3... Bb4 seems similar to the Ruy Lopez for white, i.e, 3.Bb5. If his Bishop takes the Knight then e4 has no protection, so it's an indirect way of putting pressure on e4.
You should be able to find out what book opening this is from http://www.chess.com/explorer/
3... Bb4 seems similar to the Ruy Lopez for white, i.e, 3.Bb5. If his Bishop takes the Knight then e4 has no protection, so it's an indirect way of putting pressure on e4.
You should be able to find out what book opening this is from http://www.chess.com/explorer/
Ahh, right. Thank you so much, Mal!
3. Nc3Bb4I don't see how this moves helps. I imagine it's supposed to either (a) pin my N when I eventually move to d4 or (b) double my pawns on the c file.
This opening is the Three Knights Game. MCO10 says of 3...Bb4:
----------
(p. 94)
THREE KNIGHTS' GAME
(1 P-K4, P-K4; 2 N-KB3, N-QB3; 3 N-B3 or
1 P-K4, P-K4; 2 N-QB3, N-QB3; 3 N-B3)
THIS opening is an attempt by Black to avoid the equalizing but dull
possibilities of the Four Knights' Game after 3 ... N-B3. There are
two main lines, other alternatives on Black's
third move being considered in note (i) at
Black's disposal, i.e.--
(a) 3 ... B-N5, advantageously met by 4
N-Q5 (cols. 1-2). White's edge is small but
undeniable in all variations.
(b) 3 ... P-KN3, an old Steinitz pet which
Alekhine and Keres frequently adopt. After
4 P-Q4, PxP; 5 N-Q5! (cols. 3-4) secures
the initiative, whereas 5 NxP (col. 5) simmers
into equality.
Evans, Larry, and Walter Korn. 1965. Modern Chess Openings, 10th Edition. New York: Pitman Publishing Corporation.
----------
Per 365chess, 4. d4 is a good move here, and after 4...d6 White wins 75% of the time! Most popular appears to be 4. Bc4.
I agree: you had a won endgame until 24. Be6?? since you were a pawn ahead. If it's any consolation, the Chess Titans program makes that isolani-creating mistake often, not realizing my king is closer to it and can capture it before the program's king can protect it. Your endgame after that oversight is an absolute dead draw, I believe, with no way to win with correct play by Black.
Per 365chess, 4. d4 is a good move here, and after 4...d6 White wins 75% of the time!
...
I agree: you had a won endgame until 24. Be6?? since you were a pawn ahead. If it's any consolation, the Chess Titans program makes that isolani-creating mistake often...
Wow, Squod, 75% of the time! That's amazing. I'm glad to know that the move to d4 was effective. And, yes, I suppose knowing that the computer makes that mistake all the time is some consolation. :)
Thank you so much for your help. I very much appreciate it.
Regarding your 9. .. o-o suggestion:
As black I wouldn't worry about leaving my king in the center, the queens are exchanged so the potential for mate is much less. Going down a piece is a sure loss, but the king in the center can become a strength if a few more pieces are exchanged.
20. c4:
In a same-color bishop ending, putting your pawns on the same color of your bishop is rarely a good idea. Here black can immediately take advantage of the situation by playing 20. .. c6 21. Bxc6 Bxc4 where he has traded his doubled pawn for your healthy c-pawn.
27. .. a5:
Black would be winning if he instead played 27. .. a6!. The difference is that he would run out of pawn moves a move later so he wouldn't need to move back his king on move 30. Instead he would have put you in zugzwang and forced your king to give up protection of the penetration square e4. Play could go something like 27. .. a6 28. a3 a5 29. b3 h6 30. a4 c6 31. Ke2 Ke4 32. Kf2 Kd3
The openings book that Sqod quotes says "3 ... B-N5, advantageously met by 4 N-Q5", but "beginners opening principles" say move each piece once in the opening & develop your centre pawns.
So your need to decide if you want to play a variety of openings, based on "beginners opening rules", or start learning openings that break these rules for good reasons. I think you'll find the former approach more varied and fun. If you find yourself at a plateau in your rise to chess mastery then might be the time to take a detrailed look at openings.
Also, the gurus on this site recommend not bothering too much with learning detailed openings at to the beginning. So I'd leave systematic study of "Evans, Larry, and Walter Korn. 1965. Modern Chess Openings" until you've done a 1000 chess mentor lessons and a thousand tactics trainer problems and experimented with various openings using basic princoples.
In summary, follow the study plan, which I only looked at in detail after two years of messing around and wish I'd followed from the start http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory.
Regarding your 9. .. o-o suggestion:
As black I wouldn't worry about leaving my king in the center, the queens are exchanged so the potential for mate is much less.
Again, this is quite advanced stuff! The beginners material here says castle as early as possible, and definitely by move 10. So I think you are making the right move, at your level. When you get up to 1600 you can start worrying subtleties like late castling in certain situations. If you get into the habit of not castling, as a beginner, you will pay dearly.
Regarding your 9. .. o-o suggestion:
As black I wouldn't worry about leaving my king in the center, the queens are exchanged so the potential for mate is much less. Going down a piece is a sure loss, but the king in the center can become a strength if a few more pieces are exchanged.
20. c4:
In a same-color bishop ending, putting your pawns on the same color of your bishop is rarely a good idea. Here black can immediately take advantage of the situation by playing 20. .. c6 21. Bxc6 Bxc4 where he has traded his doubled pawn for your healthy c-pawn.
27. .. a5:
Black would be winning if he instead played 27. .. a6!. The difference is that he would run out of pawn moves a move later so he wouldn't need to move back his king on move 30. Instead he would have put you in zugzwang and forced your king to give up protection of the penetration square e4. Play could go something like 27. .. a6 28. a3 a5 29. b3 h6 30. a4 c6 31. Ke2 Ke4 32. Kf2 Kd3
Asmudnto, you are absolutely right about the 20. c4 and 27. ... a6! moves. I would have never seen the latter, but I certainly should have foreseen the former. (And I also get the reasoning behind taking the material rather than castling.). Thank you!
So your need to decide if you want to play a variety of openings, based on "beginners opening rules", or start learning openings that break these rules for good reasons. I think you'll find the former approach more varied and fun. If you find yourself at a plateau in your rise to chess mastery then might be the time to take a detrailed look at openings.
Also, the gurus on this site recommend not bothering too much with learning detailed openings at to the beginning.
In summary, follow the study plan, which I only looked at in detail after two years of messing around and wish I'd followed from the start http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory.
Mal, yes, I've been starting in with the "beginner's opening rules." I started in on the study plan you link to, but I confess I found it quite disjointed. But given your faith, I might look at it again. (In the meantime, I've started to follow a study plan suggested by Silman. I've done several thousand tactics puzzles already (and am still just average 
) and continue on with the chess mentor lessons as well.) Thank you again for your thoughts, Mal!
31.Ke4 doesn't win cos of Ke6.
"t", the difference between the actual game and asmundto's suggested variation is that in the latter, when we get to the following position, it's my (White) move, not Black's. If I play Kd3, he penetrates Kside by Kf4, and if I play Kf3, he penetrates Qside by Kd4. If I move back by either Kd2 or Kf2, Black takes its pick.
"beginners opening principles" say move each piece once in the opening & develop your centre pawns.
So your need to decide if you want to play a variety of openings, based on "beginners opening rules", or start learning openings that break these rules for good reasons. I think you'll find the former approach more varied and fun. If you find yourself at a plateau in your rise to chess mastery then might be the time to take a detrailed look at openings.
That's possibly a good point, but I look at it like this: There exists a heirarchy of heuristics at different levels of detail. At the most basic level of the hierarchy are a few very general heuristics like "Don't move the same piece twice in the opening," but it's not that hard to move to the next level that fills in a little more detail, like "...unless your unit being attacked can move so that it attacks its attacker." I admit I've never seen that latter advice in writing, but it's one of those heuristics that most chessplayers somehow learn, maybe just by seeing it played once or twice without anyone trying to generalize the pattern in writing. However, I'm the kind of guy who likes to generalize patterns in writing. Here are some openings where that "attacked becomes the attacker" situation occurs between bishop and knight...
I'm not so sure 27. ... a6! wins. Below I looked at 27. ...h6, which should be equivalent and is easier to see, and looked at what happens if Black pushes for a win. I could be missing something, but all lines look to me like they end in draws.
I'm not so sure 27. ... a6! wins. Below I looked at 27. ...h6, which should be equivalent and is easier to see, and looked at what happens if Black pushes for a win. I could be missing something, but all lines look to me like they end in draws.
I don't think 27. a6 and 27. h6 are equivelant. By playing the former you stop any a3 - b4 break from white with 28. a5
It looks like you're right, asmundto. I was thinking that by playing b3 White retained the choice of either using 1 or 2 moves with his choice of a3 or a4, but the problem is that (1) Black can remove that option of b4 with ...a5 (as you mentioned), and (2) Black still has an extra move he can lose with his h-pawn. What a nasty position for White! I'm surprised White could get into such a predicament just by one poor bishop move that just gave a pawn back.
What a nasty position for White! I'm surprised White could get into such a predicament just by one poor bishop move that just gave a pawn back.
Tell me about it. :)
Thank you all so much. This is has been very instructive for me. I really appreciate it.
dan_boisvert wrote:
Thank you all so much. This is has been very instructive for me. I really appreciate it.
You're welcome. A couple reasons this game interests me is that the Three Knights Game is an opening I want to learn better, and this endgame is pretty instructive.
And speaking of the endgame, does anybody know what this endgame king-pawn formation is called? I saw it in a book recently, and I thought it was called a "trefoil" but I can't find that word as a chess term online or in my notes.
This is my first annotated game. I blew this one into a draw, but I was relatively happy overall. I would love if you had any thoughts about my own thinking or if you see something obvious that I didn't notice. Thank you in advance!