Combinations

I just had a fun game in which I had a nice tactic to stop my opponent's counterplay and then win the exchange. What followed was a really bad king hunt on my part, since I had about 5 minutes on the clock and couldn't find the best moves to put the game away. I ended up with two queens and 4 pawns versus one queen and 1 pawn, but the game was about 30 moves longer than it should have been. Since there are so many beautiful variations from Rybka, I'm going to just talk about a few key points during the games and show the crazy computer combinations that I would never have found, as well as a few combinations that I should have found. [Event "rated standard match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2009.01.31"] [Round "?"] [White "waparker"] [Black "----"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1582"] [BlackElo "1576"] [ECO "A20"] [TimeControl "900"] 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Qf6 3. Nc3 Bc5 4. Ne4 Qe7 ({Ne4 which I thought was a resourceful move, stopping the mate and winning the bishop pair, turns out to be a blunder because of ...Qc6 pinning the knight to the rook} 4. ... Qc6 5. f3 Nf6 6. Nxc5 Qxc5 ) 5. Nxc5 Qxc5 6. d3 Qc6 7. Nf3 f6 8. Bg2 Qb6 9. O-O Nh6 10. h3 d6 11. Qc2 Nc6 12. Bxh6 gxh6 13. e3 Be6 14. a3 O-O-O 15. Rfd1 Rhg8 16. b4 Ne7 17. Rac1 h5 18. h4 Bg4 19. c5 dxc5 20. bxc5 Qc6 21. Nxe5! Qe6 22. Nxg4 Rxg4 23. Bh3 Rdg8 24. Qe2 {A waste of time. I can't move the f-pawn because of Rxg3+ breaking the pin} f5 25. Bxg4 fxg4 26. d4 Rf8 27. Rd2 Nd5 28. Rb2 b6 29. Qa6+ Kd8 30. cxb6 Nxb6 31. Qxa7 (31. Rxc7 Kxc7 32. Qxa7+ Kc8 33. Rxb6 {black must give the queen for the rook because white is threatening mate by Qc7 or Rb8} ) Qd6 32. Qa5 Kd7 33. Rc5 (33. Rxc7+ Qxc7 34. Rxb6 Qc1+ 35. Kg2 Rh8 36. Rb7+ Kd6 37. Qe5+ Kc6 38. Qb5+ Kd6 39. Qd7# {just amazing} ) Ra8 34. Qb5+ Ke7 35. Qd3 Na4 36. Re5+ Kd7 37. Qxh7+ Kc6 38. Rc2+ Kb6 39. Qxh5 c6 40. Rc4 Qxa3 41. Qg6 (41. Rxc6+ Kxc6 42. Re6+ Kd7 {here black would have to give up the queen or face checkmate as follows} 43. Qf7+ Qe7 44. Qxe7+ Kc8 45. Rc6+ Kb8 46. Qc7# ) Rc8 42. Re6 ({42. Qb1+ is the move I should have seen} 42. Qb1+ Ka6 43. Re6 Nb6 44. Rcxc6 Rxc6 45. Rxc6 Qa5 46. Rxb6+ Qxb6 47. Qxb6+ Kxb6 48. h5 ) Qa1+ 43. Kg2 Kb5 44. Rcxc6 Rxc6 45. Rxc6 Qd1 46. Rf6 (46. Qc2 Qf3+ 47. Kg1 Qxc6 48. Qxc6+ Kxc6 49. h5 {The pawn can't be stopped.} ) Nc3 47. Qf5+ Kb4 48. Rb6+ Kc4 49. Rc6+ Kb3 50. Rxc3+ Kxc3 51. h5 Qe2 52. h6 Kd2 53. h7 Ke1 54. h8=Q Qf1+ 55. Kh2 Ke2 56. Qxg4+ Kd2 57. Qhh3 Qxf2+ 58. Kh1 Ke1 59. Qg2 Qf1+ 60. Qxf1+ Kxf1 61. Qf3+ Ke1 62. Kg2 Kd2 63. d5 Kd3 64. d6 Kc4 65. d7 1-0 Once again, the best way to view this is probably to paste it into a PGN viewer and read the comments as they come up. Too much to really write in depth about, but the moral of the story is I need to work on combinations! I am only seeing good one or two-move tactics right now, which are giving me winning positions, but I am having trouble capitalizing on those positions because I need to work more still on tactics.

How I'd like to be playing.

I just had an exciting game that was more tactical than the terrible games I've been playing lately. Of course it helped that my opponent made a ton of mistakes, but the point is that I am at my best when I am playing this style of game. The game ended with a really nice tactic; unfortunately my opponent ran out of time so we didn't see a continuation. [Event "rated blitz match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2009.01.29"] [Round "?"] [White "waparker"] [Black "----"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1137"] [BlackElo "1236P"] [ECO "A07"] [TimeControl "600"] 1. Nf3 {With Nf3 I plan to play g3 Bg7 and either c4 or d4.} d5 2. g3 e5 {Hanging the e-pawn.} 3. Nxe5 f6 4. Nf3 Qd6 5. d4 {With the e-pawn gone it will be easy to maintain a strong pawn on d4. I plan to meet ...c5 with c3.} Qb4+ {Helping me play c3 with tempo.} 6. c3 Qa5 7. Bg2 Bg4 8. Nbd2 {Right now if he takes the knight I will recapture with the bishop as the knight on f3 has no immediate future due to the f6 pawn.} c5 9. h3 Bf5 10. Qb3 {A double attack on the unprotected b7 and d5 pawns. If ... cxd4 to protect the d-pawn then Nxd4 and the bishop, d-pawn and b-pawn are all unprotected.} c4 {Doesn't resolve the issue of the b-pawn. It would be better to gambit the d-pawn with ...Qb6 Qxd5 Ne7 developing with tempo.} 11. Qxb7 Bd6 {Surprisingly it is very difficult for black to trap my queen in this corner. Blacks own d-pawn prevents his light square bishop from coming in time.} 12. Qxa8 {Rybka suggests Qxg7 winning another pawn and attacking the other rook.} Be6 {This bishop should move because after Ng4 I threaten to extricate my Queen by taking the d pawn. Rybka suggests that d7 is a better square to try to trap my Queen, forcing b4 and the black Queen has to chose between the a7 pawn and the d5 pawn.} 13. e4 {Trying to break open some lines so my Queen can escape, and undermining blacks pawn chain.} Qb6 {It is amazing that black can't trap my queen while also guarding both the a and d-pawns!} 14. exd5 Bd7 15. Nxc4 {After the knight takes the dark square bishop the Queen will have to leave the a-pawn to recapture.} Qc7 16. Nxd6+ Qxd6 17. Qxa7 {Sanctuary is in sight.} Na6 18. Qa8+ {I want the knight to get out of my way so I can escape, or to trade queens. Black choses to move his king, which leads to some safety issues.} Kf7 19. Bf4 Qb6 20. O-O-O {Protects the d-pawn and connects and centralizes my rooks in one move. Castling rocks!} Nc7 {My queen may be under attack but now, finally, she can escape.} 21. Qa3 Nxd5 22. Qc5 {I was pleased with this move, thinking that if queen takes, then pawn takes and my rook is discovered attacking both the bishop and the knight. However, the line 22 ...Qxc5 23. dxc5 Be6 and neither one of the pieces will fall. 24. Nd4 Nxf4 25. gxf4 white is better but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped. There is a much better move which I will discuss later.} Qe6 23. Rhe1 Qf5 24. Ne5+ {This is the tactical shot I made at the end of the game. After 24 ...fxe5 the knight is hanging. 25. Bxd5+ Kg6 26. Rxe5 and white has a winning position. In fact this move would have been more appropriate at move 22. Here a much better move is the simple 24. Nh4 because the Queen would have no squares! 24. Nh4 Nxf4 Nxf5 Bxf5 gxf4 Kg6 and white is winning very soon.} {Black forfeits on time} 1-0 Position after 24. Ne5+ Position after 24. Nh4, trapping the Queen. Addendum: Just had a great little blitz game in the Philidor defense. This move order tends to lead to the so-called Lion system which seems popular and solid for black. [Event "rated blitz match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2009.01.30"] [Round "?"] [White "----"] [Black "waparker"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1067"] [BlackElo "1147"] [ECO "B07"] [TimeControl "120+12"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e5 {The Lion Variation. White enjoys more space and central control but black's setup is solid and hard to crack.} 5. dxe5 dxe5 {I have seen this exchange a few times today. It is just a bad idea for white. He loses his central control over e5 and also black's dark-square bishop, which is usually a problem for black the entire game, has just opened up to become a marvelous piece.} 6. Bb5? {I have seen this move once before today as well. It does nothing, only loses time.} c6 7. Bc4 Bb4 {White's e-pawn is hanging and black threatens to double white's pawns. Black could alternatively have played 7...b5 to gain some Queenside space and further punish White's incorrect bishop move.} 8. Bd2 Bxc3! 9. Bxc3 Nxe4 {White has won a pawn and still threatens to double white's pawns.} 10. Bb4? Qb6! {White must lose the bishop here as mate is threatened on f2. White should castle.} 11. c3?? Qxf2# 0-1 This game should go as an example why white should not exchange on e5. Compare white's central control and black's bad dark-square bishop above with below, after the exchange of pawns:

What has gone wrong?

I'd like to make a quick post about a game that is a great example of how my play has gone downhill the past few days. I'm trying to learn the Philidor defense because it can be very solid if played correctly. In this game I really outplayed my opponent in the opening, and (almost) every move was a good, sound developing move with a threat. Then I just didn't think correctly about an exchange, thinking I would go a piece up, and my advantage completely dissipated. I didn't feel like making all the diagrams for this post, so I came up with a new idea. You can copy what's below and paste it into BabasChess or some other PGN viewer and read the post as comments after the moves. Pretty cool huh!?! [Event "rated blitz match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2009.01.28"] [White "----"] [Black "waparker"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1097"] [BlackElo "1142"] [ECO "B00"] [TimeControl "120+12"] 1. e4 d6 {This is how alot of GMs do the move order for the Philidor defense. It looks like the dynamic Pirc defense for a little while and then transposes.} 2. Bc4 Nf6 {I have to watch out for a quick attack on f7.} 3. Nc3 e5 {Nc3 gave me time to develop without worrying as much about f7. Better for white is probably Nf3.} 4. Qf3 c6 {Qf3 threatens to try to dislodge the knight with 5. Nd5. The knight is pinned to the mate on f7, so I would have to double my pawns if I allowed Nd5. That is why I played c6.} 5. h3 Be7 {He wants to keep my bishop off of g4. h3 wastes time, better is probably d4, or developing the King's knight. Be7 clearing the way for castling.} 6. Nge2 O-O 7. d4 exd4 {My first inaccuracy. I wanted to have e5 as a square for the knight to chase away the queen. However, the knight is two moves away from e5, so capturing does nothing for me, it only gives away my advanced central pawn. I should have played 7... Nbd7.} 8. Nxd4 Nbd7 9. O-O Ne5 {Luckily for me, I still got Ne5 in.} 10. Qe2 b5 {I have read that it is important in the Philidor for white to prevent ...b5 by playing a4. I am gaining time on the bishop and eyeing the skewering line between the Queen on e2 and the rook on f1.} 11. Bb3 a5 12. a4 b4! {Gaining another tempo on white's minor piece! The skewer should come next move.} 13. Nd1 Qd7? {Completely illogical move. I have just enough time here at move 13 to play Ba6 winning the exchange. The white light-square bishop can't block because my e5-knight covers the c4 square. Unfortunately, I just didn't see that my lovely knight on e5 also covers the c6 square so I don't have to worry about 14. Nxc6.} 14. Nf3 Ba6 {White's Nf3 takes all the bite out of Ba6.} 15. Nxe5 Bxe2 {Here is where I miscalculated. I thought I would be going up a piece here. It ends up that I lose alot of time getting my bishop out of the morass so my advantage in time is gone, and I have less central space. Actually my time advantage was probably gone after 13 ... Qd7} 16. Nxd7 Nxd7 17. Re1 Ba6 18. Ne3 Nc5 19. Bc4 Nxe4?? {I knew in the back of my mind that I was losing a piece by making this move, but I made it anyway. This has been the hallmark of my crappy play as of late. The discovered double attack is just too obvious, but I missed it. I would still have a playable game with 19... Bf6 or ....Bxc4.} 20. Bxa6 Rxa6 21. Nf5 Bf6 {waparker resigns} 1-0

F-file attack!

Hello there to all my fans. That's right, I'm talking about you. Here is a game in the Philidor's defense where I did well in the early parts of the opening, got into some minor trouble with the king safety, but then was able to quickly counterattack while defending my weaknesses on the kingside. [Event "rated blitz match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2009.01.16"] [Round "?"] [White "waparker"] [Black "----"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1157"] [BlackElo "1129"] [ECO "C41"] [TimeControl "600"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 The Philidor defense with 3. d4. White aims to take control of the center. If it were white to move, white would exchange pawns, then Queens, then white would win the e-pawn and black would lose the right to castle. Usually black here will develop the queen's knight to d7 to protect the e-pawn (3 ... Nc6 is regarded as a bad move, as it can transpose into a variation of the Ruy Lopez favorable for white, the Steinitz Defense, and doesn't resolve the threat of removing the Queens from the board). The other options are to exchange the center pawns, or to gambit the pawn with f5. 3 ... exd4 Black choses the exchange variation. In fact I've never seen anyone play anything else on the internet in the Philidor's defense. 4. Nxd4 Bd7 Perhaps this move is too passive. A better line seems to be 4 ... Nf6 attacking the e pawn, 5. Nc3 g6 preparing the kingside fianchetto. 5. Bc4 Nc6 6. O-O Nf6 7. Nc3 Black has finally started to challenge my presence in the center with ... Nf6. I have some slight pressure on the f7 pawn. 8 ... Ne5 8. Bb3 Be6? After a quick inspection of this position I realized I would win a center pawn by exchanging. However, for whatever reason I took with the bishop first, giving me two knights in an open game. Better is 9. Nxe6 fxe6 10. Bxe6 9. Bxe6 fxe6 10. Nxe6 Qe7 11. Nf4 I chose Nf4 because I want to establish a knight on d5 on the open file. It will tempt black to play c6 to kick the knight which permanently weakens the d6 pawn. This is from Nimzowitsch's theory of play on open files. 11 ... O-O-O 12. Nfd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 Qd7 14. Bg5 Re8 15. f4 h6 16. Bh4 Nc6 17. Qd3 g5 This is where I felt I went slightly off. My bishop has become a target to allow white to open the files directed toward my king. Rybka still gives white a two pawn advantage, so I guess it's not that dangerous. I missed Rybka's choice 18. Nf6 in this position, forking the queen and rook. 17. Qd3 seems quiet but I wanted to connect the rooks and the Queen becomes very useful on the f1-a6 diagonal later. 18. fxg5 hxg5 19. Bxg5 Not only have I won another pawn, but the f-file is now open for me to double rooks. 19 ... Re5? This looks like a blunder. It allows me to exchange my problem piece, this hanging bishop, for one of the rooks by playing... 20. Bf6 Bg7 21. Bxe5 Bxe5 Black's compensation is a very strong bishop on e5 looking straight at my king. Here's where I start making defensive mistakes, which, if black had played "energetically" would have made for a much tougher position for me. Here Rybka suggests 22. h3 22. g3? Qh7 23. Rf2? Here Rybka suggests 23 ... Bxg3 24. Qxg3 Rg8 pinning the Queen to the king. 23 ... Bd4 Trying to pin my rook to my King, but I found Ne3 blocking. 24. Ne3 Be5 Now the threat of Bxg3 isn't as dangerous after I double rooks on the f-file because I can force the exchange of rooks. 25. Raf1 b6? This seems to be a losing move, as it opens up the diagonal for Qa6+. 26. Qa6+ Kd8?? Better was Kb8, as Rf8+ can be blocked by Nd8. This is the losing move. After this move Rybka's analysis jumps up to +300 (i.e. forced win for white). 27. Rf8+ Rxf8 28. Rxf8+ Ke7 What is the winning move in this position? 29. Qc8!! 1-0 I am glad I found this move. Here is the position: White threatens mate in two places: if this were white to move, he could play Nd5# or Qe8#. It is impossible for black to guard these two squares at once. So, for example, if Qg6 then Nd5#, if Nb4 then Qe8#. If Nd8 then Qxd8+ Ke6 Qe8#. For black, Qf7 covers both squares, but is met by Nd5+ Qxd5 Qe8#. This is the point in the game where black resigned. In fact there is only one move that black can play: d5, to create an escape square. Rybka continuation: [29 ... d5 30. Re8+ Kf6 31. Qe6+ Kg7 32. Nf5+ Black must give up his queen for the knight. 32 ...Qxf5 33. exf5 Bd4+ 34. Kg2 Ne5 Black must protect from the mate on g6, but now black does not protect f6. 35. Re7+ Kf8 (35. ... Kh8 36. Qc8# ) 36. Qf6+ Kg8 37. Qg7# 1-0 ] So in summary, black played a bit passively in the opening, and I won a few pawns and then the exchange of bishop for rook. Then I blundered, allowing black to get some pressure on the h-file, but black missed the move Bxg3. After doubling on the f-file and a final pair of blunders from black, I reached a devastating mating position (mating net). Thanks to chessvideos.tv for their diagram generator, and to Chessops for the info on the Philidor's defense. Finally I completed a game on this blog.

Hello. I had a really interesting game just now in the Two Knights Defense. I used to be afraid of playing the two knights defense because of the quick pressure on f7. But then I saw GreenCastle's great video on the Ulvestad variation which can be found here. Play began 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 The Two Knights Defense. 4. Ng5 d5 (black must sacrifice a pawn to stop the double attack on f7 5. exd5 b5! (The Ulvestad Variation). This caught my opponent off guard which is probably worth as much in generating an advantage as the variation itself. The Ulvestad Variation. According to the video, the correct move for white is Bf1 for tactical reasons (i.e. the unprotected g2 pawn. But, white sees a free pawn and so he feels compelled to take it. 6. Bxb5 Qxd5 7. Bxc6 Qxc6 Black trades immediately to save the g2 pawn as he doesn't want to lose time with 7. Bf1. 8. O-O Bb7 Threatening checkmate. 9. f3 Protects against the mate but allows me to develop with check. 9 ... Bc5+ 10. Kh1 h6 Notice how white has only one developed piece whereas black has three and can castle queenside to develop the rook to the central file. Now 9. f3 is shown to be a bad idea as the knight must move to h3 instead of the more natural Nf3. Now I can accelerate my kingside pawn attack by harassing this knight, taking advantage of the pin on the f3 pawn, and the fact that white needs two moves to start developing his queen or bishop. 11. Nh3 g5 12. d3 g4 Gaining time on the knight. I will continue this later!