Rating 1815
Puzzle Rush Score 38
Daily Study I played a game today as white in the French Defense. I played the advance variation gambiting the pawn on d4 in the same manner that Carissa Yip has played in her recent games at the U.S. Women’s Chess Championships. My opponent was the highest rated player I have managed to win against, so I was very pleased with the result.
Here is an instructive game that I played, opening with the Caro-Kann. This is the classical /spassky variation. The key moments of learning for me were 15… O-O? 16… Nxg4? and 24… Be5??
I understood that castling was likely bad as it invites white to attack on the kingside. There are some lines in the Caro-Kann where it is best to stay in the middle with the king or castle queenside.
I also knew that Nxg4 was likely bad as it opened up the file, giving it to white for an attack, but I wanted to see how it would pan out. With correct play white was in a winning position.
The last instructive move 24… Be5?? was a move I didn’t see as bad at all and it was a total blunder. I remember playing a game where I made the same mistake my opponent did, trading off pieces, rather than pinning with the rook and winning material.
In this blitz game I get totally creamed. I play the Kings Indian against the 4 pawns attack. I have been unsure what to play against this and I am slowly gaining insight into how to play the line better, learning from my mistakes.
A Ruy Lopez game today. I love this opening and the positions you get from it. They are often hard to navigate to find the “best move” but they are lots of fun to play and the imbalances make for interesting games.
[Date “2021.09.29”]
[White “Matthew”
[Black “dark_bober”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C70”]
[WhiteElo “1808”]
[BlackElo “1774”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Nf6 6. O-O d6 7. d3 (7. c3 {c3
can be played in this position. But what happens after Nxd4.} 7… Nxe4 $2 8. Bd5
{This nice move Bd5 attacks both of the knights at the same time. I like c3 more
than the quiet d3. Both are good moves though.}) 7… h6 {Na5 is possible here
due to d3. h6 is keeping my bishop out, but I feel like that is less annoying
for black as Be7 can be played and is the natural developing move for the
bishop.} 8. h3 {In the case of h3 however, if the knight was pinned there is no
bishop to block the pin as it has already ventured out to the b3 square. I often
play lines where I allow the pin and it just takes consideration getting the
knight to d2 then sometimes to g3 to kick the bishop away.} 8… Be6 9. c3 Be7
10. Re1 O-O 11. Nbd2 {The engine likes Bxe3. But it looks like this knight move
is solid, but maybe not quick enough. Possibly could develop the bishop to e3
first as another option.} 11… Qd7 12. Nf1 {The classic Nf1 in the Ruy moving
the knight to either e3 or g3. I noticed also that black may dream about taking
on h3 and giving up the bishop. Having the knight on f1 provides extra
protection to the king as it can jump in to help with the defense.} 12… Na5
13. Bc2 c5 14. d4 Qc7 15. d5 {I thought for a bit about this move and decided
that closing the position was right as white can look to play f4 in the future
to break through. The engine gave d5 as the best move.} 15… Bd7 16. a4 {I know
that a4 is an idea in the Ruy to create some imbalance. You generally want black
to take as it creates a lone a pawn for black that can be a weakness. It can
become a dangerous passed pawn for black too so you need to keep an eye on
things. Qe2 would have been a good move to develop the queen.} 16… Nb7 17. Ng3
Nh7 18. Be3 {The engine likes b3 to support the a pawn and pawns like being side
by side so it also strengthens the c pawn.} 18… Qc8 $6 {This is the first
inaccuracy of the game by my opponent. Qc8 doesn’t do much and it also blocks
the rooks from each other. Rooks like being connected and maybe a rook on the c
file could have been good. The best move was c4 to gain control of the b3 and d3
squares. IT also gives the knight somewhere to go as that is a minor piece that
black needs to improve. A knight on c5 would be excellent as it attacks e4 and
a4 and also controls the b3 and d3 squares. IT could even possibly jump into one
of those squares in the future if black managed to find a good way to do so.}
19. Qd2 Qd8 20. b3 Ng5 21. Nxg5 Bxg5 22. f4 {I wanted to break through and
create attacking chances. There were other ways of playing this position
though.} (22. axb5 axb5 (22… Bxb5 23. Nf5 Bxe3 (23… Bd7 24. Bd3 a5 25. Bxg5
Qxg5 26. Qxg5 hxg5) 24. Nxe3) 23. Rxa8 Qxa8 24. Bxg5 hxg5 25. Qxg5 {Black would
probably not want to go down this line down a pawn, but there is still a lot of
play in the position.}) 22… Bh4 23. Qf2 exf4 24. Bxf4 Bxg3 $2 {Up until this
point the game has had very few mistakes. While the \”best move\” wasn’t always
played by either side, lots of solid moves had been played. Bxg3 gives white
everything. Time, space and mate threats.} (24… g5 25. Bd2 Qe7 26. Re3 Qe5 27.
Rf1 {White is still for choice, but black has some interesting ideas too.}) 25.
Qxg3 {Threatening Bxh6 or Bxd6} 25… f6 26. Bxh6 {Threatening mate in one with
Qg7.} 26… Qe7 27. Bf4 {Attacking the d6 pawn. If black plays something
agressive like g4 I am not too concerned as black would be weakening their
position. The bishop can always retreat to d2 or e3.} 27… Nd8 $2 {Moving away
from its defensive duties to a passive square.} 28. Bxd6 {Pinning the queen and
rook, going up the exchange.} 28… Qf7 29. Bxf8 Qxf8 30. e5 {Black is in
shambles and so it is time to keep up the pressure breaking through with e5.}
30… fxe5 31. Rxe5 (31. Qg6 Qe7 32. Qh7+ Kf8 33. Qh8+ Kf7 34. Rf1+ Qf6 35.
Rxf6+ gxf6 36. Qh7+ Kf8 37. Rf1 Be8 38. Rxf6+ Bf7 39. Bf5 Ke7 40. Qg7 Ra7 41.
d6+ Ke8 42. Qh8+ Bg8 43. Qxg8#) 31… Nf7 32. Re2 Nh6 33. Rf1 Qd6 $4 {The
pressure was too much and with less than a minute on the clock black blunders a
queen, but it was clear that white had already won the game.} (33… Qd8 34. Qg6
Nf5 35. Bxf5 Bxf5 36. Rxf5 Qd7 37. Rh5 Rf8 38. Qh7+ Kf7 39. Rg5 Kf6 (39… Qd6
40. Qxg7#) (39… Qe6 40. Rxe6 Rg8 41. Rf5#) (39… Rg8 40. Rf5+ Qxf5 41. Qxf5#)
40. Qg6#) 34. Qxd6 {<br /><br />Game may have continued…} (34. Qxd6 Nf5 35.
Qxd7 g6 36. Bxf5 gxf5 37. Re7 bxa4 {+M6} 38. Qxf5 axb3 39. Qh7#) 1-0 [/pgn]