Introduction
As we enter into a new year based on the Chinese Calendar, I thought I'd experiment writing and presenting my chess thoughts in another way =)
This is my attempt towards self-learning. I would greatly appreciate the sharing of any thoughts or comments/feedback for learning and improvement's sake. Perhaps, if anything, you can see how a newbie in chess thinks ^o^
Thanks ahead!
Candidate Moves and Thinking Process
I will try to illustrate the concept of candidate moves through a game I played at Cashew Chess Club yesterday evening. Regrettably, I can't visit the Chess Clubs located in the West as often as I wish. In any case, this is my self-attempted review to examine my thought process. Through examining my thinking process, I hope to identify my key weaknesses / issues and seek to address them.
Adult Player v.s. newbie_learner
(As per my current practice, I will not identify my opponents in an unofficial game, unless I have specifically obtained permission to do so. As for official games, anyone who wants to know could've checked chess results anyway, so that's that.)
Even though I recorded this rapid game (15 minutes of initial time + 10 seconds increment for each move starting from the first), I did what some of my stronger chess friends in Singapore Chess Meetup suggested -- try to reconstruct the game from memory. I'm not sure if this trains visualisation or memory, but will do it since everyone recommended me doing so. I failed to reconstruct the full game based on my own memory, but I managed to get everything correct until move 18. Between move 19 and 23, I got the move order wrong, although we transpose back to the game position at the end of move 23.
1. e4 c6
2. d4 d5
3. e5 Bf5
newbie: Here is 1 of the most played line in the advance variation. An alternative would be the interesting 3...c5. It is not purely a "waste of time" to move the same pawn twice. (I suspect most fellow chess newbies would think like that on first sight, but that is not the case -- feel free to do a little bit of research on your own if you are interested.)
4.Nf3 e6
5.c4 Ne7
newbie: So far so good. I don't think there's anything too unusual. I did notice that if Black initiates 5...dxc4, White's d4 pawn becomes exposed as a backward pawn. However, that also gives White a free developing move with 6.Bxc4 recapturing the pawn. Hence, I decided to play ...Ne7 instead. I am concerned, but not overly concerned over the dark square Bishop still on f8 square. Depending on the situation, I thought Black even had ideas like ...h6 and ...g5 to consider deploying that Bishop to g7 instead, or consider challenging White's pawn centre with ...f6. The dark square Bishop on f8 didn't have that many better squares to move to anyway, so I think blocking it's scope temporarily is an acceptable "concession".
Worth mentioning is the possibility of 5...Bxg1 6.Rxg1 Qa5+ to pick up the a2 pawn. But I never believed in such manoeuvre. Whenever I play greedily like this, it almost always backfires ^o^ I'd rather stick to the general opening principles (develop, centre control, king safety). Winning a pawn in this fashion seems to help White gain development moves.
6.Bd3 dxc4
7.Bxc4 Nd5
newbie: Since White has spent a move with 6.Bd3, 6...dxc4 is no longer giving White a free tempo. I played 7...Nd5 because I want to improve my dark square Bishop from f8 to e7. Without which, I cannot castle short. I see that White has the option to play 8.Bxd5 but I'm not really concerned, since after 8...cxd5 Black's route to complete development seems easy enough: ...Be7, ...Nc6, ...Qd7 etc.
8.0-0 Be7
9.Nc3 0-0
10.Re1 Nd7
newbie: These are all normal developing moves. Worth mentioning is that I prioritise short castling for King safety. Hence I completed my Kingside development before continuing developing my Knight on the Queenside.
11.Nxd5 cxd5
newbie: On hindsight, I don't think White should have initiated this exchange of Knights. While this addresses the concern of exposing the backward pawn on d4, the centre pawns are completely locked up, and both sides will be focusing their attention to the Queenside of the Board. It's probably playable, just that I do not think that Black will be worse playing on the Queenside.
Another reason to play 11...cxd5 instead of exd5 is that the e-file remains shut down, so the value of White Rook on e1 is diminished.
12.Bd3 Bg6
newbie: The candidate moves I saw for Black were 12...Bxd3, 12...Bg6 and 12...Bg4. Before that, I felt obliged for my Bishop on f5 to move in response. Otherwise, Black's pawn structure will be damaged after White plays Bxf5.
I did not want to initiate 12...Bxd3 because I thought that simply helps White to develop the Queen to d3 "for free". I some time concluding that 12...Bg6 is a better move than 12...Bxd3, since if White initiates 13.Bxg6 hxg6, my argument is that despite the slightly weakened pawn structure, Black has gotten rid of a potential backrank issue -- often when the major pieces faces each other off (very likely when fighting over the control for the c-file in this case), we want to make sure there is no backrank checkmate. And the most common way to do that is to make a pawn move on the Kingside for the King to escape. Hence, if White initiates Bxg6, I argue that Black has saved 1 move for this purpose.
Admittedly, I did not spend enough time to compare with 12...Bg4, pinning the White Knight on f3. I see nothing wrong with this in my post game review. During the game, I had some concerns over whether Bxh7+ is a possibility. I think I'm "seeing ghost" =)
Engine: After 12.Bd3, the engine recommends 12..Bxd3 13.Qxd3 Nb8 un-developing the Knight temporarily to relocate it to a better square of c6 to pressurise the d4 pawn.
After 12...Bg6, the engine recommends 13.Bxg6, and opines that White has advantage if Black recaptures with 13...hxg6 14.g3 or 14.h4 immediately, imagining a direct Kingside attack. (13...fxg6, opening up the f-file for the f8 Rook maintains equality).
Same thing in subsequent moves, the engine opines that Black should have just taken on d3 to avoid even that little bit of pawn weakness on the Kingside, and that White should have initiated Bxg6 to create that weakness (and attack Kingside!)
What can I try to learn from this: Don't under-estimate pawn weaknesses, especially over the Kingside when there is still some attacking potential. The easiest for Black is to go for 12...Bxd3.
13.a3 Qb6
14.b4 Rfc8
newbie: White decides to expend his Queenside space while Black decided to complete opening development by connecting the backrank Rooks. I chose to move my f8 Rook instead of my a8 Rook to c8 in view of a number of considerations. First, I actually have some concerns over White playing Qa4 (it's better for the Rook on a8 to remain to keep the a7 pawn protected without committing the Black Queen to b6). Second, when asking myself which is the "worst placed piece", I actually feel it should be the f8 Rook -- I may want to push my a7 and b7 pawns eventually, since we are fighting on the Queenside. Third, from a defensive point of view, I may want or need my undefended Knight on d7 to be relocated to f8. All these factors prompted me to play 14...Rfc8.
15.Bg5 Qd8
newbie: White's move surprised me. I thought White would play something like 15.Bb2 as an attempt to shut down the c-file, diminishing the value of my Rooks / major-pieces on this open file. I spent quite a bit of time on this move. First, I find 15...Bxg5 unappealing, if not potentially disastrous. Specifically, I do not even want to entertain the thought of 15.Bg5 Bxg5 16.Nxg5 with some Qf3 ideas after exchanging off the light squared Bishops. I also ruled out the possibility of winning a pawn with 15.Bg5 Bxg6 16.Nxg5 Qxd4, because the tactical considerations have not ended: 17.Bxg6! Qxd1 (the Black Queen is undefended) 18.Bxf7+ followed by 19.Rxd1 (either Rook) would be disastrous for Black.
So I have ruled out initiating the capture on g5. But my Bishop on e7 is also hanging. Luckily I found 15..Qd8, a move I liked very much. The Queen on b6 does not seem to be doing a lot -- the d4 pawn is immune for now. The Queen on b6 is also arguably misplaced -- it is stopping my Queenside pawns from advancing to fight back. Above all, I now see potential for my d7 Knight to be routed to b6 and challenge for control over c4 and a4 squares.
Engine: 15...Bxg5 is still better. If White realises 16.Bxg6, Black must find 16...fxg6 rather than 16...hxg6.
What can I try to learn from this: Got to realise the dynamic possibilities of ...fxg6 -- Black can at least plant a major piece on f8 to fight back. With ...hxg6, Black has no such possibility.
16.Bf4 Nb6
17.Rc1 Rxc1
18.Bxc1 Rc8
newbie: I kind of understand 16.Bf4, although I think White might as well have initiated mass exchanges with something like 16.Bxe7 Qxe7 17.Bxg6 hxg6 18.Rc1. I thought this makes the position easier to hold. 16.Bxe7 Qxe7 pulls the Queen away from the backrank, which undermines Black's efforts to pile up the major pieces on the c-file. 17.Bxg6 liberates the White Queen of it's defensive obligations over the d3 light square Bishop. After what was actually played in the game, I felt Black definitely has something-- just a matter of whether it is sufficient to win the game.
19.Qd2 Qc7
20.h3 Qc3
newbie: 19.Qd2 feels like White Queen is still burdened by the need to defend the light square Bishop on d3. Here, I decided to double my major pieces on the c-file and do what I can to exploit for maximum damage. Time factor (I was down on time) contributed to my decision to play 20...Qc3 as an attempt to simplify rather trying 20...Nc4. In any case, I thought that it was unwise to play 20...Nc4 since White has the resource of 21.Bxc4 anyway. Notice that White spent a move 20.h3 to give an escape square for the White King. In comparison, Black was waiting for White to initiate Bxg6 to save a move.
21.Bxg6 hxg6
22.Qxc3 Rxc3
newbie: These moves aren't exactly "forced" or only moves, but White's position feels difficult, and I can understand why White was "encouraged" to play them. Now Blacks moves are much easier to find -- consider ...Nc4 or ...Na4 and work on White's hanging pawns.
23.Bb2 Rc2
24.Bc1 Nc4
25.Bg5 Bxg5
26.Nxg5 Nxa3
27.Ra1 Nb5
newbie: Even when reviewing the game after its conclusion, I'm not sure if 23...Rc2 or 23...Rb3 is more accurate. During the game, I was quite down on time at this juncture (probably at 1 minute or less). So I thought that minimally, I do not want to risk giving up control over the c-file to any mistakes. And my opponent admitted that he did not realise that 27...Nb5 defends the a7 pawn. Not only is Black 1 pawn up, White's pawns, particularly the d4 and b4 ones, are still vulnerable. These factors should be decisive for the game.
28. g4 Kf8
29.Kg2 Ke7
30.Nf3 Rc4
newbie: Here I just want to stay as safe as possible. 28...Kf8 was to take away any potential backrank (the Knight on g5 took away h7 square from Black King). 29...Ke7 is centralising of the King, and moving towards the side of the board where it counts -- my pass pawns will emerge on the Queenside. I believe I still have just enough on the Kingside to not allow White to make a meaningful pass pawn. In fact, the doubled pawns are very useful to stop / slow down White's pawn advancement on the Kingside. 30....Rc4 threatens to win more loose pawns.
31.Rb1 Nxd4
32.Nxd4 Rxd4
33.Rc1 Rc4
newbie: consistent with the plan to stay safe. After grabbing the d4 pawn, Black is ready to offer exchange of Rooks with 33...Rc4. On hindsight, perhaps 33...Kd7 is better. The King on d7 has already taken away the c6,c7 and c8 squares from White's Rook, while the Rook on d4 is still pressurising the b4 pawn.
34.Rb1 Kd7
35.b5 Kc7
36.Kg3 Kb6
37.h4 Rc5
38.h5 Rxb5
This was the last recorded position. Black proceeded to win the game after more moves were played.
0-1
The full game replay using Chessbase 15's Tactical Analysis function can also be found in the following link:
Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing (Eugene)
a.k.a. newbie_learner
Siglap South CC Chess Quartet
No comments:
Post a Comment