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'.