Errors in the Opening - Part 2

Hello everyone and welcome as we continue our analysis on the subject of Errors in the Opening. As you might recall in Part 1, we saw a game where White committed an error in the opening stages of what was an English Opening. What we also saw is that just because you are better out of the opening does not mean that you can do just anything, and while Black won that game after a comedy of errors by both sides, what we will see today is nothing like that.

As mentioned in Part 1, this article, Part 2, we will be covering a Petroff Defense game, and unlike the first one, this opening error turns out to be more fatal than it initially looks as Black's game plays itself, and shortly after White's error in the opening, all it takes is one very innocent looking, slightly inferior move by White to go from a slight advantage for Black after 13 moves to a dead won position for Black after 14 moves, and unlike the last game, Black never really looks back. One could quibble over whether Black played the best move every time or not, but from moves 15 onward, the assessment is never anything but -+. So while the first article may have given the false impression that making errors in the opening through lack of understanding of what is actually going on doesn't mean much because you still have the middle game and end game, this one ought to show you what actually can happen if you don't understand the opening you are playing. I am not saying that the player playing White falls under this category, but this is a common thing that can happen when amateurs either try to be walking databases and try to memorize lines rather than taking the time to understand what their Opponent's objective really is, or it is also common for a person who tries to work off principles alone, and doesn't pay attention to the granular details of the position and tends to miss the whole point of what their opponent is up to.

We will be looking at one of Black's main objectives in the Modern Main Line (5.Nc3) of the Petroff Defense, and how what White did clearly shows that he did not understand Black's objective. With that, let's take a look at the feature game.


Reverse Angle 94, Round 3
W: Vishnu Vanapalli (2103)
B: Patrick McCartney (2049)
Petroff's Defense, Modern Main Line

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxd4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7

So what we have is the first position in the Modern Main Line of the Petroff Defense where White must make a decision. First, before making that decision, let's note a few features in the position:

• White has doubled c-pawns and four pawns cramped on three files, similar to what Black gets in the Exchange Ruy Lopez or Berlin Defense. By no means the end of the world for White, but probably the one thing that White doesn't want to see is a pure King and Pawn endgame.
• In return for the slightly wrecked Pawn structure, White has easily development. Both his Bishops are wide open and free to roam. He can lift the Queen to d2 or e2 to connect the Rooks once he castles to one side or the other. Black, on the other hand, in return for the better pawn structure, has slightly limited mobility in his Bishops, especially the Bishop on e7, which is blocked by the Pawn on d6.
• White's easy development and high mobility compared to Black's limited mobility combined with White's lack of desire for an endgame states that White should be looking at going after Black immediately rather than playing a maneuvering game. If both sides simply maneuver, Black will catch up in development and free his pieces, whereas White will still have the slightly inferior pawns. So while it is clear that Black is highly likely to castle Kingside, White should be thinking about castling Queenside as the extra c-pawn can act as additional protection on the White King, the semi-open d-file would help White's cause for a battery there created by the Queen lift to d2 and the Rook landing on d1 from castling, and White would be able to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the Black King, Pawns included, since there is no need to maintain cover on the Kingside like he would need to if he castled over there.
• The hard part is seeing and understanding what Black wants to do. Clearly Black wants to get his King out of the center, and he's almost surely going to castle Kingside. What does he want to do with the rest of his pieces? Well, the Light-Squared Bishop is not a major issue. He has an open diagonal for it, and can develop it to e6, f5, or g4. But what about the passive Dark-Squared Bishop on e7? What about the Knight on b8?

A lot to take in, right? And still something to figure out. That last bullet. Well, let's start from the diagram position. We see that White wants to put up a fight and not sit back. We determined that White is best off castling Queenside. Therefore, the first thing that White should do is develop the Dark-Squared Bishop. We don't want to develop it to d2 because that's where the Queen needs to go. That leaves e3 and f4. As it turns out, theory has it that White has 2 main lines here, Be3 and Bf4. Through simple understanding of the position, we were able to figure this out ourselves. Note that we are not sure yet what White wants to do with the Light-Squared Bishop, and the fact that White doesn't want to castle in that direction anyway, make moving the LSB a dubious idea. Black can easily respond to that with a waiting move of his own, 7...O-O, as there is no Greek Gift sacrifice because g5 is well covered by the Queen and Bishop. In the normal Greek Gift, Black usually has a Knight, not a Bishop, on e7.

So we have determined that White should play 7.Be3 or 7.Bf4, and which White plays is a pure matter of taste. Both are perfectly sound. However, what White does with that Bishop dictates Black's next move, and it answers the question of what Black does with the Knight on b8. With a White pawn on c3, Black has no opportunity to create an outpost on a square like d4 or b4. So the Knight will need to be looking at squares like c5, e5, or f6. Well, f6, while it might protect the King, is passive, and blocks in the already passive e7-Bishop. Therefore, more desirable would be c5 or e5. The development of White's Bishop on the previous move should answer the question of where the Knight goes. If the Bishop goes to e3, we target e5 as the outpost for the Knight. If the Bishop goes to f4, covering e5, we go for c5. Now one might argue that putting the Knight on d7 allows Black to go to either square. However, it also blocks in the c8-Bishop. If we can avoid blocking it, that's what we want to do. So if we are looking to get to e5 because White played 7.Be3, then our answer is 7...Nc6! The Knight will be headed for e5, and our Bishop on c8 is still free to develop itself and keeps an eye on the light squares. If White plays 7.Bf4, then we have to go to d7, which does temporarily block the c8-Bishop, but it is the only way to get to c5 as going through a6 would allow White to capture, and while it may cost him the Bishop pair, our pawns are wrecked.

So now we answered half the question of the final bullet. What we are doing with the Knight solely depends on what White does with his Dark-Squared Bishop. So now we need to answer what Black is looking to do with his Dark-Squared Bishop. Sure, we can move the Bishop to f6, but unless Black is coerced into doing it due to something inferior by White, it isn't best because from there, it is staring at a White pawn chain on c3 and b2, and it doesn't help Black in other aspects of the game, such as trying to gain space and free his slightly cramped position. Instead, that phrase "gain space" should give a hint of what Black wants to do. He would like to free his Dark-Squared Bishop by advancing his c- and d-pawns. Instead of having the pawn structure of d6-c7-b7-a7, Black would like to be able to get the c-pawn to c6 and the d-pawn to d5, so that he has the pawn structure of d5-c6-b7-a7. This would lead to a gain in space for Black. It would open up his Bishop on e7. One could argue that it worsens the Light-Squared Bishop, but if we were going to g4 or f5 anyway, does that matter? Also, one Bishop will almost always be slightly inferior to the other until all the central pawns are traded off. Well, the only way to get them traded is to advance them, and advancing them gives Black more space to maneuver his heavy pieces.

So now we have Black's ideas in mind. He wants an active central square for the Knight, either e5 or c5, solely dependent on where White develops his Dark-Squared Bishop, and we want to try to be able to advance ...c6 and ...d5. White should be keeping these ideas in mind when developing his pieces. So let's see what happens in the game.

7.Bf4 Nd7!

With the Bishop on f4, Black goes for c5 for his Knight.

8.Qd2 O-O 9.O-O-O Nc5

Ok, so we now have precisely one of the possible positions that we envisioned, specifically the one based on White playing 7.Bf4. Both 7.Bf4 and 7.Be3 have their pros and cons. The line White played forced Black to develop his Knight to d7, which meant he needed to get it to c5 sooner rather than later to keep from having his c8-Bishop and a8-Rook blocked for ever. Black also got himself castled. White developed two pieces, and castled, and it's his move. So this 7.Bf4 line gained him a move in development and he has a small lead. But for everything that is good, there is something bad in return. Not bad as in worse for White, but if everything about the position was good for White, everybody would play this line, and lines like 7.Be3 or 5.d4 would never be seen. The downside to the position is that while it appears as though White is heavily pressuring d6, and while it may look like Black can't get in his desired ...c6 and ...d5 advance, it turns out that Black threatens to do so tactically. If it were Black's move here, he could play the move 10...c6 immediately as it does not drop a pawn because after 11.Bxd6 Bxd6 12.Qxd6 Qxd6 13.Rxd6, Black has the move 13...Ne4!, which will win back the pawn on f2.

So now we need to consider White's possible 10th moves. There are 5 main moves that are played in practice, and then there's a 6th move that is played at times at the amateur level but it serves no purpose. Let's recall what we said before. Endgames, and especially King and Pawn endings, likely favor Black, or are at worst equal for Black. White wants to stir up trouble.

First, I should point out that the inferior move played by amateurs is 10.Bd3. White gets nothing after 10...Nxd3+! 11.Qxd3 Be6 12.h4 Qd7 (intending 13...Bf5) 13.Nd4 Rae8. Note that 11.cxd3 also gets White nothing. Sure it undoubles his pawns, but now we have a symmetrical position with White having a battery on a completely closed file, which is basically useless.

So that takes us to White's other 5 possibilities. In order, from worst to best, they are 10.Kb1, 10.Bc4, 10.h4, 10.Nd4, and 10.Be3.

The move 10.Kb1 looks logical. It gets the King off of the open diagonal. The problem with it is that it is overly slow, and White has to be on the constant lookout for his soft spots, especially e4. For example, after 10...Bf6 11.Be3 Qe7, the move 12.Rg1 would already be a mistake and after 12...Ne4, Black has the advantage.

The move 10.Bc4 was played in the game and we will look at that when we get back to the game.

The move 10.h4 can be played to test the validity of Black's tactical defense, and after 10...c6 11.Bxd6 Bxd6 12.Qxd6 Qxd6 13.Rxd6 Ne4 14.Rd4 Nxf2, White was fine after 15.Rg1 Ng4 16.Bc4 Bf5 17.Bd3 Bxd3 18.cxd3 Nf6 as in Topalov - Gelfand, Wijk ann Zee 2006, but Black should have no problems maintaining the balance, and that game eventually ended in a draw.

The move 10.Nd4 used to be the old main line as it would attempt to get White's pieces going and prove 10...c6 to be too slow, but then came 10...Re8!, virtually forcing 11.f3 (to stop the threats of the Knight coming to e4), and after 11...Ne6, Black is already on his mission to trade off pieces, leaving White with virtually no attack, and so this line is rarely played any more.

In the main line, 10.Be3, White recognizes what Black is trying to do and is willing to surrender the Bishop pair to avoid it. After 10...c6 11.Bxc5 dxc5 12.Qf4 Qa5 13.Bd3 Be6 14.a3 Rad8, a highly theoretical position arises with chances for both sides. Note that 13...Qxa2?? would be a horrible blunder as 14.Qe4 then wins the game since White threatens both mate on h7 and the Bishop on e7.

In the game, White plays the fourth most popular move, but we will soon see that he clearly did not understand Black's idea.

10.Bc4 Be6

The best reply to 10.Bc4. Black's idea is to capture on e6 with his f-pawn and play with the "small center", a common coined phrase often used in lines of the Sicilian with pawns on d6 and e6.

11.Bd5?

Here is White's opening error, and the more you look at it and think about it, the more you realize that White probably had no idea what Black is looking to do because if he did know, he would never have played this. As mentioned above, White should take on e6, forcing Black to play with the small center. This idea would actually make it difficult for Black to play ...c6 and ...d5. With the Black pawns on f7-g7-h7 along with a7-b7-c6-d5, Black has an excellent pawn structure, but move that f7-pawn to e6 and now it doesn't look so hot. From f7, the pawn can advance to f6 if necessary to control e5, and it would itself be protected by the pawn on g7. But shift it over to the e-file, and we have a weak, backward e6-pawn, and a weak e5-square, and so advancing ...c6 and ...d5 would not be advisable in this line and we would have a completely different game.

But here, White invites Black to trade on d5, and as we see step by step what Black is able to do, we realize that White clearly missed the plan completely as if he saw it, he would not allow it to happen in this manner.

11...Bxd5

No reason not to. This drags the White Queen to the d5-square.

12.Qxd5 c6

Now Black gets to start his Pawn advancing idea, only this time it's with gain of tempo!

13.Qd2

White is forced to waste more time saving the Queen.

13...d5

And so now Black got his desired a7-b7-c6-d5-f7-g7-h7 Pawn structure at zero cost what-so-ever, and actually gained time while in the process of doing it! His Bishop has gained scope. His Queen is ready to swing out to the Queenside, which will connect his Rooks. He also is ready to execute any threats involving the Knight coming to e4. Black is already slightly better, and White's next move virtually puts a nail in his own coffin.

14.c4?

What purpose does this move serve? Black has the initiative with Dark-Squared Bishops on the board. So why would White want to advance c4 and open up the dark squares around his King? In addition, even if White is able to trade on d5, Black doesn't care if he gets an isolani on d5. With Black now having the initiative, as can be plainly seen from the fact that if you compare the last two diagrams, White has virtually done nothing except trade off the Light-Squared Bishop while Black has advanced his pawns onto the Light squares after trading Light-Squared Bishops and all of his pieces are ready to come out while White's have just sat where they have been all along. White needs to force the issue on Black, not give Black more time and open diagonals on the dark squares just to make his attack all the more lethal. A move like 14.Be3 would be a better idea, holding Black's advantage to just a small one. Black would be forced to immediately decide whether to put the Knight on e4, or attempt to complete his development at the risk of allowing White to trade off his Bishop for that powerful Knight. I would have moved the Knight to e4 in that case, but at least his pawns would be blocking the dark-square diagonal, and any ...Bf6 idea could be contested with Bd4 as well.

From here on out, Black is winning. He may not end up playing the absolute best move on every move from here on out, but his winning advantage will never go away for the rest of this game.

14...Ne4 15.Qe2 Qa5

Threatening the a2-pawn, and not fearing a trade on d5. Sure, Black gets an isolated pawn, but all it does is open up more lines towards the White King, such as the c-file.

16.Kb1 Bf6

Why not? White graciously opened the diagonal for us, and his Bishop is in no place to contest ours on the diagonal. Let's attack the dark squares around the White King!

17.Nd4

This move doesn't help White's cause, but not many moves do. Maybe 17.Ne5 was relatively best.

17...Qb6

Now with threats of taking the White Knight on d4, playing 18...Nc3+ winning the Queen, and the X-ray threat on f2, White is forced to lose material.

18.Nb3 Qxf2 19.Qf1

And now, with the fork if White initiates the Queen trade, the problems with Black bringing a Rook to the e-file if 19.Qe3, and the attack on the Bishop on f4, this move is, sadly enough, the best White's got.

19...dxc4

Tactically winning a second Pawn due to the hanging Bishop on f4.

20.Nd2 Qxf1

Now that Black has gained a second Pawn, he has no issue with initiating the trade down.

21.Rhxf1 Nxd2+ 22.Bxd2

It might appear to make more sense to play 22.Rxd2, but after 22...Rad8, even more material is going to get traded, which isn't what White wants.

22...Rad8 23.Be3 b6

Black did not want to initiate the trade on d1 with a7 under attack as after 23...Rxd1+ 24.Rxd1, Black would have to take time to play 24...b6, allowing the White Rook in on d7. By playing the move 23...b6 first, Black only now threatens to play 24...Rxd1+ and 25...Rd8.

24.Rde1 Rfe8 25.c3 Kf8 26.Kc2 h6 27.Rf3 Bg5 28.Bxg5 hxg5 29.Rxe8+ Rxe8 30.Kd2

So now we have a completely winning endgame for Black, two Pawns up. However, since the four-on-three on the Queenside is smacked within three files, and there is no real way for Black to create a passer there, Black operates on his 3-on-2 on the Kingside. The main objective here is for Black to not allow White to penetrate with his Rook until it is too late and Black's pawns are too far advanced. There is no reason to rush, and observe the maneuvers that Black makes to completely prevent entry by the White Rook on the e-file and h-file.

30...f6 31.h4

Occupying the h-file with the Rook is useless here. After 31.Rh3 Kf7!, Black will follow up with 32...Kg6 and the Rook covers h8 while the King covers h7, h6, and h5, and Black will next advance the f-pawn.

31...Rd8+

The reason behind this check may not be so simple. From the King's perspective, if it goes to c1 or c2, it is way out of the game and Black's task is easy. If it goes anywhere on the e-file, that forbids the White Rook from getting to the e-file as Black will pin it with ...Re8 and trade it off, leading to a won King and Pawn endgame.

The more important factor is the White Rook on the following moves. Black is getting ready to play 32...gxh4. This allows White to play 33.Rf4, hitting the h4 and c4 Pawns. Black will want to protect the c-pawn to control d3. So he will need time to play 33...b5. By putting the Rook on d8, Black does not allow White to play 34.Rd4, trying to infiltrate instead of taking the h-pawn. Of course, he can't go to the e-file unless the King went to c1 or c2, and he would have fewer entry points on the e-file than the d-file anyway. Therefore, Black prepares the prevention of 34.Rd4 by playing this move, 31...Rd8+, which is possible because it comes with check, forcing White to take time to save the King.

32.Ke2

White decides not to put his King into a totally passive position on the c-file, but this now forbids the White Rook from going to the e-file.

32...gxh4 33.Rf4 b5 34.Rxh4

With no entry point on d4, there is no reason not to recapture the h-pawn.

34...Kf7 35.Rg4 g5!

Removing h4 and f4 from White, and virtually making the 4th rank useless for the White Rook.

36.Rg3

And so the White Rook retreats back to the third rank, where we control the d3-square with the Pawn on c4.

36...Re8+

And so now we return the Rook to the e-file since White has no contest on the d-file any more.

37.Kd2 Kg6

And here we have the idea covered earlier where the King controls h5, h6, and h7 while the Rook covers h8, and so while the White Rook can go to h3 at this point, there is no entry point on the h-file to harass the Black Queenside pawns from behind.

38.Rf3 f5 39.g3 Re5

With the White King cut off and our pawns advanced to the 5th rank, Black is ready to break through. He moves the Rook to e5 to cover the f5-pawn so that he can walk the King around from g6 to g4 via h5. If White prevents it with 40.g4, Black will have a protected passed Pawn after 40...f4! with the King cut off.

At this point, if White wanted to, he could try to play something like 40.Rf2 Kh5 41.Rh2+ Kg4, but it would be way too slow trying to grab the Queenside pawns as Black will have already grabbed the g3-Pawn and his pawn duo on the Kingside would be off to the races long before White is able to do anything.

Instead, he plays a waiting move, but soon sees that any type of resistance is futile.

40.Kd1 Kh5 0-1

With the Black King coming into g4, there is absolutely nothing White can do, and he resigned.


So unlike the first game on the English Opening, where we saw Black many times not follow up properly, we saw a scenario here where understanding the opening was far more critical. In the first article, the position that resulted from the opening errors by White were still extremely complicated. But here, Black's position almost played itself. We saw in this game that Black had a true understanding of what was needed in the position. His development of the Queen's Knight was solely dependent on what White did with his Dark-Squared Bishop, and that he needed to expand in the center with ...c6 and ...d5 to open up the Bishop on e7 and the Queen in order to conduct a Queenside attack and connect his Rooks. White clearly missed this idea entire as he allows Black to do exactly what he wanted to do with tempo, which is even worse then simply letting Black get his way uncontested. The follow-up blunder, completely opening the dark squares for Black, is literally all it took for Black to be completely winning, and not once did White have a single opportunity to rectify his position, partially because Black's position was so simple to play that it played itself. Many mistakenly label the Petroff as drawish because of its symmetrical nature, but many symmetrical games are not drawish at all. Instead, a more accurate assessment is that they are often simpler to play because there are rarely any tricks in the position, and simply understanding the position is more critical than calculating wild tactics. The lack of wild tactics and basic understanding taking over the importance factor of the game is why it ends up with a very high draw ratio at the top level. Grandmasters understand these positions. They don't memorize moves like amateurs do. These simpler, less tricky, often symmetrical positions are often the most vital to understand because one or two simple errors, like moves 11 and 14 in this game we looked at, are all it takes to win the game as there is no real room for error like there is in more dynamic positions, where the assessment of the game will often bounce back and forth, like the first game we looked at that went anywhere from a slight advantage for White to a winning position for Black. Here, once Black was winning on move 14, the assessment never changed from then on out, and so this game probably is one of the best games to use to illustrate the fact that memorizing moves or playing strictly off principles is insufficient, and that understanding the plans for both yourself and your opponent are vital to success, even in the opening phase of the game.

In the next and final article of this topic, we will be looking at a King's Indian Defense where, once again, it is White that makes the opening error. Until then, good luck in your games.

Errors in the Opening - Part 1

Hello everyone and welcome to the first of a 3-part article on Errors in the Opening. Now you might be wondering what on earth this is all about. Looking at the title, one might think this is going to cover miniatures. Games of under 20 or 25 moves usually due to a blunder in the opening. That's not what we have here.

There is this constant argument by amateurs in chess forums, such as on chess.com, about what one needs to know about the opening. At the level of the elite grandmaster, like Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura, and So, they are walking databases. They will know the new flavor of the month on move 27 or whatever other move number of the Najdorf Sicilian with 6.Bg5. At the 900 level, there is absolutely no use in even trying to know all of this because by move 5, your opponent will have already made an error and probably violated basic opening concepts.

But what about all the points in between? The so-called "Amateur" level? Those between 1600 and 2200?

Some still seem to be of the belief that they can just continue to do what they did when they were 900. Occupy the center. Don't move the same piece twice. Get castled. Don't throw your queen out too early. The problem with this theory in most cases is that you are merely looking at your own pieces, and often ignoring what your opponent is doing outside of direct threats. Usually these people will lack a positional understanding of what the opponent is trying to accomplish. For example, the following is a very common error made at the amateur level:

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O, we have the following position:

This is one of the main lines of the Accelerated Dragon. The main difference between it and the regular Dragon is that in the regular Dragon, Black has played ...d6 and has not played either ...O-O or ...Nc6 yet (either move can be delayed to move 8 for Black). But someone that is just trying to rely on opening concepts will make the common mistake of playing 8.f3, on the basis that it is the same basic position. Turns out, 8.f3 is a very common amateur mistake. There are two major differences between this position and the position after 7 moves of the regular Dragon. One is positional, the other is tactical. The positional difference is the whole concept of the Accelerated Dragon. Black wants to get in the move ...d7-d5 in one go rather than spending a move on ...d7-d6 and then later push ...d6-d5 (this is where the concept of "Accelerated" comes from). The tactical issue is that after 8.f3?, the move 8...Qb6! wins material. The b2-pawn is hanging, and after 9.Bb3, the move 9...Nxe4 wins a pawn. If White captures the knight, the knight on d4 hangs. If he tries to be tricky and plays 10.Nf5, then 10...Nxc3 is a huge advantage for Black.

Now some amateurs are of the other extreme. They think they need to be walking databases, and try to outright memorize all the main lines. There are a few major flaws in this approach. The first is that you aren't facing grandmasters that are walking databases themselves. They won't be following your 35-move deep line of the Najdorf Sicilian. They will probably play some oddball move by move 10. Now what? Do you have any clue what to do now? Probably not! But you will go around saying that he should have played such-and-such and then I would have played this and I would have had a great game because I know this 35-move line. The problem is that memorizing is not enough. He might have memorized in the example above that White needed to play 8.Bb3 instead of 8.f3, but what if Black had played 2...g6 instead and entered the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon? Would he have had any idea what to do? Probably not! Taking this approach of simply trying to memorize would be like telling a 4-year old girl to repeat after me: "Whose broad stripes and bright stars", and she says the words. Sure, the 4-year old can say that, but does the 4-year old have any clue that you are referring to the American flag? Probably not. Why? Because all she did is memorize a few words, not actually understand what you are talking about because it was never explained to her.


So this now brings us to the correct conclusion. When studying an opening, you need to be able to understand and explain in words why certain moves are played. What the consequences are of not playing them. If your opponent doesn't play the main lines, is what they played bad? Did they simply play a viable move that isn't as popular? These questions can usually be answered only by understanding the points behind each move.

And so in this article and the next two, we are going to be looking at three games where an error was made in the opening. These are not outright blunders that lead to miniatures, but rather inferior moves that show a lack of understanding of the whole point behind the opening line played. In this article, we will be looking at a line of the English Opening. In the other two, we'll be looking at a Petroff, and a King's Indian Defense.

These games are certainly nothing worth writing home about, and we will see many errors, mostly of a tactical nature, made by Black, but the main illustration is to explain the concept of understanding the opening rather than memorizing it.

With that said, let's take a look at the game.


Tuesday Night Action 49, Round 3
W: Michael Kliber (2009)
B: Patrick McCartney (2070)
English Opening

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6

So the first step to understanding an opening is to understand certain principles and rules, and WHY those rules are there. The first one is that in the early g3-lines of the 1...e5 English, White should answer Black's development of the Queen's knight with the development of his own Queen's knight. Why? We'll see in a moment!

3.Nc3 f5

So this move shows indication that Black intends to play a very aggressive line against the English. This space-gaining move must be broken up quickly, or else Black will get all of his pieces developed behind the pawns and use his advantage in space to grab the initiative. So how does White break this up? Well, the answer is that White would like to play d4 at some point. If he can get Black to advance or trade off the e-pawn, he will weaken his control of a number of dark squares, like d4, f4, etc. So let's imagine that White plays d4 at some point, and Black responds with ...e4. As White, what do we want to do? Where do we want our pieces? Well, d4 is occupied with our pawn, but what about f4? If we could get a Knight to f4, we will likely have a great outpost. Sure, Black can play ...g5, but it weakens his Kingside, and if we think far enough in advance, we can maybe eliminate that g-pawn and get a permanent outpost for our knight.

So our goal is to create an outpost for the Knight on f4. First thing we need to do is get in d4, and get it in quick before Black can completely develop. So we figure that 4.Nf3 is probably necessary. After a normal developing move like 4...Nf6, we can play 5.d4, and let's assume that Black is stubborn and plays 5...e4, and doesn't trade on d4 like we want him to. Now what? Well, we need to get the Knight from f3 to f4. Black will have a pawn on e4, and so anything that goes through d3 is not an option. Also, if the Knight ever blocks the Queen's view of the d4-pawn, the pawn will hang, and so even a move like 6.Nd2 is not an option. How else can we get to f4? Well, we could go Nf3-g1-h3-f4 or Nf3-g5-h3-f4, but here lies a problem. Once our Knight gets to h3, what do we do if Black plays ...g5? What is the easiest way to break up that pawn chain with the pawn on e5? Wouldn't that be pushing the h-pawn? How are we going to do that if our Knight is on h3? Is there another way to get to f4 without going through d2, d3, or h3, three squares that we have determined we don't want to occupy at any point in time on our route to f4? What about Nf3-h4-g2-f4? BINGO! If Black plays ...g5, then once we move the Knight to g2, we have our h4-push to attack the g5-pawn. If Black takes or advances, f4 is ours. If he doesn't, he might have to watch out for tactics on the h-file with the potential of a hanging Rook on h8 after a trade of pawns.

Only NOW do we see the reason behind the concept of answering ...Nc6 with Nc3 in the early g3-lines of the English Opening! Let's say, hypothetically, that the game were to start 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2, and now Black plays 3...f5! The Bishop on g2 would impede the Knight's path to f4, and White would not be able to achieve his goal. For this reason, 3.Bg2 is actually a positional mistake, but to understand the reason behind this, you have to understand the reasons behind each move in the opening. WHY is 3.Nc3 better than 3.Bg2? They both look like very innocent moves, but we have just seen that a major difference in the outcome can result from those two moves.

In the game, White somehow recognizes this, but then proceeds to take the wrong route with the knight anyway, and gets himself into trouble.

4.Nf3 Nf6 5.d4 e4 6.Ng5?

As explained prior, the correct move here is 6.Nh4!, pressuring f5, intending to answer a future ...g5 with Ng2 and h4. Note that if Black doesn't respond with ...g5 at some point, White can pressure f5 and g6.

6...h6 7.Nh3 g5 8.d5 Ne5 9.b3 d6 10.Bg2 Bg7 11.O-O O-O 12.Qc2

So we can easily assess here that Black has a significant advantage. However, achieving the advantage, and executing it, are two different things. We have already discussed the primary point of the article. The rest of it is going to be observing mistakes by both players throughout the game where Black often times loses his advantage, and White often times fails to capitalize on Black's mistakes.

12...a6

Black's idea during the game was to attempt to take advantage of the dark squares and pry open the Queenside in Benko Gambit fashion. However, Black already has a local piece superiority and a space advantage on the Kingside, and he should be attacking over there. Better is something like 12...Nh5 13.Rb1 Ng6 preparing 14...f4, which virtually forces White to play 14.f4, where after 14...gxf4 15.Nxf4 (the side down in space needs to trade pieces to give the others more room to maneuver) Nhxf4 16.gxf4, Black is better.

13.a4

A complete waste of time. White should take advantage of Black not pressing and break up his wedge immediately with 13.f4 with an equal position.

13...Qe8

Once again, Black should be rearranging his Knights.

14.f4 g4?

Black should capture on f4 with a slight advantage.

15.fxe5 gxh3 16.exf6 hxg2 17.Kxg2 Rxf6 18.Bf4?!

The wrong place to develop the Bishop. Better is 18.Bb2, neutralizing Black's dominance of the long diagonal. White would be slightly better, and this is why Black should have taken instead of advanced on move 14.

18...Bd7 19.Rad1 b5

Once again, Black should be focused on Kingside operations. A move like 19...Rf8, 19...Rg6, or 19...h5 was better.

20.axb5 axb5 21.Ra1

Better was 21.Nxb5 Bxb5 22.cxb5 Qxb5 23.Ra1 Rxa1 24.Rxa1 Qxd5 25.Qxc7 Qxb3 26.Ra8+ Rf8 with dynamic equality. Black has the extra pawn, but White has the initiative.

21...bxc4 22.bxc4 Rf8 23.Rab1

White should trade Rooks on a8. Now we will see Black execute his original plan after White has failed multiple times to take advantage of Black's faulty plan.

23...Ra3 24.Rb3 Ba4 25.Nxa4 Qxa4 26.Rfb1 Ra2 27.Qd1 Qxc4 28.Kf1

So now we have a case of "What Matters Most?", as covered in a previous article.

28...Rfa8?

The most important factor is that Black holds on to the c7-pawn. The root of the pawn chain that stops White from advancing. Therefore, 28...Rf7 or 28...Qc2 was better here and Black would have maintained the advantage.

29.Rb8+?

Missing 29.Rc1! with equality.

29...Rxb8 30.Rxb8+ Kh7 31.Rb1 Qc3 32.Rc1 Ra1 33.Kg2 Rxc1 34.Bxc1 Qd4

Better are 34...Qc4 or 34...Qc5, pressuring the weak d-pawn, or 34...Kg6, relocating the King to its ideal square an stopping Queen intrusions on h5.

35.Qb3 Qa1 36.Bf4 Qe1

This move is pointless as after 37.Qb5, White has equality as the intrusion on d7 disallows Black to use the Bishop in the attack. Better was 36...Bd4. Fortunately for Black, White misses the opportunity once again!

37.Qc4 Qc3 38.Qa6 Qc5?

The most important factor here is time. This move gives White time to play 39.Qc8, which again he fails to do. Better is either 38...Qf6, not letting the Queen in, or else 38...Qb2 or 38...Qc2, both of which are probably stronger than 38...Qf6 as they both pressure the e-pawn, causing White to spend time covering that rather than counter-attacking the Black King.

39.Qa8 Qb5 40.Qa2 Bd4 41.Qd2 Qc5 42.e3 Bg7 43.Kh3 Qc3?

Now is not the time for Black to trade Queens. 43...Kg6 and Black is still better. Now is the time that White should have traded Queens and played for a draw, which shouldn't be too hard to achieve, despite being a pawn down in a same color Bishop scenario.

44.Qd1? Qa1?

Both sides were in time trouble here (White 4 minutes, Black 13 minutes), but that is no excuse to miss 44...Qd3! winning. White can't take in this case as he will have to give up his Bishop to stop the pawn from promoting.

45.Qe2 Qb2?

Black needed to play 45...Qb1, maintaining the threat on f1 if White abandons. Now, 46.Qh5! Qf6 47.Qe8 would have given White equality. Again, Black doesn't factor in what matters most in the position, and is repeatedly giving White opportunities to equalize.

46.Qh5! Qf6 47.Qe2?

Again, 47.Qe8 is equal. Black can't cover all the checks along with the f5 and c7 pawns and at the same time make progress on the White King.

47...Qa1!

Now Black is back where he needs to be, keeping an eye on f1, though it would have been better on b1, stopping Qb5, and so White still has one more chance.

48.g4?

This move is bad, but only if Black finds the right move (There is only ONE right move here!).

48...fxg4+?

The comedy of errors continues. 48...Qf6 is the winning move here. Then after 49.Kg3, only now does Black take on g4.

49.Kxg4?

Taking with the Queen is equal.

49...Kg6

49...Qf6 wins.

50.Kh3 Qg1 51.Bg3 h5

Last chance for White. What's the equalizer?

52.Bh4?

White is lost and Black doesn't look back again. 52.Qb5! was correct.

52...Bh6! 53.Bf2 Qg5 54.Bh4 Qxe3+ 55.Qxe3 Bxe3 56.Bd8 Bb6 57.Kg3 Kf5 58.Kh4 e3! 59.Kxh5 e2 60.Bh4 Ba5 61.Bf2 e1=Q 62.Bxe1 Bxe1 63.h4 Ke5 64.Kg6 Bxh4 0-1


Wow! A game littered with errors! One could argue that this article is two lessons in one. The main point was to explain why understanding an opening is more important than memorizing the moves or merely developing blindly based on opening concepts, but once Black got the advantage as early as move 12, we can see that executing the advantage is just as difficult, if not more difficult, than achieving the advantage in the first place.

In the next article, we will be looking at a similar scenario with another opening, the Petroff Defense, and we will again see the importance of understanding the opening rather than memorizing or ignoring the opening phase of the game.

Until next time, good luck in all of your rated games!

Evaluating Pawn Weaknesses

We all know what the books say. A clean pawn structure with fewer pawn islands is better than extra pawn islands, ragged pawns, doubled pawns, isolated pawns, and backward pawns, but is that always true? We will be looking at a game today that features various types of pawn weaknesses, specifically in a situation where the queens were traded off early, and so going "pawn hunting" won't be an option. In each of these cases, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

• How easy is it for the opponent to get at the weakness, either by direct attack, or indirectly by taking advantage of the Opponent's immobility due to his having to cover the weakness?
• Is the weakness compensated by something else, such as piece activity? For example, in the Scotch Game, after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6, Black has doubled pawns, but he gets an open b-file for his heavy pieces.
• Is the weakness easily repairable, or permanent?

In the game we will be looking at, we will see how evaluation of the weaknesses is more important than just blindly assuming that pawn structure appearance says it all. I won't be going through the opening phase as this article is not on opening theory, but I'll include the opening moves for those that are interested, which is a fairly unusual way to reach the Queen's Gambit Declined, Exchange Variation.

With all of that said, let's take a look at the position.


Taco 90, Rd 1
W: Alexandre Blangy (1887)
B: Patrick McCartney (2070)
Raleigh, NC, January 19, 2019

After the moves 1.d4 e6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Bf5 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.Qxb6 axb6 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.e3 Nd7 11.Nh4 Bg6, we have the following position:

So if somebody told you that you had to sit down to this position with White to move, but you could choose which side you want, which side would you take? Do you take White with the two pawn islands and no doubled or isolated pawns? Or do you take Black with three pawn islands, two sets of doubled pawns, one of those sets doubled and isolated along with an isolated h-pawn, but an open a-file for the rook, and open g-file potentially for the other rook, and the bishop pair?

Believe it or not, this position is equal, and would remain equal if White played a move like 12.Kd2, intending 13.Bd3, contesting the Black Bishop. White probably wouldn't trade it off, and would wait for Black to do so, but it removes Black's control over the diagonal.

Instead, White makes a mistake here.

12.Nxg6?

White is probably saying to himself "sure, I have reduced Black's pawn islands from 3 to 2 and the f-pawns and h-pawn are no longer isolated, but Black still has doubled b-pawns, and his bishop pair is knocked out, and so I must be better", when in reality, White will actually be worse in this position. Why you say? Let's first see how Black recaptures.

12...hxg6

What? I must be smoking something very strong here. Why did Black not take back with the f-pawn? All that leaves him with is the doubled b-pawn! The answer is actually fairly simple. While taking with the f-pawn is ok, Black had something very specific in mind when he took with the h-pawn. Yes, he has two sets of doubled pawns. However, the front f-pawn is going to advance itself to f5 in the very near future. Both sides have opposite colored Bishops. By placing his pawns on f5, g6, and f7 rather than f6, g6, and h7 (or f5, g6, and h7), Black keeps control of key light squares, particularly e6 in this case, and he gives both his rooks on open avenue to go along with the semi-open e-file, while White has just the semi-open c-file that he will be able to do nothing with. Why? Because Black always has the option, while not obligatory (and in the game we don't see it happen), Black can always answer b4 with ...b5, not allowing the minority attack and tying White's pawn down to b4, a dark square, which can't be covered by White's bishop but can be attacked by Black's. So from a piece activity perspective, Black has the advantage. As for the pawns, White has to worry about the a-pawn and h-pawn, and advancing them will weaken other squares. Also, it's going to be very difficult for White to advance in the center with ...f5 coming. In addition, with the queens off the board, how exactly is White going to get at Black's weaknesses? What are Black's weaknesses? b6 and f7? Good luck getting to them. White's pawn structure may look prettier, but it's Black with the clear cut plan and the piece activity.

13.Bd3 f5 14.Kd2 Nf6 15.f3

I don't like this move at all for White. He weakens the e-pawn with no real ready plan to advance e4 as there are many ways for Black to stop it. Now let's look at the weaknesses again. Black has a weakness on f7, which is hard to get to. He has potential weaknesses on b7 and b6. The b7-pawn is hard to get to, and the b6-pawn can always advance to b5. White, on the other hand, now has a glaring weakness on e3, and unlike the weak Black pawns, this one is by no means difficult to get at. It is glaring in the wide open on the semi-open e-file. At initial glance, White's pawns look better because they are not doubled, but the immobility and glaring weakness on e3 actually makes White's position significantly worse. That said, it's really hard to recommend a move for White, and his best move might very well be 15.h3, releasing the h1-Rook for more useful duties, and to control g4 before Black is able to use it for the Knight to attack e3.

15...Bg7

It might be better for Black to play 15...Bh6, putting pressure on e3 and pinning it for now to the King. The idea behind 15...Bg7 is that it stops 16.e4 in the sense that it drops a pawn after 16...dxe4 17.fxe4 fxe4 17.Nxe4 Nxe4 18.Bxe4 Bxd4, but with the reduced material and the extra pawn a doubled pawn in a more open position, and the opposite colored Bishops, such a trade down makes the extra pawn less valuable and White should, with proper defense, be able to draw the position.

16.b4 Kd7 17.a4 Nh5?

This move is a mistake because it gives White the opportunity to expose Black's weakness and also releases some pressure off of the e4-square. Better is 17...Bh6 with the same idea of 18...f4. If 18.f4, then after 18...Bf8 19.Rab1 Bd6, White has a permanent hole on e4 and a permanent weakness on e3, and with the b1-rook tied down covering b4, the knight stuck covering a4, and the bishop unable to cover e3 at all, Black is ready to bring the h8-rook to the e-file and lift it to e7 before releasing White's pieces from the duties of covering weak pawns while Black builds up on e3. The game would then have literally two possible results, and a White win is not one of them!

18.b5?

White missed the opportunity to level the position with 18.g4! fxg4 19.fxg4 Nf6 20.Raf1 with pressure now on the far more exposed f7 weakness, giving Black a lot more to worry about. Again, what matters more than the existence of weaknesses is the exposure of them. Can you actually get to them? White had that opportunity and missed it.

18...f4

Now Black got what he wanted!

19.Ne2

19...fxe3+!

So we have to look at the situation and figure out why this is the right move. First of all, White is threatening the f-pawn, and it would be utter nonsense to play 19...g5 as that would open up the light squares for the White bishop, starting with a check on f5. However, the other thing to look at is that we have the opportunity to execute what I like to call a "Transition of Weaknesses". The e3-pawn has been White's main weakness since advancing the f-pawn to f3. Now, however, it's time to change that. Instead of just continuing to pound on e3, we see the BlackbBishop in line with the White rook on a1, the only thing separating it being the d-pawn. White has advanced b5, which means we can advance ...c5, putting pressure on d4, and winning an exchange if White takes on c5. It does leave the b6 and b7 pawns behind, but they were never going to be used as part of the attack, and doubled pawns are actually very strong at stopping the opposing side's pawns from advancing, and so the doubled b-pawns are doing their job. The other thing to recognize is that now we have determined d4 to be a weakness for White, trading on e3 removes the guard to d4. While the king may guard it for now, it is easier to push a king away from the defense of another piece, often via a check, than it is to get a pawn to move away. Therefore, the correct idea here is to trade on e3, eliminating any threats to the f4-pawn and weakening the d4-pawn. Also note that with the White knight now on e2, and a king about to capture on e3, White is nowhere near ready to contest the Black rooks from coming down the e-file.

20.Kxe3 c5

As mentioned prior, taking advantage of the pin.

21.Bc2 Rhe8+ 22.Kd3 c4+ 23.Kd2

So now let's look at the situation again. Black's weaknesses, namely the b6- and b7-pawns, are hard to get to. The f-pawn isn't much of a weakness any more as it can advance to f5 if need be, and unlike the opportunity White had on move 18, here the White f-pawn still remains on f3 and so there is no real exposure to the f7-pawn, and so while Black can advance it, why bother until you have to? White, on the other hand, is littered with weaknesses. There are three in particular that are glaring, and all of them are highly exposed. Those are the a4-pawn, the d4-pawn, and the e3-square. Not to mention, Black also has a protected passed pawn on c4 that White must deal with, and virtually all of White's pieces are extremely passive whereas Black's are all active, though granted, the a8-Rook is a bit less active than the rest of Black's pieces, but with that said, we will see that all of Black's pieces will be even more active very quickly, and so Black is completely in the driver's seat, and probably from here on out, it would never be too early to say that White could safely resign.

23...Bh6+ 24.Kd1 Re7 25.g3 Rae8

So while White moved his king backwards and made a pawn move, all of Black's pieces have become extremely active. What you are about to see is a domino effect, with one threat leading to another and constantly making White react to everything and never be able to fight back Black's onslaught.

26.Re1 Be3

With threats to the Knight and Rook via ...Bf2, hence White's next move.

27.Nc3 Bxd4

But now the consequence of White having to move the Knight is losing the d-pawn and getting put in yet another pin.

28.Rxe7+

And now, with the White rooks not connected, White is forced to initiate the rook trade, giving away his only slightly active piece. Note that trying to connect the rooks with 28.Kd2?? would fail to a deflection tactic, 28...Bxc3+, deflecting the king away, and after 29.Kxc3, Black wins a rook with 29...Rxe1.

28...Rxe7 29.Kd2 Kd6 30.Rf1 Bxc3+

Now that White released the pin, Black eliminates the Knight while up a pawn, specifically avoiding all possibilities of an opposite colored bishop ending.

31.Kxc3 Kc5 32.Kd2 d4

The connected passers spell death for White.

33.g4 c3+! 34.Kd1

34.Kd3 allows mate in one with either piece. I was going to do it with the knight if he went that way. Either way, it's game over, and Black uses a technique to eliminate all of the pieces and gets down to a dead won pawn ending. Why be cute when the game can be won with total simplicity, and once you see a winning method, don't try to get cute and look for a faster one.

34...Nf4 35.Be4 d3 36.Re1 Ng2 37.Rg1 Ne3+ 38.Ke1 Kd4

The idea behind Black's last move is to threaten to eliminate all pieces from the board, which White allows. The fact that White is still playing on has gotten to the point of ridiculous.

39.g5 d2+

Now the trade down can't be avoided. Sure, Black can also win with follow-up moves like 40...Nc4 or 40...Rxe4, but why complicate matters when you've already figured out the win?

40.Ke2 d1(Q)+ 41.Rxd1 Nxd1 42.Kxd1 Rxe4 43.fxe4 Kxe4 44.Kc2 Kd4 45.h4 Kc4 0-1

White has nothing. He can advance the pawns, dropping them, but he can't create a passer, and there is no stalemate, and so White resigned.


Remember, don't just assume that all weak pawns are equally weak. In fact, sometimes a pawn structure that is often viewed as weak, such as doubled pawns or an isolated pawn, can be very strong, especially if they cover key squares and can't be attacked easily. Also, doubled pawns usually means the opening of a file, which can be useful for your rooks. That's what happened here in the game we looked at. Black had what appeared to be ugly pawns, but it allowed for harmonious piece activity. White's pawns looked great, but there was nothing he could ever do with them, and the moment he tries to start advancing them, such as when he played 15.f3, trying to break through with e4, all he would up doing was weaken his own pawns and give Black exposed targets to hit on, unlike the targets in Black's camp that were unexposed and very difficult to get to.

Till next time, good luck in your games.

The French Connection: Volume 18

What Matters Most?

Hello and welcome to the eighteenth edition of The French Connection. It has been a while since covering the Winawer Variation, last seen in Volume 1. The one thing that can be said about the Winawer that is vastly different from most other lines is that the concept of "General Principles" almost never applies here. We will be looking at a game played in January where moves that don't appear to make a whole lot of sense turn out to be the best moves. This is where the concept of asking yourself the question "What matters most?" comes into play. We will be asking ourselves this question many times throughout the game.

So, without further ado, let's take a look at the game.


Tuesday Night Action 49, Round 1
W: Walter Smiley (1954)
B: Patrick McCartney (2070)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qa5

This is known as the Portisch-Hook Variation, named after two advocates, Lajos Portisch (1937-) and Bill Hook (1925-2010). The idea behind the line is simple. Black has given up his dark-squared Bishop for a White Knight. White would like to be able to make use of his Bishop pair. Against the more common 6...Ne7, while 7.Qg4 is the main line, many positional players have preferred the line 7.a4, which opens up the a3-square for the unopposed dark-squared Bishop so that White can get it to be in front of his pawns, which reside mostly on dark squares, rather than behind them.

With the move 6...Qa5, Black takes advantage of the fact that the c3-pawn is hanging and must be defended, and will follow that up with 7...Qa4, blocking the a-pawn and now allowing White to advance it. Then, depending on how White reacts, the main idea is to bottle up the Queenside and then castle in that direction. For example, the main line runs 7.Bd2 Qa4 8.Qb1 c4 9.Ne2 Nc6 10.Nf4 Bd7 11.g3 O-O-O with play for both sides.

7.Bd2 Qa4 8.Qg4

White tries to take another approach, attacking the g7-pawn before Black is ready to fight. Black has to make the decision of whether to weaken the dark squares with 8...g6, or surrender castling rights by moving the King.

8...Kf8

This was Bill Hook's preference, and mine as well!

9.Qd1 Ne7

This is a direct transposition to a line of the 7...Kf8 Variation of the main line Winawer, which is reached via 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Kf8 8.Qd1 Qa5 9.Bd2 Qa4. The alternatives are 9...b6, intending ...Ba6 to trade the Bishops, and 9...Nc6.

10.Nf3 b6 11.dxc5

This move is not particularly good. Better is 11.Bd3 Ba6 12.dxc5 bxc5 13.O-O Nd7 14.Rb1 h6 with play for both sides.

11...bxc5 12.Qb1

This brings us to the main question for the first time. What matters most? For Black, it should be easy to answer. His main trump is his pawn structure. If this were an endgame, Black would be better. However, it is not, and Black has many problems to solve. He lacks development as all three of his Queenside pieces are still on their original square. His Rook on h8 is blocked and so he should be aiming to get that piece out. Also, White has the Bishop pair, which seeks an open position. So should Black be hunting down Pawns such as the one on e5? Is Black ready to attack the White King?

12...Qe4+

The answer is no! Black should be focused on getting his pieces out and at the same time, eliminating White's Bishop pair specifically by trading his bad Bishop for White's good one. Black already has a small advantage, and he can maintain that small advantage by playing 12...Ba6! 13.Bxa6 Nxa6 on the basis that 14.Qb7?? doesn't work because after 14...Rb8 15.Qxa7 Nc8, the Queen is trapped.

13.Be3 c4 14.Be2 Nbc6

Once again, the question must be asked. What matters most here for White?

15.Bd4

White answers incorrectly. Black went for an aggressive idea before his pieces are developed. White needs to actively pressure Black before Black is able to get his pieces coordinated. He needs to make it as hard as possible for Black to get his Rook on h8 out. In order to do this, White must play actively and with extreme aggression. If he allows Black to coordinate, Black's better because Black's has the long term advantage of having the better pawn structure. So while Black tries to attack and potentially gobble up pawns before his position is ready to do so, White, on the other hand, plays slowly in order to try to protect his pawns when, in reality, he should be happy if Black takes the pawn because it opens up his pieces to attack Black before Black is ready. Therefore, White should abandon the e-pawn and play 15.O-O!. After 15...Nxe5 16.Re1 N5c6 17.Qb5 Rb8 18.Qc5 Rb7 19.Nd4 Nxd4 20.Bxd4 Qxc2 21.Qa5, a draw is virtually forced as Black has nothing better than 21...Nc6, and after 22.Qc5+, 22...Ne7 is forced. Then after 23.Qa5, we are back at the original position and neither side has better than to repeat the position once more.

15...Rb8 16.Qc1

So again, what matters most for Black?

16...h6

Black's idea was to prevent Ng5 from White and enable himself to play ...Nf5 without running the risk of getting the Queen trapped. This is too slow. Black should eliminate White's Bishop pair and then play on the Kingside, despite the straightening of White's pawns. After 16...Nxd4 17.cxd4 g5!, Black has an active game. 18.Nxg5? fails to 18...Qxd4 while 18.Qxg5? fails to 18...Rg8, both leading to a significant advantage for Black. This leaves just 18.h3 and Black gets an active position.

17.O-O Nf5 18.Bc5+ Kg8 19.Re1 Nxe5

If you think about what matters most, White can get an advantage here.

20.Nxe5

Remember what we said before? White's job is all about not allowing Black to coordinate. He needs to act fast, not trade off. White actually gets a slight advantage after 20.Nd4! Nxd4 21.cxd4 (attacking the Knight, which gains time) 21...Nd7 22.Bxc4 (attacking the Queen, which gains time) 22...Qh4 23.g3 Qd8 24.Bd3 and with Black unable to get his King to h7 for the time being, he still can't get his Rook out yet, and White is slightly better.

20...Qxe5 21.Bxa7 Ra8 22.Bc5 Qxc3 23.Bg4

The previous discussion of what matters most for Black should make his next move easy to determine, right?

23...e5

Apparently not! Once again, Black is trying to attack without all of his pieces. Better is 23...Kh7! The doubling of the pawns is a non-issue, and Black is better after 24.Bxf5 exf5 25.Qd1 Be6 26.Bd4 Qa5.

So now, what should White play?

24.Ra2

And once again, White fails to equalize after being given yet another opportunity. He must tie Black down before Black gets coordinated. After 24.Bb4! Qd4 25.h3 c3 26.Rd1 Qc4 27.Rd3 d4 28.Qe1 Qe6 29.f4 exf4 30.Qf2, White has equalized as 30...g5 fails to 31.Rxd4 while 30...Qg6 31.Re1 h5 32.Bf3 Rb8 33.Be4 maintains equality via continuing to tie Black down.

After the move played, Black finally starts playing correctly. Pay close attention to Black's technique in the following moves. There are multiple ways to win this, but Black's play is clean up through move 37. He secures h7 for the King, gets his Rooks connected, maintains the extra pawn and gets the connected passer rolling. He also does not flinch to White's passed a-pawn until it is absolutely necessary.

24...Nh4 25.Bxc8 Rxc8 26.Re3 Qa5 27.Bb4 Qc7 28.Qe1 Ng6 29.c3 Kh7 30.Qb1 Rhe8 31.a4 Kg8 32.a5 d4 33.cxd4 exd4 34.Rxe8+ Rxe8 35.a6 Qc6 36.f3 Ra8 37.Qe4 Qxe4 38.fxe4

So Black's play the last 14 moves has been beautiful. But it's not over yet! He has one more hurdle to get over, and must ask the question one more time. What matters most? Is it eliminating the a-pawn? Advancing his passers? Or centralizing the Knight?

38...Ne5

Black makes the wrong choice this move and the next move, and gave White one more opportunity to draw. The correct answer is to advance the passers. But which one? Well, 38...d3? 39.Kf2 is equal, but after the correct 38...c3 39.Kf1 Nf4 40.a7 Nd3 41.Bd6 Nc1 42.Ra1 d3, Black's winning!

39.Bc5 Nc6

Black's last chance was 39...d3, but after 40.Bb4 Nc6 41.Bd2 Na7 42.Kf2 Rc8 43.Bc3 Nb5 44.Bb4 Rd8 45.Ke1 c3 46.a7 Ra8 47.Ra5 c2 48.Bd2 Nc3 49.e5 Nb1 50.g4 Kf8 51.Bc1 Ke7 52.Ra6 Kd7 53.Rd6+ Kc7 54.Rxd3 Rxa7, converting the win is significantly more difficult than the position that could have been reached after 38...c3!.

Now White draws.

40.Ra4?

And then again, maybe he doesn't! After 40.Kf2! c3 41.Ke2, the position is equal as the Black pawns can be stopped. For example, after 41...c2 42.Kd2 d3 43.Ra1 f6 44.a7 Ne5 45.Bd4 Kf7 46.Bxe5 fxe5 47.Kxd3 c1=R 48.Rxc1 Rxa7 49.Ke3 Ra3+ 50.Kf2 Kf6 51.h4 Ra6 52.Rc5 g6 53.g4 Ra2+ 54.Kf3 Ra4 55.Rc6+ Kg7 56.h5 Ra3+ 57.Kf2 gxh5 58.gxh5 Ra2+ 59.Kf3 Ra3+ 60.Kf2, the position is a dead draw.

After 40.Ra4, Black doesn't look back.

40...d3 41.Be3 c3 42.Ra2 d2 43.Ra1 Rxa6 0-1

White threw in the towel as his only distraction to Black is now lost, and there is no stopping the Black pawns.


The moral of the story is that general concepts only go so far. Both sides tried to use concepts to play this game, and we saw both sides making inferior moves. If you are going to play the Winawer Variation of the French Defense, you must throw concepts out the window, and this is why I recommended 3...Nf6 in the repertoire I wrote in 2017, because it's an easier line to play because Black's ideas are based on common sense. This is also why it is always preached that the first two openings one should learn are the Ruy Lopez and Queen's Gambit. The ideas in both follow most in line with general concepts.

But for a line like the Winawer, concepts must be thrown right out the window, and taking a "What Matters Most?" approach is the way of thinking that is necessary for this variation of the French Defense. Material count and pawn structure, two "concepts" often taught early on, mean nothing here. We saw in this game that what mattered most was neither material count nor pawn structure for either player. For White, it was Time! He needed to play "fast" moves, not pawn-saving moves, in order to keep Black from taking advantage of the better pawns. For Black, it was Harmony! Sure his pawns were better than White's the whole game, and he was even up a pawn for much of the game, but the pawn structure and the extra pawn meant absolutely nothing until his pieces were coordinated. Compare Black's position after move 13 to Black's position after move 30. After move 30, his Rooks are connected, his Queen is in a good spot, and his pawns are ready to roll. After 13 moves, Black's Queen is the only active piece and in line to be harassed by White's pieces. His Knight on e7 is passive, and his entire Queenside is undeveloped. None of his pieces worked together at all at that point, and hence why it was Harmony, or Coordination, that mattered most for Black.

While the Winawer is an extreme case of how critical it is to ask the question "What Matters Most?", this question can and just as much should be asked in any game you play, no matter what the opening is.

That concludes this edition of The French Connection. Until next time, good luck in your French games, Black or White.

Game Analysis: Charlotte Open, Round 7

Hello everyone and welcome as we continue with game analysis from the Charlotte Open, and quite frankly, it has been more of a bashing of my own attacking skills than anything else, and this final round is no different.

First, a recap of what happened the first six rounds:

ROUND	RESULT	SHOULD HAVE	ROOT CAUSE
1	Lost	Lost	Was simply outplayed
2	Drew	Won	After vastly inferior play by opponent, complete misjudgment of which pieces to trade and which to keep on the board cost half the point.
3	Won	Won	Opponent was simply outplayed
4	Drew	Won	Passive play with the Bishop when the advantage was his, playing more in fear of White's pawn advances rather than continuing my own attack, and lastly time trouble at the end.
5	Drew	Won	Passive play by Black gave me the advantage, and passive play is what threw a good chunk of the advantage away, but the ultimate straw that broke the Camel's back was a horrific endgame blunder in time trouble in what should be a routine win.
6	Drew	Lost	Failure to take full advantage of White's passive opening play followed by late middle game errors lead to a winning endgame for White, and low and behold, passive play and fear of my inside passer rather than focusing on his own outside passer cost him half the point.

So why am I recapping this? When you have a bad tournament, you need to analyze the root cause. Sometimes, the issue is a one time occurrence. Other times, the issue is what is called a TREND! When you reach the expert level, good and bad tournaments are not judged by score. I finished with a .500 record, but how I finished with that .500 record was horrible. Five games out of the seven ended up draws, and none of them should have. Now had these been lost positions that I converted to draws, particularly against higher rated opposition, I'd feel really good about that .500 score. But when you are blowing advantages left and right, it turns into a really bad ".500 performance".

Looking at the table above, we see one instance of misjudgment of what to trade and what to keep on the board. A one time problem is not a trend. But take a look at what is mentioned repeatedly. Fear! Passive! Time Trouble! This is called a trend, and when you have a trend that is negative, this is something that needs to be fixed.

What we are about to see in the seventh and final round is a continuation of that TREND!


Charlotte Open, Round 7
W: Patrick McCartney (2061)
B: Venkata Pullabholta (1901)
Torre Attack

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 d5 4.Nbd2 Be7 5.e3 b6

Once again, we see that word again. Passive! Black's last two moves fit that category here as well. Black should be striking at White's center at once with the move ...c5, probably best done back on move 4. The lack of anything active allows White free reign to smooth development.

6.Bd3 Bb7 7.O-O Nbd7 8.Qe2 Ne4 9.Bxe7 Qxe7

10.Ne5?!

White should be expanding on the Queenside here as that's where his pieces point, and the Rook on f1 has easy access to that side. A move like 10.a4, or possibly 10.c3, was better here.

10...O-O

Black misses his opportunity to open up the Bishop. 10...Nxe5 11.dxe5 might even give Black a slight edge.

11.Nxd7 Qxd7 12.Rad1 Rfd8 13.f3 Nxd2 14.Rxd2 c5 15.c3 Qa4 16.Rdd1 Rac8

So now, after a trade of all the Knights and some maneuvering of the pieces, we see that with Black's piece arrangement and throwing of the Queen out into la-la-land, the situation has changed, and White's play is now on the Kingside, and White correctly recognizes it as the following moves will show.

17.f4 f5 18.g4 g6 19.Kh1 Rc7 20.Rg1 Rg7 21.Rg3 Bc8 22.Rdg1 Kf7 23.h4 Rh8 24.Qg2

The position is slightly better for White. The Black Queen is out of play and White's space advantage allowed him to easily triple on the g-file while Black's pieces are scattered. Black has to be very careful here not to reach a completely lost position.

24...Qd7??

This move should lose outright! The pawn grab is Black's best hope: 24...Qxa2 25.h5 Rgg8 26.gxf5 exf5 27.c4 Be6 28.dxc5 bxc5 29.Be2 Qxb2 30.cxd5 Bc8 31.Rd1 Rd8 32.Qf1 and White's advantage is minimal.

After the move played, White should win.

25.Qh3?

And instead of pulling the trigger, White plays a passive move. White wins immediately with 25.gxf5 exf5 26.Rg5 and due to the unfortunate location of the Black Queen combined with the inability to both move the Queen and have it protect the Black Rook on g7, White will play 27.Bxf5 pretty much no matter what Black does. For example, 26...Qd8 27.Bxf5 Bxf5 28.Rxf5+, winning.

The rest of the game is basically equal except one spot where White decides to blunder, but Black misses the minor detail.

25...Rgg8 26.gxf5 exf5 27.Kh2 Qe6 28.b3 Qf6 29.c4 cxd4 30.cxd5 dxe3 31.Rxe3 Re8 32.Rge1 Rxe3 33.Qxe3 Bd7 34.Kg3 Re8

And now it is White's turn to find the only drawing move.

35.Qd2?

And that is not it! 35.Qc1 is the only move here.

35...Rxe1?

Black has a significant advantage in the endgame after 35...Qd4 36.Rxe8 Bxe8 37.Qe2 Kf8 38.Bc4 Qg1+ 39.Qg2 Qxg2+ 40.Kxg2 b5. The game is now a draw.

36.Qxe1 Qe7 37.Qf2 h6 1/2-1/2


So once again, passive play did both sides in, and yet another draw that should never have happened.

This concludes what was clearly a bad tournament for me, and since then, I have paid very close attention to the main issues that repeated themselves in this tournament. Passitivity and fear. Since then, I have paid very close attention to those issues, and have played 21 tournament games in that stretch, going 9, 10, and 2. Clearly not the greatest start, but when you try to alter your game and put emphasis on a specific weakness, it will often start off bad before the problem is totally fixed and results start getting better.

I would highly recommend the same exercise be done by all of those that have read these seven articles pertaining to the Charlotte Open (including The French Connection, Volume 17). Think about the last time that you had a bad tournament. This doesn't mean a bad score, necessarily. Just one of those tournaments where almost every round, you had a real bad taste in your mouth. Go through each game, and assess what you did wrong, and I would wager that you will also see a consistent trend. It may not be passive play or signs of fear and an overly defensive mentality, it might be tactical blunders or pawn play or piece coordination or one of many other possibilities. Once it is identified, look for books that cover the topic and put your time toward studying that. Many say study endgames, study middle games, study openings, study this, study that, etc. The real truth is, take a look back at your own games and assess what your own weakness is, and that's what you should be putting your emphasis on. It may not be the same answer for everyone, and so those blanket statements you hear about studying tactics or studying endgames are useless. The answer is taking serious time to look back at yourself and your own games and do a through and honest assessment. Don't knee-jerk based on a single game (i.e. My round 2, which was an isolated incident), or think that you can assess your problem in 5 minutes. Taking your time and being honest with yourself are crucial as otherwise you will get nowhere with it.


This concludes the coverage of the Charlotte Open. Starting next week, we will be looking at various topics along with games from 2019. Until then, good luck in all of your games.

The French Connection: Volume 17

A Tale of Two Bishops

Hello and welcome to the Seventeenth edition of The French Connection. Here, we are going to be looking at the 6th round of The Charlotte Open, which featured one of the main lines of the French Advance. As the subtitle might indicate, there is a critical point in the opening where Black must make a decision between two Bishop moves, one of which is played in this game. White responds with an inferior move, and I will be showing how White should respond to each of Black's replies. Then as the game proceeds, Black makes multiple errors in the middle game, and allows White to reach a winning position in the endgame. Then, White shows that he is not up on his Rook endings, and allows Black to draw the game.

Without further ado, let's see what we have here.


The Charlotte Open, Round 6
W: James Dill (2019)
B: Patrick McCartney (2061)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 Nh6 7.b4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Bb2

Thus far, both sides have followed the line given against 6...Nh6 in my article on Beating the French with the Advance Variation from back in November, 2017 (Click here if you want to view that article).

The problem at this point is that both sides are starving for progress. Black has three pieces attacking d4, namely the Queen on b6, Knight on c6, and Knight on f5. White has three pieces guarding it, namely the Bishop on b2, Queen on d1, and Knight on f3. White has a problem though. How does he get the rest of his pieces out? If he moves the Queen's Knight, it will block either the Bishop or the Queen from guarding d4. How does the Light-Squared Bishop get out? Does he resort to the passive Be2 and then Castle?

That said, it's not all roses for Black either! His Queen suffers from having much scope, which for a piece like the Queen, the lack of scope is a major drawback. His Light-Squared Bishop is bad. White's Pawns impede the Dark-Squared Bishop. Also, with f6 well in control by White, castling Kingside can be very dicey, especially early on.

So how does either side make progress? Well, it is Black to move, and it really is his choice how the game progresses. In looking at the position, only two moves really make sense, and that's two different Bishop moves:

The first option is 9...Be7. Black plays a solid move and is ready to castle. In addition, if his Knight gets harassed by 10.g4, then he has the h4-square in which to place the Knight and exchange a set of minor pieces. With White having the space advantage, this would favor Black. That said, similar to trap in the Milner-Barry Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.cxd4 Nxd4? 8.Nxd4 Qxd4?? 9.Bb5+), the a4-e8 diagonal is open if the Knight is traded off, and so White has the opportunity to play 10.Bd3! for similar reasons. Black can't take on d4 three times as his Queen will then hang to a discovered check. After 10.Bd3!, Black can try a couple of different responses, including developing the other Bishop to d7, which might be better than Moskalenko's idea of 10...a5. After 10...a5, 11.Bxf5 is well-known to favor Black, but White has 11.Qa4 Bd7 12.b5 O-O 13.O-O g6 and Moskalenko claims equality based on the fact that 14.Bc3? fails to 14...Na7! with advantage to Black. This may be true, but I think White has the advantage after 14.Ra2 Na7 15.Nc3. It is not clear how Black is going to get his pieces out.

Instead, after 10...Bd7, the important thing is not to be tempted by the immediate pawn snatch. After 11.O-O, the move 11...Nfxd4 is dubious because of 12.Nxd4 Nxd4 13.Qg4 with advantage to White. However, Black should be fine after 11...g6, and now if White doesn't do something about it and plays something like 12.Nc3, only now should Black snatch the pawn with 12...Nfxd4 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Qg4 as now Black can reply with 14...Nb3 intending 15...a5 with advantage. Instead, 12.Bxf5 gxf5 would lead to a position with play for both sides. White should still have a slight advantage, but it's not unbearable for Black.

In the game, Black plays the other option.

9...Bd7

My personal preference is for this move over the other Bishop move. There are a couple of major differences between this move and moving the other Bishop to e7. The first is that White does not have the discovered attack on the Queen if Black goes pawn grabbing once one of the three defenders is blocked, and so 10.Bd3 is no longer possible because it simply drops the d-pawn. On the flip side, with no Bishop on e7, the move 10.g4! is more attractive for White. It dislodges the f5-Knight without allowing Black to trade it off for the counterpart on f3, and therefore allows White to develop his pieces more freely, albeit at the cost of a more exposed King. White, however, fails to take advantage of this move, and instead plays an overly passive move that should be of no harm to Black.

10.Be2 Be7

Now 11.g4 is once again totally ineffective because of 11...Nh4.

11.O-O Rc8

This move is not bad, but given his lack of space and White's ultra-passive approach, Black should think about expanding on the Kingside with 11...h5 12.Qd3 g5 13.b5 Na5 14.Nfd2 Rc8 15.a4 with an unclear position.

In the game, Black will be lacking space, and despite a few inferior moves by White, the moment Black tries to expand and open up, his position gets worse this game, and so now was the time to take that opportunity.

12.Qd3 Na5 13.Nbd2 Nc4 14.Nxc4 dxc4 15.Qd2 Bc6

16.Bc3

White misses the opportunity to at minimum maintain equality and possibly be able to claim a very slight edge by playing 16.g4! on the basis that Black can't play 16...Nh4 because of 17.Nxh4 Bxh4 and now 18.Bxc4! as there is no knight to take on f3, which would normally lead to Black winning a piece, and 18...Bf3 would be answered by 19.Rac1! with a big advantage for White. In order to maintain the c4-pawn, Black would have to retreat with a move like 16...Nh6.

16...O-O 17.Qf4?

Once again, 17.g4 was relatively best, but this time, White can't grab the c-pawn as now 17...Nh4! 18.Nxh4 Bxh4 19.Bxc4? would fail to 19...Bf3 as White no longer has the ability to guard the Bishop with the Rook as the other Bishop on c3 is now blocking that operation. White loses time and Black takes over. Instead of 19.Bxc4, a normal move like 19.f4 would keep the position roughly even.

17...Bd5 18.Rfd1 f6?!

This move is very ill-timed. Now that Black got the long diagonal open and the passed c-pawn, he should help promote both causes and play 18...Qc6 with advantage. White's pieces are slowly coming to the Kingside, and so why open up at this point? Black's pieces are not ideally placed yet, and so given the closed nature of the position, the most important thing is to get the pieces on their best squares before breaking open the position.

19.Qg4 fxe5 20.Nxe5 Qd8

And yet another inferior move by Black, but not enough to totally kill the advantage. The Bishop on e7 was passive and should be relocated via 20...Bd6, maintaining an advantage for Black.

21.Bf3 b5 22.Bxd5 exd5 23.Re1 Bd6 24.Re2 Qf6??

And now Black blunders. Black is better after 24...Qh4 25.h3 h5 26.Qf3 Ne7 27.Qe3 Qf4 28.Nf3 Qxe3 29.Rxe3 Ng6 30.g3 Rf6 as White has the inferior Bishop and also still has to keep an eye on the protected passed Pawn on c4.

After the move played in the game, White has a big advantage with correct play.

25.h3?

White misses the opportunity. Correct is 25.Nd7! This probably was not played in fear of Black getting out of it with 25...Qh6, threatening mate, but after 26.g3! Rf7 27.Rae1! g6 (27...Rxd7 28.Qxf5 is winning for White) 28.Ne5, White has a dominant position.

25...Rcd8 26.Rae1 Qh4 27.Qxh4 Nxh4 28.Nc6 Rd7 29.Ne7+ Bxe7 30.Rxe7

30...Rfd8?

This was Black's final opportunity to maintain the advantage. After 30...Rd6! 31.R1e6 (31.Rxa7?? Rg6 is winning for Black) 31...Rxe6 32.Rxe6 Rf6 33.Re8+ Kf7 34.Rb8 Rb6 35.Rc8 Kf6 36.Rc5 Ng6 37.Rxd5 Nf4 38.Re5 Re6 39.Rxe6+ Kxe6 40.Kf1 Kd5, despite being a pawn down, Black has the slightly better endgame and would be the one pushing for the win due to the good Knight against the horrible Bishop.

Instead, now White has the better endgame.

31.Rxd7 Rxd7 32.Re8+ Kf7 33.Rb8 a6 34.Rb6 Nf5

The passive 34...Ra7 was relatively best, but Black's position is extremely passive and very difficult to play.

35.Rxa6 Nd6 36.f3 Nc8 37.Rc6 Ne7 38.Rb6 Ra7 39.Bb2 c3 40.Bxc3 Rxa3 41.Be1 Rd3 42.Bf2 Rd1+ 43.Kh2 Nf5 44.Rxb5 Nxd4 45.Rb7+

Of course, 45.Rxd5?? loses to 45...Nxf3+.

45...Kg6 46.b5 Rd2 47.Bxd4 Rxd4

White has the farther advanced passed pawn, the outside passed pawn, and an extra pawn. This position is winning for White.

48.Rd7

A more direct win would result from the line 48.b6 Rb4 49.Kg3 Kf6 50.Rb8 Ke6 51.b7 Kd6 52.Rd8+ Kc7 53.Rg8 Kxb7 54.Rxg7+ and 55.Rxh7 with a winning advantage.

48...h6 49.b6 Rb4 50.Rd6+

White is going the wrong way with this, and is able to get into a 3-on-2 endgame all on one side of the board with a Rook each, which should give Black better draw opportunities. White should play 50.b7! and maintain the 7th rank pressure for as long as possible to better arrange the rest of his pieces to win the ending on the Kingside.

50...Kf7 51.Rxd5 Rxb6 52.g4 Kg6 53.Kg3 Ra6 54.h4 Rb6 55.h5+ Kf7 56.f4 Rb3+ 57.Kh4 Rb6 58.g5

White put himself in a far more difficult position than he had to back when he focused too much on Black's d-pawn rather than his own b-pawn, but if he wants any hope of winning, he had to try 58.Rd7+, but it would still be difficult. After 58.g5, all hopes of victory are slam shut. The position is drawn. The Black Rook will just stay on the 6th rank until forced off, and then attack the King from behind. The rest of the moves is one demonstration of how to draw a Rook ending a pawn down. It doesn't work exactly the same as K+R+P vs K+R, as it's not a straight-up Philidor's position, but observe and try to understand each move, particularly for Black. Every move Black plays from here on out, the position is 0.00.

58...hxg5+ 59.Kxg5 Ra6 60.Rd3 Rb6 61.f5 Ra6 62.Rd7+ Kg8 63.Re7 Rb6 64.Re6 Rb1 65.h6 Rg1+ 66.Kf4 gxh6 67.Rxh6 Kf7 68.Rh7+ Rg7 69.Rxg7+ Kxg7 70.Ke5 Kf7 71.f6 Kf8 72.Ke6 Ke8 73.f7+ Kf8 74.Kf6 1/2-1/2

The final position is, of course, stalemate.

There are a few things to pick up from this game:

• When facing the main line of the Advance French, make sure you understand the difference between the two Bishop moves, and play the one you are more comfortable playing. The nature of the game is vastly different between the two options assuming White responds correctly.
• In the line with 9...Bd7, if White plays passive with 10.Be2, don't forget about the idea of Kingside Expansion.
• In a closed position, pry it open when the rest of your pieces are ready, not before that.
• In a Rook ending, having the outside passer is an advantage. If you are the one with the pawn on the outside, you don't want to trade passers unless you absolutely have to. The player with the inside passer wants to trade them off and draw with all the pawns on the same side.

That does it for this edition of The French Connection. Good luck in all your future French Games, Black or White.