Chess XII

Thaniri

1264 Posts

February 24 2014 01:05 GMT

This is the week where I finally began to analyse each of my games, not just the ones I post about here on TL. I've got a binder that will hopefully soon be full of my scribbled notes.

Since beginning to regularly analyse my games outside of the game, I'm also spending a lot more time inside the game thinking about my next move. This is borne of me not wanting to waste my time reviewing moves that I should have looked at during the game.

I've also been watching several chess lectures and lessons on youtube and attempting to apply the ideas in them to my own games.

For example Ben Finegold purposefully blocks up the center and proceeds to make several knight moves that are beyond passive and that idea inspired me try this game. It didn't end up working, but it was interesting to try. I've also learned about cool things like good and bad bishops/pieces, and creating and executing plans. I just need to keep applying these ideas to my games until I understand them and can execute them with ease.

I've learned a cool trap as black vs the Queen's Gambit, and I want more people to play it against me so I can try it.

The one thing I don't want to do is study tonnes of openings, I can't see that being particularly useful as my opening repertoire is two openings total. All I need to know is the ins and outs of those. When I'm better I can worry about playing other openings.

NeverDie~~Jaedong~~Thaniri

I recommend that the blog be read like this, so that you can read my comments throughout while also being able to see the board for yourself.

[image loading]

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+ Show Spoiler +

technojanusz vs Thaniri
http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=735078007

1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d3 dxe4 4. Ne5 exd3 5. Qxd3 Qxd3 6. Bxd3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Bd6 8. Bf4 Nbd7 9. Nxd7 Bxf4 10. Nxf6+ gxf6 11. O-O Bd7 12. b3 Be5 13. Nb5 Bxb5 14. Bxb5+ c6 15. Bxc6+ bxc6 16. Rad1 Ke7 17. c4 Rad8 18. a4 Rxd1 19. Rxd1 Rd8 20. Rb1 Kd7 21. b4 Kc7 22. c5 Bc3 23. a5 Rd4 24. g3 Bxb4 25. a6 Bxc5 26. Rb7+ Kd6 27. Rxf7 f5 28. f4 Ra4+ 29. Kg2 Rxa6 30. Rxh7 Bb4 31. h4 c5 32. h5 c4 33. h6 c3 34. Rb7 Ra2+ 35. Kh3 Bc5 36. h7 Bd4 37. Rb1 c2 38. Rc1 a5 39. g4 fxg4+ 40. Kxg4 Rb2 41. f5 exf5+ 42. Kxf5 a4 43. Ke4 Be5 44. Kd3 a3 45. Ke4 a2 46. Kd3 a1=Q 47. Rxa1 Rb3+ 48. Kxc2 Bxa1 49. Kxb3 Bh8 50. Kc4 Ke6 51. Kd3 Kf6 52. Ke4 Kg6 53. Kf4 Kxh7

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We'll flip the view as I'm playing black this game.

1.e4
1...e6
2.Nf3
2...d5
3.d3

I personally don't like d3 in the opening as white here. As you can see, the white squared bishop is behind the e and d pawns preventing it from moving to a useful square, and if black takes dxe he is either up a pawn or white is suddenly put into a very awkward position.

At this point black's white squared bishop is also a "bad" bishop, so black will hopefully find a way to trade that bishop for a knight.

3...dxe4

White doesn't seem to have a good solution to this move. If he plays dxe, black will respond with QxQ and leave an exposed king. The knight can run to 4.Ne5.

My candidate moves included f6, Bd6, Qd6, exd3, and Nc6.

I immediately discarded f6 and Nc6 because they both lead to me having a weaker pawn structure, and that was not something I wanted to deal with.

Bd6 was more interesting, but after something like Bf4 from white I didn't feel like I would be able to hold onto my e4 pawn for long, and his knight would be parked on the powerful e5 square for eternity as it would be a bad idea to trade my best piece for a decent knight. In addition to all of that I would also be blocking my queen from sniping down the semi open d file.

I think exd3 was the best move. It wins me a pawn, even though I am ever so slightly behind in development.

4...exd3
5.Qxd3
5...Qxd3

I think trading Queens here was a mistake. I would have been better off playing Bd6 in order to gain a tempo on his knight and equalize the disparity of our development. After QxQ my opponent plays

6.Bxd3

Setting him up nicely to castle. He is now essentially two tempo up on me and can castle at his leisure. I have no pieces out at all, so I am not feeling terribly comfortable with my seeming lead.

I need to develop and castle so

6...Nf6
7.Nc3
7...Bd6
8.Bf4

I narrowed down my potential moves to Nd7 or Bb7 here. Nc6 doesn't seem like a strong move as a knight trade leaves me with doubled pawns.

It was a difficult decision because if I play the bishop, I am trading a knight for a bad bishop, and giving him the double bishop advantage, or if I play the knight I am giving away what could be a decent piece and keeping my atrocious bishop.

I play

8...Nbd7
and he takes with
9.Nxd7.

Then I take his black BISHOP of all things with 9...Bxf7. The idea was to get the double bishop advantage, but it ends up being a horrible move after

10.Nxf6+
10...gxf6.

What I SHOULD have played was something more along the lines of Bxd7, Bxd6, cxd6. This would have resulted in a much more stable position and I would still have had my one pawn advantage.

I have maintained my one pawn advantage this whole time, but my pawn structure is in shambles, my white squared bishop is entombed behind it's own pawns, and I can't castle kingside safely. To add to it all my rook on h8 is on babysitting duty because that pawn is under attack from his bishop.

11.0-0
11...Bd7

My plan with this move is to castle queenside, and really restrict the number of squares his knight can move to.

12.b3
12...Be5

b3 was a mistake on white's part. He has no way to defend that knight, and if he moves that knight he loses a rook to a bishop.

What he could have considered is Ne2, Be5, c3, Nd4. This would centralize his knight, giving him slightly better center control.

13.Nb5
13.Bxb5

I had no choice but to take the knight as it threatened Nx7 fork.

14.Bxb5+
This move throws a wrench into the Bxa1 plan, but no matter.
14...c6
15.Bxc6+
15.Bxc6
16.Rad1

I am looking good here, I have an extra bishop over my opponent, but my pawn structure is quite poor and I have lost control over the d file, preventing my king from coming into the game and finishing it.

16...Ke7
17.c4

Looking at white's weaknesses, the biggest one is that his king is in the corner, very far away from being able to threaten any pawns. I figured that my best plan of action would be to try and clear the rooks off the board as that allows me to move my king into the queenside and wipe out that pawn chain with no resistance.

17...Rad8
18.a4
18...Rxd1
19.Rxd1
19...Rd8
20.Rb1

My opponent knows he should not be trading down as that leads to a very clean endgame victory for me, so he runs his rook away to the queenside that I am targeting.

I can't play Kd6 to sprint over to those pawns because of Rd1 check, so I play

20...Kd7
He plays 21.b4
21...Kc7
22.c5
22...Bc3
23.a5
23...Rd4

Here I've clearly won the great battle of the queenside in 2014, lest we forget.

My opponent is better than me though, and knows I am possibly the worst endgame player to have ever lived and knows that he can bide his time for now.

24.g3
24...Bxb4
25.a6

It's surprisingly difficult to make a move here as black. The king cannot move forward at all, and the rook is stuck babysitting the bishop. Stalling just gives time for the white king to come into play.

I chose to play 25...Bxc5, and after that my opponent guts my rearmost units.

26.Rb7+
26...Kd6
27.Rxf7
27...f5
28.f4
28...Ra4+
29.Kg2
29...Rxa6
30.Rxh7

My opponent proves to be consistently frustrating even when severely behind in material. He's now 6 moves away from queening his h pawn, and I am 7 from queening my a pawn. My saving grace is that he is queening on a dark square and my bishop will be able to snipe his queen as soon as it promotes.

30...Bb4

I can say that at this point my focus begins to falter. I am still having troubles with chess in this regard, and it's rare that my clock gets down so low. This is a 15|10 game, and I have 7 minutes on my clock at this point. I played too much blitz for far too long, it shouldn't be this hard

What I should have played was Bd5. As it stands, I essentially wasted a tempo because I will have to be on the h8a1 diagonal at some point in order to prevent his pawn from promoting.

And so begins the rush.

31.h4

He is now 5 moves from queening, and I am now 5 too with the c pawn, but he is white and has the first move.

31...c5
32.h5
32...c4
33.h6
33...c3

See how this is awkward for my bishop? I can't scope down the diagonal to pick off the pawn when it moves forward from here.

34.Rb7
34...Ra2+

Another mistake? I could have played Bc4, ???, Bd4 and kept myself covered on the kingside.

35.Kh3
35...Bc5
36.h7
36...Bd4

Now my bishop is FINALLY where he is supposed to be.

My opponent plays 37.Rb1 intending to block my pawn from queening. It doesn't matter to me since I still have the a pawn.

37...c2
38.Rc1
38...a5

Janusz plays 39.g4 which should simply end up with those four central pawns to be taken off the board. They aren't totally important so I have no problem taking it with 39...fxg4+.

40.Kxf4
40...Rb2

This rook move was a bit premature, I could have let the pawn move a bit further up. It's an awkward position because if I queen the a pawn, he takes it with his rook and I can't take his rook with my bishop because the rook is in the way. Each tempo in the endgame is so important.

Now those 4 pawns are gone, his king can begin to make the situation annoying in on the back ranks.

43.Ke4
43...Be5

Another mistake from me.

I should have played Kc5, that would put my king closer to the hotspot of the board and allow me to hopefully queen one of those pawns. It also has the added benefit of covering the bishop.

44.Kd3
44...a3
45.Ke4

The situation is horrible because now my king can not move even if he wants to. Any move results in leaving the bishop hanging.

45...a2
46.Kd3
46.a1=Q??

This is the losing move. All I had to do was play Rb1. and I would have a rook, queen and bishop vs a rook. Any continuation from here should result in a draw.

47.Rxa1

If I play Rb1 late, that ends in king bishop vs king draw. I chose the especially creative draw

47...Rb3+
48.Kxc2
48...Bxa1
49.Kxb3
49...Bh8

GG, we played three or four games together. I don't think I won once. Each game had me up 2+ points coming into the endgame and then falling asleep at the keyboard and losing. This level of poor decision making is reserved for a special tier of person.

don_kyuhote

3006 Posts

February 24 2014 03:23 GMT

I hate when this happens. When you are up a piece and you think "ok I won", but then he starts pushing the pawns and you don't react accurately and all of a sudden, your win is in jeopardy. It happens to all of us.

imBLIND

United States2626 Posts

February 24 2014 05:37 GMT

This is a classic case of having an overloaded piece. If you realized your bishop was overloaded because it was essentially "pinned" to the h8 square, you would've realized that you had to move your king wayyy sooner (it was on d6 for like...20+ moves and literally doing nothing but protecting a pawn you don't need ).

Don't try to think in terms of "oh this square is covered, that square is covered, lets queen the pawn, etc." Learn to calculate forcing moves before moving on to five 4-move plans (with him making the first move). You had ample opportunity to find the forcing move, but instead, you just let him do w/e the hell he wanted to do with no threat.

For example; you got killed on move 25, and the easiest solution in that situation is to simply move your king to c8, preventing the b7 check and all other forms of check unless he moves his rook to the king side or something. He can't do jack shit to stop you from moving your king to a safer square. Then you could've continued picking apart his queen side without harm.

Thinking 3 moves ahead is a nice skill to have, but it's useless if you can't plan a single move ahead.

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

February 24 2014 05:49 GMT

I'm not sure why you're worried at move 6. Yes, he's ahead in development, but you're up a pawn, have traded queens, and have no weaknesses. He's not going to be able to accomplish anything worth a pawn.

9...Bxf4 is fine. He doubles your pawns, but you get the two bishops, more center control and the open g file. I think you overreact way too much to minor things like someone being slightly ahead in development or getting doubled pawns. While doubled pawns are generally inferior as a basic principle, it's not always so simple. You have to evaluate the bigger picture.

20...Rd2 wins very easily. It's important to be active with your pieces in the endgame. Here, you have the advantage of the open file, so you should use it. The threat of Rb2 pretty much instantly wins for you.

30...Ra2+ is better here. This activates your rook, forces him to put his king onto the first rank (Kf3 loses to Rf2# and Kh3 loses to Bg1) and opens the path for your a pawn.

35...c2 instantly wins. He can't stop you from queening, and if he pushes his own pawn, you have Qh1#.

Not sure why on move 45 you say that your situation is horrible. You don't need to move your king.

Overall, you played pretty well. Just focus on activating your pieces in the endgame and trying to follow a clear plan to victory. Once you've studied endgames a little bit and understand a few principles it becomes a lot easier.

Thaniri

1264 Posts

February 24 2014 05:59 GMT

@don_khuyote

Something I'm trying to not allow happen

@imBLIND

Thanks for the tip, I was thinking too mechanically on the assumption that my king needs to be where the action is during an endgame. This is an example of a time where that is not that case (immediately at least.)

@GolemMadness

Thank you for the comment, especially 20...Rd2.

I need to practice on seeing every possibility and not only seeing a few.

Edit: noticed I didn't link the correct game in reference to the youtube lecture.

wingpawn

Poland1342 Posts

February 24 2014 15:54 GMT

First of all, I agree with GolemMadness - you handled your opening well. Even that ...Bxf4 thing is okay for you, because without the Queens, two Bishops should very well compensate for a pawn weakness that your King can take care of anyway.

After 25.a6 you could play the following: 25...e5, then Kd7-e6-d5 and you slay the c-pawn with a King, after which you play Kc5-b5 and push the c-pawn for a promotion and easy win. White doesn't seem to have anything to counter that - if he protects the pawn with Rc1, then after King gets to d5, you still take that pawn with the Bishop and win.

Then, again, after 45. Ke4, there's a following sequence: 45...Rb4+ (to clear Bishops path to b2 and a1) 46. Kd3 a2 and after whatever he does, you promote on a1, capture the Rook that takes your newly promoted Queen with ...Bxa1 and finally go for h7-pawn's throat. Note that your Bishop can fulfill agressive and defensive tasks simultaneously and his Rook cannot take on c2 because it has to constantly protect a1-square.

Quint

467 Posts

February 24 2014 19:49 GMT

You are still thinking too dogmatically. 4. dxe4 and the subsequent queen exchange is fine for white - yes, he can't castle anymore but the queens are off the board and he can get his king to c2 eventually. Granted, I'd rather avoid the queen exchange too in this position but it would be absolutely viable to play.

When you reach a certain point in your play you will gradually learn to move away from basic principles (like "I always have to castle no matter what") and have a stronger grasp on reading and understanding the position at hand.

Again, too dogmatic. You are one pawn up on him and have the bishop pair. This definitely weighs up the temporary disadvantage of your inactive bishop and babysitting rook as well as your doubled pawn (which also gives you the half-open g-file btw). This may sound philosophically but you have to see the situation on the board as it is without either giving yourself or your opponent too little (or too much) credit.

You then almost lose the already won game. When you have the advantage, technique becomes very important - what is the easiest/cleanest way to win the game? From move 20th on, you could have played Rd2 and eventually Bd4, chaining his king and rook to the defence of f2 or forcing f3, which makes your bishop even more powerful since it's weakening the black squares. You could then centralise your king, improve your pawn structure etc. - just accumulating small advantages. You have the advantage and time is on your side, he has to make something happen.

I think you are making rapid progress but still "overthink" certain positions (as in being too dogmatic or too pessimistic). Don't put too much thought on the opening right now. Yes it will become very important later on, but you have mastered the basics and don't need to study opening theory yet. Rather keep focussing on tactics and calculating.

hypercube

Hungary2735 Posts

February 24 2014 21:00 GMT

You're trying way too hard to look at positional ideas. But in some positions one factor (often material) overwhelms everything else.

E.g. after 16. Rd1 you say:

The correct assessment is: Black is up a piece with no counterplay. Black is winning. 16...Ke7, followed by Rd8. Same after 17.c4:

Looking at white's weaknesses, the biggest one is that his king is in the corner, very far away from being able to threaten any pawns.

White's biggest weakness is that he's down a bishop in a simplified position with no immediate threats. Even with white rooks on d1 and d3 and white king on e2 he would be totally lost 17...Rad8 or 17...Rhd8.
This is NOT a subtle position where you need to exploit a misplaced piece or anything fancy. Don't confuse yourself with little details which have little to do with the essential feature of the position (your extra bishop).

You correctly identified part of the winning plan: exchange off white's last piece. Alternatively start winning pawns by attacking it with more than one piece. When you've won enough of them, queen one of yours FTW. To do this you need to activate your rook (e.g 20...Rd2 followed by Bd4, hitting f2)

marvellosity

United Kingdom36161 Posts

February 25 2014 11:08 GMT

Even simply 30...Bd4, 31...Rb6, 32...Rb8, 32....Rh8 if white is advancing his pawn and it's all over.

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