The French Connection: Volume 14

Hello and welcome to the fourteenth edition of The French Connection. This one will conclude the trifecta of French McCutcheons, and the line we will be looking at here is a line that you could face fairly frequently against lower-rated opposition, but will almost never see at the GM level. This game was played in late July, and I have faced this same line in a correspondence game on chess.com since then! Since the majority of the audience reading this article will also be facing amateurs, it's critical to know what to do as Black. The game in and of itself is not particularly well played, and is not as exciting as the previous two we saw with the King walk and Rook Sacrifice, or the battle of the color complexes leading to a fast mate that we saw in the first two articles on this line. That said, we will see three very important concepts in this game:

• Why capturing with the Bishop on c3 in the opening is bad.
• Bad trades
• The importance of the Intermezzio and Deflection tactics

So with that said, let's take a look at the main game.

Potomac Open, Round 4
W: Albert Yao (1846)
B: Patrick McCartney (2050)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 h6 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.Bxc3

This is the wrong way to recapture on c3.

7...Ne4 8.Qg4

Also seen is 8.Bb4, but after 8...c5 9.Bxc5 Nxc5 10.dxc5 Nd7 11.Qd4 Qc7 12.Nf3 Qxc5, White has nothing.

8...Qg5

So this move was made on the basis of the fact that I was facing a young kid, and most young kids do not like to trade Queens. That said, there is a slight problem with this response as after 9.h3 Bd7 10.Nf3 Qxg4 11.hxg4 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Nc6 13.g5 Ke7 14.gxh6 gxh6 15.g3 Rag8 16.Bd3 Na5 17.Ke2 Bc6 18.a4 Nc4 19.Bxc4 dxc4 20.a5, White has a nagging advantage.

That said, significantly stronger is 8...O-O! with a major advantage for Black. In the normal McCutheon, Black can't do this because the Bishop on d2 would take on h6 with major threats on g7. Here, there is no Bishop on the c1-h6 diagonal, and if White goes back there, Black has time to move his King. Therefore, Black doesn't have to weaken his Kingside with 8...g6 or lose his castling rights with 8...Kf8 unlike when the Bishop is still on d2.

9.Qf3

This move is not good and swings the advantage to Black. As mentioned prior, White should play 9.h3, and it turns out that it is the only move for White to avoid turning the advantage over to Black.

9...c5 10.h4 Qe7 11.dxc5 Qxc5 12.Ne2 Nc6 13.Qf4 Bd7 14.Rh3 O-O-O 15.Rf3

15.Qxf7?? loses tactically to 15...Rhf8 where if 16.Qxg7, then after 16...Qxf2+ 17.Kd1 Qxf1+ 18.Be1 Rf2 19.Re3 Rxg2 20.Qxh6 Nf2+ 21.Kd2 Ng4, White is mince meat!

15...g5 16.Qe3 Qxe3 17.Rxe3 Nxc3 18.bxc3 Kb8 19.h5 Rc8 20.Kd2 f5 21.Nd4

A very critical point in the game has arrived. White has the better Knight, the better Bishop, and the better placed King for an endgame. Black's only trump is the pawn structure. White's e-pawn is a liability, and the doubled c-pawns are an issue for White. Which is more important to Black? Getting rid of the well-placed White Knight? Or maintain the train wreck pawn structure for White?

21...Nxd4?

This is the wrong idea and Black's advantage is gone. Instead, it is more vital for Black to maintain the wrecked pawn structure, despite putting the Knight on the edge of the board, and play 21...Na5, after which, something along the lines of 22.Ree1 g4 23.Rab1 Rhg8 24.Rb4 Rc7 25.Bb5 Bxb5 26.Nxb5 Nc4+ 27.Kd3 Rc6 28.Nd4 Ra6 29.a4 would occur and now 29...Rg5 would give Black a substantial advantage.

The next few move see Black activating his Rooks, trading one set off, and we reach a critical juncture of what is an equal endgame.

22.cxd4 Be8 23.Rh3 Rh7 24.Bd3 Rhc7 25.Rb1 Rc6 26.Rb2 Kc7 27.f3 Rb6 28.Rxb6 Kxb6 29.g4 Bd7 30.Rh1 fxg4 31.fxg4 Rf8

So here, there are a number of moves that work for the draw, but one move is best and the way to find it is to recognize what Black is trying to do, and preventing it. What move do you think White should play here?

32.Rf1??

Believe it or not, White actually offered a draw here with what is ultimately the losing move as Black will be able to dominate the Bishop ending. Black has a bad Bishop, White has a good one. Black wants to force the Bishops off. Even better would be to force both minor pieces off as, given the position of the Kings and the pawn structure, a King and Pawn endgame wins for Black here.

That said, the big thing is that Black wants to play ...Bb5. White still has an equal position with the moves 32.Kc3 or 32.Ke3 due to improvement of the King position, but best here is the intermezzio move, 32.Rb1+! This forces the Black King back since 32...Ka5 drops the b-pawn, 32...Kc6 blocks the Bishop, and 32...Ka6 is illegal, and so 32...Kc7 is virtually forced, not allowing Black to get his inferior minor piece out with ...Bb5. After the King moves away via 32...Kc7, only then is 33.Rf1 correct.

In the game, letting the King remain on b6 allows Black his goal, and since White can't afford to trade the Bishops, his Bishop will be dominated, at which point, Black can force the Queenside pawns off the board, and the fact that his King will be far advanced will allow Black to grab the loose White Pawns while his bishop is sitting uselessly on the Kingside. All of this was calculated by Black when he played 31...Rf8, expecting 32.Rb1+, but knowing that if White missed that, and played the move played in the game, Black has an easy win via calculation.

32...Rxf1 33.Bxf1 Bb5! 34.Bg2

Again, White cannot trade the Bishops due to the superiority of the position of the Black King.

34...Bc4

Forcing the advancement of the White Pawn, which is to his own detriment.

35.a3 Ka5 36.Kc3 Ka4 37.Kb2 Be2 38.Bh3 b5

Black will force the Queenside pawns off the board and then use his advanced King position to win the game. White is completely helpless with his useless Bishop on h3.

39.c3 a5 40.Ka2 b4 41.axb4 axb4 42.cxb4 Kxb4 43.Kb2 Kc4 44.Kc2 Kxd4 45.Kd2 Bf3 46.Ke1 Kxe5 47.Kf2 Kf4 0-1


So as mentioned in the introduction, not quite the fireworks of the previous two McCutcheons we have seen, but a number of vital concepts in this game shows the importance of knowing your sidelines, especially when playing at the amateur level, where sidelines are more common than at the GM level. The items that should be absorbed from this game include:

• Understanding that piece placement is sometimes more important than pawn structure. We saw that by White not accepting doubled c-pawns, his Bishop abandons the Kingside, and allows Black to castle to safety. Black did not do that in this game, but reading the notes to Black's 8th move should illustrate the reason behind why Black's move was inferior to castling.
• The importance of understanding when to trade and when not to. In this case, Black's 21st move was a mistake because his one major trump card was superior to all of White's smaller trumps. White may have had more trump cards, but Black had the ace, which was the far superior pawn structure. After Black gave that up, he had to rely on White blundering to win the game.
• The last thing we saw was how vital a single tempo can be, and how an intermezzio move that acted as a deflection can mean the difference between survival and defeat. It was critical to not allow Black to turn his Bishop from a passive piece into a dominant one, but White lack of exercising the check on move 32 before trading the Rooks is what lead to his defeat.

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

Game Analysis: Potomac Open, Round 3

Hello everyone. We are going to continue going through the games played during my summer trip in Mid-July. We are up to the third round of the Potomac Open, where both my opponent and myself have a perfect score of 2 and 0. The main theme behind this game is learning from your mistakes instead of your brilliancies. We will see poor opening play by Black followed by a totally incorrect strategy by White, followed by a hasty attack by White, leading to an advantage for Black. He never relinquishes the advantage, but both sides do miss a tactical blunder by White which should have ended the game on the spot. Needless to say, a few moves later, White is completely lost anyway, and this game should likely have been a good 10 moves shorter, but severe time pressure and inertia is the only reason White kept on going, and if not for a two piece advantage and mate coming up leading to a resignation by White on move 40, White would likely have resigned anyway on move 41 when the clocks were reset with 30 extra minutes for each player.


Potomac Open, Round 3
W: Patrick McCartney (2050)
B: Tejas Ramas (2032)
Queen's Indian Defense

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.O-O d5

This move is not very good for Black, and leads to a hybrid of the Queen's Indian and the Catalan. Much stronger for Black are 5...Be7 or 5...Bb4+, both leading to a fairly balanced game. The problem here, compared to say, the normal Catalan, is that in the normal Catalan, Black will usually either keep the Bishop on the c8-h3 diagonal, which makes trading on d5 not look so hot for White as it opens up the Bishop for Black when he recaptures with the e-pawn. If he can't trade on d5, then it makes developing the Knight to its most active square of c3 hard to do because often times it blocks a Rook or Queen from guarding c4, and so instead White often has to develop the Knight more passively to d2. On the flip side, Black can do an early capture on c4, after which he has the assurance that the diagonal will be open, and then developing the Bishop to b7 to oppose White's strong g2-Bishop is often the way to go. However, in this case, it is White that will get the best of both worlds. Because Black has already committed to moving his Bishop to b7, a trade on d5 is now encouraged, leading to a Black pawn being on d5, and the Black Bishop having to move again to get back to the opened diagonal. Also, with White ridding himself of the c4-pawn, he can develop his Knight to c3 instead of d2.

So in summary, it is totally Black's choice whether he wants to open the position and only then put his Bishop on b7 (hence the "Open Catalan", or keep the position closed and staying on the original diagonal, making opening a discouraging move for White and instead then forcing White to cover c4 (hence the "Closed Catalan"), but Black gives White the best of both worlds by committing the Bishop before deciding what to do with the pawn structure, and White fixes the pawn structure to his liking based on the location of Black's Bishop, and gets to develop his Knight to the most natural and active square, c3.

6.d4 Nbd7 7.cxd5!

As described already, when Black moves his Bishop to b7 too early in the Catalan or commits to ...d5 too early in the Queen's Indian, this is a favorable trade for White.

7...exd5

Taking with either piece is worse. 7...Nxd5 allows 8.e4, giving White the big center, while 7...Bxd5 gives White 8.Nc3 with tempo as Black does not want to give up that Bishop for a Knight as then White's counterpart on g2 becomes way too strong for Black to handle.

8.Nc3 Be7 9.Bf4 c6 10.Qc2 O-O

11.Rac1

This looks like the most natural move for White. He develops his last undeveloped piece to the only semi-open file from White's perspective (Black has the semi-open e-file). It turns out though that this is completely the wrong idea for White. The hardest part of the game, often times, is what to do with the Rooks. Before you can truly figure out the right arrangement for the Rooks, you have to define your plan, and having the wrong plan, as is the case in this game, can often lead to disaster, as it does in this game for White.

First let's assess the position. White has a slight lead in development as he has one undeveloped piece to Black's two with it being his move, and his Rooks are connected while Black's are not. It is a given that we are going to develop the Rooks now, and so let's look beyond the Rook development and ask ourselves a few questions. First, once the Rooks are developed, what will be White's worst-placed piece? Given Black's pawn structure with pawns on d5 and c6, we see a similar problem to what Black often has to deal with in the Italian Game, where a White pawn is on c3, and Black's c6-Knight has no productive square to go to. We have a similar scenario here where the c6-pawn blunts all active use of a Knight on c3, and so it is the Knight on c3 that will be White's worst-placed piece. Second, what advantages does White have? He has an advantage in space, and a lead in development. These two things combined call for immediate activity by White, and the opening up of the position. If Black could keep the position bottled up until he catches up in development, he would be perfectly fine and have at minimum an equal game. The main way for White to open up the position and at the same time improve his worst-placed piece of the Knight on c3 is to advance the e-pawn to e4. Notice, however, that because Black can ill afford to allow e4-e5 by White, he will have to take the pawn on e4, and White will be left with an Isolated Queen Pawn, a common theme in numerous Queen Pawn openings, and the Queen's Indian and Catalan are no exceptions, especially the latter. In return for the IQP, White gets free piece play with a space advantage, and if White can either eliminate the weakness with a timely d5-advance, or in some cases, turn the weakness into an asset in the form of a far advanced d-pawn should it become a passer, like maybe if Black ever plays ...c5 and White answers with pushing the d-pawn, then White can often reach an almost decisive position.

So once we answer those two critical questions, and we realize that White wants to play e4 and accept the IQP position, we should have the answer now of what we need to do. We need to place a Rook on d1, backing up the IQP and trying to get in that d5-push. Ok now, which Rook? Well, despite the semi-open c-file, there is nothing there for White. The c6-pawn is well protected. White will not dominate the c-file even if Black does open it with a c5-advance as Black will have a Rook by then on c8 and White's battery sees the Queen in the front, and so she will have to move anyway. So there is no encouraging reason to put a Rook on c1. It is the Queenside Rook that wants to go to d1, with the other Rook likely going to e1 at some point, back up the e4-advance, and so in this scenario, White wants his rooks on d1 and e1, not c1 and d1 or c1 and e1. Therefore, the right move here was 11.Rad1! with ideas of getting in e4 in the near future. Depending on Black's response, potential follow-ups include Rfe1, Ne5, or in a few rare cases, potentially even the immediate e4. Don't try to go down these rabbit trails, over-analyzing the position before knowing what Black will do in response. The key thing here is to correctly figure out where the Rooks need to go, and we did that. In this position, they belong on d1 and e1. Move your Rook from a1 to d1, and leave it at that, and the subsequent moves can be figured out once we see what Black does. The main plan is to get in e2-e4 at the right time.

11...Rc8 12.Qf5

Heading in the wrong direction, going for a hasty Kingside attack. Better here is to follow the positional ideas in the position. Natural moves like 12.Rfd1 or 12.Bh3, taking advantage of the pin on the open diagonal and Black's misplaced Bishop on b7, were both better moves than the move played in the game.

12...Re8 13.h4 g6

White's 12th move would be correct if the enticement of this move created a major weakness for Black, but Black has nothing to fret here. He still has his dark-squared Bishop, and White is not ready to bombard the Kingside and his pieces are not set up in any way, shape, or form to take advantage of Black's slight dark-square weaknesses around the King. Instead, White's Queen simply gets thrown back.

14.Qb1 a5

14...Bf8, intending to go to g7 with the Bishop, would be more consistent here and Black would be at least equal.

15.Ng5?

Once again, after Black's incorrect 14th move, White can maintain a slight advantage with either of the same two options he had on move 12. Either 15.Bh3, once again taking advantage of the pin, or 15.Rfd1, developing the other Rook. Instead, White plays another hasty move, and this is one too many by White. Black now grabs the advantage.

15...Nh5! 16.Bd2 Bf6

Significantly stronger is 16...Ndf6! 17.Rfe1 c5 18.e4 dxe4 19.Ncxe4 Nxe4 20.Bxe4 Bxe4 21.Nxe4 f5 22.Ng5 Qd5 23.Ne6 cxd4 24.Rxc8 Rxc8 25.Qd3 with an advantage for Black.

17.Bf3

This was White's opportunity to hold the balance with 17.Qd3 Bg7 18.e4. This version is far inferior to the plan for White back at move 11, and it achieves nothing more than equality after 18...c5!, but it is far superior to what happened in the game. Now we are going to see all of White's pieces awkwardly placed and Black taking full advantage of it!

17...Ng7 18.e4?

This gives up a pawn for no real reason. 18.Qd3 is still better, but Black is very much in the driver's seat no matter what White does here.

18...Bxd4 19.exd5 Ne5 20.Bg2 Ba6

Now with that real sore spot on d3, White's hasty attack has reared its ugly head. White is lost here!

21.dxc6

21...Bd3!

There are actually two good moves here. Also strong is 21...Nh5 22.Bf4 Bd3 23.Qa1 Bxf1 24.Rxf1 Bxc3 25.bxc3 Nxf4 26.gxf4 Nxc6 27.Ne4 f5 28.Ng5 h6 29.Nf3 Qd6 30.Qc1 Re2 31.Ne5 Nxe5 32.fxe5 Qd2 33.Qb1 Qb2 34.Bd5+ Kg7 35.Qxb2 Rxb2 with a winning position for Black. The main point here is not to merely take the Rook on f1. Notice though that both feature the same theme. Might as well make White's pieces worse before taking the material that is not going away anyway. A White Queen on a1 is even worse for White than a White Queen on b1.

22.Qa1 Bxf1

Now, of course, Black takes the material.

23.Rxf1 Nxc6 24.Nf3 Nf5 25.Nxd4 Ncxd4 26.Bg5 f6 27.Bf4 g5 28.hxg5 fxg5 29.Bd2

29...Qf6

Sure, Black is still winning here, but he misses a move that can put the game away on the spot. 29...Rxc3!! 30.Bxc3 Ne2+ 31.Kh2 Qd6 32.Qd1 Qh6+ 33.Bh3 g4 34.Qd5+ Re6 35.Qa8+ Kf7 36.Qb7+ Kg6 and White can resign.

30.Bd5+ Kh8 31.b3?? Rcd8

This time both players miss it. Black gets two pieces for a Rook with 31...Rxc3! 32.Bxc3 Ne2+ followed by 33...Nxc3. The fact that Black was already up the exchange puts him up a full piece here, and White can again resign safely. That said, White's position deteriorates quickly anyway, and the rest of the game was mainly played out because White was down to about a minute to make it to move 40, and was predominantly played out of inertia. Had the game made it that far, I'd probably have resigned on move 41 anyway.

32.Kg2 Rxd5 33.Nxd5 Qc6 34.Bxg5 Qxd5+ 35.Kg1 Kg8 36.Rd1 Qf3 37.Bf4 Ne2+ 38.Kh2 Qxf2+ 39.Kh3 Nxf4+ 0-1

It's mate in 4 for Black starting with 40.Kg4 Ne3+.

There are a number of ideas that can be picked up from this game:

• Move order matters in the opening, and mixing ideas between multiple openings is not usually a good idea and for good reason. In these Catalan type positions, Black wants to settle the pawn structure, whether he opts for open or closed is up to him, and only then determine what to do with his bad Bishop, not the other way around of setting up the Bishop, and then try to set up the pawn structure as White can take full advantage in the latter scenario like he did in the game.
• When the Rooks are connected, the way to set up the Rooks is often determined by what the other pieces and pawns need to do, and the pawn structure that results from that, rather than simply which file is open. We saw that here where White assumed placing the Rook on the semi-open file was right when instead he should have been playing for e4 and setting up the Rooks based on the result of that pawn break.
• Hasty attacks almost never work!
• As Black demonstrated here, chess is not all about grabbing material. Sure, that often times leads to an advantage, but milk that advantage to its greatest potential, like we saw here where Black dislocates the White Queen to an even worse place than it already was before grabbing the material.
• Always be on the lookout for tactical shots. Yes, Black won, but he had two chances to end the game a lot quicker with the temporary exchange sacrifice on c3.

That concludes this article. In the next week or two will be the fourth round of this tournament, which will be covered in the next edition of the French Connection, which will be the third of the trio of wins for Black in the French McCutcheon. Stay tuned for that! Till next time, good luck in your tournament games.

The French Connection: Volume 13

Hello and welcome to the thirteenth edition of The French Connection. Here, we will be looking at the second of three McCutcheons, and continuing coverage of the Potomac Open, a tournament I took part in during the third weekend of July in Rockville, Maryland, just northwest of Washington, DC.

In the previous edition, we saw White follow the main line through the first 10 moves, and then deviate. Here, we are going to see White deviate two moves earlier. We will be looking at what White's odd 9th move does from a theoretical perspective, and we will see two very important concepts. The first sees Black falling for an enticement tactic which lead to an advantage for White, but later on, we see White trying to get too cute, and surrenders his light-squared Bishop. As you might recall in the previous edition of the French Connection, we saw Black have total control of the light squares through the use of his central pawn chain. This time, we will see Bishops of opposite color on the board with the heavy pieces still in action, leading to an important concept on color complexes. We will see White have near total control of the dark squares while Black will have total domination over the light squares. Given the initial positioning of the Black pawns combined with the frequent surrendering of the Dark-Squared Bishop in the McCutcheon and Winawer Variations, along with the White central pawns occupying dark squares, this combination of dark-square domination by White and light-square domination by Black is nothing unusual in the French Defense.

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


Potomac Open, Round 2
W: Michael Kats (1921)
B: Patrick McCartney (2050)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 h6 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.bxc3 Ne4 8.Qg4 g6

Thus far, everything is identical to the previous McCutcheon game played in Kansas the previous weekend.

9.Bc1

This raises major question as to whether or not White can claim any kind of advantage. In Felgaer - Moskalenko, Barcelona 2005, White played 9.Be3, and had problems after losing the vital tempo. This move, 9.Bc1, can't be any better, especially in the 8...g6 lines. If Black played 8...Kf8, there might be more validity in preserving the Bishop, but here it's a waste of time.

9...c5 10.Bd3

10...Qa5?!

Accepting the pawn with 10...Nxc3 followed by 11...Qa5 is interesting, but even stronger is a concept that a McCutcheon player needs to know. When White does not pressure the Knight on e4 immediately, such as in the main line with 9.Bd3, when Black is forced to take on d2, he should take advantage of the fact that the Knight covers g5 and play 10...h5! 11.Qf4 g5! 12.Qf3 and then taking on c3 with 12...Nxc3 with a strong position.

11.Ne2! cxd4 12.Bxe4 dxe4 13.Qxe4 Nc6 14.Bf4 dxc3 15.O-O

15...Ne7!

Black realizes that e5 is well covered, and that there is no future for the Black Knight at d4 or b4, and nothing to really prevent on those squares, and so the Knight on c6 is actually a poorly placed piece, and so Black proceeds to relocate it to a better square on d5 or f5.

16.Be3

This is a sneaky move by White, enticing Black to do what he intended to do.

16...Nd5?!

And Black falls right into it. A Black Knight on d5 or f5 is much stronger than a Black Knight on c6. However, White's last move gets the Bishop out of the way of the f4-square for the Knight. White's idea is simple. He wants to keep his Knight on e2 until Black decides to put the Knight on d5 or f5, and then White immediately wants to set the stage to trade the Knights off, and so if the Black Knight goes to d5, White will play Nf4, and if it goes to f5, White will play Nd4. So both side need to try to keep their Knight in place in Mexican Standoff fashion. Try to make the other player move his Knight first.

That said, the downside to White's 16th move is that it weakens the pawn on e5, and so Black should have played 16...Bd7! here where 17.Qxb7 can be answered by 17...Bc6 followed by 18...Qxe5, regaining the pawn with a slightly better position.

17.Nf4! Nxf4 18.Qxf4 Bd7 19.Qf6 Rh7 20.Bxh6

Much stronger would be for White to realize that with the Opposite Colored Bishops and all the heavy pieces, this is a case where White is primed for an attack on the dark squares. It also doesn't help that Black's h7-Rook is out of play while the a8-Rook is undeveloped and the Black King is still in the center. The move 20.Rad1! is very strong, and Black doesn't have time to be grabbing pawns as 20...Qxh2?? leads to fatal consequences on the dark squares after 21.Bc5!!.

With the move in the game, White has to be very careful. He will win an exchange, but his Queen will be out of play, and the light squares around the White King will be very weak.

20...Rxh6 21.Qg7 Rh5 22.Qg8+ Ke7 23.Qxa8 Qxe5

24.g3??

Out of the four legitimate moves here, this has got to be by far the worst of the four moves. Black has total control of the light squares. The last thing that White can afford to do is weaken the light squares even more. 24.f4 is also bad because of 24...Qe3+. That said, the other two moves draw.

1. 24.h3 Rxh3 25.gxh3 Qg5+ 26.Kh2 Qf4+ 27.Kg2 Bc6+ 28.f3 Qg5+ 29.Kh1 Qg3 30.Qxa7 Qxh3+ 31.Kg1 Qg3+ 32.Kh1 Qh3+ is a draw.
2. 24.h4 Bc6 25.Rad1 Qa5 26.Qb8 Rxh4 27.Rfe1 Kf6 28.Qf8 Qh5 29.Rxe6+ Kxe6 30.Rd6+ Kf5 31.Qxf7+ Kg5 32.Qe7+ Kh6 33.Qf8+ Kh7 34.Qe7+ Kh6 is also a draw.

24...Bc6 25.Rad1

White threatens mate in one, but Black was prepared for this, and takes the time to get the Queen off of both the back rank and the light squares.

25...Rh8! 26.Qxa7

The Queen will prove useless here as there is nothing she can do about the light squares around her majesty.

26...Rxh2!!

The final nail in the coffin. There is nothing that White can do to stop Black's attack on the light squares. Of course, White can't take the Rook as it's mate in two for Black starting with 27...Qh8+ (or 27...Qh5+).

27.Qa3 Kf6

Now there is absolutely nothing that White can do. When the light squares are a major problem, and an out of play Queen on a dark square does little to cover the light squares near to King.

28.f4 Rg2+ 0-1

It's mate on the next move, and so White Resigned.

The following ideas should be picked up from this game:

• Remember this idea of ...h5 and ...g5 against the Queen on g4 if White has not taken or forced away the Knight from e4.
• Be aware of enticement tactics, and take the time to figure out if your opponent has a strong move before just assuming an outpost for your pieces.
• Initiative is critical when in a middlegame with opposite colored bishops and/or having total control of a particular color complex.
• When you are weak on either the dark squares or light squares, do everything you can to avoid making those squares even weaker.

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

Game Analysis: Potomac Open, Round 1

Hello everyone. Those that have read my article on the first round of the Kansas Open know that I took a week-and-a-half long vacation to attend two tournaments. The Kansas Open in Lenexa, KS and the Potomac Open in Rockville, MD. Here, we will be looking at the first round of what was the second of the two tournaments. The first round of the Potomac Open went in very similar fashion to the first round of the Kansas Open. A very positional, grind it out type of game with a fairly lengthy endgame. In this particular game, errors are made by both sides, but in the end, it is Black that makes the fatal move.

The themes to be on the lookout for are positional decision making in the middle game along with two endgame themes, the tempo game and zugzwang. Without further ado, let's see what happened in the game.


Potomac Open, Round 1
W: Patrick McCartney (2050)
B: Jay Lalwani (1879)
Catalan

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.O-O O-O 6.d4

Through a slightly unusual move order, we directly transpose into a Catalan, normally reached via a Nimzo-Indian mover order (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.O-O) or a Queen's Gambit Declined move order (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O). With the move order played, the Open Catalan (4...dxc4) is avoided. Black can take on c4, but without d4 played, we reach Reti territory instead of the Catalan. This leaves Black with the option of the Closed Catalan (6...c6) or the Semi-Open Catalan (6...dxc4). Black goes with the former.

6...c6 7.Qc2 Nbd7 8.Rd1 Ne4

This move is not very good for Black. At first glance, it looks like Black is attempting to transition the position into a Stonewall Dutch if he were to play a future ...f5. The main problem is that while the Dutch Stonewall was played over half a decade ago with the Bishop developed to e7, it has since been determined that the more modern idea of putting the Bishop on the active d6 rather than placing it passively on e7 is more accurate, and so a transposition to the Stonewall Dutch here would give White a small but lasting positional advantage.

Instead, Black should try to complete his development rather than lash out with already developed pieces. Similar to the issues in the French, Queen's Gambit Declined, and Stonewall Dutch, Black is dealing with a bad light-squared Bishop. The best idea here for Black is to fianchetto the light-squared Bishop with 8...b6, intending 9...Bb7, and getting in a timely ...c5 push, often preceded by developing the Rook to c8. It is well known that in the Catalan, White's light-squared Bishop is the most dangerous minor piece. If Black can neutralize this piece by contesting the same diagonal, open up the position to eliminate his space disadvantage, and release tension at the right time, Black can defuse any attack White imagined having and a symmetrical endgame with open c- and d-files is not uncommon. Like most symmetrical positions, because White goes first, he will have a slight, nagging advantage, but with correct play, Black should be able to hold the position without much issue.

9.Nc3

Often times in the Catalan, White has to develop the Knight on the more passive d2-square, or else spend time to play b3 before placing the Knight on c3. The reason for this is the c4-pawn would suddenly become unprotected. However, with the Knight on e4, Black can't take the pawn as the Knight would hang.

9...Nxc3 10.Qxc3

So Black spent two moves getting the Knight to e4 versus White taking one move to go to c3, and then Black initiates the trade on c3, which White recaptures with the Queen. Therefore, since the Queen might not be best placed on c3, it can be argued whether White gained two tempi or only one tempo, but either way, that's at minimum one tempo lost by Black in the long run. Another reason why 8...Ne4 should be considered inferior to 8...b6.

10...Bf6

Best here is still 10...b6, against which White's best move would be to return the Queen to c2, and hence gaining only one tempo.

11.Bf4

White correctly ignores the pin on d4, which is meaningless, and instead focuses on control of e5.

11...c5

White has a very strong, positional advantage here. His Rooks are connected with one of them already developed to the two main files in the Catalan (c- and d-). Black's Rooks are both passive and his Bishop and Queen are undeveloped. If White does nothing fancy and just continues to improve his position, he will have an advantage. However, there is absolutely no need to take a tactical approach to the position.

12.cxd5?

There are two simple ideas for White:

1. The positional approach would be to play 12.Be5 Nxe5 13.dxe5 Be7 14.Qc2 with 15.e3 to come to contest d4 and White has a space advantage thanks to the pawn wedge on e5 and given the nature of the position, the Bishop pair is nothing to shout home about, and does not offset Black's lack of space or development. He would also have to watch out for Kingside attacks.
2. Also good is the simple 12.e3 where after 12...b6 13.Bd6 Re8 14.Ne5 Bb7 (14...Nf8? 15.dxc5 and White is already winning) 15.Rac1 Nxe5 16.dxe5 Qxd6 17.exd6 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Rad8 19.cxd5, White is to be preferred.

12...cxd4 13.Qc7

The lesser evil was 13.Qc2 e5 14.Bd2 Qe7 with equality.

13...exd5?

This simply leads to an inferior pawn structure for Black. Instead, Black should play 13...e5! when 14.Qxd8 Rxd8 15.Bg5 Bxg5 16.Nxg5 Nb6 is better for Black.

14.Qxd8 Rxd8 15.Nxd4 Nb6 16.Bc7

Once again, an inaccurate decision by White on how to take advantage of a better position. White's idea is obvious. Double the pawns and bank on the better pawn structure. However, instead of taking the Knight to create a wrecked pawn structure, White should put the question to the Knight with 16.b3, questioning Black as to where he thinks that Knight on b6 is going, or what it could possibly do on b6.

16...Rd7 17.Bxb6 axb6 18.Rac1 Rd8 19.a3 Be6

This move is too passive. Black should play 19...Bg4, threatening to win a pawn with 20...Bxd4 followed by 21...Bxe2. This would force White to weaken his Kingside with a move like 20.f3 or 20.h3 to make progress, giving Black a target to play with.

20.e3

Stronger is 20.Rc7 where Black can passively defend b7 with 20...Rab8 or else if Black tries to contest the c-file with 20...Rac8, White can win a pawn after 21.Nxe6 fxe6 22.Rxb7.

20...Rac8 21.b4 Bxd4 22.exd4 Kf8 23.Bf3 Ke7 24.Kg2 Kd6 25.Be2 Ra8 26.Rc3 Rdc8 27.Rdc1 Rxc3 28.Rxc3

28...Rc8?!

White has the advantage in the Bishop ending. Instead, 28...Bd7! is completely equal and a draw could be agreed to right then and there. Black virtually paralyzes White. He completely controls a4, stopping the a-pawn from advancing, and therefore the White Rook is tied down to covering a3. In addition, all entry points on the c-file are covered, and so White isn't coming in anytime soon.

29.Rxc8 Bxc8 30.Bd3 h6 31.Kf3 g5

32.Ke3

It should first be noted that with perfect play by both sides, this game is probably a draw, despite Black's doubled b-pawns or the fact that Black's d-pawn is on the color square of the Bishops. That said, if White wants to dream of winning, he has to play this position very delicately. I have mentioned before, and I will mention again, that computers can rarely be trusted for the best move, and especially in the opening or in an endgame of more than 6 pieces total. Most computers have table bases for 5-piece and 6-piece endgames. However, we have 16 pieces still on the board. An example of inferior analysis by a computer is that of Shredder, the engine used when in analysis mode on chess.com, recommends 32.g4 for White, and claims that White is better. However, that is not the case. 32.g4 creates a well-known blocking pattern. When two sets of pawns block each other three files apart from identical ranks, such as the White and Black pawns on d4 and d5 paired up with a set of White and Black pawns on g4 and g5, it creates a complete barrier for both Kings. The only entry would be on the Queenside, and either player can shut that door with push of their b-pawn. Therefore, despite the bot saying that White's better after 32.g4, that move would merely create an immediate draw. Black should never take any White pawn that goes to f4 or h4. He can merely guard the g-pawn, and he will always have that pawn on g5, and using the Bishop and King to guard d5, White would never break through. Therefore, the move played was to see what Black does while the position is still somewhat mobile.

32...f6

Black cannot afford to advance 32...g4 himself as then White breaks through with 33.Kf4, winning.

33.Kf3 Bd7 34.Bg6

White's idea is to swing the Bishop around to g4, forcing a decision from Black, and trying to entice the f-pawn to advance.

34...Be6 35.Bh5 Bd7 36.Bg4

Now Black has to make a crucial decision. He cannot trade Bishops here as the White King will get in and win at minimum the h-pawn. He also can't allow White to trade Bishops on d7. Therefore, he either has to move the Bishop off the diagonal, which helps White gain control of the light squares, or else advance f5, going right into White's script. Again, this shouldn't be fatal for Black, but gives Black one more thing to think about.

36...f5 37.Bh5 Ke7 38.Ke3 Kd6 39.Be2 Be8 40.Bd3 Bd7 41.Kf3

White should probably think about 41.b5 here, not allowing Black to play 41...b5 himself.

41...Be6

This move allows White to come in to b5 with the Bishop instead of the pawn. Still not losing yet for Black, but why allow White to create more headaches?

42.Bb5 Bd7

I don't agree with trading the Bishops from Black's perspective. Just waiting and playing a more passive move like 42...Bf7 was probably better.

43.Bxd7 Kxd7

Now is when accuracy by both players is at its most crucial stage.

44.Ke3?

To maintain winning chances, White needs to play 44.b5, stopping any b5-advance by Black. It also buys White a tempo that he can use at any point in time via moving his a-pawn. When it comes to King and Pawn endgames, often times having a single tempo gained or the ability to waste a single tempo can often be vital in deciding a win versus a draw or in some cases, a win versus a loss!

44...Ke6?

Black draws instantly with 44...b5, and 44...Kc6 probably works as well, but 44...b5 is the simpler move to execute.

45.h3?

Once again, White needs to play 45.b5 first.

45...Kf6?

And once again Black can shut the door on all hopes of a White win with 45...b5!

46.b5

Finally! This does not sew up the win. Black still has to error for White to win, but it eliminates the instant draw that Black had the previous two moves.

46...Ke6 47.Kd3

Once again, all moves here should draw except one more that loses for White, but this allows an instant draw opportunity to Black. Better might be 47.Kf3, keeping tension, and make sure that Black knows to stand pat and just toggle the King.

The move 47.h4?? actually loses for White! After 47...f4+ 48.Kf3 fxg3 49.fxg3 gxh4 50.gxh4 Kf5 and White is busted!

47...Kd6

47...g4! draws on the spot. Both 48.h4 f4 49.gxf4 Kf5 50.Ke3 Kg6 and 48.hxg4 fxg4 49.f3 Kf5 50.Ke3 h5 51.fxg4+ Kxg4 52.Kf2 lead to only a draw for White, and all other moves lose!

48.Kc3 Ke6

48...g4 again ends White's hopes at a win!

49.Kb4 Kd6

Yet another missed opportunity at 49...g4 with a draw.

50.a4 Kc7

And yet again 50...g4 draws.

51.a5

This is now officially Black's final opportunity. He can take on a5 first if he wants because it's with check, but now he needs to play g4, either with or without the pawn trade on a5.

51...Kc8??

Now Black is lost!

52.axb6 Kd7 53.Kc5 Ke6

White To Move And Win

54.g4!

Ironically enough, the move that Black had numerous chances to draw with is the only move that wins for White here. Because the d5-pawn takes away the c4-square for the White King, there is no way for White to triangulate and to lose a tempo. Therefore, White must find a move that will lock the position of all the pawns with White himself making the last move so that it will be Black that is forced to move the King. Other moves fail.

1. 54.h4 gxh4! (Not 54...g4? 55.h5! and White wins) 55.gxh4 f4 and no matter which pawn White moves, Black moves the other pawn and White then must move the King.
2. 54.f4 h5! and now 55.fxg5?? h4 wins for Black while 55.h4 g4 once again White must move the King and a draw results.
3. 54.f3 h5! and now 55.g4 is forced as both 55.h4?? f4 and 55.f4?? h4 are winning for Black! After 55.g4, Black draws after 55...hxg4 56.hxg4 f4 and once again, White is the player on move and must move his King, allowing the draw.

54...f4

54...fxg4 55.hxg4 doesn't solve Black's problem either. He will have to move the King and White grabs the d5-pawn.

55.f3

Now it's Black that has to move the King and the d-pawn falls. White will win by stalemating the Black King and force advancement of the h-pawn leading to mate upon promotion.

55...Ke7 56.Kxd5 Kd7 57.Ke5 Ke7 58.d5 Kd7 59.d6 Kd8 60.Ke6 Ke8 61.d7+ Kd8 62.Kd6 h5 63.gxh5 1-0

It's unstoppable mate in three, and so Black resigned.

So the following ideas should be learned from this game:

• In the middle game, when you have the advantage in the form of a lead in development and a number of positional trumps, there is no reason to rush the issue and get into a tactical mess. Oversights such as Black's opportunity to play 13...e5 can often result. Fortunately for White, Black missed this!
• When it comes to endgames, and especially Pawn endgames, it is often critical to play for the extra tempo. The ability to "waste a move" is often critical. There are numerous positions in endgames where whoever is to move wins, or if one player is to move, he wins, but if the other player is to move, it's a draw. However, there are a few rare cases where being on the move is bad. There are cases of reciprocal zugzwang, where whoever is to move loses, or slightly more common is a case like we saw in this game where once it gets to the point where only the Kings could move, if Black is to move, he loses, but if White is to move, he only gets a draw. So you can't always look at every position from the "positive" or "forward going" perspective. Sometimes you actually want to force your opponent to move, which is the main theme of the zugzwang tactic, where any move is detrimental to your position, and if you could "pass", you would draw rather than lose, or win rather than draw (or lose). The easiest way to achieve this is to have a move in your pocket that you can make to lose a tempo. In the game, it came in the form of f2-f3 for White, but this could happen on either side of the board. Had the White pawn still been on a3, White could lose a tempo by moving it to a4, hence why you don't want to waste moves like that earlier in the game unless you absolutely have to in order to stop the opponent from conducting a fatal attack or winning material.

Well, that concludes this article. Good luck in all of your games.

Reverse Angle 87

Charlotte Chess Center's 87th Reverse Angle tournament featured a packed house of 66 players.  They were competing in three sections (Top, Under 1800, Under 1400) for the always guaranteed cash prize fund of $850.

USCF Rating Report


Top Section
As always, the championship section was a strong one, with Daniel "9:59am" Cremisi (2413), Emmanuel "sup bruh" Carter (2259), Neo "the matrix" Zhu (2211), Klaus "octogenarian" Pohl (2208), and Mark "outgoing state champ" Biernacki (2189) entering as the top seeds.

Daniel Cremisi and Neo Zhu performed clean sweeps, earning $125 each.  Vishnu "hi" Vanapalli (1960) and Donald "check!" Johnson (1859), each with 2-1, split the Under 2000 prize ($25 each).

SwissSys Standings. CCCSA: Reverse Angle 87: TOP

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Daniel Cremisi	2413	W12	W5	W4	3.0	125.00
2	Neo Zhu	2211	W14	W18	W8	3.0	125.00
3	Alain Morais	2092	W16	D8	W10	2.5
4	Klaus Pohl	2208	W15	W6	L1	2.0
5	Patrick Sciacca	2077	W7	L1	W15	2.0
6	Vishnu Vanapalli	1960	W20	L4	W17	2.0	25.00
7	Donald Johnson	1859	L5	W14	W18	2.0	25.00
8	Emmanuel Carter	2259	W13	D3	L2	1.5
9	Mark Biernacki	2189	H---	W11	---	1.5
10	Daniel Tanco	2059	D17	W19	L3	1.5
11	Aditya Shivapooja	1975	D19	L9	D13	1.0
12	James Dill	1939	L1	D17	D16	1.0
13	Annastasia Wyzywany	1909	L8	D16	D11	1.0
14	Arya Kumar	1895	L2	L7	W19	1.0
15	Luke Harris	1892	L4	W20	L5	1.0
16	Carson Cook	1872	L3	D13	D12	1.0
17	Rohan Iyer	1839	D10	D12	L6	1.0
18	Robert Moore	1700	B---	L2	L7	1.0
19	Sreyas Adiraju	1798	D11	L10	L14	0.5
20	Gilbert Holmes	1793	L6	L15	---	0.0

Under 1800
The competitive U1800 section featured 25 players, including top seeds Andrew "plain pasta" Chen (1758), Mike "and Ike" Miller (1723) and Patrick "go ravens" Kengsoontra (1722).

Andrew Chen, Patrick Kengsoontra, and Terry Maskin (1690) all scored perfect 3/3, good for $75 each.  Antara Durbha (1446) scored 2.5 points, earning $50 for the Under 1600 prize.

SwissSys Standings. CCCSA: Reverse Angle 87: Under 1800

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Andrew Chen	1758	W9	W14	W5	3.0	75.00
2	Patrick Kengsoontra	1722	W11	W8	W6	3.0	75.00
3	Terry Maskin	1690	W18	W17	W7	3.0	75.00
4	Antara Durbha	1446	H---	W15	W13	2.5	50.00
5	Ojas Panda	1650	W12	W20	L1	2.0
6	Arav Goldstein	1625	W19	W22	L2	2.0
7	Asha Kumar	1621	W25	W13	L3	2.0
8	Pranav Swarna	1565	W21	L2	W18	2.0
9	Andrew Zeng	1492	L1	W19	W20	2.0
10	Paige Cook	1488	L13	W25	W21	2.0
11	RJ Raynoe	1468	L2	W24	W14	2.0
12	Jacob Grinberg	1452	L5	W16	W17	2.0
13	Michael Miller	1723	W10	L7	L4	1.0
14	Jaiden Chuang	1600	W24	L1	L11	1.0
15	Danny Cropper	1587	L22	L4	W24	1.0
16	Grisham Paimagam	1580	L20	L12	W22	1.0
17	Triya Venkataraja	1552	W23	L3	L12	1.0
18	Ethan Liu	1457	L3	W23	L8	1.0
19	Saanchi Sampath	1445	L6	L9	W25	1.0
20	William Merritt	1420	W16	L5	L9	1.0
21	Gautam Kapur	1379	L8	B---	L10	1.0
22	Sanjit Pilli	1330	W15	L6	L16	1.0
23	Debs Pedigo	1327	L17	L18	H---	0.5
24	Sampath Kumar	1444	L14	L11	L15	0.0
25	Venkat Shanmugavadivel	1436	L7	L10	L19	0.0

Under 1400
The 21-player U1400 section was led by rating favourites AJ "ace jack" Miller (1317), Jacob "jake" Stoll (1317) and Aditya "no nickname available" Krishna (1315).


Smayan "lil smay" Ammasani (1298), Lingaaaaaaaa Venkataraja (1194), and Senthil "10:17am" Muthusamy (1114) all scored 3-0, earning $92 each.

SwissSys Standings. CCCSA: Reverse Angle 87: Under 1400

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Smayan Ammasani	1298	W8	W6	W5	3.0	91.67
2	Lingaa Venkataraja	1194	W21	W9	W4	3.0	91.67
3	Senthil Muthusamy	1114	W18	W13	W14	3.0	91.67
4	AJ Miller	1317	W16	W7	L2	2.0
5	Sahith Tanuboddi	1189	W10	W17	L1	2.0
6	Rocky Sun	1063	W11	L1	W13	2.0
7	PJ Liotino	1021	W14	L4	W15	2.0
8	Samarth Kedari	1010	L1	W19	W16	2.0
9	Henry Nguyen	932	W19	L2	W21	2.0
10	Ellen Rosenfeld	932	L5	B---	H---	1.5
11	Jason Colomb	927	L6	W20	H---	1.5
12	Ankit Durbha	703	H---	L14	W20	1.5
13	Jacob Stoll	1317	W20	L3	L6	1.0
14	Aditya Krishna	1315	L7	W12	L3	1.0
15	Rudransh Tyagi	1253	L17	W18	L7	1.0
16	Rishi Nair	1054	L4	W21	L8	1.0
17	Meet Doshi	984	W15	L5	---	1.0
18	Pranava Kumar	963	L3	L15	B---	1.0
19	Rishi Jasti	1115	L9	L8	H---	0.5
20	Hemadithya Pujari	1041	L13	L11	L12	0.0
21	Aaryan Pujari	968	L2	L16	L9	0.0

Upsets - 150 points or  more
Under 1400, Round 3 - Ankit Durbha (703) def. Hemadithya Pujari (1041) - 338 points
Under 1400, Round 1 - PJ Liotino (1021) def. Aditya Krishna (1315) - 294 points
Under 1800, Round 3 - Antara Durbha (1446) def. Michael Miller (1723) - 277 points
Under 1400, Round 1 - Meet Doshi (981) def. Rudransh Tyagi (1253) - 269 points
Under 1800, Round 1 - Sanjit Pilli (1330) def. Danny Cropper (1587) - 257 points
Under 1400, Round 3 - Rocky Sun (1063) def. Jacob Stoll (1317) - 254 points
Under 1400, Round 3 - PJ Liotino (1021) def. Rudransh Tyagi (1253) - 232 points
Under 1400, Round 2 - Senthil Muthusamy (1114) def. Jacob Stoll (1317) - 203 points
Under 1400, Round 3 - Senthil Muthusamy (1114) def. Aditya Krishna (1315) - 201 points
Under 1400, Round 1 - Henry Nguyen (932) def. Rishi Jasti (1115) - 183 points
Under 1800, Round 1 - William Merritt (1420) def. Grisham Paimagam (1580) - 160 points


Until next time,
NTD IA IO FI CM Grant Oen

The French Connection: Volume 12

Hello and welcome to the twelfth edition of The French Connection. Those of you that have read Part Four of the French Repertoire back in the fall of 2017 will know that I heavily covered the McCutcheon Variation (Click Here to view that article). That said, we have yet to see this line in The French Connection series. That will all change now as we will be seeing it here as well as the following two editions of The French Connection, each featuring different lines and different attempts at attack by White, but we will also see that Black ends up successful every time, and so the near future will be a treat for McCutcheon fans.

In the current edition, we will see White following the absolute main line through the first 10 moves, but then try to play something unusual at move 11, and what we will be seeing in this edition is a display of just enough defense to survive an early sacrificial attack by White which will include the Black King going for a walk. Once the Black King is safe, we will see what Black needs to do when facing passed pawns along with the concept of multiple weaknesses and overworking of the White pieces, particularly the White Queen.

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


Kansas Open, Round 4
W: Cub Rollin-Lloyd Noble (1752)
B: Patrick McCartney (2050)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 h6 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.bxc3 Ne4 8.Qg4 g6 9.Bd3 Nxd2 10.Kxd2 c5

So what we have here is the absolute main line of the 8...g6 variation (Black could also have played 8...Kf8 = you can find this in many of Korchnoi's games) of the French McCutcheon. Note that Black's last move is absolutely necessary for two reasons. One is that the Black King will suffocate without it as White will sacrifice a piece, likely the Bishop, on g6 and the King will have nowhere to run. The other is that Black must immediately chip at White's center. With the White King on d2, Black would ideally like to get his King castled to the Queenside and have the center broken open. Obviously this isn't going to come easy to Black, but that's the idea.

11.Nh3

This move is extremely odd. Two other moves are far more common:

1. 11.h4 Nc6 12.Nf3 (or 12.Qf4 cxd4 13.cxd4 Qa5+ 14.c3 b6 15.Qf6 Rg8 16.Ne2 Ba6 17.Bxa6 Qxa6 18.h5 Rc8 with a decent position for Black, Cespedes - Moskalenko, Catalunya 2008) and now Black has a choice between the same idea as after 12.Qf4, trading on d4 and playing for ...Qa5 and ...Ba6, or executing Korchnoi's idea and closing the center with 12...c4 13.Be2 Bd7 14.Qf4 Qe7 and now we see the main reason behind being willing to weaken the Kingside with 8...g6. Black plans to castle Queenside next, and in the game Panov - Korchnoi, Leningrad 1953, after 15.Qf6 O-O-O, Black went on to win.
2. 11.Nf3 Qc7. (It should be noted that Black should alter course if White plays an early Nf3 and avoid 11...Nc6 because of 12.dxc5. White will set up a blockade with Qf4 and Nd4 and relying on play down the b-file.) Black's idea here is really sneaky. After the standard moves by White, 12.h4 cxd4 (Black should trade pawns here before putting the Knight on c6 for the same reason as the previous move) 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.Qf4, Black can take advantage of the pin on the e5-pawn and play 14...f5!, completely stopping White in his tracks.
3. It should be noted that 11.dxc5 is no good for White. Black has not committed his Knight to c6 yet, and the move 11...Nd7! is very strong here with already a small advantage for Black and we are only 11 moves into the game!

So now when we encounter an unusual move, we need to think to ourselves what White might be after. We see in just about all the normal lines that White advances his h-pawn to build up an attack on Black's softened Kingside, and eventually, at a time when both ...g5 and ...gxh5 are not good for Black, White wants to play h5. Here, the h-pawn is blocked, and in order to advance it, White will have to move the Knight again. Playing for f2-f4-f5 does not appear to make much sense here, and so it is presumed that White will be moving his Knight to f4 in the near future, with possibly the idea of trying to sacrifice the Knight instead of the Bishop on either e6 or g6. Outside of this idea, 11.Nh3 makes no sense, and so Black's plan must incorporate this idea for White.

11...Nc6

White's last move does nothing to cover d4 or e5, and particularly the latter makes any fears of dxc5 a complete non-issue, and so Black can proceed with normal development and chip away at White's center.

12.Bb5

It is not usually a wise idea to trade away this Bishop for the Black Knight. Yes, it looks like a Good Knight vs Bad Bishop scenario, but that Bad Bishop sets up a very strong light-squared blockade, and with White's dark-squared Bishop gone, Black has little to worry about a dark-square attack. With this Knight gone, Black will shift his focus from attacking d4 to attacking the weak pawns on the c-file along with possibilities of getting the King out of dodge and expanding on the Kingside himself! It is not common for Black to execute play on that side of the board, but when White does something weird, sometimes it is best answered with something weird because that "weird" thing is not possible against the "norm", but White abandoned the "norm" and so other things become possible for Black!

Now we also know pretty much for certain that the Nf4 idea mentioned prior is White's goal with 11.Nh3.

Also note that 12.dxc5 is still no good here. After 12...Nxe5!, we do have to watch out for the pin with 13.Qd4, and realize that there is nothing to fear because after 13...f6, the move 14.Nf4 is ineffective as everything is easily covered, and in order to dislodge the Black Knight from e5, White must play 14.f4, occupying the square the Knight would like to go to, and after 14...Nxd3 15.cxd3, Black gets a slight advantage with 15...O-O! (Once again, we meet the odd with the odd - Black almost never castles Kingside, and I think in all the McCutcheon games that I have ever played, I have literally castled Kingside one time at Foxwoods back in 2004 - a game which I also won.)

12...Bd7 13.Bxc6 Bxc6 14.Nf4

Now we have a similar situation to that of Black's 12th move in The French Connection, Volume 10. We obviously must consider two glaring moves by White. 15.Nxg6 and 15.Nxe6. So here, let's pretend it is White to move. We can easily eliminate the first option as 15.Nxg6?? Rg8 immediately wins a piece for Black as there are no tricks here for White, such as counter-attacking the Black Queen with the Knight to be able to move the pinned piece. So this move can be ruled out. This leaves 15.Nxe6. The way things stand right now, this should not be a scare for Black. After 15.Nxe6 fxe6 16.Qxe6+, Black can safely interpose with 16...Qe7, and after 17.Qxg6+ Kd7, Black is perfectly safe, and to avoid the Queen trade next move, White would have to play 18.f4, but then 18...Rag8 19.Qf5+ Kc7 and Black is perfectly fine. Black can also answer 15.Nxe6 with 15...Qc8 with a fatal pin on the Knight. So as things stand right now, neither is a threat.

However, this is all fine and good if this was all White could do, and sitting back and doing nothing would solve all of Black's problems. That just isn't the case. White can advance the h-pawn to h4, lift the Rook to h3, and bring it into the attack as well. Also, Black must watch out for an eventual h5 by White, and also when the Rook comes into play to aid the Queen, many of these pins that we rely on just don't work. So Black can't sit back. So now we take the question a step further. What do we do as Black? Well, one possibility, and not a bad one, just not what was played in the game, is to continue to chip at White's center with 14...cxd4, because again, no threat by White is fatal to Black right now. After 15.cxd4, Black is looking at attacking down the c-file with moves like ...Rc8 and ...Ba4, in some order. If we can't find anything else for Black, this is likely what I would have played.

Let's take a look at a more adventurous possibility. In our lines of defense against 15.Nxg6 and 15.Nxe6, what did we need to do? Against 15.Nxg6, we had to make sure that either our Queen was covering the King, so a conservative move like 14...Qe7 should be ok as we just grab the Knight and go to d7 with the King. If the Queen is away not guarding the King or if the Queen is passive, like on d8, we have to make sure that a Knight from g6 is not attacking our Queen, and that it can't move to a square that would then attack our Queen or King, and in this case, our fatal pin with 15...Rg8 still works.

But what about 15.Nxe6? Let's say the Black Queen abandons the area. Should we fear 15.Nxe6? For this, let's just mentally assume the Black Queen wasn't there, but that we are not down material. Here, after 15.Nxe6, we can play the move 15...h5 if we want, which White can then play 16.Qh3 and force the same question, does 16...fxe6 17.Qxe6+ hurt us, or if the Queen were to go elsewhere, in which case after taking the Knight, we have to watch out for Qxg6+. Well, clearly we don't want to respond to either check with ...Kf8 as our King is too exposed. We also can never figure to go to d7 as ...Kd7 wouldn't even be legal against Qe6+ and against a Queen check on g6, going to d7 leads to a fatal fork with Qg7+, dropping the Rook on h8. Therefore, all Queen checks by White will result in us playing ...Kd8. From there, a check on d6 we can run to c8 with our King and our King is getting away. Instead, after Qf6, forking our King and Rook, we must lift our King up to c7 (again, Kd7 leads to the fatal Qg7+ fork), and now we see what our King is going to do. If we left the b6-square open for the King to run, we can hide on a6. If White answers Kc7 with a Rook to b1, we have time to get the a8-Rook out to e8, guarding the e6-pawn, and we see now why our Bishop on c6 is so strong, locking a dead bolt on any attacks against d5 or b7. Therefore, we do not need our Queen for defense provided that we do not put her on the b-file, prone to attack by a White Rook, and that we keep the c7 and b6 squares open. Therefore, we have now determined what our 14th move is.

14...Qa5!!

Making the absolute most out of our resources without getting our King killed!

15.Nxe6 h5 16.Qg5 fxe6 17.Qxg6+ Kd8

Once again, as mentioned prior, the only move as 17...Kf8 exposes the King too much and 17...Kd7?? loses on the spot to 18.Qg7+

18.Qf6+ Kc7 19.Qe7+ Kb6 20.Rab1+

Another idea that Black had to consider back on move 14 was 20.Rhb1+ Ka6 21.a4, with the idea that if Black did nothing, like 21...h4, that he would play 22.Rb5+ and Black can't play 22...Bxb5 because after 23.axb5+ Kxb5 (23...Kb6 24.Qxc5#) he is mated in 3 moves. That said, Black has 2 resources to get out of this. The first is that he doesn't have to take the Rook, and can play 21...h4 22.Rb5+ Qd8!. Stronger, however, is 21...Raf8 where now 22.Rb5 doesn't work because of 22...Rxf2+ 23.Ke3 (23.Kd3 c4+) Qxc3+ 24.Kxf2 Qxd4+ 25.Ke2 (25.Ke1 Qxa1+; 25.Kf1 Qxa1+; 25.Kf3 Rg8!) Qxe5+ 26.Kd2 Qd4+ 27.Ke2 Qxa1 and Black's winning.

20...Ka6

And on move 14, this was literally the position I envisioned (or possibly with the Rooks on a1 and b1 rather than b1 and h1). The hard part was figuring out whether or not White had anything better that made this position impossible to reach. We now see the importance of Black's supposed "Bad Bishop" on c6. It literally holds Black's position together. Now all Black really has to do is watch out for tricks on b5, and make sure b7 is amply covered. Otherwise, he can now do operations on the Kingside.

21.Rb3 Rhe8

The more adventurous 21...Rae8 also works, but the idea behind doing it with the h-Rook is that Black is ok with dropping the weak h-pawn, which would give White 3 pawns for the piece. That said, we still have every heavy piece on the board, and so advancing these passers will be very difficult to achieve. If this were an endgame, it would be much more of a problem for Black. Instead, Black wants to keep the other Rook to go to d8 if the White Queen tries to settle on d6, or if she tries to trade off on c5, which after the d-pawn is removed from d4, Black will put a Rook on d8 and advance the d-pawn, going after the White King.

22.Qh4

White goes after Black's h-pawn, but all pressure on b7 is gone. Hence Black's next move.

22...Ba4

This move serves many purposes. The first is to force the Rook to move elsewhere. Note that if the Rook tries to go to a3, then Black has 23...c4 and 24...b5 and the Queen is then free to move, and the Rook is permanently stuck on a3 and basically out of the game, and so going there is not an option. However, this excellent move serves two additional purposes. The first is that it prevents any ideas of pushing a4 by White, and if White can't advance the a-pawn, and Black can plug up the b-file with an eventual b5, White will never break through. Now this wouldn't be so hot, as Black has to use his Bishop to do this, if the Bishop didn't serve a second purpose, but here it does. It attacks the weak c2-pawn. This wouldn't be the end of the world for White to relinquish if it weren't for the fact that Black dominates the light squares with his pawns. Giving up the back pawn of a set of doubled pawns is not the end of the world if you can get a bunch of passed Kingside pawns rolling. However, it's not the pawn that is White's issue, it is the Bishop entering into the game with fatal effects. If Black can get that Bishop to a square like e4, or even d3, it's likely lights out for White. So White is going to have to constantly babysit c2 while trying to operate on the Kingside. With all of this, White doesn't even have time to attack down the b-file even if he could!

23.Rb2 c4 24.Qh5 Qc7!

Black stops all entry points to the 7th rank for the White Queen. The Black heavy pieces are all going to come to the Kingside as there is no need for the Black Queen to babysit the King any more given the blockade Black has built. Note that there is no reason for Black to rush the push of the pawn to b5. Black can always use this as a waiting move if he needs to waste a tempo, and also, if there is no pressure on the b-file, and no way to harass the Bishop on a4, why waste time making a protective move that isn't necessary? Get on with the attack on the Kingside!

25.f4

Now we absolutely cannot allow an f5-push by White without major consequences. Last thing Black wants to do is give White an advanced, protected passer on the e-file.

25...Qg7

But as you will see, prevention is often executed via counter-attack. White can't let the g-pawn fall just to get in f5.

26.Qf3 Rg8

Keep on hitting that g-pawn, forcing it to advance, and hence weakening the light squares.

27.g3 Raf8

Getting the last piece into the game. Now we start getting into the theme of overworked pieces. White wants to get his Kingside rolling, but let's not forget that c2-pawn that has to be babied.

28.Ke3

Trying to use the King as an additional aid to the rolling of the pawns.

28...Qh7

No sir! You get back there and guard that c-pawn!

29.Kc2 Qh3

Immobilizing the White pawns. None of them can advance.

30.Ke3

So once again, White tries to activate the King. Black's idea now will take two moves, giving White one free move, but there is nothing White can do here.

30...Rh8

The start of a tactical mission by Black, using the concept of overworked pieces.

31.a3

Pretty much a waiting move, seeing nothing else productive to play. White can try something like 31.Kf2 or 31.Qf1, but it's really hard to advise a move that actually does anything. Black has a dominating position here and is already winning. It's a matter of technique.

31...Rfg8

Now we see Black with a really nasty threat of 32...Rxg3, winning a pawn and virtually eliminating the only trump for White, which is the connected passers. White can't protect the h1-Rook with 32.Rbb1 as then the c2-pawn goes and the Bishop invades. His Rook can't leave h1 as after something like 32.Rhb1, there is no threat on the Black King, and giving up b7 is a non-issue because of 32...Qxh2 with the fatal threat of 33...Rxg3. Therefore, White tries to use the King to add cover to g3.

32.Kf2 Qf5

And now if it isn't one thing, it's something else. Back to c2 we go. The fact that White has two weaknesses far apart, c2 and g3, is causing his defense to be stretched thin, and the key thing is that with long range pieces, Black can often attack both at the same time. White is now pretty much forced to give up the c-pawn as what happens in the game, trying to cover c2, fails tactically. Here is where we see that the White Queen is over-worked and she can't cover two things at one time, and she needs to as the King doesn't do the job on g3.

33.Qe2?

Probably the best thing White can do is play 33.h4 (or Resign!), but Black's attack is just way too fast after 33...Bxc2.

33...Rxg3!!

This is the straw the broke the Camel's back!

34.Kxg3 Rg8+ 35.Kf2

Nothing works here. 35.Kh4 is mate in 3 after 35...Qxf4+ 36.Kh3 Qh6+ 37.Qh5 Qxh5 while 35.Kf3 fails to 35...Qh3+ 36.Kf2 Rg2+ and Black will take the Queen followed by the c3-pawn. With the move played, Black will tactically get his Rook back after having gained multiple pawns.

35...Qxf4+ 36.Qf3 Qd2+ 37.Kf1

Or 37.Qe2 Rg2+, getting the Queen with check and White's position will continue to fall apart.

37...Qc1+ 38.Kf2 Qxb2

White can safely resign here, but he played it out all the way to checkmate.

39.Re1 Qxc2+ 40.Re2 Qd1 41.Qf7

Black had threatened mate with 41...Qg1, but the move played leads to mate or else the Queen being lost. 41.Re1 might have been the least of the evils, but with the position being -13 according to artificial intelligence, there really is nothing White can do here.

41...Qg1+ 42.Kf3 Qf1+ 43.Rf2

White can prolong the game by four moves by giving up the Queen, but after 43.Ke3 Qxf7 44.Rf2, Black has mate in 5.

43...Qd3+ 44.Kf4 Qe4# 0-1


Wow! That game was a hand full! Here's what should be gotten out of this game:

• When you encounter a strange move out of the opening (White's 11th move), ask yourself what his plan may be. Think about normal attacking themes in the opening being played, in this case White's normal desire to advance the h-pawn to soften the Black Kingside, and look for sacrifices, usually on g6, and to get at the Black King while he is slightly behind in development. In the game, we made sense out of White's 11th move, and planned accordingly.
• When your opponent plays something odd, do not just automatically play conceptual moves based on the main line. This is why it is critical to fully understand an opening when you study openings and not just memorize lines. Remember the phrase "Garbage in, Garbage out". Often times garbage must be answered with something that might look like garbage from you as it's not the "normal" theme in the opening you are playing, but White didn't play normal, so why should you?
• Calculate! Calculate! Calculate! That's what we did on Black's 14th move, and figured out a way to actively develop the Queen without getting our King killed. We figured out that the King needed the d8, c7, and b6 squares to escape, and while a move like 14...Qe7 would have been perfect fine, we went for a direct attack on White's center, forcing White to act quickly, which allowed us to escape with our King and then set up a barrier before shifting gears to the other side of the board.
• When executing prevention type measures, like we did with placing the Bishop on a4, first determine if we are doing anything else. If all we are doing is stopping the opponent from doing anything, and aren't tying them down to anything else, we are virtually down a piece, especially in this case because any Rb4 move by White would have resulted in a ...b5 push by Black, hemming in the a4-Bishop, and so White could move all his pieces to the other side of the board, and we'd be virtually playing down a few pawns. However, here it played the vital role of attacking the c2-weakness, and distracting White from doing other things as he constantly had to keep c2 covered.
• The theory of two weaknesses. It is usually fairly easy to cover a single weakness. With a single weakness, White would dispose of the idea of trying to win, and just permanently cover c2, and create a standoff. This is why the second weakness must be created, and the further away the weaknesses are, the better it is. In the game, once Black plugged up the Queenside and created the permanent weakness on c2, he proceeded to force White to weaken his pawn structure by forcing him to advance the g-pawn, putting all the pawns on dark squares and making the light squares weak. Black then used the concept of overworking the White pieces, forcing the h1-Rook to cover h2, the b2-Rook to cover c2, and the Queen to have to cover both g3 for tactical reasons along with c2. The Rooks became immobilized by their duties to cover a weakness each, and the Queen became overworked having to do two jobs at one time, and White's position eventually cracked.

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

The French Connection: Volume 11

Hello and welcome to the eleventh edition of The French Connection. Here, we are going to look at a game in a highly theoretical line of the King's Indian Attack versus the French. This is the first game in the series featuring the King's Indian Attack, and for those of you that have not read it previously, I reference you to my theoretical article on the KIA vs French from September 2017, which can be reached by clicking here

What we are going to look at here is a game where White tries to get away with not playing the theoretical move a3 and what Black should do in response to it. We will be looking at my Round 2 game played at the Kansas Open two weeks ago.


Kansas Open, Round 2
W: IM Michael Brooks (2375)
B: Patrick McCartney (2050)

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.g3 c5 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Ngf3 Be7 7.O-O O-O 8.Re1 b5 9.e5 Nd7 10.h4 a5 11.Nf1 Ba6

Whether Black plays 11...Ba6 and White plays one of his normal moves first, or if Black immediately goes for the 11...b4 and 12...a4 idea is typically just a transposition, and it's no different here.

That said, there is a model game by Fischer (Fischer - Myagmarsuren, Sousse Interzonal 1967) in the other line where Black's inferior play lead to him putting his f1-Knight on e3 instead of h2, but the more relevant thing about it is White's Kingside Attack. After 11...b4 12.Bf4 a4 13.a3 (the move we are going to look at omitting) bxa3 14.bxa3 Na5? (Better is to play the Rook to b8, possibly preceded by developing the Bishop to a6, and so something like 14...Ba6 15.N1h2 [or 15.Ne3] Rb8 16.Ng4 Nd4 17.h5 Nxf3+ 18.Qxf3 Qb6 with dynamic equality) 15.Ne3 Ba6 16.Bh3 d4 17.Nf1 Nb6 18.Ng5 Nd5 19.Bd2 Bxg5 20.Bxg5 Qd7 21.Qh5 Rfc8 22.Nd2 Nc3 23.Bf6 Qe8 24.Ne4 g6 25.Qg5 Nxe4 26.Rxe4 c4 27.h3 cxd3 28.Rh4 Ra7 29.Bg2 dxc2 30.Qh6 Qf8 31.Qxh7+ and Black Resigned as 31...Kxh7 32.hxg6+ is mate on the following move with either 33.Rh8 or 33.Be4, depending on Black's response.

12.N1h2 b4 13.Bf4 a4

This is the main theoretical position in this line. Here, it is thought that White should play 14.a3 in order to avoid 14...a3 by Black, which opens up the c3-square for a Knight to attack a2 and White is tied down to hold the a2-pawn and keep Black from creating a very dangerous passed pawn. Here, White ignores the threat.

14.Ng4

So White ignores the issue, but this also leads to a dilemma for Black. If you go strictly based on this supposed "theory", then 14...a3 screams to be played. At the same time, as also mentioned in the King's Indian Attack article from September, the early Ng4 also calls for 14...Nd4. Which should Black do?

14...a3

I played the automatic move. This move does not by any means lose, and against most other "non-a3" moves by White, it is probably best. That said, given White's response in the game, while this move may be "OK", it is a little better to execute the other idea. After 14...Nd4!, White has a major decision to make. If White trades on d4 or allows Black to trade on f3, White has one less piece to attack the Black King with. One of the downsides for Black in the KIA vs French is that he has four pieces, the Rook on a8, Bishop on a6, Knight on d7, and Knight on c6, that make no contribution to the defense of the Black King. Therefore, this is a major achievement for Black in that he has removed a potential attacker of the Black King in return for the removal of one of the four Black pieces that was making no contribution to the defense of his master. If White avoids the trade, Black can also place his d4-Knight on f5, adding another contributor to the defense of his own King. An example of a line that could result from this stronger move could be 15.c4 (viewed as best by Shredder) 15...bxc3 16.bxc3 Nxf3+ followed by 17...Rb8, regardless of how White recaptures, and only after that should Black consider pushing the a-pawn to a3. The position is probably still equal, though Black might even be able to claim a very slight edge rather than White in this scenario.

15.bxa3 bxa3 16.c3

So this was White's idea when he ignored the a3-push. This also shows why 14...Nd4 is stronger than 14...a3. We have a very similar position to the 14...Nd4 line with one major difference. The addition of the Knights, and as mentioned, when you compare the f3-Knight to the c6-Knight, you have a useful attacker going up against a useless defender. Hence why a trade of these pieces favors Black.

16...Bb5 17.Rb1 Ba4 18.Qd2 Rb8?

This move fails for tactical reasons. I saw White's idea when I played this, but underestimated its strength. 18...Qa5 was better and any advantage White has is minimal.

White has a strong move here

19.Rxb8! Qxb8?

The lesser evil was 19...Ndxb8, which gives White two free moves for his attack on the Kingside, and after 20.h5 Nd7 21.h6, White has the advantage, but it's not as bad for Black as the game move. Again, I saw White's next move back when I played 18...Rb8, but I highly underestimated its effect.

20.Nf6+! Bxf6

Black has no choice. 20...Nxf6?? 21.exf6 drops the Bishop as 21...Bd6?? 22.Bxd6 Qxd6 23.Qg5 leads to a position where mate can't be avoided, and 20...gxf6? 21.exf6 Qb2 (21...Bd6?? leads to the same mate as in the 20...Nxf6 line) 22.fxe7 Nxe7 23.Qxb2 axb2 24.Rb1 Ng6 25.Bd6 Rc8 26.h5 and Black's position is a train wreck.

21.exf6 Qb2 22.fxg7 Rc8 23.Bd6

Here, the idea of trading Queens and playing Rb1, like in the 20...exf6 line, is inferior. After 23.Qxb2?! axb2 24.Rb1 e5!, the tables turn and Black has the advantage. Best for White is 23.h5! Qxd2 24.Bxd2! Kxg7 25.h6+ and White has the advantage. The move played in the game looks strong as it keeps the Bishop active and appears to tie Black down, but looks can be deceiving. The next few moves lead to a fairly forcing sequence, and believe it or not, this turns out to be Black best line of defense.

23...Qxd2 24.Nxd2 Bc2 25.Bf1 d4 26.Rc1 dxc3 27.Nf3 Nb4

Here is where Black starts falling apart. Better was 27...Bb3! 28.axb3 a2 29.Ra1 c2 30.Bf4 Ra8 and White has to be really careful and is in a very dangerous position. For example, after natural moves like 31.Be3 Nb4 32.d4?, Black gets the advantage after 32...c1=Q! and both 33.Rxc1 Nc2 and 33.Bxc1 Nc2 34.Bb2 Nxa1 35.Bxa1 Rb8 are good for Black.

If White wants to avoid these problems, he could have played 27.Rxc2 instead of the 27.Nf3 that was played, but after 27...cxd2 28.Rxd2 Ra8, any advantage that White has is minimal, if any at all!

28.Ne1! Nxa2??

And now Black loses his shirt. 28...Bb3 is still better than the move played in the game, but it's not nearly as effective. With the Knight off of f3, White has another trick that gives him a clear advantage. After 29.Bxb3, the move 29...a2 can now be answered by 30.Bg2!, stopping Ra8, and the immediate 29...Ra8 is worse as it gives White time to play 30.d4, which means a lot. After 30...a2 31.Ra1 c2 32.Bf4 Ra3 33.Nd3! Rxb3 34.Nxb4 cxb4 35.Rxa2 and White's winning.

29.Rxc2 Nb4 30.Rxc3 Ra8 31.Rc1 a2 32.Ra1 Ra3 33.d4 Rb3 34.dxc5

This pawn will be a major problem for Black.

34...Rb1 35.Nc2 Kxg7 36.c6 Rxa1 37.Nxa1 Nxc6 38.Bb5 Ndb8

After 38...Nde5, the move 39.f4 is a major problem for Black.

Now, what we see is the Black Knights are dominated, and the extra pawn in return for the piece is useless for Black here. White has a simple approach that is extremely slow, but it would have been enough for me to resign immediately. I would, if I was White, trade on b8. After 39.Bxb8 Nxb8, the Knight is completely dominated, and at any point in time, White could play Bc4 and take the pawn, and then play the piece-up endgame. It would take for ever to win, but White will win it with correct play.

Instead, what White does here is actually quite amusing. The Black King is going to get mated by nothing but pawns and minor pieces!

39.Ba4 Kf6 40.f4 Kf5 41.Bc2+ Kg4 42.Kg2 Na6

And now, while Black takes the opportunity to get the Knights out, White drives the Black King back, and weaves a mating net, partially through the help of Black himself.

43.Bd1+ Kf5 44.g4+ Kg6 45.h5+ Kg7 46.Ba4 Nab4 47.Kf2 Kf6 48.Kg3 e5 49.fxe5+ Kg5

50.Nb3! Kh6

I had reached my hand toward the c6-Knight, and right before I touched it, I realized that 50...Nd4 doesn't work because 51.Nxd4!! a1=Q 52.Nf3+ Kh6 53.Bf8# is mate! The move played, trying to escape, doesn't work either as White has other routes for the Knight besides going through d4.

51.Bf8+ Kg5 52.Nc5 1-0

Black can't stop 53.Ne4# (or 52...f5 53.Ne6#).

This is the first time in the series that we have seen the King's Indian Attack, and as mentioned in the theory article from September, this line is full of tricks and traps, and this game is no different. Both sides end up playing inferior moves that aren't always obvious. Probably the most astounding is White's 23rd move where 23.Bd6 looked extremely natural, but probably leads to nothing better than equality with correct play by Black, in which Black had that opportunity that he threw away on the 27th move, and then completely went off the handle on move 28.

Another aspect that you should pick up from this game is that when the opposing side violates theory, and two ideas become available to you, weigh both options. Here, the ...Nd4 idea was of dominance over the ...a3 idea because it allows Black to remove a passive piece for an active one, and if White doesn't allow that trade, Black gets an extra piece into the defense of his own King. The move 14...a3 is by no means what cost Black the game, but his life would have been easier if he had played 14...Nd4. When you are familiar with an idea that is supposed to be good, and Black was in totally fine shape until his 18th move, at which point the game went back and forth between better for White and equal, always be on the lookout for an even better move before playing the automatic move.

That concludes this article. Good luck in all of your French games, Black or White!