Game Of The Week 9/26/99

This week I will be going over a short blitz game to give you an idea of how average people play. The players here are better than average, but they had only six minutes apiece for the whole game, so they both made some rather obvious mistakes.

This is a game that I watched on FICS (Free Internet Chess Server- fics.onenet.net) a few days ago. The players are malaysiaman(rated 1230) with White and ThinKing(1333) with Black. I bet their USCF ratings would be 300-400 points higher though.

Malaysiaman starts with pawn to e4 (1.e4), and ThinKing answers with pawn to d6 (1...d6). I believe this is called the Pirc Defense, but the important thing to remember is why this is a standard position. Malaysiaman has opened diagonals for his queen and bishop, and ThinKing has opened his bishop and stopped the white pawn from moving ahead any further.

Next comes pawn to d4 (2.d4) and knight to f6 (2...Nf6). Now malaysiaman has an open diagonal for his other bishop, but the black knight is attacking one of the white pawns.

White protects the pawn by moving his knight to c3 (3.Nc3), so Black decides to make an opening for his other bishop by moving his pawn to g6 (3...g6).

White's next move is bishop to d3 (4.Bd3). This might seem a little silly, since the bishop is blocked, defending a pawn that is already protected by the knight; but this bishop move is not bad. One reason is that overprotecting something lets either one of the defenders go do something else if they have to. The knight is no longer stuck on guard duty. I could say more, but let's move on. Here Black plays bishop to g7 (4...Bg7), clearing a place for his king to castle.

Next comes bishop to e3 (5.Be3) and knight (the one from b8) to d7 (5...Nbd7). Both sides are advancing cautiously, moving their pieces off the back rank, but not so far that they could be driven back.

Here knight to f3 (6.Nf3) puts extra pressure on the e5 square, so Black puts his pawn there (6...e5) before White can invade with his pawn.

Now two pawns attack each other. They both are protected, so I'm not sure why White decides to trade. In any case, White takes the pawn on e5 with his pawn (7.dxe5), and Black does likewise (7...dxe5).

Next comes bishop to c4 (8.Bc4), and then Black castles (8...O-O). Although this puts the black king right in line with the white bishop, he will probably be safer there with his rook helping to defend the pawn on f7.

It is often a good idea to castle, and that's what White does here as well (9.O-O). This gets the king out of the center files, and puts the rook closer to a file that is more likely to open up, giving the rook a chance to advance. Black's response is pawn to c6 (9...c6). I suspect that move is intended to stop the white pieces from using the d5 square, but you should be aware that the moving piece is not always the one to watch out for. In this case, Black's last move also gives his queen an open diagonal.

Now White tries to pin a black knight with bishop to g5 (10.Bg5). Normally, that would stop the knight on f6 from moving, since the queen be in danger if it did. However, Black answers with queen to c7 (10...Qc7), killing the pin so that the knight is once again free to move.

White's next move is pawn to a4 (11.a4). It looks like he was worried that Black would try to chase his pieces away by moving a pawn to b5. That move stops the attack, but Black decides to push the pawn anyway- to b6 (11...b6). Maybe he is intending to put his bishop where the pawn was, on b7.

Next comes pawn to b4 (12.b4). Perhaps White is trying to stop Black from moving his pawn to c5, but that looks risky to me. Anyway, Black's next move is bishop to b7 (12...Bb7), letting his two rooks protect each other, and putting the bishop where it will be a threat, after the c-pawn moves.

Now here's a mistake. White plays pawn to b5 (13.b5). That should cost a bishop or knight. Do you see why? If Black takes the pawn with his pawn, his queen would have a clear path at the white pieces in the c-file, not to mention another attack on the bishop from his pawn. (That would be a discovered attack and skewer.) White gets lucky though, because Black doesn't take the pawn. That's a mistake on Black's part. Instead, he plays knight to c5 (13...Nc5). He's putting more pressure on the white pawn in the center, but he missed a free meal.

Seeing the two black knights attacking his pawn, White gets rid of one of the attackers by taking the knight on f6 with his bishop (14.Bxf6). Naturally Black recaptures there with his bishop (14...Bxf6).

Now White can take the pawn on c6 with his pawn (15.bxc6). It looks like he has dodged a bullet, since Black probably won't get another chance to skewer the white pieces with his queen. He could try queen takes pawn now; but the white bishop could go to d5, ruining the plan, so he takes the white pawn on c6 with his bishop instead (15...Bxc6).

White plays bishop to d5 now anyway (16.Bd5). He was probably worried about his pawn on e4 that was under fire from two black pieces, but I wonder if d3 was a better place to put the bishop. Here's why- Black's next move is sliding his rook from a8 to d8 (16...Rad8). Now the white bishop is pinned, blocking an attack on the queen. The bishop would have been pinned on d3 as well, but I think it would have been safer.

White sees that there is a problem. His pawn on e4 is not really defended well enough. If Black took it with his knight, the bishop couldn't recapture; and if the white knight went to e4, the white bishop would be lost. White moves his queen to e2 (17.Qe2) though, and seems to have solved both problems. Black doesn't press the issue either. His move is pawn to a6(17...a6).

Actually, I don't see the point of that move at all. In fact, it gives White a target to shoot at. The white queen already aims at the pawn on a6; but the black knight defends it, so White plays bishop to c4 (18.Bc4) to put more pressure on. Black answers with queen to b7 (18...Qb7) partly to protect the black pawn, partly to attack the white pawn on e4.

Maybe I should point out here that it is always good to count up the attackers and defenders of any square. To defend, you need an equal number of defenders to hold on. As with the case of the pawn on a6, Black needs two defenders to stop the two white attackers. To put it another way, to attack, you need one extra attacker in order to take control of the place you want to invade. You might notice here that Black has three pieces aiming at the white pawn on e4, but White has only two defenders.

Now you might find it odd- I do- but both players ignore what I just said. First, White moves his rook from a1 to b1 (19.Rab1), then Black puts his rook on d7 (19...Rd7). I suspect White was bluffing a later attack, and Black fell for it. If not for the loose pawn though, I'd say these are both good moves. Rooks belong on files where no friendly pawns can block them. It's even nicer to have two rooks lined up in a file like that.

Here White plays Bishop to d5 (20.Bd5) again. I guess he thinks he can hold off the black army, but I suspect he's biting off more than he can chew. Black's reply is to line up the two rooks by putting his other rook, from f8, on d8 (20...Rfd8).

That puts a lot of pressure on the d-file, so White moves his rook from f1 to d1 (21.Rfd1).  I think that makes matters worse though, since now his bishop can't move without giving the black rooks a shot at his rook. Evidently, Black agrees with me, because he now gives up his knight for the white pawn on e4 (21...Nxe4).

That's not really a sacrifice, because Black is almost guaranteed to get the bishop in return, if White takes the knight. That's what happens. White takes the knight with his queen (22.Qxe4), then Black takes the bishop with his bishop (22...Bxd5). Afterward, notice that both sides have three pieces aiming at d5. That means that Black can hang onto the square.

White does take the bishop with his knight (23.Nxd5), but Black recaptures there with a rook (23...Rxd5). The score stays the same (since bishops and knights are roughly equal), except for the pawn that Black grabbed at the beginning of this battle.

This is where White makes a terrible mistake though. He moves his rook from d1 to c1 (24.Rdc1). He could have moved it to e1 or traded it for the black rook, but this is almost as bad as leaving the rook where it was. The reason is, his queen is unprotected, and when Black plays rook to d1, check (24...Rd1+), he also attacks the white queen with his queen. Black will lose a rook, but win the white queen.

Since a queen is worth almost two rooks, White resigns here.  Normally, I would too, but I think I should point that the board position alone is not reason to resign in a blitz game like this.  If there is any chance your opponent could run out of time before winning, keep playing.

Well, that's all for now.  I hope to have another game soon.  Until then, good luck and have fun.