Game Analysis: Charlotte Open, Round 5

Hello every and welcome as we continue the analysis of games from the Charlotte Open. Here we will be looking at the fifth round, where the constant theme to the game is that of fear. This is a common problem in amateurs. They learn basic "principles", such as getting your pieces developed, getting your King to safety, maintain a healthy pawn structure, not advancing pawns on the side you are weak, not advancing pawns in front of your King unless the center is stable, etc. Well, many amateurs take this advice too far and it becomes a religion. The game starts with White making an inadvisable trade, and Black is better for the next dozen moves or so. However, during that time, he plays passively, and allows White to get a critical pawn break. When is then winning, but instead of putting the nail in the coffin, he "plays it safe", and allows Black to equalize once again. Black fails to coordinate his pieces properly in the endgame, and once again White's winning until he makes an awful blunder on move 62 before the game ends peacefully.

So with the idea of playing too passively in mind, let's see what happened in the fifth round.


Charlotte Open, Round 5
W: Patrick McCartney (2061)
B: Sudarshan Sriniaiyer (2010)
Torre Attack

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 d5 5.c3 O-O 6.e3 b6 7.Bd3 c5 8.O-O Ba6 9.Bxa6 Nxa6

So we have the starting point of the double-fianchetto line, which I think is a tad weaker than 6...c5 or 6...Nbd7 intending 7...Re8 and 8...e5, the reason being that Black's Knight is out on the rim, and his pieces are not ideally coordinated.

10.Ne5

Better here is 10.Qe2 Nc7 11.Rad1 with pressure on the d-file. If Black takes via 11...cxd4, White will recapture via 12.Nxd4, despite the fact that it allows 12...e5 by Black on the basis of the pressure down the d-file. Otherwise, if Black sidesteps with 11...Qc8, White is already prepared to play 12.e4!, breaking the position open before Black is ready.

10...Nc7 11.Bxf6?

This trade is bad for White. Better here is either 11.Bh4, avoiding any pawn forks after the Knight on f6 moves, or 11.Qe2.

11...exf6

The correct way to take back. Black will advance f5 and use the semi-open e-file to place a Rook on e8 and look to prevent e4 by White.

12.Nd3 Ne6 13.a4 a5

A complete waste of time. What are you stopping? a5? 13...Re8 or 13...f5 is better. In the time it takes to advance the pawn, trade it, and try to get pieces to attack b6, Black could have gotten to the moon and back, and so there is no reason to fear White's pawn advance.

14.f4 f5 15.Nf3 Re8 16.Nf2

Unfortunately, active moves like 16.Nde5 aren't any good because the square is not stable for White because of Black's extra f-pawn. After 16...c4, White would be forced to retreat the f3-knight via 17.Nd2 as otherwise, the e5-Knight is about to get trapped by ...f6. So instead, White tries to stir up trouble on the Kingside rather than down the middle.

16...Qd6 17.g4 fxg4 18.Nxg4 f6

Another passive move by Black, preventing Ne5 for unnecessary reasons. If White ever plops a Knight on e5, it hits nothing immediately, and Black can then kick it back with ...f6. With the looming threat readily there, why prevent the issue when it's unnecessary? 18...Rac8, with ideas of opening the c-file, is a better move.

19.Qd3 c4 20.Qc2 Nf8 21.Rae1 Ra7 22.Nd2 Rae7

After passive play by Black, guess what move White is about to play?

23.e4!

This move is tactically possible because of the location of the Black Queen. If Black plays 23...f5, banking on the pin of the e-pawn and thinking he'd win it, White has 24.e5! before moving the Knight on g4.

23...dxe4

Despite the pin not totally working, 23...f5 was still Black's best move with an equal position.

24.Nxc4

Suddenly, White's got a winning position!

24...Qc6 25.Nge3 f5 26.Qb3 Kh8 27.Qxb6 Qxa4 28.Ra1 Qd7 29.Rxa5 Re6 30.Qa7 Qd8 31.d5 Rf6 32.Qb7 Bh6 33.Ra7 g5

Up to this point, White has been conducting the attack in a very sound manner. So White keeps going, right?

34.Kh1?

This does not surrender the entire advantage, but it is a major step in the wrong direction. The Black g-pawn was advanced and is about to take on f4. This does not automatically mean the White King needs to get off the g-file. Until absolutely necessary, White should avoid defensive moves and continue the attack. Here, 34.Ne5 was very strong. Now 34...gxf4 can be countered by 35.Nf7+ while a defensive move like 34...Nd7 does open up the heavy pieces on the back rank to the g-file and White should then play 35.Kh1, but then Black won't have available the defensive Rook move that trades off White's intruders on the 7th rank.

34...gxf4 35.Rxf4 Re7!

White is still technically winning, but now it is going to be far more difficult to execute, and White ends up failing in the long run.

36.Qxe7 Qxe7 37.Rxe7 Bxf4 38.d6

And one error is followed by another. 38.b4 is stronger here.

38...Bxe3 39.Nxe3 Rxd6 40.Nxf5 Rd1+ 41.Kg2 Rd2+ 42.Kg3 Rxb2 43.Rxe4

Now White is stuck in a pawn-up endgame rather than the raging attack he had 10 moves earlier.

43...Kg8 44.c4 Rc2 45.h4 Kf7 46.Nd6+

46.Ne3 is stronger, blocking the 3rd rank and covering the c-pawn. White has to slowly coordinate the advance of the pawn as there is no attack on the King at this point.

46...Kf6 47.Kf3 Ne6 48.Nb5

White's advantage is gone! 48.Re3 maintains a slight edge, but not much more than that.

48...Rb2?

Black blows his chance. 48...Rc1 49.Nd4 Nxd4 50.Rxd4 Ke5 is equal.

49.Nd4 Nc5 50.Rf4+ Ke5 51.Nc6+ Kd6 52.Rf6+ Kd7 53.Ne5+ Ke8 54.Rc6 Nd7 55.Rc8+ Ke7 56.Rc7 Kd6 57.Rxd7+ Kxe5 58.Rxh7 Rc3 59.Rh5+ Kf6 60.c5 Kg6 61.Rd5 Rc4

This is an easy win for White.

62.Rd6+??

This is a huge mistake. This is an ending one ought to know like the back of their hand. Two pawns widely separated on the 5th rank with the Rook in between them is always a win, no matter where the Black Rook or King are provided they can't immediately capture the Rook or win the Rook via a skewer, neither of which are available to Black after 62.h5!. After 62...Kg7 (62...Kf6 63.h6 Kg6 64.Rd6+ and 65.c6 does nothing for Black but allow White to advance both pawns a square further.) 63.Ke3 and White will either be able to cross the 4th rank with his King if the Black Rook moves vertically once attacked or else Black will have to abandon the c-file if he moves laterally to keep the King cut off, and then White can advance the c-pawn and place the Rook on c5, behind the passed pawn while the King is busy stopping the h-pawn.

After the move played, the position is a draw, despite being up two pawns.

62...Kf7 63.c6 Rxh4 64.Ke3 Ke7 65.Rd7+ Ke8 66.Rd5 Rc4 67.Rd6 1/2-1/2


A horrible end to what should have been a routine win for White after he got e4 in on move 23 and Black failed to respond correctly. The other two things to get out of this game is that passive play (Black's 13th move, Black's 18th move, and White's 34th move) should be avoided until such a move is absolutely necessary. This can easily be seen in particular with White's 34th move. There were even scenarios where he would need to play the King move even one move later, but that one move made all the difference between a direct attack at the Black King, and Black being able to drag White into a pawn-up endgame, leaving White with more room to error, and low and behold, that's exactly what White did! Lastly, know your endgames! You might have to execute well known endgame patterns with 30 seconds on your clock! This could mean the difference between a win and a draw!

The next round will be covered as part of the "French Connection" series. Until then, good luck in your games.