How Bad is Your Chess?

Some days it is better to read a book than to play chess online. During this morning's online blitz, two minutes and 25 moves were sufficient to complete an appalling loss and an equally appalling victory.

These two games call loudly for a New Year's Resolution to limit blitz.


Internet Opponent (1800) -- Stripes,J (1697) [B41]
Live Chess Chess.com, 31.12.2014

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3

Black to move

The Sicilian Kan is good if you understand it.

6...Bc5? 

Wrong square. This move belongs in the "don't try this at home" category. Black should leave the Sicilian Kan in the hands of trained professionals.

6...Bb4 was sensible.

7.Be3 d5? 

What is Black thinking?

7...Qc7 is often made without thinking, and here would be a solid move.

8.e5 Ne4 9.Nxe4? 

If White's plays as bad as Black, the second player might survive.

9.Qg4 applies pressure.

9...dxe4 10.Be2

Black to move

The stage is set for a terrible move

10...Nc6??

Free horse! Do not look at its teeth.

11.Nxc6 Qb6

11...Qxd1+ is no better.

12.Bxc5 Qxc5

Making the worst possible move because he doesn't know where the resign button is located.

13.Qd8# 1–0


Stripes,J (1704) -- Internet Opponent (1660) [B04]
Live Chess Chess.com, 31.12.2014

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bc4?!

5.c4 seems normal.

5...Nb6 6.Bb3 dxe5 7.d5!? 

Making the most of prior errors.

7...Na5

White to move

A position in the database

It may come as a shock that two masters also have found themselves in this position.

8.c4 Nxb3

8...e6 would show White that he has no center.

9.axb3 Qd6 10.Nbd2 g6

Perhaps White's pawns and the weakness of e5 compensate for is temporary one pawn deficit.

11.Ne4

Black to move

"Look mom! The Blind squirrel is hungry."

11...Qb4+??

"Always check, it might be mate."

12.Bd2 1–0

With nowhere to run, Black's queen showed her king where to find the resign button.

An Unplayed Brilliancy

This was a betrayal of myself.
Mikhail Tal

There is a line of the Alekhine Defense in which the Black king strolls towards the center after White's knight sacrifice. The line resembles the Fried Liver Attack, but is more often played by Grandmasters.

In one game, Bent Larsen defended the Black side well and won a nice miniature against Mikahil Tal. In another game, Tal worked out the variations all the way to checkmate before sacrificing the knight. The Black king was driven to a1 where it was checkmated with White's few remaining pieces.

These games are fantasy variations that stem from a war of nerves in which Larsen scored an important victory against the master of attack, but still lost the Candidate's Match against the former World Champion. Tal spent fifty minutes contemplating the knight sacrifice, trusted his opponent's preparation, and opted for a safer route. He ended up in a worse position, but managed to salvage a draw in the endgame.

My interest in this line was provoked by Yasser Seirawan's excellent recent lecture at the Chess Club of Saint Louis, "A History of Chess Openings". Near the end of the lecture, Seirawan indicates that he may have mixed up the moves of Tal -- Larsen, but goes on to make some astute comments concerning opening preparation. He had spent several days been looking at "the conservative and the super sharp lines" of this opening. Tal's trapped queen and another quieter game he showed first illustrate the possible varieties. Seirawan predicts that the Alekhine Defense, like the early queen exchange in the Berlin Defense, could become a new hot trend in Grandmaster play.

Here is the game that Seirawan remembered.

Tal,Mikhail -- Larsen,Bent [B04]
Candidates Semi-Final Bled (4), 1965

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 dxe5 5.Nxe5 Nd7

Larsen offered Tal an opportunity to drive his king to the center with a knight sacrifice.

6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qh5+ Ke6 8.c4 N5f6 9.d5+ Kd6 10.Qf7 Ne5 11.Bf4 c5

White to move

12.Nc3

12.b4 is the main line in my edition of Encyclopedia of Chess Openings.

12...a6 13.0–0–0

See the next game for 13.Rd1

13...g5 14.Bg3 Bh6 15.Re1

Seirawan does not offer 15.d6, which has been played in similar positions (after 13...g6 and no 14.Bg3).

15...g4+ 16.Kb1 Bf5+ 17.Ka1 Rf8 18.Bxe5+ Kd7

White to move

Unable to rescue his queen, it is time for White to resign.

0–1

In Attack with Mikhail Tal, trans. Ken Neat (1994), Tal explains his thinking after Larsen's shocking 5...Nd7.

My intuition insistently kept telling me that the sacrifice had to be correct, but I decided to calculate everything "as far as mate", spent some 50 minutes, but then in one of the innumerable variations I found something resembling a defense, and ... rejected the sacrifice. This was a betrayal of myself, I saved the game only by a miracle after the adjournment.

Here is the variation that Tal presents in the opening section of his book.

Tal,Mikhail -- Larsen,Bent [B04]
Candidates Semi-Final Bled (4), 1965

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 dxe5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qh5+ Ke6 8.c4 N5f6 9.d5+ Kd6 10.Qf7 Ne5 11.Bf4 c5 12.Nc3 a6 13.Rd1 g6 14.Bxe5+ Kxe5 15.d6 g5 16.Rd2 Bf5 17.Re2+

Black to move

17...Kd4 18.Re4+ Bxe4 19.Qe6

Black to move

Perhaps the defense that he found in his calculations was 19...Qd7, covering h3 or 19...Qb6, covering b3.

White's threat, according to Tal is 20.Ne2+ Kd3 21.Qh3+ Kc2 22.Qb3+ Kb1 23.Nc3+ Ka1 24.Bd3 Bxd3 25.Kd2+ Bb1 26.Rxb1# 0–1

Here is the game that was actually played.

Tal,Mikhail -- Larsen,Bent [B04]
Candidates Semi-Final Bled (4), 1965

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 dxe5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Bc4

Black to move

6...e6 7.Qg4 h5 8.Qe2 Nxe5 9.dxe5 Bd7 10.0–0 Bc6 11.Rd1 Qe7 12.Nc3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 g6 14.a4 a6 15.Rb1 Qc5 16.Be3 Qxe5 17.f4 Qf5 18.Bd3 Qg4 19.Qf2 Be7 20.Bd4 0–0 21.Be2 Qf5 22.Bd3 Qg4 23.Be2 Qh4 24.g3 Qh3 25.Bf3 Rad8 26.Bxc6 bxc6 27.Be5 Qf5 28.Qe2 Bd6 29.Rd3 Bxe5 30.fxe5 Rxd3 31.cxd3 Rd8 32.Rd1 c5 33.c4 Qg4

White to move

34.Qxg4 hxg4 35.Kf2 Rb8 36.Rd2 Kg7 37.Ke3 g5 38.d4 Rb3+ 39.Kf2 cxd4 40.Rxd4 Kg6 41.Rxg4 Rb2+ 42.Kg1 Kf5 43.Rd4 Kxe5 44.Rd7 f5

White to move

Black must be better here with an active king and a pawn majority on the kingside.

45.Rxc7 Ke4 46.Rd7 Rc2 47.Rd6 e5 48.h4 gxh4 49.gxh4 Rxc4 50.h5 Kf3 51.Rd3+ Kg4 52.h6 Rc7 53.Rd6 e4 54.Kf2 a5 55.Rg6+ Kh5 56.Ra6 f4 57.Re6 Rc2+ 58.Ke1 Rc1+ 59.Kd2 Rh1 60.Rxe4 Kg4 61.Re6 Kg3 62.Rf6 f3 63.Ke3 Re1+ 64.Kd3 Re7 65.Rg6+ Kf4 66.Rf6+ Kg3 67.Rg6+ Kf4 68.Rf6+ Kg4 69.Kd4 Kg3 70.Rg6+ Kh3 71.Rg7

Black to move

71...Rxg7 72.hxg7 f2 73.g8Q f1Q 74.Qe6+ Kh4 75.Kc5 Qb1 76.Qc4+ Kg3 77.Qc3+ Kf2 ½–½

All three games are instructive. This is as true of the game played as of the two unplayed fantasies.

Alekhine's Defense

A Pair of Games

Alekhine's Defense is not my favorite weapon against 1.e4, but I respect it enough that on the White side I often will play 2.Nc3 with the idea of transposing into a Spanish or Italian Opening. I also play the main line. After a series of frustrating games on Chess.com at 15 minute plus 10 second increment, I played two games against one opponent that both were Alekhine's.

The 15 10 time control on Chess.com frustrates me because I suspect that it is too easy to cheat, and that Chess.com lacks diligence in their probing for nefarious activities by players in the 1600-1800 rating range.* In truth, however, these suspicions are more than likely paranoia that stems from inability to correctly assess the quality of my own play. I'm losing to players rated ~1650 because my play is terrible, not because my opponents are using assistance.

With White in the first game, I made an effort to punish an obvious error: my opponent failed to play d6. I opted to play the Alekhine in the second game so I could play d6 and hence give my opponent a bit of instruction in the proper way to handle his choice of opening.

Stripes.J (1646) - Internet Opponent (1630) [B03]
Live Chess Chess.com, 26.09.2013

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 Nc6

3...d6 is the main line

4.c4 Nb6 5.Nf3

5.f4 is a popular alternative

Black to move

5...e6?

5...d6 is necessary

6.Nc3

White already has a clear advantage.

6...Bb4

6...d6 was possible still.

7.d5

7.Bd3±

7...Ne7

7...exd5 8.cxd5 Ne7 White has a slight advantage

8.d6!? cxd6 9.exd6 Nf5

9...Nc6

10.Bf4 Qf6 11.Be5+-

Black to move

My play has not been spectacular. Indeed, I have missed the strongest continuation often enough that one might question whether I have the faintest understanding of how to exploit Black's opening failure. Nonetheless, I have a decisive advantage. The win is mine to throw away.

11...Qh6 12.a3 Bc5

White to move

Even in a techically lost position, Black has some tricks.

13.b4?? would have been embarrasing. 13...Bxf2+ 14.Kxf2 Qe3#

13.Ne4 f6 14.Bc3 Bxf2+ 15.Nxf2

15.Kxf2??

15...Ne3 16.Qd2 Nbxc4 17.Bxc4 Nxc4 18.Qxh6 gxh6

White to move

19.0–0

19.Ne4 was more accurate.

19...Nxd6 20.Bxf6 0–0 21.Be7 Nf5 22.Bxf8 Kxf8 23.Rac1 b6 24.Ne5 d6 25.Nc6 Bb7 26.Ne4 Kg7 27.g4 Ne3 28.Rf3 Nxg4 29.Rg3 1–0

Internet Opponent (1621) - Stripes,J (1654) [B03]
Live Chess Chess.com, 26.09.2013

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.c4 Nb6 4.d4 d6

White to move

5.a4? 

Any of 5.Nf3, 5.f4, or 5.exd6 offer White opportunities for advantage.

5...dxe5

Black has an advantage.

6.c5 Nd5

6...N6d7!?

7.dxe5 e6?!

Perhaps if I played Alekhine Defense more regularly, I would understand that 7...Bf5 should be played. Familiarity with the Caro-Kann Defense also could have served me here.

8.Qc2?

Part of what I find frustrating in the standard rated pool on Chess.com is that I will get an opponent like this one who seems to lack elementary understanding, and then the next opponent with the same rating will play like a well-trained junior, or even a rusty master.

Black to move

8... Nc6

8...Nb4 was better. 9.Qc3 Qd4 10.Qxd4 Nc2+ 11.Kd1 Nxd4–+

9.Bb5 Qe7 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.Nf3

11.Ne2

11...Qxc5

11...Ba6–+

12.Nc3? Ba6–+

White to move

13.Bd2 Nb4 0–1


*My standard Chess.com rating in the mid-1600s puts me at the 98th percentile. The Standard rated pool on the site is small, and the ratings are generally low.