Bulletins June 2020

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 c5 6.Nf3 b6 7.O-O Bb7 8.Na4 cxd4 9.exd4 Re8 10.a3 Bf8 11.b4

It looks like Nigel was well prepared. this has all been played at a high level multiple times. Here Carlsen has played 11.Bf4 and Kramnik 11.Re1 but Nigel's more commital move is the most popular choice.  11...a5 12.b5 d6 13.Re1 ( Bruzon Batista (2706) - Carlsen (2848), Mexico City MEX 2012, 1/2-1/2 in 50 moves 13.Bb2 Nbd7 14.Re1 Rc8 15.Rc1 g6 16.h3 d5 17.Nd2 dxc4 18.Nxc4 Nd5 19.Be4 Rc7 20.Qd2 Qb8 21.Bd3 Rec8 22.Bf1 Ba8 23.Ne5 Nxe5 24.dxe5 Rxc1 25.Rxc1 Rxc1 26.Qxc1 Bg7 27.Bd4 h5 28.Qe1 Bf8 29.Qc1 Bg7 30.Nb2 Bxe5 31.Bxe5 Qxe5 32.Qc8+ Kh7 33.Nc4 Qh8 34.Qd7 Qf8 35.Qa7 Kg7 36.Nxb6 Qc5 37.Qxa8 Qxb6 38.Bc4 Nf6 39.Be2 h4 40.Qa6 Qc5 41.Qxa5 Ne4 42.Qe1 Qxa3 43.Bf3 Nd6 44.Qb1 Nc4 45.Be2 Nd2 46.Qd3 Qa1+ 47.Kh2 Qe5+ 48.Kg1 Qa1+ 49.Kh2 Qe5+ 50.Kg1 Qa1+ ) 13...Nbd7 14.Bg5 Rc8 Black has a compact and harmonious position with a lot of dynamic potential and the engine suggests he has equalised as the middle game begins. During the next phase it feels as if White drifts a little and that his centre is becoming a target rather than a strength. In Zelesco-Izzat below White had a clear plan, a breakthrough on c5  15.Qc2  ( Zelesco (2361) - Izzat (2473), Melbourne AUS 2017, 1-0 in 77 moves 15.Bh4 h6 16.Rc1 g5 17.Bg3 Nh5 18.Bb1 Nxg3 19.hxg3 Bg7 20.Qd3 Qf6 21.Red1 g4 22.Nd2 Qe7 23.Nb3 Rc7 24.c5 dxc5 25.dxc5 Nxc5 26.Naxc5 bxc5 27.Nxa5 Bd5 28.Nc4 Ra7 29.Ne3 Rd8 30.Nxg4 f5 31.Ne3 Bb2 32.Rc2 Rxa3 33.Qe2 Bf6 34.Rcd2 Ra1 35.Bxf5 Rxd1+ 36.Rxd1 Kh8 37.Qh5 Qg7 38.Nxd5 exd5 39.Be6 Bd4 40.Bxd5 Rf8 41.Bf3 Qg5 42.Qxg5 hxg5 43.g4 Rb8 44.Be2 Rf8 45.Rf1 Kg7 46.g3 Kf6 47.Kg2 Ke5 48.b6 Rb8 49.Rb1 c4 50.Rb5+ Kf6 51.b7 c3 52.Bd3 Be5 53.Bf5 Bd6 54.Rb3 Ke5 55.Kf3 Kd4 56.Rb6 Kc5 57.Rb1 Re8 58.Bg6 Re6 59.Be4 Bb8 60.Rd1 Re8 61.Rd5+ Kb4 62.Rd1 Ba7 63.Rd6 Rf8+ 64.Bf5 Kc5 65.Rd1 Kc4 66.Ra1 Bb8 67.Ke2 Re8+ 68.Kd1 Rd8+ 69.Kc1 Bd6 70.Ra8 Rb8 71.Bc8 Kd3 72.Ra5 Bb4 73.Rd5+ Kc4 74.Rxg5 Kd3 75.Rd5+ Kc4 76.Rd8 Kc5 77.Kc2 ) 15...Qc7 16.Bxf6 Nxf6 17.Ng5 g6 18.Qe2 Bh6 19.h4 Bg7 20.Rad1 h6 21.Ne4 Nd7 22.h5 g5 23.Qe3

23...d5 Black decides to resolve the central situation, leaving White with an IQP but without the activity to justify it  24.Nd2 (24.Nxg5 hxg5 25.Qxg5 is tempting but Black beats off the attack  25...Qd8 26.Qg3 Qf6 ) 24...Qd6 25.cxd5 Bxd5 26.Ne4!? Setting a trap  26...Qe7 ( White was no doubt hoping for  26...Qxa3? 27.Nf6+ Nxf6 ( or 27...Kh8 28.Nxd7 Qxa4 29.Nxb6 with a fork ) 28.Bh7+ Nxh7 29.Qxa3 ) 27.Nec3 Qxa3 Now Black can take the pawn ( but 27...Bb3! was better ) 28.Nxb6 Qxc3 29.Rc1? Allowing Black to give up the Queen but collect a Rook and two minor pieces for it (29.Nxd7 keeps White afloat ) 29...Qxc1 30.Rxc1 Nxb6 31.Rc5 a4 This pawn runs for victory  32.Bb1 Ra8 33.Qd3 a3 34.Rc7 a2 0-1

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3!?

This is called the Prins variation, White wants a Maroczy bind. 5.f3 is actually the second most popular move after Nc3. Although Nc3 is about 30 times more popular, f3 is itself about 20 times more popular than the 3rd place 5.Bd3.  (The pattern continues, 5.Bd3 is in turn much more popular than the sprinkling of other moves that have been played, most of which are just blunders. For example 5.Bc4 has been played a few times, once by our own Stephen Lukey, and it's not strictly speaking a blunder. After  5...Nxe4 White can regain the pawn  6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qd5+ Kg7 9.Qxe4 but Black is better ) 5...a6 6.c4 e5 The book 'Dangerous Weapons - The Sicilian' covers the Prins variation, recommending it as something few Black players are going to know. Reading between the lines in the book, it seems that if Black is going to play this move, he should do it a move earlier when the Knight doesn't have the comfortable and thematic c2 square.  7.Nc2 Be6 8.Nc3 Qc7 9.Ne3 Nbd7

10.g4!? So White is not going to play for quiet classical Maroczy positional play after all. These g4 and h4 thrusts are very characteristic of modern chess, This was apparent even before the emergence of Alpha Zero and its fondness for the idea, which has apparently inspired Magnus Carlsen and others.  10...Nb6 11.h4 Be7 12.Bd2 Rc8 13.Rc1 Qd8 ( Black can't take the pawn 13...Nxc4 14.Nxc4 Bxc4 15.Bxc4 Qxc4 16.Nd5 ) 14.b3 h6 15.Kf2 Nfd7 16.Kg3

Back in the day grandmasters used to develop their pieces in the opening. These days it seems it's more important to develop the h and g pawns and the king! The engine quietly nods its approval, giving White a serious advantage here. I did a database pattern match and didn't find many examples of the formation f3,g4,h4 and King on g3 this early in the game, especially with Black uncastled and the centre not closed. It's above my pay grade to describe what's really going on. On the Kingside is White looking to 1) Grab space, 2) Attack 3) Both 4) Close the position 5) Something else. If any strong players can help me out here I'll add their thoughts.  16...h5 17.g5 g6 18.Bh3 Bxh3 19.Kxh3 Nc5 20.Qf1 f6 21.gxf6 Bxf6 22.Rg1 Rg8 23.Be1 Ne6 24.Ne2 Nf4+ 25.Nxf4 exf4 26.Nc2 Qd7+ 27.Kh2 Qe7 28.Qh3 Kf7

After some interesting manoevring, White seems to be doing his Grandmasterly thing. He has a better bishop, more scope for his rooks and less weak pawns. The computer engine thinks White is basically winning material with complicated play by targetting the f4 and d6 pawns with Nb4-d3 then Bd2 or Bb4 and e5 depending on circumstances.  29.Bf2 A less critical approach, White starts simplifying  29...Nd7 30.Nb4 Qe6 31.Qxe6+ Kxe6 32.Nd5 Ne5 33.Rc3 Kf7 34.Rd1 Rc6

35.Nxf6!? Exchanging the pretty knight for the bad bishop seems weird. Sometimes these good looking horses just look good and basically just get in the way  35...Kxf6 36.Bd4 Ke6 37.Bxe5 dxe5 38.Rcd3

Presumably this is White's idea he owns the only open file in a double rook ending. The engine is not impressed, rating the position as 0.00. Kudos to Benji who competed really strongly to get to a near even (in human terms) ending after a complex struggle. But of course competing with grandmasterly technique in rook endings, with tiredness and the clock now a factor is no bed of roses.  38...g5 39.c5 g4 40.Rd6+ Rxd6 41.Rxd6+ Ke7 42.Kg2 gxf3+ 43.Kxf3 Rg3+ 44.Kf2 Re3 45.Rb6 Rxe4 46.Rxb7+ Kd8 47.c6 Rd4 48.Kf3 Rd6 49.Ke4 Rxc6 50.Kxe5 f3 51.Rf7 Rc2 52.Rxf3 Rxa2 53.Kf6

53...Ra5? Inaccurate, better is (53...Ra3 immediately, when it threatens ...a5 and ...a4 ) 54.Rf5 Ra3 Even with this loss of a tempo though, Black is still holding for now  55.Rxh5 Rxb3 56.Re5 Rb6+ 57.Kf7 Rb7+ 58.Kf8

Black to move and draw  58...Rb4? (58...Rb5! is the move - White is not winning any races and can't make progress in any other way ) 59.h5 And just like that it's over, White's rook and King are suddenly ideally placed to escort the h pawn home  59...Rf4+ 60.Kg7 Kc7 61.h6 Rg4+ 62.Kf6 Kb6 63.h7 Rh4 64.Kg6 Rg4+ 65.Rg5 Rh4 66.Rh5 Rg4+ 67.Kf5 1-0

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Ne2 Bb7 6.a3 Bd6 Already a surprise for me. The Nimzo has been a real problem for me since taking up 1.d4, and I am not really happy with my current e3 and Ne2 approach (I'm trying to follow 'A Strategic Chess Opening Repertoire for White' by Watson - but my knight often ends up uncomfortable and perhaps I should just accept the more boring looking Nf3 and Bd3 approach)  7.Ng3

I started worrying that the menacing looking bishops were going to presage an early kingside attack. The horrible prospect of an early embarrassment started tormenting me, and I started burning time ludicrously early.  (I didn't like the look of 7.f3 Nh5 but after the game Darryl pointed out that A) he would never play Nh5 and B) There was no problem continuing  8.e4 Qh4+ 9.Kd2! It turns out this bizarre looking position has occurred in practice, but it was never going to occur to me ) 7...h5 I was also worried about this move and was basically just hoping he wouldn't play it. A lot more time was now spent, and in the end I decided to try and blunt the b7 monster at least  8.d5 h4 9.Nge4 Be7 10.Be2 Nxe4 11.Nxe4 d6 12.Bf3 exd5 13.Nc3 I thought I was being clever, but as Darryl pointed out in the post-mortem it would be better to just recapture as giving him a pawn on c5 instead of c7 is only advantageous to him  13...c6 14.cxd5 c5 15.O-O

It cost me an awful lot of time getting to this only slightly unusual Benoni position. I was just grateful I hadn't fallen into a hole, and had managed to develop some pieces and get castled. A pretty modest achievement as White! After the game Darryl said he was targetting this setup and felt comfortable playing the position. He particularly liked the fact that Black had achieved the standard Benoni strategic goal of exchanging at least one minor piece (to ease cramp) already   15...Nd7 16.Be2 a6 17.a4 O-O 18.e4 Bf6 19.Be3 I was hoping to get in Rae1 and f4, a bit too optimisitic  19...Re8

I am doing fine, but I needed to start to rush at least a little due to the amount of time I'd wasted so far, and consequently I immediately just overlooked the most simple possible thing  20.Qd2? Bxc3 Oh for goodness sake.   21.Qxc3? As Darryl said, a classic case of one error leading to another - the old rule of not panicking and reassessing the new situation calmly after a mistake is designed to avoid this one. ( Darryl was suspicious of 20.Qd2 and thought it might be a sac. Indeed after 21.bxc3 Rxe4 White has some play, I can chase the rook, maybe win the h4 pawn - in fact the engine says it's 0.00 ) 21...Rxe4 22.Bd3 Rb4 23.Rad1 Qf6 24.Bc2

Setting a little trap  24...Rxb2? Darryl surprises me by falling straight into it!  25.Bd4! "At least you got to play one fantastic move" was Darryl's comment after the game  25...Rxc2 Darryl admitted that he was lucky he had this option ( "If I had to play 25...cxd4 26.Qxb2 I am worse" This wasn't apparent to me at the time, but is now that I have an engine running ) 26.Bxf6 Rxc3 27.Bxc3 After the smoke clears I have nominal material equality (sort of - I don't think the old rule of R=5, B/N=3 is really in vogue any more), but Darryl in the post mortem and the engine now in my study agree I am still lost. My troubles were exacerbated by the time situation and I fail to put up good resistance from here  27...b5 28.Rfe1 Kf8 29.Re4 g5 30.a5 b4 31.Bb2 Rc8 32.Rg4 c4 33.Rxg5 c3 34.Rh5 Rc4 35.Bc1 b3 36.Bh6+ Kg8 37.Re1 Nf6 38.Rg5+ Kh7 39.Bg7 c2 40.Bxf6 c1=Q 41.Rh5+ Kg6 0-1