Game Analysis: A Lesson on Strategy (Part 2)

A week ago, I posted an article on two very important aspects of chess strategy. The piece out of play, and the local piece superiority. We saw a model game that showed what needs to be done to conduct a successful attack. That game you saw was the first round of the tournament. In the same tournament, Round 5, which happened to be the final round, I had a very similar opportunity, and what was even more crucial was that a win would put me in a tie for first and a draw might as well have been as good as a loss as I would be completely out of the money.

Well, what you are about to see is what happens the moment you drift away from proper strategy.


Land of the Sky, Round 5
W: Patrick McCartney (2080)
B: Jeremy Chen (1910)
Pirc Defense

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4

Due to Black's refusal to play 3...d5, which would prevent 4.e4, this game has directly transposed to the Pirc Defense, a king pawn opening.

4...O-O 5.Be3 d6 6.Qd2 Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 Nd7 9.h3 Ngf6 10.e5

This aggressive move, looking to take advantage of the bishop being stuck on c8 and blocking the a8-rook from guarding the queen, pushes Black's pieces away from the center of the board. White takes over the initiative.

10...Nh7 11.O-O-O Nb6 12.Bd3 d5 13.Rde1 Be6

So we see that the Black knight on b6 and Black rook on a8 are out of play and White starts out by focusing on the Kingside.

14.g4 Qd7 15.Nh2 Rfc8 16.f4 c5 17.Nf3 c4 18.f5 cxd3 19.fxe6 fxe6

The lesser evil was to take with the Queen.

20.Qxd3

So now a major shift in focus occurs. If you look at the locked nature of the pawns on the e-file combined with White's control of g5, should Black ever decide to play ...h5, you will see that Black's Bishop on g7 should be permanently locked on the Kingside. If White can eliminate enough pieces to where his king cannot be attacked, he can use a local piece superiority on the Queenside to win the game.

20...Nf8 21.Bf2 Na4 22.Nxa4 Qxa4 23.Qb3 Qc6 24.Re3 a5 25.Rc3 a4?

Black probably miscalculated, thinking that if he gets the pawn to a2, White can't stop it. Problem is, White gets behind the pawn just in time, and so instead, Black is forced to surrender a pawn.

26.Rxc6 axb3 27.Rxc8 Rxc8 28.axb3 h5

29.Be3

White should play 29.g5 here, keeping the Bishop out of play, and then shifting the focus to the Queenside, where White will eventually have a 3-on-2 piece advantage.

29...Nd7 30.Nd2 Nb8 31.Rg1

White still had the chance to lock up the Kingside and permanently hem in the bishop. Now, however, Black is about to trade on g4 and open the h-file for his Rook. This is where White's downfall begins.

31...hxg4 32.Rxg4 Kf7 33.Nf3 Rh8 34.Ng5+ Ke8 35.Nxe6 Rxh3 36.Nxg7+

Stronger is 36.Nc7+.

36...Kf7 37.Kd2 Kxg7 38.c4 e6 39.cxd5 exd5 40.Rf4 Nc6 41.e6 Rh2+ 42.Bf2 g5 43.Rf7+ Kg6 44.Ke1 Rh7 45.Rd7 Rxd7 46.exd7

The shattered White pawns combined with the fact that Black has the outside passer makes the extra pawn totally useless and the position is completely drawn. Given the tournament situation, neither player wanted to admit it was drawn, and the game went on another 12 moves before admitting that the position was drawn. The rest of the game requires no commentary.

46...Kf5 47.Be3 Ke6 48.Bxg5 Kxd7 49.Be3 Na5 50.Kd2 b5 51.Kc3 Nc6 52.Bh6 Ke6 53.Bf8 Kf5 54.Kd3 Kf4 55.Bc5 Kf3 56.Bb6 Kf2 57.Bc5 Ke1 58.Bf8 Kf2 1/2-1/2


So while the previous article showed an excellent example of how to conduct an attack when the opponent has one or more pieces out of play, this example goes to show what happens the moment that you dismiss proper strategy and instead try to get cute and blow your opponent off the board way too quickly. Patience and consistent following of proper strategy is often necessary to win.