Game Analysis: Kansas Open, Round 1

Hello everyone. I am back from my week and a half hiatus. During that time, I played in two tournaments, specifically the Kansas Open in Lenexa, KS (immediately below the Kansas side of Kansas City) and the Potomac Open in Rockville, MD (about 5 miles away from the Northwest side of the Capital Beltway that goes around Washington, DC). Here and the articles published for the next couple of months, I will be covering eight of the ten games that I played. The two that I won't be covering are the 3rd and 5th rounds of the Kansas Open. The third round was a 24-move draw that was littered with errors that a 1200 player shouldn't be making from both sides, and the fifth round was a horrible game played by me that doesn't really feature anything that you can learn from analyzing that game. It has nothing to do with the result as the other game not covered was a draw, and you will see a couple of losses by me, but there really is nothing in that game to be learned.

As far as results, I started both tournaments having White and perfectly alternated in both tournaments, and so both times I did have the advantage of having three Whites, but that turned out to be of little help as I scored a mere .500 record at the Kansas Open, scoring 2 1/2 out of 5, and at the Potomac Open, I played better than I did overall at the Kansas Open, but still I ended up scoring 3 1/2 out of 5 which included a perfect record with Black, and so I scored 3 points with each color in the form of 3 out of 6 with White and 3 out of 4 with Black.

Just to give you a heads up of what will be coming in the next two months and what you can be looking forward to, we will be seeing a King's Indian Defense, two Catalans, a Slav, and four Frenches. A word of note that the four French games will come in the form of the 11th thru 14th editions of The French Connection, and what you will see will be variations that have not been covered yet in the series, specific a King's Indian Attack against the French and a trio of McCutcheons. A number of ideas will crop up in these eight games, including lessons on opening ideas, strengths and weaknesses on one color complex versus the other, direct attacks on the King, including a King hunt in one case, along with a number of educational endgames.

One last word of note, these eight games will be published in the order in which they were played, and so you'll get a feel of the roller-coaster type momentum I experienced at these two tournaments.

With all of that said, let's take a look at the first round of the Kansas Open.


Kansas Open, Round 1
W: Patrick McCartney (2050)
B: Kaustubh Nimkar (1772)
King's Indian Defense

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4

So we have the King's Indian Defense, which usually comes from the move order 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3. One of the advantages in this move order is that White can specifically avoid the Nimzo-Indian and the Grunfeld. In the case of the latter, you will notice that White played 4.e4 before 5.d4 and not the other way around as 4.d4 can be answered by 4...d5, which would be a Grunfeld. This line is fine for White, but playing 4.e4 first limits Black's options. If Black wants to play a Grunfeld, he has to play the pawn move a move sooner, but after 3...d5, white can play 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 and Black ends up in a very positional, symmetrical situation, something that Grunfeld players tend to loathe. Of course, there is a cost as well, and that is that White has to be willing to play some lines that he wouldn't have to play against 1.d4. For example, after 1.Nf3, Black can play 1...c5, which then 2.d4 is not best, and Black can already remove a central pawn, while the other options are to play a Symmetrical English (2.c4), Sicilian (2.e4), or possibly something non-committal like 2.g3 but that puts no pressure on Black. Against 1...d5, White can play a Reti (2.c4) or a Queen Pawn Opening (2.d4), but especially in the latter case, having committed to Nf3 already removes the Nge2 possibilities that in many lines can be viewed as stronger for White, particularly the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined. So while both approaches allow the Classical King's Indian, how you choose to get there will determine which side lines you are willing to allow.

5...Nbd7

While there is nothing specifically wrong with this move, it is not often played as Black lacks flexibility. More common is 5...O-O, but Black will end up transposing to the 6...Nbd7 line anyway on the next move. However, if he castles first, he maintains the flexibility to play the 6...e5 line, which is the main line, 6...c5 line, 6...Na6 line, or the 6...Nbd7 line which is what this game becomes anyway.

6.Be2 O-O 7.O-O e5

8.dxe5

Often times, minor details completely alter the assessment of a move and whether a move is best or not. The diagram above sees an added move by White and Black compared to the main line of the King's Indian Defense, which is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5. The difference here is the added moves of O-O by White and Nbd7 by Black. Without these moves, White has the option of playing the Exchange Variation, which is 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Bg5 where the main line leads to a space advantage for White after 9...Re8 10.Nd5 Nxd5 11.cxd5 c6 12.Bc4 cxd5 13.Bxd5. The difference here is that Black can capture on e5 with the Knight, and with the extra trade of Knights, Black removes a set of Knights in a position where he is the one that lacks space, and so this is to Black's benefit.

After a few moves are committed by both sides, trading is fine, but for now, tension should be kept because it makes ...f5 by Black harder to achieve with the mobile pawns in the center, which is vastly different than the lines where White has already played d5, blocking the position, and making ...f5 into an obvious break for Black. Therefore, better is 8.Re1 c6 9.Rb1 a6 10.dxe5 (now that Black has spent time on pawn moves rather than piece development due to the Knight on d7 blocking Black's mobility) 10...Nxe5 11.Nxe5 dxe5 12.Be3 Be6 (12...Qxd1 13.Rexd1 and White is first to the open d-file) 13.Qc2! and now with the threat of a Rook going to d1, Black doesn't really have a good square for the Queen that doesn't simply get in his own way. White is slightly better.

White follows a similar idea, but the earlier release in the center gets the Black Knight out of his own way from development immediately and Black can make more effective moves than the pawn moves played after 8.Re1.

8...Nxe5 9.Nxe5 dxe5 10.Qc2 c6 11.Bg5 Qc7 12.Rad1 Be6 13.Rd2 Rad8 14.Rfd1 Rd4 15.Be3

Already we have a critical position.

15...Rfd8?

Correct is 15...Ng4! 16.Bxg4 (16.Bxd4? exd4 17.Bxg4 dxc3 18.Bxe6 cxd2 is advantageous for Black) Bxg4 17.Bxd4 Bxd1 18.Bxe5 Bxe5 19.Qxd1 Bxh2+ with equality.

16.Bxd4 exd4 17.Rxd4 Rxd4 18.Rxd4 Ng4 19.Bxg4!

The alternative was 19.e5, but it leads to a smaller advantage for White than the game move based on line D below:

1. 19...Nxe5? 20.Qd2 is winning for White.
2. 19...Bxe5? 20.Rxg4 Bxg4 21.Bxg4 Bxh2+ 22.Kf1 and White is up a piece.
3. The move I feared was 19...Nxh2, but after 20.f4! Ng4 21.Qd1, White wins.
4. Correct would be 19...Qxe5 20.Rd8+ Bf8 21.g3 Qf6! 22.Bxg4 (22.Rxf8+ Kxf8 is completely equal) 22...Qxd8 23.Bxe6 fxe6 and the extra pawn island gives White a slight edge, but White is better off with the game move, maintaining being a pawn up.

19...Bxd4 20.Bxe6 fxe6 21.Ne2!

So White is now a pawn up and has one less pawn island than Black. White also has the better minor piece, especially with the Queens still on the board. The true test for White is a matter of patience. He needs to recognize that there is no way for Black to fix his pawn structure, and White should milk this issue for all it's worth!

21...Qd6 22.g3 e5 23.Nc1

The Knight is headed to d3 where it will continue to eye f4 for a timely f2-f4 push, but from d3, it will also eye c5, which it doesn't do from e2, along with plug up the d-file if Black were ever to try to retreat the Bishop and open up the Queen, and it guards both f2 and b2. Nothing spectacular, but White realizes that Black's weaknesses, including the pawn deficit, are all long term, and so White is going to take the time to relocate his pieces, including his King, before he proceeds to break through with his pawns, most notably the pawn breaks c5 and f4, both of which get played shortly.

23...Kg7

This introduces another item to be on the lookout for. The Black King has just moved in line with the isolated pawn, and that if Black ever moves the Bishop, which the most likely way for that to happen is if White can threaten to get the Knight to a strong square and make Black trade minor pieces, then potential pins along the long diagonal can become a problem for Black which would make the f4-break easier to execute.

24.Kg2

As mentioned already, White wants to get the King to a better location before trying to break through. Ultimately, White would like to get this to a King and Pawn endgame, but before he can do that, he must make sure that Black's King isn't located in such a spot that he can win back a pawn and also claim an actual advantage due to the superior King position. We recognized that White's potential breaks are c5, taking over the Queenside and limiting Black's available tempii, and breaking through the center with f4, either creating a passed e-pawn if Black takes on f4 or advancing to f5 and creating a Kingside majority. What breaks does Black have? None really. If he tries to get the a-pawn to a3 to disrupt White's Queenside, White can simply play a3 whenever the Black pawn gets to a4, and the h-pawn can maybe get to h4 and trade the h-pawns off, but there is little else that Black can do except sit and wait and make sure he doesn't locate his pieces on landmines that allow White to execute tactical breakthroughs.

It should also be noted that White must avoid cheap shots as well, and that moving the King to g2 also allows White to contest the d-file from virtually anywhere, and that while 24.Qd2 may be ok, 24.Qd3? would be a mistake as it allows 24...Qb4 with counterplay and equality and 24...Qd1?? would lose outright to 24...Bxf2+.

24...Qd7 25.Qd2 Qg4 26.f3

Here we see another reason for 24.Kg2. If the King were on g1, rejecting the Queen's entry in this manner wouldn't be possible.

26...Qe6 27.b3

Removing all pressure from the Black Bishop, and also Black's last move prevents the combination of Knight activity and a c5-push as the a2-pawn would hang if the Knight moves away and the diagonal opens up. Once again, Black has no way to improve his position, and so White is ever so slowly improving his own. The next phase for White is to relocate the Knight from the passive c1-square.

27...b6 28.Nd3 h6

Black's position has been bad for a while, and now he finally cracks. White has a defined role for the Knight. With this advancement of the h-pawn, White wants to get the Knight to e3. From there, he threatens to go to g4, and getting Black to advance one of the Kingside pawns. ...h5 would weaken the dark squares while ...g5 would invite White to retreat back to e3 and enter in on f5, at which point Black would be virtually forced to trade the minor pieces, and in a Queen endgame, Black will have a hard time fighting for the open file and covering his e5-weakness at the same time.

29.Nb4 g5

Accelerating White's idea. Now the Knight has a defined target square. f5!

30.Nc2 Qf6

Now the question must be asked. Is White ready to put his Knight on e3, virtually forcing the minor piece trade due to the threats of landing on f5?

31.a4

Not yet! White wants to immobilize the Queenside before doing this. White has ideas of either b4 or a5, and so it entices Black into his next move.

31...a5

This creates an added problem on b6. So now let's look. We have a weakness on b6. We have a weakness on e5. We have the f5 outpost for the Knight. Let's not also forget about the fact that the Black King still sits on the same diagonal as the e5-pawn, potentially creating tactical ideas of an f4-break. There is not much improvement that White can achieve and so therefore.

32.Ne3

The time has come!

32...Bxe3

Black of course doesn't allow the Knight to f5.

33.Qxe3

White now threatens the b6-pawn and to take over the only open file. Therefore, Black's next move is virtually forced.

33...Qd8

However, this removes the guard from the weak e5-pawn. First things first, White will not allow Black to solidify the Queenside with ...c5, and so what does he do?

34.c5!

He plays the move himself! If Black takes on c5, his pawn structure will be severely weakened, and so therefore...

34...b5

He advances the pawn.

35.Qc3

Now Black has that e5-pawn to deal with, and notice that the pawn is also pinned to the King, and for the King to get to the pawn the fastest, he has to remain in the pin by going to f6. All other routes to guarding the pawn take an extra move for Black.

35...Qc7

Played to guard e5 and try to keep White from winning on the Queenside, but this now abandons the open file. Black can't have everything!

36.f4

White uses that pin we have talked about multiple times to break through. Another possibility for White that also works is 36.axb5 cxb5 37.c6, using the idea that in Queen endgames, pawn quality matters far more than pawn quantity, and the player with the furthest advanced passed pawn is almost always the side that is winning, and that would be the case here. Here, White instead goes for a winning pawn endgame.

36...gxf4 37.gxf4 Kf6

Black has no way to stop either the loss of the e-pawn or else the trade of Queens, granted the choice of which is Black's, but both would very easily make White's life easier, whether that be going up two pawns instead of one or enter the Pawn endgame. The point being, White has no reason to rush to take on e5, and should improve the position of his King first.

38.Kf3 Qe7

Once again, White is still not forced to resolve the issue, but aside from possibly 39.axb5, there isn't much reason to wait at this point, and therefore...

39.Qxe5+ Qxe5 40.fxe5+ Kxe5 41.Ke3 h5

The fact that White's pawn is on h2 will always allow White to win the tempo game. If 41...bxa4, then 42.bxa4 h5 43.h3 and Black is in zugzwang. If 41...b4, then 42.h3! h5 43.h4 and Black is in zugzwang! With the move played, White makes his c-pawn into a passed pawn since the King is within range of the Black majority that results from it.

42.axb5 cxb5 43.Kd3

This is a pawn structure worth knowing. The two White passers guard each other two files apart. If Black ever takes on e4, the c-pawn promotes. If Black goes back with ...Ke6 and ...Kd7, then White advances the e-pawn to e5, and then whichever way the King goes, the other pawn advances. Therefore, if ...Kc6, then we play e6 and if ...Ke6, we play c6, and now you have the exact same scenario a file further up, and you just repeat this process until one of the pawns promotes. Of course, the way to force their advancement is to remove all other moves from Black, whether that be blocking the rest of the pawns or removing them. Black, on the other hand, has nothing that he can achieve with his majority as the White King is inside the box, and he doesn't have time to go running for White's h-pawn.

43...h4 44.Kc3 h3 45.Kd3

White is simply waiting and asking Black "now what?".

45...a4

Black makes White's task extremely easy. That said, if Black tries to create a Mexican Standoff by not advancing either pawn, the White King will get in to d5. Note that White can't advance his King beyond the 5th rank or else ...a4 then by Black will create an unstoppable passer. After 45...Ke6 46.Kd4 Kd7 47.Kd5 Ke7, White must be accurate. Now 48.c6?? would be a horrible blunder as Black can then draw with 48...a4! 49.bxa4 bxa4 50.Kc4 Kd6!, but the simple 48.e5! Kd7 and only now 49.c6+! and White can completely abandon the stopping of the Black pawns and instead mate the Black King in certain cases. If 49...Kd8, then White can simply play 49.Kc5 and grab the Black pawns, but if 49...Kc7, then instead of 50.Kc5, White should simply play 50...e6! with fatal threats of 51.e7, and if 50...Kd8, then 51.Kd6! and White will mate Black long before Black is able to Queen.

46.bxa4 bxa4 47.Kc4 a3 48.Kb3 1-0

Once again, the White Pawns guard each other and so there is no reason to play on, and so Black resigned!

The main thing to get out of this game is understanding the difference between long term and short term advantages, and that when your opponent's weaknesses are not repairable, and of the long term garden variety, the top priorities are to not give him counterplay, and to methodically set up all of your pieces into their ideal positions before trying to execute. If there is nothing that he can do other than watch anyway, why rush? You don't get anything extra by winning in 25 moves compared to 50 moves, and it's not like you are racking you brain with these extra moves. When your position is completely winning and the opponent has no counterplay, it's usually very simply, low stress ideas that you have to come up with, and simply ask the question constantly "Are my pieces ideally placed for the attack?". This is very different than sitting in a high-pressure situation where you may be winning, but one slight error could cost you the game. Here, outside of something egregious, even a small error might just simply mean a few extra moves you have to make if all your opponent can do is sit there and watch!

That concludes this article. Next time, we'll look at the second round of the Kansas Open which will come in the form of the 11th edition of The French Connection. Until then, good luck in your games.

The French Connection: Volume 10

Hello everyone and welcome to the tenth edition of The French Connection. This time, we are going to talk about the subject of calling your opponent's bluff. Reading fake threats, in other words.

There is a well-known tactical shot that Black most notably must watch out for in the French Defense and Colle System, and that is something called the Greek Gift Sacrifice. The Greek Gift Sacrifice is where White gives up his Bishop on h7 to try to drag the King out and then mate the King with his other pieces. This is why a Knight on f6 (or f3 for White) is often viewed as the most valuable defensive piece, but in the French Defense, White often pushes his pawn to e5, removing the f6-square from Black, and this is why that sacrifice must always be something that Black pays attention to when he is castled Kingside. The game we will look at this time, played by a well-known advocate of the French Defense, will discuss what Black must look out for in this sacrifice, and how to read when the threat is artificial or fake.


W: John Van der Wiel
B: Viktor Korchnoi
Amsterdam, 1991

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.f4 O-O 8.Qd2 c5 9.Nf3 Nc6 10.O-O-O Nb6 11.dxc5 Qxc5 12.Bd3

So now we reach a critical decision by Black. His King is pretty bare with not a lot of support around it to defend against mate. The first question he must ask himself is "Can White execute the Greek Gift Sacrifice?" One thing to note that is playing Ng5 first does nothing because Black can play the simple ...h6 in response, not allowing White to open the h-file, and so if White is going to try to break through, he must give up the piece. But is he really ready to do such a thing? The first thing is to understand what White needs in order for the Greek Gift Sacrifice to work. Generally speaking, White needs at least two additional assets amongst the following:

• The dark-squared Bishop with open access to h6. The reason for this is that in the Greek Gift Sacrifice, after 1.Bxh7+ Kxh7 2.Ng5+, Black has four possible squares for the King. You have g8, h8, g6, and h6. Generally speaking, h8 is rarely ever a good square for the King due to the opening of the h-file. If White has his dark-squared Bishop, say on c1, then h6 is typically not an available square for the Black King as fatal discoveries occur as a result of moving the Knight from g5. That leaves only g8 and g6 as available squares to the Black King. Without this Bishop, the h6-square must be considered as well.
• A second Knight that can easily reach e4 or f4 rapidly.
• A Rook that can easily be lifted to the third or fourth rank to reach the Kingside to attack the King.
• A secured pawn on e5, keeping f6 under control and not allowing a Black Knight ever to safely occupy f6.
• A pawn on h4 backed up by a Rook on h1. This is either to support the Knight on g5 where any capture of the Knight results in the Rook opening up on the h-file, or, if the Knight is protected in another manner or if tactics are available should Black capture it, then the h4-asset can also be used to advance h5, which if the King went to g6 in response to the Knight check, this would be with check and a gain of tempo.

So what do we have in this scenario? Well, White has no dark-squared Bishop. The Knight on c3 cannot access e4 or f4. The e4-square is controlled by the Black pawn on d5 while f4 is already occupied by White's pawn. There is no easy access via a Rook lift to get an additional Rook into the attack. White does have a secure pawn on e5. However, his h-pawn is not advnaced.

Therefore, Black only has one additional asset. In addition to being short an asset, with the White Queen on d2 rather than d1, then after 1.Bxh7+ and 2.Ng5+, White's only follow-up would be to check with the Queen on d3 as Qh5+ is not an option with the Queen on d2 rather than d1.

So all signs point to White's threat being artificial, and low and behold, Korchnoi ignores the threat and doesn't waste any time playing moves like 12...h6 or 12...g6.

12...Bd7! 13.Bxh7+?

Correct here is 13.Kb1. There is no need to rush the attack.

13...Kxh7 14.Ng5+

Before scrolling down past the diagram, see if you can figure out the correct defense for Black. Moving the King to h8 is almost never right in defending against the Greek Gift Sacrifice, and going to h6 is almost never right when White still has his Dark-Squared Bishop. However, with the Bishop gone, three candidate moves must be considered. 14...Kg6, 14...Kh6, and 14...Kg8. In this case, only one of them works. Korchnoi found the move that works here. Can you do the same?

14...Kg8!

Despite the lack of the Bishop, 14...Kh6?? loses on the spot to 15.Qd3 (threatening 16.Qh7#) 15...Rh8 (15...f5 and 15...g6 both fail to 16.Qh3+ followed by 17.Qh7#) 16.Nxf7+ Kh5 17.g4+ Kxg4 18.Qg3+ Kf5 19.Qg5#.

The problem with 14...Kg6?? is the location of the Black Queen. A fatal royal fork occurs as all other lines lead to mate after 15.Qd3+ f5 (15...Kh6 16.Qh7# and 15...Kh5 16.Qh3+ Kg6 17.Qh7# both die instantly) 16.exf6+ and now 16...Kf6 17.Nce4+ loses the Queen while 16...Kh5 leads to another mate after 17.g4+ Kxg4 18.Rdg1+ Kxf4 19.Qf3+ Ke5 20.Nxf7+ Rxf7 21.Qg3+ Kxf6 22.Qg5#.

However, what must be recognized in order to play a daring move like 12...Bd7 is that Black can get out with the move played in the game.

15.Qd3 Ref8 16.Qh7+ Kf8 17.Rhe1

So once again, before you scroll past the diagram, another multiple choice question. Which move should Black play here? 17...Qb4, 17...Nc4, or 17...Nd4?

17...Qb4!

The problem with 17...Nd4? is that Black has nothing better than a draw. I haven't seen a game where this is played but this was Stockfish's first choice, hence why I put it as an option. After 18.Qh5+ Ke7 19.Qxg7, Black has to play 19...Rf8 20.Nh7+ Rg8 21.Qf6+ Ke8 22.Ng5 and now the only options are 22...Rf8 23.Nh7, repeating, or 22...Qf8 23.Nh7 (23.Rxd4? Rg6 24.Nxe6 Bxe6 25.Qh4 Rc8 is better for Black) 23...Qb4 24.Ng5 Rf8 25.a3 (25.Nh7?? Nc4 -+) 25...Qc5 26.Nh7 Rg8 27.Ng5 and now the perpetual can't be avoided as after 27...Qf8 28.Nh7, the Queen can't go to b4 and actually threaten anything. Also note that after 19...Kd8 20.Nxf7+ Kc7 21.Nd6, Black is tied up and White is actually better here. Note also that simply trying to run with the King via 17...Ke7 leads to the same problem, only with the Knight passively placed on c6 rather than active on d4, but the White Knight will still park itself on d6.

The move 17...Nc4 has been played multiple times, but has has not ended in victory for Black. The point behind this move can be seen from the last part of the 17...Nd4 line. Black's idea is that with the Knight on c4, White can't park a Knight on d6, and so the line 18.Qh8+ Ke7 19.Qxg7 Kd8! 20.Nxf7+ Kc7 would actually be better for Black. However, the problem with this line is that White has an alternate solution that actually works. After 18.Qh8+ Ke7, instead of taking on g7, White plays 19.Qh4! and after 19...Rh8 (Repeating with 19...Kf8 may be Black's only move here) 20.Nh7+, the game Polgar - Somlai, Budapest 1991 saw White win after 20...Ke8 21.Nf6+ gxf6 22.Qxh8+ Qf8 23.Qxf8+ Kxf8 24.exf6 Kg8 25.Rd3 Kh7 26.f5 d4 27.Rh3+ Kg8 28.Re4 1-0. In Nielsen - Ulibin, Mamaia 1991, Black instead played 20...f6 where after 21.exf6+ Kd8 22.fxg7+ Kc7 23.gxh8=Q, White is ahead in material, but once Black captures the Queen, the attack on b2 is very awkward for White to meet, and so with the compensation, the game ended in a draw.

The move played in the game, with best play, should probably lead to a draw as well, but unlike 17...Nc4, Black does have actual winning chances as he can still maintain a slight edge and White must find a more round-about way to conduct the attack, and this is also where the human factor comes into play. We are going to also see an error made by Black later on, which goes to show that there is inherited risk compared to a quick draw, but would you call the draw we saw in the 17...Nc4 line "simple"? I wouldn't! Therefore, despite the risk, 17...Qb4 is Black's best move here.

18.Qh8+ Ke7 19.Qh4

Now 19.Qxg7? fails to 19...Qxf4! The point behind playing the Queen first instead of the Knight on move 17.

19...Kd8 20.Nxe6+ Kc8 21.a3 Qe7 22.Ng5

So Black now has a Bishop for two Pawns, but his position is awkward. His King separates the connection between the Rooks, and he has a number of weaknesses, including d5, g7, and even f7 (for example, if White were to play Qh7 at some point and Black answered with something like ...g6, to save the g-pawn, the f-pawn would be hanging). Can you find the best move for Black that would leave him with a slight advantage? Korchnoi was unable to do this. See if you can do better than him!

22...f6?

This actually hands the advantage over to White. Black can get a small advantage with the simple 22...Be6 =/+. There is no reason to get cute here. Black needs to buy whatever time he can get to re-arrange his pieces. The most likely way for this to happen is for Black to eventually play ...Kb8, ...a6, and ...Ka7, connecting the Rooks, but that requires time. The simple Bishop move covers the majority of the weaknesses, and if g7 is all Black has to worry about, he can probably get out of the entanglement alive, and possibly even better.

23.e6

White fails to execute. White can get the upper hand by ripping the position open with 23.exf6 Qxf6 24.Rxe8+ Bxe8 25.Nxd5 Nxd5 26.Rxd5 Bd7 27.Qh8+ Kc7 28.Qxa8 Qxf4+ 29.Rd2 Qxg5 30.Qf8.

The move in the game does open things up, but it allows Black to keep the Queen in close proximity with the Rook on e8, not forcing a recapture with the Bishop if White were to take on e8 as is the case in the 23.exf6 line.

23...fxg5 24.exd7+ Qxd7 25.Qxg5 Rxe1+ 26.Rxe1 a6

Black now has time for the plan mentioned earlier of building the safe haven for the Black King on a7. In this case, it's not to connect Rooks, but rather to get that last buried Rook on a8 into the game. Black now has a winning position because once the Black King gets to a7, which really can't be stopped, the compensation White gets with the two pawns in return for being down a piece will be insufficient.

27.f5 Kb8 28.Re6 Ka7 29.Rg6 Re8 30.Rxg7 Re1+ 31.Nd1 Qe8 32.f6 Qe4 33.Qd2 Nc4 34.Qf2+ Ne3! 0-1

Black has the dual threats of the Knight on d1 and the c2-square. White can't save the Knight as 35.Qd2 Nxd1 still nets Black the piece and 35.Qxe1?? allows 35...Qxc2#. Therefore, White resigned.


So what have we learned from this game?

• While it is critical to always look for our opponent's threats, we must also always check and make sure that those threats are genuine. If we go out of our way to stop "fake threats", we are wasting our time that could be spent preparing our own attack. (See Black's 12th move)
• When you have a material advantage, but your pieces are uncoordinated, the last thing you want to do is go out of your way to break the position open, such as what Black did on move 22. White failed to execute, but the opportunity was there. Instead, do everything you can to bottle up the position until you get your King in a safe spot (i.e the a7-square in the case of this game), and only when your pieces are also ready to join the attack along with the King being safe do you want to bust open the position.
• It should also be noted that while the French Defense is often viewed as a "safer" defense than the Sicilian due to the pawn chain along the a2-g8 diagonal that the Black King often resides on, it does often require very strong defensive skills to succeed in the French. Particularly in the 3.Nc3 lines, White will often have a massive frontal attack on the Kingside, but if Black can stop mate, he will often have the better position in the endgame as Black will usually have most of the positional trumps, such as pawn structure, and Queenside pressure. In an endgame, the side away from the Kings tends to matter more than the side the Kings are on if both sides castle the same direction, and if the Kings are on opposite sides, Black's Queenside pawns are usually still intact, leaving very few entry paths for the White King to get at them, whereas White will usually have created some weaknesses of his own in order to try to get at the Black King. This game we looked at never really reached an endgame, but often times it will, and so the most important skills necessary to succeed in the French Defense are Defensive skills and Endgame skills. Outside of one error in this game that wound up not hurting Black, Black showed a strong demonstration of defense in this game.

Well, that concludes this article. Until next time, good luck in all your French games, Black or White!

Reverse Angle 85

51 players entered the CCCSA's 85th Reverse Angle Tournament, held in Charlotte, the US Chess City of the Year.

USCF Rated Results


Top Section

SwissSys Standings. Reverse Angle 85: TOP

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Daniel Cremisi	2400	W9	W5	W3	3.0	175.00
2	Klaus Pohl	2203	W14	W12	D4	2.5	75.00
3	Chris Mabe	2279	W7	W11	L1	2.0
4	Mark Biernacki	2213	H---	W16	D2	2.0
5	Kireet Panuganti	2151	W13	L1	W8	2.0
6	Pradhyumna Kothapalli	2025	D16	D8	W15	2.0
7	Austin Chuang	1933	L3	W17	W12	2.0	50.00
8	Neil Deshpande	1997	W15	D6	L5	1.5
9	Adharsh Rajagopal	1987	L1	D14	W16	1.5
10	Donald Johnson	1829	L12	D13	B---	1.5
11	Patrick Sciacca	2118	W17	L3	---	1.0
12	Vishnu Vanapalli	2013	W10	L2	L7	1.0
13	Ernest Nix	1888	L5	D10	D14	1.0
14	Carson Cook	1857	L2	D9	D13	1.0
15	Robert Moore	1709	L8	B---	L6	1.0
16	Rohan Iyer	1830	D6	L4	L9	0.5
17	Luke Harris	1830	L11	L7	U---	0.0

Under 1800

SwissSys Standings. Reverse Angle 85: Under 1800

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Chacha Nugroho	1746	W17	W5	W7	3.0	112.50
2	Alexander Moreno	1511	W15	W9	W6	3.0	112.50
3	Arjun Rawal	1503	D10	W11	W12	2.5	50.00
4	Danny Cropper	1565	W18	L6	W14	2.0
5	Lukas Kolmel	1516	W14	L1	W15	2.0
6	Triya Venkataraja	1489	W12	W4	L2	2.0
7	Pranav Swarna	1403	W16	W13	L1	2.0
8	Saanchi Sampath	1373	L13	W19	W16	2.0
9	Ethan Liu	1301	W19	L2	W13	2.0
10	Nikhil Kamisetty	1340	D3	L12	W18	1.5
11	Brian Miller	1313	H---	L3	W19	1.5
12	Jaiden Chuang	1643	L6	W10	L3	1.0
13	Paige Cook	1562	W8	L7	L9	1.0
14	Dan Boisvert	1368	L5	W17	L4	1.0
15	Smayan Ammasani	1347	L2	B---	L5	1.0
16	Jeff Prainito	1602	L7	D18	L8	0.5
17	Debs Pedigo	1484	L1	L14	H---	0.5
18	Henry Chen	1377	L4	D16	L10	0.5
19	Aarush Chugh	1502	L9	L8	L11	0.0

Under 1400

SwissSys Standings. Reverse Angle 85: Under 1400

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Akshay !!!	1280	W15	W9	W4	3.0	112.50
2	Aditya Krishna	1066	W7	W8	W3	3.0	112.50
3	Rudransh Tyagi	1250	W11	W10	L2	2.0	12.50
4	Lingaa Venkataraja	1237	W6	W5	L1	2.0	12.50
5	Pranava Kumar	1083	W14	L4	W12	2.0	12.50
6	Logan Gately	929	L4	W14	W9	2.0	12.50
7	Erol Eskinazi	unr.	L2	W11	W10	2.0
8	Bradley Juopperi	1388	H---	L2	W13	1.5
9	Sarvajith Nalaneelan	1102	W12	L1	L6	1.0
10	Senthil Muthusamy	1095	W13	L3	L7	1.0
11	Henry Nguyen	938	L3	L7	W15	1.0
12	Abhiram Parimi	863	L9	W15	L5	1.0
13	Richard Trela	846	L10	B---	L8	1.0
14	Rishik Raavi	482	L5	L6	H---	0.5
15	Ellen Rosenfeld	1009	L1	L12	L11	0.0

UPSETS - 150 points or more
Under 1400, Round 2 - Aditya Krishna (1066) def. Bradley Juopperi (1388) - 322 points
Under 1800, Round 3 - Ethan Liu (1301) def. Paige Cook (1562) - 261 points
Under 1800, Round 3 - Saanchi Sampath (1373) def. Jeff Prainito (1602) - 229 points
Under 1800, Round 1 - Ethan Liu (1301) def. Aarush Chugh (1502) - 201 points
Under 1800, Round 1 - Pranav Swarna (1403) def. Jeff Prainito (1602) - 199 points
Under 1800, Round 3 - Brian Miller (1313) def. Aarush Chugh (1502) - 189 points
Under 1400, Round 3 - Aditya Krishna (1066) def. Rudransh Tyagi (1250) - 184 points
Under 1400, Round 3 - Logan Gately (929) def. Sarvajith Nalaleelan (1102) - 173 points
Under 1800, Round 2 - Pranav Swarna (1403) def. Paige Cook (1562) - 159 points
Under 1800, Round 1 - Triya Venkataraja (1489) def. Jaiden Chuang (1643) - 154 points

Chess Psychology: Know Your Locals

This past Tuesday Night, GM Aman Hambleton gave a lecture on the topic of players memorizing versus understanding openings, and how he took advantage of opponents that he recognized relied on memory and had many opening "habits" instead of true understanding. He displayed a number of games where he took advantage of his opponent, even if what he played wasn't totally correct, but his opponents played common moves that just didn't work in the lines he played. He played the opponent.

Well, there are other aspects where psychology can play an important rule, and can also impact many decisions you make not only with opening selection, but in-game decisions. In addition, when you start facing players multiple times, or face players that live in the same area as you and you have observed a number of their games, you can establish a mental database of the players in your local area. This is possible because you see them and play against them all the time, contrary to say, going on a 500 mile road trip and playing against players you have never played before, and since they are not GMs, it's not like you can find their games in a database and research their play. In such a case, you are playing more of a pure game of chess.

So what factors should you be looking for when analyzing other players in your local area?


1. Opening Repertoire

When preparing to play against a local player, it is important to know their repertoire. Is it narrow or diverse? If it's narrow, what openings are they? Is there a specific line or move order that might disrupt their typical play? Do they play moves rather than openings? For example, do the play 1.e4, and feel that no matter what you play that 2.f4 and 3.Nf3 must be good moves? For those with a diverse opening repertoire, which openings might get under their skin? These are all questions that must be answered, and some of them might also lead to the answers of subsequent questions.


2. Strengths and Weaknesses

The next question you have to ask yourself is what is that player's strengths and weaknesses? Which types of pawn centers (Closed, Static, Open, Mobile, or Dynamic) are they strong or weak at executing? Are they strong or weak at endgames? Being able to answer these questions can impact many decisions during the game.


3. Antics

What are the player's antics? Are they attentive to detail? Do they take a very long time to make moves such that maybe an overly complicated position might get them into time trouble? Do they fail to use their time? Do they lose interest after a certain period of time or when it reaches an endgame? Again, all questions that must be asked if you want to take advantage of your opponent.


So those that have known me and seen me play will know that in terms of openings, I have my preferences, but it's not narrow. For example, against 1.e4, I have a strong preference for the French Defense, but also play the Petroff and even the Caro-Kann on rare occasion. Against 1.d4, my primary weapon is the King's Indian, but also play the Dutch, and even on rare occasion the Nimzo-/Queen's Indian. My biggest weakness is the Mobile pawn center, and hence why you don't ever see me play an early c4 against the Alekhine, and why I avoid openings like the Grunfeld, and we will see that the game in this article is actually an Anti-Grunfeld. I have no objection to playing an endgame, and as for antics, I do get up and observe other games, but my mind is always on my own game, and focus is retained throughout the game with thorough attention to detail.

In my previous article before this one, The French Connection: Volume 9, many of these questions were answered in the introduction to each of the two games about the two opponents, and this knowledge was used to my advantage as well.

All of this might also explain why I travel more now to go to tournaments that are fairly small in size. When you have played 2716 tournament games of a standard time control, and you want the chance to play a pure game of chess, you have to often go long distance to do so as my list of "locals" has expanded tremendously. For example, there are 31 players that I have played 16 times or more, the highest of which being 96 games against a single player. So in many ways, playing locally for me is a totally different ball of wax that playing long distance. I have two long distance tournaments coming up next month. One of them is in Lenexa, Kansas while the other is in Rockville, Maryland. I will likely post a few of the games on this blog in one way, shape, or form.

So now we are going to look at my 2717th career tournament chess game of a standard time control, and we are going to see how psychology and knowledge of my Opponent's habits have lead to a win. I will say in advance that this game is way far away from being anything resembling my best play. White's play is in no way spectacular, but White wins this game because I used the items described above. Let's see what we have here.


Tuesday Night Action 44, Round 1
W: Patrick McCartney (2091)
B: Luke Harris (1890)
Anti-Grunfeld

1.Nf3

So a little word Black and everything about him. As for opening repertoire, it is very narrow. As one that doesn't play much 1.e4, I can't say with absolute certainty which variation of the Sicilian he plays, but I'm almost sure that he plays nothing but the Sicilian against 1.e4. Against 1.d4, he plays the Grunfeld, another wild, dynamic, tactical opening. As White, it's all about 1.e4 and reckless openings like the King's Gambit. As for his style, he thrives on the dynamic center. Static centers and closed positions are those which appear to be position that he loathes. He also severely loses interest in endgames, and tends to make a lot of careless errors at that point in the game, assuming the game is decided. His antics are also extremely poor. More on that as we go through the game and I mention the specifics of what went on during the game. For the moment, let's take a look at the opening selection made against him.

1...Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5

For Grunfeld players, this move is necessary. If 3...Bg7, then White can completely prevent the Grunfeld and force a King's Indian by Black by playing 4.e4 first and only after that play 5.d4. Of course, 3...Bg7 4.d4 would allow a pure Grunfeld via 4...d5.

4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.dxc3

And here is the main difference between the Anti-Grunfeld and the main lines of the Grunfeld. After 6.bxc3, you would likely see a direct transposition to the main lines of the Grunfeld after say, 6...Bg7 7.d4 c5. White does not allow this, and now Black has nothing better than to trade Queens and head into a Queenless middlegame that will feature a symmetrical pawn structure that is not totally static, but dynamic play is pretty much avoided here.

6...Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1

Not exactly the position a Grunfeld player envisions as exciting

7...Bg7 8.Bf4 c6 9.Kc2 O-O 10.Bc4 Nd7 11.Nd2

Stronger here is 11.a4. The idea behind it is to execute a clamping effect on Black's Queenside via an upcoming a5 by White, which because Black was forced to advance the c-pawn back on move 8, it's a little harder for Black to break the clamp with a move like ...b6 because of the weakening of the c-pawn that would result from it.

11...Ne5 12.Bb3 b6 13.Nc4 Nd7 14.Be3 Nf6 15.f3 Be6 16.Rad1 Rfd8

So here another psychological factor and observation occurs during the game. None of the last nine moves involved any trading or anything particularly exciting, but no move played by White took more than three minutes, and almost all of Black's moves took virtually no time to less than a minute with the lone exception of a five-minute think on the fourteenth move. But now, White has two major options here. One is to trade the Rooks off. The other is to play 17.Ne5 since the attempt at the tactic 17...Nxe4 doesn't do Black anything because of 18.Nxc6 and White has strong pressure on Black. I spent 11 minutes making my decision on what to do at this juncture. During those 11 minutes, the following observations were made:

• Black's antics showed signs of losing interest in the position as nothing has happened for quite a while now.
• There are a White Pawn, White Knight, and White Queen that constitute the capture pieces. The three pieces were off to his right. There is a small, open area to his right on the table. Black starts physically moving the pieces on the table like as if there were imaginary squares on the table. He was moving the pawn forward the distance of a single square. He would move the Knight like an L. He would move the Queen horizontally, vertically, and diagonally along the table. He would continue to make random moves until one piece crashed into another, implying capture. Then he would reset the three pieces and continue doing it again. I am not a doctor, and am not making any medical assessment, but what he was doing showed the appearance of behavior similar to the behavior of a typical person with ADD, like as if maybe a fidget spinner would've helped him, and that the boredom of the position had to be killing him. As it turns out, 17.Ne5 and 17.Rxd8 are White's best two moves, and one is not really all that much better than the other, and so after long calculation and not finding anything concrete in either variation, I decided to trade off the Rooks, looking to bore the position even more and drive Black even more crazy!

17.Rxd8+ Rxd8 18.Rd1

18.Ne5 is stronger and gives White the advantage. After the trade of the second set of Rooks, White's advantage is minimal.

18...Rxd1 19.Kxd1 Nd7 20.Kc2 Ne5 21.Nxe5 Bxb3+ 22.Kxb3 Bxe5

So we have reached a single-piece endgame as early as 22 moves into the game. At this point, another trend is observed from Black's play. He moves way too fast, and many of his moves are made is such a manner that Black believes that as long as he avoids the obvious traps that one move is just as good as any other and we will see that it is just not the case here. Also, just to give an indication of the level of focus between White and Black, after 22 moves, White has 52 minutes left on the clock to Black's 61 minutes. At move 51, where Black finally falters and walks into a losing trap due mainly to carelessness, White has 21 minutes to Black's 52 minutes, and only on move 32 does Black spend 3 minutes. All other moves are shorter, predominantly under a minute per move. White is going to take advantage of this in this game. The position itself, for all intents and purposes, is merely equal.

23.h3 Kf8 24.a4 Ke8 25.a5 Bc7 26.c4 Kd7 27.a6

For now, the only weakness for Black is that his Bishop is tied down to guarding b6. If the Bishop were to move away from b6, White could sacrifice his Bishop on b6 and then advance a7, winning. Otherwise, there is no other weakness for Black, and a single weakness can easily be guarded.

27...Ke6 28.Bd4 Kd7 29.Kc2 Ke6 30.b4 Kd7 31.Kd3

Since a single weakness can't win the game for White, White attempts to create play on the Kingside to try to create a second weakness.

31...Ke6 32.Ke3 f6 33.f4 Kf7 34.g4 e5 35.fxe5 fxe5 36.Bc3 Kf6 37.Kf3 h6

Here Black offers a draw. That said, he proceeds to physically make his 37th move, then hits the clock, and only after he hits the clock, he offers a draw. There's the first violation. You must offer on your time and then hit the clock. The second issue I took was that he starts holding his hand out over the board like I am obligated to accept the draw. Keep your hand back and if I choose to accept, then I'll offer my hand when both have agreed, and then you shake hands. So here I combine the fact that I am annoyed now by his distraction of offering the draw improperly and also sticking his hand over the board, blocking my view, and combine that with the fact that he is spending no time on his moves and his clear disinterest in the game, and decide to play on. Against many others, I would have accepted the draw at this point, but here, I'm going to look for every possible cheap shot threat and/or trap just to see if he falls for one and I gain an extra half a point. This is once again using chess psychology and my own knowledge of the locals in the area to my advantage!

38.Bd2 g5 39.Be3 Kg6 40.Bf2 Kf6 41.h4 Kg6 42.Ke2 Kf6 43.Kd3 Kg6 44.Kc3 Kf6 45.Kb3 Kg6

So we know that with best play, this position should be drawn. What traps might be available for White that don't lose? Well, White's idea is to move the King to a4, sacrifice the Bishop on b6, which Black will be forced to recapture with the Bishop, not the a-pawn, and then White will follow up with c5, which will force the Bishop to retreat to c7 again, and then b5, which Black will be forced to take as he can't allow b6 by White. Then White will take back with the King. He then wants to chase the Bishop with Kc6 followed by Kb7, take on a7, and come back to b7. So White has to make sure that Black cannot get the King across on time to block the White King. So Black's first free move comes after Kxb5. Then on Kc6, Black must move his Bishop and then when he goes to b7, Black can move his King, and then when he takes on a7, Black can move his King again. If, at this point, the King gets to the c-file, hemming the White King in on the a-file, Black wins. That was three free moves by the Black King. Therefore, for this execution to work, the Black King must be on the g- or h-file. If it's on the f-file, it's too close.

The next factor to look at is that if White does all this now, Black can take on h4 and run the pawn to promotion. Therefore, White must first trade or advance the h-pawn. If he trades, Black can take with the King and White has problems on the Kingside. Therefore, White must advance.

46.h5+ Kf6 47.Be3 Bd8

Black has to make sure that he doesn't waste his time moving the King to the g-file to cover the Kingside pawns. If White ever sacrifices on g5, all Black has to do is be in the box of the h-pawn, and so as long as the King doesn't go past the e-file, Bxg5 will NEVER be a threat. Since that threat is fake, and the issues on b6 are more serious, there is no reason to move the King back to a place like g7. The move played in the game is fine, and also covers both b6 and g5. That said, White now tries for another trap on the basis that Black might think that he really needs to cover g5. Again, the sacrifice on g5 is a completely fake threat unless the Bishop is on c7 instead of d8 AND (not OR) the Black King is on the d-file or further away from the h-file. Therefore, White tests Black by advancing the King to a4 and then losing a tempo.

48.Ka4 Ke6 49.Bf2 Bc7 50.Bg1 Bd8 51.Be3

So we now have the same position as after Black's 48th move, but now with Black to move instead of White. If Black realizes that his King is ideally placed and within reach of the h-pawn if White were to sacrifice on g5 and well within range of the Queenside if White tries to sacrifice on b6, then he would realize that the simple 51...Bc7 with a toggle between c7 and d8 would give White no choice but to offer the draw back to Black. However, Black finally falters with a very careless move that if he had taken his time, he would never have made this blunder.

51...Kd6?? 52.c5+

The fact that this is with check does Black in. If it weren't check, then the simple 52...b5 would draw the moment that White pushes the c-pawn, but here, it allows White to pry open the Queenside, and with every Black pawn sitting on a dark square, White will grab the pawns on the Kingside while Black is busy stopping the a-pawn.

52...Kc7

Or 52...bxc6 53.Bxc6+, winning the a-pawn and the game.

53.cxb6+ axb6 54.b5 Be7 55.a7 Kb7 56.Bxb6!! 1-0

Black can never take the Bishop on b6 and White will intrude the Kingside with his King. Because of this, Black resigned.


So to summarize, the following should always be kept in mind when playing against locals or other players at tournaments that you face frequently:

• Use the additional information about the opponent and maintain flexibility in your own game in order to select openings that don't fit well with your Opponent's style of play and habits.
• Use your Opponent's habits to determine certain types of decisions. For example, if two moves appear to be of equal benefit, such as White's 17th move in the game, play the move that is more likely to annoy the opponent. In the endgame, understand your opponent's habits, weaknesses, and antics before deciding whether to give in when playing a drawn position. In the game, all the Black pawns were on the color square as that of the Bishops, which opened up ways for Black to falter, and he eventually did. Had he been a player of endgame strength and shows signs of being able to focus in long, drawn out positions, I'd have accepted the draw offer on move 37.
• Take your time and consider everything. Don't rush, and often times, if you look for hidden secrets, your opponent may fall for one of them. In the game, White had four of them. The Bishop sacrifice on b6 if the Black Bishop leaves the a5-d8 diagonal. The Bishop sacrifice on g5 if the Black Bishop is still on c7 and the Black King is on the d-file or further to White's left. The Bishop sacrifice on b6 if the White King is on the g- or h-file after White locks the h-file. And then lastly, the one that killed Black in the game which was the trap of Black playing his King on the poisoned d6-square, leading to White being able to advance the c-pawn without Black being able to block the position due to a check.

This concludes the article. The next time that you play someone that you've either observed or played against repeatedly, think about the many factors that GM Aman Hambleton explained on June 26th (for those of you that attended his lecture) along with the other psychological factors explained here. It may sound crazy, and it won't work every time, (you will lose games) but it might amaze you how much it does alter your overall results in your favor!

The French Connection: Volume 9

Hello everyone and welcome to the ninth edition of The French Connection. Now those of you that have read the first eight articles will known that thus far, every article has had the same layout. There would be a single game with some discussion on certain themes learned from that game. Some of them would be GM games from the past (Volumes 1, 4, 5, 6) while the others would be games by Amateurs. Some would be successful blockades by White (Volumes 2, 6, 7) while the others would be successful breakthroughs for victory by Black. We have also already seen four of the five main responses by White, including 3.Nc3 (Volumes 1, 2, 5), the Tarrasch (Volume 4), the Advance (Volumes 3, 6, 7), and the Exchange (Volume 8), the only one not showing up yet being the King's Indian Attack. Don't worry, they will come too.

However, every now and then, I will be slightly altering the format of the article to better suit the topic at hand. For example, maybe sometime down the road, there may be an article on French miniatures, which in that case, it wouldn't make sense to extensively cover a single game, but rather, the theme would be more geared toward typical errors made in the opening phase of the game as that would be necessary to win a game that quickly. I am sure that there are other scenarios besides a miniatures article and what we have here that would also force a slight change in the format. Fear not, the vast majority of these articles will take on the same format as the first eight.

But what we have today is a topic where covering a single game extensively from start to finish would be a waste of time. This go round, we are going to talk about a couple of garbage lines that you might have to face that have actually occurred over the board. This theme is likely not a one-time occurrence in this series, so let me lay out what you can expect, and then in future cases, I'll likely simply subtitle those articles as something along the lines of beating garbage lines. Because I do not condone playing garbage lines from either side, I can tell you right now that every garbage line I cover will result in a loss for the player playing the garbage.

So what is a garbage line? I classify variations of openings under three categories:

• Main Lines - These would be all of the legitimate lines that make up over 95% of all games. Against the French Defense, there are five of them. 3.Nc3, which can be broken down further into the Winawer, Steinitz, Classical, MacCutcheon, Burn, Rubinstein, and Fort Knox, and then there is the Tarrasch (3.Nd2), Advance (3.e5), Exchange (3.exd5) and the King's Indian Attack (2.d3 and 3.Nd2).
• Offbeat Lines - These would be the lines that are rarely played and somewhat off the beaten path, but are not just outright bad. A couple of examples would be 2.b3 and the Wing Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4). These lines lead to nothing more than equality, but White should not be lost in these lines simply because Black knows what he's doing.
• Garbage Lines - This is everything else. These lines serve no purpose other than to try to trick the opponent. If the opponent knows what they are doing, then there is no recourse and the player trying to get a cheap shot out of their opponent instead ends up with a lousy position that is probably already lost.

So that said, I am going to cover two garbage lines in this article. When covering garbage lines, there is going to be far more emphasis on the opening, comparing what is right to what is wrong. The purpose is to illustrate why it is important to understand the ideas behind the opening moves and not just to memorize them. When people start trying to beat you with garbage, they are in essence trying to take the lazy way out, figuring that you won't know what to do and they will get an easy advantage without having to resist a major fight in the main lines. Well, if you understand the themes of what's right, it should help you pave the way through proving why what they played against you is wrong.

That said, once you are past the opening and maybe early middle game stages, with correct execution, you likely have, simply put, a won game. There are many books out there on how to win the won game. That is not the intent of this series. Therefore, to be able to cover multiple games without making this article a mile long, I will be extensively covering the opening, and then simply supplying the moves to complete the game once there should be no question about who is winning.


Garbage Line Number One: 2.f4

Here we are going to look at a game where White violates just about every principle possible in the French Defense. Let me first tell you about the nature of the player. He thinks that chess is all about ramming down the opponent's throat, and that no matter what lines you play as White or Black that he can charge after your King. He's a huge advocate of the King's Gambit, and thinks that these early f4 ideas and ramming the pawn down Black's throw will work against any Defense, and while you might be able to take this approach against 1...e5 via a King's Gambit or 1...c5 via a Grand Prix Attack, we are soon going to see that this approach does not work against the French Defense. White pays zero attention to the center, loosens his King, and even trades away his most valuable minor piece from the start. Now let me also say that White does not follow up with the best moves after move two either, which doesn't help his cause, but let's compare what happens here to some of the main lines of the French Defense.

Tuesday Night Action 43, Round 2
W: Ali Shirzad (1827)
B: Patrick McCartney (2049)

1.e4 e6 2.f4 d5

Just because White decides not to fight for the center doesn't mean Black shouldn't. The whole purpose of 1...e6 is to contest the e-pawn with 2...d5 without having to recapture with the Queen if White were to take, and so Black continues with his normal moves.

3.e5 c5 4.Nf3

Already White has a problem. He would like to play d4 to fight for control of the center, but it's already too late. After 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4, Black can develop his pieces with tempo, chasing the Queen away.

4...Nc6

5.Bb5

If White has to resort to this, he has already failed. The Light-Squared Bishop is White's most valuable minor piece in the French Defense. In the main lines of the French, with the pawns on d4 and f2 instead of d2 and f4, if White can achieve getting his Bishop to d3 without losing the d-pawn (the Bishop blocks the Queen from guarding d4), then White has a major advantage because with all the Black pawns on light squares, blocking in his counter-part on c8, White has an uncontested piece going after Black's Kingside. Here, however, White is using the Bishop to try to control d4 by pinning the Knight on c6. Note that 5.d4?! is highly dubious here. I could write an entire book on the position after 5.d4 and what is wrong with it, but to illustrate White's problems, I'm going to show you one line and compare it to a similar situation where White is better if he doesn't play f4.

After 5...Qb6 6.c3 Nh6 (with the pawn on f4, this move is strong as White can't capture) let's compare what we have to a normal position after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc3 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3 Bd7?.

Position after 6...Bd7?!

Position after 6...Nh6

In the first diagram, White has an advantage after 7.dxc5 Bxc5 because he is ready to castle with 8.O-O and White has the major positional threat of 9.b4 with a huge advantage for White, and if 8...a5, then Black has many weaknesses, most notably b5. This is why it is well known that in the Milner-Barry Gambit, which is what the first diagram is, Black should play 6...cxd4 first, and only after 7.cxd4 does he play 7...Bd7.

In the second diagram, however, taking on d4 is unnecessary and Black is getting ready to play 7...Nf5, creating massive pressure on d4, and castling for White is even borderline dangerous because of his second move, f4, opening up the long diagonal towards the King which the Black Queen resides on. If White tries to remove the pressure on d4 by taking on c5, it does not work like it did in the Milner-Barry Gambit. After 7.dxc5? Bxc5 8.b4? Bxf2+, White is not in a position to trap the Bishop. After 9.Ke2, there is no immediate escape for the Bishop, but there is also no way to attack it as white's pieces are a complete mess. After something like 9...O-O 10.g3 Ng4 11.Bh3 h5 12.Qd3 f6 13.exf6 e5 14.Qxd5+ Kh8 15.fxg7+ Kxg7 16.a4 Bxg3, Black is completely winning. Already we are seeing major problems with White's early f4 advance.

5...Qb6

Already raising question to White's best minor piece.

6.Nc3

6.c4 is probably a slight improvement, but after 6...a6, the question is once again raised to White's best minor piece and he is probably forced to trade it away anyway. That said, Black's next move requires some understanding. Under normal circumstances, Black has to be careful about early advancements of the d-pawn as it would normally open up e4 for a White Knight and eyeing a weakness in Black's position, the d6-square. Here, however, if we advance the pawn, the Knight is under attack, and the Knight is the only thing covering the Bishop, and so White can't move the Knight to e4 right away as the Bishop hangs, and since then the Bishop is forced to capture the Knight with check, when we recapture with the Queen, e4 will be covered and the White Knight will be forced to a passive position. Therefore, advancing the pawn in this case is a strength and not a weakness.

6...d4! 7.Bxc6+ Qxc6 8.Ne2 Ne7 9.d3 Nf5 10.O-O Be7 11.c3

And here we have another theme that explains what is wrong with 2.f4. It looks like the d-pawn is under attack and that Black needs to take on c3 and relieve all tension. Yes, White is behind in development, but Black is not fully developed, and so there is no reason to let White off the hook, and we aren't ready for a kill on the White King. That said, tactics are available to Black based on the advancement of the f-pawn, and the d-pawn is actually not even threatened at this point.

11...O-O

If Black is willing to gambit a pawn, he can also achieve a strong attack with 11...b6 12.cxd4 Bb7 13.dxc5 Bxc5. There is nothing wrong with the move played in the game though either.

12.Qe1

It appears as though d4 is under-defended, but tactics allow Black to keep the advantage. White can play 12.cxd4, but he can't win the pawn, but Black also has to be careful here. Correct is 12...Nxd4! 13.Nexd4 cxd4 and Black maintains the advantage. Note that the d-pawn can't be taken because after 14.Nxd4?? Bc5 15.Be3 Qb6 16.Qa4 Rd8, White loses a piece. Note that 12...cxd4 would be a mistake. After 13.g4! Ne3 14.Nexd4! Nxd1 15.Nxc6 bxc6 16.Rxd1 and White's better.

12...Rd8 13.g4 Ne3

This move maintains a small advantage, but safer may have benn 13...Nh6 with a clear advantage for Black.

14.Bxe3 dxe3

15.d4?

White has to play 15.Nc1, which will win the e-pawn, but at the cost of having his pieces very passively placed, and Black's Bishops are also better than White's Knights. After 15...b5 16.Qxe3 Bb7, Black has definite compensation for the pawn and probably a little more, but his advantage is small here and is the reason why 13...Nh6, taking a more patient approach, was stronger.

15...b6!

This is how Black stops White from taking easy street of simply moving the Knight to the active g3-square and scooping up the pawn. Black will counter by hitting the Rook, where White will have to either retreat the Knight back to e2 and remaining bottled up, or giving up the exchange. White gave up the exchange, and Black proceeds to win with the material advantage.

The rest of the game went as follows:

16.Ng3 Ba6 17.Qxe3 Bxf1 18.Rxf1 cxd4 19.Nxd4 Bc5 20.f5 Bxd4 21.cxd4 Qa4 22.fxe6 fxe6 23.Ne2 Rf8 24.Nf4 Rad8 25.d5 Rxd5 26.Nxd5 Qxg4+ 27.Qg3 Qxg3+ 28.hxg3 Rxf1+ 29.Kxf1 exd5 30.Ke2 Kf7 31.Kd3 Ke6 32.Kd4 h5 33.a4 g5 34.b4 h4 0-1

So we see here why 2.f4 is a bad idea for White and Black's play is predominantly executed in the center of the board, hitting hard on the d4-square, and using the opening of the diagonal to the White King, especially after White castles, to his own advantage.


Garbage Line Number Two: White Plays an Inferior Version of an Already Inferior Gambit

Theory evolves over time. Evolution is a science that applies to more things than just one. While human beings have evolved from apes, the Milner-Barry Gambit has evolved into a highly dubious gambit for White. For a while, Black would try to grab the two White pawns in the center and then either try to hold on to both and place the Queen on d6 or he would give one back and place the Queen on b8. I myself used to play the latter of the two. It was later determined that Black is best off not grabbing the second pawn, and instead playing the line 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3?! cxd4 7.cxd4 Bd7 8.O-O Nxd4 9.Nxd4 Qxd4 10.Nc3 a6!

Black is better, but it's tricky

Black's behind in development and his Queen is out there in the open early on, but he is a pawn up. With very careful defense, Black has a small advantage here. The garbage line we are about to see is going to be an offshoot of the Milner-Barry Gambit, and a version where Black will win a pawn, not have his Queen displaced, is able to develop smoothly, and pretty much executes a complete walkover.

A word about the player playing White in this game. He is well known locally as an e4-player. Literally plays nothing else. He is adamantly against closed positions. He has expressed multiple times before that his choice of openings, 1.e4 as White, Dutch Leningrad and Alekhine as Black, are specifically because he wants a more open position. The other fact about him is that he is all about trickery. He does not believe in playing the main line of anything. He is always looking for that odd ball move that he figures his opponent won't know and is banking off of that to win his games. A prime example is against the Caro-Kann Defense. I've seen him play often 1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Qf3, including once against me and I got smashed! He has won a number of games against players using this method, myself included, but never in the French Defense. Most gambits against the French, trying to force the position open, simply don't work. Playing an inferior version of these gambits will make matters even worse for White provided Black knows what he is doing, and that's exactly what happens here.

Tuesday Night Action 43, Round 4
W: Patrick Sciacca (2148)
B: Patrick McCartney (2049)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Qb6

The previous time that I played the French Defense against the same opponent, I played 4...Nc6, which is the main move. For those with intention of playing the 5...Qb6 line against the normal move, 5.Nf3, can play this move order to prevent an offbeat line available to White. After 4...Nc6, White can play 5.Be3, which is what he played against me the previous time, and this game can be found in Volume 3 of The French Connection. By playing 4...Qb6, White can't play 5.Be3 because of 5...Qxb2!. That said, will we see normal here? Of course not!

5.Bd3?!

Other than possibly to transpose to the Milner-Barry Gambit, this move has no purpose.

5...Nc6 6.Ne2?!

Here, let's compare once again the "normal" position in the Milner-Barry Gambit to the position we have here. In the normal position, shown in the previous game (first of the two small analysis diagrams), we saw that 6...Bd7? is a mistake because of 7.dxc5! and that after 7...Bxc5 8.O-O that White had the positional threat of 9.b4. What is different about that position versus this one? The Knight! Why might theory believe that the Knight belongs on f3 and not on e2? Well, if White is going to take on c5, something needs to cover e5. Normally this is the Knight on f3, and this is what creates the positional threat of 9.b4! Here, on the other hand, the Knight does nothing to cover e5, and so if White plays 7.dxc5 Bxc5, he does not have time to play 8.O-O as the pawn on e5 will hang. After 8...Nxe5!, we don't care if we face 9.b4 as we can put the Bishop on the active d6-square now instead passively on e7. It is understanding the little idiosyncrasies like this that matter when you face a garbage line. It is not about memorizing reams of garbage. Therefore, Black has no reason to release the tension early on d4 and open up the c3-square for the White Knight early on. Might as well play the necessary move that threatens to win the pawn on d4, and we now understand why here it gets an exclamation point while with the Knight on f3, it would get a big fat question mark!

6...Bd7! 7.O-O cxd4 8.cxd4 Nxd4

So here, White has one last chance to correct himself and enter into the Milner-Barry Gambit with 9.Nxd4 Qxd4. But again, let's look at what we are dealing with here. A player that relies on trickery. If you don't know the opening you are playing thoroughly and don't have a true understanding of the big picture and all of the little details, you will likely get killed, but the downside to this approach is that if Black does know what he's doing, what White does here is alarmingly worse than the already dubious main line, and so when you face players like this, playing something you know well is far better than "experimenting" with another opening.

9.Nbc3?

So now you need to ask yourself the question. Why isn't this normally played? What is wrong with this picture compared to the normal line? Well, for starters, the Black Queen isn't dragged to d4 where it can be attacked with tempo. If we don't give White the time to capture on d4, then our Queen will be safer comparatively speaking, and we will be able to spend that time that we normally spend saving the Queen, such as 10...a6, preventing tricks on b5, and Queen moves when she is attacked, we are spending that time developing our other pieces. So the first thing that this says is that Black should move the Knight on d4. Now the question becomes, do we retreat back to c6, or do we take on e2? Playing 9...Nc6 might look tempting as White can't play 10.f4 due to the pin on the King, but then 10.Be3 gains time on the Queen and then allows 11.f4 and it pushes Black backwards. However, let's look at 9.Nxe2+. In the normal Milner-Barry Gambit, White has a Knight on c3 and Bishop on d3, eyeing b5, in many cases with there being b5 tricks. In addition, the White Queen can then come to a4, adding pressure to the a4-e8 diagonal. Along with pressure on b5, White's active Bishop also rakes the Kingside. Well, with the capture on e2, White is going to be forced to misplace one of his pieces. If he takes with the Knight, there is absolutely no threat on b5 and Black doesn't even have to spend time playing pawn moves like ...a6. If he takes with the Bishop, Black may have to watch for b5 tricks, but the Bishop is passive on e2 compared to d3 and doesn't have to worry about Kingside issues without White spending another move to bring the Bishop back to d3. Lastly, if White takes with the Queen, the Queen is mis-placed compared to the normal Milner-Barry Gambit. So what does this amount to? It means that Black should take on e2 with check and compared to the normal Milner-Barry, Black will gain one move from the mis-placed White piece and another move from not having to retreat the Queen from d4, and so by taking on e2, Black has, for all intents and purposes, an extra two tempi compared to the already dubious Milner-Barry Gambit.

9.Nxe2+! 10.Nxe2 Rc8 11.Be3 Bc5

With Black being up a protected passed pawn with no pressure on the King, all piece trades are going to favor Black.

12.Bxc5 Rxc5 13.Nc3 Ne7 14.Re1 a6 15.Na4 Bxa4 16.Qxa4+ Qc6 17.Qg4

17...O-O!

Unlike the 7...Qg4 lines of the Winawer, there is nothing for Black to be afraid of here. He dominates the c-file, and the reduced number of pieces along with the wrong color Bishop for White in this case makes defending the King easy here. For example, if 18.Qh5, then 18...Ng6 stops everything, and if 19.Bxg6, Black should actually capture away from the center with 19...fxg6, opening up the Rook for an attack on the f-file and giving the King a nice hiding place. Black will, at some point, play ...h6 and ...Kh7 with a little safe cubby-hole for the King.

Instead, White tries to advance the h-pawn, which Black answers with a typical idea seen in the 7...O-O line of the Winawer, opening up the f-file and defending along the 6th rank combined with a direct attack on f2. White's busted! The rest of the game went as follows:

18.h4 f5 19.exf6 Rxf6 20.Rab1 Qd6 21.Qh5 Ng5 22.Rbc1 Qf4 23.Bxg6 hxg6 24.Qg5 Qxf2+ 25.Kh1 Rf4 26.g3 Rxc1 27.Rxc1 Qf3+ 28.Kh2 Qe2+ 29.Kh3 Rf2 30.Rh1 Qf3 31.Rg1 Qf5+ 32.g4 Qf3+ 0-1


So in this edition we saw two garbage lines and how to beat them through the use of comparison, comparing both to the already dubious Milner-Barry Gambit. This comparison method is often useful when facing garbage lines in the French Defense. When you face something odd like this, make sure that you follow the checklist below:

• First and foremost, don't freak out!
• Take a minute to mentally go through your mental database of ideas and lines that you already know from normal, well-established lines, and look for comparisons of how the garbage line is weaker than the normal lines. Often times, this could be the weakening of a file, rank, or diagonal, similar to what we saw in the 2.f4 line where the a7-g1 diagonal is weakened and we had tactical resources available to us that we wouldn't have in normal lines. Other times, this could be under-protection of a pawn or piece, like the e5-pawn in the second example, or the improved position of our own pieces comparatively speaking where time that we normally spend fixing our own problems after doing something like grabbing a pawn can now be spent on continuing development that we normally wouldn't be able to do, and saying thank you to our opponent and taking full advantage of the extra tempi, putting them to good use.
• Always keep an eye out for tricky tactics. For example, in the first game, on the 12th move, how to recapture on d4 if White does take the pawn really does matter in this case. Don't be afraid to spend some extra time checking for these types of issues.
• Study your endgames! Many times, these positions can lead to dead won endgames. For example, in the second game, if White trades Queens late rather than walking into a mate in 2, knowing your Rook endgames would make it so that it would be an easy win for Black even if Black had one second left with five second delay given the number of pawns Black was up at that point. It turned out in that game, White had a minute and Black had 37 minutes, but the same thing can happen the other way around if you take the extra time in the middle game.
• Don't let annoyance take over when you face something strange. I love facing garbage! Sure, it may mean that I need to take a few extra minutes early on compared to just reeling out 20 moves of French theory in under 5 minutes, but correct execution will usually lead to positions that are only fun for you, not for your opponent. Take the second game displayed above. By move 10, I was having fun playing the game. Sure I had to be careful about a few things, and had to figure out that castling on move 17 was perfect safe and very strong, but not once was I ever afraid of the situation and stress levels were extremely low, which is what we want when White plays garbage! If White wants to play garbage, he fully deserves to have his blood boil for the rest of the game, not the other way around!

Well, that concludes this article. Until next time, good luck in all of your French games, Black or White, unless you play garbage of course!