ 29.Kh4 g3+ 30.Kh3 Qg4#)</I> 28...Qxf3 and White has to give up his Queen on e8 to prolong the game as 29.Rxe6 Qf2+ 30.Kxh3 g4+ 31.Kh4 Qh2# is mate. Instead, if 28.Kh2, where the Black Knight is on f2, then 28...Ng4+ 29.Kh3 <I>(29.Kh1 Qxe1+ leads to a back rank mate while 29.Kg3 Qf4+ followed by 30...Nf2# is also mate)</I> 29...Qf4 30.g3 Qxf3 31.Bc4 Nf2+ 32.Kh2 Qh5+ 33.Kg2 Qh3+ 34.Kf3 (Taking the Knight leads to mate in 11) 34...g4+ 35.Kf4 (Again taking the Knight is mate in 11) 35...Nd3+ 36.Bxd3 Rxe1 is easily winning for Black. Therefore, the perpetual would have to be taken.
<LI>25.Rde1 is the cleanest and most obvious forcing of the draw. Black can try 25...Nxh3+ 26.Kf1 Qg3 27.gxh3 Qxh3+, but it still only leads to a draw, or he can simply take the Bishop with 25...Nxd3, after which the draw is routine. White takes three times on e6, ending with the Queen, and Black can't get out of check as he has to move up to g7 or h7 to hold the h-pawn. After 26.Rxe6 Bxe6 27.Rxe6 Rxe6 28.Qxe6+, a silly move like 28...Kf8 allows 29.Qxh6+ and now White's winning, and so he must play 28...Kg7 or 28...Kh7 and the checks cannot be escaped, and so the result is a draw.
</OL>
<BR><BR>An interesting game that illustrates the dynamics of the 6...Qe7+ line of the Tarrasch when White plays 9.dxc5. Again, he does have one other alternative in 9.Re1, but pretty much all other moves cause Black no problems at all. A few things for Black to remember are to always move your Queen immediately after the check if White interposes with the Bishop so that you can take back on c5 with the Bishop if the pawn is captured by White, and that with the isolani, you do not want to passively defend the isolani with a move like ...Rad8, but rather, your ideal setup is to get the Knight to e4 and double the Rooks on the e-file. As the game proceeds, your number one priority as Black is to remain active! This will often lead to the dynamic balance between space and activity versus pawn structure.
<BR><BR><BR>This concludes this edition of The French Connection. Until next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White!Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-88767763338314000992020-05-23T09:20:00.000-07:002020-05-23T09:20:32.216-07:00The French Connection: Volume 37<B>A Tale of Two Weird Winawers</B>
<BR><BR>Hello everyone and welcome to the 37th edition of The French Connection. As we continue to be stuck at home during this pandemic, correspondence chess and online blitz have taken over, and since the quality of online blitz chess is usually not good, I am continuing to cover correspondence games as they come to a close, and this week, I've had two games come to a close this week, and we will be covering both. Normally, in this series, we cover one game per article, but this time, like The French Connection: Volume 9, we will actually cover two games that fall in the same category. The first game we will cover an "Anti-Winawer". Yes, you read it right, an Anti-Winawer. Just when you thought it was only the Sicilian that had "Anti-" lines. There are many others as well, like the Anti-Colle, where Black brings his Bishop out before playing ...e6, or the Anti-Meran where White avoids 5.e3. The "Anti-Winawer", by definition, is any line where White does not play 4.e5 after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4. So this will be the first game we look at.
<BR><BR>The second game we will see a very odd sideline. After 4.e5, Black will play 4...Ne7 instead of 4...c5 to avoid a highly theoretical line of the Semi-Winawer, namely 4...c5 5.Bd2. White still does have ways to avoid the main line. The most common are 5.Bd2 and 5.Qg4, ideas similar to the Semi-Winawer but where Black does not play an early ...c5. In the game we will be seeing, White plays a move that I will be honest, I have never seen before, is not mentioned in any book I've seen, and I own well over 20 books on the French, and in the database 365chess.com, out of 5390 games, White's reply was only played 65 times. So that will be the second game.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's take a look at the games.
<BR><BR><BR><B>Game 1</B>
<BR>Lockdown Cup 2020 - (Prelim Bracket 4)
<BR>W: Lee Edwards (Unrated)
<BR>B: Patrick McCartney (1900)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2</B>
<BR><BR>This is actually called the "Fingerslip Variation". It got its name from the game Alekhine - Flohr, Nottingham 1936 where Alekhine had intended to play the Semi-Winawer via 4.e5 c5 5.Bd2, but inadvertantly played the moves in the wrong order.
<BR><BR><B>4...dxe4</B>
<BR><BR>The correct move here, and most popular. Other moves have been tried, such as 4...Ne7, and many responses by White will transpose to other lines, such as 5.e5 now would transpose to 4.e5 Ne7 5.Bd2, but the move 5.a3 can be a little annoying. It is hard to trust the retreat, 5...Ba5, without the center defined - White hasn't played e5 or exd5. I don't like Black's position after 6.Qf3. So Black must take on c3, and after the Bishop takes back, it may be best to then take the pawn on e4 anyway, so taking on e4 here really is the best approach.
<BR><BR><B>5.Qg4</B>
<BR><BR>The only move to maintain equality. 5.Nxe4? Qxd4 nets Black a pawn with no compensation at all for White. Other moves besides 5.Qg4 allow Black to hold on to the extra pawn.
<BR><BR><B>5...Nf6!</B>
<BR><BR>With the d-pawn currently hanging, the Knight protected by the Queen even after White's grab of the g-pawn, and forcing White to run around the board with the Queen without being fully developed, it makes far more sense to surrender the g-pawn than the e-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>6.Qxg7 Rg8 7.Qh6</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixM5VcGmIm3XdVAyj8hFs_VPPaM5EHcjxF-tJ8l3mkfT2ziporIMT439nHlDBjs22pA7WyuhyphenhyphenJrr0Sxnx_tTCFJLR39FBnywfwBphNIsgUKSRtktkV1tbuQeVngUv5j0MiCwC6_DfYhvuv/s1600/FC37_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixM5VcGmIm3XdVAyj8hFs_VPPaM5EHcjxF-tJ8l3mkfT2ziporIMT439nHlDBjs22pA7WyuhyphenhyphenJrr0Sxnx_tTCFJLR39FBnywfwBphNIsgUKSRtktkV1tbuQeVngUv5j0MiCwC6_DfYhvuv/s320/FC37_1.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Black now has a choice to make.
<BR><BR><B>7...Qxd4</B>
<BR><BR>This is probably the most aggressive option, grabbing the pawn. Other options are:
<BR><OL Type="A"><LI>7...Nc6 and now 8.Nge2 Nxd4 9.Nxd4 Qxd4 10.O-O-O leads to an unclear position while 8.O-O-O allows Black to take a draw if he wants it. 8...Rg6 9.Qh4 (<I>9.Qe3 Qxd4 10.Qe1 Bxc3 11.Bxc3 Qc5 and Black is slightly better</I>) and now it is Black with the choice. He can take a draw with 9...Rg4 10.Qh6 Rg6 11.Qh4 Rg4 etc, or he can play on with 9...Bxc3 10.Bxc3 Qd5 with an equal, but unbalanced position.
<LI>7...Rg6?! though should be avoided. A move too soon. Now White has 8.Qe3! where after 8...Nc6 9.Nge2 Bxc3 10.Qxc3 Bd7 11.Qe3 Qe7 12.h3 O-O-O 13.O-O-O, White is for preference.
</OL><BR><B>8.O-O-O?</B>
<BR><BR>I don't like this move for White at all. Stronger is 8.Nge2 first and only after 8...Qe5 should White play 9.O-O-O Rg6 10.Qf4 with equality. Note that 9.Bf4 is going too far at chasing the Queen. After 9...Qf5, both 10.h3 Nd5 and 10.Nd4 Bxc3 11.bxc3 Qc5 are better for Black.
<BR><BR><B>8...Bf8 9.Qh4</B>
<BR><BR>9.Qh3? fails to 9...Qxf2 10.Nge2 Bd7 and now Moskalenko points out that both 11.g4 Rxg4 12.Ng3 e3 13.Be1 Qf4 14.Bd2 Qh6 15.Qxh6 Bxh6 16.Bxb7 Bc6 17.Bxa8 Bxa8 and 11.Ng3 e3 12.Be1 Qf4 13.Bd3 Qh6 are winning for Black.
<BR><BR><B>9...Rg4 10.Qh3 Qxf2 11.Be2 Rh4!</B>
<BR><BR>Giving the material back. Moskalenko claims that 11...Rg6 12.g4 leads to undue tactical complications. For example, after 12...Qc5 (13.Be3 was threatened) 13.g5 Rxg5 14.Be3 Qf5 15.Qh4 Rg6 16.Nb5 Na6 17.Rf1 Qd5 18.Kb1, White is better.
<BR><BR><B>12.Qxh4 Qxh4 13.g3 Qh6 14.Bxh6 Bxg6+ 15.Kb1</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWWprnjcbUfJ8Ng4I_tlAditHwkpWYHhJlW-zrnpONftTcL9WLJXyL-UupA7akDdlsP-9AZ3yTHD6HxLltogOrWRnn_uI3tuKozrAmKONPm2Hwc-FiucSVU1aXo1gtkbofBRaDLFwKCvxr/s1600/FC37_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWWprnjcbUfJ8Ng4I_tlAditHwkpWYHhJlW-zrnpONftTcL9WLJXyL-UupA7akDdlsP-9AZ3yTHD6HxLltogOrWRnn_uI3tuKozrAmKONPm2Hwc-FiucSVU1aXo1gtkbofBRaDLFwKCvxr/s320/FC37_2.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Now that the dust has settled, let's look at what we have here. It appears as though Black is way behind in development, but reality shows that White has his g1-Knight and h1-Rook that will take time to get out as the Knight can't go to its most natural square. The material count is equal, but usually a Bishop and two pawns is better than a Rook in the majority of cases. Black also has the Bishop pair in a somewhat open position, and with no direct attack for White and the Queens gone, it's probably better to have your King in the center than on the side of the board. All told, Black has a clear advantage here.
<BR><BR><B>15...Nc6 16.h4</B>
<BR><BR>16.g4 would do nothing but give White a weak g-pawn after 16...Ne5.
<BR><BR><B>16...Ne5 17.Nh3 Ke7 18.Rhg1</B>
<BR><BR>Clearly, White is trying to force through the g-pawn to possibly create problems for Black, but he can't get enough pieces over there and there is no clear way to creating a passer for White on the Kingside either.
<BR><BR><B>18...Be3!</B>
<BR><BR>Putting the question to the Rook.
<BR><BR><B>19.Rge1</B>
<BR><BR>19.Rg2 isn't any better. Yes, it maintains the idea of advancing the g-pawn, but with the Bishop out of the h6-square, there are no pawn forks to worry about, and Black can simply proceed to complete his development with 19...Bd7 and a clear advantage.
<BR><BR>The text move might optically look better as there could be a discovery on the Bishop looming, but there is absolutely nothing here for Black to be worried about.
<BR><BR><B>19...b6</B>
<BR><BR>Basically telling White that he has no real good discoveries with the Bishop.
<BR><BR><B>20.g4</B>
<BR><BR>But this move makes less sense than any move of the Bishop on e2. This just hangs the g-pawn, but Black needs to make sure he takes with the right Knight. Yes, White does get the pawn on e4, but the g-pawn is far more important for White than the e4-pawn is for Black. If Black didn't have another pawn on e6 to shield the King, it might have been different.
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWV5cJBf77QaaYdtfcPRfCUTN-p3InH6_ph61nOnnZOu__WkwrfOFyhkUlD0RWHiXBlBjQmb6SrkRfc1m5ZiAOJVfMzOkp-7bYqdETOhwo9BMYT9O09yT0sN1FpPO6VVx7qy7sq_BSz3j9/s1600/FC37_3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWV5cJBf77QaaYdtfcPRfCUTN-p3InH6_ph61nOnnZOu__WkwrfOFyhkUlD0RWHiXBlBjQmb6SrkRfc1m5ZiAOJVfMzOkp-7bYqdETOhwo9BMYT9O09yT0sN1FpPO6VVx7qy7sq_BSz3j9/s320/FC37_3.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR><B>20...Nfxg4!</B>
<BR><BR>Taking with the other Knight would lose most of Black's advantage. After 20...Nexg4? 21.Nxe4 Bb7 22.Nxf6 Nxf6 23.Ba6 Bxa6 24.Rxe3, the bulk of Black's advantage is gone. The major difference is that by taking with the f-Knight, White has no Knight trade available to him to deflect the g4-Knight away from the Bishop.
<BR><BR><B>21.Nxe4 Bb7 22.Neg5?</B>
<BR><BR>This does nothing more than get the Knight trapped.
<BR><BR><B>22...h6 23.Nxf7 Kxf7 0-1</B>
<BR><BR>Sure, White could have tried to play on with 24.Bxg4 Nxg4 25.Rd7+ Kg6 26.Rxc7, but after 26...Bd5, Black has two Bishops straight up for the Rook and a completely dominating position. If this was being played over the board, White might continue, but continuing this is a correspondence game with engines is totally useless, and so White gave up.
<BR><BR><BR>In the second game, we will be looking at an even weirder line that at first glance looks really bad for White, but study it further and you realize that it's not so easy for Black to take advantage of White's ugly pawns.
<BR><BR><B>Game 2</B>
<BR>World Zone Individual Championship, Preliminary Round
<BR>W: Jamie Davidson (2099 - AUS)
<BR>B: Patrick McCartney (1920 - USA)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7 5.Bd3</B>
<BR><BR>This strange move is one that I had never seen prior to this game. Even in my over 3000 blitz games on chess.com, it had never come up when this move was played back in mid-February. Since then, I have faced this line twice on chess.com, but both of them transposed to another line.
<BR><BR><B>5...c5</B>
<BR><BR>The most natural response, pressuring White's center.
<BR><BR><B>6.dxc5</B>
<BR><BR>In both the games on chess.com, White played 6.a3, when after 6...Bxc3+ 7.bxc3, we have a direct transposition to 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 and now the offbeat 7.Bd3.
<BR><BR>The move played in the game here leads to a very strange pawn structure.
<BR><BR><B>6...d4 7.a3</B>
<BR><BR>Of course, forced as otherwise the Knight hangs.
<BR><BR><B>7...Ba5</B>
<BR><BR>By not taking the Knight, the pawn structure for White ends up looking very weird.
<BR><BR><B>8.b4 dxc3 9.bxa5</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIzDlTTrD7_AFeyIz9k-wIGSoDDwI4QLscGiSL5nyu4_iN0KOx0zj391vuwLlYeGZdjixXFvSfPDEhcwcuHWIhM0mivHAULVVa7bIhxjgatALSSSyB0Wm8_wPKX28Ti-XVMNO_ndR5hL_j/s1600/FC37_4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIzDlTTrD7_AFeyIz9k-wIGSoDDwI4QLscGiSL5nyu4_iN0KOx0zj391vuwLlYeGZdjixXFvSfPDEhcwcuHWIhM0mivHAULVVa7bIhxjgatALSSSyB0Wm8_wPKX28Ti-XVMNO_ndR5hL_j/s320/FC37_4.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>At first glance, it looks like a complete beginner is playing White. How could White let his pawns get that way? Turns out, this position is not easy for Black at all. You have to look past the ugly White pawns and realize the following facts about the position:
<UL><LI>White is a pawn up, though that doesn't really mean much here.
<LI>White has extra space and a much easier time developing his pieces. As Black tries to develop his Queenside, the pieces will be tripping over each other.
<LI>Black has some really weak squares on the board. The one that stands out most is d6.
<LI>Black can get at the pawns, but keep in mind that Black has no dark-squared Bishop, so while getting one of them back is simple, just thinking you are going to pick off the pawns one by one is dreaming.
<LI>White has the Bishop pair in what is basically an open position, not something you see every day in the Winawer, and especially lines where White actually did play 4.e5.
</UL>
<BR>So Black has to be careful how to pick his battles here.
<BR><BR><B>9...Nd7</B>
<BR><BR>Probably the best move for Black. Black can also get an equal game with 9...Qxa5, but he has to be careful not to go pawn hunting with the Queen. After 10.Qg4, Black should develop either his Knight or his Bishop to d7. Note that 10...Qxc5? 11.Qxg7 Rg8 12.Qxh7! (this is even stronger for White than in the Poisoned Pawn variation where White's Bishop isn't already on d3) and now both 12...Qxe5+ 13.Ne2 and 12...Rxg2 13.Be3 Qxe5 14.Ne2 are very strong for White. The massive lead in development and Bishop pair on an open board along with the ability to gain tempi on the Rook and Queen far outweigh the extra pawn for Black. If Black were lagging in development with the minor pieces developed and the heavy pieces needing to get out, it might be a different story, but with only heavy pieces developed, this is a clear sign of possibilities for White to use them to gain even more tempi on his attack.
<BR><BR><B>10.Nf3 Nxc5 11.Bb5+ Bd7 12.Bxd7+ Qxd7 13.Be3</B>
<BR><BR>So now the dilemma for Black. He can play a move like 13...b6 or 13...Rc8 to protect the Knight, but then he has to contend with a Queen Trade and then White gaining a tempo with the check. The alternative is to trade Queens and then resolve the problem with the Knight, which also develops the Rook for White. So either way, Black is either helping White develop, or retreating his own pieces, or in the case of the game, both! So don't get so excited about Black's position just because his pawn structure is better and he had regained the lost pawn.
<BR><BR><B>13...Qxd1+ 14.Rxd1 Nd7</B>
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<BR><BR>So Black's idea by retreating the Knight is fairly obvious. The position is open and White has the Bishop, so he has the best minor piece on the board. That said, with the Knight on f3, which is four moves away from the d5-square, and with White's remaining Bishop being on the dark squares, the d5-square is automatically where Black wants one of his Knights, both to protect the advanced c3-pawn, and to control some key dark squares in the center of the board. One of Black's Rooks will likely go to the c-file to also maintain the c3-pawn. If that c3-pawn falls, Black is likely worse, despite the ugly White pawn structure. The other Knight that just went to d7 is tying down the White Knight to the defense of the e5-pawn. So the real question is what will happen with the Rooks.
<BR><BR><B>15.Ke2</B>
<BR><BR>There is no reason for either side to castle in this position.
<BR><BR><B>15...Nd5 16.Rd4 b6 17.Rg4 Kf8</B>
<BR><BR>This appears to hem the Rook in, but this is only temporary. The King will ultimately go to e7 once the issue with the g7-pawn is resolved.
<BR><BR><B>18.Kd3 Rac8</B>
<BR><BR>Now we see the point of 16...b6, making it so that we can free up the a8-Rook to remove the duties form guarding the a-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>19.Rb1 h6 20.h4 Rg8 21.h5 Ke7 22.Bc1</B>
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<BR><BR>Now we have a critical moment. Black must assess the position carefully. The Knight on d5 is ideally placed and probably will not move any time soon barring a tactic available to Black, and it turns out this Knight sits here for the rest of the game. The Rook on c8 does a good job of holding the c3-pawn, a pawn that will also be there the rest of the game. There is a problem on the Kingside. The attack on the g-pawn is tying down the Black Rook to a severely passive square, g8. Also, it is tying the c8-Rook down to its defense so that White has no tactics on h6, using a pin to win a pawn. The Knight on d7 is also passive. The b6-pawn is also very well covered. So Black's position is solid, but a little too passive right now with too many things tied down to Black's g7-weakness. What Black must do is first of all accept that he will have a weakness of some sort no matter what he does. However, it usually takes 2 weaknesses to be defeated. If Black can transition the weakness to somewhere else where the defense of the weakness is dependent upon fewer pieces, it would be a great idea for Black, and so this is exactly what Black does.
<BR><BR><B>22...f6!</B>
<BR><BR>So by attacking the e-pawn, and virtually forcing White to take on f6, Black will first off activate his d7-Knight. It will gain a tempo on the Rook and virtually force the Rook off the g-file. This will give Black the ability to advance the g-pawn where it will get traded off for White's h-pawn, and then Black's h-pawn and White's a-pawn will be equally weak where White can choose to defend his own weakness, or allow Black to take it in return for the remaining kingside pawn. That will leave Black with just one weakness, the isolated e-pawn, which is well covered by the King and hard for White to get to, and so instead of two Rooks doing the job of covering a weak pawn and a Knight as a result suffering in a passive position, just the King alone is enough to defend Black's only real weakness, and this is likely what nets Black half of the point.
<BR><BR><B>23.exf6 N7xf6 24.Rh4 g5 25.hxg6 Rxg6 26.Ne1</B>
<BR><BR>The g-pawn was hanging if White tries to take on h6.
<BR><BR><B>26...h5 27.g3 Kd6 28.axb6 axb6 29.Ng2 Rg4 30.Rxg4 hxg4 31.Ne3 Ra8</B>
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<BR><BR>I had offered a draw in this position as there really is nothing either side can do. Virtually every pawn except arguably the g3-pawn is weak, and so White can decide to hold on to his own pawns, or pick away at Black's, but for every pawn he picks away at, Black is able to do the same to one of the many weak White pawns. White, however, decided to play on here.
<BR><BR><B>32.Rb3 Kc6 33.Nxd5 Nxd5 34.Bh6 Rg8</B>
<BR><BR>With the idea that while White is possibly going after the c3-pawn, Black will go to g6, and then f6 to attack the f2-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>35.Rb1 Rg6 36.Rh1 Rf6</B>
<BR><BR>Now White is stuck either retreating a piece to defend f2, or else play 37.Rh4 and trade f for g. Again, Black's rule simply is that for each thing that White pressures or attacks, if Black has an equivalent threat, he will draw this game. As it turns out in the game, White will get a passed g-pawn, but it won't be enough.
<BR><BR><B>37.Ke2 Rf7</B>
<BR><BR>In anticipation of White wanting to play Rh4 and threaten the g4-pawn, Black cannot play passive defense, going back to g6 with the Rook. Instead, Black is ready to swing the Rook back to the a-file, and trade off g-pawn for a-pawn, and then start rolling his b-pawn forward.
<BR><BR><B>38.Rh4 Ra7 39.Rxg4 Rxa3 40.Re4 Rxa2</B>
<BR><BR>If White now takes with 41.Rxe6+, despite it being check, after 41...Kd7, the c-pawn will fall.
<BR><BR><B>41.Kd3 Kd7 42.Re1 b5 43.Rb1 b4 44.Bg7 Kd6 45.f4</B>
<BR><BR>And here inlies White's problem with being able to win the game. If he doesn't advance these pawns, what is he doing? If he does, they become weak.
<BR><BR><B>45...Ke7</B>
<BR><BR>Now all Black has to do is walk the King over in front of the passed g-pawn and then wait for g4, at which point he has a tactic based on the loose f-pawn that will allow him to simplify the position to a dead draw.
<BR><BR><B>46.Bd4 Kf7 47.Be5 Kg6 48.g4</B>
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<BR><BR>Now Black has a clever trick.
<BR><BR><B>48...Rb2!</B>
<BR><BR>Now, if White doesn't take, Black will play ...b3 to force the issue.
<BR><BR><B>49.Rxb2 1/2-1/2</B>
<BR><BR>Therefore, White took and offered the draw. After 49...cxb2 50.Bxb2 Nxf4+, the position is a dead draw. Sure, if you were playing over the board and one side was in time trouble, you could argue for playing on, but here, given the fact that 7-piece tablebases are used to declare wins and draws when a position gets down to 7 pieces or less, all that has to happen is one pawn goes away and either side can claim the result based on best moves, which in this case is going to be a draw.
<BR><BR><BR>So we saw two games here that did not feature the traditional closed position of the Winawer, but one thing was the same about these. Just like in the traditional Winawer, White's got weak pawns, and in some lines, Black also has weak pawns, and while weak pawns can often decide the game in a Classical, Tarrasch, Advance, or even Exchange French, the Winawer is a whole different ball of wax, and as we saw in both games, piece activity ruled both games. If either side spends their time defending weak pawns, they will lose! This is why move 22 was so critical in the second game. Black could spend the whole game using his whole army to defend the weak g7-pawn, or he can do what he did, converting it to a weakness on e6 that could be easily defended, and accepting the other weaknesses on the board, realizing that any attack on any of them can be countered by going after White's weak pawns. For example, we saw Black go after the a-pawn in return for White going after the g-pawn instead of having the Rook sit on the g-file and try to defend the g-pawn. White would eventually coordinate and break down Black's defenses, and so counter-attack is often the only option in this line. So just keep this in mind that if you are playing against a player that is always focused on his pawn structure, the Winawer can be your best friend!
<BR><BR><BR>That will conclude this edition of the French Connection. I'll be back when another game completes, which could be next week or it could be a few weeks later. Till then, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White!Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-90592357284296145972020-05-02T07:02:00.001-07:002020-05-02T07:05:17.094-07:00Game Analysis: Getting All of Your Pieces Into the Game!Hello everyone and welcome. As we continue to deal with COVID-19 and the lack of over the board tournaments, I am continuing to analyze games as they finish in correspondence tournaments. In the last article, we looked at a game from a Zonal tournament. This time, we are going to look at a game from the "Lockdown Cup 2020" tournament. It is a small tournament of strictly players from the United States. There are 50 entries all told with many players having two entries. It is broken down into 10 prelim brackets with 5 players each, the winner of which will advance along with the highest rated 2nd place finishers to move on to the Semi-Finals, and then there will be a finals bracket where the top two finishers there will get paid. With each bracket being 5 players, and playing a single game against each player, two White and two Black, there is little room for error. I am in two Prelim brackets, both of which feature an IM, a player in the 2100s, myself, a player in the 1500s, and an unrated player.
<BR><BR>The game we will be looking at today features an O'Kelly Sicilian, an opening I don't particularly think highly of for Black, and we will see Black failing to get his Kingside pieces into play. White will manage to get every piece into the game in rapid fire fashion, not giving Black the time he needs after a couple of early errors, and the Black King will get hunted down execution style.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's take a look at the game.
<BR><BR><BR>Lockdown Cup 2020 - (Prelim Bracket 4)
<BR>W: Patrick McCartney (1900)
<BR>B: Ed Gomolka (1507)
<BR>Sicilian Defense, O'Kelly Variation
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6</B>
<BR><BR>This is known as the O'Kelly Variation of the Sicilian. Some players really love it. I see it more as a one trick pony, and if White knows what he's doing, I personally view the ...a6 move as a waste of time.
<BR><BR><B>3.c3!</B>
<BR><BR>The O'Kelly player is usually hoping for White to play 3.d4?!, which truly is a dubious move now. The idea is that 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5! gives Black an improved version of the Sveshnikov or Najdorf. Normally in the Sveshnikov, which arises from 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5, White will place his Knight on b5, virtually forcing 6...d6, blocking in the Bishop. Here, White would be forced to play 6.Nf3 or 6.Nb3 as the b5-square is covered by the a-pawn. In addition to playing this in Sveshnikov fashion, Black could also treat his play in more Najdorf fashion with two major pluses. The first is that the Bishop on f8 is not blocked by a pawn on d6. In the normal Najdorf, we see 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 (or one of many other moves) e5. Here, White has an extra developing move already, and Black's extra move is ...d6, a now backwards pawn that hems in the Dark-Squared Bishop. Here, in the O'Kelly move order, if White plays a move like 6.Nf5, Black can play the move 6...d5 in one go, not making a stop on d6 before going to d5, and the move ...d5 is usually the dream move for Black in many lines of the Sicilian. If White plays a little more conservative with a move like 6.Nf3, Black can bring the Bishop out with 6...Bb4 and can still then follow up with putting the pawn on d6 rather than d5 after getting his problem piece out.
<BR><BR>So those are the dream scenarios for the O'Kelly player. Now the bad news. The moves 3.c3 and 3.c4 are both fairly strong for White, and puts the question to Black as to what he is doing with that 2...a6 move. In both cases, the idea is to follow up with a subsequent d4, but there are major differences between playing d4 on the 3rd move shown above, and playing it a move later. In the cases above, where we saw 3.d4?!, Black played an early ...Nf6, forcing White to play Nc3, and hence blocking the c-pawn. With a move like 3.c4, we get a Maroczy Bind type of position, which then raises the question "What are you doing with that ...a6 move?". Some of you that may have seen my games before have seen me play the Prins Variation against 2...d6. After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3, and here, Black can blast the center with 5...e5 followed by 6...d5, play in dynamic fashion with 5...e5 and 6...Be6, transpose to the Accelerated Dragon, or play a Hedgehog setup. While 5...a6 can lead to a Hedgehog setup, it is usually played in a different order, and most 5...a6 players that I've ran into are Najdorf players that don't know what they are doing, and I refer you to "<a href="http://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/02/chess-is-game-with-32-pieces.html"><U>Chess is a Game with 32 Pieces</U></a>" for a prime example of that!
<BR><BR>So yes, Black can play a Hedgehog here, and I have played 3.c4 before in the past, and don't recall one case of an O'Kelly player playing a Hedgehog. So this begs the question, if you aren't going to play a Hedgehog, what is the purpose of your 2...a6 move?
<BR><BR>In this game, I played White's other strong option, 3.c3! Here, White is saying that we are going to now play an Alapin Sicilian. The move Nf3 is very useful, and many normal Alapin players will play 2.Nf3 themselves first before playing 3.c3. The move 2...a6 though? Where do you see an early ...a6 in Alapin lines? That's the question White raises with this move. He is putting the onus on Black to prove that he hasn't wasted time with his second move.
<BR><BR><B>3...Nc6?!</B>
<BR><BR>This move does not address Black's problems. He will never have any issue with getting this Knight out, and so there is no need to rush it. Instead, he needs to break up White's center before it is fully built. The problem with 3...Nf6 is that after 4.e5 Nd5 5.d4, we are in the 2...Nf6 line of the Alapin with Black having played the useless ...a6 move. Without the extra moves of ...a6 by Black and Nf3 by White, I would fully recommend this line to anybody playing Black, and when I played the Sicilian, it was 2...Nf6 that I played against the Alapin, but here it can't be recommended.
<BR><BR>Therefore, I think Black's legitimate options are narrowed down to two. The first is to play 3...d5, which will, in essence, lead to a tempo-down version of the 2...d5 variation, but here, since a trade on d4 occurs early, and the Knight can go to c3 early, covering the b5-square with the pawn could have a legitimate purpose, unlike in the 2...Nf6 Alapin. The other option is to play more in French fashion with 3...e6 4.d4 and now, rather than taking on d4, playing 4...d5. White is now the one that decides whether to play more in Advance or Exchange French fashion. Here, the move ...a6 can be viewed as being the most useful, and if someone came to me and asked me what was best for Black after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6 3.c3, I would have to say this line with 3...e6. It leads to a somewhat useful purpose for the move 2...a6, and opens up the Bishop to be able to get out.
<BR><BR>With what we will see in this game, that Bishop on f8 will never see the light of day, and therefore, neither will the Rook on h8!
<BR><BR><B>4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d6?!</B>
<BR><BR>Once again, not addressing the problem of Black's Kingside pieces. Yes, a move like 5...e6 might appear to do harm to the Light-Squared Bishop, but Black has fewer problems with his Queenside. He can still get the Bishop to d7 or b7 fairly easily, but here, instead, we will see Black taking extra time to get this Bishop all the way out, and continuing to ignore the Kingside pieces.
<BR><BR><B>6.Nc3 Bg4 7.Be3</B>
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<BR><BR>Absolutely nothing fancy by White. Sure, 7.Be2 is also a fine move, but here, White sees the long term weaknesses on the dark squares, and we will see later on the criticality of this piece covering the b6-square. Without it, White's upcoming attack wouldn't really have been possible.
<BR><BR><B>7...Nf6</B>
<BR><BR>It should be noted that if Black plays 7...Bxf3, White should take back with the pawn. After 8.gxf3!, the doubled pawns are not an issue, and in reality, it simply bolsters White's center while he goes hunting down the Queenside.
<BR><BR><B>8.Qb3 Qc7?</B>
<BR><BR>Black is already in a bad spot, but this just makes matters worse, putting the Queen on an open file. He had to try 8...b5 or 8...Na5, both with a clear advantage for White, but Black wouldn't likely get blasted like he does in the game.
<BR><BR><B>9.Rc1 Qd7</B>
<BR><BR>EXERCISE: Black has completely ignored his Kingside. Before scrolling past the diagram below, I want to you think four to six moves ahead, and come up with a very strong and forcing plan for White that will virtually put Black in his misery immediately. Take a few minutes to analyze the position and see what you can come up with before proceeding past the diagram. Many moves lead to a winning position for White, but what we are looking for is the most forcing, no nonsense approach.
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<BR><BR><B>10.d5!</B>
<BR><BR>This move probably wasn't too hard to find. It's what follows that is tricky.
<BR><BR><B>10...Ne5</B>
<BR><BR>Black does not have time for the intermezzio move, 10...Bxf3, as after 11.dxc6, Black has two pieces under attack and will lose the Bishop. Also bad is 10...Na7 when 11.Bxa7! demolishes Black's hopes at survival. Both 11...Nxe4 12.Nxe4 Rxa7 13.Qe3 and 11...Rxa7 12.Nb5!! win significant amounts of material with Black's Kingside still not developed. In the latter case, the Knight can't be taken as 12...axb5 13.Bxb5 drops the Queen to a pin, and 12...Ra8 13.Nc7+ forks the King and Rook, and so Black at best is dropping the exchange, and probably more!
<BR><BR><B>11.Nxe5</B>
<BR><BR>Critical that this piece be eliminated.
<BR><BR><B>11...dxe5 12.Bb5!!</B>
<BR><BR>This was likely the hardest move to see. White is just flat out giving up a piece, but if you look a few moves down the road, the Knight, the Queen, the Bishop, the Rook, and after White castles, the other Rook, are all coming into the game, and all moves but one are forcing in nature for White, and so Black will get time to catch his breath for only one move. What can he do with that one move? Open the Bishop but never move it? This move here is what I really consider the hard part of the Exercise, along with maybe the 12.Nb5 move in the 10...Na7 line. The fact that the Bishop pins the Queen to the King makes it so that Black is forced to accept the sacrifice and go straight into White's attack.
<BR><BR><B>12...axb5 13.Nxb5</B>
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<BR><BR>So now the pessimist would say that White is down a piece for a pawn. The optimist would say White's up a Rook and a pawn. White has the threat here of 14.Nc7+, winning a whole Rook, and so Black doesn't have the time for moves like 13...e6 here, trying to get his pieces out. Here is also where we see why the Bishop on e3 is so important. With the b6-square weak, Black can't even move his King to d8 to solve the problem because White will simply check with the Bishop and then fork him with the Knight anyway!
<BR><BR>It should also be noted that attempts to deflect the Queen don't work either. After 13...Rxa2 14.Qxa2 Qxb5 allows mate in 3 with 15.Qa8+ Kd7 16.Qc8+ Kd6 17.Qc7#, and while 13...Bd1 does eliminate White's ability to castle as he would take with the King, it does nothing to save Black's bacon. Therefore, Black's next move is virtually forced, though, of course, Black could probably resign pretty safely at this point!
<BR><BR><B>13...Rc8 14.Rxc8+ Qxc8 15.O-O</B>
<BR><BR>Ok, remember when I said that Black will get one free move? Here it is. What is Black going to do about it? Back on move 10, this is the position you have to visualize and realize that there is absolutely nothing Black can do to save himself in order to go through with it.
<BR><BR><B>15...Bd7</B>
<BR><BR>Neither this nor any other move works. Some of the other options for Black include:
<BR><OL Type="A"><LI>15...b6 16.Bxb6 Bd7 17.Nc7+ Kd8 18.Rc1 Qb7 19.d6!! exd6 20.Ne6+ and now both 20...Ke7 21.Bd8+ and 20...Ke8 21.Nd8 win the Queen as Black must take the Bishop since 22.Qf7# was threatened.
<LI>15...Nxe4 leads to misery after 16.Rc1 Qd7 (or 16...Qxc1 with similarities to the game) 17.Nc7+ Kd8 18.Qxb7 e6 19.dxe6 Bxe6 20.Qxe4.
<LI>15...e6 16.Rc1 Qd7 17.Rc7 Qd8 18.Rxb7 Be7 19.Nc7+ Kf8 20.Rb8 also nets White the Queen.
</OL><BR><B>16.Rc1 Qxc1+</B>
<BR><BR>Black can't save the Queen anyway. After something like 16...Qb8, White has 17.Nc7+ Kd8 18.Qb6 followed by 19.Na6+.
<BR><BR><B>17.Bxc1 Nxe4 18.Nc7+ Kd8 19.Qb6 Kc8</B>
<BR><BR>Black can prolong the game with 19...e6 or 19...f6, but the result is already decided. This move allows White to end the game immeidately.
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<BR><I><CENTER>White to Move and Mate in 7</CENTER></I>
<BR><BR><B>20.Na8!</B>
<BR><BR>Only this Knight move to the corner forces mate! Of course, just about any move is winning.
<BR><BR><B>20...Kb8 21.Qc7+ Ka7</B>
<BR><BR>The most prolonged mate runs 21...Kxa8 22.Be3 Nd6 23.Qxd7 and now either 23...Kb8 24.Bb6 Nc8 <I>(Or 24...e4 25.Bc7+ Ka7 26.Qa4#)</I> 25.Qc7+ Ka8 26.Qxc8# or 23...b6 24.Bxb6 Kb8 25.Qa7+ Kc8 26.Qc7#.
<BR><BR><B>22.Be3+ Kxa8</B>
<BR><BR>Flicking in 22...Nc5 does nothing but prolong it a move.
<BR><BR><B>23.Qd8+ 1-0</B>
<BR><BR>The final position deserves a diagram.
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXnsgVnJ80x5CSIW7GT6bDrtQ5FHbW7jRs6h5kONiyWRS12-JCSTvqbCgKgpUep8cve_z2BtzEKBIN93OxOXCcu7JNGdDqAbDavKMA75QkNn0kxm6tOQ_WAXGeN3Z1FC4QJGvoKEglxnhn/s1600/GAOYPITG5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXnsgVnJ80x5CSIW7GT6bDrtQ5FHbW7jRs6h5kONiyWRS12-JCSTvqbCgKgpUep8cve_z2BtzEKBIN93OxOXCcu7JNGdDqAbDavKMA75QkNn0kxm6tOQ_WAXGeN3Z1FC4QJGvoKEglxnhn/s320/GAOYPITG5.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR><BR>The final position sees the four Black Kingside pawns, the Dark-Squared Bishop, and the King's Rook, sitting by their lonesome with no involvement in the game what-so-ever, and all of this came from over focusing on the Queenside pieces, which tend to be the simpler pieces to develop in the Sicilian Defense to begin with. Do note, however, that when your opponent fails to develop his pieces, whether they be the Kingside pieces or Queenside pieces, this is not a luxury that lasts for ever, or even for a while. To take advantage of such a mistake typically requires a lot of "loud moves". Notice that from move 10 to the end of the game, there was only one quiet move by White, and that was castling on move 15. Had White proceeded with quieter moves, the game would not have ended so abruptly, and the game might not have even ended with the same result! So when early development looks suspicious, always be on the lookout for sacrificial attacks, especially if you are able to force the King to come out in the center before he is able to castle into safety. That should automatically be a red flag that some form of attack is out there.
<BR><BR><BR>This will conclude this article on getting all of your pieces into the game. I will continue to write these articles as correspondence games reach their end. Once over the board play starts back up, you'll start seeing articles with more regularity like you have prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. I'll be back again once another game finishes. I still have 11 games ongoing, and I'll have about 40 more or so starting up in June. Till then, stay safe.Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-30134415587842407832020-04-19T08:38:00.001-07:002020-04-19T08:38:07.293-07:00The French Connection: Volume 36Hello everyone and welcome to the thirty-sixth edition of The French Connection. The featured game in this article comes from the World Zone Individual Championship Preliminaries. Sounds like an ear full, doesn't it? It is a correspondence event played on the biggest world wide correspondence site, the "ICCF", or "International Correspondence Chess Federation". There are four stages, and the stages are staggered. Not everybody starts at the same stage. You have the Preliminaries, Semi-Finals, Candidates, and Finals. Where you start depends on your rating. Those over 2400 start at the Candidates stage. Those 2100 to 2399 have to qualify for the Candidates via the Semi-Finals, and those below 2100 have to qualify for the Semi-Finals via the Preliminaries.
<BR><BR>Now why is this information important? Correspondence chess is a lot different than over the board chess. With the aid of books and engines, risky, unsound lines that you can try over the board really don't work here. Also, the draw ratio is very high, especially at the higher levels. With the additional information available, even low rated players can end up playing GM level moves, and so not only is it difficult to win, but it is extremely difficult to win with Black, which should explain why you are about to see a drawish system played by Black against a lower rated player in the feature game.
<BR><BR>So why isn't everyone rated 2400 and above given that engines can be used? It isn't until you actually play correspondence chess that you realize that computers are not as strong as people make them out to be! Computers that have played against GM's, like Deep Blue in the 1990's against Garry Kasparov, are juiced up by programs developed by human GMs. Without these additional programs, like opening power books, endgame table bases, along with others, you see computers playing a lot of strange moves with highly inaccurate evaluations, especially in the opening and endgame. Have you ever gone on a site like chess.com, examine a game you played, and wonder why after Black's 6...e5 in the Classical King's Indian, the computer claims White is up almost a full point? Have you ever wondered why, in a position where immediate tactics to win a piece are not available, it thinks that a King, Rook, and Knight for White versus a King and Rook for Black, no pawns for either side, is plus 3 for White? You ever see it recommend a move in the middle game for Black, saying it is -0.7 (meaning better for Black), you play that move, it gives a non-pawn move for White, and then the next move for Black, it wants you to go right back from where you came from, and still thinks it's -0.7? If you keep going back and forth, it should read 0.00 due to a draw by repetition. Every see a computer say that one move is -0.7 for Black, another move is +0.3, meaning slightly favors White, but once you make the first move, it flips to 0.00, and once you make the second move, it suddenly thinks Black is slightly better with a -0.4 evaluation? Long story short, computer evaluations cannot be trusted, and so there is still a major human factor in correspondence chess, and so a 2000 over the board player may not be a 2000 correspondence player. He could be a 2400 correspondence player as there is no time pressure, or he could be a 1600 correspondence player as he relies too many times on computer moves and doesn't realize that further human analysis and judgment is required.
<BR><BR>So what can computers do for you in correspondence? They are excellent at figuring out very deep, forcing lines that humans may not see, and they are great to use as a blunder check, and so you are not going to win games with 3-move tactical blunders very often as the computer will tell them when they try move "X" and see that it drops a Rook to a weird fork 5 moves later that is totally forced.
<BR><BR>Therefore, the next time you come to me and say "but the computer says blah blah blah is best", you see why I will often blow it off unless it leads to a forcing tactical sequence that wins material with no positional consequences.
<BR><BR>It should also be noted that the ICCF has three "zones". The Europe Zone, the Africa/Asia Zone, and the World Zone. The World Zone includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Turkey, Untied States, and Venezuela. This event is restricted only to players from those countries, which shows the difference between a Zonal event, and something like a Norm tournament or World Correspondence Championship event.
<BR><BR>With this background information in mind, let's take a look at the feature game.
<BR><BR><BR>World Zone Individual Championship, Preliminary Round
<BR>W: Gerald Thomas (1794 - USA)
<BR>B: Patrick McCartney (1920 - USA)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4</B>
<BR><BR>This line, which can also be played against 3.Nc3, is known as the Rubinstein Variation. Black gives up the fight for the center, and accepts a slightly passive position. White has a space advantage, but Black has no real weaknesses in the position, unlike the weaknesses seen in many other lines of the French Defense. For example, in the Open Tarrasch (3...c5), Black often has to either bring his Queen out early (4.exd5 Qxd5), or else deal with an isolated pawn (4.exd5 exd5 with a later dxc5 or ...cxd4). In the Closed Tarrasch (3...Nf6), Black will usually have a backwards e-pawn on a semi-open file. In the Winawer (3.Nc3 Bb4), Black has to worry about the dark squares on the Kingside.
<BR><BR>The downside is that Black is passive to start the game, and this line is often used as a drawing weapon, and at the GM level, White tends to win fewer games here than in the more highly theoretical lines, but wins by Black tend to be very close to non-existent. So why would I play this line against a player of lower rating? The reason is two-fold. The first is that against a lower rated player in correspondence chess, minimizing risk with Black can be a good thing. In a bracket with all players below 2100, you can bank on there being more wins overall than in the later rounds, and so getting a draw with Black could mean the difference between advancing and not advancing. The second is that lower rated players are likely to make a few second-best moves. Again, with the use of computers, banking on a tactical blunder is highly far-fetched, but a positional error in a position that isn't full of fireworks isn't out of the question, and actually, we will see that happen in this game.
<BR><BR><B>4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6</B>
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<BR><BR>This is the main starting position of the Rubinstein. While there may be a few sidelines, like the Fort Knox, where Black develops his light-squared Bishop early, this position is the position you will see the majority of the time when Black takes on e4 on move 3. White has a significant number of choices here, which can be viewed as the other downside to the Rubinstein. Black has no weaknesses right now, but White has numerous choices at this point. He can:
<BR><BR><UL><LI>Trade Knights on f6 and then follow up with 7.Bd3 (highly popular at the amateur level), 7.c3 (Kasparov's specialty which can be highly dangerous for Black if he doesn't know what he's doing), 7.Be3, or even go for a fianchetto approach with an early g3.
<LI>He can pin the Black Knight with 6.Bg5, and once kicked by 6...h6, only then trade the Knights on f6 and follow up with the retreat 8.Bh4, maintaining the pin, trading of Bishop for Knight with 8.Bf6, or relieve the pin and retreat with 8.Be3, seeing the h6-pawn as a weakness compared to the 6.Nxf6 and 7.Be3 line shown in the previous bullet.
<LI>He can play 6.Bd3 and castle Kingside, which was Khalifman's Recommendation in "Opening for White According to Anand" back in 2006.
<LI>He can play 6.Bd3 and take a more dynamic approach by continuing development and castling Queenside.
</UL><BR>So as we can see, there are a significant number of moves that Black needs to know how to respond to. Outside of Kasparov's 6.Nxf6 and 7.c3, none of them are extremely dangerous, but Black can very quickly get into an inferior position if he doesn't know precisely what he is doing.
<BR><BR><B>6.Bg5 h6 7.Nxf6+ Nxf6 8.Bh4</B>
<BR><BR>So White decided to go with the 6.Bg5 approach and maintaining the pin on the Knight.
<BR><BR><B>8...c5</B>
<BR><BR>This pawn break is Black's main weapon in the vast majority of lines of the Rubinstein, and this line is not one of the exceptions. Now, once again, White has a lot of options.
<BR><BR><B>9.dxc5</B>
<BR><BR>White decides to relieve the central tension a little too early, and this line causes very few problems for Black. Other options by White include:
<BR><BR><UL><LI>9.Bb5+ should not be a problem for Black, especially given that Black's worst piece is being traded. After 9...Bd7 10.Bxd7+ Qxd7 11.Qe2 Be7 12.O-O-O O-O 13.dxc5 Qc6 14.Ne5 Qxc5 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Nd7 Bxb2+, White has nothing better than allowing the perpetual after 17.Kxb2 Qb4+ as if he tries to escape the draw by walking his King to d2, Black can pin the Knight with ...Rfd8, and while White can hold on to the Knight with Ke1, precise play is required for White to survive, and even then, the line has been figured out to a draw.
<LI>9.Bc4, which can lead to tactical issues for Black if he takes on d4 immediately, but 9...a6 10.O-O and only now 10...cxd4 and Black is fine here. If White tries to stir up an attack by sacrificing a pawn with 11.Qe2 Qb6 12.Rad1, Black has the time to take the pawn with 12...Qxb2 and again, the most White can really hope for is a draw here.
<LI>The pawn sacrifice line 9.Ne5 has been figured out. Black equalizes with 9...Qa5+ 10.c3 cxd4 11.Qxd4 Bc5 12.Qf4 Bd6 13.Bg3 O-O 14.Be2 Nd5.
<LI>I think that if White wants any hopes of a win with this line, he has to try 9.Bd3 or 9.c3. Black should be ok in both of these lines, but more accuracy is required from Black, and it's not a simple one-liner that equalizes the position for him.
</UL>
<BR><BR><B>9...Qa5</B>
<BR><BR>Trading Queens would be a mistake here. After 9...Qxd1+?! 10.Rxd1 Bxc5 11.Be2 Ke7 12.Ne5 g5 13.Bg3 Ne4 14.Bh5 Rf8 15.Bf3 Nf6 16.h4 Rg8 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.Rh6, White's advantage is significant.
<BR><BR><B>10.c3 Qxc5</B>
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<BR><BR><B>11.Qd4</B>
<BR><BR>This move does not make much sense. White has a slight lead in development, and while 11.Bd3 Bd7 12.Qe2 Bd6 13.Bg3 Bxg3 14.hxg3 Bc6 is equal, there is a lot more room for error here, and White has a few approaches he can take. He can play the safe 15.O-O, or he can try 15.Rh4 and castle Queenside. Equal does not mean drawn, but this Queen trade simple eases things for Black.
<BR><BR><B>11...Qxd4 12.Nxd4 Bd7 13.Bxf6</B>
<BR><BR>I don't like this move for White at all. Yes, it slightly wrecks Black's pawn structure, but the extra central pawn and the Bishop in an open position is more important than the pawn structure. As we will see in the game, White is never able to take advantage of Black's kingside. I didn't like White's 11th move either, and so it's hard to recommend anything, but if I had to play this position and was White, I'd probably recommend 13.O-O-O here.
<BR><BR><B>13...gxf6 14.Bb5 Bc5 15.Bxd7+ Kxd7 16.O-O-O</B>
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<BR><BR>This is really the first time that Black needs to make a decision. Should he move his King to c7, e7, or move one of the Rooks to d8 before moving the King?
<BR><BR><B>16...Ke7</B>
<BR><BR>I think this is Black's best move. The problem with 16...Rad8 or 16...Rhd8 is 17.Nb3+, which forces 17...Bd6 and Black's pieces are cluttered on the d-file, making the Rook somewhat ineffective as it has to wait for the King and Bishop to both move. It also puts the Bishop on a more passive square than c5.
<BR><BR>It is a little less clear whether 16...Kc7 could be better or not. White has a 3-on-2 pawn majority on the Queenside. While Black may have both doubled pawns and an isolated pawn, his majority is still on the kingside. With pieces still on the board, there is no reason for Black to take a defensive stance and use the King to block the White queenside pawns. It makes a lot more sense for it to join its pawn majority. In addition, it also creates a tactical defense to the isolated h-pawn that we are about to see a few moves later.
<BR><BR><B>17.Rhe1</B>
<BR><BR>Now 17.Nb3 can be answered by 17...Bxf2 rather than 17...Bd6, which would be winning for Black.
<BR><BR><B>17...Rhd8!</B>
<BR><BR>This move looks like it drops the h-pawn, but it doesn't. This is the correct Rook to put on the d-file as otherwise, they will become disconnected as the Black King is about to be forced to the back rank with an upcoming check. With this move, the Rooks remain connected.
<BR><BR><B>18.Nf5+ Kf8!</B>
<BR><BR>The correct move as otherwise, Black's next move wouldn't be possible.
<BR><BR><B>19.Ne3</B>
<BR><BR>Taking the h-pawn loses: 19.Nxh6? f5! traps the Knight. After 20.g4 Bxf2 21.Re2 Bh4, the White Knight can't get out and 22...Bg5 is coming.
<BR><BR><B>19...f5</B>
<BR><BR>Had the King gone to e8 on the previous move, this move wouldn't be possible as White could just take it with the Knight due to the pin.
<BR><BR><B>20.Rxd8+ Rxd8 21.Rd1</B>
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<BR><BR>So now a critical decision from Black. It is inevitable that the Rooks will be traded. It makes no sense to re-locate the Black Rook to a passive position and give White the d-file. So the Rooks are going to go. The bigger question is the minor pieces. Should Black trade the minor pieces first, since taking the Knight comes with check? Or should Black take the Rook, which allows White to recapture with the Knight and keep the minor pieces on the board?
<BR><BR>Here is where one must be careful about using computers and solely relying on their assessments. When people ask "What is the numerical assessment of the position?", I question why that is relevant. Sure, if the computer says it's +6, I would have zero doubt that White is winning, and if it says -8, then yes, Black's winning. Sure! But here, if I run the current position on Shredder, Chess.com's computer engine, it says that 21...Bxe3+ is "-0.55" and that 21...Rxd1+ is "-0.48". So if you blindly rely on the computer, you would argue that 21...Bxe3+ is a slightly stronger move. I am here to tell you that this is 100 percent inaccurate!
<BR><BR>Let's say Black plays 21...Bxe3+ right now. White will of course take the Bishop. After 22.fxe3 Rxd1+ 23.Kxd1 Ke7, yes, Black does get to the fourth rank before White does, but it's not enough. After 24.Kc2 Kd6, White has the critical move 25.c4!, taking the d5-square away from the Black King, and giving him only one square, e5, and not two squares for Black to toggle upon. After 25.c4, it still claims a slight advantage for Black after 25...a5 or 25...Ke5, but as you play each of these, suddenly it changes its assessment to 0.00 in both cases, 25...a5 being responded to with 26.b3 and 25...Ke5 being responded to with 26.Kd3.
<BR><BR>Now, any player can run random moves through the bot and see if the favorable assessment maintains itself or if it dies like it did here. You need to be able to do more than that in correspondence chess. I figured out myself that taking the Knight was not the way to go for the following reasons, beyond just seeing the triple zeroes:
<BR><BR><UL><LI>The position is fairly open with pawns on both sides and no immediate tactical threats by the White Knight. Black has the better minor piece!
<LI>In King and pawn endgames, assuming all other factors are equal, like how far up the board your majority is, the side with the smaller majority has the advantage. Therefore, 3 on 2 is better than 4 on 3 (the situation in this game), 2 on 1 is better than 3 on 2, and 1 on 0 is better than 2 on 1.
<LI>White's majority is in its ideal formation. Three pawns that are not isolated or doubled. Black's majority is crippled. Black would have e, double-f, and h vs e, g, and h.
<LI>Black's majority is closer to the center of the board. In a King and pawn endgame, outside pawns are stronger.
</UL>
<BR><BR>So we see here an actual occurrence where relying on computer assessment would be an error. Black should still be able to hold the position, but he is by no means better like the computer originally said. Also, Black has to be careful not to over-press and suddenly be in a lost position. For example, in the line above after 25...Ke5 26.Kd3, the move 26...f4 would not be answered by a capture, but rather, 27.b4, and while this should still be drawn, both sides have to be aware of what they are doing, and not rely on computer assessments until either one side suddenly has an alarming advantage, like +3, or the total number of pieces becomes 7 or less as then table bases can be used to determine if one side wins or if it is a draw.
<BR><BR>So after this assessment, Black's choice should be easy.
<BR><BR><B>21...Rxd1+ 22.Nxd1 Ke7 23.Kc2 e5</B>
<BR><BR>Black has the advantage due to the advanced pawn phlanx and the better minor piece, and so White must be thinking from a defensive mentality here.
<BR><BR><B>24.Kd3?!</B>
<BR><BR>I think White would be better off advancing a Kingside pawn. Which one? That raises an interesting question.
<BR><BR>Playing 24.g3 seems counter-intuitive because it puts the pawns on the dark squares, which is the color complex that Black's Bishop occupies. That said, it also takes a bunch of dark squares away from Black. Personally, I think this is White's strongest move. Black has to be careful. For example, after 24...e4 25.Ne3! Ke6 26.a4 Bxe3?! 27.fxe3, black must find 27...Kd5 just to maintain equality. Black's majority is stopped, and White has the Queenside majority, and only two results would be possible here, a White win or a draw.
<BR><BR>Of course, Black is not forced to play 24...e4, and can play something like 24...Ke6, but after 25.a4, I don't see how Black is going to make progress without taking such a risk. Sure, he can play waiting moves like 25...Bd6, but without an error by White, I don't see how either side can make progress, and a draw is the likely result.
<BR><BR>While I think 24.g3 is best, I also think that 24.f3 is interesting, though Black might be able to take advantage of the open dark squares. After 24...Kf6 25.Kd3 Bh1 26.h3 Kg5 27.Ne3, Black has two viable options:
<BR><OL Type="A"><LI>27...Bxe3 28.Kxe3 f4+ 29.Ke4 f6 30.a4 Kh4 31.b4 Kg3 32.c4 Kxg2 33.c5 f5+ 34.Kxf5 <I>(34.Kxe5? Kxf3 35.b5 Kg3 36.c6 bxc6 37.bxc6 f3 38.c7 f2 39.c8=Q f1=Q is clearly better for Black with the extra pawn)</I> 34...Kxf3 35.b5 Kg3 36.c6 bxc6 37.bxc6 f3 38.c7 f2 39.c8=Q f1=Q+ 40.Kxe5 and Black is better as his King is harassing one of the White pawns directly, but it's unclear whether it is enough for Black to win.
<LI>27...Kf4 and now I think 28.Nc4 is stronger than the overly passive 28.Nf1. After 28.Nc4, Black can try 28...e4+ 29.Ke2 Bc5 30.b4 Be7 31.Ne3 Bg5 or 28...h5 29.Ke2 Bc5 30.b4 Bf8 31.Kf2 h4, but in neither case do I see Black getting anywhere.
</OL><BR>I still think 24.g3 is safer than 24.f3 due to line A, but the latter may turn out to be playable as well.
<BR><BR><B>24...Ke6 25.b4 e4+ 26.Kc4?</B>
<BR><BR>This move leads to problems for White. I think that 26.Ke2 was forced, attempting to stop Black. The problem with advancing the King is that Black will be able to create a zugzwang position where White will run out of viable moves and will be virtually forced to get out of Black's way!
<BR><BR><B>26...Bd6 27.h3 f4 28.b4</B>
<BR><BR>It does not help White to play 28.Kd4 as the King can be chased away via 28...f5 29.a4 Be5+ 30.Kc4 Bf6 and the King can then enter via e5 and re-route the Bishop.
<BR><BR><B>28...Ke5 29.a5 Be7 30.g3?</B>
<BR><BR>Other moves are likely not to work either and White is likely already lost, but the move played makes Black's task very easy. After a move like 30.f3, Black can win by advancing the e-pawn and once again, making White run out of productive moves. For example, 30...e3 31.Kd3 h5 32.Nb2 Kd5 33.Nd1 Bf6 34.c4+ Kc6 35.Nc3 Bxc3 36.Kxc3 h4 37.Kc2 a6 38.Kd3 b6 39.axb6 Kxb6 40.Kc2 a5 41.bxa5+ Kxa5 42.c5 Kb5, winning.
<BR><BR><B>30...fxg3 31.fxg3 Bg5</B>
<BR><BR>The Bishop is headed to e1.
<BR><BR><B>32.Nf2 f5 33.Nd1 Bd2 34.b5 Be1</B>
<BR><BR>This will allow Black to force through the f-pawn as White either has to advance the g-pawn, or lose it.
<BR><BR><B>35.g4 f4!</B>
<BR><BR>Far stronger than trading on g4.
<BR><BR><B>36.a6 b6!</B>
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<BR><BR>White is in Zugzwang! If he moves his King, Black will advance his e-pawn. If he moves his Knight, Black will advance his f-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>37.Nb2</B>
<BR><BR>Or 37.Kb3 e3 38.Kc2 Ke4 39.h4 f3 and the f-pawn can't be stopped.
<BR><BR><B>37...f3 38.Nd1 Kf4 39.Kd4 e3! 40.Kd3</B>
<BR><BR>Or 40.Nxe3 Bf2 wins the Knight.
<BR><BR><B>40...e2 41.Ne3 Bxc3 42.Nc2</B>
<BR><BR>White can win the Bishop, but then Black promotes his e-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>42...e1=Q 43.Nxe1 Bxe1 44.g5 hxg5 0-1</B>
<BR><BR><BR>So what we saw here was an instructive game that illustrates many aspects of the game:
<BR><UL><LI>An introduction to the Rubinstein Variation of the French Defense
<LI>Paying close attention to detail and correctly deciding between two moves that look to be equal in value. For example, Black's 16th and 18th moves, both of which feature significant differences between two moves that at first glance appear to be equally playable.
<LI>Understanding when to trade and when not to! Black was right to keep the minor pieces on the board, and while the analysis shows a few scenarios where Black can trade, the first opportunity, back at move 21, it was most certainly in Black's interest not to trade the minor pieces.
<LI>An illustrative example of how a Bishop can certainly be better than a Knight, despite its inability to reach half the squares on the board. The Knight was dominated by the threat of Black's pawns advancing. The Bishop was able to improve its position over the course of the endgame while the White Knight was virtually frozen for the duration of the endgame.
<LI>DO NOT ASSUME that all computer moves are gospel! Computers are extremely strong at calculating long, forcing sequences that the human mind will often fail to find because of an obscure move in the sequence, whether that be a move that violates principles, like a Knight going to the edge of the board, or a major sacrifice, like giving up a Rook that 13 moves later leads to regaining the material and then some or mating the opposing King. That said, there are other aspects of the game where computers are weak, and positional evaluation can be one of them, along with openings and endgames. We saw the computer advertising that Black should trade the minor pieces on move 21, but we saw here that trading the pieces only causes trouble for Black, and while leaving them on might not be a forced win for Black, it is White, not Black, that has to prove it in the endgame. Computers also have a tendency of overvaluing material above positional aspects, and so don't just assume that what the computer says must be right. That is often not the case at all!
</UL>
<BR><BR><BR>This concludes this edition of The French Connection. Til next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White!
Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-65018578275696289332020-03-28T09:04:00.001-07:002020-03-28T09:04:34.660-07:00The French Connection: Volume 35Hello everyone and welcome to the thirty-fifth edition of The French Connection. This time, we are going to cover a game from this week's Friday night rapid event that the Charlotte Chess Center has been running since shutting down temporarily due to COVID-19. This was the final round, and we will be seeing another Advance French, but this time, Black goes with the 6...c4 line (most of what we've covered lately has been 6...Nh6). This tends to be the more positional approach, but after some questionable development by Black, White goes for an attack in the center. We will see the importance of the Knights in this line. Granted, what White did on move 19 was a little over-zealous, giving up a Rook for the second Knight after having his Light-Squared Bishop all set up to pop the other Black Knight the moment it moves into the line of fire, and this gave Black a chance, but it was too complicated for him to execute, and we will see the White Knights and Queen dominate.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's look at the feature game. This was played on chess.com, and so the names are user handles, White being myself. In case you are wondering where I got the handle from, when I first joined 9 years ago, the other thing I did a lot of besides playing chess was read a lot of thriller novels, especially political thrillers and espionage. That lasted until about 2014 when I then spent a year or so reading Bizarro and since then have pretty much quit reading fiction all together, and so these days, the handle has no real meaning. The time control was game in 15 minutes with a 2 second increment per move.
<BR><BR><BR>Friday Night Rapid, Round 3
<BR>W: ThrillerFan
<BR>B: bcooke01
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 c4</B>
<BR><BR>This is the main alternative to 6...Nh6. The idea behind it is that White has weakened b3 as a result of his last move, and so rather than attack d4, Black figures to leave White with the hole on b3 and the weak pawn on b2. If this gets down to an endgame, and especially if Black reaches it with the Bishop pair, White could have a really hard time stopping Black from attacking the pawn chain at the base. Black can also try to infiltrate through the a4-d1 diagonal. Black will typically castle Queenside in this line, and White Kingside, despite the fact that each player is likely to attack on the side in front of their own King. With the closed nature of the position, this is often possible.
<BR><BR><B>7.Nbd2</B>
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<BR><BR>So we have a position where it is critical that Black plays the right move. There are two factors here. The first is that we just talked about Black keeping control of b3. If White is able to play the move b3 at no cost, Black is probably dead. However, the good news for Black is that there are three ways to counter the b3-idea for White. The thing is, only one of those three works at this very moment, but as the game goes on, Black should keep all three of the following ideas in mind:
<BR><UL><LI>The first way to prevent b3 by White is to outright control the b3-square more times than White does, leading to it simply losing a pawn for White, and leaving the c3-pawn weak as well.
<LI>The second way to prevent b3 by White is to visualize that if the c4-pawn were to capture on b3, can Black invade the White position via the weak c3-pawn and break through with an overwhelming attack. Note that simply winning the c3-pawn is not enough if Black is going to get pushed back after that. All that would do is open up lines for the White pieces at the Black King, and so if Black is going to take this approach, he has to make sure that he has a full-fledged break through, and not just a grabbing of a pawn followed by a retreat.
<LI>The third way to prevent b3 is to set up a fatal pin along the a4-d1 diagaonal. If White has no moved his Queen yet from d1, or if he places it on c2, it can be difficult to get in b3 because after a capture on b3 with either the pawn on c4 or the Knight on a5, when White takes Black with his Knight on b3, sometimes a move like ...Ba4 can be the trick to wind up winning a pawn, opening up the c4 square for a Black piece or an infiltration along the f1-a6 diagonal, and White also has to worry about what is now a passed Pawn on b3. This is often enough to be winning for Black, and therefore making the push of the b3-pawn a blunder sometimes for this exact reason of the pin with ...Ba4. This is why the Bishop is usually developed to d7 fairly early in this line.
</UL><BR>The second thing to keep in mind is that Black has to watch out for walking into cheap shot tactics. Here, the beginners move 7...Nge7?? would be a huge mistake, and White gets an overwhelming position by sacrificing his Bishop due to the Knight tricks that result from it. After 8.Bxc4! dxc4 9.Nxc4, the Queen is attacked, and after the Queen moves, White has 10.Nd6+ followed by 11.Nxf7 with an overwhelming advantage.
<BR><BR>Therefore, to avoid this cheap shot, and to control b3 (the only way out of the three right now to stop White is the first bullet, controlling b3 more times than it's attacked), Black's next move is forced.
<BR><BR><B>7...Na5</B>
<BR><BR>Now it is White that has to make a decision. There are two different ways to proceed. White can play 8.Be2 and 9.O-O, with the idea being to attack the center and Queenside, trying to break through with b3. The alternative, which we see in this game, is to play 8.g3 and 9.h4, and develop the Bishop on either g2 or h3, and attack the center and Kingside. White goes for the latter approach here.
<BR><BR><B>8.g3 Bd7 9.h4 h5?</B>
<BR><BR>This move is a mistake. All it does is weaken Black's Kingside. Two alternatives are both improvements. The first is to simply go ahead and castle Queenside immediately and follow up with 10...f5. The alternative is to develop the Knight first with 9...Ne7 when 10.Ng5 should be answered by 10...h6!, driving the Knight back, and after 11.Nh3, only then castle with 11...O-O-O.
<BR><BR><B>10.Bh3 Nh6 11.Rb1</B>
<BR><BR>This is a multi-purpose move. First off, it adds a piece to the threat of advancing b3. Despite the line chosen by White to attack the center and Kingside, if Black simply gives White the green light to play b3, he should still do it. Second, White plans to castle, get the Knight out of the way, and try to trade off his bad Bishop on g5 since White weakened the dark square already with 9...h5. Without this Rook move first, that would all result in the b2-pawn hanging. Lastly, White doesn't have to worry about any ...Nb3 tricks. Attacking the Rook by itself is not an issue, but if it allows the Knight a gain of tempo to then either infiltrate on d2 or sacrifice itself on d4 at a time when it would work, White doesn't want to make the tempo gain a possibility for Black.
<BR><BR><B>11...Rc8?!</B>
<BR><BR>I don't like this move for Black at all. The King should be going that way. In fact, Black should probably have castled here and now with 11...O-O-O.
<BR><BR><B>12.O-O Be7 13.Re1</B>
<BR><BR>This move does solidify the White Center, and if Black ever plays something like ...f6, White can capture on f6 and the Rook comes to life. Also, any sacrifices on d5 or f5 could divert the e6-pawn away, and backing up the advancement of the White pawn on e5 is another possibility. But really for now, this move was to get out of the way of the Knight on d2, going to f1 to relocate itself.
<BR><BR><B>13...Qc7 14.Nf1 Nb3</B>
<BR><BR>I'm not so sure that this move serves much purpose as the Bishop is now on the run, leaving the Knight out there to dry.
<BR><BR><B>15.Bg5 Ba4</B>
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<BR><BR>Quite frankly, I don't like what Black has done the last half-dozen moves or so at all. Before you knee-jerk and say that White has to get his Queen out of dodge, you must ask yourself, "Is Black actually threatening anything?", to which the answer should be "not much, if anything at all." Let's consider all the possible discoveries that Black may have at some point. For now, anything other than 16...Nc5 would outright hand the Bishop with check, but even we assume Black protects the Bishop first, what would that mean in terms of possible discoveries? Let's take a look with the assumption that the Bishop on a4 is protected when any of these discoveries occur:
<BR><UL><LI>16...Nc1, 16...Nd2, and 16...Nxd4 are all just outright idiotic. In all three cases, White will simply capture the Knight with the Queen and Black has absolutely nothing for it.
<LI>16...Na1 also seems pretty dumb. After a simple move like 17.Qe2, what is the Knight going to do? Return to b3? Go to c2 and risk getting the Knight trapped after something like 17.Rec1? That move makes no sense.
<LI>16...Na5 - Sure Black can play this move, but is it anything more than a 1-move threat where White simply moves the Queen?
<LI>That leaves 16...Nc5, a square normally not available to the Knight, and so this is really the only move that we have to consider.
</UL><BR>So since we determined that there is only one move to even remotely consider, again, if it were Black to move, what would 16...Nc5 achieve? The answer, truthfully, is not much. One could argue that Black intends to play 17...Ne4 next, but in reality, the Knight is not stable here, and Black must spend time making sure it doesn't get trapped. For example, if White moves the Knight on f3 to say, h2, away from everything, White has the immediate threat of pushing the pawn to f3, trapping the Knight in the middle of the board! Therefore, I can't see this being much of an issue.
<BR><BR>Therefore, at least for now, we can outright ignore the threat of discovery on the Queen, and except for ...Nc5, we can literally wait multiple moves before even thinking about the other possibilities as right now the Bishop would hang with check. This concept of being able to ignore threats is a very important one. If you always knee-jerk to everything that has the appearance of being a threat, you will often miss out on some very strong moves made available to you in your games.
<BR><BR><B>16.Bxe7 Qxe7 17.Ng5</B>
<BR><BR>Now going to c5 and e4 with the Knight would simply drop a pawn, and so the Queen continues to sit on d1 for now.
<BR><BR><B>17...g6</B>
<BR><BR>The h-pawn was of course hanging. The alternative, 17...Nf5, is actually not an option at all to Black. After 18.Bxf5! exf5 19.Ne3, Black is in serious trouble.
<BR><BR><B>18.Ne3 Rc7</B>
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<BR><BR><B>19.Qf3</B>
<BR><BR>While there is a logical idea behind this move, it is going a little too far over the top for White. The idea is as follows:
<BR><UL><LI>The Bishop on h3 is waiting for the h6-Knight to move, either to f5 or g4. In both cases, White will snap the Knight with his Bishop.
<LI>The Queen and the two Knights will place pressure on the Black pawns and the light squares around the Black King, with one of the Knights sacrificing itself, especially on d5. Also note that if Black ever moves the h6-Knight to f5, and White captures, it's highly likely that Black will be forced to take back with the g-pawn, making h5 a target as well as d5.
<LI>The Rook on b1 will continue to guard b2 if need be, and if the Black pieces get distracted to cover the attack by the White Queen and Knights, then the b3 idea might still be in play.
<LI>With the Black pawn already on g6, and the Queen on e7, the likelihood of an ...f6 advance any time soon is almost zero. The sacrifice of a Knight might open up the e6-square for the pawn to advance, but that's a long shot. I decided that I didn't really need the e1-Rook, and that the elimination of the Black Knights was more important.
</UL>
<BR>Now you might be wondering about that last bullet, and why I say that I didn't really need the e1-Rook. Isn't it the other one that's going away? Well, yes and no. While the capture by Black will be of the Rook on b1, White is simply going to recapture, where there is still a Rook on b1, and no Rook on e1, and so in reality, you are getting the Knight, and removing your own Rook from e1, and so you have to think about it this way. Sure, it's the e1-Rook that survives, but it survives by residing on b1 after capturing the Knight.
<BR><BR>All of that said, it would have been better for White to play a simple move like 19.Ng2 with a clear advantage. The Knight will eventually go to f4, and the Queen will come in in due time. There was no need to rush the attack, and now, instead of being clearly better for White, it is unclear instead.
<BR><BR><B>19...Nd2</B>
<BR><BR>Black takes up the offer.
<BR><BR><B>20.Qg2 Nxb1 21.Rxb1 Nf5</B>
<BR><BR>Already Black offers the other Knight as well. It probably would have been better to play 21...Kf8 intending to go to g7 with the King.
<BR><BR><B>22.Bxf5 gxf5</B>
<BR><BR>Of course, 22...exf5?? loses pretty much on the spot. After 23.Nxd5 Bc6 24.Nxc7+! Qxc7 25.d5, White has an overwhelming position, and after 25...Bd7 26.f4, Black could safely resign.
<BR><BR>So as we noted in the second bullet earlier, White now has the added target on h5.
<BR><BR><B>23.Nh3</B>
<BR><BR>Immediately heading for f4, combined with Qf3, to target the h-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>23...Rg8?</B>
<BR><BR>This move is a complete waste of time. There is no threat to the h-pawn as there is a White Queen on g2, meaning that White would win a Rook if Black took on h4, and White is about to attack the h5-pawn, which there is no way to cover except via ...Rh8, and so Black's last move was non-productive.
<BR><BR><B>24.Nf4 Rh8 25.Qf3</B>
<BR><BR>The h5-pawn is toast.
<BR><BR><B>25...Qf8 26.Nxh5 Qh6 27.Nf6+</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho7XmCcqjoedtXdaM-jK3gviw-7SHgvp0M6v-oIbmYhw14GpV7JQ4zD7x59MDItLrQ1Wkz_dFfSb0nVrMTFw3waZwVgtUtJUl-fBdP9bKUQjTS2qFqkmSKPnX8sTyS-2CR-Ca07-pJ-AOG/s1600/FC35_4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho7XmCcqjoedtXdaM-jK3gviw-7SHgvp0M6v-oIbmYhw14GpV7JQ4zD7x59MDItLrQ1Wkz_dFfSb0nVrMTFw3waZwVgtUtJUl-fBdP9bKUQjTS2qFqkmSKPnX8sTyS-2CR-Ca07-pJ-AOG/s320/FC35_4.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>As it is, despite being up a Rook for Knight and Pawn, Black's position is possibly beyond salvageable. That said, Black manages to find the worst of the three squares that the King could go to.
<BR><BR><B>27...Ke7??</B>
<BR><BR>The absolute worst of the three possible squares to put the King. White is still significantly better, but Black can at least continue to fight on after 27...Kd8, after which 28.h5 is an advantage for White.
<BR><BR>From here, Black is going to lose, at minimum, another pawn and the Exchange, putting White up two clear pawns.
<BR><BR><B>28.Nfxd5+</B>
<BR><BR>Black could resign here as 28...Kd8 (or 28...Kd7) 29.Nxc7 is completely winning for White, but here, Black does the unthinkable.
<BR><BR><B>28...exd5 29.Nxf5+ 1-0</B>
<BR><BR>Winning the Queen and the game.
<BR><BR><BR>So we saw a game where the White Knights completely overwhelmed Black. Yes, Black could have defended better, and the sacrifice by White on move 19 was not the best, but the game still illustrates that the relative values that beginner books assign to pieces are exactly that, relative. In a completely blocked position like this, which is not at all unusual in the 6...c4 line of the French Advance, we saw what little value the Rooks and the Bishops held. It was all about the Knights combined with the Queen, two pieces that tend to work well in tandom to begin with, but with a pair of unopposed Knights and a Queen, combined with some shotty defense, it was enough for just those three pieces alone to overwhelm the Black King. While you should probably think twice before giving a Rook away for one of those Knights, I wouldn't blink an eye before giving away a Bishop for a Black Knight, especially the dark-squared Bishop, which in this game we saw was traded for Black's DSB, which at least is his good Bishop and White's bad one, but the value of each of the pieces was nowhere near what the beginner books will tell you. The Black Bishop on a4 was almost totally useless while the Rooks for both sides were not quite as bad as the Bishop, but they were still virtual bystanders.
<BR><BR>The other thing that should be noted is that while White would still have an attack on the center and Kingside with the line he played, had Black castled Queenside, we wouldn't have seen the problems that Black had with his King as he would be tucked away safely at b8 or a8 (after castling and moving the King a time or two to get off the diagonal that the Bishop on h3 would be eying.
<BR><BR>We will conclude this edition of the French Connection here. Until next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White!Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-3515884203778188532020-03-21T09:39:00.000-07:002020-03-21T09:39:03.648-07:00Game Analysis: Taking the BaitHello everyone and welcome. While the whole country is virtually on lock down during this pandemic, there clearly won't be a whole lot of competition going on in the next couple of months. I will continue to publish articles periodically (though I may skip a week here or there if nothing good comes up), but most of it is going to be either games from the past, or else blitz or rapid games. While blitz and rapid tend to be of lower quality than classical chess, every now and then one comes up worth covering, and that's what we have today. Black takes a hot pawn early on that is not "refuted", but typically White gets more than enough compensation for the pawn. That said, we will see White attack down the center after a few errors by Black, and in the end, Black loses a piece and therefore the game.
<BR><BR>Let's take a look at the feature game.
<BR><BR><BR>Internet Blitz (5 Minute)
<BR>W: Patrick McCartney (1983)
<BR>B: Trivedi Jindal (1962)
<BR>Alekhine's Defense, Chase Variation
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.c4 Nb6 4.c5</B>
<BR><BR>This is the defining point of a not-so-popular line called the Chase Variation. The naming of the line is simple. White continuously chases the Knight around to gain a space advantage. The question becomes is Black suffocating, or is White over-extended?
<BR><BR><B>5.Bc4 e6 6.Nc3</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2gkOSFxUxBpwQsVN1_RjvVwgVNPp80_42KPGVQiJzfGFt6aIXVqpmRiTtKwiwMPvnPXPOborNIUrs6pbY3So3gcesmDIjYhZUdbYToqYR8DbyYA0UyeKcLj5ttNLeOgXtQzxfPWvqXeC9/s1600/TTB1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2gkOSFxUxBpwQsVN1_RjvVwgVNPp80_42KPGVQiJzfGFt6aIXVqpmRiTtKwiwMPvnPXPOborNIUrs6pbY3So3gcesmDIjYhZUdbYToqYR8DbyYA0UyeKcLj5ttNLeOgXtQzxfPWvqXeC9/s320/TTB1.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Now we are at the crossroads where Black must make a decision.
<BR><BR><B>6...Nxc3</B>
<BR><BR>This move is playable, though not theoretically best. Black's strongest reply here is 6...d6!, when 7.Nxd5 exd5 8.Bxd5 is best answered by 8...c6!. Now, if White replies with 9.Bc4, then 9...d5! followed by 10...Bxc5 gives Black an excellent game, and so White is forced to go all-in with 9.Bxf7+, when after 9...Kxf7 10.cxd6 Qe8 11.Qe2 c5 12.Nf3, we have the following diagram:
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwiGX8xgKNvsmsMwnR54Y7pBkI4FrXayFmpTa6GsW-GZZQWKjUiMAlgbF1tjet7FzSbq00h20cW3xq00nEOi4qrgqwBOVp0w9iMmytEFGmKBY9T8Vofs2pqa8RSwGUN9Tv2XV4VP_HqYr-/s1600/TTB2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwiGX8xgKNvsmsMwnR54Y7pBkI4FrXayFmpTa6GsW-GZZQWKjUiMAlgbF1tjet7FzSbq00h20cW3xq00nEOi4qrgqwBOVp0w9iMmytEFGmKBY9T8Vofs2pqa8RSwGUN9Tv2XV4VP_HqYr-/s200/TTB2.png" width="200" height="200" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>And now 12...Bxd6!. White cannot take the Bishop as Black gets a very dangerous attack after 13.exd6? Qxe2+ 14.Kxe2 Re8+ 15.Kd1 Bg4 followed by 16...Nc6. Therefore, White should reply with 13.Ng5+ Kg6 14.Qd3+ Kxg5 15.Qxd6 and while it may look very ugly for Black, he is actually ok after 15...Nc6.
<BR><BR><B>7...dxc3 Bxc5?!</B>
<BR><BR>This is a very dangerous pawn grab. While there does not appear to be a direct refutation, play is going to be very difficult for Black. It is better to play 7...Nc6, forcing 8.Qh5 before taking the pawn on c5, with the problem being that 8.Bf4 allows 8...g5!. Now the Queen goes to a better square.
<BR><BR><B>8.Qg4 g6</B>
<BR><BR>Slightly stronger is 8...Kf8, but White still has more than enough compensation for the pawn after 9.Bf4 followed by castling Queenside.
<BR><BR><B>9.Bh6</B>
<BR><BR>Black is going to have major problems on the dark squares.
<BR><BR><B>9...Nc6 10.f4 d6</B>
<BR><BR>Possibly better was the immediate 10...d5, but after 11.Bd3, White is still better. Now, actually, White makes a mistake.
<BR><BR><B>11.O-O-O?!</B>
<BR><BR>Because of a tactical shot available to Black, which he misses, White should first play 11.Bg7 Rg8 12.Bf6, and only now, after 12...Qd7, should he castle queenside with a close to winning advantage.
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYHetu8hAX6-9hyh88aMqVnhIRtdicJUp9HblOyZ3OcNbc_1xYuVJak8AIEiodxA6ze5NHnUzz39CwbpDWqrni_YCmmjN-OoPy2vBRQrM-BlaRE1wyvw9r1fTNKOsxrHy6kdIbg6XKPLNO/s1600/TTB3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYHetu8hAX6-9hyh88aMqVnhIRtdicJUp9HblOyZ3OcNbc_1xYuVJak8AIEiodxA6ze5NHnUzz39CwbpDWqrni_YCmmjN-OoPy2vBRQrM-BlaRE1wyvw9r1fTNKOsxrHy6kdIbg6XKPLNO/s320/TTB3.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div><B>11...Ne7?</B>
<BR><BR>Missing 11...Be3+ 12.Kb1 Nxe5! with a slight advantage for Black.
<BR><BR><B>12.Bg7 Rg8 13.Bf6 c6 14.Nf3 Qc7 15.Rhe1 d5 16.Bd3 Nf5?</B>
<BR><BR>This is a mistake. Black should be focused on completely development while the position is somewhat blocked. Better would be 16...h5 17.Qh3 Bd7 with ideas of castling Queenside. Instead, he allows White to break open down the center.
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1W5JyBFOcTq93m1DWNFa_ecypCexsO7Xl9NjUrnFlU6t2tOmmv1O8jvZu3OtazSD4LFCPMV8dfV3J8T2wl8MuMpIIO4COnEoBZv4EE5HJ0HJ6DwEdru1EJp56U_5Ie3DaH6QuCF0iNAr/s1600/TTB4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1W5JyBFOcTq93m1DWNFa_ecypCexsO7Xl9NjUrnFlU6t2tOmmv1O8jvZu3OtazSD4LFCPMV8dfV3J8T2wl8MuMpIIO4COnEoBZv4EE5HJ0HJ6DwEdru1EJp56U_5Ie3DaH6QuCF0iNAr/s320/TTB4.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR><B>17.Bxf5?</B>
<BR><BR>Stronger is not to take the Knight right away and playing 17.Qh3 h5 18.Ng5 Be7 19.Nh7 Nh6 20.Bxe7 Qxe7 21.Nf6+ Kf8 22.Nxg8 Kxg8 23.Qf3 with a winning advantage for White.
<B>17...exf5</B>
<BR><BR>Forced due to the pin of the g-pawn to the Rook.
<BR><BR><B>18.Qh4 Be7?</B>
<BR><BR>Missing the opportunity to equalize with 18...h5!
<BR><BR><B>19.Ng5! h5??</B>
<BR><BR>Too little, too late. Black had to play 19...Be6 here. White is still winning after 20.Qxh7, but the game move just made things a lot easier for White to put Black away.
<BR><BR><B>20.e6!</B>
<BR><BR>Black is in no way ready to see the center break open.
<BR><BR><B>20...fxe6 21.Nxe6 Bxe6 22.Rxe6 1-0</B>
<BR><BR>Black has no way to avoid dropping a full piece and therefore resigned.
<BR><BR><BR>Maybe not the best game ever analyzed, but it does show some ideas both behind finding the right move when attacking, and finding the right defensive ideas when they are available. Both sides made their mistakes, White on moves 11 and 17, Black several times in the teens, but it was Black that made the fatal error on move 18, not realizing that he needed to attempt to block the position as much as possible and getting his King castled rather than simply trying to trade the White pieces off.
<BR><BR>I also wonder if any Alekhine players out there would be brave enough to play the 6...d6 line all the way through. Black is fine, but it could be viewed as too scary for the normal human being. Mikenas actually played it once against Nezhmetdinov in 1948, but he played the wrong move on move 15 and got blown away, but had he played 15...Nc6, he'd have been ok. Just curious to see if any amateur would ever take up that line.
<BR><BR><BR>Til next time, good luck in whatever games you are able to play during this time of crisis.
Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-42855813418119323422020-03-14T18:32:00.001-07:002020-03-14T18:32:44.106-07:00The French Connection: Volume 34Hello everyone and welcome to the thirty-fourth edition of The French Connection. In the previous edition, we saw a game played by Wolfgang Uhlmann from the Black side of the King's Indian Attack where because of a very aggressive move by White, Black had to play a strong defensive move where if he didn't actually understand the position, and simply played routine moves without paying attention to what White was doing, and played the "automatic" 13...a4, his position would have been worse.
<BR><BR>This time, we are going to see another game played by Uhlmann with yet another line where a different 13th move by Black is possible, and better, than the automatic 13...a4.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's take a look at the feature game.
<BR><BR><BR>Potsdam 1988
<BR>W: Ralf Lau
<BR>B: Wolfgang Uhlmann
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 c5 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 Be7 7.O-O O-O 8.Re1 b5 9.e5 Nd7 10.Nf1 a5 11.h4 Ba6 12.N1h2 b4 13.Ng4</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKlkiZYmhyeVR_rz02G2_fQkct1gklWRJB4ELqO4Haj03wVFyiIDCtMPKfmWJJUT4XJc27sSPhGROVu97nntLQ3mqHP_gXYyoAlzdkpeXImYfmVfd9FUDygXltKY7ljyZKKRREMJ-Js60/s1600/FC34_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKlkiZYmhyeVR_rz02G2_fQkct1gklWRJB4ELqO4Haj03wVFyiIDCtMPKfmWJJUT4XJc27sSPhGROVu97nntLQ3mqHP_gXYyoAlzdkpeXImYfmVfd9FUDygXltKY7ljyZKKRREMJ-Js60/s320/FC34_1.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR><B>13...Nd4</B>
<BR><BR>It is critical to understand why this move works. White's other main option back on move 13 is 13.Bf4, against which, I would suggest the stereotyped move, 13...a4. The difference has to do with the Knight on f3. With his counterpart being on h2, the move 13...Nd4 is not as effective because after 14.Nxd4 cxd4, White can immediately apply pressure with 15.Nf3, hitting d4, and also preparing to eventually go to g5, which we saw in the previous article can be very aggressive and dangerous.
<BR><BR>With the Knight on g4, White instead has to make a critical decision. Does he take on d4 to try to damage Black's pawns? Or does he ignore the Black Knight and play a normal move?
<BR><BR><B>14.c3</B>
<BR><BR>White can also take on d4, which does double Black's pawns. However, they are covering many important squares and can be hard to get to. It should also be noted that Black has the semi-open c-file, and White has to be on the constant lookout for his c-pawn. A good example featuring 14.Nxd4 would be Dragan Glavis - Ladislav Havas, Croatian Championship 1999. The move order is slightly different, but it directly transposes to 14.Nxd4 cxd4 15.Bf4. It isn't like the entire game is centered around the c2-pawn, but Black probes weaknesses, such as enticing b3 from White, weakening the dark squares, which he uses to infiltrate with his Queen, and then once White pushes c4, Black relies on his more active pieces from the time he gained in the middlegame to win the heavy piece endgame.
<BR><BR><B>14...Nxf3</B>
<BR><BR>Black decides to remove the Knight that is likely to want to go to g5 eventually, which can be a dangerous piece to the Black King.
<BR><BR>An alternative is 14...Nf5, keeping pieces on, and having the Knight act as a strong defender. For instance, it becomes harder for White to advance g4 as the h4-pawn will hand in most cases unless it has previously advanced further up the board, but then the White King could also get a little airy with an extra Black piece on the Kingside that normally wouldn't be there. If White tries to play normal moves, such as 15.Bf4, it won't get him anywhere. There is no real way for White to make progress without contesting that Knight on f5. If White plays 15.Bf4, and eventually follows up with a later Ne3, given that a trade on e3 would likely cause the Bishop to recapture, since recapturing with the Rook would in most cases look silly with the given pawn structure, it would lead to the Bishop simply wasting a move. This leads to the question of the immediate contesting of the Knight with 15.Nd3. Play could follow with 15...Nxe3 16.Bxe3 h6 17.Rb1 Rb8 18.Qd2 Qb6 and Black is perfectly fine as sacrifices don't work here for White. After 19.Bxh6? bxc3 20.bxc3 Qxb1 21.Rxb1 Rxb1+ 22.Kh2 gxh6 23.Qxh6 Bxd3, Black is winning as White has no breakthrough and Black has a significant material advantage, despite lacking the Queen.
<BR><BR><B>15.Bxf3 Rb8 16.Bf4 a4</B>
<BR><BR>Now that Black has eliminated the dangerous White Knight that could go to g5 at any time combined with his loose Knight on c6, and having moved his Rook off of a8, he has eliminated all tactics for White along the long diagonal, and now continues with his queenside operations.
<BR><BR><B>17.Qd2 a3</B>
<BR><BR>This assures at least some form of opening of the Queenside.
<BR><BR><B>18.b3</B>
<BR><BR>White tries to keep it shut down as much as possible.
<BR><BR><B>18...bxc3</B>
<BR><BR>Of course Black cannot allow a subsequent 19.c4. The main alternative to the game move is for Black to play 18...c4 himself. White can easily get into trouble here as well. For example, after 19.bxc4, Black can play 19...bxc3 20.Qxc3 Bb4 21.Qd4 Bxe1 22.Rxe1 dxc4 23.h5 (White has to accelerate his Kingside attack or he is in trouble. He doesn't have time for lame recaptures of pawns.) 23...Qa5 24.Rd1 Rfd8 and White's in bad shape.
<BR><BR><B>19.Qxc3 Rb4 20.Rad1?</B>
<BR><BR>White misses the tactical point behind Black's last move. Relatively best is probably 20.Qd2 with still a small advantage for Black.
<BR><BR><B>20...Bxh4! 21.Bc1</B>
<BR><BR>White is busted after 21.gxh4 Rxf4!.
<BR><BR><B>21...Be7 22.Bxa3</B>
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<BR><BR>White has regained the pawn, but the fun has just begun for Black. See if you can find Black's next move.
<BR><BR><B>22...Bb7! 23.Qc2</B>
<BR><BR>The tactical point behind Black's last move is that 23.Bxb4 can be answered by 23...d4! White may be best off taking the Bishop and giving up the Queen. Instead, if White moves his Queen, Black gets all of his material back starting with 24...Bxf3, subsequently gaining another exchange. Otherwise, 24.Ba5 Qb8 and White has the same problem. This is why White didn't take the Rook.
<BR><BR>Now that the Queen has moved, Black must move the Rook, right?
<BR><BR><B>23...d4!</B>
<BR><BR>No! We still have the scenario where if White takes the Rook, then 24...Bxf3 gains the full Rook back (or else two minor pieces).
<BR><BR><B>24.Be4 Rb6</B>
<BR><BR>Black now proceeds to shuffle his pieces to better locations. The way to figure out how to go about this is to figure out what Black ultimately is trying to achieve. The first thing to identify is Black's biggest weakness, which in this line is typically the King, and in this specific position, it's h7. Therefore, he wants to swing the Knight to the Kingside, either to f8 to guard h7, or to g6 to block h7. The attack is still on the Queenside, and so if the Knight along with the Bishop on e7 can take care of the defensive tasks, then the heavy pieces can be used for the Queenside attack. He starts by attacking a2. Once it moves, b3 becomes weak. If he can get in on the 3rd rank, and grab the b- and d-pawns, he will have connected passers, and then the only important thing is to be able to defend the Black King and Black will win.
<BR><BR><B>25.Bc1 Bxe4</B>
<BR><BR>Black first eliminates one of the attackers of h7. It's not like Black's Bishop was doing much beyond contesting the White counterpart. We will see this followed up by combining an attack on the Queenside pawns, and relocating the Knight for defensive purposes on the Kingside.
<BR><BR><B>26.Rxe4 Ra6 27.Qe2 Re8</B>
<BR><BR>Opening up f8 for the Knight!
<BR><BR><B>28.Kg2 Nf8 29.Rh1 Ng6 30.Rh5 Qa8</B>
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<BR><BR>Mission Accomplished! The Knight is in the way of White's attack, and the pressure is applied down the a-file. Next thing to consider is how else can White attack the Black King? The only way that could maybe cause a few headaches for Black is down the h-file.
<BR><BR><B>31.a3 Rb6</B>
<BR><BR>It might look tempting to play 31...f5?, but it doesn't work. After 32.exf6 gxf6, there is the perception that White has to worry about 33...f5 due to the pin of the Rook on e4, and the fork of the Rook and Knight on g4. Closer observation would see that only one of them is really a threat, and that's the pin of the Rook. Therefore, White can answer with 33.Kh2! when 33...f5 34.Nh6+ (Oops!) followed by 35.Nf7+ or 35.Rxe6, depending on where the King goes, and White is winning. Therefore, Black instead continues to pressure the Queenside.
<BR><BR><B>32.Kh2 Rxb3 33.Bh6</B>
<BR><BR>White uses tactics and tricks to validate his move.
<BR><BR><B>33...Qa6</B>
<BR><BR>Going for the d-pawn. This is far safer than trying to grab the Bishop. It turns out, Black still wins after 33...gxh6, but only after a very complicated situation where he has to dodge many potential landmines. After 34.Nxh6+ Kg7 35.Nxf7 Rf8 <I>{35...Kxf7?? loses to 36.Rxh7+ Kg8 37.Qh5}</I> 36.Rxh7+ Kxh7 37.Qh5+ Kg8 38.Rg4 and now Black must find the only move that wins as all other moves lose outright! 38...Bg5!! 39.Rxg5 Kxf7 40.Qxg6+ Ke7 and there is no way to mate the Black King. Black is winning, but this is extremely difficult for the human mind to calculate. The move in the game may take longer to execute the win, but it's far simpler.
<BR><BR><B>34.Bxg7 Qxd3!</B>
<BR><BR>34...Kxg7?? loses to 35.Qd2!
<BR><BR><B>35.Qxd3 Rxd3 36.Bf6 Bf8 37.Re1</B>
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<BR><BR>Time for another re-assessment. The Queens are gone, which helps in defending the Black King. White clearly wants to double up on the h-file since if White can grab the pawn, and completely open the h-file, h8 is covered only once, and so White can mate the Black King with an open h-file if everything else remains as it is. The Bishop covers any checks with the Knight, and the Knight covers h8 once. Therefore, if Black can get rid of one set of Rooks, and have the Knight on g6 not be disrupted, the connected passers on the c- and d-files should be what wins the game for Black. Therefore, how do we get rid of one set of Rooks?
<BR><BR><B>37...Rf3</B>
<BR><BR>Headed for f5, offering the trade of a set of Rooks.
<BR><BR><B>38.Kg2 Rf5 39.Rh3</B>
<BR><BR>Of course White has no interest in trading.
<BR><BR><B>39...h5!</B>
<BR><BR>Under normal circumstances, it is said that you do not advance pawns on the side in which you are weak. However, here we have determined that all we need to do to defend our King is exchange one set of Rooks, even if that means giving up a pawn as long as it's not one of our two connected passers. Therefore, with only one White Rook, the h-pawn is unimportant.
<BR><BR><B>40.Reh1 c4</B>
<BR><BR>Black goes on with his own business and sacrifices the meaningless h-pawn. For White to take it, he must offer a trade of one set of Rooks, which is all Black needs.
<BR><BR><B>41.Rxh5</B>
<BR><BR>White offers the Rook trade because without taking the pawn, what progress can he ever make if the h5-pawn is a permanent block of the h-file?
<BR><BR><B>41...Rxh5 42.Rxh5 c3 43.Kf3 d3 44.Bg5</B>
<BR><BR>Seeing that he is getting nowhere with his current setup, White has to do something. Black, of course, cannot blindly advance the pawns and must stop all cheap threats, and therefore he takes the time to relocate the Bishop to cover f6.
<BR><BR><B>44...Bg7 45.Ke3 d2 46.Ke2</B>
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<BR><BR>Clearly Black is winning, but the pawns can't do it alone. Last phase is to get the pieces in without getting his own King killed. The Rook is clearly free to move, and once the White Rook is forced back to defend, the Knight will come into play as well while the Bishop stays with the King for defense.
<BR><BR><B>46...Rc7 47.Rh1 Nxe5 48.Nf6+</B>
<BR><BR>Now White plays a series of checks, but there is no perpetual.
<BR><BR><B>48...Kf8 49.Nh7+ Ke8 50.Nf6+ Bxf6 51.Bxf6 Rc5</B>
<BR><BR>It is basically game over at this point.
<BR><BR><B>52.f4 Nf3! 0-1</B>
<BR><BR>White resigned as there is no stopping ...c2 on the next move and promotion cannot be stopped. White will lose his Rook, and subsequently the game.
<BR><BR><BR>So once again we see the connected passers on the c- and d-files decide the game. This is not unusual in scenarios of the KIA vs French in cases where Black wins. The connected passers is a fairly common goal for Black in this line. But the important thing to keep in mind, just like what was emphasized in a number of other recent articles, is that you cannot play on auto-pilot and expect to succeed. Once again, Black delayed the common 13...a4 move in favor of an idea that was mainly possibly because Black understood that consequences of White moving that h2-Knight to g4 that quickly. In addition to it once again showing the importance of paying attention to what your opponent is doing, even in openings normally thought of as openings where you can go on auto-pilot for the first dozen moves or so, it also once again illustrates the importance of understanding the opening you play, not just memorizing it. We saw two fairly uncommon 13th moves in the last two articles, namely 13...Qe8 and 13...Nd4, but it also needs to be understood that these are not additional options any time White plays the King's Indian Attack. They are very specific to what White did in the two games covered in the previous article and this one. The early disconnection of the two Knights and not leaving the second one on h2 is specifically what opened up the 13...Nd4 idea in this game. If White can retake on f3 with the Knight, then playing ...Nd4 isn't a very good idea as White can trade on d4 and apply immediate pressure on d4 after that with the other Knight coming to f3.
<BR><BR><BR>This concludes this edition of The French Connection. Til next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White.
Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-83202094646682512952020-03-07T08:33:00.000-08:002020-03-07T08:33:04.805-08:00The French Connection: Volume 33Hello everyone and welcome to the thirty-third edition of The French Connection. Let's start by going back to Volume 1. Those of you that have read all 32 of the previous editions will know that in Volume 1, I had said that this would be a combination of GM and Amateur games. Has anybody done a tally? Now many GM games have been covered? Two! Volumes 1 and 5! I'd say we are long overdue. With not much activity on my end until I go to Reno in April combined with the fact that we have been talking about the importance of paying attention, even in the opening, to all 32 pieces on the board, and not to just your own 16 pieces, and how players can easily fall victim to that in certain openings, such as the Sicilian Defense (Covered in the article "<U><a href="https://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/02/chess-is-game-with-32-pieces.html">Chess is a Game with 32 Pieces</a></U>"), London System, and King's Indian Attack vs French (Covered in "<U><a href="https://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-french-connection-volume-32.html">The French Connection, Volume 32</a></U>", where we saw White playing the game very similar to how one should in the KIA vs Sicilian), I decided now was an excellent time to cover a couple of GM games in the French Defense.
<BR><BR>Well, believe it or not, in the KIA vs French, Black can just as easily fall victim to the same problem as White can if he isn't paying attention. This is where studying the games of one of my favorite players in history comes into play, Wolfgang Uhlmann. A GM from Germany who will be 85 years old later this month and is now retired from serious competition, he will always be a major piece of history when it comes to the French Defense. We saw one of his games in Volume 1. Actually, that game, at least to this date, is my favorite. Uhlmann has played the French his entire life, and even someone like myself has not seen every Uhlmann French game in his career given how many there are, though I have seen a lot of them! For example, on Chessgames.com, if you search only for Uhlmann games where he specifically had Black, and combined the searched for the French Defense (C00-C19) and A07 (The ECO Code that just about all of his KIA vs French games came from), you get a whopping 371 games! In addition to that, at the GM level, it is very difficult for Black to win, even before the computer era, where draw frequency was lower, but White tended to score better than Black, and still does overall. Uhlmann had a significant plus record in those 371 games, including 129 wins to only 97 losses, the remaining 145 games being draws. Of course, keep in mind that this is simply what is in this database, and likely does not cover every game of Uhlmann's excellent career. That said, with a score of over 54% as Black amongst the 371 games here, nobody can argue against his games being an excellent source for those looking to master the French with the Black pieces.
<BR><BR>In the current article and the next one, I will be covering a couple of Uhlmann's games against the King's Indian Attack, and we will see how he correctly reacts to White's deviations, and how it is critical to pay attention to such detail in your own games against the King's Indian Attack. These deviations we will be looking at will be various setups that White can execute at moves 12 and 13.
<BR><BR>The game in this article is against a GM that many have heard of. The late Walter Browne was born in Australia in 1949 and moved to the United States. He gained his GM title in 1970, and the game that we will be looking at was played only a couple of years after that. His final tournament was the National Open in 2015, where he finished in a tie for 9th thru 15th, and just suddenly passed away unexpectedly shortly after that. The blitz tournament at the National Open is now dedicated under his name.
<BR><BR>Lifetime, these two faced each other 6 times (4 with Uhlmann as Black), and Uhlmann had a lifetime record of two wins and four draws (one and three with Black) against Walter Browne. This game is one of the two that Uhlmann won.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's get started on the topic with an overly aggressive line by White:
<BR><BR><BR>IBM Amsterdam 1972, Round 6
<BR>W: Walter Browne
<BR>B: Wolfgang Uhlmann
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.Ngf3 c5 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 Be7 7.O-O O-O 8.Re1 b5 9.e5 Nd7 10.Nf1 a5 11.h4 b4</B>
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<BR><BR>So far, so good. Everything is totally normal. However, Black must be really cautious here and not turn a blind eye on White. The White pawn on e5 is everything for him. It is the main thing on the board that is keeping Black's pieces away from his own King, and is the only thing on the board that is causing such a debilitating cramping effect on Black. If White loses this pawn without getting something substantial in return, like the Black King, he's usually going to be as good as dead.
<BR><BR>This is why moves like 12.Bf4 are so common in this line, preceded by h4. The h4-push allows the Knight to come in to g4 via an alternative route, that being h2, along with e3. The downside to putting the Knight on e3 is that it blocks the Rook from guarding e5, and so if White is going to use the e3-square the transport the Knight on f1, then 12.Bf4 is a must! Otherwise, White can also get the f1-Knight in the game quickly with 12.N1h2 and 13.Ng4, and this is precisely what we will be covering in the next article.
<BR><BR>After the "normal" plan of 12.Bf4 and 13.Ne3 or 13.N1h2, Black can proceed with his "normal" development of 12...Ba6 and 13...a4, and here I would suggest at looking at a game like <a href="https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1144315"><U>Savon - Uhlmann, Skopje 1968</U></a>.
<BR><BR>However, what we will see here is not "normal", but rather, a very aggressive idea for White, and Black needs to react accordingly.
<BR><BR><B>12.Bf4 Ba6</B>
<BR><BR>Ok, and so now if White moves the f1-Knight to e3 or h2, Black will simply play 13...a4.
<BR><BR><B>13.Ng5</B>
<BR><BR>Ok, so what is so different about this versus something like 13.Ne3 or 13.N1h2? White's idea is extremely aggressive, and not available to him unless this f3-Knight moves. Black's response is actually necessary!
<BR><BR><B>13...Qe8!</B>
<BR><BR>So let's say that Black just goes on his merry way and plays 13...a4. Why is this not such a good move? Well, let's start with the obvious idea for White. After 14.Qh5!, there is of course the cheap shot mate threat in 1 on h7, and Black, of course, has to do something about that. There are only two moves that stop that immediate threat. The first option is 14...Bxg5, and after 15.hxg5, White's idea is to bring the Knight into g4. From there, Black has to really watch out for sacrifices on f6 or h6. If necessary, White can move the Bishop to f3, the King to g2, and swing the Rooks to the open h-file. He can bring a lot or artillery over there and overwhelm the Black King. After a sequence of moves like 15...Qa5 16.Ne3 Nd4 17.Rac1 Rfd8 18.Ng4 Nf8, Black might be holding on if a computer is playing Black, but he is walking on egg shells, and even one minute slip-up and it is game over for Black. White, on the other hand, has a safe King with very few losing chances at all. I would not want to have to play the Black side of this.
<BR><BR>The alternative is probably even worse. After 14...h6 15.Nf3, computers tend to like Black, but it isn't until a few moves are played that it suddenly flips and realizes that White is significantly better. Let's see a couple of examples:
<BR><BR><UL><LI>After a move like 15...b3 16.c4 a3 17.axb3 axb2 18.Rab1 Nb4 19.Ne3 d4 20.Ng4 Nxd3, artificial intelligence finally realizes that White is on top after 21.Nxh6+ gxh6 22.Bxh6 Bb7 23.Qg4+ Bg5 24.Bxg5 Bxf3 25.Qxf3 Nxe1 26.Qh5 Ra1 27.Bxd8 Nf3+ 28.Bxf3 Rxb1+ 29.Kh2 Rh1+ 30.Bxh1 b1=Q 31.Be7 Re8 32.Bd6 with a big advantage for White.
<LI>Even worse is 15...c4, which after 16.dxc4 dxc4, White can immediately go for the kill shot with 17.Bxh6! gxh6 18.Qxh6 with the major threat of 19.Re4. If Black tries to stop that with 18...Nc5, then the Knight comes in instead with 19.Ne3 c4 20.Ng4, winning.
</UL><BR>And so we see a common theme here. The move ...h6 creates a major hook for White. In this case, it's mostly used to sacrifice a piece rather than advancing the g-pawn, but it's still a problem either way. There is little that Black can do to avoid the creation of the hook, and so what is the next best alternative? What piece of White's has caused all the headaches for Black? The Queen! This explains the biggest reason behind Black's latest and subsequent moves. If White is going to force Black to weaken his Kingside by forcing him to advance a pawn, then he wants the Queens off the board in return.
<BR><BR><B>14.Qh5</B>
<BR><BR>Very much the move that Black anticipated.
<BR><BR><B>14...Bxg5</B>
<BR><BR>Both moves here are fine for Black after playing the defensive move on move 13. The alternative is to get the Queens off immediately via 14...h6 15.Nf3 f5!, which immediately forces the Queens off the board as there is nowhere for the Queen to go, and en passant is not possible because the Queen on h5 is currently hanging, and after 16.Qxe8 Raxe8, Black is fine. This might even be a slight improvement over what Uhlmann did due to an alternative for White not played in the game that is not available to him here.
<BR><BR>Uhlmann's move was not "bad", but after an idea that I saw for White given below, I personally think that 14...h6 is even stronger than 14...Bxg5. That said, he does get rid of another pair of pieces before eliminating the Queens, but he does have to watch out for White's alternative 15th move.
<BR><BR><B>15.Qxg5</B>
<BR><BR>Interesting is 15.hxg5. Here, with the retreat available along the
h-file, Black can no longer force the Queens off, which is why I actually prefer 14...h6 and 15...f5 for Black. After a line like 15...Rc8 16.Ne3 Bb7 17.Qh3! <I>(17.Ng4? would be a mistake, returning the favor to Black with 17...f5!, forcing the Queens off as the Queen and Knight are both hanging)</I> 17...Qd8 18.Ng4, I actually would prefer White here.
<BR><BR>After the move played in the game, the position is totally fine for Black.
<BR><BR><B>15...a4 16.Ne3</B>
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<BR><BR><B>16...Kh8!</B>
<BR><BR>Absolutely necessary if Black is going to go for the mission of eliminating the Queens. Note that doing it immediately doesn't work because of a check. After 16...h6? 17.Qh5 <I>(17.Qg4? hangs the pawn on e5)</I> 17...f5 18.Qxe8 Raxe8 19.Nxd5! and now we see the problem. After 19...exd5 20.Bxd5+, the Knight on c6 hangs and White is simply up two pawns. Of course, Black doesn't have to take the Knight, but then he's still down a pawn for nothing. Note that in the 14...h6 line, the Knight had nowhere to go but f3, and so the Bishop was blocked from d5, and the other Knight wasn't on e3 yet, and so the idea worked there. Here, as long as there is no check on d5, Black can hold on to the piece and then it becomes a true sacrifice, and a bad one at that! So after this move, Black's idea is to play ...h6 and ...f5, which is what we shall see happen.
<BR><BR><B>17.Rad1 h6 18.Qh5 f5 19.Qxe8</B>
<BR><BR>Unlike in the 14...h6 line, White does have the option to retreat the Queen, but it isn't an option that White should take up because after 19.Qe2?! Nd4 20.Qf1 Rb8, White's position has suddenly become extremely passive. White avoids this by going ahead and accepting the Queen trade.
<BR><BR><B>19...Raxe8 20.Nc4 Nd4</B>
<BR><BR>White's last move works tactically as Black is busted after 20...dxc4? 21.Bxc6 +-
<BR><BR><B>21.Nd6 Nxc2!</B>
<BR><BR>Black invests a small amount of material in order to break through on the Queenside. Just like how Black has to watch out for his King with all of his pieces on the Queenside, if Black can survive, which getting the Queens off has gone a long way to achieving that, then White could have similar problems with stopping Black's pawns on the Queenside. If Black is able to promote a pawn, he will almost certainly win.
<BR><BR><B>22.Nxe8 Rxe8</B>
<BR><BR>Black can also get away with 22...Nxe1, but that will likely lead to nothing more than a draw after 23.Nc7 Nxg2 24.Kxg2 Rc8 25.Nxe6 d4 26.Kf1 Kg8 27.Ke2 Nf8 <I>(Note that 27...Kf7? allows 28.Nc7! with advantage to White.)</I> 28.Nxf8 Kxf8 29.e6 Ke7 30.Kd2 Kxe6 31.Re1+ Kf6 32.Bd6 b3 33.axb3 axb3 34.Be5+ and while Black is technically a pawn up, the opposite colored Bishops combined with how weak the extra pawn is should give White no problems at all with drawing the game.
<BR><BR>The game move shows that Black is trying to win.
<BR><BR><B>23.Re2 b3 24.axb3 axb3 25.Red2</B>
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<BR><BR><B>25...Bb5</B>
<BR><BR>This is more of an "excuse me" move than anything else. The Bishop does nothing different at the moment from b5 than he does from a6. However, it's not all about the Bishop. The first thing to recognize is that the Knight on c2 controls the a1-square. If it didn't, this move would be a complete waste of time as White can move his Rook to a1, taking over the a-file. However, with a1 under Black's control, Black recognizes that he has the time to achieve getting his Rook to a2, and this all starts with the Bishop simply getting out of the way of the Rook, and since there is nothing that White can do to stop it, Black has the ability to give White the free tempo before taking over the a-file.
<BR><BR><B>26.Rc1</B>
<BR><BR>White's idea is to try to get rid of the Knight once and for all. Not via sacrificing the exchange back, but rather via the Bishop on g2 going to f3 and d1, which we are about to see. Like Black's Bishop move, White's move is simply to get out of the way of the piece that needs to be coming into action.
<BR><BR><B>26...Ra8 27.Bf3 Ra2 28.Bd1</B>
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<BR><BR><B>28...Ba4!</B>
<BR><BR>Taking the b-pawn is nothing more than a draw. After 28...Rxb2? 29.Bxc2 bxc2 30.Rdxc2 Rxc2 31.Rxc2 Bxd3 32.Rb2 c4 33.Rb7 Nc5 34.Rc7 Nb3 35.f3, the position is dead equal.
<BR><BR>The game move is also equal, but with more pieces still on the board, and that advanced pawn still being present, there is far more room for White to go wrong, and he does!
<BR><BR><B>29.Rb1 Kg8 30.g4 fxg4 31.Bxg4 Kf7 32.Kg2 Bb5</B>
<BR><BR>Both sides are preparing for the inevitable tradedown by bringing their Kings into the game. Now White makes a passive move that is inexplainable.
<BR><BR><B>33.Bg3?</B>
<BR><BR>Probably just a waiting move, looking to see what Black thinks he has. White needs to continue to bring the King forward with 33.Kg3 or 33.Kh3 with an equal position. After something like 33.Kg3 Ra4 34.h5 Nb4 35.Be2 Ke7 36.Rc1 Nc2 37.Bg4 Kf7, it's hard to see either side making progress.
<BR><BR><B>33...Nb6</B>
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<BR><BR><B>34.Bd1??</B>
<BR><BR>White's position was already worse after the last move, but this does White in. He fails to realize the mis-fortune of the square that his King currently sits on, and now proceeds to block his own Rook from covering e1, which in turn allows Black a tactical shot. Better was getting the King off this square with a move like 34.Kh2 or 34.Kh3. Black is still better, but there is still work to be done.
<BR><BR><B>34...Bxd3! 35.Rxd3</B>
<BR><BR>Black saves the Bishop after 35.Bh5+ via interposing with 35...Bg6!.
<BR><BR><B>35...Ne1+ 36.Kf1 Nxd3 37.Bxb3 Rxb2 38.Rxb2 Nxb2</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh31X0QV6h5IUvmG7BLmkOzLL1Vh64Bud7uCyiQc1LESAPjkoYL8YgFpq7I9u0uu4EoMqitvopozI2fMGd70Ew6-LLiM8aVAlsiecM-_MNWY62eR-zdqX2vQ84cFcVc2-t7AhImEG3Om0Lo/s1600/FC33_6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh31X0QV6h5IUvmG7BLmkOzLL1Vh64Bud7uCyiQc1LESAPjkoYL8YgFpq7I9u0uu4EoMqitvopozI2fMGd70Ew6-LLiM8aVAlsiecM-_MNWY62eR-zdqX2vQ84cFcVc2-t7AhImEG3Om0Lo/s320/FC33_6.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>White may have eliminated the far advanced pawn, and he may have gotten the Bishop pair against the Knight pair on an open board, but the cost for this was too great, and the two extra connected passed pawns for Black will prove to be too much for White to handle.
<BR><BR><B>39.Ke2 c4 40.Bc2 d4 41.Be4 d3+ 42.Kd2 N6a4 43.Ke3 Nc5 44.Bf3 Nb3 0-1</B>
<BR><BR>White resigned on account of 45.Be4 d2 46.Bc2 d1=Q 47.Bxd1 Nxd1 48.Ke2 Nb2 49.Bf4 c3 50.h5 c2 51.Bd2 Nc4 52.Kd3 Nbxd2 53.Kxc2 Nf3 and Black wins easily.
<BR><BR><BR>So what we saw here was a super-aggressive line by White, forcing Black to use his Queen for defense, but after the strong move 13...Qe8!, he defuses White's attack. We also looked at an interesting line that 48 years later may be an improvement for White on move 15, and therefore, I think it would be advisable for Black to immediately exchange Queens with 14...h6 and 15...f5, giving White no opportunity to create havoc for the Black King. Later on in the game, we see Black playing the more dynamic move every time when given the choice between the safe draw and the "go for it" move. By taking the dynamic approach, White eventually buckled on moves 33 and 34. Black then won fairly easily.
<BR><BR>But the biggest thing is to keep in mind that you have to watch what White is doing, and that you cannot just automatically play 13...a4. Many times, this move is good, but we see here that Black has to play a defensive move instead, and next time, we will look at another scenario where Black has a better option than advancing the a-pawn with another of Uhlmann's games. And I'll give you a hint - another victory of his!
<BR><BR><BR>That does it for this edition of The French Connection. Til next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White!Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-7127902110912286042020-02-29T08:18:00.000-08:002020-02-29T08:18:52.291-08:00The French Connection: Volume 32Hello everyone and welcome to the thirty-second edition of The French Connection. Two articles ago, I wrote the article "<a href="http://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/02/chess-is-game-with-32-pieces.html"><U>Chess is a Game with 32 Pieces</U></a>", which talked about specifically not taking a cookie cutter approach to chess. The main game there was a Sicilian Defense, Prins Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3), and we witnessed Black just going on his merry way, playing the game like as if it was still a Najdorf, and paying basically zero attention to what White was doing, and got destroyed via an exchange sacrifice. In the tail end of that article, I mentioned various Queen Pawn openings where one has to watch out and pay very close attention to what their opponent is doing, and once again, not approach the game with a blind eye and just play moves out of habit.
<BR><BR>The King's Indian Attack is another one of those openings where one has to be careful if they are going to play it. Are you playing it as a legitimate opening? Do you maybe only play it against a specific defense, like the Caro-Kann, Sicilian, or French? Or are you basically ignoring Black and thinking that you can just play the same dozen moves to start the game and only then pay attention to what is going on?
<BR><BR>The game I am covering here is a King's Indian Attack verses the French, and we are going to see White blindly playing moves that work well against the Sicilian, but not against the French. So for those of you that play the King's Indian Attack against the French, this will be a valuable lesson if your reasoning behind playing the KIA is that you think you can take short cuts in the opening and just play blindly. For those of you that are advocates of the Black side of the French, you are about to see how to take advantage of blind play by White, which should in turn help you understand why White plays what he normally plays in the main lines of the KIA vs French.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's take a look at the feature game.
<BR><BR><BR>Tuesday Night Action 59, Round 4
<BR>W: Chase Bellamy (1714)
<BR>B: Patrick McCartney (2087)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.g3 c5 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Ngf3 Be7 7.O-O O-O 8.Re1 b5 9.e5 Nd7</B>
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<BR><BR>Thus far, everything played here is totally normal, but before we go any further, I would like to compare this to another position, namely one that typically comes from the King's Indian Attack versus Sicilian after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d3 Nc6 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.O-O Nge7 7.Re1 d6, which leads to the following diagram:
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGtN77vjXopgqqS3rngpvMpwNnhRRjY_O1jtdyTHMWS0suxKjlaHc1orxO4P45037U8JM3ep-3Q11OWV2E8kLyZMxmAIzzWdpW_QE4Ir1X4R2Jr7tFT216-v4qWY_RE5YgATabjA9Gu8pa/s1600/FC32_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGtN77vjXopgqqS3rngpvMpwNnhRRjY_O1jtdyTHMWS0suxKjlaHc1orxO4P45037U8JM3ep-3Q11OWV2E8kLyZMxmAIzzWdpW_QE4Ir1X4R2Jr7tFT216-v4qWY_RE5YgATabjA9Gu8pa/s200/FC32_2.png" width="200" height="200" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>What can you say about the two positions? Are they the same? Absolutely not. Note even close! You might argue that the only difference in White's position is his pawn is on e4 instead of e5 and his Knight is still on b1 rather than on d2, and that if you play 8.Nbd2 in the second diagram, you will just do the same thing that you'd do in the first diagram. That would be one of the worst mistakes that you can make. You also have to look at the differences in Black's position.
<BR><BR>Let's start with the second diagram. Black has a fianchettoed Bishop on an open diagonal. That Bishop also does the duty of guarding the King assuming Black will eventually castle Kingside as staying in the center for too long or castling Queenside doesn't make much sense unless White shows his hand too early and blindly tries to blast the Kingside. That said, Black does have to be careful about castling too early in this line. The d-pawn is on d6, which does not block White's Bishop on g2, but does attempt to cover e5, and so the hope is that White won't be able to play e5 all that easily, but Black must always watch out for tactics, particularly along the long diagonal, where White might even give up the e-pawn for other factors, and so Black cannot just blindly advance pawns on the Queenside with caution thrown to the wind for his Queenside pieces, and so in return for his extra defense on his King, he has to be more cautious on the Queenside. For this reason, an all out rampage on the Kingside by White is not a smart idea. Therefore, instead, now that the Knight is passively developed to e7, the Black King is somewhat safe, and Black is about to play moves like ...b6 and ...Bb7, fighting in the center, White should be trying to expand in the center. By moving his Knight to d2, all he is doing is blocking his Queen from guarding d4, and ultimately, it's d4 that White wants to be able to play. Therefore, 8.c3 is best here. Now Black is in the crossroads. Does he play something like 8...b6, allowing 9.d4 by White? Or does he stop 9.d4 with the move 8...e5? Both are legitimate ideas, and White must pay super close attention to what Black does. If he plays 8...b6, then White should be taking the center with 9.d4. If Black plays 8...e5, he has sealed off the diagonal of his Bishop, and White can look at playing an eventual b4, being in no fear of his Rook on a1 since the diagonal has been shut down. But notice that in both cases, White played 8.c3, and his play is predominantly going to be in the center or on the Queenside, depending on Black's reaction.
<BR><BR>Now, back to the first diagram resulting from the KIA vs French. Black played an early ...d5, supported by the pawn on e6, and basically told White that he can have the e5-square. In return, the d5-pawn is Black's strong point, and there is no reason to fear anything on the long diagonal. White is light years away from having tactics on the long diagonal via the Bishop attacking something like the currently loose Knight on c6 or Rook on a8. For this reason, Black has played the recent 8...b5. Notice that Black has also already castled, and so his King is committed to the Kingside, and there is no fianchetto of his Bishop. This can be good and bad. On the positive side, Black has not advanced any of his three pawns in front of the King, and so there is no hook for White anywhere. On the negative side, all of Black's pieces are far away from the King. The Knight on f6 was pushed away to d7, and the e5-pawn leaves Black slightly cramped, which can make it more difficult to bring the pieces to the defense of the Black King. This explains also explains why Black has played 8...b5 and isn't playing more cautiously on the Queenside. He has nowhere else to go! He will suffocate on the Kingside if he does nothing, and the center is blocked, not fluid, like we saw in the KIA vs Sicilian. This also indicates where White should be attacking. If Black can't get his pieces to the Kingside, White wants to create a local piece superiority, and that can only be done by charging the Kingside.
<BR><BR>So now, there should be a better understanding of what has to be done by both players, just because of the slight differences in the position. In the KIA vs Sicilian, it is a balancing act of attack and defense for Black, and he has to decide which trade-offs he wants. Does he want to stop d4 by White? Or does he want his Bishop not to be blocked by his own e-pawn? Does he want to stop e5? Or does he want to allow e5, but in return, owns the d5-square with his own strong pawn occupying it, blocking any play for White on the long diagonal?
<BR><BR>In the KIA vs French, it's a whole different story. Black has only one thing to do, and that is storm the Queenside at full force. In return, White has only one idea here, and that's to charge at the Black King, which is for the most part alone and doesn't have his army to defend himself. The KIA vs French requires a much more violent approach by both sides, neither having time to negotiate trades in positional advantages. Almost like what the stock market is doing right now due to the Corona virus. Take action now, or just sit back and watch yourself continue to get scorched!
<BR><BR><BR>Now that we understand the differences between the KIA vs Sicilian and KIA vs French, we will see here that White's next move is likely not best.
<BR><BR><B>10.c3?!</B>
<BR><BR>Now you might be wondering why I gave it a dubious assessment rather than outright bad. This move, in and of itself, is not by any means a blunder, but it's a step in the wrong direction. There are cases in the KIA vs French where this advancement of the c-pawn can be useful, stopping a Knight or Bishop from coming to b4, or possibly controlling the action of what happens once the Black pawn gets to b4. It is what follows the next few moves that will really show the problem with White's play, which will very much resemble White's ideas in the KIA vs Sicilian where Black allows d4. The problem is, that's not what we have here. Black's pawn is on d5, not d6.
<BR><BR><B>10...a5 11.d4?</B>
<BR><BR>So what do we have now? This almost looks like a Closed Tarrasch with White behind in development, spending two moves to get the pawn on d4 instead of one, and fianchettoing the Bishop rather than putting it on the more active d3-square. This move does not make much sense, and simply allows Black to continue his Queenside onslaught with zero disturbance to his lonely King out there on g8.
<BR><BR><B>11...b4 12.Nb3?</B>
<BR><BR>Now Black will be able to shut down the long diagonal completely with tempo, drive the Knight back to where it came from, and transition his attack to the c3-square, where Black will likely trade rather than advance. White had to try 12.c4 here, having one last shot at opening up the center since he has arleady failed to attack the Kingside. In essence, all this move does is force Black to do what he wants to do anyway. In addition, with all of this extra time, and no attack on his King, Black will actually end up advancing his f-pawn, attacking the White center from the other side, a move that is almost never played in the KIA vs French because White should be busy blasting the Black King.
<BR><BR><B>12...c4 13.Nbd2 a4</B>
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<BR><BR><B>14.Nf1?!</B>
<BR><BR>At this point, after losing as many tempi as he has, White should be looking at damage control. Best here is 14.a3, when after 14...bxc3 15.bxc3, Black is only slightly better. White has multiple weaknesses on a3 and c3, but Black does still have to watch out for his King, and he is limited to only one open file on the Queenside.
<BR><BR><B>14...a3! 15.bxa3 bxc3</B>
<BR><BR>The correct pawn to capture. The a3-pawn will end up being traded for the c3-pawn where White will have an isolated outside passer while Black has a protected passer, but bearing in mind that the concept of the outside passer mainly applies to endgames, that in this case the pawn is isolated and weak more than it is a benefit, and that it is only on the second rank compared to Black's protected passer that is only three moves away from promotion, Black is significantly better here, if not already winning.
<BR><BR><B>16.Re3 Qa5 17.Qc2 Bxa3 18.Bxa3 Qxa3 19.Rxc3</B>
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<BR><BR>Black's Queen is under attack. What should Black do here? Should he be thinking offense or defense at this point? White possibly has Ng5 coming, leading to a cheap threat. Does Black need to worry about it? Where should the Black Queen go?
<BR><BR><B>19...Qa7</B>
<BR><BR>This is the more aggressive, but also more risky approach. The more solid and defensive option was 19...Qe7, looking to consolidate and trusting the c-pawn to be a long term asset. Here, White has the opportunity to make the position messy, though Black is still better, and so the move played is not bad, but Black has to be careful of the potential consequences.
<BR><BR><B>20.Qd2</B>
<BR><BR>This move does nothing to help White's cause. Yes, the weakness for White has transitioned from c3 to d4, and the cheap shot move 20.Ng5 is not good. Black can just play 20...g6, and the creation of the hook is insufficient for White as his attack there is too slow. The d-pawn will fall, and the connected passers for Black will be lethal.
<BR><BR>The correct move here was 20.Rxc4 when Black is still better after 20...dxc4 21.Nf5 g6 22.Bxc6 Rb8, but the position is messy and there are tactics that Black has to look out for.
<BR><BR><B>20...f6</B>
<BR><BR>With no pressure on the Black King, this normally unthinkable move in the KIA vs French became a reality for Black.
<BR><BR><B>21.Bh3 Ndxe5?!</B>
<BR><BR>If there were any true mistakes by Black in the game, this would be it. Yes, Black is still slightly better, but getting cute this like was unnecessary. Patience should be exercised, and after 21...Re8, White has nothing.
<BR><BR><B>22.dxe5 fxe5 23.Ng5 Nd4</B>
<BR><BR>Now Black has a major threat that White does not resolve.
<BR><BR><B>24.Qe1?</B>
<BR><BR>White had to play 24.Bg2 to give the Knight an escape after Black's next move, minimizing Black's advantage.
<BR><BR><B>24...h6</B>
<BR><BR>Once again, White is now dead lost, and there is no going back. White tries for desperation, but winds up allowing a really pretty tactic for Black.
<BR><BR><B>25.Qxe5 hxg5 26.Bg4 Rf6 27.Nd2</B>
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<BR><BR>Almost any move wins for Black, but do you see the best move?
<BR><BR><B>27...Nb3!!</B>
<BR><BR>It should be noted that Black could have, and probably should have played this move a move earlier, but with White's last move, this move is even prettier! The Rook on a1, Knight on d2, and Pawn on f2 are all hanging!
<BR><BR><B>28.Nxb3</B>
<BR><BR>While this leads to the saving of the most material for one move, it loses immediately, not that anything else was better. White can safely resign, but if he wants to test Black's defense first, he should try 28.Rf3 Nxd2 (Black could be greedy and take the Rook with 28.Nxa1, but why? Taking the Knight is simpler!) 29.Rxf6 gxf6 30.Qxf6 Ne4 31.Qxg6+ Kf8 32.Qh6+ Qg7 and it's a cakewalk win for Black.
<BR><BR><B>28...Qxf2+ 29.Kh1 Rxa2!</B>
<BR><BR>The Rook is poisoned as now 30.Rxa2 Qf1 would be mate, but the attack on the second rank is so lethal that all White can do is delay the inevitable by giving up his Queen, which he does.
<BR><BR><B>30.Qe2 Rxe2 31.Bxe2 Qxe2 0-1</B>
<BR><BR>And at this point, White resigned anyway as outside of a couple of one move delay tactics, there is no stopping checkmate.
<BR><BR><BR>So what we covered today was mostly a continuation of the idea that one cannot blindly play the opening in such a manner that they totally ignore what their opponent is doing until the middle game is reached, even with openings that one might view as being systematic, such as the London, Colle, or in the case of this game, the King's Indian Attack. You still must keep your eyes open for what your opponent is doing because with a clear understanding of the ideas for both sides, the difference of a pawn move (...d6 vs ...d5) or the relocation of a single piece (...Be7 vs ...Bg7) could have a major impact on how the opening needs to be played. At the same time, we did see Black possibly get a little carried away by sacrificing the Knight for the two pawns when a commanding lead could be held with patience, but White's clear intention of holding onto as much material as possible and not taking advantage of possible dynamic ideas to at least make the position messy is what ultimately did him in. When you are in a desperate situation, conservative moves like 20.Qd2 will never cut it.
<BR><BR><BR>That concludes this edition of The French Connection. Til next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White.Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-31443975646033120812020-02-22T07:08:00.001-08:002020-02-22T07:28:35.109-08:00The French Connection: Volume 31Hello everyone and welcome to the thirty-first edition of The French Connection. As you may recall in the previous four editions, we have been heavily covering the Advance Variation, and here, we are going to be digging very deep into the line with 9...Bd7 and 10...Nh6 with pretty much a full explanation of the ideas behind this line for Black. With this explained, readers will be able to understand why such an innocent looking 11th move for Black was not very good at all. It was a move played based on principles more than anything else.
<BR><BR>In chess, most people are told to focus on principles over theory and specific lines, and many do that. What they often fail to do is follow the wisdom of starting with the Ruy Lopez and Queen's Gambit from both sides. The reason for this is that the theory of those two openings fall very much in line with opening principles to the letter. The same cannot be said about the French Defense. Just look at the Winawer Variation - 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7. Fischer has always condemned this line, claiming doubt in it's soundness because it is anti-positional and weakens the Kingside. Black has voluntarily surrendered his dark-squared Bishop for what? Doubled pawns for White? It isn't until you fully understand the opening in depth that you appreciate the positives in the position over the negatives. If Black didn't have anything to offset the weakness of the dark squares on the Kingside, the Winawer would be out of business! I think we all know that that is certainly not true, despite Fischer's rant about it! The catch is that principles alone will not get through to survival. The French Defense is one of those openings where if White knows what he is doing, Black also must know what he's doing and must have a complete understanding of all the highly theoretical lines. If White tries to deviate, playing an inferior move, whether it be trying to pull a cheap trick on Black or playing something slow that simply leads to completion of development for White and nothing else, then this is where principles come into play. But the critical lines like the Winawer with 7.Qg4, Universal System in the Tarrasch, or Advance with 5...Qb6 6.a3, just to name a few, it is critical to know more than just principles when playing the French Defense.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's look at our feature game.
<BR><BR><BR>Land of the Sky XXXIII, Round 4
<BR>W: Patrick McCartney (2087)
<BR>B: Rochan Bakthisaran (1897)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 Nge7</B>
<BR><BR>This move can very much lead to the same position as 6...Nh6, and in this case does. The main difference is which sideline you want to deal with. 6...Nh6 allows White to play, if he wishes, 7.b4 cxd4 8.Bxh6 (instead of the immediate 8.cxd4) while 6...Nge7 gives White the added option of 7.dxc5. In this game, the main line is still reached, and is a fully viable option for White.
<BR><BR><B>7.b4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Bb2 Bd7 10.g4 Nh6 11.h3</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5iUunKlgTEQ_dy2E5ITETn_HXNS-V-uZcNyfLvLqd-3hFpfhWJ2o5jdD3xgojfVwZdac8K9s_6D-_N5OeRN_HRvHhoSPEluLlBDSTf6dHW_rSvNmEIuBMsOhAZS_7-vMrrO6LiwibDgke/s1600/FC31_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5iUunKlgTEQ_dy2E5ITETn_HXNS-V-uZcNyfLvLqd-3hFpfhWJ2o5jdD3xgojfVwZdac8K9s_6D-_N5OeRN_HRvHhoSPEluLlBDSTf6dHW_rSvNmEIuBMsOhAZS_7-vMrrO6LiwibDgke/s320/FC31_1.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>For details on getting to this point, I refer you to <U><a href="http://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-french-connection-volume-28.html">The French Connection: Volume 28</a></U>.
<BR><BR>Now take a minute or two and think to yourself "What would I play here?". First thing you need to do is identify the situation. In <U><a href="http://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-french-connection-volume-30.html">The French Connection: Volume 30</a></U>, we talked briefly about why early developments of the light-squared Bishop to d7 were dubious in the notes to White's 7th move. Why was that? The Bishop move allows White to get his King to safety and maintain the advantage. In the 5...Qb6 line, White cannot tuck his King away and be able to maintain the advantage. Well, this comes at a cost for Black as well. While White's issue is King safety, Black's is piece coordination. Sure, the Knight on c6, Queen on b6, and from a defensive standpoint, avoiding checks, the Bishop on d7 all work together, but what about that Knight out there on h6? These two factors should give a hint as to what Black should do here. There are two acceptable moves. See if you can figure out what one of them is before reading the analysis following the next move.
<BR><BR><B>11...Be7?</B>
<BR><BR>So what we have is a clash of King safety versus piece coordination. To continue with the lack of King safety, Black needs to continue to push on the d4-pawn and the Queenside, where it would come at a cost for White to get out of the mess, such as relinquishing his best minor piece, the Light-Squared Bishop, which we are about to see in the analysis here. The alternative is to focus on getting the rest of the pieces into the game. This will take time and allow White to get his pieces into the game as well, but at least Black is fighting with all of his army and not falling behind where all of his pieces get tied down, as we shall see in the game itself.
<BR><BR>So the first option for Black is 11...Rc8. Black will continue to bombard the Queenside. After 12.Nc3 Na5 (We saw in <U><a href="http://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-french-connection-volume-28.html">The French Connection: Volume 28</a></U> why Black needs to wait to play this move until White has already played Nc3) 13.Na4 Qc6 14.Rc1 Nc4, we have a position with play for both sides. That Knight on c4 is a problem for White, and he is virtually forced to relinquish his Light-Squared Bishop for it. After 15.Bxc4 bxc4 16.Nc5, we have the following position:
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJUenXCrSdEduf-wjT0rDW_SmdwP7I1LVwZbT_Drq0waqGef2iUU0H-J8f1h_Xk9GRoq3AIKo_whOD60xwn8VERmMgVu7j85yURbd-4maNx5-RArr-UF5GU47dDvh03HPZXWjfU34sjBn/s1600/FC31_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJUenXCrSdEduf-wjT0rDW_SmdwP7I1LVwZbT_Drq0waqGef2iUU0H-J8f1h_Xk9GRoq3AIKo_whOD60xwn8VERmMgVu7j85yURbd-4maNx5-RArr-UF5GU47dDvh03HPZXWjfU34sjBn/s200/FC31_2.png" width="200" height="200" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Now Black must make a critical decision. White's idea is to break through with d5. Black has to figure out whether to block it, which would require the Queen to do that job, or allow it and weather the storm. I think Black's best off allowing the pawn advance with 16...Ng8 where after 17.d5 Qxd5 <I>(17...exd5 is bad due to 18.e6 Bxe6 {18...fxe6 19.Ne5 is winning for White} 19.Nd4 Qd6 20.O-O and now Black has the painful choice of two bad lines, either 20...Nf6 21.Qa4+ Bd7 22.Rfe1+ Ne4 23.Nxe4 dxe4 24.Qc2 or 20...Rxc5 21.bxc5 Qd7 {21...Qxc5 22.Re1} 22.f4 Qc7 23.Kg2 Bxc5 24.Nxe6 fxe6 25.Qe2 Qd7 26.f5, both of which ought to lead to a win for White.)</I> 18.Nxd7 Qxd7 19.Qxd7+ Kxd7 20.Ng5 Nh6 21.b5 c3 22.Rxc3 Rxc3 23.Bxc3 Bxa3 24.Ke2 Be7 25.Ne4 Ra8 <I>(25...Rc8 26.Ra1 and Black has nothing better than 26...Ra8, handing White a free move)</I> 26.Ra1 and the position is basically equal.
<BR><BR>The problem with blocking the pawn is that after 16...Qd5 17.Nxd7 Kxd7 18.O-O f5 19.Qe2, White is better after both 19...fxg4 20.hxg4 Nxg4 21.Ne1 Nh6 22.Ng2 where Black cannot prevent White from forcing the Queen off of d5 and pushing through with what is now a Black King stuck in the center, and 19...b5 20.Nd2 Be7 21.Nb1 and once again, Black cannot prevent the Knight from chasing the Queen off of the blockading square.
<BR><BR>The second option is to hit the White center from the front and get the Knight into the game with 11...f6 when White can't hold on to the center, and so 12.exf6 gxf6 is played, and now after 13.Nc3, it should first be noted that those tricks with sacrificing the Knight on b4 do not work here compared to what we saw in two recent articles because of the added defense to the Knight on c3 via the Bishop on b2. In those cases where it did work, the White Bishop was developed to e3 rather than b2. Therefore, Black should carry on with 13...Nf7 when 14.Na4 Qc7 15.Rc1 Qf4 16.Rc3 b6 leads to another interesting situation:
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYllwaYNzKduswmAUqc8q_VNQCGRsVK4quECL-HiMCE5R2zk05OJ0Z5tyehh8RydmZNRWErYFEZr4uSrQ00Of7wk6j2mrj2QsJBFz3xkEMMPrJz_XnZwBkzfl1AkM3I5OdLvgdBOBoCtYs/s1600/FC31_3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYllwaYNzKduswmAUqc8q_VNQCGRsVK4quECL-HiMCE5R2zk05OJ0Z5tyehh8RydmZNRWErYFEZr4uSrQ00Of7wk6j2mrj2QsJBFz3xkEMMPrJz_XnZwBkzfl1AkM3I5OdLvgdBOBoCtYs/s200/FC31_3.png" width="200" height="200" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Now White's main break is g5, but which way should he go about it? Turns out that white has two roughly equal options. The first is 17.Bc1 when 17...Qd6! 18.c5 Nxb4! 19.axb4 Qxb4 20.Bd2 Qxa4 21.Qxa4 Bxa4 22.gxf6 is roughly equal. The second is 17.Rg1. Here, 17...Nxb4? doesn't work as White is clearly better after 18.axb4 Bxb4 19.Be2 O-O 20.Kf1 Bxa4 21.Qxa4 Bxc3 22.Bxc3, and so therefore, better is 17...Ng5 18.Bb5 Nxf3+ 19.Rxf3 Qh2 20.Kf1, when an unclear position arises. There is no way for White to trap the Queen, and if both players are stubborn enough, this could abruptly end in a draw by repetition. After any move by Black, such as 20...Bg7, White can harass the Queen with 21.Rg2, knowing that if Black doesn't want to retreat, you could end up in a repetition with 21...Qh1+ 22.Rg1 Qh2 23.Rg2 Qh1+ 24.Rg1 Qh2. That said, White is not forced to take this route, and he could even test Black once to see if he retreats, and then do something else after the 2-fold repetition. Both players just need to be aware that this is possible, just like the draw that is available to White in the Zaitsev Variation of the Ruy Lopez.
<BR><BR>In the game, Black will soon see himself getting into major trouble. The problem is that this Bishop move doesn't really accomplish anything, and all it does it lose all flexibility. For instance, after the 11...f6 move, forcing the trade of pawns, the Bishop could be better off on d6, which would be a waste of a move by Black, or g7 or h6, squares which can no longer be reached from e7.
<BR><BR><B>12.Nc3 f6 13.exf6 gxf6</B>
<BR><BR>Black had to take with the pawn anyway as after 13...Bxf6?? 14.g5, there is no desperado move to get out of the fork, and White simply wins material, and so therefore, again I ask, what did 11...Be7 accomplish?
<BR><BR><B>14.Na4</B>
<BR><BR>So, in essence, compared to the 11...f6 line, White is a move ahead with a misplaced Black Bishop on e7.
<BR><BR><B>14...Qd8 15.Nc5 b6</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdy1S8P7a-Cos5W9ik_VJIWXLwzmsTPQujjLiZaqpKGUW2xkwNCkeBXzq-DS3rG5UQQsPImUmUiubOJ-asfu63y8QAyDLu1_FKJ8an-pDqdjvX3o9kiYnAfkcgI2wM8-YONN8lYZo_5o13/s1600/FC31_4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdy1S8P7a-Cos5W9ik_VJIWXLwzmsTPQujjLiZaqpKGUW2xkwNCkeBXzq-DS3rG5UQQsPImUmUiubOJ-asfu63y8QAyDLu1_FKJ8an-pDqdjvX3o9kiYnAfkcgI2wM8-YONN8lYZo_5o13/s320/FC31_4.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR><B>16.Nxd7!</B>
<BR><BR>A player who lacks experience in the French would ridicule this move, giving up a Knight for a Bad Bishop in a position where he has a slight advantage in space, but here, it is correct. The Bishop acts as a key defender to e6. With the Bishop removed, combined with the b-pawn advancing to b6, many of the light squares, including e6 itself, become weakened by this trade. Retreating the Knight is vastly inferior. After 16.Nf3 Bd6 17.Rc1 Nf7, White is still better, but the Knight on d3 is merely getting in the way of the rest of White's pieces, and playing in this manner simply gives Black additional time to coordinate his pieces. Just like the Winawer mentioned in the introduction, the French is full of exceptions, and grabbing the "Bad Bishop" for a Knight is sometimes one of them. Keep in mind that you have to evaluate this trade on an individual basis. This trade is not always good, but here, it's the only move that leads to an outright winning position for White.
<BR><BR><B>16...Qxd7 17.Bb5! Nf7 18.Rc1 Rc8 19.Qc2 Nfd8</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpK_nLV4Gg-vcFMEeE__HThyGRaXhIcxSDiZo4ShrOIGl7YHisy3CV3bt8LUUJZsFFqK3UNE9z9Y8mM3LtUIEXf6cVqLtx6J-jgtamv_Fqldb1u0Bh5Lo0As9su7FCW2jusQPiMNozcACH/s1600/FC31_5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpK_nLV4Gg-vcFMEeE__HThyGRaXhIcxSDiZo4ShrOIGl7YHisy3CV3bt8LUUJZsFFqK3UNE9z9Y8mM3LtUIEXf6cVqLtx6J-jgtamv_Fqldb1u0Bh5Lo0As9su7FCW2jusQPiMNozcACH/s320/FC31_5.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>So we have a position where three White pieces, the Bishop on b5, Queen on c2, and Rook on c1, tie down four Black pieces, the Knight on c6, the Knight on d8, the Rook on c8, and the Queen on d7, and so, in essence, White has an extra piece that is free to move. Now you might be thinking to yourself "sure, it's that horrible Bishop on b2", but that Bishop is doing a critical job. It covers e5! In fact, White's idea is to continue to dominate e5, and to use his pieces when he is ready and not before that. Besides using fewer pieces to tie Black down, it is White that can decide when to release the stranglehold, and will do so on his own time!
<BR><BR>Knowing that White is trying to dominate e5, do you see his next move?
<BR><BR><B>20.g5!</B>
<BR><BR>Removing the pawn from f6. Whether Black allows White to capture, captures on g5, or advances to f5, the e5-square will be weakened no matter what!
<BR><BR><B>20...Kf7 21.Qe2</B>
<BR><BR>Now that the King has come forward toward the Kingside, White shifts his focus from the c6-Knight to the King.
<BR><BR><B>21...a5?</B>
<BR><BR>This move serves little purpose. What is Black trying to do? Win a pawn? Does he not realize the danger of his King? As we will see in the game, White could care less about the b-pawn. There is no attack down the c-file for Black, and so he should probably have focused on trying to defend the King with a move like 21...Rg8. This should not work and White is winning no matter what, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
<BR><BR><B>22.gxf6 Bxf6 23.Rg1 axb4</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxh5vqOz5fFPsuJaUgl8tMrbgI2VARqV7ZaEHpPy5yJl0TKKicy0g4Q08Kok0wsLfAHt24THt9L9BBkf3NuEkCb_76W2YGQmDE9A8AeHlDUNIH9KPqGLyyEOGAKWw7zWLAkrgHu-98tObY/s1600/FC31_6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxh5vqOz5fFPsuJaUgl8tMrbgI2VARqV7ZaEHpPy5yJl0TKKicy0g4Q08Kok0wsLfAHt24THt9L9BBkf3NuEkCb_76W2YGQmDE9A8AeHlDUNIH9KPqGLyyEOGAKWw7zWLAkrgHu-98tObY/s320/FC31_6.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Black has just won a pawn. Does White care? Absolutely not! In fact, he hopes that Black will capture again on a3! With the Rook on g1, a Queen coming to h5, and a Bishop on a3 if Black were to capture a second time, the King is trapped in the crossfires. This extra pawn only means something if Black can reach an endgame, but reaching an endgame is absolutely hopeless for Black in this position. Every White piece plays a role, including the Bishop on b2. What is the Black Knight on d8 doing other than blocking his own Rook on c8 from coming into the game? Sure the h8-Rook can move to an open file, but that will take an extra move that Black does not have time for. The Queen is passive. Outside of being up a pawn, there is literally nothing positive that can be said about Black's position. White has no interest in slowing down, and is ready to blast the Black King!
<BR><BR><B>24.Ne5+! Bxe5 25.Qh5+ Kf8 26.dxe5 Qf7 27.Qh6+ Ke8 28.Be2</B>
<BR><BR>This move, and virtually any other move that doesn't outright hang material, should win easily for White. That said, even stronger was 28.Rg7!, when after 28...Qf5 29.Qf6 Qxf6 30.exf6 Kf8 (What other move does he have? Black is virtually frozen!) 31.axb4 Rg8 32.Ba6 Ra8 33.b5 Nb4 34.Ba3 and Black is busted. For example, 34...Rxg7 35.Bxb4+! drops a piece.
<BR><BR><B>28...Rg8</B>
<BR><BR>Virtually forced to tactically prevent the pin of the Queen to the King.
<BR><BR><B>29.Rxg8+ Qxg8 30.axb4 Ne7?</B>
<BR><BR>This move loses on the spot, but there is no mercy for Black, even after a move like 30...Kd7 as 31.Bb5 continues to tie Black down.
<BR><BR><B>31.Rxc8 Nxc8 32.Bb5+</B>
<BR><BR>And now the only way to avoid instant checkmate is to jettison the Knight with 32...Nc6, giving the King the d8-square, but even then, Black's totally busted. Instead, Black fails to play this move, and is instantly mated.
<BR><BR><B>32...Ke7 33.Qf6# 1-0</B>
<BR><BR><BR>For anybody that is an advocate of the French Defense, myself included, this game can be very painful to look at. Yes, I had the White pieces in this game, and definitely consider this one of my better played games with the White pieces, but it is still painful as a French advocate to see Black go down like this. That said, if all you do when studying an opening is see the positive side of everything, you will never learn, because one learns a lot more from their mistakes than from their successes. We analyzed in depth Black's ideas at move 11, and rather than just some database dump full of moves, we reasoned it out in both lines, and with thorough analysis, we found the ways for Black to either equalize, or at minimum, create a highly unclear position, and the purpose this game served was to illustrate what could happen after a single move that conceptually looks fine, but turns out to be a very lazy move with horrifying after effects. Probably the biggest thing that you have to deal with in the French Defense, especially the Advance Variation, compared to say, the black side of the Ruy Lopez, is the lack of space, and when you lack space, accuracy becomes more critical. This is one of the main reasons why, when I wrote the 7-part Repertoire for White and Black on the French Defense in 2017, that I gave the Advance Variation as the line covered for White! The Advance Variation is more about understanding, and less about memorization, than say, 3.Nc3. However, actually understanding it, and not just memorizing it, is more critical here than in almost any other opening known to man kind, especially for Black!
<BR><BR><BR>This concludes this edition of The French Connection. Till next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White.Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-40877772496315180432020-02-09T08:32:00.001-08:002020-02-09T08:32:46.682-08:00Chess is a Game with 32 PiecesHello everyone and welcome. In the previous article, The French Connection: Volume 30, we previewed the article with the first round from Land of the Sky, a tournament played in the final weekend of January. Here, and the next article, we will be covering two other games from that tournament.
<BR><BR>You might be wondering what the title is all about. Have you ever heard someone say, either in person or on a forum, something along the lines of "I have no idea what my opponent was playing, but I was playing the King's Indian", or some other "setup" often played against multiple lines? If they tell you that, they are amongst those that believe that chess is a 16-piece game, and does not understand that the opening is determined by both players, not by one.
<BR><BR>For example, let's say you are a King's Indian player. The game starts 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3. Black thinks "Ok, White probably just made a mistake playing the Knight in front of the c-pawn in a Queen pawn opening. I am going to blast him with my King's Indian Defense! So Black plays 3...Bg7. There is nothing wrong with this move. Another option is 3...d5, preventing 4.e4 and leading to what is known as the Barry Attack after 4.Bf4. However, back to 3...Bg7. Now White plays 4.e4 and Black plays 4...d6. What Black now needs to understand is that this is no longer a King's Indian Defense, that 3.Nc3 was not a mistake, and that we are now in a Pirc Defense. Black has done nothing wrong thus far, but let's say that after 5.Be2 O-O 6.O-O, a main line of the Classical Variation of the Pirc Defense, Black, still in a King's Indian mentality, plays 6...e5, a move that has been played in this opening, but 6...c6 is the main line and is far stronger. Black assumes that white will advance the d-pawn, where he can then move his Knight and advance the f-pawn. White, instead, plays the strong 7.dxe5!. Black says "Ok, White is going to play the boring exchange line. This is an easy draw for me! After 7...dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Bg5 Re8. Ok, so now White is going to play 10.Nd5, right? Once again, this is NOT a King's Indian. White does not have the pawn on c4, and here, 10.Rad1! is strong. This is not a refutation to 6...e5, but White's advantage is greater here than against the stronger 6...c6, with the idea of attacking the e4-pawn via a future ...b5 and trying to attack the Knight on c3, the only piece guarding e4 after 6 moves. There is nothing wrong with a King's Indian player walking into a Pirc Defense, but then he needs to apply the proper ideas of the Pirc rather than just blindly continue to play under the delusion that this is a King's Indian Defense. As a King's Indian player, I've occasionally ended up in a Pirc, and while it's not my main line of defense to 1.e4 (the French is), I play the position like it's a Pirc, and not a King's Indian, and I would play 6...c6 in this position.
<BR><BR>Now that we see what the title is all about, the game that is featured in this article will see Black, via a different opening, do something very similar to the fake incident illustrated above, and what we will see is a game where White has the advantage throughout the entire game. We will see White playing a few sub-par moves that allow Black the opportunity to hold his disadvantage to a minimum, but after continued failure of believing he's playing "his opening" rather than what is actually featured on the board, he gets blasted in short order via a strong exchange sacrifice by White.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's look at the feature game.
<BR><BR><BR>Land of the Sky XXXIII, Round 2
<BR>W: Patrick McCartney (2087)
<BR>B: Peter Liotino (1878)
<BR>Sicilian Defense, Prins Variation
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3</B>
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<BR><BR>Those that have seen previous articles, such as the first two rounds of the tournament in Georgia that I played in October and covered here in late 2019, will know that I play this system regularly, and I have covered many ideas for White, and will continue to do so, but I want to spend a moment here explaining what options Black legitimately has here. In essence, there are three approaches to defending this line.
<BR><UL><LI>The first option is to play an early 5...e5. This drives the White Knight to b3, and after 6.Nb3 (6.Bb5+, known as the Venice Attack, is another line, but it is not good for White, and a little research by Black would be valuable because with correct play, Black gets a small advantage here), there are three possibilities for Black.
<UL><LI>He can play an early 6...d5, beating White to control of the d5-square, but this often leads to miserable positions for Black. An example can be found in round 2 of the mentioned tournament in Georgia in October, which I covered <U><a href="https://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2019/11/game-analysis-atlanta-class_25.html">here</a></U>. This is not meant to imply the line is bad. It is fine for Black, and with correct play, he should be able to draw it, but despite the high draw ratio, Black has very few winning chances, if any at all, and do you really want to play for two results as Black? If you are in the final round and need only a draw, I would recommend this line for Black. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't.
<LI>The second option is a positional approach. 6...a5. The idea here is to harass the Knight before White has time to set up the Maroczy Bind, and White should now play either 7.Nc3 or 7.Bb5+ instead of 7.c4?!.
<LI>The third option, and by far the most popular in this line, is the combative 6...Be6. Follow that up with 7...Nbd7 and 8...Rc8 and White is left with a choice to play the materialistic, though passive 9.Na3, or the pawn sacrifice line with 9.Nc3.
</UL>
<LI>The second option is to play 5...Nc6, leading to dragon structures. After 6.c4, Black has two options. The first is to play 6...g6 and directly transpose to the main lines of the Accelerated Dragon, Maroczy Bind. The other is a tricky line with 6...Qb6. After 7.Nc2 g6 8.Nc3 Bg7 9.Re1, Black can continue to proceed with normal development, or he can try the very tricky 9...Ng4. The idea is that 10.fxg4? Bxc3+ is winning for Black. Instead, after 10.Qd2 Bh6 11.Qe2 Bxc1 12.Nd5!, White gets a small advantage in what turns out to be a fairly quiet game.
<LI>The third and final option is to play it similar to an English opening, which can also lead to the Maroczy Bind position, and defend the position with a hedgehog setup.
</UL>
<BR>Outside of these three lines of defense, Black will usually get into a lot of trouble, and what happens here in this game is no different.
<BR><BR><B>5...a6</B>
<BR><BR>This is the first sign that Black is both a Najdorf player, and also a player that likely doesn't understand the idea behind 5.f3. They probably assume, or at least hope, for a transposition to the 6.f3 Najdorf, which can also lead to lines of the English Attack. This move itself is not losing, and Black can still easily play the hedgehog setup, but since those that intend to play that line tend to play an early ...e6 rather than an early ...a6, probably means you aren't getting a transposition, although I have occasionally seen it happen where Black has played this move and lead to a hedgehog setup.
<BR><BR><B>6.c4 e6 7.Nc3 Be7 8.Be3 Qc7 9.Qd2 Nbd7 10.Be2</B>
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<BR><BR>Ok, so Black is going to go for a hedgehog setup, right? Fianchetto the Bishop with ...b6 and ...Bb7, castle Kingside, and play ...Ne5, right?
<BR><BR><B>10...Ne5</B>
<BR><BR>Ok, so Black goes for this move first. Possibly a tad early, but it shouldn't hurt Black. White plays a move that shows why Black usually completes development first.
<BR><BR><B>11.Rc1!</B>
<BR><BR>The c-pawn is currently poisoned!
<BR><BR><B>11...Bd7?!</B>
<BR><BR>Ok, so now it is clear that Black thinks he's playing a Najdorf, and doesn't get that this position, with White pawns on c4 and e4, is not a Najdorf, and that Black cannot just blindly play his desired line of defense against the main line Open Sicilian. This is just like the hypothetical example in the introduction of a King's Indian player trying to play King's Indian moves and apply King's Indian ideas to what was actually a Pirc Defense. Now we see Black with the delusional idea that he can just blindly play the Black side of the English Attack lines of the Najdorf, which Black's 13th move will confirm, when what we have is not an English Attack. Sure, White played f3, Be3, and Qd2, but that doesn't make it an English Attack. The Yugoslav Attack along with the Maroczy Bind, whether via the English or Sicilian, also feature these moves, and just like how the difference between the King's Indian and the Pirc is the c-pawn, where the King's Indian sees the c-pawn on c4 while the Pirc sees the c-pawn at home on c2. The English Attack sees the White c-pawn on c2 while the Maroczy Bind sees the White c-pawn on c4, and the differences in the two positions is alarming.
<BR><BR><B>12.O-O Rc8 13.b3</B>
<BR><BR>After Black's 12...Rc8, the c-pawn was threatened.
<BR><BR><B>13...h5?</B>
<BR><BR>Even further confirmation that Black doesn't understand the position. In the English Attack, White castles Queenside in most lines, and goes for a direct attack on the Kingside. In the Maroczy Bind, White might occasionally attack the Kingside, but that can often be dangerous with his own King sitting on that side of the board. Notice that White castled short, which is normal in this line. Now had Black fianchettoed his Queen's Bishop and set up a Maroczy Bind, then with the Bishop raking down the long diagonal, the Queen coming in, the Knight coming to e5, could raise major questions to White playing a move like g4. He might be able to eventually, but he has to be able to defend the weakening of his Kingside and the cover on his own King to do it.
<BR><BR>In the game, we will see White's attack come down the middle of the board, especially now given that it's clear that Black's King will remain in the center, but even in the normal lines of the Maroczy Bind, White will often use things like the loose Bishop on e7 as a tactical resource to attack in the center.
<BR><BR><B>14.Rfd1 Qb8 15.Kh1 h4 16.f4 Neg4</B>
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<BR><BR><B>17.Bxg4</B>
<BR><BR>This is the first time that White made a slight error. It would have been better to immediately retreat with 17.Bg1, and after 17...b5, reply with 18.h3, chasing the Knight away. We will see this ultimately happen in the game, but by trading the Bishop for the Knight, it alleviates Black's cramp a little. Without the trade, Black wouldn't be able to retreat back to f6 as his other Knight sits there.
<BR><BR><B>17...Nxg4 18.Bg1 g6?</B>
<BR><BR>Black shows fear of an f5-push, and hands the advantage right back to White. Black would be near equal by simply retreating 18...Nf6 and then 19.Nf3 h3 or else playing 18...h3 straight away.
<BR><BR><B>19.Nf3 Bc6</B>
<BR><BR>Now 19...h3 is answered by 20.c5! and Black is in trouble.
<BR><BR><B>20.h3 Nf6 21.Re1 Rd8</B>
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<BR><BR><B>22.Qe3</B>
<BR><BR>This was to set up the next move, but this move isn't necessary. White can blast the position open now with 22.Nd5! Black cannot win material safely. If he tries to grab the Knight and keep the material via 22...exd5 23.exd5 Bd7, he will get blasted via 24.Qd4 Kf8 25.Ng5 Qc8 26.Rxe7 Kxe7 27.c5 Bf5 28.Re1+, and other lines of defense from move 24 onward are only worse, and so Black cannot safely hold on to the material, and would have to give the Bishop up on c6, or else not take on d5 in the first place.
<BR><BR><B>22...Nh5 23.Nd5 Ng3+ 24.Kh2 exd5 25.exd5 Nf5 26.Qc3</B>
<BR><BR>Stronger was 26.Qe2!, where once again, Black pays the price if he tries to hold the material. For example, after 26...Bd7? 27.Nd4 Qc7 (other moves, like 27...O-O, drop the Bishop after a Knight trade) 28.Nxf5 Bxf5 29.Bb6! and Black is dead. Instead, 26...O-O would be relatively best, but White is still winning.
<BR><BR><B>26...Rh5?</B>
<BR><BR>The only move that remotely keeps Black in the game is 26...O-O.
<BR><BR><B>27.dxc6 bxc6 28.Bf2 Kf8 29.Kg1 Qc7 30.Rcd1 a5 31.Nd4 Ng7??</B>
<BR><BR>The only moves that remotely keep Black in the game are 31...Kg8 and 31...Nxd4, but either way, Black is hurting.
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<BR><CENTER><I>White to move and Win</I></CENTER>
<BR><BR><B>32.Rxe7!!</B>
<BR><BR>This move and the next move are interchangeable. 32.Nxc6!! also works, followed by 33.Rxe7, so if you tried to figure out the move from the diagram, and came up with this, you'd also be correct!
<BR><BR><B>32...Ke7</B>
<BR><BR>32...Qxe7 33.Nxc6 followed by 34.Nxd8 leads to a position where White emerges a pawn up and Black's remaining position is shattered. With the game move, Black emerge ahead in material temporarily, but the resulting attack on the back rank is fatal.
<BR><BR><B>33.Nxc6+ Qxc6 34.Qxg7</B>
<BR><BR>And so now the main threat is 35.Re1+ followed by 36.Qxf7, completely shredding Black's position. Only two moves stop that, and Black plays one of them, but they don't work.
<BR><BR><B>34...Rd7</B>
<BR><BR>The idea here is that f7 will be protected following the check, but it leads to fatal issues on the back rank, and even the Bishop on f2 plays a role! The other move that doesn't drop the pawn immediately is 34...Re8 because 35.Re1+ Kd8 would be attacking the e1-Rook, making 36.Qxf7 impossible. This defense is probably the most resistant as it would force White to find a slightly more complicated winning line. The winning line for White after 34...Re8 is 35.Bxh4+!, when after 35...Rxh4 36.Re1+ and now 36...Kd7 37.Qxf7+ and one of the Rooks will fall or 36...Kd8 37.Qf6+ followed by 38.Qh4, protecting e1, and in both cases, emerging up multiple pawns.
<BR><BR><B>35.Re1+ Kd8 36.Qf8+ Kc7 37.Re8</B>
<BR><BR>Black is dead here. The main threat, which Black doesn't prevent, is of course to skewer the King to the Queen, but even after a move like 37...Qb7, this is where the usefulness of the Bishop comes into play. White responds with 38.Ra8! and the Queen can't be saved. If she moves away, like 38...Qb4, then 39.Qc8 is mate while a move like 38...Kc6 allows 39.Rc8+ and the Queen must take as 39...Rc7 40.Qe8 is also mate.
<BR><BR>37...Qa6 leads to the same problem after 38.Ra8, and so the Queen cannot be saved no matter what Black does anyway.
<BR><BR><B>37...Rc5 38.Rc8+ Kb7 39.Rxc6 Rxc6</B>
<BR><BR>White emerges with a Queen, Bishop, and pawn for two Rooks, and more pawns are about to fall. Black can safely resign here.
<BR><BR><B>40.Qe8 Rdc7 41.Bxh4 d5 42.cxd4 Rc1+ 43.Kh2 1-0</B>
<BR><BR><BR>Despite a few minor errors by White on moves 17, 22, and 26, what we saw here was Black getting blasted mainly because Black treated the position as though White's pawns didn't exist, and just continued playing moves blindly like as if he was playing a completely different opening. Black was determined to play a Najdorf Sicilian, despite the fact that the game never was a Najdorf Sicilian. There should be two vital lessons learned from this article:
<BR><UL><LI>The first is that the opening is determined by the moves made by both players, not by one. At the start of the game, you have 16 pieces, but the board features 32, and what both sides do matters, not just what you do with your own pieces. We saw in the hypothetical the scenario of a King's Indian player ending up in a Pirc Defense, and here we saw a Najdorf Sicilian player ending up in a Maroczy Bind. Recognizing the differences is vital.
<LI>Do not get trapped into matching the opening with the middlegame ideas. There may be common ideas that happen time and time again in the main lines of a given opening, like an attack on a specific pawn or square, but this repetition results from positions where the 16 pawns are aligned in similar fashion, keeping in mind that some of those 16 pawns may be traded off. In the game we saw, Black thought because White played 3.d4 that he could apply his Najdorf Sicilian ideas regardless of how White followed up, but the Najdorf Sicilian, English Attack and the Maroczy Bind do not feature the same pawn structure, and so the same ideas cannot be repeated. The former sees White's pawns on a2, b2, c2, e4, f3, g2, h2, and White is about to advance the Kingside pawns with his King castled Queenside. In the Maroczy Bind, the White pawns are usually on a2, b3, c4, e4, f3, g2, and h2 with White often looking to attack in the center, timing a Nd5 move, and if Black trades his Bishop, White will recapture with either the c-pawn or e-pawn, depending on the position, and attack down either the open c-file or semi-open e-file rather than storm his Kingside pawns, mainly because he King sits on that side of the board. So the moral of the story is to match pawn structure with idea, not opening with idea. You can get different openings that lead to the same pawn structure, such as the English Hedgehog, certain lines of the 5.c4 variation of the Kan Sicilian, and certain lines of the Sicilian Prins Variation, just to name one example. The 2...Qxd5 and 3...Qa5 lines of the Scandinavian and the 3.Nc3 lines of the Caro-Kann are another example.
</UL>
<BR><BR>As a final thing I'd like to mention, this is also a common problem with Queen Pawn openings. Many players like to play "systems", and think they are good against all Black responses, not even paying attention to what Black is doing. The London is no good against the Modern Defense. The Torre is no good against early d5 lines (e.g. 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6). The Colle is no good without ...e6 played while the Bishop is still behind the pawn chain, and if Black does throw his Bishop out there, an early c4 becomes necessary (e.g. 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5 (or 3...Bg4) and now 4.c4 is necessary) to attack the slightly weakened Queenside caused by the early development of the Bishop by Black. The list goes on and on, but many amateurs think that playing these lines can ease their burden, and they get the false perception that they can play the game like there are 16 pieces on the board and virtually ignore what the opposing side is doing. Always remember, there are 32 pieces on the chess board when the game begins!
<BR><BR><BR>This concludes this article on the importance of paying attention to what your opponent is doing and not just yourself, and until next time, good luck in your games.Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-5586459598443440792020-02-01T14:56:00.001-08:002020-02-01T14:56:26.132-08:00The French Connection: Volume 30Hello and welcome to the thirtieth edition of The French Connection. With this one, before we get to the main topic, I would like to bring up a topic covered recently. Those of you have have read Volume 27 of The French Connection that came out last month, the one subtitled "A Trap Worth Knowing", do you recall that trap? (Those of you that haven't read that article can click <U><a href="https://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-french-connection-volume-27.html">HERE</a></U> to get to it.) Well, just recently, I had it come up again, and I would like to start by suggesting that you attempt to analyze yourself the moves played. I will briefly touch on it, but consider this to be more of a review of what was covered three articles ago, and I encourage you to try to calculate the moves in advance, especially up through move 27. Moves 28-onward are nothing more than winning a won endgame.
<BR><BR>Land of the Sky XXXIII, Round 1
<BR>W: Graydon Eggers (1839)
<BR>B: Patrick McCartney (2087)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.a3 Nh6 7.b4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Be3 Bd7 10.Nc3?? Nxe3 11.fxe3 Nxb4 12.axb4 Bxb4 13.Rc1 Rc8 14.Qb3 Qa5 15.Kd2 O-O 16.Bd3 Rc7</B>
<BR><BR>I had mentioned 16...f6 here in TFC 27, but Black has numerous winning options as White is already dead. The idea of this one is to threaten to double up, and entice White to retreat his Knight before breaking the center. White's next move is not forced, but notice he went right for it!
<BR><BR><B>17.Ng1 f6 18.exf6 Rxf6 19.Nge2 Ba4 20.Qb2 Rf2 21.Rhg1 Bb5</B>
<BR><BR>Basically the game ender! White is dead, despite the game being another 22 moves.
<BR><BR><B>22.Bxb5 Qxb5 23.Kd1 Qd3+ 24.Qd2 Rxc3 25.Rxc3 Qxd2+ 26.Kxd2 Bxc3+ 27.Kxc3 Rxe2 28.Kd2 Ra2 29.Rb1 b6 30.g4 Rxh2 31.Ra1 Rg2 32.Rxa7 Rxg4 33.Re6 Rg6 34.Rb7 h5 35.Rxb6 Kf7 36.Ke2 Rg3 37.Kf2 h4 38.Rb8 Kf6 39.Rf8+ Kg5 40.Re8 Kf5 41.Rf8+ Kg4 42.Re8 Rf3+ 43.Ke2 Rf6 0-1</B>
<BR><BR>So as we can see here, that trap from TFC 27 really is one worth knowing. I had spent very little time in the opening phase of the game, and spent a grand total of 42 minutes for the entire game.
<BR><BR>I figured it was important to mention this game with it happening literally 23 days after the first occurrence, but did not feature a full article on it as it would feel like I was merely re-writing the first one.
<BR><BR><BR>So now we move on to the feature game of the article. Here we will see Black play an early ...Bd7, which I am not in favor of at all. In this game, White decided to directly transpose to a line in the 5...Nge7 variation where Black plays ...Bd7 as a waiting move on move 8, but there is another idea for White which will be mentioned in the game.
<BR><BR>After that, the game takes on a bit of a turn where Black focuses on getting certain pieces of White's off the board, and it leaves White with his Bishop that is on the same color as most of his pawns, but we shall see that this Bishop plays a vital defensive roll, especially after Black misses his one chance. First, it assists White in taking over the only open file, and then it follows up by keeping the Black pieces out while White proceeds to attack. Eventually, White infiltrates, and Black's position falls apart. With that said, let's take a look at the main game of the article.
<BR><BR><BR>TACO 101, Round 1
<BR>W: Patrick McCartney (2087)
<BR>B: Paul King (1888)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7</B>
<BR><BR>I don't like this move at all for Black. With moves like 5...Qb6 or 5...Nge7 or the more modern 5...Nh6, Black is going for his main target, the d4-pawn. This Bishop move does very little at the moment. We shall see that the Black Rook doesn't get to the c-file until move 15. There is no threat of d4 any time soon, even with a discovered check if White plays Bd3 at any point, and with it being the light-squared Bishop, it has no way to directly contribute to the attack on d4. Does this move get played eventually? Sure! But White give White extra time to get his King to safety and consolidate his position before Black goes after d4?
<BR><BR><B>6.Be2 Nge7 7.Na3</B>
<BR><BR>This move leads to what will become a transposition to a line of the 5...Nge7 variation, namely 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Nge7 6.Na3 cxd4 7.cxd4 Nf5 8.Nc2 Bd7 and now 9.Be2 directly transposes to what will result in the game.
<BR><BR>That said, White has a stronger move. 7.O-O!, the main point being that after spending time with 5...Bd7, Black's attack on d4 is too slow. With White's King already tucked away, he has the advantage if Black goes for d4 now via 7...cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Nc3! Qb6 10.Na4.
<BR><BR><B>7...cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Nc2</B>
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<BR><BR>So we now have the position from the 5...Nge7 line mentioned in the note to White's 7th move. This position is normally thought of as being somewhat balanced.
<BR><BR><B>9...Qb6 10.g4</B>
<BR><BR>More normal here is to castle first, bringing the King to safety, via 10.O-O. That said, with the Queen having moved, I decided to kick the knight immediately since it does not have Queen to cover h4, and so he will have to retreat. Now this is not a glorified intervention that gives White brownie points, as Black can, and should, re-route the Knight via e7 to g6. Black does not do this, and instead goes out of his way to try to re-post the Knight on f5, and goes out of his way on a mission to eliminate all of the White minor pieces that can harass f5. It makes the Knight look good, but the rest of Black's position will be very passive. But if Black goes to g6 with the Knight, even after the upcoming ...h5 push, Black should have a fully equal position, and so don't think that 10.g4 is some great novelty. It's merely another move that leaves the position roughly balanced.
<BR><BR><B>10...Nfe7 11.h4 h5 12.g5 g6?!</B>
<BR><BR>This is the square the Knight belongs on.
<BR><BR><B>13.Bd3 Na5 14.Ne3 Bb5</B>
<BR><BR>Here is where Black starts his mission of eliminating both the White minor pieces that cover f5. He is going to be spending a lot of valuable time doing it. Meanwhile, White will be completing his development. That said, with White's long term weakness of the pawns being locked on the dark squares, Black will have one opportunity to take over the position.
<BR><BR><B>15.O-O Rc8 16.Re1 Bxd3 17.Qxd3 Nc4 18.b3 Nxe3 19.fxe3 Nf5</B>
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<BR><BR>Now artificial intelligence highly prefers Black here, and I agree to an extent, but not to the same degree. Yes, Black has an attractive Knight on f5. Yes, White's pawns on the ones on the color of the Bishops, not Black's. However, there are a number of pluses for White.
<BR><UL><LI>He is ahead in development. Black hasn't castled yet.
<LI>While the Dark-Squared Bishop looks bad, it has the ability to cover a key square, specifically c1. This is important as the Black Bishop cannot cover c8, which means it's going to be easier for White to take over control of the c-file than it will be for Black. The best Black can hope for is a standoff.
</UL><BR><BR><B>20.Bd2 Be7 21.Rac1 O-O 22.Rc2</B>
<BR><BR>Now a crucial decision for Black!
<BR><BR><B>22...Ng3?</B>
<BR><BR>The wrong move order. Here, Black must trade Rooks first. After 22...Rxc2, White is forced to take back with the Queen, opening up the a6-f1 diagonal. After 23.Qxc2 Ng3, White cannot double up on the c-file due to a fork, and after the time spent playing 24.Kg2, Black can play 24...Ne4 as now 25.Rc1 leads to major problems for White after 25...Qa6! and after 25.Qd3, Black can play 25...Rc8, contesting the c-file.
<BR><BR>With the move order played, White will take over the c-file, and this will just add headaches to Black.
<BR><BR><B>23.Rec1 Rxc2</B>
<BR><BR>Too late!
<BR><BR><B>24.Rxc2</B>
<BR><BR>Of course not 24.Qxc2?? Ne2+ -+.
<BR><BR><B>24...Ne4</B>
<BR><BR>The Knight should go back to f5, tying White down to the defense of h4. From there, the Knight might look good, but it does not do the job it needs to do, and eventually, White will force it off the board, and overtake the game. Black's advantage is now gone!
<BR><BR><B>25.Kg2 a6 26.Be1</B>
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<BR><BR><B>26...Qd8?</B>
<BR><BR>Black must be dreaming up some sacrifice on g5. Here, 26...Bb4 had to be played. Now, the Black Knight has no way to avoid being traded off after White's next move.
<BR><BR><B>27.Nd2! +/=</B>
<BR><BR>And suddenly White is better!
<BR><BR><B>27...Bb4</B>
<BR><BR>Again, too late!
<BR><BR><B>28.Nxe4! dxe4</B>
<BR><BR>This pawn is now a major weakness for Black! He should have taken the Bishop on e1 instead, which was the lesser evil. White is still better after 29.Nf6+ Kg7, but it's hard to see how he will take advantage if Black sits patient. Yes, he has the e4-lever, but it is very hard to imagine that being enough to outright win the game for White.
<BR><BR><B>29.Qf1 Be7 30.Bg3 Qa5 31.Qf4 Qd5</B>
<BR><BR>Given the pawn structure, this is actually a very passive square for the Black Queen, and all it is doing is merely protecting the e4-pawn for now. That is about to change.
<BR><BR><B>32.Be1 b6 33.Rc7</B>
<BR><BR>White infiltrates to the 7th rank. This is just the tip of the ice burg of Black's upcoming problems.
<BR><BR><B>33...Bd8</B>
<BR><BR>Go away Rook! We don't want you here!
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<BR><BR>It is White to move. What do you do here?
<BR><BR><B>34.Ra7!</B>
<BR><BR>Now you listen to me! I am not going away any time soon! Careful analysis shows that there is no way to trap the Rook from here! Black may be able to untangle at some point and trade the Rook for his own Rook, but with Black having to cover e4, he doesn't have time for something like Qd5-c6-c8-b8 as once it goes to c8 and abandons e4, White can play Qxe4 and then come in with the Queen as well. In addition, if Black does that immediately via 34...Qc6??, White wins material with 35.Bb4! since the Rook can't move to e8 as it would then be mate in two from that point!
<BR><BR><B>34...a5</B>
<BR><BR>So Black proceeds to stop 35.Bb4 with this move. That said, it opens up the light squares for the Queen, and the Queen can come in via a6 if he has to, and so there clearly is no way to trap the Rook.
<BR><BR><B>35.Qf1!</B>
<BR><BR>The Queen did its job on f4, keeping the Black Queen at bay on d5 until Black voluntarily weakens his pawn structure. Now the Queen is coming around the back and coming in.
<BR><BR><B>35...Qc6 36.Qc4!</B>
<BR><BR>White has no objection here to a Queen trade. If Black decides to go that route, White will have a central pawn roll eventually, combined with the more dominant Rook. This is sufficient to say that White would be clearly winning.
<BR><BR><B>36...Qe8</B>
<BR><BR>And so Black doesn't trade Queens. However, it cannot be a good sign when you are retreating backwards. While Black is stuck for moves, White takes his sweet time now to collect the e-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>37.Kg3 Be7 38.Kf4 Bd8 39.Kxe4 Be7 40.a4</B>
<BR><BR>Immobilizing Black's Queenside pawns.
<BR><BR><B>40...Qd8 41.Kf1</B>
<BR><BR>Not allowing any sacrifices on g5.
<BR><BR><B>41...Ba3</B>
<BR><BR>It would have been cute to see Black try 41...Bc5. All White has to do here is play a simple move like 42.Ke4!. Note that 42.dxc5?? blunders away the win after 42...Qd1! and White has to give the Bishop back with Black improving his position as he also threatens 43...Qg4#.
<BR><BR><B>42.Qc6</B>
<BR><BR>White continues to infiltrate, slowly but surely.
<BR><BR><B>42...Bb2 43.Bc3 Bc1 44.Rb7 Qc8 45.Qc7</B>
<BR><BR>Virtually forcing the Queen trade, but in such a manner that White continues to control the only open file. Black could safely resign here.
<BR><BR><B>45...Qxc7 46.Rxc7 Rb8 47.Ke4 b5 48.Bxa5 axb4 49.Rxc1 1-0</B>
<BR><BR><BR>Here's what can be picked up from this game.
<BR><UL><LI>Black should not develop his Bishop too early. It is a waste of time, and allows White to consolidate and castle before any pressure is put on d4. Even if Black attacks via the e5-square, this is the best approach when Black wastes time with the move 5...Bd7?!. For example, after 6.Be2 f6 (a move that became somewhat popular recently), White should just calmly castle, and after 7.O-O fxe5 8.Nxe5 Nxe5 9.dxe5 Qc7, White can play the positional move, 10.f4, or take the more dynamic, and probably stronger, approach of playing 10.c4. Black should not take the pawn. If he does, after 10...Qxe5 11.Bh5+ g6 12.Bf3 O-O-O 13.Re1, Black is up a pawn, but he is not ready to withstand White's attack.
<LI>As demonstrated in the note to White's 7th move, Black's attack on d4 is too slow if White castles immediately, and so 7.O-O was far better than the game move, 7.Na3. After White's opening mistake, Black fully equalized immediately, and it just got worse for White through the teens after trying to execute the novelty with 10.g4 instead of the normal 10.O-O, the latter of which would lead to an equal position.
<LI>Black had one opportunity on move 22 to take over the advantage, but once he failed to do that, despite the appearance of White's Bishop, it wasn't a bad piece as it covered key squares to keep particularly the Black Queen out of White's camp. After that, White's King felt little to no pressure at all. Avoidance of a sacrifice or two and White's King was totally safe.
<LI>Often times, the key to keeping an advantage (Black's move 22) or avoiding falling into a worse position (Black's move 26), is prevention. Black needed to prevent White from taking over the c-file, not try to scratch and claw at it after it was too late. Same with Black's 26th move. He needed to prevent White from playing Nd2 and forcing the Knights off, not force White to trade the Knight after the fact since that is what White wanted to do anyway! Do not force your opponent to make moves he wants to make anyway. Instead, prevent them in the first place!
</UL><BR>Well, that concludes this edition of The French Connection. Til next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White!Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-16944608789362112732020-01-23T21:00:00.000-08:002020-01-23T21:00:55.042-08:00The French Connection: Volume 29Hello everyone and welcome to the twenty-ninth edition of The French Connection. Here we will be covering the third of four straight games featuring the Advance Variation of the French Defense and discussing a number of different lines. Here, we will see Black make a very bad and anti-positional move in the opening. Combine that with an early blunder, and White has a clearly won position. However, what we will see is White failing to execute the win many times, but each time, Black fails to find the tactical shot that completely negates White's advantage, or even in some cases, claim an advantage for himself. From White's perspective, we'll be looking at the concept of prioritizing. When you have a won position early in the game, with many pieces, the challenge is getting priorities straight. Do you shore up your weaknesses? Or do you, without hesitation, go after the King? Or do you simply try to trade everything down to a winning endgame? This can often be a tough question to answer. On the flip side, after a number of errors by White, Black fails to find the move, and hands the advantage back to White. Then, in the endgame, where White has two minutes to Black's thirty-five minutes, White gives Black one last opportunity, which was again missed, and then the door is slam shut on Black and White proceeds to execute a long but simple endgame sequence to force the King to resign.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's take a look at the feature game.
<BR><BR><BR>Charlotte Open, Round 5
<BR>W: Patrick McCartney (2087)
<BR>B: Ganchimeg Batsaikhan (1867)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 f5?</B>
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<BR><BR>Unusual moves are played in chess all the time. This is where novelties come from. That said, if you understand the main ideas of the French Defense, you would soon realize the problems with this move. Yes, occasionally ...f7-f5 is played later on in the game as a source of defense, but here is it simply too early and too committal. In most cases, Black has two pawn levers in the French Defense. The first is ...c5, which was played on move 3, and the other is ...f6, hitting the pain chain from the front. By playing an early ...f5, Black loses that later pawn lever.
<BR><BR>Now another thing to note is that taking en passant cannot be recommended here. It relieves the cramping effect for Black, and when he takes back on f6, White has to constantly look out for ...e5. By leaving it there, Black still has to deal with a major cramping effect.
<BR><BR><B>6.Be2 Nge7 7.a3 Ng6 8.h4 Qc7 9.b4 c4?!</B>
<BR><BR>Black relieves all tension from the White d4-pawn. Normally, if this move is played, it would be played immediately following White's move a3, looking to prevent b4 by White as Black would take en passant and win a pawn. Here, the Queen is passively placed on c7 instead of b6, and all pressure on the White center is gone. This gives White the green light to start attacking the Kingside.
<BR><BR><B>10.Ng5 Be7 11.Bh5 Bd7?</B>
<BR><BR>Just flat out overlooking White's tactical threat. Better was to take the Knight with 11...Bxg5. Now White wins a pawn.
<BR><BR><B>12.Nxh7 Kf7</B>
<BR><BR>The only move as after 12...Rxh7 13.Bxg6+, the Rook falls.
<BR><BR><B>13.Ng5+ Bxg5 14.Bxg5 Be8</B>
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<BR><BR>So here we have our first real area of interest in the game. White is a pawn up. White also has the Bishop pair. White has a winning position. That said, White still has work to do to maintain that winning position. White needs to ask himself the following questions once he realizes that his position is likely winning:
<BR><UL><LI>First and foremost, does he have a direct attack on the Black King that immediately ends the game?
<LI>Assuming the first bullet is "No", what potential threats might Black have? Keep in mind that these may be short term or long term threats.
<LI>What positional improvements can White make that might lead to a direct attack on Black?
<LI>Is simply trading down the best solution?
</UL><BR>The first thing to realize is that the first and last bullets are out of the question. While it may appear that the Black King is not safe, it is not easy for White to execute any direct attack on the King as only the Bishops are near the Black King, and the Black King will be able to escape to g8 without any real issues. Also, with Black's pieces scattered and uncoordinated, it doesn't make sense to trade everything off, and this early in the game, it would be very difficult to do anyway.
<BR><BR>So instead, we should be looking at the position from the perspective of what threats by Black should be prevented, and what improvements can be made in White's position.
<BR><BR>So first, what are Black's potential threats, short or long term?
<BR><UL><LI>The first thing to consider is the possibility of Black sacrificing a Knight for two pawns on e5 in order to execute a quick attack at the White King, which doesn't really have a safe haven with all of the advanced pawns, including all the pawns on the Queenside along with the h-pawn on the Kingside. So White must really watch out for this.
<LI>Black might also be able to crack open the Queenside with a move like ...b5, blocking the b-pawn, and then playing ...a5, intending ...axb4, opening up the a-file. This might be most effective if White decides to walk the King to the Queenside, and try to put all his pieces on the Kingside to attempt to execute a direct attack on the Black King. Therefore, White might want to think about closing the Queenside.
<LI>With the Bishop all the way on h5, the light squares on the Queenside could be weak if something isn't done about them.
</UL><BR>So what should White do? The answer is to do something about Black's two main threats. The sacrifice is a short term threat. The ...b5 and ...a5 idea, to break open the a-file, is a long term threat. White should take care of both of these on the next two moves.
<BR><BR><B>15.g4?!</B>
<BR><BR>This move by itself does not cost White his advantage, but it is a step in the wrong direction. White's King can claim some level of safety residing on f1 or g1, and it also removes any checks if Black decides to sacrifice on e5. With the g4 advance, this shield for the White King is gone. The other move that White needs to play is a4. This takes the a4-square away from Black, and if he advances ...b5 at any point, it's now White's choice whether to open the a-file by capturing or closing it by advancing the pawn to a5, and if Black plays ...a5, White can play b5, opening up the dark-squared diagonal, the color complex where Black's Bishop is missing. Therefore, White would be better off playing 15.a4 or 15.Kf1, and in reality, it doesn't matter which as White should play both in the next two moves while the Black King is likely to go to g8, and so here, White should play either 15.a4 Kg8 16.Kf1 or 15.Kf1 Kg8 16.a4 and White maintains a dominating position.
<BR><BR><B>15...Kg8</B>
<BR><BR>Now that the Knight on g6 is no longer pinned, White must watch out. Black has a nasty tactical threat.
<BR><BR><B>16.gxf5?? =/+</B>
<BR><BR>From winning to slightly worse in one move! White needed to play 16.Kf1, the reason to which will be explained in the note to Black's next move.
<BR><BR><B>16...exf5??</B>
<BR><BR>Black has the tactical shot 16...Ngxe5!!. The Bishop on h5 is under attack. Therefore, White must do something about the Bishop, but with the King still on e1, if White takes the Bishop on e8, Black has an in-between move, and after 17.Bxe8, Black responds with 17...Nd3+! before recapturing on e8 and Black won his pawn back with interest! Therefore, White probably needs to play 17.Be2 to minimize Black's advantage, and then Black should play 17...Nf7, gaining a tempo on the Bishop on g5 due to the pin of the h-pawn to the Rook on h1, and therefore, Black will have time to recapture the pawn on f5.
<BR><BR><B>17.Bxg6?!</B>
<BR><BR>While this removes the Knight and gives Black one less piece to be able to pull off a tactic on e5, it is not best. White should play 17.Bf3!, and now, if Black tries to take on e5, White has the capture of the d-pawn with check, and so Black has no in-between check as he has to get himself out of check first.
<BR><BR><B>17...Bxg6 18.Qf3 Re8</B>
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<BR><BR>Can White take the pawn on d5?
<BR><BR><B>19.Kd2?!</B>
<BR><BR>This move isn't very good. The answer to the question about taking on d5 is Yes, White CAN take on d5, but it also leads to a very hairy mess after 19.Qxd5+ Bf7 20.Qg2 (only move) Nxe5 21.dxe5 Qxe5+ 22.Kd1 and while White is technically winning, it is more complicated than it needs to be. The simply 19.Nd2 is best. If Black goes for the sacrifice, the walk to d1 is safer, and if he doesn't, White can go to f1 as there is no mate on e1 since the Knight is out of the way of the Rook.
<BR><BR><B>19...Qf7 20.Bf4?!</B>
<BR><BR>White is possibly overreacting to the possibility of ...f4 by Black. He should probably move his King via 20.Kc1, getting out of the way of his undeveloped Queenside pieces. If White wants to block the pawn, he probably should do it with the Queen, keeping the Bishop active, and avoiding a Knight blockage on e6 - if the Knight goes to d8, White can trade Bishop for Knight.
<BR><BR><B>20...Bh5 21.Qg3 Re6 22.f3 Rg6 23.Qe2</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr0520FX6ug6ZtNjfBB39S5nVoGCQA9pV8NeNRZpkuf2CZIvoHYPNimb0HrzP2FYp5zHpRFDKHla8CkrJ6sm-j6U-d6etn9-n5imthyphenhyphenGbA7P6kKXmoXTIQ306K_bxtOR70Jo_AuNF01wQa/s1600/FC29_4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr0520FX6ug6ZtNjfBB39S5nVoGCQA9pV8NeNRZpkuf2CZIvoHYPNimb0HrzP2FYp5zHpRFDKHla8CkrJ6sm-j6U-d6etn9-n5imthyphenhyphenGbA7P6kKXmoXTIQ306K_bxtOR70Jo_AuNF01wQa/s320/FC29_4.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Now Black has a move that would equalize. Do you see it?
<BR><BR><B>23...Kh7?</B>
<BR><BR>Black should take the opportunity to play 23...Nd8! as White has no way to avoid the blockading move, 24...Ne6!, which is the ideal square for the Knight.
<BR><BR><B>24.Kc2 a5 25.Nd2 Nd8</B>
<BR><BR>Now we see a number of issues for White. Black is ready to blockade on e6. He is also ready to open the a-file, an issue we talked about earlier as a long term asset for Black if White doesn't do anything about it, which he hasn't. White realizes that his Bishop is too passive on f4, and therefore, activates it, realizing the Black will get one of his two desired goals, but not both!
<BR><BR><B>26.Bg5</B>
<BR><BR>Now Black has a choice to make. If he moves the Knight, he gets the desired blockade, but White will play 27.f4, avoiding the opening of the light squares. Otherwise, if Black advances the f-pawn, White will trade the Bishop for the Knight on d8.
<BR><BR><B>26...f4</B>
<BR><BR>Black goes for the attack on the light squares.
<BR><BR><B>27.Bxd8 Rxd8 28.Rhg1 Qf5+ 29.Kb2 Rxg1?</B>
<BR><BR>This hands the advantage back to White. Black can maintain equality with 29...Ra8! Remember we talked about the opening of the a-file. If the file opens, Black wants a Rook on a8 before the trade even occurs.
<BR><BR><B>30.Rxg1 Bg6 31.Nb1 axb4 32.axb4 Qd7</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUmwy8c1CWi3HVtZQfYEjcVX4DBPb4Ra8ONr4Uf2oRvUxv-TXoCjmwH5WPohyphenhyphenMP7jSR5ABOE7q-W5s1ifxGMUyTbQgswcMJrPupNnB77ePDIzrA6jiZaykRUSlsiIHWWjHXAGGqHaZVIhq/s1600/FC29_5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUmwy8c1CWi3HVtZQfYEjcVX4DBPb4Ra8ONr4Uf2oRvUxv-TXoCjmwH5WPohyphenhyphenMP7jSR5ABOE7q-W5s1ifxGMUyTbQgswcMJrPupNnB77ePDIzrA6jiZaykRUSlsiIHWWjHXAGGqHaZVIhq/s320/FC29_5.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Only one move maintains the advantage for White here. Do you see it?
<BR><BR><B>33.Qg2!</B>
<BR><BR>White must immediately attack down the g-file before Black gets time for moves like ...Qa4.
<BR><BR><B>33...Bd3 34.e6</B>
<BR><BR>The simpler 34.Na3 is strong here, but this also works if White follows it up right.
<BR><BR><B>34...Qe7 35.Qg5?!</B>
<BR><BR>The wrong followup. Black is tied down after 35.Qg4! Rd6 36.Re1!
<BR><BR><B>35...Re8?</B>
<BR><BR>Trading Queens first before this Rook move is the right approach for Black. White's advantage, if any, is minimal in that case. Here, White has a winning advantage again.
<BR><BR><B>36.Qh5+! Kg8 37.Re1 g6</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt7eTHlTsNn0xTriekDE3JtPfH-xoLjCQgTSc4Uix-rkoYaNJ4HCq9mNt9ZiRMivI9iouzXGtpwqHzo0mSmrZzWZ5cgh3zN-OeN_cAsC8DGJCC-KYi3__X60u03t_mggOKVxasJ0akUk_S/s1600/FC29_6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt7eTHlTsNn0xTriekDE3JtPfH-xoLjCQgTSc4Uix-rkoYaNJ4HCq9mNt9ZiRMivI9iouzXGtpwqHzo0mSmrZzWZ5cgh3zN-OeN_cAsC8DGJCC-KYi3__X60u03t_mggOKVxasJ0akUk_S/s320/FC29_6.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Once again, only one move is winning for White. Which move is it?
<BR><BR><B>38.Qg4?</B>
<BR><BR>The correct answer is 38.Qxd5 and now if 38...Qxh4, then 39.e7+ Kg7 40.Qe5+ Kf7 41.Qe6+ Kg7 42.Nd2 Qf6 43.Qd7 Kf7 44.Qd5+ Kg7 45.Re6 is winning for White.
<BR><BR><B>38...Qf6?</B>
<BR><BR>38...Qd6 is equal. The difference is that from d6, the weak d5-pawn is covered.
<BR><BR><B>39.h5 Kg7 40.hxg6 Qxg6 41.Qxf4 Rxe6</B>
<BR><BR>And now, with only 2 minutes for the rest of the game versus Black's 35 minutes, White falters once again.
<BR><BR><B>42.Rxe6</B>
<BR><BR>This move should only draw. The winning move was 42.Qc7+ when 42...Qf7 43.Qxf7+ Kxf7 44.Rxe6+ Kxe6 45.Na3, where the White d-pawn isn't dragged to the e-file, closer to the Black King.
<BR><BR><B>42...Qxe6 43.Qe5+ Kf7?</B>
<BR><BR>After 43...Qxe5! 44.dxe5 Kg6, the position is equal.
<BR><BR><B>44.Qxe6+ Kxe6 45.Na3</B>
<BR><BR>Returning to the same position that arises from the 42.Qc7+ line.
<BR><BR><B>45...Be2 46.f4 Bh5</B>
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<BR><BR><B>47.Kc1?</B>
<BR><BR>This was the final time that White faltered, and once again, Black fails to take advantage. 47.Nb5 was necessary. The idea is that the Knight needs to get into the queenside to distract the King. If the King must both prevent Knight intrusions and contest f4, it will be overworked. For example, 47.Nb5 Kd7 48.Kc2 Ke6 49.Kd2 Bg4 50.Ke3 Ke7 51.Nc7 Kd6 52.Na8! Kc6 53.Kf2 b5 54.Kg3
Bd7 55.Kh4 Kb7 56.Kg5 Kxa8 57.f5 Kb7 58.f6 Be8 59.Kh6 Kc7 60.Kg7 Kd8 61.f7 Bxf7 62.Kxf7 Kd7 63.Kf6 Kd6 64.Kf5 and White wins.
<BR><BR>The game move gives Black one final opportunity at a draw.
<BR><BR><B>47...Kf5??</B>
<BR><BR>Necessary is 47...Be8, keeping the Knight out. Now, after 48.Kd2 Kf5 49.Ke3, the White King is stuck there. The Knight alone cannot make progress as the Black King will always be on f5 or g4. For example, 49...Ba4 50.Nb1 b6 51.Nd2 Be8 52.Nf3 Kg4 53.Ne5+ Kf5 and White cannot make progress.
<BR><BR><B>48.Nb5!</B>
<BR><BR>Now, due to tactics, Black has no way to avoid losing the b-pawn, and with the White pawns on dark squares, there is no way to stop White from winning. It will take some maneuvering by the Knight, but the game is, for all intents and purposes, over. The rest needs no commentary.
<BR><BR><B>48...Kxf4 49.Nd6 b6 50.Nc8 Kf5 51.Nxb6 Ke6 52.Na4 Be8 53.Nb2 Kf5 54.Kd2 Kf4 55.Nd1 Ke4 56.Ne3 Bd7 57.Nc2 Kf5 58.Ke3 Ke6 59.Kf4 Kd6 60.Ne3 Bc6 61.Kf5 Bd7+ 62.Kf6 Bc8 63.Nf5+ Kc7 64.Ke5 Bb7 65.Ne7 Kb6 66.Nxd5+ Kb5 67.Ne3 Bc8 68.d5 Bd7 69.Kd6 Bh3 70.Kc7 Ka4 71.d6 Kb3 72.Nd5 Bg2 73.d7 Bxd5 74.d8=Q Kxc3 75.Qxd5 Kxb4 76.Qd1 1-0</B>
<BR><BR><BR>In the end, White won, but many opportunities for Black were missed. The following can be gotten from this game:
<BR><UL><LI>If Black plays an early ...f5, it is almost never right to take en passant. It would allow Black to open up the position and remove the cramp of his pieces, especially the bad Bishop on c8.
<LI>When you have a winning advantage, more often than not, it's not about executing an attack, but rather, playing defense in the form of removing all desperation tricks for the opponent. White needed to prioritize Black's two main ways to get at White, and he should have played a4 and Kf1 early on to avoid the opportunities offered to Black in the game.
<LI>Black's biggest mistake was that she was playing too simplistically. When you are down material with a losing position, as in you lack the necessary compensation to survive, playing normal moves and reacting to minor threats is not the approach to take. Black should be looking for any crazy opportunity given to him, such as taking on e5 on move 16! If you just play "normal" chess, things will eventually trade down to a lost ending for the player down in material. Therefore, a sense of urgency was necessary for Black, and she needed to look for more desperate, tactical means to distract White. Black has multiple chances to draw, but almost all of them were by dynamic means, not routine play.
<LI>Even in an endgame, priorities must be taken seriously. White's 47.Kc1 gave Black one final opportunity to draw. It was more critical to get the Knight deep into Black's Queenside territory, which would overwork the Black King and win for White.
</UL><BR><BR>This concludes this edition of The French Connection. Next time, we'll look at one more Advance French where this time, the topic will be trading off the wrong pieces, and the deception of bad Bishops. A Bishop that looks bad will end up being a key piece in the victory. That's next time, and until then, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White.Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-52759373836285147422020-01-19T07:28:00.000-08:002020-01-19T07:28:46.455-08:00The French Connection: Volume 28Hello everyone and welcome to the twenty-eighth edition of The French Connection. A slight correction from the previous article. The day before this article was written, yet another instructive Advance French game occurred on the board, and so rather than this being the second of three straight articles on the advance variation, this will actually be the second of four! In this game, played in the second round of The Charlotte Open, we will be looking at one of the two main lines in the ...Qb6 lines of the Advance French. We will see two points in the opening where Black has a decision to make, and we will talk about a few ideas for White that are critical to know. Also, while the end of the game finishes abruptly via a gross blunder, we will look at what could have happened in a very difficult position. Without further ado, let's take a look at the game.
<BR><BR><BR>2020 Charlotte Open, Round 2
<BR>W: Robert Stewart (1910)
<BR>B: Patrick McCartney (2087)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.a3</B>
<BR><BR>Here, Black has to make a decision. There are four main responses here, of which I think two of them are stronger than the other two.
<BR><BR><B>6...Nh6</B>
<BR><BR>This is the more dynamic approach of the two lines that I would suggest. The other options for Black are:
<BR><OL Type=A><LI>6...c4. This is the more positional approach. White's last move is to prepare 7.b4. This move stops it in its tracks. If White now plays 7.b4?, Black will take en passant. That said, this also takes all pressure off of the d4-pawn. Therefore, if Black does this, he has to commit to it. Therefore, after 7.Nd2, Black must play 7...Na5. He cannot allow b3 to be played by White without there being a cost. Now some people might wonder about 8.Rb1, and how does Black stop b3? It comes via a pin. After 8...Bd7!, the move 9.b3 is a mistake. After 9...cxb3 10.Nxb3?, Black can play 10...Ba4, winning material. For example, Black wins the exchange after 11.Nxa5 Bxd1 12.Rxb6 axb6 and now if White takes the Bishop, Black takes the Knight. If Black takes on b7, Black saves the Bishop by going to a4. After the most accurate reply by White, 13.Bb5+, Black has the advantage after 13...Kd8 14.Nb7+ Kc7 and the Knight is still under attack if White grabs the Bishop on d1. Therefore most White players are not going to do this, and after 7.Nd2 Na5, they will proceed as normal with 8.Be2 or 8.g3, and play for an attack on the Kingside while Black goes for the Queenside in what is often a long game with a lot of maneuvering.
<LI>6...Bd7?!. This move was popular back in the 90s, but it does not serve any real purpose. With the Knight already on c6, it's not like Black is going to be quick to exchange the light-squared Bishops. It does not stop b4. It does not contribute to the attack of the d4-pawn, unlike the Knight on h6, which will come to f5 in short order to put pressure on d4. It opens up Queenside castling, but Black usually castles Queenside in lines where Black plays ...c4, whether that be in the Advance or the Winawer, and so if Black is going to do that, he should play 6...c4, as mentioned above, to avoid 7.b4 by White. Yes, it is a move that Black will almost certainly make at some point in time, but for the moment, it does not serve a true purpose. White should continue on his merry way with 7.b4.
<LI>6...a5?!. This move also prevents 7.b4, but it weakens a very critical square, b5. I normally do not suggest the Milner-Barry Gambit for White, which is normally arrived at via 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3, and the reason for that is that Black has a slight advantage after 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 Bd7 (This time it serves a purpose - to allow Black to take twice ond 4 without a discovered attack on the Queen via a Bishop check) 8.O-O Nxd4 9.Nxd4 Qxd4 10.Nc3 and now the very strong move for Black is 10...a6! with a slight advantage for Black. With 6.a3 a5 thrown in there, the difference benefits White, and 7.Bd3! is now a strong move, since if Black proceeds to grab the pawn, he no longer has the ...a6 resource, and White will get very strong compensation for the pawn given the glaring hole on b5.
</OL><BR>And so therefore, I would highly suggest that those playing Black stick to 6...c4 or 6...Nh6 (which was the move played in the game), and those of you playing White, while playing against 6...Bd7 is fairly self-explanatory as Black does nothing to stop what you were doing anyway, make sure that you know and understand the idea against 6...a5, and that you understand the major differences between this position after 7.Bd3 versus the Milner-Barry Gambit proper.
<BR><BR><B>7.b4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Bb2</B>
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<BR><BR>In the previous article, The French Connection: Volume 27, I expressed my disdain for White's alternative move, 9.Be3, and I still think that move is vastly inferior, even if White doesn't walk into the trap that he walked into that game. The move played in this game is the main reply, and is the move I would also play when I am White, and I have had this position many times from both sides. Black now has a critical choice to make here on move 9, and White needs to understand the point behind both of Black's moves.
<BR><BR><B>9...Bd7</B>
<BR><BR>This move is my personal preference, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with Black's other main alternative, 9...Be7. In other words, I do not express the disdain I have for 9.Be3 on Black playing 9...Be7 here. The idea behind each move is different, and it is critical that White understand the differences, or else he could end up in a lot of trouble. I am almost certain I have covered this before, but for those new to reading the articles on this site along with a refresher for those who have read the ones in the past, I feel this is an important thing to reiterate to those playing White. In the case of 9...Be7, Black's idea is that the center is closed, and White won't be afraid to advance the g-pawn, since there is no easy access to the White King. If the center were fluid, playing moves like 10.g4 would do nothing but open up the White King to attack. But here, Black is aware of this, and figures that if White tries to kick the knight away from pressuring d4, then Black can play 10...Nh4, looking to trade a set of pieces in a position where Black is the one lacking space. So the main point behind 9...Be7 is to try to discourage White from playing g4 since what he gets out of it is virtually nothing, and allows Black to relieve his cramp. Therefore, White needs to understand what 9...Be7 doesn't do that 9...Bd7 does do, and that once again comes down to having knowledge of the Milner-Barry Gambit. In the Milner-Barry Gambit, you have that common trap where if Black takes three times on d4 immediately White wins with Bb5+ and the Queen on d4 is lost. What 9...Be7 doesn't do is block that check, and so instead of 10.g4?!, White should play 10.Bd3! since Black cannot take three times on d4 for the exact same reason that he can't do it in the Milner-Barry Gambit. After 10.Bd3, if Black tries to plug that hole up with 10...Bd7, threatening to take three times on d4, White should immediately play 11.Bxf5!. Yes, this does give Black the Bishop pair, but it compromises his pawn structure, including an isolated pawn on d5 along with the doubled f-pawns, and the uncontested Bishop is still a bad Bishop, and will not be raking down at White's King anytime soon, and White should not be worries about any monster attack on the light squares. I would much rather have White in this position, and instead of 10...Bd7 with a cheap one move threat, Black should focus on more important things, and should instead play 10...a5 with play for both sides.
<BR><BR>The point behind 9...Bd7 is that White can no longer play the active move, 10.Bd3, as Black now can take three times on d4. However, the downfall to this move is that Black has nothing covering h4, and so the move played in the game is critical.
<BR><BR><B>10.g4!</B>
<BR><BR>This move must be played and it must be played now! After a passive move like 10.Be2, Black has 10...h5!, stopping g4 and maintaining the outpost for the Knight on f5, which is hard to get at since White can't play Bd3 any more.
<BR><BR><B>10...Nh6</B>
<BR><BR>Black's other main option is 10...Nfe7, where from here it will usually go to g6, both taking advantage of some weakened dark squares on the Kingside along with possibly pressuring the e5-pawn with a timely ...f6. The move in the game makes White take time with another pawn move.
<BR><BR><B>11.h3 Nh5?!</B>
<BR><BR>This move is slightly inaccurate. Black should play either 11...f6, immediately pressuring e5, or continuing his Queenside development with 11...Rc8, and after 12.Nc3, only now should Black play 12...Na5!, when 13.Na4 does not win the Knight on a5 because 13...Qc6 attacks the a4-Knight, and after 14.Rc1 Nc4, both sides have play.
<BR><BR>The problem with 11...Na5 is that White has not committed his Knight yet, but he fails to take advantage.
<BR><BR><B>12.Nc3?!</B>
<BR><BR>White should take advantage of Black's miscue with 12.Nbd2! Now Black probably has nothing better than to go back with 12...Nc6. He could try 12...Rc8, but after 13.Rc1 Rxc1 14.Bxc1, any entrance to c4 with the Knight will probably not mean much as the Bishop is no longer attacked since it is back on c1, and there is no problem with it on c1 as it no longer is in the way of the a1-Rook as that has been traded off, and so Black has traded one of his more active pieces, the Queenside Rook, for what can be a problem piece for White, the Queenside Rook, as in many cases, where it goes could pose problems or limitations on the dark-squared Bishop. Now it's completely out of White's way, and White gets a really good game.
<BR><BR><B>12...Nc4?!</B>
<BR><BR>Black should transpose back to the correct line with 12...Rc8!
<BR><BR><B>13.Qb3?</B>
<BR><BR>This loses all advantage for White, and he might even be slightly worse here. Correct is to take advantage of Black's early leap into c4 without the Rook on c8 yet, and play 13.Bxc4! dxc4, and now, after 14.d5!, White's pieces are far more prepared to open the flood gates in the center than Black's are. Yes, both Kings are still in the center, but White's is easily far safer than Black's.
<BR><BR><B>13...a5 14.b5</B>
<BR><BR>Once again, White should probably have taken on c4, or else maybe play 14.Na4, but it's hard to recommend much for White has he has already lost all advantage, but the move played in the game allows Black to take over.
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<BR><BR>Only one move here works for Black, but it's a very strong move. Can you find it? It does require some deep calculation.
<BR><BR><B>14...a4!</B>
<BR><BR>A very strong move, where if White now were to follow up with the relatively best move, 15.Qc2, then the b5-pawn will be forever isolated after 15...Nxb2 16.Qxb2, and Black now has 16...f6! with a strong position.
<BR><BR>Instead, White goes for the line that required calculating a very long sequence, but it just flat out works for Black.
<BR><BR><B>15.Nxa4 Qa5+ 16.Nc3</B>
<BR><BR>White has no other option. Anything else drops the Knight on a4.
<BR><BR><B>16...Nxb2</B>
<BR><BR>The Bishop now must be removed.
<BR><BR><B>17.Qxb2 Bxa3!</B>
<BR><BR>It looks like Black is just walking into a fatal pin, but White is too slow at getting to Black.
<BR><BR><B>18.Qb3</B>
<BR><BR>The only move that maintains the pressure on the Bishop.
<BR><BR><B>18...O-O!</B>
<BR><BR>And now things should be a little clearer as to what Black is doing. Now that he has connected the Rooks, and a8 won't hang, Black's idea is to play ...Qb4, eliminating the Queens and getting the Bishop out of the pin. White must also watch out for pressure on the pinned Knight on c3. Since White can't castle right away, 19...Rfc8 could be a problem, which lead to White's next move, which removes the pin, but otherwise does nothing to improve his position, and he's now massively lagging behind Black in development.
<BR><BR><B>19.Nd2 Qb4</B>
<BR><BR>And while I did not necessarily account for every White option on move 19, I knew that there wasn't one that would give Black any problems, and it was this exact position that I visualized back on move 14 when I played 14...a4. Also, if you are like me, and you keep track of time, it can be seen easily that this was figured out then at move 14, because the time for Black, in minutes, was 110 (or an hour and 50 minutes) after 13...a5, 90 after 14...a4 (meaning 20 minutes was spent on this move), and then 90, 90, 90, 90, and 89 for moves 15 thru 19. This is why I am a huge advocate of taking down the time every move. You can see that Black put in a lot of time finding and trying to calculate the semi-forcing sequence played in the game, but once that was done, Black spent almost no time on each move after that. Maybe 10 to 15 seconds per move just for blunder check.
<BR><BR>Next, we will see Black's moves continue to flow naturally while White is having to make unusual and non-productive moves just to try to hold the position together. Notice how the Bishop and Rook on f1 and h1 continue to be out of the picture for yet another 10 moves.
<BR><BR><B>20.Ncb1 Qxb3 21.Nxb3 Bb4+ 22.Kd1 Rxa1 23.Nxa1</B>
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<BR><BR>I had to put up a diagram simply because the position is picturesque, and not in a good way, at least for White that is. I would wager that this is not the position that White would normally envision having in the Advance French!
<BR><BR><B>23...f6!</B>
<BR><BR>While White's position is grotesque, Black is not without any problems. His Bishop on d7, given the protected pawn on b5, is extremely difficult to get into the game, and the Knight is passive on h6. The move played looks to break open the position, and especially the f-file for the Rook, and at the same time, give the Knight a route back into the game.
<BR><BR><B>24.Nc2 Ba5 25.f4 fxe5 26.fxe5 Rf3 27.Nba3</B>
<BR><BR>After this move, Black may not be able to force the win of material, but White's only defense, which he does not find, would prove that this move is virtually useless.
<BR><BR><B>27...Bb6 28.Kd2</B>
<BR><BR>Just flat out surrendering the d-pawn. After 28.Nb1 Rb3, going for the b-pawn, White can once again go 29.Nd2, forcing the Rook to move again, and he should probably stay on the 3rd rank with 29...Rg3 rather than on the file, since White can answer 29...Rb2 with 30.Kc1.
<BR><BR><B>28.Kd2 Bxd4 29.Nxd4 Rxa3 30.Bd3</B>
<BR><BR>On move 30, the Bishop finally comes into play.
<BR><BR><B>30...Nf7 31.Re1</B>
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<BR><BR><B>31...Ng5?!</B>
<BR><BR>Here is where Black starts going astray. Instead of spending time going for the h-pawn, he should get his King closer to the center with 31...Kf8! Now, instead, even with White about to be two pawns down, the position is about to be a really hairy mess that Black did not have to allow.
<BR><BR><B>32.Rc1! Nxh3?</B>
<BR><BR>Black needed to go back with 32...Nf7 with still an advantage, though not as great of one.
<BR><BR><B>33.Rc7</B>
<BR><BR>What was a horrible position 9 moves ago and still a lost position 3 moves ago is now an advantage for White, despite being two pawns down!
<BR><BR><B>33...Nf2?</B>
<BR><BR>Relatively best was 33...Ra4 +/=
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<BR><BR>White can get a winning position with the correct move here. What should White play?
<BR><BR><B>34.Be2??</B>
<BR><BR>After 34.Bc2!! Nxg4 35.Rxd7 Nxe5 36.Rxb7 Nc4+ 37.Kc1 e5 38.Nb3 Ra8 39.Rd7 and now 39...Rc8 40.Rxd5 White is just munching away at the Black pawns while 39...d4 40.Nd2 stops the Black central passers right in their tracks. The are weak, and will ultimately fall. White will not allow his b-pawn to be taken without it costing Black another piece as he clearly wants to avoid something like Rook and Bishop versus Rook with no pawns.
<BR><BR>After the move played in the game, the advantage swings back to Black.
<BR><BR><B>34...Ne4+ 35.Kc2 Ra4 36.Kd3</B>
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<BR><BR>One more problem to figure out. Black to move and win!
<BR><BR><B>36...Be8??</B>
<BR><BR>The winning move was 36...b6!, and after something like 37.Nc6, Black can play 37...Kf8 and White has absolutely nothing. If he moves his King, say like 38.Ke3, then 38...Ra3+ followed by 39...Nc5 solves Black's problems and the extra material will prevail.
<BR><BR>After the move played in the game, White ends the game abruptly with a blunder, but he had the chance to equalize here.
<BR><BR><B>37.Rxb7??</B>
<BR><BR>During post-game analysis, it was thought that maybe 37.Ke3 was the solution, but after 37...Ra3+ 38.Bd3, the move 38...b6 is once again winning for Black.
<BR><BR>The drawing move was 37.b6!, stopping Black from making the move he has been needing to make. 37.Rc8 temporarily delays it and still works because of the attack on the Bishop, but the main point is advancing b6 before Black does.
<BR><BR>The move played, of course, simply loses to a one-move fork.
<BR><BR><B>37...Nc5+ 0-1</B>
<BR><BR><BR>A very wild game for what shouldn't ever have gotten to that point. The following can be gotten from this game:
<BR><UL><LI>White's critical 10th move. Make sure you understand what to do against each of Black's 9th move options. Failure to understand the downside to each of them will give Black an excellent game.
<LI>Time Management - When calculating a long, forcing or semi-forcing sequence, spend the time to make sure that you are not overlooking alternatives by the opposing player. One missed move could completely destroy you in situations like this. Notice, however, that once you have assured yourself that it works, do not waste a lot of time executing it. 20 minutes was spent calculating it, but the following five moves saw no more than a minute total spent on the five follow-up moves combined. If you go back and recalculate every time, you'll run yourself out of time in short order.
<LI>When you have a winning position, like Black does moves 20 to 30, the way to maintain that winning advantage is to prevent the other side from getting any counter-play, rather than wildly going around trying to collect more material. Grabbing the d-pawn got Black the material advantage with the protected passed pawn. Grabbing the h-pawn showed nothing more than greed by Black, and he should have had to pay for that.
<LI>When your position is bad, always look for ways to stir trouble, and keep your eyes peeled for opportunities, such as the missed 34.Bc2 by White. Now this does not mean play on in a completely unrecoverable position. Being down a pawn or two with pieces still on the board, and especially if the side with the extra material has a bad piece, like the Black Bishop on d7, still allows for opportunities. Being down 3 pawns in a pawn ending, or down a queen for nothing and zero compensation, there is no use trying to play on. Pipe dreams will never happen, but don't give up in situations like White's in this game where Black's winning advantage was fairly obvious after 23 moves, but as was proven here, he still had the opportunity to stir up trouble, and it almost worked!
</UL><BR><BR>Next time, we will see a game in the Advance French where Black attempts to play something really unusual in the opening, and we will be looking at how White should deal with such oddities.
<BR><BR><BR>This concludes this edition of The French Connection. Till next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White.Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-70664891052559347592020-01-10T22:37:00.000-08:002020-01-10T22:37:52.542-08:00The French Connection: Volume 27<B>A Trap Worth Knowing!</B>
<BR><BR>Hello everyone and welcome to the twenty-seventh edition of The French Connection, and also what is the first article of 2020. This article, and the next two in The French Connection series, will be covering the Advance Variation with differing ideas. In this one, I will be showing you a trap that is actually well worth knowing.
<BR><BR>In most cases, when people ask about which openings have the most traps, my response usually is that looking for traps in the opening is not the approach to take to chess. In most cases, trying to set up a trap typically involves making a move that works if they don't see the idea, but otherwise, if they do stop it, the move proves to often be totally useless. What I am about to show you here is an exception to the rule. If you approach opening study from the opposite site, and try to study a system that is fully sound, and that system just happens to have a trap in it that some players not familiar with the French will actually fall for, only then is it worth analyzing, because in this case, you are still playing the best moves.
<BR><BR>So if we are playing main lines, what makes this a trap? It's the fact that a natural looking move turns out to be really bad for White, and the only way for Black to take advantage of it is to be willing to execute a piece sacrifice. So if you are not familiar with it, it's not nearly as obvious as say, the well known trap in the Milner-Barry Gambit, where 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.cxd4 where now 7...Bd7 is correct, and Black should not fall for 7...Nxd4? 8.Nxd4 Qxd4?? 9.Bb5+ where the Black Queen falls.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's take a look at this trap that Black needs to be familiar with, and White needs to avoid. White was only a 1600-player, but this is precisely the level player that is most likely to fall for this trap. You typical expert or master that is familiar with the French Defense will not play this move when they are White.
<BR><BR><BR>2020 Ticks, Round 3
<BR>W: Rahul Bammidi (1616)
<BR>B: Patrick McCartney (2087)
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.a3 Nh6 7.b4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5</B>
<BR><BR>We have a well-known position in the Advance French. At this point, White has two main responses. Personally, I think that 9.Bb2 is the far superior option for White, and is the move I would play 100 times out of 100 if I am White. That said, White decided to play the alternative option, and it is only in this line that the trap I am about to show you applies.
<BR><BR><B>9.Be3</B>
<BR><BR>It is only with this line that the trap is available.
<BR><BR><B>9...Bd7</B>
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<BR><BR>Now, relatively best for White is 10.Bd3, but after 10...Nxe3 11.fxe3 Rc8 12.O-O Be7 13.Nbd2 Nd8 14.Qe2 Rc3 and Black has far more counterplay than he deserves. This is why I prefer 9.Bb2. That said, there is a move here that White must avoid.
<BR><BR><B>10.Nc3??</B>
<BR><BR>What move could look more natural? Unlike in the 9.Bb2 line, the Knight does not block any defenders of d4, and so White has three defenders to match up against Black's three attackers. So what can possibly be wrong with this move? The issue has to do with the c3-square itself. With the b-pawn and d-pawn advanced, the c3-square is very weak, and Black's attack will be centered around this weak Knight.
<BR><BR><B>10...Rc8?!</B>
<BR><BR>This move is not good. In the game, White winds up directly transposing to the line Black should play, but White has a major improvement. Instead of 10...Rc8, Black should immediately take on b4 with the Knight. After 10...Nxe3! 11.fxe3 Nxb4! 12.axb4 Bxb4 13.Rc1 Rc8 14.Qb3 Qa5 15.Kd2 O-O 16.Bd3 f6! and it is Black with the initiative.
<BR><BR><B>11.Rc1?</B>
<BR><BR>White was given the opportunity to get out of it by playing 11.Na4, attacking the Queen! Instead, White simply transposes to the line above.
<BR><BR><B>11...Nxe3 12.fxe3 Nxb4! 13.axb4 Bxb4</B>
<BR><BR>Now, instead of 14.Qb3, White tries a different move, but it doesn't work, nor does any other move. White is already lost!
<BR><BR><B>14.Qd3 Qa5 15.Kd2</B>
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<BR><BR>So Black is down a piece for two pawns at the moment, but White's pieces are all tied up. To untangle, White needs two moves with the Knight (Nf3-g1-e2), two more for the Bishop (g2-g3 and Bf1-h3 or Bf1-g2), and then getting the h1-Rook in the game, such as via Rc2 and Rhc1. This all takes way too long, and there are many ways for Black to win back the piece, maintaining the extra pawns. Black plays one of those moves here.
<BR><BR><B>15...a6</B>
<BR><BR>This quiet looking move isn't so quiet. The King on d2 is stuck where it is. If it goes to c2, it blocks the Rook and Black can take on c3. If it goes anywhere else, there aren't enough pieces covering c3 and Black can take. If he moves the Queen to c2, the Queen is in front of the Rook, and Black can take on c3 as White would have to recapture with the Queen since the Rook can't, and Black can take a second time, but avoid the third, and he wins White's Queen. The Queen going anywhere else once again abandons the pinned Knight on c3. Therefore, if the King can't move, and the Queen can't move, then this move sets up the fatal threat of ...Bb5. Because of this, White decided to move the King and jettison the Knight.
<BR><BR><B>16.Ke2 Rxc3 17.Rxc3 Bxc3</B>
<BR><BR>This move is winning, but even stronger is 17...Bb5! After 18.Rxc8+ Kd7 19.Rxh8, Black wins in crushing fashion with 19...Qa2+ 20.Nd2 (20.Kd1 Ba4+ with mate two moves later) Qxd2+ 21.Kf3 Bxd3.
<BR><BR><B>18.Kf2 O-O</B>
<BR><BR>Because the King is on the f-file now, I played this move on the basis that I can stop the cheap-shot mate with the f-pawn instead of the g-pawn because taking en passant will be check!
<BR><BR><B>19.Ng5 f5 20.g3</B>
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<BR><BR>Ordinarily, I would say that Black is up two pawns with zero compensation, and end it there, but the way that Black finishes the execution is quite attractive.
<BR><BR><B>20...h6 21.Nh3 Bb5 22.Qb1 g5 23.Bxb5 axb5 24.Kg2 b4 25.g4</B>
<BR><BR>White tries for one last cheap shot. Black will not comply!
<BR><BR><B>25...Qa6</B>
<BR><BR>Of course not 25...fxg4?? 26.Qg6+, when after 26...Kh8 27.Qxh6+ Kg8 28.Qxg5+, it is actually White that is winning.
<BR><BR><B>26.gxf5 Qe2+ 27.Kg1 Qg4+ 28.Kf2 Rxf5+ 29.Nf4</B>
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<BR><BR>Can you find Black's best move?
<BR><BR><B>29...gxf4!!</B>
<BR><BR>Wait a minute? Doesn't this lose the Queen? Not so fast! It's actually the only move that forces mate!
<BR><BR><B>30.Rg1</B>
<BR><BR>While this is the obvious move, 30.Qxf5, while impractical, is the move that prolongs the mate the longest possible. Now a series of forced checks, each of which White has only one legal move, unpins the Queen and mates the White King.
<BR><BR><B>30...fxe3+ 31.Kxe3 Rf3+ 32.Ke2 Rg3+</B>
<BR><BR>Now White technically has two legal moves, but they both lead to mate in one with the same response by Black for both moves.
<BR><BR><B>33.Kf2 Qf3# 0-1</B>
<BR><BR><BR>An absolute crush! All of this happened because of an innocent looking Knight move that is actually a blunder. Black did give White one opportunity to get out of it and should have taken on e3 followed by b4 immediately, but White failed to take advantage of it. The difference between this trap and the vast majority of other opening traps is that this trap does actually occur at the amateur level, and it results from Black playing best moves, not going out of his way to play an odd move simply to trick White. If that were the case, I would highly advise against playing in such a way because all you'd do is hurt yourself, but in this case, it's simply an added bonus to what is already best play for Black. Just remember, always assume that White will not fall for this, and be prepared to play the main lines with best play, whether that be 9.Bb2 or 9.Be3 followed by 10.Bd3. What we saw here is simply an added bonus that you might be able to pull off once in a blue moon against B-level players. Experts and Masters will not fall for this, and those below B-Level players often won't even get this far into the opening and likely do something inferior earlier on, such as 7.Bxh6, or even 3.exd5.
<BR><BR>This was the first of three advance French games played in the first week of 2020. We will be looking at the other two in the near future, and the other two will not see White falling for this in the opening.
<BR><BR>This concludes this edition of The French Connection. Good luck to all of you in your future French games, whether playing Black or White!Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-13584424823711664472019-12-17T15:26:00.000-08:002019-12-17T15:26:02.515-08:00Game Analysis: Atlanta Class Championship, Round 5Hello everyone and welcome. Here we will be concluding the coverage of my games from the Atlanta Class Championship. Before getting to the game, a little word on the tournament situation and the player I faced in the final round. Going into the final round, one player had 3.5 points, and that was the player that I lost to back in the third round, in which the game was covered two articles ago. I was then the only player with 3, and then there was a number of players with 2.5, two of which had to face us on the top two boards. So going into this round, I know that a win will at worst put me in clear second, and with a loss or draw by the tournament leader, I could end up in clear first or tied for first, respectively, and so this game was critical as a loss, or even a draw for that matter, was totally worthless and out of the question.
<BR><BR>A word about my opponent. I had observed throughout the tournament that he moved extremely fast in all of his games. With a time control of 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by sudden death in 30 minutes with a 10 second delay, I have observed cases where the number of moves made was in the 30s, and Frank's clock would still have over 80 minutes on it. It resulted in his 2.5 score coming in the form of three draws and a win. What that told me was that he was probably very good at well known tactical patterns. Before the round, I had looked him up on the USCF Website and noticed that he had played well over 1400 tournament games, which just, to me, confirmed the likelihood that a lot of what he did came in the form of repetition. The fact that this dates back to late 1991, which is as far back as the USCF records, and so he could easily have played hundreds more before that. So, to me, the solution was simple. I am looking at your typical "expert" who probably hit a wall because he shows no sign of patience at the board, and if he just took his time, probably a lot of his draws and losses would have results in victories.
<BR><BR>So what do you do against such an opponent? You play something extremely unusual. An opening that does not result in your "typical" types of pawn structures, like blocked centers that result from the French or King's Indian, or IQP centers that result from many Queen Pawn openings, or open type centers that result from say, the Petroff or the Berlin. I needed something really odd. As it turns out, there is this system called the Elshad System. There is a version of it for Black, which is intended to be a defense to specifically 1.d4, and then there is the version for White, which starts with the move 1.c3, and then subsequent play can be vastly different depending upon which way White chooses to play it. The game below is one of many options for White, and I have taken other approaches in different games, so don't think that this game is "the line". I have no intention of giving away any secrets in that opening, and those that want to know them will have to invest the money and the time themselves. While I mainly play 1.e4, this 1.c3 line is my sideline that I use against players in certain situations. For example, a player that I might be playing for the umpteenth time, throw a curve ball at them. In this case though, with it literally being the second time we ever faced and the first time since 2007, that was not my reason for playing it. It strictly had to do with the fact that he plays too fast, and so if I can throw him off his stride, it is at minimum a psychological advantage for me. It did force him to slow down a little, but even at game's end, he spent a grand total of 28 minutes to my 64.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's see how playing too fast can get you destroyed.
<BR><BR><BR>Atlanta Class Championship, Round 5
<BR>W: Patrick McCartney (2018)
<BR>B: Frank Johnson (2021)
<BR>Elshad System
<BR><BR><B>1.c3 c5 2.d3 Nc6 3.g4 d5 4.h3 e5 5.Bg2 Be6 6.Nf3 Qc7 7.Ng5 O-O-O 8.Nxe6 fxe6 9.Nd2 Be7 10.Nf1 Bh4 11.e4 dxe4 12.Bxe4 Nf6 13.Qe2 Rhf8 14.Ng3 Bxg3 15.fxg3 Nxe4 16.dxe4 h6</B>
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<BR><BR>So this is where we are going to start the analysis. I should start by saying that White, who has played this opening before, has 77 minutes left to Black's 87 minutes, and so Black is still rushing moves. So who is better?
<BR><BR>It turns out, it is roughly equal with White possibly having an ever so slight advantage. That said, this is soon to change as Black's situation is more critical. White is slightly behind in development, but he has all of long term advantages in the position. He has the better minor piece given that the board is somewhat open, and also given that the c3-pawn covers two key squares that the Knight could get to from c6. He also has the better majority. Both sides have three pawn islands, but Black's majority is doubled e-pawns blocked by a single White e-pawn. White's majority is doubled g-pawns and an h-pawn versus g- and h-pawns. So why is White's version better? It's because Black's last move, which he was fairly quick to make, wasn't very good. It creates a hook for White, and White will play g5 shortly, and when White plays g5, Black can't advance the pawn as it would hang to a capture with the White Queen, and if he trades or allows White to trade, White gets a genuine 2-on-1 majority rather than the useless doubled e-pawns that Black has. Given these facts, we know that endgames would likely favor White. Therefore, three moves make sense for White here. 17.g5, going for the majority, 17.Be3, catching up in development, and the move played in the game.
<BR><BR><B>17.Rf1</B>
<BR><BR>White's goal is to trade a set of Rooks and get closer to an endgame. The Rook, of course, was doing nothing anyway on h1.
<BR><BR><B>17...Qa5?</B>
<BR><BR>This is not a good square for the Queen. Black has a number of options, including trading Rooks on f1, to avoid having his d8-Rook dragged to the f-file, or a move like 17...Qd7 or 17...Qe7, looking to maintain control of the open d-file. He could also solidify his queenside with 17...b6. But the game move is a waste of time, and very shortly the d-file is actually going to be a problem for Black.
<BR><BR><B>18.Rxf8 Rxf8 19.Bd2</B>
<BR><BR>Turns out this move is too passive and allows Black equality. White actually has a large advantage after 19.Be3. My main fear was allowing the Knight to become active with 19...Nd4. However, it fails tactically. White wins after 20.Qc4 Nc2+ 21.Kd2 Nxa1 22.Qxe6+ Kd8 23.Qd6+ Ke8 24.Bxc5 Rf7 25.Qxe5+ Kd7 26.Qd5+ Kc8 (Or 26...Ke8 27.Qe6+ Kd8 28.Qxf7 Qxc5 29.Qd5+ and White wins.) 27.Qxf7 Qxc5 28.Qf5+ Qxf5 29.gxf5 and White wins).
<BR><BR>After Black's best play in response to 19.Be3, which is 19...Nb8 20.Qc4 Nd7 21.Rd1 (21.Qxe6? Qb5 =), White has a clear advantage.
<BR><BR><B>19...Qa4 20.b3 Qa3 21.Bc1 Qa5 22.Bd2 Qb6</B>
<BR><BR>Black would be advised to put the burden on White and repeat the position with 22...Qa3. White probably has nothing better than to take a draw by repetition.
<BR><BR><B>23.O-O-O Nb8 24.g5</B>
<BR><BR>There's that g5 move that was mentioned earlier.
<BR><BR><B>24...hxg5 25.Bxg5 Nd7 26.Qd3</B>
<BR><BR>So the d-file has gone from being controlled by Black to being completely owned by White. Black will have problems with the d8-square and his King.
<BR><BR><B>26...Qc6 27.Be7 Rf2?</B>
<BR><BR>The lesser evil is 27...Rf7. After 28.Bd6, White still has an attack, but it's not nearly as dire as what happens in the game.
<BR><BR><B>28.Bxc5!</B>
<BR><BR>The Bishop is poisoned.
<BR><BR><B>28...Rxa2</B>
<BR><BR>28...Nxc5?? is of course mate on move with 29.Qd8. 28...Qxc5? drops the Queen after 29.Qxd7+ Kb8 30.Qe8+ Kc7 (30...Qc8 31.Rd8) 31.Qd8+ Kc6 32.Qd7+ Kb6 33.Rd6+ and Black can take the Rook, block with the Queen, or walk into a pawn fork, all of which drop the Queen.
<BR><BR><B>29.Kb1 Ra5 30.Be7 Rb5 31.c4 Rb6</B>
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<BR><BR>So after 31 moves, White has used 41 minutes. Black has used 11 minutes. And what do we have here? A position where Black is completely busted thanks to a number of inferior moves, and two really bad moves on moves 17 and 27. This is precisely what I was banking on when playing an odd opening against a rapid player.
<BR><BR><B>32.Rf1!</B>
<BR><BR>This move will convert White's positional advantage to a winning material advantage.
<BR><BR><B>32...Kc7</B>
<BR><BR>I was expecting 32...Kb8, avoiding White's next move. Even so, 33.c5 is then a problem for Black.
<BR><BR><B>33.Rf8 Rxb3+</B>
<BR><BR>Black has nothing better.
<BR><BR><B>34.Qxb3 Nxf8 35.Bxf8 Qe4+ 36.Qc2 Qe1+ 37.Ka2 Qxg3 38.Qd2</B>
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<BR><BR><B>38...e4</B>
<BR><BR>I was shocked by this move. I had expected 38...Qxh3. It still loses for Black, but it's not the easiest of winning endings to execute. There is not only one way for White to win it, but an example of a line that would lead to a win for White would be 39.Bd6+ Kc8 40.Be7 b6 41.Qd8+ Kb7 42.Qd7+ Ka6 43.Bb4 Qf3 44.Kb2 Qe4 45.Qc8+ Qb7 46.Qxe6 Qe4 47.Bc3 Kb7 48.Qd5+ Qxd5 49.cxd5 e4 50.Bxg7 Kc7 51.Kc3 Kd6 52.Kd4 and White wins easily as the Bishop can drive the King away from d6 with a check.
<BR><BR>With the game move, White is able to execute a series of checks that allows him to take the e6-pawn with check.
<BR><BR><B>39.Qa5+ Kc8 40.Qc5+ Kd7 41.Qe7+ Kc6 42.Qxe6+ Kc7 43.Ba3</B>
<BR><BR>Bringing the Bishop back to block the Queen from checks temporarily.
<BR><BR><B>43...Qg2+ 44.Bb2 g5</B>
<BR><BR>Black actually spent about a minute on this move. I remember him being about ready to play another move, but then realized the g-pawn falls to a Queen check followed by a capture on g7. However, while completely busted, Black made matters really easy because the pawn is now stuck on g5, the same color square as the White Bishop. It would have made more sense to play 44...g6 instead, though White is still completely winning. In the game, this g5-pawn will fall almost immediately after White is successfully able to eliminate the Queens.
<BR><BR>Now the only question for White is how to make progress. Turns out, the answer is to walk the King up the board. To keep the King protected, the White pieces need to be near the King. To attack Black, the White pieces need to be near the Black King. Therefore, the White King comes with them!
<BR><BR><B>45.Ka3 Qf3+ 46.Kb4</B>
<BR><BR>The best square for the King as Black will have to go far away to check the King again, and the following move, there will be no checks.
<BR><BR>Black has spent 17 minutes to play his first 45 moves. He now sits there and proceeds to spend a full six minutes on his 46th move. The problem is, it's way too late for that! He should have been spending his time earlier. Let me once again emphasize bad moves by Black such as 17...Qa5 and 27...Rf2. In the meantime, White has spent 57 minutes on his first 46 moves, and so with 63 minutes left for the game, White is in no threat to run out of time, or even feel pressured to the point where it would impact his judgement in the position.
<BR><BR><B>46...Qf8+ 47.Ka4!</B>
<BR><BR>While 47.c5 is also still winning, why give Black any hope at all? He can play 47...a5+, which just complicates the matter. Sure, White still wins, but why deal with a high pressure situation, such as 48.Kb5 Qf1+ 49.Kxa5. The game move is simply easier for White.
<BR><BR><B>47...b6 48.Qxe4 a5</B>
<BR><BR>So Black goes for desperation by threatening a cheap shot mate in 1. That said, it took me a matter of a minute to confirm that Black has no way to avoid the trade of Queens here.
<BR><BR><B>49.Bxe5+ Kd7</B>
<BR><BR>Or 49...Kd8 50.Qa8+ also eliminates the Queens.
<BR><BR><B>50.Qd5+</B>
<BR><BR>And now if 50...Ke7, then a skewer occurs with 51.Bd6+. Therefore, Black is forced to the back rank and the Queens are gone.
<BR><BR><B>50...Ke8 51.Qa8+ Kf7 52.Qxf8+ Kxf8 53.Bf6</B>
<BR><BR>Remember the comment back at Black's 44th move, and how this pawn is now stuck on a square that is the color the White Bishop resides on? Now that pawn will fall immediately.
<BR><BR><B>53...g4 54.hxg4 Kf7 55.Bd4 1-0</B>
<BR><BR>With another pawn about to fall, Black had enough and threw in the towel.
<BR><BR><BR>Mission Accomplished! Black spent a grand total of 28 minutes to White's 64 for this game, and while White's opening selection may not be viewed as the best of openings, and despite White's one real mistake on move 19, the opening, and subsequently the flow of the game, served its purpose. Black played a number of inferior moves, like 16...h6, just to name one, and two really bad moves on moves 17 and 27, and all of this masked White's lone error along with choice of opening. When you clearly know that you are playing against someone that always moves way too fast, the way to take them down is to get them out of their comfort zone. They probably have well known patterns mentally stored that arise from common openings like the Sicilian or Nimzo-Indian, but they can really get thrown off if they face something that is really odd, like the Sokolsky (1.b4), Bird's Opening (1.f4), 1.Nc3 lines, which can transpose to various King Pawn openings or also lead to independent positions, such as the Tubingen Gambit (1.Nc3 Nf6 2.g4), or as was the case here, the Elshad System via 1.c3. Now keep in mind, it needs to be something that you know. Just throwing a random move that you've never played yourself won't do you any good, but while you may be a 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4, or 1.Nf3 player, it might be good to have something unusual in your repertoire for White. The fact that White goes first allows for such activity without getting killed. None of these should be your main opening for White, and I say this despite the fact that 1.b4 for a while was indeed my main opening back in 2008 and 2014, having played over 200 games with that opening move. I should add that doing this is not a good idea when you have Black. When you are already at a slight disadvantage because your opponent goes first, you should stick to your bread and butter defenses, and trust your own ability to outplay your opponent in a position that you see in almost half of your Black games while your opponent might face it a couple of times a year as White.
<BR><BR><BR>As for the tournament, those of you that recall in the article on round 1 that I had won this tournament, you probably already know what happened on the other board. The leader, Doruk Emir, who beat me in the third round, had to play Alexander Rutten, the kid I defeated in the first round, and Alexander Rutten won that game, leaving both Doruk Emir and Alexander Rutten, along with one other player, with 3.5, which lead to my 4-point performance being a clear first place result.
<BR><BR>This concludes the coverage of the Altanta Class Championship. This is also very likely the last article of 2019. I hope everyone enjoys the Holidays, and I will be back after the Charlotte Open to continue to cover games from tournaments, such as the Charlotte Open, along with other articles on endgame play, opening and middlegame topics, and will continue the French Connection series with lots of analysis and ideas in the French Defense with many games featuring that opening.
<BR><BR>Best wishes to everyone. See you in 2020!Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-21022298420458126772019-12-14T07:53:00.000-08:002019-12-14T07:53:04.713-08:00Game Analysis: Atlanta Class Championship, Round 4Hello everyone and welcome. Here we will be continuing the analysis of the games I played in the Atlanta Class Championship. After three rounds, the standings were Doruk Emir, the player I lost to in the previous round, with 3 points, and then five of us with 2 points (nobody had 2.5), and then waiting in the wings was the top seed, the guy I beat in the first round, with 1.5, while the second seed, the guy I beat in the second round, lost again in the third and is a non-factor at this point in time. All of this ends up being very significant. The five players with 2 points are the next three in line, the 4-, 5-, and 6-seeds (the last one being me), along with two class A players playing up. Doruk Emir gets the 4-seed in this round while Frank Johnson (the 5-seed) and myself both get the luxury of playing down this round.
<BR><BR>The opponent I got was a very young kid who could not have been more than maybe a tween. As I have mentioned many times before, kids, tweens, and even teens, most (and I emphasize, <B>most</B>, and not <B>all</B>,) tend to be impatient, reliant on tactics, and rarely have a deep understanding of positional play as most of them don't study the old fashion way at a three-dimensional board, and instead tend to go for a lot of internet play and using computers to do their analysis, which often leads to passive learning. Passive learning can lead to sharp tactical play, but often results a massive weakness in positional understanding and overall strategy. For this reason, I was completely shocked by the opening selected, but then at the same time, I was not at all shocked by the positional errors that White made in this game early on. By the time tactics started kicking in, Black was already winning, but it lead to a very long series of complicated moves as Black had to stop a lot of White's threats and find the break through in the winning endgame. This did lead to time issues for myself (Black), but luckily, unlike the third round, they did not cost me as I wasn't literally down to my final minute in the first time control, and in the second time control, I was in an endgame when time was short, and so Black's moves were fairly simple at that point. It just turned out to be a long-winded process to convert the win, especially given that I had to go for the simplest way out instead of what was necessarily the fastest way out.
<BR><BR>With all of that said, let's take a look at what happened in the game.
<BR><BR><BR>Atlanta Class Championship, Round 4
<BR>W: Vikram Rajmohan (1942)
<BR>B: Patrick McCartney (2018)
<BR>London System
<BR><BR><B>1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.Bf4</B>
<BR><BR>Not exactly the opening I expected from a young kid. This is more the opening selection I would expect from a crotchety old man who is well past his prime, looking for simplicity, and wants to play the same position over and over again as rather than having to go through complicated tactics that would require a lot of calculation, which is an area that older people tend to be at a disadvantage, he or she would rather play based on known patterns. This type of play requires positional understanding, which if you study in the manner that people over 60 today studied back in the day, before artificial intelligence took over, this type of opening should be right up their alley.
<BR><BR>Now I must also give a word of caution to those of you that incorporate the concept of chess psychology into your game. I did mention before that this concept of how older people study and understand the game versus how younger people study and understand the game at the amateur level is true for the majority of cases, but not all cases. Therefore, Black here has to play on the assumption that White knows precisely what he is doing, and it is only after the subsequent 10 to 12 moves that I was able to confirm that White did not have a strong background in understanding positional concepts, as we shall see shortly.
<BR><BR>Lastly, for those of you looking for an answer to the London System that play the King's Indian Defense against 1.d4/2.c4, this double-fianchetto line is well worth looking into. I'm not claiming it's any kind of bust to the London System as there is no refutation to it, but if you want an active game with potential winning chances, this is not a bad line to go with.
<BR><BR><B>3...Bg7 4.e3 d6</B>
<BR><BR>If Black wants to maintain the highest level of flexibility, with in some cases the possibility of playing ...d5 instead, then 4...O-O is appropriate here as White hasn't played e4.
<BR><BR><B>5.c4</B>
<BR><BR>To me, this move is a mistake. In some ways, it's White committing too early, and in others, it's White mixing openings. To me, if White is going to play the structure with c4, d4, and e3 against the King's Indian Defense, the Bishop should be on g5 rather than f4, and for those looking for an example of this, go back in this forum to August 2019 and go through the 5th round of The Des Moines Open, which featured that exact line. Black won, but in reality, it was White that should have won that game.
<BR><BR>On the flip side, there may occasionally be cases in the London System where White does play c4 instead of c3, but he should not commit to that until Black has revealed his hand, like is he going to play for c5 or e5? Will he double-fianchetto and hold both pawns back? I think that White should continue with his Kingside development first and then figure out what to do with the c-pawn. White should probably play 5.h3 or 5.Be2 here.
<BR><BR><B>5...O-O 6.Bd3</B>
<BR><BR>And here we have another positional mistake by White. Against the King's Indian, it is extremely rare that d3 is the best place for the Bishop as it bites on granite with the strong g6-h7 pawn structure. Also, as we will see, White's Bishop will come under attack, and actually end up taken. This is White's better bishop, and a piece that he should be holding on to with his pawn structure. This piece is far better placed on e2.
<BR><BR><B>6...Nbd7 7.Nc3 b6 8.O-O Bb7</B>
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<BR><BR>So it is only now that Black exposes his hand as he went for a double-fianchetto setup with a delay in advancing ...c5. This keeps c5 from being a target for White, doesn't give White b4 as a lever, and still allows for ...e5 instead of ...c5 if the position calls for it. White's next move cannot be good.
<BR><BR><B>9.d5</B>
<BR><BR>The idea behind this move is very shallow. Yes, it blocks the Bishop that Black just put on b7. However, it costs White the dark squares, which Black control rapidly as White's poor development of his Light-Squared Bishop will gain Black a tempo.
<BR><BR><B>9...Nc5 10.Rc1</B>
<BR><BR>Wh-wh-what????? No, this cannot be right at all. White has two options here, and everything else is just outright bad. The first, and the one that I expected White to do, was retreat the Bishop to c2 or e2. I am guessing that White expected to be able to play 11.Bb1 on the next move only after getting the Rook out, going on the assumption that I would play the standard 10...a5 to secure the outpost for the Knight on c5. If White had played something like 10.Be2 or 10.Bc2, that is precisely what I would have done. But here? Absolutely not!
<BR><BR>Before going to the game and seeing Black's reaction to this, it should also be mentioned that White does not have to secure the Bishop. He could transform the pawn structure and play 10.e4, against white Black should play 10...Nfd7, not allowing White to advance e5. For the moment, he should have no fear in White advancing b4 as he can then take the Bishop on d3, despite it being the bad Bishop now, and disrupt White's Queenside activity with a timely ...a5 immediately after the trade on d3.
<BR><BR><B>10...Nxd3</B>
<BR><BR>Black is not allowing White to have his cake and eat it too. The Bishop is now gone, and Black, with in unopposed light-squared Bishop, should not have the issues on the light squares that he often has in the King's Indian Defense with all his pawns sitting on dark squares. How White follows up in the next couple of moves is even more alarming.
<BR><BR><B>11.Qxd3 Nd7</B>
<BR><BR>Once again, to control the dark squares e5 and c5.
<BR><BR><B>12.b4?</B>
<BR><BR>Probably played in fear of ...Nc5, but this doesn't solve any problems. It only creates more problems. Black isn't likely looking to play ...Nc5 just to get a cheap tempo unless he is going to play ...a5, but with the Knight for Bishop trade, Black can instead go for ...e5 and a Kingside attack without fearing weaknesses on the light squares resulting from the advancing of the pawns in front of his King. White had to play 12.e4 here, and after 12...e5 13.Bg5, it is still a game.
<BR><BR><B>12...a5</B>
<BR><BR>With b4 played pre-maturely, White now has to choose between giving Black an open a-file for his Rook, or else lose control of c5 again.
<BR><BR><B>13.b5</B>
<BR><BR>13.a3 was White's best move here with approximate equality.
<BR><BR><B>13...Nc5 14.Qe2 e5</B>
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<BR><BR>White is now between a rock and a hard place. He clearly cannot afford to take enpassant. It does nothing to weaken Black. It would open up Black's unopposed Bishop on b7. It would also heavily expose the weak pawn on c4. However, other moves simply give Black a ready-made attack. White's got two minor pieces on the Kingside that Black can gain tempos on via pawn moves, and everything for Black points to an attack on the White King. The Rook on a8 can be swung across to the Kingside, and the Bishop re-routed via c8 to a better diagonal. Meanwhile, the Queenside is virtually slammed shut, and there is absolutely nothing White can do there. So aside from having to watch out for cheap tactics by White, Black should feel very comfortable in this position, and doesn't even need to rush the attack as there is virtually nothing that White can do with the pawns the way they are.
<BR><BR>Remember at White's third move when I said that you can't just "assume" the majority of cases matches your situation? Remember how I said at first, you have to assume that he knows what he's doing? Well, now it can be safely said that White did not understand London System strategy at all, and that White is positionally busted. Now keep in mind that positionally busted does not mean that Black will have this rapid fire attack that blows White off the board in a matter of a few moves. Oh, no way! In fact, it's 86 moves later when White resigns, despite the fact that he probably could have safely resigned sooner, as we shall see later on.
<BR><BR><B>15.Bg3</B>
<BR><BR>The least of the evils for White, but even according to artificial intelligence, Black's position is up a full pawn in value already, and we are only 15 moves into the game.
<BR><BR><B>15...f5 16.h3</B>
<BR><BR>Another sad necessity that really shows how dire a situation White's position really is. Normally, the old adage is not to advance pawns on the side of the board in which you are weak, but in this case, if White doesn't advance that pawn now or soon, his Bishop is going to get trapped by the Black pawns.
<BR><BR>Anybody that play the King's Indian Defense against 1.d4 would also probably recognize at this point that Black has an improved version of the typical attack that he gets in the Classical King's Indian. This illustrates why it is very important to understand ideas and strategies when studying an opening, not just memorizing moves. Those that memorize would see this position as probably good for Black, but would need to figure out for themselves how to go about it. With the blocked queenside, they will likely recognize that Black's attack is on the King, but might think a little over-cautiously, thinking that his King is exposed because White has not played f3. A King's Indian player who doesn't merely memorize but understands what is going on realizes that the main reason Black wants f3 played by White before he plays ...f4 in the normal King's Indian has to do with White's light-squared Bishop, not King exposure, and with White's Bishop gone, this is not an issue at all, and so as you will see in the game, Black is playing for ...f4 the moment White advances his e-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>16...f5 17.e4</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_jYMmTYM0zCLgiytqwDEss5vzGjcJgaBVTW3BqDhryYcqYLjHo0mmhx5s6oDMliP66bUHh8yvibUYNkjaVhtl3uOuS6oWVlqaDaEUupEgI8Q4Om-OIH1GuogjKVYuFRiW-MHR1sord9T/s1600/ACC17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_jYMmTYM0zCLgiytqwDEss5vzGjcJgaBVTW3BqDhryYcqYLjHo0mmhx5s6oDMliP66bUHh8yvibUYNkjaVhtl3uOuS6oWVlqaDaEUupEgI8Q4Om-OIH1GuogjKVYuFRiW-MHR1sord9T/s320/ACC17.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>So here we have the situation we just talked about. A player that memorizes might think about leaving the tension here, or possibly trading twice on e4 and then going ...Bc8, trying to gain a tempo on f5 with the Bishop. This idea though is not best. Black should instead recognize two things. The first, once again, is that White's Light-Squared Bishop is gone. There is no issue with exposing the g4-square, and so Black does not need f3 to be played to advance his pawn. However, another thing to recognize is that advancing the pawn creates another major headache for White. What does he do with that Bishop on g3? He only has two choices, and both lead to bad situations for White, and so therefore, Black should not even contemplate another move, and instead, proceeds to advance the pawn.
<BR><BR><B>17...f4!</B>
<BR><BR>This shuts out any play by White that might result from opening up the b1-h7 diagonal by trading on e4 or f5, and the Bishop now has to move in a way that benefits Black. Normally, Black doesn't gain this tempo, and normally, White's Bishop is on either d2 (in the 10.Nd3 variation of the Mar Del Plata) or f2 (in the 10.Be3 line of the Mar Del Plata). Here, it either has to go to h2, which will virtually put White down a piece. The Bishop is completely useless, and by the time White is able to get it out with something like Kh1, Bg1, N-somewhere, and f3, Black's pawns and pieces have already swarmed around the White King. Not to mention, the moment White moves the Knight, he must watch out for tactical shots by Black of playing ...f3, even if it's a pawn sacrifice, it could fatally open routes to the White King.
<BR><BR>So therefore, White goes the other route with his Bishop, but we shall soon see that it is not roses for White either.
<BR><BR><B>18.Bh4 Bf6!</B>
<BR><BR>What is the one really bad piece for Black in lines of the King's Indian where the center is completely blocked? The Dark-Squared Bishop! What has Black just done here? Forced the trade of Dark-Squared Bishops! With Black's attack, he absolutely does not want an endgame, but if there is literally one piece that Black should be more than thrilled to trade off, it's the dark-squared Bishop. Again, we are seeing many ideas in the King's Indian Defense in an improved version here. This is why ideas and understanding are so much more important than memorizing reams of lines. You can end up in a completely different opening - Remember, this game was a London System, not a King's Indian Defense - and yet wind up in a position just like something else that you play, or in this case, like that but with interest!
<BR><BR><B>19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Nd2 Bc8</B>
<BR><BR>Re-routing the Bishop as once again, White has virtually nothing, and Black can take his sweet time to arrange everything.
<BR><BR><B>21.Qf3?</B>
<BR><BR>This is a horrible move. The Queen is not a good blocking piece. Yes 21.f3 does weaken dark squares, and advances another pawn on the side White's weak, but this was by far the lesser evil. All White can do is sit back and make Black prove that he can bust through, but sometimes you have to admit that you are playing for 2 results, and do whatever you can to try to draw the position. The move played does not achieve that.
<BR><BR><B>21...Rf7 22.Rfd1</B>
<BR><BR>Possibly trying to give a little extra breathing room to the White King, but don't think that the White King can just run away to the Queenside. Let's not forget that Knight on c5. Just because he's not on the Kingside doesn't mean he isn't taking part in the attack.
<BR><BR><B>22...Rg7 23.Nf1 Bd7 24.g4</B>
<BR><BR>Possibly trying to take advantage of the fact that en passant would hang the Black Queen, but rather, all this does is give Black another hook that is even easier to latch on to, and does nothing but weaken the White King even further.
<BR><BR><B>24...Qh4 25.Nh2 h5!</B>
<BR><BR>White's position is coming apart at the seems.
<BR><BR><B>26.Qg2 hxg4 27.Nxg4 Rf8 28.f3 Rh7 29.Kh2 Kg7 30.Rh1</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVGtYYQKZDZL7JxwL0Ch6Tr-avh29YBehlHMf9rdkE5L7nBGDmLpvty1Wy_-HAT_fFH0qTadrbeVokkSguIQPfEUMck2KAzUA0pYpS45yOxvWvlFw7r5ghQhr8qLHkh4QzsQZFJDPnt19k/s1600/ACC18.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVGtYYQKZDZL7JxwL0Ch6Tr-avh29YBehlHMf9rdkE5L7nBGDmLpvty1Wy_-HAT_fFH0qTadrbeVokkSguIQPfEUMck2KAzUA0pYpS45yOxvWvlFw7r5ghQhr8qLHkh4QzsQZFJDPnt19k/s320/ACC18.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Black's pieces can hardly be improved. That usually means it's time for the kill shot. How should Black proceed?
<BR><BR><B>30...Bxg4!</B>
<BR><BR>Removing a key defender, and forcing White to give Black a protected passer on f4.
<BR><BR><B>31.fxg4</B>
<BR><BR>This move is forced as 31.Qxg4?? results in mate in 4 after 31...Qf2+ 32.Qg2 Rxh3+!! 33.Kxh3 Rh8+ 34.Kg4 Qxg2 mate.
<BR><BR><B>31...Nd3!</B>
<BR><BR>And now in comes the Knight, which will win material due to tactics.
<BR><BR><B>32.Rcf1</B>
<BR><BR>Anything else allows ...Nf2 and ...f3, leading to a making attack.
<BR><BR><B>32...Nb2</B>
<BR><BR>This move is cute, and still winning, but unnecessary. Black had 28 minutes to make 9 moves, and probably should have looked a little longer at the direct attack, and maybe he would have seen that significantly stronger is 32...f3! 33.Rxf3 Rxf3 34.Qxf3 Nf4 and White is busted.
<BE><BR><B>33.Rf3</B>
<BR><BR>Of course not 33.Qxb2?? Qg3 mate!
<BR><BR><BR><B>33...Nxc4</B>
<BR><BR>Chomp!
<BR><BR><B>34.Nd1 Rfh8</B>
<BR><BR>Playing this move requires Black to see a tactic, otherwise White would have an winning invasion on the Queenside.
<BR><BR><B>35.Qc2</B>
<BR><BR>This doesn't work for tactical reasons, but the White Queen was already being overworked as it was.
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jwhga0HdwW5Ulk3dFno_ZCfn54ovTnIf2UgkdDvoN90hYrJbvwFI_0faAg4wTCzObbKMLJYDCuULsBV449zpW6ieQtSFFbarXxCOLFe3EtKhVQqgTs4eLxyeYQywboGh1oyg7iWVE5xn/s1600/ACC19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8jwhga0HdwW5Ulk3dFno_ZCfn54ovTnIf2UgkdDvoN90hYrJbvwFI_0faAg4wTCzObbKMLJYDCuULsBV449zpW6ieQtSFFbarXxCOLFe3EtKhVQqgTs4eLxyeYQywboGh1oyg7iWVE5xn/s320/ACC19.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Do you see the move for Black here?
<BR><BR><B>35...Qxg4!</B>
<BR><BR>The main point is not that the pawn was hanging. If that's all it was, White could take the Knight and threaten to invade on c7. The point is that the Knight can't be taken because of a double capture on h3 with mate.
<BR><BR><B>36.Qc3</B>
<BR><BR>So instead of taking the Knight, the Queen is stuck guarding the weak h3-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>36...Qd7</B>
<BR><BR>Attack and defense at the same time. Black continues to eye h3, but also guards the c6 and c7 squares so that he can move his Knight once White gets rid of the mate threat. Note that White still can't take the Knight on c4 as 37.Qxc4 Rxh3+ 38.Rxh3 Qxh3+ 39.Kg1 Qxh1+ 40.Kf2 Rh2 is mate.
<BR><BR>That said, Black did have a tactical shot that would have put White away quicker. After 36...Rxh3+!! 37.Rxh3 f3!!, White has to part with his Queen and after 38.Qxf3 Qxf3, due to the pin on the Rook, Black's winning easily.
<BR><BR><B>37.Nf2 Ne3 38.Rc1 Kg8</B>
<BR><BR>A clever way to add defense to the c7-pawn, and also gets Black out of the pin, preventing any Rxf4 tricks.
<BR><BR><B>39.Rg1 Rh6 40.Rc1 R8h7</B>
<BR><BR>Shuffling the Rooks so that both are doing a task.
<BR><BR><B>41.Rg1 Qxb5</B>
<BR><BR>There goes a second pawn!
<BR><BR><B>42.Re1 g5 43.Rexe3</B>
<BR><BR>White goes for desperation by sacrificing yet another exchange to try to open up lines to the Black King. With proper defense, this shouldn't work.
<BR><BR><B>43.fxe3 44.Qxe3 Rg6 45.Ng4</B>
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<BR><BR><B>45...Rf7 46.Rg3</B>
<BR><BR>Two other move worth noting:
<BR><BR>A) 46.Nh6+ fails to 46...Rxh6 47.Qxg5+ Rg7 and now if 48.Qxh6, then 48...Qe2+ is mate in 3.
<BR><BR>B) 46.Rxf7 Kxf7 47.Qf2+ Kg7 48.Qc2 Qd7 and Black is safe.
<BR><BR><B>46...Rf4</B>
<BR><BR>The point behind Black's previous move.
<BR><BR><B>47.Qg1 Qe2+</B>
<BR><BR>Winning yet another pawn.
<BR><BR><B>48.Rg2 Qxe4 49.Nh6+ Kh7</B>
<BR><BR>Black could also take the Knight, but why risk it and why give White any satisfaction at all?
<BR><BR><B>50.Ng4 Rf3 51.Nf2 Qf4+ 52.Kh1 Rh6 53.Qb1+ Qf5 54.Qc1</B>
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<BR><BR><B>54...Rhxh3+</B>
<BR><BR>One can hardly criticize what Black did. It does eliminate the White Queen after all, and wins easily, and with only 7 minutes left for the game, it might be the best way to go if you don't immediately see that taking the Knight was possible, and of course wins faster. After 54...Rxf2 55.Qxc7+ Kg6 56.Qxd6+ Kh5, there are no more checks.
<BR><BR><B>55.Nxh3 Rf1+ 56.Qxf1 Qxf1+ 57.Kh2</B>
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<BR><BR>So Black will have three pawns and a Queen for Rook and Knight (the pawn on g5 is dead for those of you that think I can't count). The main thing now for Black is not to allow any knight forks of the King and Queen, and allowing a discovered check is fine as long as the piece moving out of the way of the discovering piece isn't able to attack the Black Queen in doing so.
<BR><BR><B>57...Qc4</B>
<BR><BR>And so I went here, anticipating a capture on g5, and if it's with the Knight with check, I'll be able to cross the g-file and not be stuck on the h-file.
<BR><BR><B>58.Nxg5+</B>
<BR><BR>Of course, taking with the Rook does keep the Black King on the h-file, but then I can scoop up both remaining White pawns as I can take the first one on a2 with check.
<BR><BR><B>58...Kg6 59.Ne6+ Kh6</B>
<BR><BR>59...Kf6 was also possible.
<BR><BR><B>60.Ng7 Qf4+</B>
<BR><BR>Black should simply grab the d5-pawn here.
<BR><BR><B>61.Kg1 e4</B>
<BR><BR>Now we see what Black is after. Rather than simply cleaning house and getting rid of the White pawns, Black tries to promote one of his own.
<BR><BR><B>62.Ne6 Qe5</B>
<BR><BR>Do note that for the moment, like if White were to move the a-pawn or the King, the d5-pawn is poisoned and it is therefore not a threat to be taken. If the Black Queen were on d5 right now, 63.Rh2+ followed by 64.Nf4+ would win the game for White.
<BR><BR><B>63.Rh2+</B>
<BR><BR>White proceeds with the check anyway instead of maybe waiting and seeing if Black falls for the trap. There is nothing else White can do except weasel out with a cheap trap, so why not try it? Turns out I was fully aware of the situation.
<BR><BR><B>63...Kg6 64.Nf8+ Kf7 65.Rf2+ Ke8 66.Ne6 e3 67.Re2</B>
<BR><BR>Black, of course, still can't take the pawn on d5 due to a Knight fork on c7. Therefore ...
<BR><BR><B>67...Qg3+ 68.Rg2</B>
<BR><BR>Any other move allows mate in 9.
<BR><BR><B>68...Qe1+ 69.Kh2 Qh4+</B>
<BR><BR>Due to the increment time control, I played this just to gain an extra minute on the clock. The real move comes at move 71.
<BR><BR><B>70.Kg1 Qe1+ 71.Kh2 Qc3</B>
<BR><BR>Covering all bases, including c7 and e3.
<BR><BR><B>72.Ng7+ Kf7</B>
<BR><BR>The best square for the King as there is no way to give a Knight fork with a King on f7 and a Queen on d5.
<BR><BR><B>73.Nf5 Qe5+ 74.Ng3 Qxd5</B>
<BR><BR>The pawn is now safe to take, and with connected passers, White position is hopeless. With d5 gone, White can safely resign here. The rest of the moves are simply given for completeness.
<BR><BR><B>75.Ne2 Qf3 76.Kg1 d5 77.a4 d4 78.Kh2 d3 79.Ng3 Qxg2+ 80.Kxg2 d2 81.Kf3 d1=Q+ 82.Kxe3 Qxa4 83.Ne4 Qxe4+ 84.Kxe4 Ke6 85.Kd4 c6 86.Kc4 Ke5 87.Kc3 Kd5 88.Kb3 Kd4 89.Ka3 Kd3 90.Ka2 c5 91.Kb2 Kd2 92.Kb3 b5 93.Ka3 c4 94.Ka2 c3 95.Ka3 c2 96.Kb3 c1=Q 97.Ka2 Qc2+ 98.Ka1 Qc3+ 99.Ka2 Qb4 100.Ka1 Kc2 0-1</B>
<BR><BR>Literally one move before mate, after 100 moves, White Resigned.
<BR><BR><BR>So we just witnessed a 100-move game with a ton of tactics from about move 30-onward. Can you name what the opening was? While many will recall it was a London System, the main point being made is that one cannot use a linear one-to-one relationship between opening and type of game. If all you did was memorize openings, you would think this game was baloney for a London System, but after White failed in many ways to play sound, positional moves in an opening not known for being wild and tactical, the game steered more in the direction of a King's Indian Defense, and what Black got was a souped up, more favorable version of it. It still required general knowledge of the King's Indian Defense for Black to weave his way through. Trying to memorize lines and compartmenalize openings like they are rats in separated mazes where they never meet together is a major flaw often made by amateurs. Many amateurs might be aware of certain well-known direct opening transpositions, like someone that plays the Scandinavian Gambit is probably well aware of the transposition to the Panov-Botvinnik Attack, a line against the Caro-Kann, and an Accelerated Dragon player might transpose directly to the Regular Dragon, or a Modern player might transpose to the Pirc, but the necessity to actually understand the ideas behind the openings you play goes far beyond direct transpositions. This game was not a direct transposition to the King's Indian Defense, but with tons of similarities to the King's Indian, knowing the ideas behind the opening is what was critical, and Black executed it beautifully. He may not have found every opportunity at playing the really flashy move every time, but simply being able to continue to play sound moves that maintain the winning advantage is all that is necessary. The difference between -4 and -8 is not important. What you don't want to do is get into the massive time issues that Black got into back in the third round (see the previous article).
<BR><BR><BR>So now an interesting twist occurred in the fourth round. The 4-seed was able to draw against the leader, Doruk Emir, giving the leader now 3.5. The other game between the players with two ended up in a draw, and the top seed, Alexander Rutten, won his game. The 4-seed, for some reason, withdrew after this. This gave Doruk Emir the lead at 3.5, myself alone in second at 3, Alexander Rutten, Frank Johnson (the 5-seed) and two others all had 2.5. I could not play Doruk in the final round as we had already faced. That meant that Doruk was going to have to play the top 2.5 player, which was the top seed in the tournament, and I was going to have to play Frank Johnson in the final round. All other games were irrelevant at this point. I am still in must-win mode, and with a win, I end up in clear second if Doruk wins, a tie for first if he draws, and clear first to myself if he loses.
<BR><BR>The result of that game, along with coverage of my game in the final round against Frank Johnson, will be the topic of my next post, which may not come until after Christmas. I will try, but can't promise. Until then, good luck in your games.Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-45562308520818196192019-12-08T08:32:00.001-08:002019-12-08T08:32:37.860-08:00Game Analysis: Atlanta Class Championship, Round 3Hello everyone and welcome as we continue to analyze the games that lead to my victory of the Expert Section (which was also the top section) of the Atlanta Class Championship. In the previous two articles, we saw myself getting White against the top two players of the section, and taking both of them down. So what do I get as an opponent for my first game of the tournament as Black? The three seed! Of course!
<BR><BR>In this game, we are going to see Black taking full advantage of the fact that White showed zero understanding of the opening. Black achieves a winning position, and keeps it until the one dark spot in the tournament hits for me. The time control was 40 moves in 90 minutes followed by sudden death in 30 minutes with a 30 second increment. Black, for the final 12 moves of the first time control, gets into severe time trouble, and we will see the entire position turn from a win for Black to a win for White in a mere matter of 12 moves. Even on move 40, Black has a shot at equality and salvaging half the point, but after move 40, Black is busted, and we will see the game conclude with correct technique by White, showing how to execute a winning Rook endgame with passed pawns for both sides.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's take a look at the game.
<BR><BR>Atlanta Class Championship, Round 3
<BR>W: Doruk Emir (2096)
<BR>B: Patrick McCartney (2018)
<BR>King's Indian Defense, Saemisch Variation
<BR><BR><B>1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.e4</B>
<BR><BR>This is a common idea in the English Opening. White has no good way to play for an advantage without directly transposing to the King's Indian Defense. There are two common ways to do it. One of them is to transpose to the Fianchetto Variation via 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 O-O 5.Nf3 d6 6.O-O and following up Black's 6th move with 7.d4 as 7.d3 gives White nothing more than equality. The other approach is what happens this game, and playing 3.e4 has one major advantage over playing the fianchetto line. In the Fianchetto line, after 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 O-O 5.Nf3, Black can also play 5...d5, leading to either the Grunfeld if 6.d4, or anti-Grunfeld positions after 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.O-O, avoiding d4, which gives Black very few problems. By taking a more classical approach and playing either the Classical, Saemisch, Four Pawns, or any other line that involves an early e4, normally reached via 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6, White can specifically avoid the Grunfeld by playing 3.e4 before 4.d4. With 3.e4, the move ...d5 is taken out of the picture. White is basically saying that he has no objection to playing against a King's Indian, but no Grunfeld for you, sir! That said, those that know me know that I'm a King's Indian player, and despise the Grunfeld, and so it's no skin off my nose, but for those of you playing White, this is worth knowing.
<BR><BR>Now you might ask, what happens after 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5, as many Grunfeld players know that this move order is necessary due to 3.e4, as played in the game. I would suggest a line that Ulf Andersson played, namely 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.Nf3 g6 (normally, his games would go 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5, reaching the same position) 5.e4 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 and Black has literally one move that leads to a near equal position, and that is the counter-intuitive 7...f6. Other moves lead to an advantage for White, including the "typical" move seen here, 7...Bg7. Those of you interested in learning this position are encouraged to pick up a copy of "How Ulf Beats Black" by Cyrus Lakdawala. Some old books on the English Opening may also cover this line.
<BR><BR><B>3...d6 4.d4 Bg7 5.f3 O-O 6.Be3 e5</B>
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<BR><BR>So we have the basic starting position of the 6...e5 variation of the Saemisch King's Indian. Black's idea is fairly simple. He wants to take on d4 to open up the diagonal for his Bishop on g7. White has two basic ideas here available to him. The first, and most common idea, is to lock the center with 7.d5. This move gains space for White, and slams shut the diagonal, and Black ends up with a bad Bishop on g7, similar to the bad Bishop on c8 in the French Defense, another opening that I play regularly, and so bad Bishops don't bother me, but again, you have to know how to deal with them to play this line against the Saemisch. If White does this, Black will usually play 7...Nh5 with ideas of either playing 8...f5, going for a Kingside Attack and chipping away at White's center, or there is an interesting line involving a sacrifice of the Queen for two Bishops and two pawns via 8.Qd2 Qh4+ 9.g3 Nxg3 10.Qf2 (10.Bf2? Nxf1 hits the Queen) Nxf1 11.Qxh4 Nxe3 followed by 12...Nxc4.
<BR><BR>The second option is for White to allow the trade on d4 and play 7.Nge2, intending to recapture on d4 with the Knight. This leads to more of a Maroczy Bind type of position after Black trades on d4.
<BR><BR>In the game however, White plays a bad move.
<BR><BR><B>7.Qd2? exd4 8.Bxd4 Nc6</B>
<BR><BR>And here inlies the problem. The move 5.f3 has the downside of weakening the dark squares around White's King. Therefore, the absolute last thing that White can afford to do is give up his dark-squared Bishop for a Knight, leaving Black's dark-squared Bishop on what is now an open diagonal unopposed. Therefore, Black is developing with the gain of tempo. Had White played 7.Nge2 and recaptured on move 8 with the Knight, then 8...Nc6, while a fine move, does not gain time like it does in the game because White should have no objection to trading Knights if Black wishes to do so, but Black is spending time doing it, first developing the Knight, and then trading it off, falling behind in development while White develops his pieces and merely reacts when needed, like re-capturing when Black initiates a trade.
<BR><BR><B>9.Be3</B>
<BR><BR>As explained, a sad necessity, losing time.
<BR><BR><B>9...a6 10.Nge2 Rb8 11.Nd4 Bd7 12.Nc2</B>
<BR><BR>And so now White has lost time with the Bishop, and spends 3 moves to develop his Knight to c2? Yes, the Knight does often move 3 times in the Saemisch King's Indian, but usually to get to b3 or d3, not c2.
<BR><BR><B>12...Ne5 13.Bg5 h6!</B>
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<BR><BR>To see this move, Black must know about a very common tactical shot in the King's Indian Defense. When looking for ideas, always consider the possibility of the move ...Nxe4. This can lead to a number of possibilities, especially in lines where the White Queen is on d2, because the Knight directly attacks d2, and White must react to that. This often leads to one of two possibilities. The first is an attack on d4. With the Knight moved out of the way, the Bishop directly attacks d4, and so if that leads to more pieces attacking say, a Knight, on d4 than there are defending d4, this leads to the win of a pawn.
<BR><BR>While that is not the case here, instead we have another common idea, this being the situation any time f3 is played, and this shows another downside to the Saemisch if it isn't followed up correctly. I should take a moment to state that this article is not a knock on the Saemisch Variation against the King's Indian, but it does show what happens if White subsequently has no clue what he's doing, which was the case here. In this case, we have a fork with the Queen, giving check to the White King, and that is why this move doesn't drop a pawn. White has three options, none of which are good for White. He can admit the loss of more time, and retreat with 14.Be3 or 14.Bf4, and maybe he thinks that the pawn advance weakens Black's structure. While that may be true in some cases, it is not here, but this may be the least of the evils for White. The second is to trade the Bishop for the Knight, which we already discussed. The third is what happens in the game.
<BR><BR><B>14.Bxh6?</B>
<BR><BR>This allows Black to force White to give up the dark-squared Bishop for a Knight, which we mentioned earlier is usually really bad for White in this line.
<BR><BR><B>14...Nxe4!</B>
<BR><BR>The fact that this hits the Queen gives Black the tempo needed to get in the check and capture the Bishop on h6. The only move that prevents this is 15.Qf4, but then after 15...Nxc3 16.bxc3 and White's pawn structure is a train wreck.
<BR><BR><B>15.Nxe4 Qh4+ 16.Qf2 Qxh6</B>
<BR><BR>This move is stronger than trading Queens and taking back with the Bishop. Black's King is safe, White's is not. Black wants to keep the Queens on the board.
<BR><BR><B>17.Be2 b5 18.c5 d5 19.Nc3 Rfe8 20.O-O</B>
<BR><BR>Not 20.Nxd5?? Nd3+, where the Queen falls.
<BR><BR><B>20...c6 21.Rfe1 Qf4 22.Rad1 Nc4 23.Bxc4</B>
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<BR><BR>Which way should Black take back? 23...bxc4, 23...Qxc4, or 23...Rxe1+ followed by one of the captures on c4?
<BR><BR><B>23...bxc4</B>
<BR><BR>While not by any stretch the move that loses the winning advantage, this is the start of heading in the wrong direction. Whether Black trades on e1 first or not, he should recapture on c4 with the Queen rather than the pawn. The reason for this has nothing to do with Black's pieces, but rather White's. Black has a winning position and has two unopposed Bishops. His advantage is a long term one, and one that should not be rushed. The Knights must be contained, and by taking with the Queen, where are the Knights going? After 23...Qxc4, the c3-Knight is cannot move forward due to the Black pawns, and the c2-Knight remains passive as attacking the Queen with 24.Na3 forces White to react to the threat of ...b4 after the Black Queen moves, and trying to come out with 24.Ne3 hangs the pawn on c5. By taking with the b-pawn, White has the a4-square to get to the outpost on b6 for the c3-Knight and can cause Black some issues. In the game, it turns out to be enough to cause Black to run low on time. By the way, in the current position, White has 53 minutes to Black's 38 to make 17 more moves before each side is awarded with an extra 30 minutes.
<BR><BR><B>24.Na4 Be5 25.g3 Qf6 26.Nb6 Bh3 27.b3 cxb3 28.axb3 Bc3 29.Re2 Rbd8 30.Na4</B>
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<BR><BR>Black has 11 minutes to make 11 moves. Black has a fairly simple way to get a winning position, but the lack of time cost me and I fail to see it.
<BR><BR><B>30...Bf5?</B>
<BR><BR>Black achieves a winning position with 30...Rxe2!. After 31.Qxe2 Rb8, White is stuck between a rock and a hard place. If White blocks the b-file with 32.Nb6, then 32...Bf5 33.Kg2 d4 forces 34.Ne1 due to the threat of ...d3, and White's pieces are in complete disarray. Otherwise, after 32.Nxc3 Qxc3, White loses material as 33.b4 is answered by 33...a5! and otherwise, both b3 and c5 are hanging.
<BR><BR><B>31.Ne1?</B>
<BR><BR>White can shrink Black's advantage to a minimum after 31.Rxe8+ Rxe8 32.Nxc3 Qxc3 33.Nd4 as trying to grab a pawn via 33...Qxc5 only leads to equality as after 34.Nxf5 Qxf2+ 35.Kxf2 gxf5, Black's pawn structure compensates for the pawn loss.
<BR><BR><B>31...Kg7</B>
<BR><BR>Once again, Black should trade Rooks on e2 and follow up with ...Rb8, just like he should have the previous move.
<BR><BR><B>32.Ng2</B>
<BR><BR>White again should take the Bishop.
<BR><BR><B>32...Bd4 33.Ne3 Bxe3?</B>
<BR><BR>All Black needs to do is move the King to avoid allowing a check by the White Knight and White is dead. A simple move like 33...Kf8 wins for Black.
<BR><BR><B>34.Rxe3 Rxe3 35.Qxe3 Qe6?</B>
<BR><BR>What is Black doing? Well, it turns out, Black had under a minute to get to move 40, and went with trying to simplify the position. The problem is, this solves all of White's problems as pressure is removed, and now, the best Black can hope for is an equal endgame, and the next few moves we will see even more errors by Black in time trouble, and the resulting position at time control will be completely busted for Black.
<BR><BR><B>36.Qd4+ Qf6 37.Nb6 Qxd4+ 38.Rxd4 Bc8?</B>
<BR><BR>What on earth is this? The only trump card that Black has left is the protected passed pawn on d5. He should play 38...a5, looking to get rid of his one weakness. If White plays 39.b4, he can trade. If 39.Ra4, then 39...d4 and White doesn't have time to pawn grab. Black might still have a slight edge this way.
<BR><BR>The move played in the game is completely useless and outright bad for Black.
<BR><BR><B>39.Nc4</B>
<BR><BR>Had Black left the Bishop on f5 and played 38...a5, this move would not be possible because Black could take the Knight. After 39...dxc4! 40.Rxd8 cxb3 41.Rd1 b2, the b1-square is covered and White loses his Rook. Here, with the Bishop on c8, White has this possibility.
<BR><BR><B>39...Rf8 40.Nd6</B>
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<BR><BR>Last chance for Black to keep an equal position, and it's move 40, seconds on the clock. What move do you play?
<BR><BR><B>40...Kf6??</B>
<BR><BR>Black must play 40...Be6 here, giving him time, while he can, to get the Rook active via 41...Rb8. Now Black is busted. His position will crack, leading to White gaining a pawn as the Black pieces virtually can't move, and White gains a winning Rook ending which he never gives Black a chance at this point. It took 31 moves to get Black to resign, but it's winning the whole way for White. I encourage all of those with problems in their endgame play to analyze this endgame in depth. This is not an endgame article, and so I will only make a couple of high level points, but I encourage those with endgame issues to take at least an hour to go through the last 31 moves of the game.
<BR><BR><B>41.Ra4 Ke5 42.f4+</B>
<BR><BR>Driving the Black King back before proceeding with his own attack.
<BR><BR><B>42...Kf6 43.h4 Ke7 44.Kf2 Bd7</B>
<BR><BR>Now, due to a subsequent tactic, Black has to give up a pawn to just be able to move, unlike at move 40 where he could trade the a-pawn for the b-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>45.Rxa6 Rb8 46.Ra7 Rxb3 47.Nxf7</B>
<BR><BR>Tactically maintaining the pawn advantage.
<BR><BR><B>47...Rb2+ 48.Ke1 Kxf7 49.Rxd7+ Ke6 50.Rd6+ Kf5 51.Rxc6 Rg2 52.Rc8 Rxg3 53.Kd2 Ke4 54.c6 Kd4 55.c7 Rd3+ 56.Ke2 Re3+ 57.Kf2 Re7 58.Kf3 Kc4 59.Kg4 d4 60.Kg5 d3 61.Kxg6</B>
<BR><BR>White is just fast enough in the race to take all draw possibilities away from Black.
<BR><BR><B>61...Kc3 62.f5 d2 63.Rd8 Rxc7 64.f6 Rc4 65.f7! Rf4 66.h5 Rf1 67.h6 Rg1+ 68.Kh5 Rf1 69.h7 Rh1+ 70.Kg4 Rg1+ 71.Kh3 1-0</B>
<BR><BR><BR>What a disgusting way to lose a chess game. Often times, it's better to simply get blown away than to have a winning advantage from the get-go just to completely botch it in time trouble. The following items can be picked up from this game:
<BR><BR><UL><LI>Time management! Black had 11 minutes to make 11 moves, and this cost him. Earlier in the game, a number of moves should have been played faster. Instead, Black was constantly looking for the perfect move. I can recall a few of them I had the candidate in mind long before the move was made, and I spent all that time either looking for pipe dream moves for Black, or else needing to feel 100% positive that there is no counter-play for White. Yes, you do need to blunder-check, but don't spend for ever doing this. Moves with unnecessary time taken include 12...Ne5 (9 minutes), 16...Qxh6 (3 minutes), 17...b5 (5 minutes), 22...Nc4 (9 minutes), 27...cxb3 (7 minutes), and 29...Rbd8 (9 minutes). Some moves do require time to be taken, like the 6 minutes I took for 21...Qf4 as this move impacts the entire idea of what Black is going to do, and I should have spent more time on move 23 than the 1 minute I took there, but of the 42 minutes taken for the 6 moves mentioned, I should easily have been able to preserve 20 minutes of that, giving me the time I needed for moves 23 and 30 thru 40.
<LI>A word of advice - if you don't already do so, take down the time at every move. Don't try to calculate time taken. Simply write the time remaining. So on my score sheet, I have a 27 beside 26...Bh3 and a 20 beside 27...cxb3, and that's how you figure out that you spent 7 minutes. Don't try to calculate that you took 7 minutes during the game. Simply write the time left at each move, and use that information afterwards when analyzing to determine where you need to better manage your time. Look for long times spent on moves that aren't that complicated, and also look for critical decisions in the game that perhaps you didn't spend enough time on. The only move where I feel I made the latter mistake is the recapture on move 23, but there were numerous times that I spent way more time than I should have, and I only know that by taking down the time at every move. I also take down my opponent's time at each move as well. This can tell you where he spent too much time, but it also gives you the information of whether one player has a major time advantage during a critical point in the game.
<LI>In the opening, move order matters. The way White handled the opening gave Black extra tempos because White failed to develop his King's Knight, and Black got a winning position less than 10 moves later.
<LI>When you have the Bishop pair versus a pair of Knights, it's not about rapid fire. It's all about containing the Knights, which capturing with the Queen instead of the pawn on move 23 would have done.
<LI>Endgame knowledge is vital. If White didn't understand his Rook endings, Black might have been able to pull a draw due to the passed d-pawn, but with best play, it wasn't enough to offset the pawn deficit.
</UL>
<BR><BR>So this loss was a major setback, especially given that I should have won the game. There were 14 players in the section. Going into the round, there were only two players with 2 points, and that was the two featured in this game. There were only two players with 1.5. The first one had a half point bye for round three, and the other one drew. Combine that with the players with one point that won their third round, and you had five players with 2 points and nobody with 2.5. Therefore, Emir was in a prime position to win, and any hope for the other 5 of us had to come via two wins. There was virtually no way to mathematically win outright with a win and a draw. So my work was cut out for the final two rounds, which we will look at in the next two articles.
<BR><BR>Till next time, good luck in your games.
Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-10596389382165840742019-11-26T01:54:00.003-08:002019-11-26T01:54:56.172-08:00Fall 2019 CCCSA GM/IM Norm Invitational!Author: <b><a href="https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/staff" target="_blank">Grant Oen</a></b>, CCCSA Assistant Director<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CCCSA's 12th GM/IM Norm Invitational Tournament</td></tr>
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This Thanksgiving weekend, Wednesday November 27 - Sunday December 1, the Charlotte Chess Center will organize our twelfth GM/IM norm invitational.</div>
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These seasonal norm tournaments offer special opportunities for players to earn international (FIDE) norms and titles, including Grandmaster and International Master. <a href="https://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2018/01/norms-and-titles-earned-at-cccsa-norm.html" target="_blank"><b>24 norms and 12 titles have been earned at these events</b></a>. Five players have earned their Grandmaster titles in Charlotte: GM Andrew Tang, GM John Michael Burke, GM Steven Zierk, GM Nicolas Checa, and GM Michael Brown.</div>
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Three players at this event can earn their final GM norms: IM Brandon Jacobson (New Jersey), IM </div>
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Kassa Korley (Denmark), and IM Eylon Nakar (Israel). There are two sections, each a 9 game round robin (all-play-all) held at the Charlotte Chess Center.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The official website can be
found </span><a href="https://www.charlottechesscenter.org/norm"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">here</span></a><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">, while games and standings can be found </span><a href="http://chessstream.com/invitational/"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">here</span></a><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">.
Live games will be also be available on chess24 and Follow Chess.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Norm hunters can earn FIDE norms with a score of at least 6.5 out
of 9 in the GM norm section or 6.0/9 in the IM norm section. The 20
player field includes 4 Grandmasters, 8 International Masters, 6 FIDE Masters,
and 2 National Masters from 9 countries (Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, India,
Israel, Mexico, Poland, Spain, and the United States) and 8 states (Georgia,
Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Pairings, standings, and live games can be found </span><a href="http://chessstream.com/invitational/"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">here</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">PLAYERS</span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">GM Section</span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">
(GM norm = 6.5/9, average FIDE rating 2441, average USCF rating 2533)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GM Tanguy Ringoir</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">GM Tanguy Ringoir (Belgium, FIDE 2501, USCF 2591)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">25 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs K. Georgiev, S. Ganguly, R.
Vaganian, E. Najer, V. Durarbayli<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">4th highest rated player in Belgium,
three-time Belgian national champion, highest rated player in Maryland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Represented Belgium at the 2012 and 2014
Chess Olympiads<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Won CCCSA’s Spring 2017 and Spring 2018 GM
Invitationals<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship and Final Four of College
Chess National Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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undefeated streak in CCCSA Invitationals: 37 games<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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cumulative plus score in CCCSA Invitationals: +14<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Interview from </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsQSZUHNXkw"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Spring
2017 CCCSA GM Invitational</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is GM Ringoir’s 9th CCCSA GM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GM Mark Paragua</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">GM Mark Paragua (Philippines, FIDE 2496, USCF 2608)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">35 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs L. Aronian, S. Mamedyarov,
Le Quang Liem, D. Navara, G. Kamsky<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">3rd highest rated player in the Philippines,
2012 Filipino national champion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Former World Top 100 player (2621 FIDE)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Represented the Philippines at the 2002,
2004, 2006, and 2012 Chess Olympiads<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Played in the 2004, 2005, and 2013 Chess
World Cups<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Held the records for the youngest master,
youngest International Master, youngest Grandmaster, and the first 2600 FIDE-rated
player from the Philippines<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is GM Paragua’s 1st CCCSA GM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGcaYc9GGJphnEuioGGclPPBRuuh0_MzwcnoT4sXAdvc8lmnZlE1d7mUvFcW3ZaumyvrvJduX4D7dGZ_ueVxDmR_aTxqqqENyW0dN0eAD2SdgsGF4moJFc5XsPShcHRsiCjg606NSuoMXH/s1600/grinberg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGcaYc9GGJphnEuioGGclPPBRuuh0_MzwcnoT4sXAdvc8lmnZlE1d7mUvFcW3ZaumyvrvJduX4D7dGZ_ueVxDmR_aTxqqqENyW0dN0eAD2SdgsGF4moJFc5XsPShcHRsiCjg606NSuoMXH/s320/grinberg.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IM Eyal Grinberg</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">IM Eyal Grinberg (Israel, FIDE 2472, USCF 2500)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">21 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs A. Volokitin, M. Parligras,
J. Stocek, H. Martirosyan, A. Sumets<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">31st highest rated player in Israel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Represented Israel at the World Youth U16
Chess Olympiad and European Youth U18 Team Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">UT Dallas chess team member, representing
UTD at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is IM Grinberg’s 1st CCCSA GM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lmbwSoiqvOPxsuQj_eBj0vU0KkCuHZWCL0jLkCpJsJAuBV6lgANmoUTg8Qgdbrd2eRduohl0N2m6y08jMqCBPaqFQuCLbxAZNiHuguPMdJNF3n_ZOeO3gEVlVNro-sEfBkbypjIjr95O/s1600/reshef.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lmbwSoiqvOPxsuQj_eBj0vU0KkCuHZWCL0jLkCpJsJAuBV6lgANmoUTg8Qgdbrd2eRduohl0N2m6y08jMqCBPaqFQuCLbxAZNiHuguPMdJNF3n_ZOeO3gEVlVNro-sEfBkbypjIjr95O/s320/reshef.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IM Omer Reshef</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">IM Omer Reshef (Israel, FIDE 2461, USCF 2551)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">22 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs B. Bok, T. Gareev, M. Brown,
D. Berczes, U. Bajarani<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">33rd highest rated player in Israel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Represented Israel at the European Youth U18
Team Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">UT Dallas chess team member, representing
UTD at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship and Final Four of College
Chess National Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is IM Reshef’s 1st CCCSA GM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Hnjif5B556_6VYJoLRig_L-0jyLP2d0uUafP7hndrnlZOkSpmi6qI4-pSAMVbb7fbGZ-w_O7L4py2H-PXqt3k-PFCzsmLoStuHGBvzDr6o5fcBOhiqwwYDCIGdkU3IPo7-7c5OQtwSJ8/s1600/berczes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Hnjif5B556_6VYJoLRig_L-0jyLP2d0uUafP7hndrnlZOkSpmi6qI4-pSAMVbb7fbGZ-w_O7L4py2H-PXqt3k-PFCzsmLoStuHGBvzDr6o5fcBOhiqwwYDCIGdkU3IPo7-7c5OQtwSJ8/s320/berczes.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GM David Berczes</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">GM David Berczes (Hungary, FIDE 2452, USCF 2548)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">29 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs Le Quang Liem, E. Najer, H.
Koneru, R. Robson, B. Macieja<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">41st highest rated player in Hungary<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Represented Hungary at the 2004 and 2006
World Youth U16 Chess Olympiads<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Won CCCSA’s Spring 2019 GM Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">UT Dallas chess team member, representing
UTD at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship and Final Four of College
Chess National Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is GM Berczes’ 3rd CCCSA GM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">IM Brandon Jacobson (New Jersey, FIDE 2452, USCF 2540)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXucEynO1gnOXFIdwS3FvF4RejJbPvLMngy_ZOsW3qpkN71mQYZXHX0iay6VG6ueR3iVZ-zblL5AhehB7vgBL-N6n9h2n5he5nyvKk9FEHhTr-K5gamkT8r3Y1sKLgEXMgpQNoMDeevYmk/s1600/bjacobson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXucEynO1gnOXFIdwS3FvF4RejJbPvLMngy_ZOsW3qpkN71mQYZXHX0iay6VG6ueR3iVZ-zblL5AhehB7vgBL-N6n9h2n5he5nyvKk9FEHhTr-K5gamkT8r3Y1sKLgEXMgpQNoMDeevYmk/s1600/bjacobson.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IM Brandon Jacobson</td></tr>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">15 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs K. Dragun, G. Kacheishvili,
R. Hess, E. Cordova, I. Chirila<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Highest rated 15-year-old in the US<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">North American Youth U12 Bronze medalist,
North American Youth U16 Silver medalist<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Champion, 2016 Barber National Tournament
of K-8 Champions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Attends Columbia University<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Earned 1st IM norm in CCCSA’s Summer 2018
IM Invitational and remaining IM norms in the same month (June 2018)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">2 GM norms (both in 2019), can earn the GM
title at this tournament<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Tied for first for longest win streak in
CCCSA Invitationals: 5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is IM Jacobson’s 9th CCCSA Norm
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">IM Kassa Korley (Denmark, FIDE 2447, USCF 2550)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxo58l2NYMSItd_G4KrODgB6YDzHbdoSMxUF6S7kIWug9WOk-92sLoG4WV7dCAKL7H7Vm0MVdxXig7dl03dFhp4k3bzv2ST__JWvdT_GOqeJ4-RqoGnjZZ7RwFIm4OAuJOm_Og0HAQn7IL/s1600/Kassa+Korley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxo58l2NYMSItd_G4KrODgB6YDzHbdoSMxUF6S7kIWug9WOk-92sLoG4WV7dCAKL7H7Vm0MVdxXig7dl03dFhp4k3bzv2ST__JWvdT_GOqeJ4-RqoGnjZZ7RwFIm4OAuJOm_Og0HAQn7IL/s1600/Kassa+Korley.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IM Kassa Korley</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">26 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs J. Timman, A. Dreev, </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">A. Moiseenko<span style="color: black;">, A. Shabalov,
V. Mikhalevski<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">12xth highest rated player in Denmark<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Graduated from Duke University<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Earned 3 IM norms in 3 weeks in summer
2014<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Earned 1st GM norm in CCCSA’s Summer 2018
GM Invitational, which he won<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">2 GM norms (2018, 2019), can earn his
third GM norm at this tournament<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Tied for first for most wins against GMs
in CCCSA Invitationals: 4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Has the most points against GMs in CCCSA
Invitationals: 11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Has played both of the longest games in
CCCSA Invitationals (</span><a href="https://www.365chess.com/view_game.php?g=4119747"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">189 moves</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> & </span><a href="https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2019-charlotte-summer-invitational-gm/02-Hong_Andrew-Korley_Kassa"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">138 moves</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/kassablanca11/"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Kassa’s
Youtube Channel</span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is IM Korley’s 10th CCCSA GM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL0UW1CCi9BM0OrOzGtFZWZctX7WBL2vbtyTyqh1ILMEbL4XBYvShWAbfuTSi-wFXUwZHvLEi8I7Thy0YHC_cFufh_N_bCLXx9IfJkfqqp43Zz-yTQycAfr7QWCnkVL5v0qoQhRtXtlROs/s1600/nakar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL0UW1CCi9BM0OrOzGtFZWZctX7WBL2vbtyTyqh1ILMEbL4XBYvShWAbfuTSi-wFXUwZHvLEi8I7Thy0YHC_cFufh_N_bCLXx9IfJkfqqp43Zz-yTQycAfr7QWCnkVL5v0qoQhRtXtlROs/s320/nakar.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IM Eylon Nakar</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">IM Eylon Nakar (Israel, FIDE 2433, USCF 2528)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">25 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs J. Xiong, E. Hansen, A.
Beliavsky, V. Mikhalevski, A. Liang<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">45th highest rated player in Israel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">UT Dallas chess team member, representing
UTD at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">2 GM norms (2015, 2017), can earn the GM
title at this tournament<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is IM Nakar’s 1st CCCSA GM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAkpXk7Jly_njHukSRP0tuRyE7gjHtlZCqMJdU15nZxDO3s1jB8F-RDfnJ1I9ZT5VNEYddp42E4bawh6eCujKKWx76iJdvwzA8qc_7M7WaAkHiyBvY6SkVn6z50eidOwEiHiRD8KBHyolj/s1600/kwang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAkpXk7Jly_njHukSRP0tuRyE7gjHtlZCqMJdU15nZxDO3s1jB8F-RDfnJ1I9ZT5VNEYddp42E4bawh6eCujKKWx76iJdvwzA8qc_7M7WaAkHiyBvY6SkVn6z50eidOwEiHiRD8KBHyolj/s1600/kwang.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IM Kevin Wang</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">IM Kevin Wang (Maryland, FIDE 2416, USCF 2520)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">22 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs Praggnanandhaa, M.
Panchanathan, L. Bruzon Batista, B. Gulko, S. Azarov<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">76th highest rated player in the US<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Graduated from the University of Chicago<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Earned IM norms at 2013, 2014, 2016 World
Opens<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Earned 5th IM norm and necessary 2400
rating to become an IM at CCCSA’s Winter 2018 GM Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is IM Wang’s 6th CCCSA GM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">FM / WGM Jennifer Yu (Virginia, FIDE 2278, USCF 2396)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdqqNIl6h8zk1bWJpJaJPFlxHujTKENJit39pxmxK2AFb7GQv4Y7viB6ee04QQJtGK-4NtoxnfoNLsXJzZHacSctWSEUWtGNCfwBqyR1adJgiDyu_GJmSP_dzVXyRr2ApLPsSjFXqnSALX/s1600/jyu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdqqNIl6h8zk1bWJpJaJPFlxHujTKENJit39pxmxK2AFb7GQv4Y7viB6ee04QQJtGK-4NtoxnfoNLsXJzZHacSctWSEUWtGNCfwBqyR1adJgiDyu_GJmSP_dzVXyRr2ApLPsSjFXqnSALX/s1600/jyu.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FM / WGM Jennifer Yu</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">17 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs B. Macieja, P. Kannappan, I.
Krush, A. Kore, C. Hevia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">10th highest rated 17-year-old in the US,
7th highest rated female in the US<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">2019 U.S. Women’s Champion, 2014 World
Youth U12 Girls Champion, 2013 North American Youth U12 Girls Champion, three-time
National Girls Tournament of Champions winner<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Represented USA at the 2017 World Team
Championship, 2017 World Girls U20 Championship (bronze medal and 1st IM norm)
and the 2018 Chess Olympiad (bronze medal and 3rd IM norm)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Earned 2nd IM norm at CCCSA’s Winter 2018
IM Invitational, which she won<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is FM Yu’s 3rd CCCSA Norm
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">IM Section</span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">
(IM norm = 6.0/9, average FIDE rating 2336, average USCF rating 2425)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxRobnb1TjOc3pSlARUI9sru5cs4G5-nw5-PMJUb3v7GZq1GKPkUmmDMZlAtqhWuAwOWwO8T3DHoUm9Q2Mqf4a4KMybr1h3BteJkyl_j_Q8ycW2NW4S5lchXHVk1TVLYuGPOEJ9_9yUzXp/s1600/drozdow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxRobnb1TjOc3pSlARUI9sru5cs4G5-nw5-PMJUb3v7GZq1GKPkUmmDMZlAtqhWuAwOWwO8T3DHoUm9Q2Mqf4a4KMybr1h3BteJkyl_j_Q8ycW2NW4S5lchXHVk1TVLYuGPOEJ9_9yUzXp/s320/drozdow.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IM Kacper Drozdowski</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">IM Kacper Drozdowski (Poland, FIDE 2467, USCF 2549)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">23 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs V. Fedoseev, D. Anton
Guijarro, T. Gareev, B. Bok, Y. Pelletier<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">40th highest rated player in Poland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Represented Poland at European Team
Championship, European Youth U18 Team Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">UT Dallas chess team member, representing
UTD at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship and Final Four of College
Chess National Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">2013 European Youth U16 Champion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Competed in Polish Chess National
Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">1 GM norm (2018)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is IM Drozdowski’s 1st CCCSA IM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8KUXofUj_YOIw7v2FC__PMVG9TSMsJkbH46t1APD1qBr4edeQqhfxjStouGfVnE0AGITvp-27FLVSDi0vny1JDrrg6wKCSssxfxFO1W36d0L5HVZiVkjFS9nhoPBDSdC3Kovkqat6POPA/s1600/arribas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8KUXofUj_YOIw7v2FC__PMVG9TSMsJkbH46t1APD1qBr4edeQqhfxjStouGfVnE0AGITvp-27FLVSDi0vny1JDrrg6wKCSssxfxFO1W36d0L5HVZiVkjFS9nhoPBDSdC3Kovkqat6POPA/s320/arribas.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GM Angel Arribas Lopez</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">GM Angel Arribas Lopez (Spain, FIDE 2436, USCF 2519)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">25 years old (turns 26 on first day of the
tournament)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs I. Ipatov, J. Smeets, J.
Granda Zuniga, K. Dragun, D. Anton Guijarro<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">61st highest rated player in Spain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">UT Dallas chess team member, representing
UTD at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship and Final Four of College
Chess National Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Won CCCSA’s Winter 2019 IM Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">2003 Spanish Youth U10 Champion, 2005
Spanish Youth U12 Champion, 2009 Spanish Youth U16 Champion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Competed in Spanish Chess National
Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is GM Arribas Lopez’s 5th CCCSA Norm
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">FM Gauri Shankar (India, FIDE 2340, USCF 2457)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7QAwSfE8aDoz4yLEn1b-rvu1ake8HXaFJkNNC0RfKBPWg4mDXtoxPEyu7I97Vm8bO_wHn-Kzd-CGSkTuALHu5BybCqXUO47N8Iy5mACdQpFaijFXWZ3mhGQzGo190eaR9bgjv0Bw-OUbz/s1600/gauri.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7QAwSfE8aDoz4yLEn1b-rvu1ake8HXaFJkNNC0RfKBPWg4mDXtoxPEyu7I97Vm8bO_wHn-Kzd-CGSkTuALHu5BybCqXUO47N8Iy5mACdQpFaijFXWZ3mhGQzGo190eaR9bgjv0Bw-OUbz/s1600/gauri.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FM Gauri Shankar</td></tr>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">27 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs A. Lenderman, O. Barbosa, N.
Mitkov, M. Brown, D. Gurevich<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">131st highest rated player in India<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Earned fifth IM norm in CCCSA’s Spring
2017 GM Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">5 IM norms (2009, 2011, 2015, 2015, 2017)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Won CCCSA’s Labor Day 2018 IM Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Has played all 11 CCCSA Norm Invitationals<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Most cumulative points scored in CCCSA
invitationals: 49.5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Most cumulative draws in CCCSA
invitationals: 51<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is FM Shankar’s 12th CCCSA Norm
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">NM Liran Zhou (New York, FIDE 2314, USCF 2400)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XBrW_7lJiXkohFHkQ-LqvMbw_eIcx-htPfQAUy14h0WB_bnvmMgLPWvu6y7Jf1tyD-JP2jq1JwoJ2HUFu9gTWd4DdoiYknv1GlyiOZ0cQUuOssoFYezdRkolGHZJVpW9tsfAAGIx74v6/s1600/liran.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="880" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XBrW_7lJiXkohFHkQ-LqvMbw_eIcx-htPfQAUy14h0WB_bnvmMgLPWvu6y7Jf1tyD-JP2jq1JwoJ2HUFu9gTWd4DdoiYknv1GlyiOZ0cQUuOssoFYezdRkolGHZJVpW9tsfAAGIx74v6/s320/liran.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FM Liran Zhou</td></tr>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">11 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs J. Kraai, M. Rohde, IM R.
Gajek<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Top 11-year-old in the US, #5 player under
12 in the world<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Previous holder of the youngest US Chess
National Master record (9 years, 3 months, 22 days) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">2019 World Cadet U12 Champion, 2017 World
Cadet U10 Champion, 2017 North American Youth U10 Champion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is NM Zhou’s 1st CCCSA IM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT1NdtWEjddagn5BfA_szOoyDYpvO3oxyxU0VPEc3piBbNS72uQVYXfbjip95HcozlLKSzNx_oNzYAkj1osF08Uxgy8EWeiMPJiQGrPGixpMKcwNofFZlMiW0sA5TYKgxwl08_i7TBi_D6/s1600/roberto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="618" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT1NdtWEjddagn5BfA_szOoyDYpvO3oxyxU0VPEc3piBbNS72uQVYXfbjip95HcozlLKSzNx_oNzYAkj1osF08Uxgy8EWeiMPJiQGrPGixpMKcwNofFZlMiW0sA5TYKgxwl08_i7TBi_D6/s320/roberto.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IM Roberto Martin Del Campo</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">IM Roberto Martin Del Campo (Mexico, FIDE 2314, USCF 2392)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">52 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs J. Becerra, A. Zapata, W.
Browne, A. Adly, S. Agdestein<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Drawn twice with former World Champion
Viswanathan Anand at the 1985 and 1987 World Junior U20 Championships<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">12th highest rated player from Mexico<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Represented Mexico at 3 Chess Olympiads,
earning a gold medal in 1990<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">1993 Mexican National Chess Champion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Won CCCSA’s Spring 2016 IM Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Tied for first for longest win streak in
CCCSA Invitationals: 5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Most cumulative wins in CCCSA
Invitationals: 26<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is IM Del Campo’s 11th CCCSA IM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP76fHCXtPxtcnSjr2ZKtjj3rdS4Y8iwEwVu3KVgXMesneI4R-oFwrVnks9BSt1anM4ZU_VvkR07w6aZQbxvZPBASuNWEBsVgNBu_bNxwttq9rpYZB39BfEjVbu_50er6PFaqDNhummhd4/s1600/shen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1051" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP76fHCXtPxtcnSjr2ZKtjj3rdS4Y8iwEwVu3KVgXMesneI4R-oFwrVnks9BSt1anM4ZU_VvkR07w6aZQbxvZPBASuNWEBsVgNBu_bNxwttq9rpYZB39BfEjVbu_50er6PFaqDNhummhd4/s320/shen.jpg" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FM Christopher Shen</td></tr>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">FM Christopher Shen (Ohio, FIDE 2306, USCF 2390)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">15 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs A. Puranik, I. Ortiz Suarez,
IMs B. Jacobson, L. Harmon-Vellotti, T. Stremavicius<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Highest rated player from Ohio, fourth
highest rated 15-year-old in the US<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Silver medalist at 2019 Pan American Youth
U18 Championship, Bronze medalist at 2012 World Youth U8 Championship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is FM Shen’s 2nd CCCSA IM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MzNzvfYbQsoik6NW6BtsjS1HXy2Cw8SFvYA04h4yMxrHWpAaebs0OOZou5U-Vg73VFUZxnjwvyoGj8B7bmcpXdJx8YP1lXlMqAs__cEbpYK9vjIGrNJAx6LPrWd_8ERYaqLzEHNZ1I0m/s1600/furfine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MzNzvfYbQsoik6NW6BtsjS1HXy2Cw8SFvYA04h4yMxrHWpAaebs0OOZou5U-Vg73VFUZxnjwvyoGj8B7bmcpXdJx8YP1lXlMqAs__cEbpYK9vjIGrNJAx6LPrWd_8ERYaqLzEHNZ1I0m/s1600/furfine.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FM Jacob Furfine</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">FM Jacob Furfine (Illinois, FIDE 2302, USCF 2395)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">18 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs V. Georgiev, A. Chandra, IMs
S. Schmakel, S. Bora, J. Sheng<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">8th highest 18-year-old in the US<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Will attend MIT<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is FM Furfine’s 2nd CCCSA IM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZw-PmgwMTOe61jJ-6MtqPx20pfVd0af1NQu-kQAZwSaWF1tRmu_sAx5pNpv34NJxUbz_zKXfSZJF9_Yv71mPGZKibeWoY42Ns-3RAaGG9ZSkUmPA5qcqYOCOMaUTsdckr-1jomV7uczI/s1600/ajacobson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZw-PmgwMTOe61jJ-6MtqPx20pfVd0af1NQu-kQAZwSaWF1tRmu_sAx5pNpv34NJxUbz_zKXfSZJF9_Yv71mPGZKibeWoY42Ns-3RAaGG9ZSkUmPA5qcqYOCOMaUTsdckr-1jomV7uczI/s320/ajacobson.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FM Aaron Jacobson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">FM Aaron Jacobson (New Jersey, FIDE 2301, USCF 2398)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">20 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs T. Ringoir, G. Kacheishvili,
D. Khamrakulov, D. Boros, N. Checa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">38th highest rated player under 21 in the
US<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Attends Harvard University<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Earned first IM norm at CCCSA’s Winter
2019 IM Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">2 IM norms (both in 2019)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Highest cumulative FIDE rating gain at
CCCSA Norm Invitationals: +116.4 points<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is FM Jacobson’s 7th CCCSA IM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU7yUS4800bl-E1znU3DBvVxF8Mv6nevM-MIOdq5YOlYQangTsIa3pNVCQzMirBkUd2V87FxzeNVJkzMSWTGoKEG1InfMRX8my_piT35WRJK6DsEJG3KmdcoiQuxKnbOkNUWO6fnwp90tf/s1600/vincent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU7yUS4800bl-E1znU3DBvVxF8Mv6nevM-MIOdq5YOlYQangTsIa3pNVCQzMirBkUd2V87FxzeNVJkzMSWTGoKEG1InfMRX8my_piT35WRJK6DsEJG3KmdcoiQuxKnbOkNUWO6fnwp90tf/s1600/vincent.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FM Vincent Tsay</td></tr>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">FM Vincent Tsay (New York, FIDE 2300, USCF 2383)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">14 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs J. Becerra, M. Rohde, U.
Bajarani, IMs B. Jacobson, K. Kiewra <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">7th highest 14-year-old in the US<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">2017 World Cadet U12 Champion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">2018 New York State Scholastic Champion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">1 IM norm (2019)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is FM Tsay’s 1st CCCSA Norm
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span><br /></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4vF2Wu24bH3tLaEvWml4NuyFW11IGya0Fmph7lz1UnkDF6eAkVny0BA4Vdg9rv68-FsLJX1wynP1yLKoBSQR794KKSGWrAcRLl4rl32BGQmzFWSaCfQ-wMfpWFpkONQRCwwTjUPdK3p_W/s1600/francisco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4vF2Wu24bH3tLaEvWml4NuyFW11IGya0Fmph7lz1UnkDF6eAkVny0BA4Vdg9rv68-FsLJX1wynP1yLKoBSQR794KKSGWrAcRLl4rl32BGQmzFWSaCfQ-wMfpWFpkONQRCwwTjUPdK3p_W/s1600/francisco.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NM Richard Francisco</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span><br /><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">NM Richard Francisco (Georgia, FIDE 2281, USCF 2365)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">35 years old<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Wins over GMs A. Shabalov, E. Cordova, M.
Paragua, J. Becerra, R. Hess<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">4th highest rated player from Georgia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is NM Francisco’s 4th CCCSA IM
Invitational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Grant Oenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04557417752502263117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-43368953801643162102019-11-25T10:59:00.000-08:002019-11-25T10:59:16.201-08:00Game Analysis: Atlanta Class Championship, Round 2Hello everyone and welcome. Today we are going to analyze the game I played in the second round of the Atlanta Class Championship. Those that have read the article on Round 1 will know that it featured the main line of the Sicilian Prins Variation. This game features the same opening, except at one juncture in the opening where Black has a decision to make, where his options are to play a dynamic middle game with a weak pawn on d6, or to play an endgame by advancing that d-pawn right away, in the first round, we saw Black take the former route, but here we are going to see Black go for the endgame. With correct play, it is theoretically equal, but it leads to a very depressing game for Black where he has to defend light pressure for a very long time as he tries to weave his way through an inferior endgame, and as we will see below, Black was unable to do this here.
<BR><BR>I should note that after beating the top seed in the previous round, this is now the second seed that I'm facing. Due to a number of upsets in the first round, and not a single game won by Black, this lead to some people repeating color as early as round two, and therefore, I did have the fortune of getting White against both of the top two seeds. Let's see how I was able to take advantage of that luxury.
<BR><BR><BR>Atlanta Class Championship, Round 2
<BR>W: Patrick McCartney (2018)
<BR>B: Hemachandra Rambha (2104)
<BR>Sicilian Defense, Prins Variation
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3 e5 6.Nb3</B>
<BR><BR>For details on the last 3 moves, check the previous article.
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<BR><BR>Now, Black decides to take the opposite route of that which happened in Round 1.
<BR><BR><B>6...d5</B>
<BR><BR>This immediately resolves the backwards pawn, but usually leads to a miserable endgame for Black, despite the fact that it's equal with correct play. The main problem is that Black's winning chances are almost zero barring an egregious error by White.
<BR><BR><B>7.Bg5</B>
<BR><BR>The correct move for White. Bad is 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.a3 Be6 9.c4 Nb6 10.Qxd8+ Kxd8 and Black has a slight advantage due to the more active pieces.
<BR><BR><B>7...Be6</B>
<BR><BR>The best reply. 7...dxe4? 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Bxf6+ gxf6 10.fxe4 gives White an improved version of the main line, while 7...d4 isn't much better after 8.c3 Nc6 (<I>8...dxc3 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.Nxc3 gives White a small advantage.</I>) 9.Bb5 Be6 10.cxd4 Bxb3 11.Qxb3 Qxd4 12.Be3 Bb4+ (<I>Worse is 12...Qb4+ 13.Nd2!</I>) and now both 13.Nd2 and 13.Kf2 give White a small advantage.
<BR><BR><B>8.Bxf6 gxf6</B>
<BR><BR>Of course 8...Qxf6 9.exd5 simply wins a pawn for White.
<BR><BR><B>9.exd5 Qxd5 10.Qxd5 Bxd5 11.Nc3</B>
<BR><BR>Now Black has a decision to make. His four main options are 11...Bxb3, 11...Bb4, 11...Bc6, or 11...Be6, the last of the four being considered the main line and theoretically best for Black.
<BR><BR><B>11...Bc6 12.O-O-O Bb4</B>
<BR><BR>Play has transposed to the 11...Bb4 line where 12.O-O-O Bc6 takes us back to the game position.
<BR><BR><B>13.Nd5</B>
<BR><BR>This move is not bad, but stronger is 13.Nb5!, when 13...Bxb5 14.Bxb5+ Ke7 15.c3 leads to a theoretically winning position for White. Black's pawns are a train wreck, and White's Bishop is better than Black's.
<BR><BR><B>13...Bxd5 14.Rxd5 Nc6 15.Bb5 a6 16.Bxc6+ bxc6 17.Rdd1 Ke7 18.c3</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LaUhfc5Ea0flHMOoybCSdYpC_03NsHr1KYrBdxKmPyfT9zhnJ8GnbsHizlccmX6-ly7dEpA7niIWx04W820W9njKbVuNQsODi0WfSMt41GF1kFggJguigVHFM6i-lUIU-ZzM5De3R2BL/s1600/ACC6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LaUhfc5Ea0flHMOoybCSdYpC_03NsHr1KYrBdxKmPyfT9zhnJ8GnbsHizlccmX6-ly7dEpA7niIWx04W820W9njKbVuNQsODi0WfSMt41GF1kFggJguigVHFM6i-lUIU-ZzM5De3R2BL/s320/ACC6.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Here is a prime example of thinking beyond the basics. Under normal circumstances, a position like this would be viewed as Black having the better minor piece. Maybe not the better position, but the better minor piece. Here, even that isn't true. While yes the position is somewhat open, and yes there are pawns on both sides, the problem for Black is that he has way too many weaknesses beyond just that of his own pawns. His pawns sit on e5 and f6, and with a pawn also on f7, it is very difficult for Black to be able to advance the e- and f-pawns. This shows the reasoning behind White's last move. He forces the Bishop back so that he can put his other Rook on e1, pressuring the e-pawn if the f-pawn ever advances. However, the moment the f-pawn tries to advance, it will be an easy target for the White Knight, and Black will be forced to advance the f-pawn again to f4, re-creating weaknesses on the light squares, like e4 and f5.
<BR><BR>Had Black's Bishop been a light-squared Bishop, this wouldn't be that big of a problem for Black. However, with a dark-squared Bishop, Black's position is terrible due to the light squares, and we are about to see a Knight tour where the Knight will end up on f5 in short order.
<BR><BR><B>18...Bd6 19.Rhe1 Kd7 20.Na5</B>
<BR><BR>Headed for f5.
<BR><BR><B>20...Kc7 21.Nc4 Rad8 22.Ne3 h5 23.Nf5 Rhg8</B>
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<BR><BR>Now, based on the current position and what has happened recently, this might just look like a run-of-the-mill endgame that is really boring in nature. Truth is, this position is only boring for one player. Black! The trick here is to recognize various endgame tactics, not just the positional nature of the position. Sure, we all know that White's Knight is in an excellent spot, and Black's Bishop stinks, but that is not enough to win the game. However, what are the various ways that White can win the game? Some of the answers may include:
<BR><UL><LI>Flat out winning material via tactics.
<LI>Removing all the Rooks. If you were to envision the position with all the Rooks off, the Knight would easily beat the Bishop as Black has Pawn weaknesses all over the place, and the Knight can get to any of the 64 squares on the board.
<LI>Recognizing that if everything were to get traded off, White's 3-on-2 Queenside majority is far superior to Black's 4-on-3 Kingside majority, and figuring out that White would most likely win all pawn endgames.
</UL>
<BR>So the last 2 bullets are long term ideas, but let's look at how we can threaten to win material. Well, the first thing to recognize is that with the Knight on f5, covering e7, there is no way, at the moment, for Black to move his Bishop on d6 and be able to cover the d8-Rook. This is significant. While it doesn't take long to recognize that this doesn't actually win material, because if White gets two Rooks on the d-file and forces the Bishop to move, because the h8-Rook and King both guard d8, Black can move the Bishop away to a square like c5 and no material is lost, but the important thing to recognize is that if White can achieve this, all of the Rooks will be forced off the board, and we will have the second bullet with a winning Knight vs Bishop endgame. Black also threatens g2-for the moment. So therefore, we want to double up on the d-file as quickly as possible, but we also want to cover the g-pawn. We could advance 24.g3, but that does nothing to double our Rooks on the d-file. Therefore, we probably want to lift a Rook to the second rank, but which one?
<BR><BR>This is where recognizing minor details comes into play. Ultimately we want our Rooks on d2 and d1. We can lift the Rook on the d-file with 24.Rd2, planning to play 25.Red1, or we can lift the Rook on the e-file with 24.Re2, threatening 25.Red2. Which should White play?
<BR><BR>The thing to recognize that if Black can advance the e-pawn, and once he does, it opens up the Bishop to the f4 square, which would pin a Rook on d2 to the King on c1, and so 24.Rd2 would be a slight error. It does not lose, but it gives Black counterplay with something like 24...e4 25.Rxe4 Bxh2. Therefore, White's next move should be fairly obvious at this point.
<BR><BR><B>24.Re2 Rg5</B>
<BR><BR>Now, with the Rook lifted off of g8, the move Rd2 becomes a threat to win material as there is nowhere for the Bishop to go (again, e7 is covered by the Knight). The minor detail is that the Knight itself is under attack, but that should spark an idea in your head. If Black is not immediately attacking a piece, then Rd2 wins outright, and so therefore, do we need to move the Knight right now? Do we need to take the Bishop? The answer is no! White has another move that defends the Knight tactically.
<BR><BR><B>25.g4!</B>
<BR><BR>But wait a minute, isn't that square attacked twice by Black an only covered once by White? Well, yes, but again, if Black captures twice, the Knight on f5 is no longer under attack, and moving the Rook from e2 to d2 would win a minimum the Bishop. Therefore, this tactical defense works here.
<BR><BR><B>25...hxg4 26.fxg4 e4</B>
<BR><BR>Black recognized that taking the pawn on g4 drops a piece to 27.Red2, and therefore plays this idea mentioned earlier to be able to check or pin a Rook with the Bishop on f4. The problem here is that this pawn is now hanging, and so White can cash in by trading down and winning a pawn. You might say that a Rook ending is the last thing you want being one pawn up, but think about the position of the pieces and pawns after the combination.
<BR><BR><B>27.Nxd6 Rxd6 28.Rxd6 Kxd6 29.Rxe4 f5 30.gxf5 Rxf5</B>
<BR><BR><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVMgXyUqMCfgZmoVhfBsNZlLOGHyQpODigxzE7lBc9MuuBXHIPieWKat-uh_naN7dFRgSi49b8divihpDwLYNnf_NF1B4-6Vg4EvdZ335kfc3gr_5zx50oat2ynWHii1uMNllaaXwpmAMT/s1600/ACC8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVMgXyUqMCfgZmoVhfBsNZlLOGHyQpODigxzE7lBc9MuuBXHIPieWKat-uh_naN7dFRgSi49b8divihpDwLYNnf_NF1B4-6Vg4EvdZ335kfc3gr_5zx50oat2ynWHii1uMNllaaXwpmAMT/s320/ACC8.png" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="426" data-original-height="426" /></a></div>
<BR><BR>Were you able to visualize this position back at move 27? This is a critical thing to be able to do. Visualize the position moves later and with who it is to move. By visualizing, you should have been able to figure out that White would be a pawn up, that he would have the outside passer compared to Black along with the majority on the Queenside, and most importantly, you'd be able to recognize that this position comes with White to move. Had it been Black to move, then being able to plop the Rook on the 2nd rank would cause White many problems, but it's White to move here, and so he moves his King up so that if Black tries to intrude on the 2nd rank, White can block with his own Rook.
<BR><BR><B>31.Kd2 Rf1 32.Re1</B>
<BR><BR>This is better than the immediate 32.Re2 as it entices Black to check the White King, and then White gets his Rook to e2 with tempo.
<BR><BR><B>32...Rf2+ 33.Re2 Rf1</B>
<BR><BR>So we have the exact same position that we would have had with 32.Re2, but the difference is, here it is White to move, and in that line, it would have been Black to move.
<BR><BR><B>34.Ke3 f5 35.Rf2 Re1+ 36.Kd3</B>
<BR><BR>This was probably the wrong direction to go, but there is nothing that Black can do to take advantage of it. It simply doesn't allow White to make the progress he needs to make to win.
<BR><BR>This brings up another interesting point. There are a number of ways that White can win. Identifying them, and figuring out which one is the most likely to be successful at happening, are both critical.
<BR><BR>White can win by successfully achieving any of the following methods:
<BR><UL><LI>Getting the h-pawn advanced and being able to get behind the h-pawn with the Rook. This would tie Black down to stopping the h-pawn, and White would use his majority on the Queenside to win. If Black tries to win the h-pawn, he is forced to do so via trading the Rooks, and White will snatch the f-pawn with his King, his King will be closer to the Queenside, and he'll be a full pawn up. White wins.
<LI>Trading the h-pawn for the f-pawn if it means dragging the Black King to the Kingside.
<LI>Forcing a trade off of the Rooks.
</UL>
<BR>So the last one is a complete pipe dream. It is a blend of the first two that wins for White in this scenario. White needs to bring his King towards the Kingside to try to start advancing the h-pawn up to the point that the Black King has to come that way, and only then, White will trade the Kingside Pawns off, get to the Queenside first, and slowly snatch the Queenside pawns before promoting one of his own on that side of the board.
<BR><BR>So instead of 36.Kd3, the King should be coming the other way to the Kingside. White soon fixes that issue.
<BR><BR><B>36...Rh1 37.Re2 Rd1+ 38.Ke3 Rf1 39.Rf2 Re1+ 40.Kf3 Rg1 41.Kf4 Ke6</B>
<BR><BR>White's last move has forced Black to start bringing his King to the Kingside due to the threat of the f-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>42.Re2+</B>
<BR><BR>And this move then forces the Black King to the f-file, a file further away from the Queenside.
<BR><BR><B>43.Kf3 Rd1 44.h4</B>
<BR><BR>Threatening to get behind the passer.
<BR><BR><B>44...Rh1</B>
<BR><BR>And so Black stops that idea, but White is going to try to force the issue.
<BR><BR><B>45.Kg3</B>
<BR><BR>Threatening 46.Rh2.
<BR><BR><B>45...Rg1+ 46.Rg2 f4+</B>
<BR><BR>Since going back to the h-file just leads to the threat White just had previously, Black tries to take advantage of the pin to advance the f-pawn, but this advance actually weakens it, and soon White will switch gears to the approach of trading off the Kingside pawns and then running to the Queenside.
<BR><BR><B>47.Kf3</B>
<BR><BR>Of course, taking the f-pawn drops the Rook.
<BR><BR><B>47...Rh1 48.Kxf4 Rxh4+ 49.Ke3 Ke5 50.Kd3</B>
<BR><BR>There is no use in 50.Rg5+ yet as the King is too close to the Rook, and the White King is not close enough yet to the White pawns on the Queenside to guard them. However, now if 50...Kd5, then 51.Rg5+ followed by 52.Kc2.
<BR><BR><B>50...c5</B>
<BR><BR>However, advancing this pawn doesn't help either. Now when White checks, Black has to go towards the hanging c-pawn and can't harass the Rook. It also doesn't allow the King to move forward either as d4 is covered by the White pawn. Therefore ...
<BR><BR><B>51.Rg5+! Kd6</B>
<BR><BR>But now ...
<BR><BR><B>52.Rg6+ Ke5 53.b3</B>
<BR><BR>White avoids the issues with the check on c4. The a-pawn is not going anywhere, and there is no need to take it immediately. Now if the Black Rook goes to the second rank, then taking the pawn on a6 guards the a2-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>53...a5 54.Ra6 Kd5 55.c4+</B>
<BR><BR>This creates a safe route for the White King via Kd3-c3-b2-a3-a4 and potentially take on a5 with the King.
<BR><BR><B>55...Ke5 56.Kc3 Rh3+ 57.Kb2 Kd4 58.Rxa5 Rh2+ 59.Ka3 Rg2 60.Ra8 Kc3 61.Rh8</B>
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<BR><BR><B>61...Rf2</B>
<BR><BR>The position might look scary for White because his King is pushed against the edge of the board, but in reality, it is a non-issue for White. For example, if 61...Rg7, then 62.Rh3+ and 62...Kd4 gives the White King the escape out the bottom on b2, but if 62...Kc2, then White can escape out the top. After 63.Ka4!, if Black tries to win the a-pawn with 63...Ra7+ 64.Kb5 Rxa2, then White wins via 65.Rh2+ Kxb3 66.Rxa2 Kxa2 67.Kxc5.
<BR><BR><B>62.Rh5 Kd4 63.Rd5+ Kc3 64.Rxc5</B>
<BR><BR>Black is now down three full pawns and can safely resign.
<BR><BR><B>64...Rf6 65.Ka4 Ra6+ 66.Ra5 Rb6 67.a3</B>
<BR><BR>White starts advancing the Queenside pawns on the basis of a tactic that Black falls for immediately.
<BR><BR><B>67...Rxb3? 68.Rb5!</B>
<BR><BR>Despite giving up one of the pawns for it, the Black Rook is now trapped and is forced to be traded off. White is now winning easily and the rest needs no commentary.
<BR><BR><B>68...Rxb5 69.cxb5 Kb2 70.b6 Ka1 71.Kb3 Kb1 72.b7 Ka1 73.b8=Q Kb1 74.Qh2 Ka1 75.Qg1# 1-0</B>
<BR><BR><BR>So I started the tournament with two wins, both as White, against the top two rated players in the section. There was only one other two remaining, and so it was known immediately that I would have to play Black against the three seed the following round. That round will be covered in the next article. That said, there are a few things to pick up from this game.
<BR><BR>One is that even in theoretically equal positions, they are not a piece of cake to execute. This line is supposedly equal for Black, but he has to sit through a long and miserable endgame just to get a draw, and he failed to do so here. White can basically drag this out at little to no risk. He really has nothing to lose. And so while 6...d5 may be the best move theoretically, practically, it's a nightmare for Black. For White, it's a simple case of "slow and steady wins the race".
<BR><BR>The other thing that this game can be used for is to work on your visualization skills, especially around the moves in the 20s. If White doesn't use this to calculate his 24th and 25th moves, we might be looking at a different result as White can't afford to sit back passively. Otherwise, Black will consolidate and have very few problems getting half the point. Another thing that you can do is when you study a chess game, try to see how far you can mentally visualize the position without moving the pieces on the board. Only after that, make the moves on the board to see if your assessment was accurate, or if you are mis-visualizing the position.
<BR><BR><BR>This concludes the coverage of the second round. Until next time, good luck in your games, and have a good Thanksgiving.Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606823892065101063.post-13067157845532207982019-11-16T07:48:00.000-08:002019-11-16T07:48:15.237-08:00Game Analysis: Atlanta Class Championship, Round 1Hello everyone and welcome. Here, and in the next four articles, I will be covering the games I played in the Atlanta Class Championship played in mid-October. This was a tournament that was restricted to players rated under 2200, and were in 200-point sections called classes, and you were restricted to playing either in your class, or you could play up 1 section. For example, to play in the Expert Class (2000-2199), you had to be at minimum 1800. To play in the Class A section (1800-1999), you had to be at minimum 1600, etc. Often times, local tournaments with a restricted rating range tend to be smaller because the masters are not there, and some players go to tournaments to see the top players play. While the turnout was fairly small, the Expert section did draw 14 entrants, and I was the 6-seed of those 14, and end up winning the tournament outright, and the road to victory was not easy as I had to face the top seed in round 1, the second seed in round 2, and the third seed in round 3.
<BR><BR>In this current article, we will be looking at the first round game. Here I am facing a kid that is supposedly well known to the local Atlanta area, and I can't help by say that what happens this game is very typical of what happens in many of my games against kids. They are out to try and go after your King, as opposed to playing some kind of maneuvering game where they win with a passed pawn or a better minor piece. They want blood. Well, in this game, Black has one opportunity to go for blood, but instead tries to hold on to a pawn that is attacked. After that, when he does throw his pieces at White, one of them gets trapped, costing Black the piece, which in turn costs him the game.
<BR><BR>Without further ado, let's see how White wins this game.
<BR><BR><BR>Atlanta Class Championship, Round 1
<BR>W: Patrick McCartney (2018)
<BR>B: Alexander Rutten (2172)
<BR>Sicilian Defense, Prins Variation
<BR><BR><B>1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3</B>
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<BR><BR>This is the starting position of the Prins Variation. The idea is simple. White wants to avoid moving the Knight to c3 to block the c-pawn, and would rather have the c-pawn out on c4, leading to a Maroczy-Bind type of position. This is a very positional approach, and hence why the only book that I'm aware of that covers this line is called "Steamrolling The Sicilian", the idea of the title being that it is a system where you slowly kill Black like you are running him over with a Steamroller rather than going for an assault-style attack.
<BR><BR>One thing to note is that this system only works when Black plays 2...d6. The reason is simple, and those that play the Taimanov or Kalashnikov Sicilian will understand immediately. In the Maroczy Bind structure, with White pawns on c4 and e4, even with a pawn on f3, the one thing that White must avoid is a Bishop pinning and trading off the c3-Knight as it is a major contributor to the control of d5, the square that the c-pawn and e-pawn are clamping down on.
<BR><BR>In the Taimanov Sicilian, after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6, White has problems after 5.c4? Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4, creating pressure on e4 and fighting for control of d5. If Black breaks through with d5, the bind has failed. Therefore, in the Taimanov Sicilian, White must play 5.Nb5 first if he wants to play a Maroczy Bind position instead of the main line, 5.Nc3, and only after 5...d6, blocking the Bishop from going to b4, can White play 6.c4.
<BR><BR>Same deal in the Kalashnikov. After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 and only now, 6.c4 is a line. It's the more positional option while 6.N1c3 is the more tactical choice.
<BR><BR>So now we see the importance of Black's second move. With 2...d6, the Bishop is blocked from that diagonal. Notice in the Dragon it usually goes to g7 while in lines like the Najdorf or Scheveningen, it's typically Black's bad Bishop and sits on e7 behind the d6-pawn. So just something to keep in mind when Black plays an early ...Nf6. If ...d6 has not been played, this f3 idea is no good. But here, it's an excellent line to use against someone that might be an avid fan of quick attacks and wild, tactical lines like the Dragon and certain lines of the Najdorf.
<BR><BR><B>5...e5</B>
<BR><BR>Considered Black's strongest response. The other two main options for Black are to play a dragon set-up, which will directly transpose to the Accelerated Dragon, Maroczy Bind (something most regular dragon players loathe), or else play an early ...e6, and it will usually lead to a Hedgehog-type position that you often see in the English Opening. Most other moves are bad. For example, a Najdorf player that is unfamiliar with 5.f3 will often try to play something like 5...a6, but the move is pointless after 6.c4, preventing Black from the typical ...b5 expansion.
<BR><BR><B>6.Nb3</B>
<BR><BR>Now Black has a major decision to make. He knows that White is probably intending to play c4. Why else would White have played 5.f3 instead of 5.Nc3? He has 3 main options.
<BR><BR>Black can play 6...d5 right now, beating White to the punch. This move leads to a very early endgame, and the cost for Black is his pawn structure that results from it. It leads to a long, grind it out type of endgame with a small advantage for White due to the pawn structure. We will actually see this occur in Round 2 of this tournament in the next article.
<BR><BR>The second option is to play an early ...a5. After 6...a5, White is at the crossroads. Here, 7.c4 is not very good as Black can chase the Knight away, and it is forced to block the Bishop in on c1. White can play 7.a4, and even follow it up with c4 after that, but then Black has achieved a major weakness on b4. White can play normal lines with 7.Nc3, or the move that would be my preference for White and what most shows the downfall to 6...a5 is 7.Bb5+. White develops a piece, waits to see what Black does, and after the most common move, blocking with the Bishop, White trades Bishops and Black, with his pawns already locked on d6 and e5, has to deal with a long term weakness on the light squares.
<BR><BR>The third option is to anticipate the c-pawn advance by White, and play 6...Be6, intending 7...Nbd7 and 8...Rc8, attacking the c-pawn. White can be a materialist and try to hold on to the pawn with 9.Na3, or he can play in gambit style with 9.Nc3, where at the cost of a pawn, White gets a huge attack.
<BR><BR>The third option is what Black plays in this game, though he delays it first via moving his King's Bishop, giving White a move of extra time.
<BR><BR><B>6...Be7 7.c4 Be6 8.Be3 O-O</B>
<BR><BR>Yet another move that gives White time, rather than immediately going after the c-pawn. Unlike the Accelerated Dragon, Maroczy Bind, White has a Knight on b3. While this is good in the sense that it can go to a5 the moment Black advances ...b5, going for a trade on d5, retaking with a Pawn, and then plopping that a5-Knight on the weakened c6-square, it also has the downfall of not being able to play b3 to protect the c-pawn. White spends the extra time getting his own King castled.
<BR><BR><B>9.Be2 Nbd7 10.Nc3 a6</B>
<BR><BR>Another time waster. 10...Rc8 immediately was better. Black may have been afraid of losing the a-pawn, but White can't take it. The rescue mission with the a-pawn is too slow, and saving the Bishop with Nb5 leads to severe inflexibility in White's position. After 10...Rc8 11.Bxa7? b6 12.a4 Rc7 13.Nb5 Bxc4 14.Bxc4 (14.Nxc7 Bxb3! -+) Rxc4, Black has a far superior position.
<BR><BR><B>11.O-O Rc8 12.Rc1?</B>
<BR><BR>This is an error by White. He is already better if he plays 12.Nd5. The extra moves by Black change the situation. In the normal line, which runs 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3 e5 6.Nb3 Be6 7.c4 Nbd7 8.Be3 Rc8 9.Nc3, Black can take the pawn, but at a cost. After 9...Bxc4 10.Bxc4 Rxc4, White has 11.Qd3 as a strong response. Black is not ready to play ...b5 here, and so the Rook has to retreat. In the game, with ...a6 already played, Black can take the pawn twice, and then Qd3 is not as strong because black has the resource ...b5 to cover the Rook. In the normal line, after 11.Qd3, typical play might look like as follows: 11...Rc8 12.O-O a6 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.Qxd5 Rb8 15.Rfd1 Be7 16.Na5, with heavy pressure on b7 and sometime later in the game, the White Knight will be ready to leap into c6 if Black ever advances the b-pawn, or else c4, further pressuring the d6-weakness.
<BR><BR><B>12...Nb6?</B>
<BR><BR>As explained in the previous note, Black in this case should have taken the c-pawn.
<BR><BR><B>13.Nd5 Nbxd5 14.cxd5 Rxc1 15.Qxc1 Bd7 16.Qd2</B>
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<BR><BR>White has the advantage here. He has an advantage in space. His pieces are either active, or in the case of the Rook on f1, he can easily get to the open c-file in a single move. Black's position is cramped, and if you look at the direction that the blocked pawns are pointing in the center of the board, White's play should be on the Queenside while Black's is on the Kingside. Notice that Black's attack hasn't even started yet!
<BR><BR><B>16...Nh5</B>
<BR><BR>So Black does exactly what is indicated and starts trying to attack on the Kingside. Probably better is 16...Qb8, looking to contest the c-file with the Rook and trade the Rooks off since Black's Rook is clearly more passive than White's.
<BR><BR><B>17.Rc1</B>
<BR><BR>White is already better with the space advantage, and Black doesn't have much counterplay, and therefore, the prophylactic move 17.g3 was stronger, keeping the Knight out of f4. We are going to see that this could have been very costly for White has Black played correctly the next half-dozen moves.
<BR><BR><B>17...Nf4 18.Bf1 f5 19.Na5?</B>
<BR><BR>With the pawn on f5, blocking the view of the h3-square by the Bishop, this was White's one other opportunity to play 19.g3!, shooing the Knight away, and White maintains a large advantage.
<BR><BR>After the move played in the game, Black has the opportunity to take over the advantage, and at worst, equalize the position, but for equality to be maintained, White will have to find a lot of only moves.
<BR><BR><B>19...fxe4 20.fxe4 Qb8?</B>
<BR><BR>Black needs to take a more dynamic approach. After 20...Qe8, White has two ways to maintain equality, but both entail finding a number of not-so-obvious moves. Black's advantage can be held to a bare minimum via 21.Nxb7 Qg6 22.Bxf4 Rxf4 23.Rc7 Qxe4 24.Be2 Qb1+ 25.Qc1 Qxc1+ 26.Rxc1 or via 21.Rc7 Bb5 22.Nc4 Bd8 23.Rxb7 Qg6 24.Bxf4 exf4 25.Kh1, and even then, it's White that will need to show extreme accuracy to survive.
<BR><BR><B>21.Qb4?</B>
<BR><BR>A more restrained approach with something like 21.b3, 21.Nc4, or 21.Bc4, is called for here. Moving the Queen away abandons the defense of the e3-Bishop, which is now loose and entices Black's next move.
<BR><BR><B>21...Bg5</B>
<BR><BR>With the major threat of 22...Nh3+, 23...Bxe3+, and 24...Bxc1.
<BR><BR><B>22.Qa3 Bb5</B>
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<BR><BR>Black has a major threat. Do you see it, and how do you stop it?
<BR><BR><B>23.Nc4!</B>
<BR><BR>This move is almost forced. The major threat was 23...Bxf1, which depending on how White recaptures, Black's follow-up would have been 24...Ne2+ if the Rook takes the Bishop, leading to mate in 2, or if the King takes back, then 24...Nd3+ and taking the Rook. White's light-squared Bishop is a critical piece in the defense of his King.
<BR><BR><B>23...Bxc4?</B>
<BR><BR>Black misses his chance. After 23...Qc8!! 24.Nxe5 Qe8 25.Nf3 Nh3+ 26.Kh1 Bxf1 27.Rxf1 Qxe4 28.Bg1 Nxg1 29.Rxg1 Be3 30.Rf1, Black has a big advantage.
<BR><BR><B>24.Rxc4</B>
<BR><BR>Now suddenly, White is slightly better, and Black has to be very careful here or else he will lose outright.
<BR><BR><B>24...Qe8??</B>
<BR><BR>After all the times that this move would have given Black an advantage, here it loses for Black as he completely overlooks his minor pieces getting trapped. Black had to find the only move, which was 24...Qd8, protecting the Bishop on g5 and answering 25.g3 with either retreating the Knight, or else playing the very tricky 25...Qf6, after which the only way for White to get an advantage is with 26.Rc1! Note that 26.gxf4 Bxf4 27.Bg2 Qh4 28.Bxf4 Qe1+ 29.Bf1 Rxf4 30.Rc8+ Kf7 31.Rc7+ Kg8 is only equal.
<BR><BR>After the game move, Black drops a minor piece.
<BR><BR><B>25.g3!</B>
<BR><BR>With the Bishop on g5 loose, the Knight has nowhere to go.
<BR><BR><B>25...Qh5?</B>
<BR><BR>This basically is self-captulation. Black had to at least make White work for the win, which actually isn't easy at all after 25...Qg6! Yes, White is still winning, but look at the hoops he has to jump through to win this: 26.gxf4 Bxf4+ 27.Bg2 Bxh2+ 28.Kxh2 Qh5+ 29.Kg3 Qg6+ 30.Bg5 Qxg5+ 31.Kh2 Rf4 32.Rc3, and White has a Bishop for only two pawns. White is not forced to shoot his King out into the wind, and can retreat to g1 instead of going to g3, but then White is surrendering a draw by perpetual check. In the final position of this line, with two heavy pieces each, White still has to be careful, but with correct play, he should win.
<BR><BR>The game move brings no real challenge to White, and Black is basically waving the White flag.
<BR><BR><B>26.gxf4 exf4 27.Bf2 Qg4+ 28.Kh1 b5 29.Rc7 Bd7 30.Rc1 Qg6 31.Qf3!</B>
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<BR><BR>This time, White does it right and doesn't allow Black back in. Earlier, on move 17, White had a huge space advantage, which is a long term asset provided the side lacking space isn't able to trade the pieces off, giving him more room to maneuver his remaining few pieces. The correct approach from White then was to play the prophylactic move, 17.g3, which he failed to do and gave Black chances to take over. Here, White has another long term advantage. Extra material. Once again, a rush job is not the answer here, and this time, White does what he needs to do. Take the prophylactic approach of stopping any baloney by Black. The White Rook controls the open c-file. The Queen, which not the best piece to block with, is blocking the f-pawn from advancing and keeping many of the dark-squared diagonals closed, which is the only Bishop Black has, and White's Bishops cover all the entry points around the White King. White can gained full stability in the position, and now he will slowly release his pieces from their duties once they are safe to move, and work their way from a defensive role to an offensive role, eventually winning the game.
<BR><BR><B>31...Bf6 32.b3</B>
<BR><BR>No reason to be giving Black anything here.
<BR><BR><B>32...Be5 33.Bh3</B>
<BR><BR>So with control of the c-file and White's pawns covering the squares that Black could even remotely think about getting to anytime soon, the Bishop has no need to cover Queenside light squares. From h3, it is more active, still protects g2, and is protected by the White Queen, and so it is the first piece to take on a more active role.
<BR><BR><B>33...a5 34.Be6+</B>
<BR><BR>Seeing no need to cover g2, as the Queen does it as well, the Bishop has been relinquished of all defensive duties and now plays a purely offensive role.
<BR><BR><B>34...Kh8 35.Bf5 Qf6 36.Rc7</B>
<BR><BR>With the Queen now confined to dark squares and knocked off the g-file, there is no reason for the Rook to sit back. Do note though that this Rook will remain on the c-file for the time being, keeping Black from entering via the only open file. But there is no reason for the Rook to sit back on the back rank any more.
<BR><BR><B>36...a4 37.Qh3</B>
<BR><BR>Here, White releases the Black f-pawn, but he doesn't have time to advance it to open up his pieces as there are direct threats on the Black King.
<BR><BR><B>37...h6 38.Bh4 g5</B>
<BR><BR>The only move that doesn't immediately drop the Queen, but it fatally opens up the Black King.
<BR><BR><B>39.Bf2 Kg8 40.Be6+ Kh8 41.Qf5</B>
<BR><BR>Here is one more thing that many people get hung up on. Is 41.Qf5 the absolute best move on the board? Not at all! But the thing is, when your advantage is this dominant, once you see a winning idea, just go with it. Don't waste time looking for the quickest or prettiest way to win. This is chess, not gymnastics. There are no style points!
<BR><BR>That said, just to point out the stylish way to win. White has 41.Qh5! axb4 42.axb4 Ra8 43.Ra7!! Rf8 (43...Rxa7 44.Qe8+ followed by 45.Qg8 is mate) 44.Bf5
Kg8 45.Bg6 Rc8 46.Qxh6 Rc1+ 47.Kg2 f3+ 48.Kh3 g4+ 49.Kxg4 and White wins. Sure, this is all flashy and cool, but do you really want to have to find 43.Ra7 to buy time before the Black Rook comes in with him having to wait for Bg6 by White before he can enter via the c-file, and then have to calculate that the White King can survive on g4 where all Black can do to delay mate is give up another minor piece with a Queen check? Personally, I would rather take the simple road and save the energy for the other four rounds.
<BR><BR>The move played in the game forces the Queens off, avoids any problems to White's King, and he can play with his extra piece in peace!
<BR><BR><B>41...Qxf5 42.Bxf5 axb3 43.axb3 f3</B>
<BR><BR>So Black thinks he can try to mate the White King by controlling g2 and h2 with his pawn and Bishop? Get rid of the only piece that can back rank the White King!
<BR><BR><B>44.Rc8!</B>
<BR><BR>Again, maybe not the flashiest way to win, but the simplest!
<BR><BR><B>44...Rxc8 45.Bxc8 h5</B>
<BR><BR>The only move that preserves the f3-pawn. Anything else would be answered by 46.Bg4 and the f3-pawn drops.
<BR><BR><B>46.Bd7 Kg7</B>
<BR><BR>If 46...b4, trying to hold the b-pawn, then 47.Be8 h4 48.Bh5 and it's all over.
<BR><BR><B>47.Bxb5 g4 48.Bd7 Kg6 49.b4</B>
<BR><BR>Simple chess! Black has no immediate threats on the Kingside, and the pawn on d6 is actually to Black's detriment as it blocks the Bishop from controlling the promotion square.
<BR><BR><B>49...Kg5 50.b5 Bc3</B>
<BR><BR>Too little, too late. Stopping the b-pawn is going to cost Black his other Bishop.
<BR><BR><B>51.b6 Ba5 52.b7 Bc7 53.Ba7 h4 54.b8=Q Bxb8 55.Bxb8</B>
<BR><BR>There is no threat by Black on the Kingside. Any advancement of the f-pawn will be answered by Bb5, and if the g-pawn advances, trying to put two pawns on the sixth rank, then just a simple Kg1 move by White and even if Black somehow got the King in to aid the pawns, which he can't, White could even give up one of the two Bishops to eliminate the pawns if he had to. Black can safely resign, and he does two moves later.
<BR><BR><B>55...h3 56.Bxd6 f2 57.Bb5 1-0</B>
<BR><BR><BR>So I won the first round against the top seed in the tournament. It was a bit topsy-turvy, but the main theme of this lesson is clearly prophylaxis. In these Maroczy Bind type positions, typically any advantage that White gets is going to be purely positional, while Black's chances lie in tactical opportunities, as we saw from moves 17 to 23. Had White played the prophylactic move, 17.g3, the advantage would be his. He should have been in no rush to attack the Queenside as Black would have virtually nothing on the Kingside after the simple move.
<BR><BR>After dodging that bullet, and winning the piece, notice how White, while he could have won with flash, took a more prophylactic approach to the remainder of the game. He controlled the only open file. He blocked Black from getting his pawns, and especially the f-pawn, off the color complex of his Bishop and hence made the Bishop for the most part immobile, and only after he stablized the position did he slowly start to shift from defense to offense, and yet still made his first focus be to prevent any counterplay by Black. Once he pushed Black back to a completely passive role, White is winning in virtually any way he chooses, and while he could have gone through the headaches to win in a flashy style, notice that White instead took the simple road to victory, and often times, while not beautiful, that is the easiest and safest way to victory as there is far less room to blunder. Had playing flashy not meant that my King was going to be running wild in the open, I might have gone that route, but King safety was my top priority because outside of pulling off a trick mate, there was absolutely no way that Black was surviving the game. A valuable lesson to many of you out there that don't believe in the Tortoise and Hare fable. Slow and steady wins the race!
<BR><BR><BR>That does it for this article. Next time, we will look at Round 2 of the Atlanta Class Championship, which will actually feature the same opening, only this time, Black will decide to play for the endgame, and so while the opening is the same, the game itself will be vastly different. Until next time, good luck in your games.
Patrick McCartneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09302024557994865934noreply@blogger.com0