Excelling at Technical Chess

A weakness is a defect in one's position. It can take the form of a pawn, a square, a file or a diagonal. A weakness is of a permanent nature.
Jacob Aagaard, Excelling at Technical Chess

At some point during my Sunday morning game in the Eastern Washington Open, I recalled the effect upon my play of reading, several years ago, Jacob Aagaard's Excelling at Technical Chess (2004). This book helped cultivate my resistance to offering or accepting draws when there is an imbalance in the position, whether the imbalance concerns pawn structure, material differences, or clear initiative. If more than one of these is present, and one player has two weaknesses, the chances are great that the other should be playing for a win.

My game featured a long endgame in which I had one pawn more than my opponent, pawns were on both sides of the board, and I had a bishop versus a knight. The first draw offer by my opponent was a reasonable effort on his part to get out of a jamb. I recorded "DO" on my scoresheet, and made my move, signaling my refusal. His second draw offer irritated me. After the third offer, I scolded him with a threat of complaining to the TD, who could impose a time penalty. Two moves after the third offer, I blundered. Although my practical winning chances remained strong, especially as my opponent now had less than one minute remaining on the clock, I had let the technical win slip away.

I went through the game, entering my comments and evaluations. After doing so, I checked my evaluations with Rybka 4. Only then, did I discover the critical error in my endgame play.


Stripes,James (1824) - Joshi,Kairav (1886) [D02]
Eastern Washington Open Spokane (4), 02.10.2011

1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.c4 e6 8.0–0 Be7 9.Nc3 Bb7 10.Bf4 0–0 11.Qb3 Ba6 12.cxd5 cxd5 13.Qa4

Black to move


I felt that I'd gained something from the opening: queenside pawn majority, bishops aiming at the queenside, rooks connected and ready to come to the open c-file and the half-open d-file. I would like to swap pieces and go into a pawn endgame. Trading my e-pawn for Black's d-pawn, or provoking the d-pawn to advance where it becomes weak are considerations. I have a comfortable game and a slight advantage with long-term chances for a better endgame.

13...Bb7 14.Rfd1 Qb6 15.Qb5N

Using the novelty annotation feature of Chess Base 11 brings up this game for comparison: 15.Be3 Qa6 16.Rac1 Rfc8 17.Qxa6 Bxa6 18.Bf3 Nd7 19.Bf4 g5 20.Be3 Ne5 21.Bg2 Nc4 22.Bd4 Bb7 23.b3 Nd6 24.Be5 f6 25.Bxd6 Bxd6 26.Nb5 Bc5 27.e3 a6 28.Nd4 Kf7 29.Bh3 Bxd4 30.exd4 Rxc1 31.Rxc1 Rc8 32.Rxc8 Bxc8 33.Kf1 Ke7 34.Ke2 Kd6 35.Kd3 a5 36.Kc3 Ba6 37.Bg4 h6 38.Bd1 e5 39.Bc2 e4 40.b4 axb4+ 41.Kxb4 f5 42.Kc3 f4 43.Kd2 Kc6 44.a3 h5 Eckhardt,C (2260)-Ozturk,K (2034)/Kusadasi 2006/CBM 111 ext/1–0

Is this game score complete and correct? The position appears even. Surely Black did not resign in such a position.

15...Bc5 16.Qxb6 Bxb6

As my opponent and I discussed in the postmortem, 16...axb6 seems better, activating the queen's rook.

17.Rac1 Ng4!

White to move


I had used eighteen minutes getting to this position, and now thought for seven minutes--my second longest think of the game. This was the only time in the game when Joshi's superior tactical skills were a significant factor in the game. I decided almost immediately upon the correct move, but realizing that my bishop would become trapped, had to find a compensating resource. It appeared to my opponent that this resource was more than adequate, and as a consequence, he opted to let my bishop escape. I added "to my opponent" to the previous sentence after going through the variations with Rybka, although during play I was far from certain that my resources were sufficient to secure the decisive advantage that I thought was just within reach.

18.e3

Rybka prefers 18.Rf1. In other words, my "correct move" was probably incorrect.

18...e5 19.Bg5 h6

The critical line that had me concerned after Black's move 17 begins with 19...f6! I planned to play 20.Bh4 in order to avoid opening the f-file, but also intended to go into another long think here. I believed that allowing Black counterplay along the f-file would neutralize my advantages elsewhere.

Rybka denounces 20.Bh4 in favor of 20.Nxd5 fxg5 21.Nxb6 (21.Ne7+ is no good 21...Kh8 22.Bxb7 Nxf2 with advantage for Black) 21...Bxg2 22.Nxa8 Bxa8 23.Rd2=.

After 20.Bh4, Black might proceed 20...g5, leading to clear advantage for White after 21.Nxd5 gxh4 22.Nxb6 Bxg2 23.Nxa8 Bxa8 24.Rd7. But, perhaps 20...g5 is not Black's best option. In any case, Black's 19...h6 was a relief.

20.Be7 Rfe8 21.Nxd5

At this point, having won the d-pawn, I become confident that my winning chances are very good.

21...Bxd5 22.Bxd5 Rab8 23.Bd6 Rbd8 24.Bc7

Black to move


I believe that I have a technical win. But there is much play ahead to demonstrate this advantage. I went on to win against my A-Class opponent, but this position merits practice against the engines. If it is indeed a technical win, can I win against Rybka? Houdini? Hiarcs? Fritz?

24...Rc8 25.Bxb6 axb6 26.Bc6 Re7 27.Bf3 Rxc1 28.Rxc1 Nf6 29.Rc6 e4 30.Be2 Nd5 31.a3 Rc7

White to move


32.Rxc7

32.Re6 is less good. A bishop versus a knight with pawns on both sides and a majority on the queenside is a technical win.

32...Rc5 33.b4 Rc1+ 34.Kg2 Nc3 35.Ba6
32...Rc1+ 33.Kg2 Rb1 34.Rxd5 Rxb2
32...Rc2 33.Rxd5 Rxe2 34.Rb5

32...Nxc7

Now I am certain that I have a technical win, and the plan is straight-forward. The majority must be converted into a passed pawn, tying down one of Black's pieces. Then with two active pieces to one, White shifts attention to the kingside in order to create another passed pawn.

33.Kf1

First, the kings race to the action.

33...Kf8 34.Ke1 Ke7 35.Kd2 Kd6 36.Bc4

attacking a vulnerability

36...f6

36...f5 gives the bishop a target

37.Kc3 b5

This move seems tactically necessary, but White wants Black's pawns on light squares.

White to move


38.Bf7

Observe the bishop's ability to restrict the knight. White is happy to trade minor pieces because the pawn endgame is a simple win.

38...Na6! 39.Kd4 Nc5

White to move


Now my longest think of the game: eight minutes. I will lose the f-pawn, and possibly the b-pawn, but will pick up the b-pawn and e-pawn in exchange.

40.Be8 Nd3 41.Kxe4 Nxf2+ 42.Kf3 Nd1 43.Bxb5 Nxb2 44.Ke4 Nd1 45.Kd4 f5 46.a4 Nf2 47.Be2

Black to move


Protecting the h-pawn

47...Ne4 48.a5 g6 49.a6 Kc7

Black's king becomes inactive. The white bishop, although tied to defense of the passed pawn, is nevertheless able to move about restricting the knight. Trading minor pieces remains a possibility because White's king is centralized and able to move over and gobble all the Black pawns before Black's king can return to the action.

50.Ke5 Kb6 51.Ke6 Nc3 52.Bd3 Nd1 53.Kf6 Nxe3 54.Kxg6 Ng4 55.Kxf5

Now, I can give up the h-pawn.

55...Nxh2

White to move


56.g4??

My plan is to eliminate Black's last pawn and force the knight to trade itself for my g-pawn. The rest will be easy. This plan came to fruition, but my opponent found some complications. He might have found a fortress after this error, but had less than one minute on his clock. I had forty-seven minutes remaining at this point. I have traded the technical win for practical winning chances.

56.Be2 was the correct move, trapping the horse.

56...Nf3 57.Kf4 Nd4 58.Kg3 Ne6 59.Bf5

I wanted to transfer the bishop to b7. This plan reduces the bishop's flexibility, but also reduces its vulnerability. It can be captured, but at the cost of the knight. The remaining pawn game on the kingside is easily won.

Black to move


59...Ng7

59...Nc5 makes things more difficult for White 60.Bc8 Ka7 61.Kh4 Nd3 62.Kg3 Nc5 63.Kf4 Nd3+ 64.Kf5 Nf2 and White is making no progress.

60.Bc8 Ka7

60...Ne8 makes White's job difficult 61.Kf4 Nd6 62.Bb7 Nc4

61.Kf4

Black to move


Again I have a clear win, and not only because my opponent is down to a few seconds.

61...Kb6 62.Ke5 h5! 63.g5

I gave this move a box.

Rybka sees a second alternative: 63.a7 Kxa7 64.g5 Kb8 65.Bh3 h4 66.g6 Kc7 67.Kf6 Nh5+ 68.Ke7 Kc6 69.Bg4 Nf4 70.g7+-

63...h4 64.Kf4 Ne8 65.Kg4 Nd6 66.Bb7

Black to move


66...h3

66...Nxb7 67.axb7 Kxb7 68.Kxh4 Kc7 69.Kh5 Kd7 70.Kh6 Ke7 71.Kh7+-

67.Kxh3 Kc7

67...Nxb7 68.axb7 Kxb7 69.Kh4 Kc7 70.Kh5 Kd7 71.Kh6 Ke7 72.Kh7+-

68.Kh4 Nb5 69.g6 Nd6 70.Kh5 Ne8 71.Kh6 Kb6 72.g7 Nxg7 73.Kxg7

Black to move


The rest is elementary.

73...Kc7 74.Kf7 Kb6 75.Ke7 Ka7 76.Kd6 Kb6 77.Kd5 Ka7 78.Kc5 Kb8 79.Be4 Ka7 80.Kb5 Kb8 1–0

Lesson of the Week

The easy lesson for this week is a tactical shot that shows the benefits of knowing basic checkmate patterns.

White to move



An additional tactical problem from my best game of the weekend's tournament. Here I missed the simple and correct move.

White to move



This week's endgame lesson comes from a tournament game between a chess coach (me) and a young player who is coached by my friend John Dill. My young opponent could have beaten me after I blundered a minor piece, but he let the endgame get away from him. The finish shows the importance of practicing pawn wars, and other exercises for developing pawn endgames.

Black to move


Hint: I made a losing move here.

Yesterday's "From the Eastern" has a position from this game a couple of moves earlier.

From the Eastern

In my first game of the Eastern Washington Open, I reached a wholly lost endgame against a young player who will become one of Spokane's top scholastic competitors this year. He still has much learning ahead of him, but has the potential to become a strong player.

Spokane is fortunate that a new chess coach moved into the area. John Dill started coaching at Northwest Christian last spring. As a consequence of his work, there are five young boys among the competitors at this year's EWO. Some of them have been getting attention at Thursday night meetings of the chess club, where my opponent in particular has racked up an important victory and given one of our strongest players a scare.

White to move


He pushed his passed e-pawn, letting me back into the game.

Lesson of the Week

It is week two for one after school chess club, and week one for a chess class for home schoolers. Next week, chess club starts at a school I'm beginning to coach this year. Due to different ages and skill levels, most weeks I will need two problems of the week.

The easy one:

White to move



Slightly more difficult:

White to move

Steinitz Defense

Wilhelm Steinitz, the father of chess theory, had some ideas that seem wacky today. In The Modern Chess Instructor (1889),* he explains why he prefers 3...d6 against the Spanish Opening, rather than the more common Morphy Defense (3...a6) or the Berlin Defense (3...Nf6). According to Steinitz, the Spanish, or Ruy Lopez, offers White no more than equality.

[W]e have come to the conclusion, after careful analysis, that this form of opening is no exception to the general rule, inasmuch as the pinning of the Knight by the Bishop in the early part of the game cannot be of any advantage; and we find now that at the utmost the game can be made even by White against the best defence, which we think is 3...P-Q3.
Steinitz, The Modern Chess Instructor, 1

Steinitz reasons that deploying the knight to f6 deprives Black of an important resource, which he suggests in his "main variation":

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.c3 f5.

White to move


4.d4 has become the main variation today.

This position from Steinitz's "main variation" appears nine times in ChessBase's Online Database. Moreover, Steinitz did not play 4...f5 when he had the opportunity. Instead, he prepared the f-pawn advance and played it in the early middle game.

Gunsberg,Isidor - Steinitz,William
World Championship, New York 1890
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.c3 Bd7 5.0–0 Nge7 6.d4 Ng6 7.d5 Nb8 8.Bxd7+ Nxd7 9.Na3 Be7 10.Nc2 Nc5 11.Qe2 Qd7 12.b4 Na4 13.Bd2 0–0 14.c4 f5



15.exf5 Qxf5 16.Rac1 Rae8 17.Nfe1 Bg5 18.g3 Nc3 19.Bxc3 Bxc1 20.Ng2 Qf3 21.Qxf3 Rxf3 22.Nge3 Bxe3 23.Nxe3 Ref8 24.Kg2 c6 25.Bb2 cxd5 26.Nxd5 Rd3 27.Bc1 b5 28.Ne3 bxc4 29.Nxc4 Rd4 30.Ne3 Rxb4 31.Rd1 Rb1 32.Ba3 Rxd1 33.Nxd1 Rd8 34.f3 d5 35.Nc3 d4 36.Ne4 Rb8 37.h4 h5 38.Kf2 Rb1 39.Bd6 Rb2+ 0–1

The oldest game that I could find with Steinitz's 4...f5 was played via correspondence the year following his World Championship match with Gunsberg. There, as in several other games, White met this idea with 5.exf5, rather than 5.d4 as given in Steinitz's book.

Pilkington,R - Brunton,William
GBR Fraser corr 1891–96, England 1891

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.c3 f5 5.exf5



5...Bxf5 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 8.0–0 Nxd4 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.Qxd4 c5 11.Qe4+ Ne7 12.c4 0–0–0 13.Nc3 Re8 14.Re1 h6 15.a4 g5 16.Nd5 Bg7 17.Nxe7+ Kd8 18.Bd2 Be5 19.Ba5+ Kxe7 20.Qd5 Qc6 21.Rxe5+ dxe5 22.Qxe5+ Kd7 23.Qf5+ Re6 24.Rd1+ Kc8 25.Rd5 b6 26.Bc3 Rhe8 27.b3 Kb7 28.Kf1 R8e7 29.Be5 Qe8 30.Qf3 Ka6 31.Qc3 Rxe5 32.Rd1 Qh5 0–1
Perhaps Steinitz discovered this simple capture between writing his book and facing Gunsberg over the board.



*Edition Olms makes this text readily available with their 1990 reprint.

Problem of the Week

School is back in session, and the scholastic chess season begins soon. One of my schools has its first chess club meeting this afternoon. Others begin soon. Each week, I create a small number of chess problems to begin each club's meeting.

This position occurred in Porges -- Pillsbury, Nuremberg 1896.

Black to move

 The pawn on e6 must be captured, but whether with the f-pawn or by the sacrifice of a bishop requires deeper consideration.

Review: Chess Viewer (Everyman)

Publisher Everyman Chess has been producing good quality chess books long enough that I have accumulated many of their titles on my shelves. Some of my favorites include Garry Kasparov, My Great Predecessors, 5 vols.; John Watson, Play the French, 3d ed.; and Vladimir Kramnik, and Iakov Damsky, Kramnik: My Life and Games. But, Everyman Chess also published what may have been the worst edited book that I've ever purchased from a major publisher, a book that shows evidence of immense need for simple copy editing and that seems as though it received none. Susan Polgar, with Paul Truong, Breaking Through: How the Polgar Sisters Changed the Game of Chess stands as an embarrassment to Everyman Chess. Aside from printing, binding, and distribution, they utterly failed as a publisher.

With this track record, I had some trepidation before purchasing an ebook version of Nigel Davies, Play the Catalan ($19.99) for viewing within the iPad Chess Viewer ($1.99). The three samples provided with the app revealed that viewing games and commentary was functional, although complex variations are not particularly well supported by the Chess Viewer app. It is easier to navigate complex variations in Chess Base, the viewer of choice for Everyman Chess ebooks.

Play the Catalan is less expensive in paperback ($18.96 at Amazon), but weighs more than the iPad, which also contains many hundreds of other books (and currently sixteen chess programs). The advantages of purchasing it in this format include the convenience of the iPad itself, and that acquiring it does not require finding more space on already overcrowded book cases.

Everyman's website lists 125 ebooks, but only 30 appear in the store accessible via Chess Viewer. All these books concern openings, while their list of ebooks available for viewing in Chess Base includes a handful that are not opening manuals, including Jose Capablanca, Chess Fundamentals (algebraic edition).

It seems as though they rushed Chess Viewer through the process without considering the features that might be of interest to readers. Even so, it is a good beginning.

The Introduction in Play the Catalan includes two complete games: Kasparov - Korchnoi 1983, 7th match game, and a game not available in the Chess Base online database, Davies - Brown, 2009. This position stems from the latter.

White to move


Here Davies found a simple winning combination.

Puzzling

Lajos Portisch played 12...Bc5 from this position.

Black to move


Why not grab the horse? Would White make Black suffer after 12...Qxc3?