How Many Bad Moves Make a Defeat?

It’s time I got this blog going again. I had a look this afternoon and realised I haven’t written anything here for ten months now! I’ve played several tournament games since then.

I wanted to look at this game particularly because I misplayed the opening. However, looking at it now, I see I didn’t come out of the opening too badly - I just played abysmally in middle game, and didn’t get as far as the end game. I can’t help thinking my opponent got the full point without having to do anything. Looking at white’s middle game moves, I don’t see any evidence of a plan until the moment I handed him the game.

With that in mind, is it useful to analyse this game here? I’m going to anyway. I don’t think it hurts to relive the bad moves - even if it’s hard to understand how you made them.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nc6

No, this isn’t one of my bad moves! I’ve been playing this unusual variation of the French Defence for a while now. It avoids the heavily analysed lines of the Winawer and Classical variations. Black obstructs the c-pawn so the natural …c7-c5 centre break isn’t possible for a while. However, black still has the …f7.

4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e5 Ne4 7.Bxe7 Qxe7 8.Bd3 f5

This is where I didn’t know the theory. The established continuations are:

• The adventurous 8…Qb4
• First taking on c3 with 8…Nxc3, and following up with the normal French break 9…f7-f6

Having said that, I’m not sure the move I played is too bad. It certainly didn’t loose me this game.

9.exf6 Nxf6 10.0-0 0-0 11.Re1 a6 12.Qd2 Bd7 13.Re2 Kh8 14.a3

Why didn’t I play …Nb4 on any of my last three moves? That would make …c7-c5 possible and also get rid of white’s light squared bishop.

I need to get this article finished, so I’ll now just give the rest of the moves without comment. I hope to look further at this game in future articles.

14…Qd6 15.Qg5 Rae8 16.Rae1 Ng8 17.Qg3 Qxg3 18.hxg3 Nh6 19.Ne5 Nxe5 20.Rxe5 Ng4 21.R5e2 Nf6 22.Nd1 c6 23.f3 Bc8 24.Nf2 Kg8 25.Nh3 Re7 26.Nf4 Rfe8 27.g4 g5 28.Nh5 Nxh5 29.gxh5 Kg7 30.Re5 Kf6 31.f4 gxf4 32.Rf1 Kg7 33.Rxf4 Rf8 34.Rg5+ Kh6 35.Rxf8 Kxg5 36.Rxc8 1-0

The Resilient French - Does 24…g5 Really Work for Black?

In my previous article I left it where I (as black) had just played 24…g5?! I said I didn’t think it worked for me and there was a simple plan of 24…Rb8 that was much better. Well, having looked a little closer I’m no longer sure that 24…g5?! is as bad as I used to think; however, I still think 24…Rb8 was the right move to play because it is a promising plan involving no risk to black.

We start from the first diagrammed position.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here I have just played 24…g5?!

Now the obvious threat is to play 25…g4 forking white’s queen and rook, so white can’t just ignore this. My thinking was that after (say) 25.Qg2 g4 26.Bf2 Kh8 27.Rh5 (see second diagram)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

white’s rook is trapped and must drop off sooner or later. Note that there are other lines in which the white rook ends up on h5, and I thought the same applied in all of them. The question is, how is black to actually round up and capture the rook, when it on h5? I now think black actually can’t achieve this.

I (as black) need to find a way to attack the rook, and it seems I have two pieces that can do this: my queen and my light squared bishop. However, white can just play Ng3 defending the rook, and it’s no good attacking it with the queen! Also, my light squared bishop is defending my pawn on f5, and even if I bring my queen’s rook over to defend it, white can again play Nc3; this means the moment my light squared bishop leaves its current diagonal, white can just take my f5 pawn with his rook. In addition, white also has the resource Bh4, exchanging off my dark squared bishop to allow the white rook onto h4.

Conclusion: the tactics behind my …g5 thrust do not work!