Positional Play in Unknown Territories

I recently caught the chess bug again and have started watching my tried and true favorite chess youtubers again, especially john bartholomew who was my spirit animal for the game. I particularly like his content because he plays so simply and logically, almost all of his moves seem to make sense and contribute to the overall plan. After waking up incredibly early for no reason, I watched through some videos playing against players in the 1300-1800 range with analysis. Afterwards I was inspired and took the time to enjoy and learn from a 15-10 game over some coffee and medicinal herbs, in an effort to play simple and solid moves.

What I particularly like about this game is the position-heavy play in unknown territories. I’m one of those people who generally play the same openings, Queen’s pawn opening for white usually to a London or Queen’s gambit; French Defense for black (I know). This time I found myself in some slav-type QGD position on the black side, that I almost have never gotten into on the white side. This means I had to organically come up with the piece coordination and middle game plans rather than relying on memorized lines. I think this is one of the best positional games I have played up to date, with no concrete piece advantage established until move 20, and no obvious positional inaccuracies until move 11. I think did especially well in assessing pawn structure, developing a focused plan, and executing said plan throughout the middlegame. My endgame is one of the weaker parts of my game, and I didn’t like how I was uncomfortable going against two rooks despite being a piece up.

Below I have annotated my thoughts throughout the opening and during some of the more interesting or difficult situations I encountered.

2. c4 c6

- I play QGD and London as white and I know … c6 can be annoying. Though I don’t know about Slav as black I for sure didn’t want to trap my LSB so I played …c6.

5. c5 Be7

-       he breaks the tension and closes up the c file for now. At this point Im keeping future pawn breaks with … b6 or … e5 in mind. My main concern is him playing an annoying Bg5 soon, so I play …Be7 to deter that.

-       Interestingly enough the computer here reports the aforementioned annoying 5.Bg5 as a book move. Apparently the best response to his blocking of the c file with c5 was an immediate 5… b6 pawn lever once again establishing tension on the c file. Its important to note that in my mind I’m not comfortable with breaking pawn structure while my king has not been castled, but in this situation I can see that the pawn lever is on the Queenside and wouldn’t have put my king in any untimely danger. While I did have just a slight inaccuracy, its nice to know I had some of the main ideas and potential opening threats in mind to maximize piece coordination.

8. h3 NbD7

-       At this point he makes a prophylactic h3 move, defending the g4 square, though I didn’t really have big plans to plant a piece there considering my LSB was already developed on a nice square. I simply continue completing my development with Nbd7.

-       The computer has us about dead even at this point, and the best engine move has consistently been the b6 pawn break.  

9. Nh4 Bg6

-       White makes moves to take my LSB off the board with Nh4. At this point my plan was to retreat with 9… Bg6, with him most likely chasing with 10. Nxg6 fxg6. I’m already thinking of some early middle game plans: I have the semi-open F file rook ready to bear down on f2 after a future knight move; White has king-side structure weakness so future Qc7 ideas hitting the b8-h2 diagonal, this could coordinate with the DSB at some point along the diagonal, to pin the king, overload the f2 pawn, and generally dominate the dark squares of his kingside.

-       The computer says cementing the bishop with 9… Be4 was the best response. My thoughts are that if 10. Nxe4 then 10... Nxe4, making it very difficult for white to avoid generation of a central weakness with a backwards e3 pawn due to the need for an eventual f3 in an attempt to kickout the knight planted on e4. If not immediately with 11. f3 then 11… Ndf6 gives me a very well supported central knight that will be almost impossible to remove in a timely manner while avoiding the aforementioned weakening f3.

11. O-O e5

-       The opening is drawing to an end with my development solidified and my opponent castling. White accomplished his hunt for the LSB, giving me clear plans for the middle game. I am taking note of White’s diminished development, with his DSB trapped for the time being, the knight on c3 is in a tough spot on the queenside, the back rank is clustered, his LSB is not the most active in its current position. At this point in games I often times don’t make a very clean move because I feel like I don’t know what to do but I had identified my two pawn break options early in the opening.  I realized my e6 pawn was actually backwards so I felt comfortable trading it off as well as giving myself the semi-open E file, which happened to be the best move so that was nice

12. f3 exd4 13. Dxd4 Nh5

-       I was pretty surprised here because White’s response wasn’t very representative of the position on the board, then I remembered we are 1200 ELO and I had two cups of coffee and the spirit of John Bartholomew’s Climbing the Rating series embedded into me from the night prior making me really understand the game up to this point. My plan is now certain, I have to dominate those dark squares and attack the extremely weak kingside. With all of the above in mind I still saw White’s backwards pawn on e3 and went through with my plan of exchanging my hard to defend e5 pawn in exchange for opening the center.

-       Engine saying best move for White was actually to counter push with b4, eventually establishing his own pawn lever on the b file, really opening up the queenside and giving his burrowed DSB and cramped knight a chance to flourish. Engine has my best response to his 12. F3 mistake is to immediately abuse the dark square weakness with 12… Nh5 which I got around to the next move

14. Qe1 Bh4 15. Qd2 Ng3 16. Rd1 Qc7

-       White makes an attempt to defend the dangerous g3 square but we will not have it. Dark square domination was in the plans and we will continue to do so. Apparently the best response for White to my 13… Nh5 threat was 14. F4 with plans of kicking out my knight with Rf3, securing the kingside then proceeding to take space on the queenside with b4. I remove the queen then proceed to secure a juicy position with 15… Ng3, forking rook and bishop. I refrain from actually taking the bishop because I really like the infiltration of my pieces around White’s king, therefore I play 16… Qc7 in accordance with my earlier plans, looking to mate soon. The engine has the best move, ever so slightly better for me with Nf6. I wanted to keep my rook bearing down the f-file but in hindsight I can see the f3 pawn is well supported and having the extra knight developed would have helped me in the future.

17. Qe3 Re8 18. Qd3 Rf6

-       White plays 17. Qe3 allowing me to take the e-file with tempo with 17… Re8. Also creating some weakness by allowing potential tactics on the now twice attacked bishop. Removing his queen with 18. Qd3 I now took a moment to re-evaluate the position. Though we were even on material I knew I had to be up at least a couple points due to drastic differences in development and piece activity. I decided to keep up the pressure on the twice attacked bishop and double up on the e-file, playing 17… Rf6 in preparation. Not 17… Re6 because the rook would have been temporarily hanging, though I don’t think it truly mattered.

19. Be3 Rfe6 20. Bf2 Nxe2+ 21. Kf1 Bxf2 22. Kxf2 Qg3+ 23. Kf1

-       White brings another piece into the crosshairs of the e-file, all but guaranteeing me to win a piece here. I complete my plan of doubling up on the e-file, also threatening to take the bishop on e3 with tempo. After he moves the DSB out the way with 20. Bf2 I play Nxe2+ and instead of recapturing he moves his king with 21. Kf1. I continue. I can now see the potential for checkmate so I play Bxf2 anticipating the retake. After retake with 22. Kxf2 Qg3+ forcing him to 23. Kf1 and creating a very promising mating net.

23… Nxc3

-       Boooo. What a sell-out. The time difference was getting a bit ridiculous and I was getting antsy. 23… Nf4 threatening checkmate and the queen was the move, and looks so obvious when I look at this position without any time pressure.

24. Bxc3 Re2 25. Qxe2 Rxe2 26. Kxe2 Qxg2+

-       I guess the earlier mate took too much thought because here I make a simple counting mistake in an attempt to go for a checkmate in the easiest way possible. While his queen is off the board I’m not the best endgame player, especially with no rooks, so I’m a bit concerned if he can use his rook pair well.

28. Rh1 Qe6+ 29. Kf2 Nf6

-       From this position I know he has a few avenues of attack. The most aggressive being a double up of the rooks and breaking through to my last rank so I play Nf6 to defend the h7 pawn. I also know the f file is especially weak so I may need to use my king on f7 to prevent infiltration. The engine actually has 29… Nxc5 as the best move, perhaps because it leaves him with every single pawn unsupported making for an easier endgame that would probably involve a kingside pawn push

30. Rae1 Qf5 31. Re5 Ne4+

-       He attempts to kick my queen, f5 seems like the most active square for her, I didn’t want to risk losing tempo trying to maneuver around the back ranks. After 31. Re5 in an attempt to double up the e-file but I see the pawn is pinned and I have an opportunity to go on the offensive with Ne4+. Ng4+ seemed like a perfectly good option too, I just played Ne4+ because it had immediate ideas to capitalize and take the c3 pawn if necessary

32. Kg2 Qg5+ 33. Kf1 Ng3+ 34. Kf2 35. Nxh1+

-       After his king move I realized I had some forking opportunities with the two rooks and was limiting the king’s flight squares. All I needed to do was defend the once attacked g3 square, so I played Qg5+ which forced the king to his back rank to avoid immediate mate which was given just a few moves later.