BCCF E-MAIL BULLETIN #62

Yoos,J - Wu,H [B67] Dan MacAdam mem Victoria (1), 22.1.2005

[Yoos]

 

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.f4 Qb6!? I have been very impressed by Howard in this opening lately.  He came up with a very interesting theoretical improvement in this opening in our last game at last year's B.C. Championship.  The text, while all of the fashion lately, has been rarely played in this exact position and certainly not in a modern context.  I don't think it is quite as challenging as Howard's last invention, but it certainly posed some tough questions which I was unable to solve over the board. [9...b5 was my game against Howard in last year's B.C. Championship.] 10.Nxc6?! I was incorrectly recalling a motif from an article on Qb6 in the Rauzer from New in Chess Yearbook.  The idea of the theme of Qb6 in the Rauzer is to deactivate the knight to the queenside with tempo, where it is out of the action.  Allowing Black to exchange everything off on d4 is a little bit better for White, but Black will have excellent chances of holding the position. [10.Nf3! is in my opinion the most natural challenge.  This move is a part of one of the archetypal plans for White in the Rauzer.  White repositions the knight toward the kingside and prepares e5.  At the time I was concerned about ...Ng4.  But in hindsight, I think my concerns were exaggerated: 10...Ng4 11.Bh4 (11.Re1!?) 11...Qe3 12.h3 Qxd2+ 13.Rxd2 Nf6 and White has a big lead in development.  Also better than what was played in the game is the solid 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Nb3+= 0-0-0 12.Be2 h5 13.Rhf1 Na5.] 10...Bxc6 I must confess I somehow did not even consider this recapture.  I had been fixated on ensuring the validity of 10...bxc6 11.Bc4 which was the aforementioned New in Chess Yearbook motif.  After this recapture Black's pieces are free and easy. 11.Qe1 Trying to make something of my disappointing position.  Ideas of Nd5 are in the air. 11...0-0-0 [11...Ng4 12.Nd5!? (12.Bh4) 12...Bxd5 13.exd5 Nf2 14.dxe6 f6 15.Bh4 Nxh1 16.Bd3 Be7 17.Qe2 with compensation.] 12.Bxf6 Realizing that my one lame theme just got shut down and my opening was a failure, I decided to play for some quieter Rauzer themes.  White's plan now is to try to work over Black's awkward light squares in the centre with f5, then hit f7 and e6 with pieces. 12...gxf6 13.Qh4 Consistent with the aforementioned theme and wanting to force the bishop to e7 - inside the pawn cage.  You have to be careful about playing f5 too quickly in these positions as it provides a nice square on e5 for Black's pieces. 13...Rg8!? Risky - Howard is refusing the cage.  I had expected that he would play more solidly and try to hold the squares. [13...Be7 14.Bc4! (14.Qh5 Qe3+ 15.Kb1 Qxf4 16.Qxf7 Qe5!) 14...Qc5 (14...Qb4 15.Bb3 Bxe4?? 16.a3; 14...Rdg8 15.f5) 15.Bb3 Rdg8! 16.f5 unclear (16.Rd2 h5 17.h3 Rg7 18.f5 Qe5) ] 14.Qxh7 Bg7 15.f5 In this pawn structure, when the bishop goes to g7 you must shut it out. 15...Qe3+ 16.Kb1 Bxe4 17.Nxe4 Qxe4 18.Bd3 Qg4! Caging my queen. 19.h3 Qg5 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.Rhe1 e5? With opposite-coloured bishops the activity of the bishop is far more important than material. [21...Rge8 unclear.  We looked at this move in depth in the post mortem.  The position is very complex and so I apologize but due to time constraints I am going to pass on trying to work out the details.  During the post mortem Ian Martinovsky stole the show by demonstrating some very clever attacking ideas for White.  However, intuitively I remain unconvinced that White can prove any advantage after this move.] 22.h4! A key tempo to misplace the queen. 22...Qg3 23.Be4 Activating my bishop to prepare an opposite-coloured bishop attack.  I also must hold back the pawns at all cost.  The most important aspect of this is that if they start rolling, then Howard's bishop will become activated and my bishop will become passive. 23...Kb8 Removing the tempo of a check on f5. 24.c4 By locking the square with the pawn, my bishop won't be overworked.  But by securing the d5 square I had to accept giving up a pawn. 24...Rh8 25.Qf5 Rxh4 26.Qe6 My advantage is based on my more active pieces and so I need to avoid an exchange of queens to pursue my attack. 26...Qg4 27.Qd5 Qc8 28.g3! It was critical to deactivate the rook which was a distraction to my attacking plans. 28...Rhh8?! [Black should have resisted deactivation with - 28...Rg4.  Now I have to retreat to keep control over the centre, but this control ensures me the initiative: 29.Qd3 Rg5 30.Rf1 Qc5 31.Rf3] 29.g4 Bh6? A fatal mistake.  Black needs to address the battery aimed at b7 as soon as possible. [29...Qc6 30.Qd3 with the initiative.] 30.Rd3 Qc6 31.Qf7 [31.Qe6 d5] 31...Qd7 32.Qxf6 Qxg4? This ends things quickly. [32...Bg7 33.Qf2 and though Black is still alive, it will be very hard to both defend his king and pay attention to the passed g-pawn.] 33.Rb3 b5 34.cxb5 a5 35.Qf2 d5 36.Qb6+ Ka8 37.Qxa5+ Kb8 38.Qb6+ 1-0

 

Pitre,H - Yoos,J [B07] Dan MacAdam mem Victoria (2), 22.1.2005

[Yoos]

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 More popular is to play 4...c6 so that Bh6 can be met with Bxh6 without the loss of a tempo.  Still many players continue to play 4...Bg7, since with 4...c6 White can still switch plans and play for f4 where c6 is not an ideal move to have in.  I had a completely different plan in mind. 5.f3 Known as the 150 Attack, which Dan Scoones tells me is named after a 150 rating in England equivalent to somewhere below expert.  Apparently this is because it is so easy and straightforward to play that even these 150 rated players can make it look good.  I have played this line from both sides for many years and I can attest that it is a very dangerous line.  [The 150 Attack is Be3 in conjunction with Nf3; 150 BCF rating = 1800 Elo - ed.]  5...0-0 6.Qd2 White's plan in this system is much like that in a Yugoslav Attack Dragon - pry open the h-file, trade off the defending fianchetto bishop and then sac - sac - mate. 6...e5 This is my plan - to strike back immediately in the centre before White gets to generate his kingside attack.  This is still very dangerous and the outcome will depend on whether Black has sufficient resources to counter in the open centre. 7.Nge2 Closing the centre with 7.d5 is not as threatening since White's attack is not so dangerous with Black having some space on the kingside.  One important theme is that Black can then defend across the 7th rank with a queen or rook. 7...exd4 8.Nxd4 d5 Consistent with the theme of trying to force the action away from kingside attack and toward the centre of the board. 9.e5 [9.exd5 Nxd5 10.0-0-0 Nb6 and I think that Black should be okay.] 9...Nfd7 10.Bg5! This move is new to me, I didn't find a single game with it in my database. [10.f4 Nb6 unclear is the main line of the known theory.] 10...Qe8 11.f4 [11.Nxd5? Qxe5+ 12.Ne2 Qxb2 13.Rd1 Re8-+ 14.Nxc7 Bc3; 11.0-0-0 c6 12.f4 transposes] 11...c6 12.0-0-0 Nc5 [In hindsight, maybe 12...f6 is Black's best defence.  I considered it during the game, but was afraid that with my queenside still undeveloped I would have trouble defending an onslaught on the g6-h7 structure on the kingside. 13.exf6 Nxf6] 13.h3! Preparing g4 and taking squares on the kingside. 13...Nba6 I really wanted to play b5-b4, but I was too concerned about a piece sacrifice on d5 or b5.  So I decided to play Na6-c7 first for some support. 14.Bxa6! When I first saw this I didn't think much of it.  Now after seeing what happened I am very impressed by this move.  It goes against common sense to trade the "good" bishop for a barely activated knight, but the time gained in the race to attack is critical. 14...Nxa6 15.Rhe1 White plays his attack patiently.  Patience can a very underappreciated attribute among attacking players. 15...Nc7 16.g4 Ne6 No time for counterattacking anymore.  I conceded that my position was awful and decided to just bear down and suffer.  This move was intended to try to remove an attacker - please let me remove any attacker! 17.Bf6! This was a pain in my neck for many moves.  It paralyzes me because if I ever capture I will have to deal with a mate threat on g7 for the rest of the game.  After this White is extremely close to winning. 17...Bh6 Trying to provoke g5 so that f5 is not an option also, but I missed a zwischenzug. 18.g5 Bg7 19.Qf2 Nxd4 20.Rxd4 Bf5 21.Qh4? This move was not so bad in itself, but the whole plan resulting from it is.  The attacking theme that White plays for here was just not effective. The culprit is that White does not use all of his pieces in the attack.  Instead White should play for h4-h5 and then bring every single piece into the attack. 21...Qe6 Threatening h5! 22.Rg1 Rfc8 with the intention of Rc7, defending across the seventh rank in case he wants to open the h-file. [22...h5!] 23.Rg4 I saw this theme, but I kept thinking that as White got closer he would see it didn't work and regroup to play h4-h5. 23...h5 [23...Bxg4? 24.hxg4 Bxf6 25.gxf6 Qe8 26.Rd1 Kh8 27.Ne2 Qg8 28.Nd4 -Nf3-Ng5] 24.gxh6 Bxf6 25.exf6 [25.h7+ Kg7] 25...Kh7-/+ 26.Rg3 Re8 27.Rd1 Rad8 I am reminded of that kids' game where you try to slap the other person's hands while they try to dodge.  He missed and so now it's my turn to attack. 28.b3? It's always hard to switch gears when the game turns around. [28.Nb1] 28...d4 29.Nb1 Qe2 30.Nd2 [30.Rd2 Qf1+ 31.Rd1 Qf2 32.Rd2 Re1+ 33.Kb2 Rxb1+] 30...Re3 31.Rgg1 Rc3 0-1

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 Nh6 After Dan's success with this opening in November he decides to give it another go. 7.Bd3!? It's funny, but this common-sense move is generally not covered in the books.  However, it is a common theme in this type of position and transpositions to known lines are likely.  In my opinion this is quite likely the best move in this position. [7.b4 was what I played against Dan last time.] 7...a5 [7...Bd7 8.Bc2 cxd4 9.cxd4 Nf5 10.Bxf5 exf5 11.Nc3 Be6 is very comparable to known lines.] 8.b3 [8.0-0 a4!] 8...Nf5 [8...Bd7 9.Bc2 Nf5 10.0-0 cxd4 11.Bxf5 exf5 12.cxd4 Be7 13.Nc3 Be6 transposes to the game.] 9.0-0 cxd4 10.Bxf5 exf5 11.cxd4 [11.Nxd4 Nxd4 12.cxd4 and Black's bad bishop has more range to roam.] 11...Be6 12.Nc3 Be7 13.Na4 Qa7 [13...Qc7? 14.Bg5!; 13...Qd8!?] 14.Qd3 Spying b5 and f5 while opening a square for the rook. 14...0-0 15.Rd1 Freeing up my minor pieces.  This also anticipates g5 as my rooks are locked before Ne1. 15...Rab8? This is a big mistake because it allows me to trade off the dark-squared bishops, which makes Black's light-squared bishop problem more acute. [15...Rfb8 16.Bg5 Bf8; 15...h6] 16.Bg5 Bxg5 17.Nxg5 b6 To better defend the queenside squares. 18.Nc3 The knight was no longer functioning to its potential on a4. 18...Qe7 19.Nh3 Going to greener pastures. 19...Rfc8 [19...g5 20.f4 g4 21.Nf2 And white can consider Nh1-g3.] 20.Nb5 Na7 Trading off another minor piece was tempting as it further isolates Black's bad bishop, but my knight is so much better than his that I decided to keep it. 21.Nd6 Rc7 22.Nf4 [22.Nxf5 Bxf5 23.Qxf5 Rc3 is good for White, but Black would be happy to just be rid of the bad bishop.] 22...g6 23.Qf3 Nc8 24.Nb5 [Again White can try to grab a pawn if he allows Black to give up his bishop. This time it would truly backfire: 24.Nxc8 Rbxc8 25.Nxd5 Bxd5 26.Qxd5 Rd7 27.Qf3 Rcd8 28.Qe3 Qc5 29.dxc5 Rxd1+ 30.Qe1 Rxe1+ 31.Rxe1 bxc5; 24.Nxd5 Bxd5 25.Qxd5 Rd7 26.Nxc8 Rxc8 is the same thing as 24.Nxc8.] 24...Rd7 25.Rdc1 Qd8 26.Rc6 Qe7 27.Rc2 Avoiding the exchange of knights by ...Na7. 27...Kg7 28.h3 Probably not neccesary, but I did not feel in a hurry and I didn't want any surprises later on. 28...Na7 29.Nd6 Rc7 30.Rxc7?! [Dan pointed out that I could take the d-pawn safely with 30.Nxd5 Bxd5 31.Rxc7 Qxc7 32.Qxd5+-.  This time I think it would have been well worth it.] 30...Qxc7 31.Qg3 Qe7 32.Nh5+? As Ian Martinovsky pointed out, I missed a shot that easily won [32.Nxd5!+-]. 32...Kh8 33.Nf6 Nc8 34.Qh4 h5 35.Qg5 Qf8 36.Nb5? [Another shot I missed which Ian pointed out is... 36.Nxf7+! Kg7 (36...Bxf7 37.Nd7+-) 37.Nxh5+ Kh7 (37...Kxf7 38.Qf6++-) 38.Nf6+ Kg7 39.Nd8!+-] 36...Ne7 37.Rc1 Ng8 38.Rc6 Ne7 39.Rc7?! [And there is another missed shot.  LOL!  In my defence, I wasn't looking that hard for tactics as I wanted to stay ahead on the clock and I figured that Dan's bishop problem wasn't going away.  39.Rxe6 fxe6 40.Nd7+-] 39...Ng8 40.Nd6 [And another shot! :) 40.Qxg6 ] 40...Qh6? Allowing a final finishing combo.  In all fairness to Dan, after he made his move, I could tell that Dan saw right away the shot that was coming.  Dan chose not to resign on purpose.  I think that Dan just played it out for aesthetic purposes and also to be a nice guy by giving me the pleasure of making the moves. 41.Nxf7+ Bxf7 42.Rxf7 Qxg5 43.Rh7# 1-0

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 [2.Bg5 h6 3.Bh4 c6 was our game against each from last year's Keres. She got an advantage out of the opening, but I was ready with something different this time.] 2...Nc6 3.Bf4 This move was also the choice of both Georgi Orlov and Juan Bellon against me. 3...Bg4 4.c3?! This is unusual and I think it is a concession as White has to recapture on f3 with a pawn. 4...Bxf3 5.gxf3 [5.exf3 is also reasonable and will lead to a much different game.  Though I don't think that it is very threatening as White does not have any tension in the centre to take advantage of the open lines and quick development.] 5...e6 I have to live with e4 and so I decided to treat the structure à la French Defence. 6.Rg1 Nge7 7.Qb3 Rb8 [I thought a bit about Na5, but because of White's crippled pawn structure and potential space advantage I decided that I didn't want to get into any action early on. 7...Na5 ] 8.h3?! This did not turn out to be a useful move. 8...Ng6 9.Bg3 Be7 10.e4 a6 This not only keeps the bishop off b5: it is natural to assume that White will castle queenside, in which case Black can launch an attack with b5, Na5, Nc4 & b4. 11.Be2 Valeria is not playing very actively so far.  After the game I felt like I had not beaten the same player that I had faced on other occasions.  Later I got an idea of why as Lynn told me that Valeria was still recovering from jet lag. 11...0-0 12.Nd2 Bg5! Now White is in trouble as the bishop on this diagonal paralyzes White's position. 13.Nf1 Threatening Bxc7 [13.0-0-0 b5] 13...Nf4 14.Bxf4 Bxf4 15.Rg4 Bh6 16.e5 I thought for some time after this move as I was at risk of falling into a dangerous attack.  White is threatening Qc2 & Bd3 when it will be awkward to defend my h7 square.  Defending h7 with g6 will likely run into h4-h5 and possible a piece sacrifice on g6. 16...f5! [Similarily 16...f6! is also a consideration.] 17.Rg1 [17.exf6 Qxf6 18.Ng3 Ne7 19.Qc2 e5-/+] 17...Qh4! Taking control of the weak squares on the kingside. 18.Qc2 Ne7 19.Nd2 Ng6 [19...Be3 20.0-0-0 Qxf2 21.Rde1 c5 is also extremely good for Black.] 20.Bf1 c5! Opening a second front. 21.Nb3 cxd4 22.cxd4 [22.Nxd4 Rfe8 23.Rd1 Nxe5-+] 22...Rfc8 23.Qd1 Rc6 Anticipating Nc5 and preparing to double rooks. 24.Rxg6 Valeria was in terrible time pressure at this point.  She seemed to be having trouble finding a move and so this was probably just a rushed decision to try to take some of the pressure off. 24...hxg6 25.Bd3 Be3 [25...Rbc8 is also quite strong.] 26.Qe2 Bxd4 27.Rd1 Bb6 28.Qf1 Qf4 29.Qe2 And Valeria fell on time. 0-1

 

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UBC TEAM TOURNAMENT by Bruce Harper

 

For more information please contact the organizers:

EARLY JUNIOR CHESS 

The other evening we were wandering quietly (as is our wont since prohibition has been introduced) along a secluded street in North Vancouver, our mind quietly ruminating over the material for this column, when a most hopeful line of thought was rudely disturbed by a tremendous crash of noise. Startled, we stopped, and that inquisitive part of our nature prompted us to seek the cause. We had just passed a large outhouse and, a little way from the road we beheld the dimly lighted windows of a building from whence, decidedly, the noise did come. With cautious step we approached. The noise, if anything, increased. The thought that it might be a Bolsheviki meeting with the Reds in control, chilled our heart, but we resolutely continued to approach the building. At length, peeping through the uncurtained window, no blood-curdling sight dismayed us, for it was only the Boys' Chess Club in full session.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Vancouver Class Championships