Chess vol.1 - Back From the Cold

wingpawn

Poland1342 Posts

April 27 2014 20:06 GMT

Chess vol.1
Back From the Cold

...also a 1000th post...

Once upon a time, there was a guy who took a two month, complete break from chess because he's been playing and working on it so much, he eventually grew to hate the game and had enough.

But then, he came back to it. And - of course - the guy was me.

So, let's jump right into it:

wingpawn (White) vs zdzisol (Black)

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nc3 e6 4. e4 Nc6? 5. Nf3 Bb4 6. Bxc4 Bxc3+? 7. bxc3 Nf6 8. Qe2 O-O 9. O-O h6 10. Ba3 Re8 11. Rfd1 Bd7 12. Rab1 b6 13. Bd3 e5

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So we played Queen's Gambit accepted and I got nice middlegame position. Obviously, Black's 4th and 6th move were both mistakes because it this opening, his Knight from b8 99% of times belongs to d7 and he shouldn't ever exchange that Bishop for my c3- Knight without really good reason (in this case, he only improved my pawn, which now started to support d4-guy -- not to mention the fact that in most cases, Bishops do better than Knights). He just pushed e6-e5. What should I do?

Now, a word or two about my thought process here. As a dude with some experience, my instinct was to push d4-d5, ignoring that pesky pawn and threatening his Knight. Second instinct was to just not do anything with this center (after all, all my stuff is protected well enough) and play something unrelated to what he did, like 14. h3 or 14. Qc2.

But then... wait a minute...

What if I just take? Yeah, what? It seems noobish thing to do - to slay his unit at the first sight of him getting into my territory. But I was suddenly attracted to the possibility of 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Rxe5 16. f4 and if his Rook retreats back to e8, I retain my central control and suddenly have a Rook on open d-file, pointing at his Bishop that soon can get pinned. My ideas weren't worked out perfectly, but at the end of the day, I was like "well, without 14. dxe5, my d1-Rook doesn't really make sense and will probably have to move again to seek activity". And so, I took, not without checking some other possibilities, though...

14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Rxe5 16. f4 Bg4

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Black went for a tempting choice. Too bad for him that I've already had something pretty crazy planned - something that ultimately gave me material advantage, but also created seriously unbalanced play:

17. fxe5 Bxe2 18. Bxe2 Qe8 19. exf6 Qxe4 20. Bf3 Qe3+ 21. Kh1 Rc8?

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There was no reason not to go 21...Re8, with much better activity. But even here, things aren't clear. Yes, I have a Rook and two Bishops which normally should be much better than what he has left, but... his Queen is as active as it gets, and my split pawns, as well as some pieces can get forked if I'm not cautious.

22. Rb3 c5 23. c4 Qf4 24. Bd5 Qg4 25. Rf1 g6 26. Re3 Qg5 27. Rg3 Qh5 28. Re1 b5 29. Bf3

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As you can see, I'm already running into technical difficulties. Simply speaking, I clinged to the c3-pawn a little bit, fearing the protected passed pawn that would appear for Black - but, as you will see, my c3-pawn might've been doomed anyway, so it was essential to activate Rooks on d- and e-file, even at the cost of c3. Also, the 27. Rg3 was pointless - I missed the obvious ...Qh5 which keeps the g6 pawn protected. Had I seen all of that, I would obviously go 27. Rbe3 instead - not to mention, that I should've taken with a pawn on g7 once there was a chance...

The only thing I could be happy about is that I remembered to constantly protect my e2-square - his Queen there would be sooo annoying. But - wait for it...

30...Qf5 30. Bg4 Qf2 31. Rg1 Rc6 32. cxb5 Rxf6 33. Rf3 Rxf3 34. Bxf3 c4 35. Bd5 Qxa2 36. Bc1 Kg7 37. Rf1 f5 38. h4 Qe2 39. Rg1 c3 40. Bf3 Qf2 41. Rd1 Qxh4+ 42. Kg1 Qe7 43. Bc6

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Messing up my play more and more... First of all, h2-h4 was a dumb move - h2-h3 did exaclty the same without jeopardizing the pawn. Second, I had weird but I think possible 31. Ra1, to at least defend the a2-pawn for a while. Third, 29. Bf3 was dumb too - the Bishop was wonderful on d5, and those were all other pieces, that needed attention. Yadda, yadda, yadda... Well, we were both in time trouble - what more can I say? In already nasty position, I try a trivial trick and...

43...h5?? 44. Rd7 Qxd7 45. Bxd7

...and he got checkmated exactly by move 60. I got him eventually - not the proudest achievement of my chess career, but the game was quite interesting, I guess.

And, for your pleasure: some tactical samples from my old games. If you solve it, don't forget to post it in spoilers!

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White to play:
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White to play:

Black to play:
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Plus, a little bonus: bunch of my old chess compositions:

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White to play and mate in 3 moves:
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White to play and mate in 4 moves:
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White to play and selfmate in 3 moves:
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White to play and selfmate in 4 moves:
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I'm hoping to expand this into a blog cycle... if time allows. Also hoping that you enjoyed it!

kushm4sta

United States8878 Posts

April 27 2014 22:08 GMT

I think taking e5 was bad but you don't realize it.

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

April 28 2014 06:41 GMT

On April 28 2014 07:08 kushm4sta wrote:
I think taking e5 was bad but you don't realize it.

This is just a stupid post without anything to back it up.

wingpawn

Poland1342 Posts

April 28 2014 08:05 GMT

Hm, well, my Fritz 12 suggests to ignore e6-e5 and play 14. Qc2, but as far as I can see, dxe5 is okayish move, I think...

Quint

467 Posts

April 28 2014 17:41 GMT

It's a matter of style. As a dogmatic player I'd have played either 14. Qc2 (just to get my queen out of potential harm) or 14. d5 (to win space and exploit the fact that he has fewer pawns in the centre). Playing 14. dxe5 is absolutely viable, since it gives white space, the pair of bishop and the pawn majority on the king's side - as well as a permanent weakness on c3.

In so far, comments like "taking on e5 was bad" are neither correct nor helpful.

The game itself was quite entertaining.

kushm4sta

United States8878 Posts

April 29 2014 00:48 GMT

how is it a good move when fritz recommends qc2, a totally passive move, isntead. it must not be net positive.

marvellosity

United Kingdom36161 Posts

April 29 2014 11:28 GMT

hey wingpawn, interesting game. You should have worried about harmonising your pieces rather than a stray pawn or two. The position after move 29 made a sad impression where you managed to disconnect your rooks quite remarkably.

A decent plan that you might have gone for is something like doubling rooks on the e file and then arranging to attack f7. Yes, just noticed you criticised 29.Bf3 yourself, that was a really bad move.

dxe5 looks good to me, your position looked attractive even without black blundering with ...Bg4.

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