Jacques Delaguerre's Open Salon Blog

Chess: Curious Queen in Nimzoindian Mainline w/ e3 & Nf3

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:01:39 -0500

The game Zhonghan Ma vs Wang Hao, Chinese League 2011, besides being illustrative of one of the most important lines of the Nimzoindian (E58) defense to the Queen's Pawn opening, happens to contain a curiously amusing Queen maneuver in the late midgame.

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. O-O Nc6 is that main line of the Nimzoindian Defense variation wherein White plays e3 and Nf3.

With 8. a3 White puts the question to the bishop.

8 ... Bxc3 9. bxc3 Qc7 10. a4 Rd8 11. cxd5 exd5 and Black has doubled and White has subsequently undoubled White's broad pawn center, the mobility of which, in conjunction with two bishops and two rooks, could roll over an unwary Black. (Black could alternatively have played 8 ... cxd4 9. exd4 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Be7.)

Now 12. h3 and Black needs a plan.

12 ... Na5 13. Ba3 c4 14. Bc2 Ne4 15. Bxe4 dxe4 16. Nd2 Bf5 17. Qc2 Qc6 and Black spoils his own pawn structure slightly to restrain White.

White challenges that restraint with 18. f3.

18 ... Re8 19. Bb4 Nb3 20. Nxb3 cxb3 21. Qxb3 exf3 22. Rxf3 Be6 23. Qb2 Bd5 and Black has lost a pawn but gained compensating pressure on the a8-h1 diagonal, the c file and the e file which continue to restrain White's center pawns even after the blockading pawns have left the board.

24. Rg3 to save the Exchange while maintaining the protection of the pawn on g2 is followed by 25 ... Qc7 attacking the rook. Then suddenly White's Queen gets busy!

25. Qf2 a5 26. Bc5 b6 27. c4 Be4 28. Ba3 Qxc4 29. Qf6 Bg6 30. Qxb6 Qc3 31. Qb2 Qc7 32. Qf2

After her square tour cleaning up the position, the queen is back on f2 where she will exert sufficient direct pressure on f7 in conjunction with Raf1 and the threat of Rg3xg6 and on g7 in conjunction with White's queen bishop for White to remain slightly better while navigating to the queen trade and to the subsequent draw.

32 ... Ra6 33. Rf1 Qc4 34. Bb2 Rb8 35. d5 Qxd5 36. Ba1 Rab6 37. e4 Qxe4 38. Rg4 Qe6 39. Qd4 f6 40. Bc3 Rd6 41. Qc4 Qxc4 42. Rxc4 Rd5 43. Rc7 h5 44. Re1 Rg5 45. Bd2 Re5 46. Rxe5 fxe5 47. Bxa5 Ra8 48. Bc3 Rxa4 49. Bxe5 Bf7 50. Rc8+ Kh7 1/2-1/2

Chess: An Interesting Najdorf

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:01:37 -0500

A bemused commentary on the game

Mathias Womacka vs Juan Antonio Urbina Perez

Tradewise Gibraltar 2012

Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation (B92)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2

is a familiar position in the Sicilian Defense, the invitation by White to the e5 Najdorf variation. Black can easily decline into a safe Scheveningen with 6 ... e6.

6 ... e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Re1 Be6 10. Bf3 Qc7 11. a4

and White's opening is over. It's now Black's turn to come up with a plan. A struggle for queenside squares ensues.

11 ... Rc8 12. a5 Nbd7 13. Nd2 b5 14. axb6 Nxb6 15. Nf1 Nc4

Black has c4 for the Knight and dispatches it with a draw offer, but White declines to repeat the position and minors exchange on a3 and c3.

16. Re2 Rab8 17. b3 Na3 18. Bb2 Nc4 19. Bc1 Na3 20. Bxa3 Qxc3

A combination trading pawns and clearing space follows.

21. Ne3 Bf8 22. Rd2 Rb6 23. Ra2 g6 24. Bxd6 Bxd6 25. Rxd6 Rxd6 26. Qxd6 Qe1+ 27. Nf1 Nxe4 28. Bxe4 Qxe4

White drops back and Black offers the endgame. White declines, maneuvers, and eventually manages to trade another pawn before the minors and the queens come off, leaving a drawn R+P ending.

29. Qd2 Qd4 30. h3 Rc3 31. Qe2 Bc8 32. Ne3 Bb7 33. Ra4 Qd7 34. Rb4 Rc7 35. c4 Qd4 36. Qg4 Qd8 37. Ra4 Bc8 38. Qe4 Qd6 39. Qa8 Kg7 40. Qb8 Bb7 41. c5 Qd7 42. Rc4 f6 43. b4 Bc6 44. h4 Bb5 45. Rc1 Rb7 46. Qa8 Ra7 47. Qe4 Bc6 48. Qc4 Bb5 49. Qb3 Qc6 50. Nc4 Bxc4 51. Qxc4 Rd7 52. Ra1 Rd4 53. Qxa6 Qxa6 54. Rxa6 Rxb4 55. Ra7+ Kh6 56. g3 Rc4 57. Rc7 g5 58. hxg5+ Kxg5 59. Kf1 Rc2 1/2-1/2

Chess : The Impact of Computers

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:12:29 -0500

What impact have computers had on chess, chess play, and chess players (amateur and professional?) There are few on earth more qualified to speak to that topic than the current World Champion, Vishwanathan Anand, in this video.

Anand points out how computers have been the great leveller: Chess is no longer buried in musty tomes. Now Chess resides in live databases on the Web and in the powerful software we all can use to analyze our ideas.

Richard Réti (1889-1929) pointed out that in Chess, we have an abstract portrait of the intellectual struggle of humankind. To examine how human players adapt to the impact of computer chess is a likely model for understanding how humanity at large adapts to computers in general.

Chess: Seeing The Openings with New Eyes (Updated)

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:09:35 -0400

Recently returning to tournament chess after a twenty year break I have had to book up on the openings all over again. It has made me see the openings with new eyes.

The double King Pawn openings haven't changed much in two decades ... there are players poking around at White d3 in preference to d4 in lines from the Four Knights to the Ruy, a couple of new tries in the Berlin, otherwise much of the same as always.

The Queen Pawn openings show a similar tendency towards more conservative play.

The English is more important than ever. I read John Watson's Mastering the Chess Openings Vol III and found it enlightening. Also enlightening is a Wikipedi article First-move advantage in chess.

As I have relearned how to go to Chess land ... really the most important aspect of player preparation ... I have also learned to see the openings differently.

Here is one formulation that comes to me: The mechanics of the Chess opening is the struggle for the center. The meaning of the Chess opening is the struggle to yield the initiative favorably, to make the opponent commit while one's own setup remains more flexible.

This is how combination, the single move that makes two threats, arises: by flexibility in the face of commitment.

UPDATE: Speaking of the English Opening, check out this critical game in the English, Ivanchuk-Ponamariov World Cup rd. 7.1 2011-09-16

Position after 9. ... d5

Chess : You Can't Pick Openings Unless You Know Endgames

Tue, 2 Aug 2011 16:08:10 -0400

Nicholas Pert vs Adam Hunt, British Championships 2011, Gruenfeld Defense

Some openings lead to violent clashes in the midgame with overwhelming material wins or checkmate (for one player or the other) the most likely result. The King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4) is a good example. But it is impossible to play the midgames resulting from certain openings if you do not understand the endings!

In this example of the Gruenfeld defense to the Queen Pawn opening, White is more less finished with the midgame after he plays 20. d6.

Now all White wants is a suitable one-rook-and-pawns endgame, because he's got a lovely protected passed pawn on d6 at the end of a three-pawn chain.

Black's strategy in the Gruenfeld is to let White get that huge pawn center in the opening which is immobile in the midgame and needs constant protection while Black tries to get an attack with his more active pieces. White's pieces are busy holding up the center pawns and defending the empty squares left behind by the pawns' advance.

The Gruenfeld is a good choice for the aggressive Black player, as it's easier for many players to see combinatorial possibilities than keep an eye out for threats to empty squares, White's biggest liability in the midgame resulting from the Gruenfeld.

But IF ... (that's a big If, you know!) ... if Black does not get a good attack and win some material or bust up that huge White pawn chain with the passed pawn at the tip, Black is going to have just the sort of horrible endgame that he gets in this game after the queens come off the board at 32. Qxf4 Rxf4.

Here Black is a pawn up but all the chances are White's! White plays 33. Rd1 (threatening to queen the d-pawn) and goes on to convert to a win. Black makes time control and resigns after his own 51. ... h4

In the final position White can play 52. Rg8+ and the Black king sits helplessly on the h-file while the White king shepherds a center pawn to its queening square.

So you see ... if White did not understand R+P endgames very well he would not know how to play the midgame that results from this opening:

seeing the advantage of achieving the temporarily stalled passed pawn on d6
preserving the pawn center
keeping watch over his own dangerous open squares
responding to Black's threats by forcing trades down into the R+P ending.

BTW, Nicholas Pert (White here, winning) and his brother Richard G. Pert are the only twin grandmaster/international master pair I know of in chess!