My Semi-Solid Berlin Wall: Ruy Lopez (Pt. 3)

As Acting Club Director at my local chess club this week, I was a little tired with so many various things to do on top of a long day. But I still had time for a couple of solid games. Since the computer here refuses to play the Spanish Opening, I'll have to practice the Black side of the Ruy elsewhere.

Rather than going with the standard Morphy Defense (3. ... a6), I decided to continue practicing with the Berlin Defense (3. ... Nf6) since it is a very solid defense and I love practically any defense that allows me to bring out two Knights early! Kramnik was able to use this as an ultra-solid defense as a drawing weapon in pursuit of his championship title. Typically, this defense leads quickly to an endgame, but there are often sharp tactical battles beforehand.

After my opponent played the Exchange Variation, I question my decision to keep my Bishop pair with 8. ... Bh5. As a rule, this is the standard move, but this move would haunt me later in the game. I was able to win a pawn with a 3-move tactical combo in the middle game that included a nice zwishenzug: 16. ... Rd8! to make it happen. This provided healthy compensation for my doubled-pawn structure. However, I was unable to start my attack with my light Bishop being hemmed in by pawns from both sides, and so I was effectively down a piece, leading me to the blunder 23. ... Nd6?? 24 e5! 1-0

Any suggestions on how I should have played this? Thanks.

Brandon, 8...Bh5 looks good to me - the pin on the knight is useful, and could have allowed you to gain an early advantage. I didn't see the impact at first myself (my silicon friend pointed out the full details), but 10... exd4 would have been a nice tactical blow. Because the knight is pinned, white must take back with the queen, so 11. Qxd4, and then you have the skewer with the bishop 11...Bc5.

On the next move, after 11. Qe1?, you have the option to simply take the d pawn, 11...exd5, now forking the rook and the knight. 11...BxNf3 looks good too.

You take advantage of whites mistake after 17. Ne2?, though I think that 18...Qxb2 may be workable rather than retreating the queen, but it is rather unclear. At this point, the position is pretty even, and if instead of 23...Nd6 you exchange queens, or move the queen to e7, you should still be fine.

So I (and my PC) would say a solid game, with a couple of tactical opportunities that were missed, and an unfortunate mistake at the end. Well played, and thanks for sharing the game.

BenTal

Thank you for your detailed tactical analysis. It is very helpful: 10. ... exd4! would have been great. I should have seen it. I was a little tired, but still.

I'm not too sure about 11. ... exd4? I think now that I look at it more, I win a pawn if I play 11. ... Bxf6 12. Rxf6 exd4! (but my extra pawn at d4 could be a bit hard to defend). And the immediate 11. ... exd4 I think loses to 12. Nxd4 since the Queen is no longer pinned. And then I get nervous thinking about how I should defend a future e5 from White to fork my pieces.

 And now that I look at it more, I think he played 17. Ne2 to prepare 18. Bf4, which is a nice play because there is no way to defend the backwards d-pawn. I wish I had that kind of spirit to play when I'm down a pawn.

I was thinking about 18. ... Qxb2 but I figured that pawn is semi-poisoned after 19. Rb1. Since I was up a pawn, I didn't want to liquidate all of the Queenside pawns, since he gets into my pawn structure pretty nicely with Rxb7 and Bxc7 and the threat of back-rank mate.

As for my 23rd move, 23. ... Qe7 might have been the thing to do, even though I was reluctant to give up control of the open file. I didn't want to necessarily trade Queens because then the Knight comes into the attack threatening the c6 pawn, and then he can play Nc6 threatening a check and attacking the a-pawn. And there's all sorts of wackiness involved in defending that pawn group against his 2 active pieces against my weak Knight and trapped Bishop. 

Thanks again for your help.

You probably should have played c5 at the end, just to see what he'd do. It doesn't save you, but he has to think and might make a mistake.

JG27Pyth

Thanks for the suggestion. I did consider that during the game, and I'd probably do it in a tournament. But my opponent is a pretty good player; he's the kind of player who would probably just easily play 25. Qd1 =/

But maybe I should start playing moves like that; I might get my rating close to yours ;)

Brandon, I'm glad analysis was useful. I tend to agree with all of your points about the end part of the game - playing a live game (something I do very rarely now) you don't want to take chances with moves like 17. Qxb2 - just because the computer is happy with it, doesn't make it good to play in practice! Your position is tricky at the end, with the bishop tied up, so it is difficult to see a clear plan for equality, whatever the silicon thinks.

Just following up on the move 11...exd4, white will take it back with 12. Nxd4 but then you have Qe5! with the immediate threat of mate, since your bishop is nicely covering the escape route through e2. Now you have 13. Nf3 BxNf3 14. Qh2+ Kf1 15. Qh1+ Ke2 16. Qxg2 and you are looking pretty good. Having said that, you'd need to be pretty certain that was going to work before throwing your queen into the middle of the board - another one that is easy to analyse, not so easy to play for real!

My rating may soon get quite a bit closer to yours without you having to lift a finger. I'm so overrated! I'm like a fruit tree just dripping with big fresh ripe ratings points ready to drop off at the slighest shake. It's because I've had a string of A) regular wins + B) lucky wins where I was losing and for one crazy reason or another I ended up with the win anyway...  -- but now, at my inflated rating, I'm playing against people supposedly "equal" to me; I'm getting smacked around pretty good! LOL. look out beloooowwww....

BenTal

Thanks for the follow up analysis. Seriously, wow! Qe5 with the Bishop covering e2 is, I need to play like that!

JG27Pyth

LOL!