The pandemic has been rough on everyone. One pretty unimportant fallout of it is the unavailability of OTB chess. While Magnus Carlsen seems to be happy transferring elite events online, playing chess over the internet, while (sometimes) fun, isn't really the same. I haven't been playing much serious chess, and what I have has been frankly pretty poor. Vain as it may be, I wanted to take a look back at better times, and some games that stand out in my memory as being games I'm proud of. Trust me, there aren't many.
mn-Q.Z.
Ottawa 2015
There's a little bit of context to this game. This was my first OTB tournament after a break of about 2 years. After going 0.5/2 in my first two games, after winning in rounds 3 and 4, I suddenly found myself in a position to tie for 1st. Of course, to do that I'd have to beat my higher rated opponent, which I absolutely did not expect to do.
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4
I know some people embed clickable chess boards into their blog posts. I'm quite honestly too lazy to figure out how to do that, but I'm going to pass it off as a deliberate attempt to force the reader to hold the position in their mind for a few moves before the next diagram. Okay, anyways. 2.Bc4 is the move order I used to use to reach the Italian. It avoids the Petroff, but actually allows (arguably) a more annoying option. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. People don't really play the Petroff that much below GM level. Even then, you don't exactly have to agree to a draw on move three.
2...Nf6
For some reason I vaguely recall that my opponent started with 2...Nc6, but the version I have recorded in ChessBase claims 2...Nf6 was played. It doesn't particularly matter, but it does annoy me a little bit.
3.d3 Nc6
3...c6! 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb3 and here 5...Bb4+, 5...a5 or 5...Bd6, and arguably (definitely very arguable) Black is very very very very slightly for preference. I'm not sure I actually believe that, but I do like space.
4.Nf3
Of course, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 is the move order people who aren't scared of the Petroff would probably use to reach this position. It's probably what I would choose if I decided I wanted to play the Italian in a game tomorrow.
4...Bc5
As opposed to the also very solid 4...Be7, and the slightly more experimental 4...h6.
5.c3
There's actually already a bunch of move order subtleties going on even here. In the far distant land of 2015, I don't think I was aware of any of them. What I did know is that I had read that delaying castling to go for Nbd2-f1-g3 without having to play Rf1-e1 to clear the pivot f1 square was interesting. Therefore, I certainly wasn't about to play 5.0-0, even though that's arguably the most accurate move.
5...a6
Generally planning ...Ba7, tucking away the Bishop. That's also currently my preferred way of playing this position from the Black side. I think in 2020 given the move order, Black might be tempted to play 5...0-0 6.0-0 (which again, I almost certainly wouldn't have played) 6...d5. White having played c3 slightly weakens the d3 point, justifying this direct attempt to take the initiative.
6.Bb3
Not strictly necessary at this exact moment (or as it turns out, ever), but once ...a6 is played, White has to start thinking about ...Na5 to hunt down this Bishop, even if that's not yet being threatened due to b2-b4 annoyances. The text is a pretty flexible move though, not committing the King or closing the c1 Bishop's diagonal. A few years later some sickos decided to start playing a2-a4 instead of Bc4-b3, and never looked back, but that's a story for another day.
6...Ba7 7.h3
Still refusing to castle, and also refusing to play Nbd2, because if Black castles quickly, Bc1-g5 may become an annoying option, with a pin that's not easy to conveniently break. I will admit I have absolutely no understanding of when Bg5 is good and when it's harmless, especially the potential ...h6, Bh4, ...g5, Nxg5 sacrifice that can follow.
7...d6
I think the modern antidote to this delayed castling plan is to go for ...d5 in one turn. That's what Jan Gustafsson recommended in his Chessable 1 e4 e5 repertoire. It's probably the single biggest thing I've learned from that course so far.
8.Nbd2 Be6
Okay, this is probably the point at which White should be realizing that something weird is happening. In theory, there's no longer any reason at all for Black not to castle here. There's no Bg5, g2-g4 kind of doesn't do much with ...h6 not in, and therefore there's not really a good explanation for not castling Kingside. Well, that's assuming that Black wants to castle Kingside. Apparently they don't.
Is something up?
9. Bc2
I think I played this pretty much immediately. The thing is, I had read that meeting ...Be6 with Bc2 in the Italian is a good idea, to keep material on the board. Currently, I'm not sure this is so clear cut, or even good advice necessarily. Black can follow up with ...d5 and this whole thing feels a bit weird for White. Although of course, lots of people have played this way with White at various points in time, but general understanding in the Italian has advanced so much in the last five years that I'm not sure I understand anything anymore. By the way, speaking of these sickos that play the Italian, I'm like 90% sure if I run this through a computer, it'll want to take on e6. This is another thing that people keep advocating for in these positions. Yeah, I mean, no matter how often I'm told it's computer approved and no matter how many top players take on e6, I don't want to!
Anyways...
9...d5
The Italian is full of these little quirks. Black goes ...d6 and then less than half a dozen moves later plays ...d5. This tends to happen quite a bit in Italian main lines, but with White's King still in the middle, as noted above, ...d7-d5 actually turns out pretty well. So this is one case where the "yeah this looks weird but..." may turn out to just be weird.
10.Qe2?!
Okay speaking of weird, this move doesn't make any sense. I was still basically parroting what I had read, without really understanding that the point of Qe2 totally doesn't apply in this position. Normally you play Qe2 when Black is half-threatening to take on e4 and trade Queens on d1. Sticking the Queen on e2 preserves the Queens on the board in that case. You may have noticed that I currently have a Knight on d2. In my annotations that I made closer to the time of this game, I suggested the simple 10.0-0. That's a totally sensible move, but evidently 2015 me was completely intent on not castling. I'm not sure I considered until about five minutes ago that maybe Black's kind of weird move order is exploitable with 10.Ng5.
10...d4!?
I'm not sure how to assess moves like this. Black gains space in the centre, but releases some of the tension against e4. On the other hand, it avoids the exchange e4xd5, which probably would be a good answer to a move like 10...Qd7 (given that, as best I understand, Black wants to take back on d5 with the Queen to avoid hanging the e5 pawn). Of course, 10...0-0 is the obvious and sensible move, but it's pretty clear that Black wasn't terribly interested in doing that. I guess if your intention is to keep your King on e8 until long castling becomes possible, going ...d4 makes sense to take the option of opening the position out of White's hands.
11.Nf1?!
Okay, it's time to stop it/ It's like mechanical at this point. I'm making the same moves regardless of whether it makes sense with what Black is doing. 11.0-0 should really be played at this point. In terms of specifics, it looks like 11...Nh5! is a pretty annoying reply, which cuts across White's plans, and should probably make him feel at least a little silly. 12.Nxe5? (which you always have to think about when doing this) 12...Nxe5 13.Qxh5 dxc3 14.bxc3 Nxd3+ doesn't work for White.
11...h6
If I didn't know better, I would say that Black noticed that Nf1 meant that Bg5 was potentially in the air, and so wanted to rule that out before castling Kingside. I assume that's what I assumed during the game. Little did I know this was preparation for ...g5. This plan is being seen more and more these days, but I assume it seemed ludicrous to me in 2015.
12.Ng3 Qe7
This looks like a weird move to me. I mean, why not ...Qd7 - ?. Like, regardless of which side you castle on, isn't sticking the Queen on d7 rather than e7 more natural. I'm not sure. It feels like it's just asking to be hit with Nf5 at some point.
13.0-0
I was also heavily considering 13.Nh4 here, but it turns out that 13...Qc5 is annoying, but also 13...g6 stops the Nf5 idea, and my intended 14 f4?? runs into the unexpected 14...exf4 15.Bxf4 Nh5!.
13...0-0-0?!
Overly ambitious, but it's kind of clear in retrospect that Black's last few moves were leading up to this. 13.0-0 is objectively stronger, but also after 14.Nh4, I think Black would slightly regret the choice of square for the Queen, with Nf5 likely coming up. It's probably still objectively equal in a computer sense, but this tends to be exactly what White wants from the Italian.
Whee.
14.Ba4!
If this move weren't available to White, it's completely possible that's Black idea would be sound. Fortunately for me, I did manage to find basically the only challenging idea in the position. The thing is, despite the odd appearance of the Black King on the Queenside in 1 e4 e5 openings, it's not all that easy to attack it in the current structure. The problem for Black is that there does happen to be a move that compels a pawn directly in front of the King two squares forward.
14...b5!
I'm gonna be honest, I think this is the best move, and I'm also almost certain I wouldn't play it. I don't think allowing Bxc6 is a good idea. That being said, I think I would play the unbelievably sheepish 14...Nb8?!. That's not a point in the move's favour at all. I suspect I'd be obsessed with keeping my structure intact and my King safe and all that cowardly stuff. Although, for precisely that reason, I don't think I would've castled Queenside in the first place, but that's another discussion. Concretely, the computer recommends 15.cxd4 Bxd4 16.Qc2, with a clear advantage. That makes sense to me. It looks like White has an open c-file towards Black's King, and Nxd4 followed by Be3 (if Black recaptures with the Rook) is going to happen at some point.
15.Bc2
15.Bb3 may be better, but I'm not going to blame myself too much for wanting to keep pieces on the board this time.
15...g5 16.a4
Hacking time
...and we're off.
16...g4
In my original notes to this game, I wrote that 16...b4 was "more rational". I guess that's code for "my computer says that this is better", which I guess means computers at the time liked that move. The engine I'm running currently seems to be on board with its ancestor, although the plus score it gives, I think, is larger than the one my old computer gave. In any event, Black is trying to keep the Queenside closed, but only the a-file really gets to enjoy that benefit. After 17.cxb4 Nxb4, White can play stuff like Bd2, a5, bring the Bishop back to a4 and a Rook to the c-file, and it seems like the Black King is far from out of the woods yet.
17.hxg4 Bxg4
This is the most obvious and sensible-looking move to me, pinning the Knight and such, but the computer prefers 17...Nxg4, because it seems to value possession of the a2-g8 diagonal very highly in this specific position, as after Black takes back with the Bishop, it starts screaming at me that I should play Bb3. Fair enough.
18.axb5 axb5 19.Nf5?!
As I mentioned, the computer prefers 19.Bb3. I think I was just worried about this pin, and possibilities of a Rook coming to g8 combined with ...h5-h4 (although Bg5 can be annoying if Black tries this too quickly). 19.Bb3 can come with the idea of playing Nf5 without allowing ...Qe6 in reply, thereby perhaps forcing ...Bxf5. Alternatively, White might also just play c4, now that ...bxc4 can be met with Bxc4, and ...b4 would allow the Bishop to return to a4 straight away. There also may be an idea of Bd5 in some situations.
19...Bxf5
19...Qe6! is preferred by the engine, and I understand completely. Not only does it maintain the pin and keep pieces on the board for the attack, but it also stops Bb3 - !.
20.exf5 Rde8?
It actually turns out to be pretty detrimental for Black's Rook to be on this specific square. 20...Rhg8 is better, for example.
An explosive move
21.c4!
I definitely recall this move as being my main source of pride from this game, even though looking at it now, it doesn't seem all that special. It is a good move, however. At the time when I ran Stockfish on my phone, I remember it took about ten seconds to show 21.c4 as its top choice. I'm aware that mobile phone Stockfish isn't exactly the pinnacle of computer chess, but I was sort of proud of myself. In 2020, the computer kind of ruins my fun by not only coming up with my move, but also by suggesting that 21.Nd2 followed by Qf3 is almost equally strong. I like my move though! It's direct. White initially played Ba4 to induce ...b5, and is now trying to get rid of the b5 pawn in order to get the Bishop back to a4.
21...Qc5
The point is that 21...bxc4 22.Ba4 leaves Black pinned, and if the Knight on c6 is defended, taking followed by Rxa7 is a problem. I think I liked the way Black has one threat to deal with, a Knight that is pinned by a Bishop that can easily be defended, and the pin cannot be intensified, but there's no way to avoid losing material regardless.
22.b4
Well, there's no reason to hesitate trying to blow up the Queenside at this point. Black avoids losing immediate material, but in the long run there are a few problems with their position.
22...Qb6
Declining the pawn makes a lot of sense, as 22...Qxb4 23.cxb5 is absolutely horrendous for Black, because 23...Qxb5 24.Ba4 is a similar tactic to before, and moving the Knight instead of taking back on b5 hangs the Bishop on a7 now that the Queen is off of c5. The other capture, 23...Nxb4, allows an extremely annoying pin in 24.Ba3, although the computer points out thr resource 24...Nfd5! that I can't imagine I saw coming.
23.cxb5 Nxb4
23...Qxb5 24.Ba4 still wins.
24.Bb3
Just moving out of the reach of the Knight on b4, hitting the f7 pawn, and asking Black how they feel about their position.
Not a terribly good arrangement of the Black pieces
24...e4!
Exclam for being a good attempt to confuse the position.
25.dxe4 Rxe4 26.Qc4
The problem is that the Knight on b4 is attacked, and if it moves, Ra6 seems quite strong. 26...Nfd5 doesn't seem to help much after something like 27.Bd2.
26...d3 27.Qc3
New problem: now Ra4 is in the picture, and sequences like ...Nbd5, Bxd5, ...Nxd5 don't bode well for the Rook on h8.
27...Rg8
Stepping off the diagonal, but now allows the f7 pawn to be captured with tempo (a further tempo being available in the form of Be6+).
28.Bxf7
Not just for the sake of the pawn, but there's also the idea of Be6+ and Qxf6, meaning that it's hard for Black to maintain the Rook along the half-open g-file in a normal way. That being said, I'd be lying if I said taking a pawn with tempo isn't nice. By the way, 28.Rxa7 Qxa7 29.Qxf6 is also strong. I'm not sure I saw that. Luckily, I don't think it's any stronger, although it certainly wins as well.
28...Rg3!?
28...Rf8 is the more circumspect move, defending the Knight on f6, but it also takes the Rook off the g-file. Black continues to make things tricky.
Continuing to confuse the issue
29.Be6+ Rxe6 30.fxe6 Ng4 31.Rxa7 Qxa7 32.Qxb4 Nf6 33.b6
Fin.
1-0
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