Today I noted in a thread in the USCF Issues forum that sometimes I don’t understand my own games. There’s a lot I don’t understand about the following game, including why I won. My wife was telling me very important things (of course) during the latter part of the game so I could only play via my hand, not my mind. It worked out this time but I don’t know who played the moves or even if they’re good …
Comments:
I don’t know book moves in this opening but my idea was just to move my queenside majority forward.
b4 and I figured I was doing OK. If 10…Bxb4 11. Qb3, c5 12. a3, Ba5 13. Qxb7 and this looks pretty good as his bishop is wandering about. If 10…Bxb4 11. Qb3, Ba5 12. Nh4 Be4 (or Be6 13. Qxb7) 13. f3 Bg6 13. Nxg6 and then 15. Qxb7. He cannot maintain control of b1.
But I missed 11…Qe7 attacking the Be2 and keeping the pawn. Fortunately, so did he.
c5 may not be best but I wasn’t sure what to do with my dark square bishop, so I pushed pawns and let him worry about how to retreat. Bc7 looked a little awkward to me, probably Bf8 is better.
Maybe I should not have exchanged pawns on move 13 but since I was distracted I just wanted the clear target on c6 and the open file. As it turns out I was never able to take advantage of c6, meanwhile he settled strongly into d5. Can I play a4-a5-a6 instead?
Qg4 had been planned a couple moves ahead as a way of pushing back and resolving some pressure on the kingside, but I didn’t even see that it lost / sacrificed a pawn. A pawn is not too much for taking over some initiative on the kingside, but I didn’t know I was making that tradeoff.
I was unsure of whether to play 20. Bxf7+, which gets his f7 pawn but gives my e3 pawn. Not very logical perhaps but my hand said to do it. My knight is better than his bishop, even in the open game.
Rb7 is a good move, finally taking advantage of the awkward position of the bishop on c7 that moved there 11 moves ago. After 22…Qe7 notice that 23. Kh1 avoids Bxh2+ winning my rook, even though I have to come right back to g1 a couple moves later. But now the bishop is pinned to both the queen and king. We are both attacking on the kingside, simultaneously.
Nf3 was played by the hand again and right afterwards I noticed that Nc4 (Nd6+) would have won the exchange so I thought it was a mistake. It probably was, but it worked out. (Come to think of it, from d6 I can come back to f5 rather than taking a rook, so Nc4 is almost certainly better than Nf3.) Does the hand play psychologically?
25…Re4 is better than Re2 and slows down my attack. But in a fast game it’s very hard for him to resist attacking h2! At the end he loses at least the bishop.
I am shocked, simply shocked that actual chess is being discussed on these forums! All kidding aside, it is not a bad little game. A Russian friend of mine would probably just shrug and say, “A normal position,” if he saw it. It is not often you get to play a miniature in a Game 120. I will show this game to a student of mine who likes the Caro-Kann and see how she would approach White’s ideas. It will go in my examples folder.
Speaking of moves by hand, I would almost invariably play 14…Be6 out of respect for the strength of the Bc4. (Houdini likes the game move, 14…Be4, better, but still.)
Then maybe I can play 15.Bd3 Bd5 16. Nh4 g6 17. Qg4 and as long as it holds together and I don’t lose material, I have stopped his attacking chances and keep a permanent queenside advantage. I can play Rf1-d1 to cover the d pawn. I do remember being more annoyed by Be4 as played, though I’m not sure what I planned if anything.
Yes, I will not apologize for dragging the chess forum off-topic like this. I was admonished once for mentioning actual chess on the USCF Issues Forum but I don’t think they can get me here. Nya nya nyah!
It’s a typical position – it’s the type of position where we are familiar with the problems (they feel like an old toothache) but are unclear about how the solutions will come about. I’m not sure there’s as much excuse for such a sentiment these days as a conclusion, when one can simply work with the computer a bit and easily get a penetrating if partial understanding of any position. Even though I haven’t done it in this case …
Please do pass along any comments from your student.
Well it appears that it didn’t hold together … and this position seems very tricky. That whole idea doesn’t work.
Perhaps 15. Bb3 Bd5 16. Ne1 Ne6 17. Nc2 Nf4 18. Bxf4 Bxf4 19. Nb4 which looks better for White (but maybe Black can improve on this). Here Black can try 19…Be4!? 20. f3 Be3+ 21. Kh1 Bxd4 (or Qxd4) 22. fxe4 Bxa1 23. Qxa1.
17…Nf4 may be premature because it releases pressure on d4. 17…f5 is possible.
If this variation is good for White, it begs the question of why White could not play the same way after 15…Be4, the move in the game. It could transpose. So why does Houdini prefer Be4 over Be6?
And (significant to me, maybe not to you) nowhere here does the Bc7 turn out to be especially awkward.