Following the beaten track

It was a 4th round in the Mondays club. I got a young man, never played him before. He had White and transposed into Giuoco Pianissimo, Italian four knight variation. On move 10 he deviated from the book by castling kingside. The position became very familiar to me, I played a lot of online games of that type.

My plan was to put my knight on f4 and my heavy pieces on “f” vertical. Already on move 14 I could sacrifice the rook on f3, I didn’t see it. The key move here would be Nd4, attacking/distracting the knight on e2 controlling the crucial square f4. So 14… Rxf3 15. gxf3 Qh4 16. Kg2 Nd4! and after 17. Nxd4 Nf4 White has to give up the queen to avoid the mate.

Instead I put my knight on f4 and to my surprise he played 15. b4 letting me to sacrifice the knight on h3. Then also unexpectedly he played 16. b5 instead of Nh2 or Qe3. At that moment I remembered the game I played with one 2100+ rated woman exactly 15 years ago. After sacrificing the knight on h3 she sacrificed the rook for the knight on f3 and eventually won.

So I started to look at it, but didn’t see how I can win. But after 16… Rxf3 17. gxf3 Qh4 Black was winning exactly the same way as described above by playing Nd4. The moves 17. gxh3 or 17. bxc6 were losing as well. Anyway I played 16… Na5 which I regretted later from the pure positional point of view as the knight has no moves there. Computer is less critical thinking that Na7 was almost the same.

After exchanging the knights I continued my attack, his 22. Rg1 was a mistake. Then he suddenly played 23. g4. I saw his idea, exchange the pawns and the rooks on g5 and g6 and pin my queen. Still I believed that his knight sacrifice wasn’t sound and decided to play a safe 24… Rg6, 24… Rxf3 was somewhat better.

After a few moves his position became very difficult. I decided not to give him any chances, not to take on h6 and use that pawn as a cover for my king. On move 32 he took his queen, then put it back showing me that he knows he has to move it. Then after a short thinking he resigned.

 

Blind spot

It was a last round in the Mondays club. My opponent didn’t come, I told TD about that and he quickly paired me with the same boy I played with on last Wednesday, it looks like it was his first day in the club. He had White and we played Giuoco Pianissimo. On move 11 he played a novelty Qd2 (according to 365chess.com).

After his 15. Na4 I didn’t know how to react to Nxb6 with the following Qc3 attacking e5 and c6 pawns, so played no so good looking 15… c5 (computer says it’s OK). There was a bit better 15… Qd7 followed by Qc7. Then something strange happened. He played 16. Qe3 and I decided that he blundered. After quick thinking I played 16… c4. Suddenly he took my bishop on b6 with his knight. Then even more strange thing happened.

I looked at the position and decided that it is better to take the bishop and after knight goes to the only good square a4 take on c2. I took the bishop and to my horror his hand went out of my sight and extracted my rook on a8. A definition in Collins dictionary tells it all: “A blind spot is an area in your range of vision that you cannot see properly but which you really should be able to see.”

After I found myself down an exchange and a pawn I decided that my only chance is a kingside attack. So I played f4 on move 22 and lifted my rook. After 29… Rg5 I saw that in some lines I can play Bh3. As soon as he played 30. Qa6 I saw Qf2 idea and 30… c6 was an attempt to make it possible. Suddenly he played 30. Qxa5, I replied Qf2 almost right away. He made a few desperate checks and after 35. Qa6 it was a mate.

 

All that glitters is not gold

The expression is a derivative of a line in William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, which employs the word “glisters,” a 17th-century synonym for “glitters”. While preparing for the second round in the new club I knew that one of the possible opponents plays Giuoco Piano as he did it once against me. So I found a video of one Russian chess player on YouTube where he advertised the idea of playing h7-h6 and g7-g5 in Giuoco Pianissimo in the situation where White already castled and Black did not. He said that Black gets a strong, decisive attack after g5-g4 with White having pawn on h3 and knight on f3.

So can you imagine, I got another opponent, 1427 rated boy who played exactly that, Giuoco Pianissimo with d3 and h3. On move 8 he castled and I played g5. His next move was unexpected and forced me to think that my attack should be better supported by castling queenside. The move Qe7, though only given +0.3 by computer, was not good, instead immediate g4 was -0.35 in the line 9… g4 10. hxg4 Bxg4 11. Nh2 Be6.

After his knight jumped on d5 I saw that I have to exchange it and that my knight has no better place to go as b8 square. Then I made another unfortunate move, 12… Bf5, not feeling the danger. He missed the possibility to play 14. d4 with following 14… Nd7 15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Bb5+ Kd8 17. Qc3 f6 18. Nd4 with ~+1.3 evaluation. 14… 0-0 was basically admission that my strategy was wrong, but I could hold the position with the cool 14… Nd7, in the line 14… Nd7 15. d4 f6 I was able to castle queenside and it was only ~+0.5.

I still was under pressure after 15. d4 and after calculating that I can’t play e4 (that was right) played f6. I saw that he can take on f6 right away and after initial shock decided to play Qg7. He found it and played, but taking with rook was better. His 18. Ng4 was natural and what I expected, but 18. f4 was better, after taking the knight I would get under attack and 18… gxf4 19. Rxf4 Nd7 was ~+0.9.

My 21… Ne5 was a bit flashy, but simple Rf7 was better. I think his 24. f4 was a small mistake as the position became completely equal. Honestly I even started to think I am better due to my good knight. Then we transferred into a rook endgame and he offered a draw. I said I will play more and soon managed to win a pawn. On move 49 I thought that I do not have a real chance of advancing my “e” pawn and decided to try my luck with the “h” pawn. The problem with the arisen rook pawn endgame was that his king was too close to the “h” vertical. Funny that 69. Ke2 would lose after 69… Kg2, then the Black king advancing towards the White rook. But he was exact, we repeated the moves and agreed to a draw.

The first lesson I learned is in the title, I definitely had to do my homework before playing this line, by the way I didn’t find it in DB, though the guy on video referred to Alekhine’s idea. Another lesson was understanding that my reading of the book about rook endgames should be intensified as that was a classical rook endgame in the end. Also I recently drew one online blitz game with Short Side Defense and another one with Back Rank Defense.

 

 

Roller coaster ride

It was a 5th round in the Thursdays club. My opponent was a 1478 rated guy with whom I had a 4:0 score, 3 wins with Black in Italian Game. It was again Italian Game. I did not play well in the opening and already after move 9 was in a serious trouble. He developed a strong attack and I tried to hold on.

Computer thinks he would be better after 26. Qc4, then d5. I thought I can’t play 26… Nxe5, but I could  and it was equal – 26… Nxe5 27. Nxe5 fxe5 28. Qxb6 Rd1+!. My 26… Rhe8 was also good. I missed 28… Ne5 possibility. All the time I had to watch for a possible sacrifice on a6. Then on move 32 I could lose if he would play Rd2, the idea is that rook goes to d6. He didn’t see it. After the knights exchange I started to feel good.

After his 36. Qc3 I didn’t like Rxb6 threat and played 36… Rd7. Computer suggests 36… Qd6 was better. Then after 37… Rd4 I felt that I intercepted the initiative, though it was still equal. Computer says that 39… c4 was very strong, with -3 evaluation. I decided that 41… Rd2 will be stronger than Rxa4, computer agrees.

Then a crucial moment of the game came when he played 43. g4. I saw Rxg4 right away, but then noticed that after 43… Rxg4 44. fxg4 Qxg4+ he has 45. Qg3 defense. So I decided it won’t work and played Qd4+. It was a big mistake. After 43… Rxg4 44. fxg4 Qd4+! there is a forced mate. There is a mate also he declines the sacrifice and plays 44… Kh1, Black follows with 44… Qf5 45. Qf1 Rxh2+ 46. Kxh2 Qf4+ 47. Kh1 Qh3+ 48. Qh3 Qxh3#.

Then after 45. Qg3 it became equal, but in 2 moves he blundered his rook on a1.  It would be over after 48… Rd1, computer says mate in 17, but  I played Qb2. In the next few moves he managed to advance his “e” pawn and force me to give up a rook for it.  I had less than 5 minutes and stopped writing the moves. Then I couldn’t avoid the queens exchange and we ended up in a rook endgame where I was better.

There was a moment when I could exchange the rooks with each of us having a pawn on the kingside  and me having an “a” pawn on the queenside. But I thought that his king would lock my king up there, so I avoided this exchange. After the game our TD told me that there was a win for me, that my king could escape, I am not sure. Anyway he managed to exchange the pawns on the kingside and win that “a” pawn, so we ended up with  a draw.

 

Two draws in Giuoco Pianissimo

I played these games on two consecutive Thursdays, one game was a last round, another – first.

The first game was with a 1800 rated guy, I have a positive score with him, last time I had a draw with him with Black in Giuoco Piano 4 months ago.

This time I had Black again, he played Vienna Game which transposed into Giuoco Pianissimo. It was quiet and equal until I played 26… e3.  His move 28. Kf1 was a big mistake. I could play 28… c5! and was winning in both lines – 29. Rd3 e2+ or 29. bxc6 Bxc4+ 30. Ke1 Rxc6. Unfortunately I didn’t see it. He also missed some possibilities, one of them was 33. d6.

We then went into a rook endgame, where I relied on my rook being active. It worked, not without his help with 51. b5, though the position after 51. Rf7 Ra2 52. Kb3 Rd2 53. Rxf3 Rxd6 was a draw anyway.

The second game was also with Black, it was an old enemy to whom I lost a few times with one draw. It was Giuoco Pianissimo, after first 12 moves I started to feel that I have an advantage. He was carefully defending. I considered 22… Nf4+, but didn’t see a clear win and played Qf6. Computer says that Nf4+ was sound, but it was only a draw after 22… Nf4+ 23. gxf4 exf4 24. Qf2 Rg6+ 25 Kh1 Re3 (an important move, which I didn’t see), 26. Qh2 Rxe1 27. Rxe1 Rg3 28. Qf2 Qh3+ 29. Qh2 Qf5 30. Qf2.

He offered queens exchange by playing 23. Qg5. I didn’t quite like the arising endgame and played 23… Qf7. There were two traps hidden behind this move – one obvious if he would take on h5 and another, less obvious, counting on him not moving his queen and playing for example Nb3.

Then 24… Nf4+ was winning his queen after 25. gxf4 Rg6 or trapping it after 25. Kh2 Rg6. It looks very similar to the trap, into which Karjakin fell recently in the game with Giri at the Vugar Gashimov Memorial.  He was in the time trouble of course, my opponent wasn’t, so it seems me he saw it and played 24. Qe3.

At that moment I had about 12 minutes left, he had 14. I looked at the position and didn’t see what else I could do, so decided to repeat the moves. He followed and we agreed to a draw.

 

Giuoco Pianissimo

It was a case when I didn’t get upset with Giuoco Pianissimo as I usually do when  I get it on FICS. After previous misadventures I thought it’s OK to play something quiet. So my opponent had White, here is the game.

Fritz approved my 9… Qd7, he didn’t risk to take on b7. 17… b5 wasn’t good, I didn’t see his Nc4, I just didn’t know what to do and defending b7 was annoying. His 18. d5 was losing a pawn without any compensation and I started to look optimistically into the future. After 24… Ne3 I didn’t find the next move 25… Nfd5 which according to Fritz was just winning. Then I missed a really nice combination – 27. Qxh4, which was winning a piece and a game.

Nevertheless in the following complications I managed to get into knight ending with a spare pawn. Of course it would be better for him to keep queens. I didn’t play precisely that ending, but in the end my remote passed pawn served it’s purpose and I had N+2P vs. N. It was a matter of technique, I managed to stay calm with my time decreasing (in the end I had about 5 minutes left). After he gave up his knight, I stopped writing the moves. I remembered that knight should stand behind the pawn (so if he takes the knight the pawn queens). When my king approached  the pawn, he resigned.