I guess the title says it all. These days, whenever I lose a chess game, I shall watch this video! May this be able to help Juga get 1 million views and more earlier ^o^
Okay, I'm sorry but my opponent didn't play the Caro-Kann in this game =) It was the King's Indian Defence, something which I have a really disastrous result as White.
Time control was 45 minutes initial time with 30 seconds increment per move.
White: newbie_learner
Black: adult player
1.d4 Nf6 I really should consider exploring 1...Nf6 as an alternate move when playing Black myself. It is really more flexible than 1...d5 all the time.
2.Nf3 g6 These days, I like to insert 2.Nf3 to confirm what setup Black is going for. Indeed, the King's Indian Defence (KID) is coming. And there is this non-mainstream move I have been dying to try out. I do not enjoy playing over the internet, hence my games are all limited to Over the Board (OTB) ones. Which move would I be testing out?
3.Nd2 (Diagram)
In my previous tournament (SG Amateurs 2018), I have actually used 3.Nc3 consistently. But I felt that the response of 3...d5 was too good -- White has no pawn duo with either c4 or e4, while Black will always have the ...c5 pawn break at his disposal. Hence, the idea of 3.Nd2 to not only sidestep the mainstream options, but also to keep White's options of c4 and e4 open. After 3.Nd2, if 3...d5 is played, at the very least White still has the option to insert c4.
Do you think 3.Nd2 is a good reason in view of 3.Nc3 d5 ? Please share your views with newbie_learner so that he has chances of improving! Thanks ahead =)
4.e4 d6 White still got tempted to go for the ideal pawn centre. Nothing wrong, just that if White wanted to stay flexible, I think 4.g3 can still be justified.
5. Be2 0-0 White is really playing timidly here. White did not want to face ...Bg4 pin and did not want to waste a move on h3, although in the mainlines, h3 is quite valuable is shutting down Black's options for the light squared Bishop. Hence, the thinking that 5.Be2 discourages ...Bg4 to begin with. Moves like 5.Bc4 and 5.Bd3 look better. But I'm not sure if the Bishops are better placed there -- placing the Bishop on c4 contradicts my idea of playing b3, Bb2 c4, while placing the Bishop on d3 when Black's Kingside structure involves a g6 seems to blunt the Bishop's attack on Black's Kingside.
6. 0-0 Nbd7 (Diagram)
7.b3 c5
8.Bb2 a6
9.c4 b5! (Diagram)
I admit I was playing hope chess with 27.Qa3, that Black would play 27...Qxa4. Black didn't fall for it, and I knew in my heart gg was coming =)
Okay, I'm sorry but my opponent didn't play the Caro-Kann in this game =) It was the King's Indian Defence, something which I have a really disastrous result as White.
Time control was 45 minutes initial time with 30 seconds increment per move.
White: newbie_learner
Black: adult player
1.d4 Nf6 I really should consider exploring 1...Nf6 as an alternate move when playing Black myself. It is really more flexible than 1...d5 all the time.
2.Nf3 g6 These days, I like to insert 2.Nf3 to confirm what setup Black is going for. Indeed, the King's Indian Defence (KID) is coming. And there is this non-mainstream move I have been dying to try out. I do not enjoy playing over the internet, hence my games are all limited to Over the Board (OTB) ones. Which move would I be testing out?
In my previous tournament (SG Amateurs 2018), I have actually used 3.Nc3 consistently. But I felt that the response of 3...d5 was too good -- White has no pawn duo with either c4 or e4, while Black will always have the ...c5 pawn break at his disposal. Hence, the idea of 3.Nd2 to not only sidestep the mainstream options, but also to keep White's options of c4 and e4 open. After 3.Nd2, if 3...d5 is played, at the very least White still has the option to insert c4.
Do you think 3.Nd2 is a good reason in view of 3.Nc3 d5 ? Please share your views with newbie_learner so that he has chances of improving! Thanks ahead =)
4.e4 d6 White still got tempted to go for the ideal pawn centre. Nothing wrong, just that if White wanted to stay flexible, I think 4.g3 can still be justified.
5. Be2 0-0 White is really playing timidly here. White did not want to face ...Bg4 pin and did not want to waste a move on h3, although in the mainlines, h3 is quite valuable is shutting down Black's options for the light squared Bishop. Hence, the thinking that 5.Be2 discourages ...Bg4 to begin with. Moves like 5.Bc4 and 5.Bd3 look better. But I'm not sure if the Bishops are better placed there -- placing the Bishop on c4 contradicts my idea of playing b3, Bb2 c4, while placing the Bishop on d3 when Black's Kingside structure involves a g6 seems to blunt the Bishop's attack on Black's Kingside.
6. 0-0 Nbd7 (Diagram)
7.b3 c5
8.Bb2 a6
9.c4 b5! (Diagram)
Black has just offered a gambit play which resembles the benko gambit. To be honest, I have never taken the gambit seriously. I see it as "Black drops a pawn" =) But I have to say, White must know how to keep the extra pawn effectively, as this game shows.
Engine: White's attempted structure does not work here. After 7...c5, Rather than 8.Bb2 which gives up the pawn centre after 8...cxd4 9.Nxd4, the recommendation is 8.c3 to hang on to the pawn centre. Also, for Black, this whole gambit with 9...b5 is not correct.
10.cxb5 axb5
11.Bxb5 Ba6
12.Bxa6 Rxa6 (Diagram)
13.Qe2 Qa8 To me, after 12.Qe2, White has completed his opening development by connecting his backrank Rooks. The Queen on e2 is well-placed in that it aims at the Black Rook on a6, and the Queen also helps to defend the pawn on e4. What else can White want from the position? After 12...Qa8, Black does pose a big question on White: How does White want to set up the pawn structure over the Queenside? 13.a4 is the first candidate move on my mind, since it liberates the Rook on a1 of it's defensive duties, and on a good day, White may be able to place his Knight on the b5 outpost. But I also saw that the pawn on b3 becomes super weak. Hence, I was hesitating and considering a more modest advancement of 13.a3 instead. My argument is that after 13.a3, White still retains flexibility over how to advance the Queenside pawns.
14.a3?! Rb8 If anything, both players and spectators agree that 13.a3 is the key culprit to White losing the game in the end. It is that bad. White should have seen that the b3 weakness is at least not an immediate concern as the pawn is defended by the d2 Knight. Now all of White's pieces are stuck. All because of a small little mistake in pushing a pawn!
15.Rfc1 cxd4 Black was very effective in posing immediate problems to White.
Position after 15...cxd4. I don't like it for White already.
Engine: While 14.a4 was the best move, 14.a3 was not that bad. 15.Rfc1 was a slip, but even then, White was not worse. Best move is 15.d5 so that Black don't get to exploit the undefended Bishop on b2 by pinning. Good alternatives for White also include 15.Rab1, 15.Rac1 and even 15.Rfe1. White has misread the position here.
16.Nxd4 Nc5 White did not have a choice in recapturing on d4 as the Bishop on b2 was committed to the defence of the a3 pawn. That was the whole problem with 14.a3?! 16...Nc5 is good in continuous harassment of White's position.
17.f3 Nfd7 Actually, I did notice the possibility of 17...Na4 immediately at this position to the remaining sequence of moves. But does White have anything better? If there is, I didn't see anything meaningful during the game.
18.Qe3 Ne5 (Diagram)
Black is threatening a lot of things. ...Ned3 is one, ...Na4 is one. I am not trying to solve all the problems at the same time, but try to address the problems 1 by 1, move by move.
Engine: 17.f3 was the real losing move. Best was 17.Nb5! threatening Nc7. I actually saw this idea, with a4 to follow, but did not play this because I thought the best thing to do was to play f3 to relief the Knight on d2 of it's defensive function over e4. But this actually allowed for some pretty immediate tactical shots. Even if Black misses the tactics, Black will remain slightly better-off.
Also, instead of 18.Qe3, play 18.Bc3 instead -- better accept an inferior position but try to improve the situation through reduce the constraints / "binds" imposed on White. After 18.Qe3, White is essentially lost with all the tactical chances for Black everywhere.
19. Rc2 Ned3
20. a4 Nxb2
21. Rxb2 Nxa4 (Diagram)
As mentioned, it is not as if White didn't see this coming. Rather, White can't stop it from happening anyway.
22.Rba2 Nc5
23.Rxa6 Nxa6
24.Ra4 Rb4 (Diagram)
After the game, my opponent told me that I should have tried 24.Qd3 instead. It does seem better in that it encourages exchange of Queens, I think.
25.Nc2 Rxa4
26.bxa4 Nc5
27. Qa3 Nxc4 (Diagram)
I admit I was playing hope chess with 27.Qa3, that Black would play 27...Qxa4. Black didn't fall for it, and I knew in my heart gg was coming =)
28. Qd3 Qc6
29.Qc4 Qb6
30.Kf1 Nc5
31.g3 Qb2! With multiple threats, e.g. ...Bc3 coming, White resigned.
0-1
Game replay using Chessbase 15's "Tactical Analysis" can be found on the following link:
General Learning Points / Concluding Thoughts
- It is always difficult playing in an unfamiliar position. I think I am actually quite bad with the ideal pawn centre. But if I don't try, I will only remain bad with such positions =) I'm not attributing my loss to 4.e4, but I do feel that 4.g3 type of wait-and-see suits me better =)
- Same thing that I don't handle dynamic positions well enough.
- Despite the bad play, I managed to remember and reconstruct the game without referring to my game recording. If that shows decent memory / visualisation, that's good!
- For now, I'd say that 3.Nc3 d5 or 3.Nd2 all have their comparative merits and drawbacks. There are still a couple of non-mainstream ideas I'd like to try out.
Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing (Eugene)
a.k.a. newbie_learner
No comments:
Post a Comment