Carpe Diem

Another typical Simian loss... "A lack of desire really to go into concrete variations thoroughly, a vague wandering about...".



At move 24 what more could you possibly want from a French Defence? Only the coup de grace requires a little calculation which I failed to do. It's so winning, why bother taking the Bishop and letting the pawn run rampant? I have so many mating ideas brewing!

This is what Chess is all about, seizing the opportunity when it presents itself. That is achieved by coolly analysing variations.

25. e6 is an excellent practical move - it gives the opponent the maximum opportunity to go wrong, which is exactly what I chose to do. With plenty of time left, I needed only to calculate a few lines from each of the candidate moves to clarify the situation.

I'd best get off and practice doing that now, then.

Do You Know How To Analyse? Part 1

This is how Alexander Kotov described his play in the period 1935-36, before he gained the title of Grandmaster:

"My worst fault was an inability to analyse variations.".

"... most of the time mixing up variations and general reflections.".

"A lack of desire really to go into concrete variations thoroughly, a vague wandering about...".

I resemble those remarks! And this is how he set about remedying the problem:

"I selected from tournament books those games in which the greatest complications had arisen. ... I ... covered the page with a sheet of paper and set myself the task of thinking long and hard so as to analyse all the possible variations. ... Having spent between half an hour and an hour on this task ... I would compare them with those of the annotator.".

And here is how Kotov proceeds through the work of calculating variations:

"... I became even more convinced that the ability to analyse clearly a sufficient number of variations so as to clarify the position was the basic condition for succcess.".

1. "Candidate moves must be established straight away and they must be clearly ennumerated.".
2. The candidate moves form the 'trunk' of a 'tree of analysis', it's branches and sub-branches being the variations arising from each possibility.
3. "In analysing complicated variations one must examine each branch of the tree once and once only.".
4. It is important to analyse the optimum number of variations, so as not to spend too long or miss important lines. This, Kotov tells us, comes from intuition, and intuiton develops from practicing this method.

When practicing, this is of course all done either from a diagram or by setting up the position on a board and then analysing without moving the pieces.

Boleslavsky vs. Flohr, 1950
Position after 16. Rxe6+
Kotov position #6

The task in this position is to calculate the consequences of 16. ... Kf7 17. Rxf6+ gxf6 18. Qh5+. I'm looking for a suitable way to represent Kotov's tree of analysis diagrams in the blog-medium, but it goes something like this:

The candidate moves are 18. ... Ke7, 18. ... Ke6, 18. ... Kg7, and 18. ... Kg8.

A. 18. ... Ke7 19. Re1+
--A1. 19. ... Kd6 20. Bf4+ Kd7 21. Qf7+ followed by Re8+
--A2. 19. ... Kd8 20. Qe8+ Kc7 21. Bf4+ Bd6 22. Re7#
--A3. 19. ... Kd7 20. Qf7+ Kd6 21. Bf4+ Kc5 22. Be3+

B. 18. ... Ke6 19. Re1+ transposing into A1 or A2

C. 18. ... Kg7
--C1. 19. Qg4+ Kf7 20. Qh5+ is perpetual, but there is better...
--C2. 19. Bh6+ Kg8 20. Qg4+ Kf7 21. Rd7+ Be7 22. Qg7+

D. 18. ... Kg8 19. Qg4+
--D1. 19. ... Bg7
----D1a. 20. Bh6 Qc7 21. Rd7?? Qxd7 22. Qxd7 Bxh6+ loses, so
----D1b. 20. Qe6+ Kf8 21. Bf4 Rd8 22. Rxd8+ Qxd8 23. Bd6+ Qxd6 24. Qxd6+ or
---- D1c. 20. Qc4+ Kf8 21. Bb4+ both win.
--D2. 19. ... Kf7 20. Qc4+
----D2a. 20. ... Ke8 21. Re1+
------D2a1. 21. ... Be7 22. Bb4 Qc7 23. Qc5
------ D2a2. 21. ... Kd8 22. Qd3+ Kc7 23. Bf4+ Kc8 24. Re8+
---- D2b. 20. ... Kg7 21. Be3
------ D2b1. 21. ... Qc7 22. Qg4+ Kf7 23. Rd7+
------D2b2. 21. ... Qb4 22. Rd7+ Kg6 23. Qf7+ Kf5 24. g4+ Ke4 25. Qxf6
---- D2c. 20. ... Kg6 21. Qe4+ Kf7 22. Ba5 threatening Rd7+
------ D2c1. 22. ... Qc5 23. Rd7+ Be7 24. Bb4 Qg5+ 25. f4
------ D2c2. 22. ... Bh6+ 23. Kb1
-------- D2c2a. 23. ... Rad8 24. Qc4+ Kg7 25. Qg4+ and 26. Bxb6
-------- D2c2b. 23. ... Rhd8 24. Qxh7+ Bg7 25. Qh5+ and 26. Bxb6

The simpler looking lines are calculated first, and the more complex ones later.

It's a lot to look at and it appears daunting right now (and of course it's Kotov's analysis, not mine!)... but that's the point of the excercise.

Patterns In Practice

I don't often play Queen's Pawn games, I know even less about them than I do about the other openings I know very little about. Here's one I tried recently in a 5' 12" blitz game.



11. Ne4 probably isn't the best idea but I recognised a pattern from one of Fred's positions, and in blitz it has the advantage that Black probably thinks he can win a piece with 11. ... Bxf3 12. Bxe7 Bxe2. Here's the problem that gave me the idea:

Reinfeld position #110
White to move

The obvious answer is to win a piece by 1. Bxe7 Qxe7 2. Nd6+, but on closer inspection it's an example of 'like pieces pinning'; White can play 1. Nd6+ directly because the Black Bishop is pinned to the Queen by the White Bishop.

As to the game, the idea isn't winning much (Black still holds the gambit pawn), but the King is kept more in the centre and the Rook will be out of play for a while. Crafty just wants to play 12. ... Qxd6 getting 3 pieces for the Queen and better pawns, but the little iron monster would do that, wouldn't it! I'm sure there are plenty of other faults with the play on both sides too, however I did at least manage to notice and exploit a weak back rank at the end.

Another 100 Days

Contrary to what my results may indicate, the first 100 Days to Chess Improvement have substantially improved my tactical vision and overall 'sight of board'. Naturally, both are still in need of considerable continual work, but the improvement is adequate to progress to the next stage of Chess development.

The recurring theme from my Teamleague 37 games has been my inability to analyse and calculate variations in critical positions. Fortunately for me, Grandmaster Alexander Kotov once found himself in a similar position and wrote a book about how he overcame the problem. What a thoughtful chap!

Chapter 1 of 'Think Like a Grandmaster' is subtitled 'Do You Know How To Analyse?'. No Grandmaster Kotov, I don't!

It is on this first chapter that the next period of study will focus. We are presented with a method for selecting candidate moves and analysing variations systematically without flitting back-and-forth from move to move. Who isn't familiar with the thought process of saying "I like this move... oh but then he does that... let's try this move... no, that won't work... how about... no... let's try the first move again..." bad, bad, bad!

We'll be looking at complex middlegame positions and trying to produce 'trees of analysis'. I want to do a general strategy book as well, I'm still trying to decide between Nimzovitch's 'Chess Praxis' and Euwe and Kramer's 'The Middlegame'. I always found Nimzovitch's disscusions more inspiring, but Euwe and Kramer's book is more comprehensive if somewhat drier to read.

The tactics practice will continue, this is now an easier (if not simpler) task due to my heightened pattern recognition, and I want to expand on the definitions and discussions already begun in earlier posts.

Teamleague 37 - Round 7 Review

Following my early fiasco, we had two good wins with Mejdanblues winning material in another fairly wild game and then holding on to capitalise in a Bishop ending, and blackk playing an attractive if speculative sacrifice and winding things up with a mating attack.

In the last game Mapleleaf went down to his +300 rated opponent on board 1, but with the match drawn we got to play spoiler - schoolofhippopotami needed the win to make the play-offs ahead of MonkeyClub2000.

Current_Affairs mid-table finish was a creditable performance considering one of our team members (who shall remain nameless...) failed to make an impact on the scoreboard, and we were significantly out-rated on most boards in the majority of our matches.

What can I learn from my +0-5=0 result this season? Against DarthDaver and ValenceJordan the basic error was being over-hasty trying to simplify to nullify an attack. Against squib I avoided a key line because I was unable to calculate it confidently and failed to consider a couple of candidate moves. The dzomba game was the only one I made a really gross blunder (leaving a piece en prise) which was disguised by the complications, and I failed to sufficiently evaluate an important move due to mis-calculating tactics. The final game against mrundersun was again a mis-calculation of tactics, failing to notice the simple tactical motif of an unprotected and immobilised piece (after Nxg7 in the analysis).

I guess that makes the work ahead pretty clear...

Small Mercies

It turns out my instinct was right. I had used about 8 minutes on 6. ... Bg7, deciding that 7. Bxf7+ shouldn't 'work'. It shouldn't. It's not losing, but it shouldn't be winning, either.

Analysis by mrundersun:
8. ... Ke8 9. Ne6 Qb8 "Qb8 is better than Qa5 since white would then have Bd2" 10. Nxg7+ Kf7 11. Nh5 gxh5 12. Qh5+ Kg7 "I never realised that the Knight was trapped".

mrundersun(2012) vs SimianChatter(1768)
Position after 12. ... Kg7 (analysis by mrundersun)

And the moral of this story is...

(Predictably...) having an instinct for where the danger is or isn't is a good thing, but it's useless if it's not backed up with concrete analysis!

Teamleague 37 - Round 7

I wonder if I've hit rock-bottom yet?

They say you have to reach the depths of despair and find yourself sleeping in the gutter before you're truely motivated to turn your life around. An investor friend of mine was rubbing his hands with glee a month ago "All these blue-chip shares are undervalued! The market has bottomed out! Buy! Buy! Buy!". The market has dropped another 10% since then and still no sign of a recovery. Where is the bottom?

I can only pray that this game is close to it. If nothing else it sums up my performance in both seasons of Teamleague I've played in.



7. Bxf7+ wasn't a surprise, I thought I'd be playing 10. dxe5+ Nxe5 11. fxe5+ Qxe5+ but even 10. fxe5 Nxe5 11. O-O+ (or Rf1+) Bf5 is pretty bad for Black.

Back to the old drawing board. Cue intro music. Roll the projector. Raise the curtain for the sequel... "Another 100 Days to Chess Improvement".

Teamleague 37 - Round 6

Oh the bitter-sweet joy of being the losing player in a winning team.

Plebusan won in the true manner befitting a totalitarian dictator, without deigning to move a single piece. blackk triumphed through simple means, picking up some pawns and converting them, while Mejdanblues had a wild game that cost him a piece, then won him two, and finally ended peacefully after both players promoted.

I had originally intended to try the Budapest Gambit (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5) against my opponent's preferred Queen's pawn opening but changed my mind during the preparation. I only found two games in which Black won, the seminal Rubinstien - Vidmar, Berlin 1918 in which the annotators remark that neither side played particularly well (although there is a pretty combination), and a game won by Shirov when Bacrot attempted to blow him off the board in a pawn-storm. In the other games, even the drawn ones, Black's position just looked ugly and unpromising from the get-go.




As a youngster I had tremendous success playing the Cambridge Springs variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, indeed the only game I ever lost in that opening I missed a resource and resigned in a drawn position. But White can get a good game if they know what they're doing, and most Queen's Gambit players these days seem to know the wrinkles better than I remember them.

I ruled out the Indian defences (though thinking about it now I might give the Old Indian another run) and Benoni systems on the basis that I need to study the likes of Chess Praxis and Pawn Power In Chess again before returning to those. Finally I settled on the trusty old Orthodox Defense, and pulled out a marvelous little book from my collection called 'Chess from Morphy to Botwinnik (A Century of Chess Evolution)' by Imre Konig.

This book takes the Ruy Lopez, Queen's Gambit (Accepted, Declined, and Exchange!), the English Opening, and the King's Gambit and examines their development from the 1850's to the 1950's. Watching ideas progress in the light of evolving Chess theory is a wonderful way to learn an opening system. I'd originally prepared the Orthodox Defense for Teamleague 36, but had no opportunity to play it, so this was a good chance to brush-up.

Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defence
Position after 12. Rxc3

Much of the theory for a safe game against the then much feared Queen's Gambit (the Pillsbury Attack!) was worked out by Showalter in the late 19th century, however it was not until the 1920's and 30's that the system was fully worked out and became widely known. Innocuous seeming transpositions or mixing systems is generally fatal for Black - from 'orthodox' don't read 'boring'! White dictates whether Black plays the freeing pawn lever ...e5 or ...c5, the rule being that if the Rook is in front on the c-file then it's ...e5, and if the Queen is in front (i.e. White has played Qc2 and Qxc3), then Black must work towards ...c5.

After 12. ... e5 13. e4 preventing Black's cramping e4 is the theory move, so I'm out of book, but I do have a plan. On 15. ... Bg4 with the intention as in the game, White might simply have played 16. Re1 whereupon the Bishop will probably spend much of the game supporting e4 from g6 - but I figured this was better than having it interrupt my Rooks' communication on c8.

16. Rc5 is clearly premature as 16. ... Nd7 shows, and buys me a tempo to put the Bishop on d3 (I was actually expecting 18. Rc1), but it also put me in a bit of a quandry. I should probably be content to return the Knight to f6 at some point, but now it can also come eventually to d5 via b6 keeping White's pieces off c4. Either way the 21. ... a5 idea is probably dubious, if only because after I played it I saw 22. Bc2 Bxc2 23. Qxc2 f5 24. Qb3+ Nd5 25. Qxb7, and it was not until after the game I noticed that 25. ... Rfb8 traps the Queen. We'll be dealing with analysis and calculation skills in 'Another 100 Days'!!!

With a passing note that 23. ... Rfe8?? would allow 24. Qh5, and that I never quite did get my Queen or Knight to b4, the game was level until my mistake at move 30 (before that Crafty gives White no more than an insignificant +0.3 - +0.4). 30. ... Qg6 was always costing that a5 pawn to an endgame I hoped I might survive (Bishop vs Knight with pawns on both wings). I rejected 30. ... Qd6 on the basis of 31. Nc4 (it's playable), and 30. ... Qd7 on the basis of not wanting to grovel to hold onto the d5 pawn. After looking at about eight thousand million positions Crafty's preferred 30. ... Qd7 involves a couple of exchanges (nice) and then ends with Black playing Kg8-f8-g8 while White plays useful moves. [insert disparaging remark about machines]

I got my one final swindle attempt at the end (I wouldn't have to try swindles if I just won a game or two!) 50. ... Kxe5 hoping for 51. a8/Q Bxa8 52. Nxa8?? Kxd6 draw. Naturally my opponent wasn't falling for it and could even have played 51. a8/Q Bxa8 52. d7 1-0.

Here it is then. My rating after this game (1768) is back to where it was at the end of Teamleague 36. This time I've faced on average stronger opponents and had 1 White to 3 Blacks - I had more Whites in TL36. The tactics training has meant I understand better what is going on, and while I've been outplayed this season, I haven't been routed. My play is better now, but not yet good enough! One of the values of blogging is that you can monitor your own thought patterns over time. One clear pattern here has been the need to work on calculation and analysis, so it's time for 'Another 100 Days to Chess Improvement - from Tactics to Analysis'.

Discussion: Pinning Part I

There are 3 elements to a pin: the pinning piece (green squares), the pinned piece (yellow squares), and the screened squares (blue arrows). This is an important point in identifying pins; there may or may not be an opposing piece standing on one of the screened squares, there may be a different threat such as delivering mate on one of them.

White Bishop Pins Black Knight, Black Rook Pins White Rook

Technically x-rays until the screened squares attain higher target value

There may be no threat associated with any of the screened squares. If the value of a target on any of the screened squares is less than the value of the pinned piece, those squares are technically speaking x-rayed. The value of the pin depends on the value of the screened squares, and the mobility of the pinned and any screened pieces.

Reinfeld position #2
White to move

Here the Black Knight is pinned by the Bishop to the value screened square d8, and by the Queen to the value square g7. This is an absolute pin, as the Knight may not legally move. The pin is exploited by a decoy sacrifice that allows white to infiltrate the Black squares surrounding the King. 1. Re8 Qxe8 2. Qxf6+ Kg8 3. Bh6 followed by mate at g7 or f8.

Reinfeld position #431
White to move

We commonly associate pinning as being between different types of pieces; Bishops pin Knights for example. This diagram illustrates pinning between pieces operating along the same line and therefore mutually attacking. 1. Bf6 gxf6 2. exf6 Rg8 3. Rd8 the function of this pin is to neutralise the g8 Rook's protection of the mating square g7 so after 3. ... Rcxd8 4. Rxd8

The pin by mutually attacking like pieces
Reduces the pinned piece's mobility (g7)

5. Qg7 will be mate whether the Black Rook moves or not.

Knight pinned to screened mate threat
White to move

There is no piece on the screened squares, the value-target is a mate-threat. After 1. e6 the Knight is lost, for if it moves, 2. Rg7+ Kh8 3. Rh7+ Kg8 4. Rcg7#.

Teamleague 37 - Round 4

I'd already more or less decided to take time off from playing the French Defense, and the clincher was seeing my opponent for this round involved in the black side of my favourite MacCutcheon variation.

The Steinitz Defense Deferred in the Ruy Lopez has served me well in the past, with the idea of playing the Siesta Gambit (5. c3 f5) should the opportunity arise. I stopped playing this a few years ago for reasons that are more-or-less borne out in this game; the weakened a2-g8 diagonal can make castling difficult, I have some bad memories of my King getting hammered on an open e-file (I managed to avoid that at least this time), and White can generate a strong attack with Queen, King's Bishop, and Knight around the f7 and e6 squares. That said, when it does work, it's White who can find himself getting steam-rolled.



Between moves 10-13, I spent rather too much time finding ways to not play ...h6 which would be catastrophically weakening for Black, the idea behind 12. ... Rb8 is to force the Bishop off it's dominating diagonal with ... Na5 and ... b3.

So by move 18, while I was happy to have exchanged off the attacking pieces and White's position looks slightly under-developed, my King was still standing in the centre holding a big neon sign that reads 'kick me'. 18. ... Qe6 is obviously an error, ... Qf7 should be played directly, and by move 20 I was already down to practically playing on my increments.

At move 22 I tried to start running the King to the relative haven of the Queen's side, but of course 22. Kd8 would have been a better way to try that idea - playing fast I saw the Knight check too late.

In the blitz phase that was the second half of the game, I did manage to keep abreast of the tactical nuances while making cheap threats in an ever deteriorating position. Then the White Queen finally moved in for the kill at move 35. With more time on the clock I'd have done the respectable thing and fallen on my sword earlier, instead I played the closest thing I could find to a swindle with 35. ... Nxf3+ before capitulating.

Board 1 next week eh? I'd better pack my oxygen mask...

Teamleague 37 - Round 5

There's a definite pattern emerging here...

I was rested for round 5 - I played my adjourned round 4 game which you can see above (if I've written the post by the time you're reading this...) - and with bash's game on board 1 adjourned, the team has already won the match 2.5 - 0.5 with Plebusan and blackk winning their games and a draw from Mapleleaf to secure the match points.

My value to the team is clear, what we needed all along was a really good 2nd assistant orange-cutter. None the less, our Beloved Leader in his infinite wisdom has decided to rest bash and Mapleleaf in round 6 and play me on board 1.

I can't do any worse than I have been...