To kill a mocking Bird

My fourth-round game at the Major Open was, to say the least, strange - but hopefully an instructive one to look back on. I had the black pieces against a visiting Croatian player, Vjekoslav Novak. Therefore I didn't have many games to prepare from, but I hoped that I had detected a transpositional hole in his opening repertoire, based around 1. f4 and 2. b3 against everything.

Apparently he was thrown by this, for he reacted unexpectedly for such a system-oriented player - and badly. But I was too direct in playing to refute his play outright, and paid the price for losing the thread in the imbalanced position that resulted:

[Event "Major Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2022.08.16"] [Round "4.19"] [White "Novak, Vjekoslav"] [Black "Young, Daniel J"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B21"] [BlackElo "2020"] [Annotator "Young,Daniel J"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] {My opponent plays overseas, so I didn't have much to use for preparation, but I'd discovered that he plays the Bird, was doing well in one of the morning tournaments (his ECF performance for the week came out at 1904) and played very slowly.} 1. f4 { (1:25)} g6 {(1:30) I adopted this move order seeing that he plays 2. b3 against almost everything else, and here} 2. e4 c5 {tricks him into a Grand Prix Sicilian. This sent him into long thought for his next few moves and he was down to an hour left as early as move six.} 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bd3 $2 {I didn't know what to make of this - troll chess or creativity out of desperation? He normally seems a very system-oriented player, liking to play all the thematic Bird moves, so wasn't sure why he was playing so eccentrically.} Nc6 6. O-O d5 $17 {The natural way to punish White's extravagance.} 7. e5 Nh6 8. h3 $6 O-O $6 {Later on I wished I had played 8... f6 whilst I had the chance, avoiding any danger of a kingside squeeze. I have lots of experience of this structure from the 2... g6 Alapin, and felt very comfortable here - maybe too comfortable.} (8... f6 $142 9. exf6 Bxf6 {I was a bit wary of} 10. g4 {though} Nf7 11. Nbd2 Qd6 $17 {leaves Black a pawn up with a positional advantage - White has only created weaknesses for himself.}) 9. Qe1 Bf5 $6 {And here too I should certainly have played ...f6 - every delay allows White to better organise to meet it.} 10. g4 {(46) The best chance.} ( 10. Bxf5 $143 $6 Nxf5 11. g4 {worried me more, but} Ne3 $1 {(my plan, but with no particular follow-up in mind)} 12. Bxe3 dxe3 13. Qxe3 f6 $17 {leaves White's centre crumbling. Sacrificing (or losing) the d4 pawn greatly increases the scope of Black's bishop.}) 10... Bxd3 {(53)} 11. cxd3 f6 12. e6 $44 {The fact of the matter is that I misevaluated this position. I found it hard to accept that White could have anything here, having played all those ridiculous moves in the opening and then also shut off the d-file as a route to my d-pawn by allowing the trade on d3. But it appears he does have some compensation, because the e6 pawn is not as vulnerable as I hoped, and if I can't remove it then the h6 knight is doomed to remain out of play.} Qd6 $6 { The queen can contribute more on b6, reinforcing d4 - the e-pawn is not going to be trivially picked off.} 13. Na3 Rac8 $6 (13... Nd8 $142 {forces} 14. f5 { when I get some air on the kingside.} (14. Nxd4 $4 f5 $19 {is a motif I had in mind during the game}) 14... gxf5 15. Nxd4 Qb6 16. Nac2 Rc8 17. Be3 f4 18. Bf2 $13 {The position is starting to open up, and White's pieces are loose, but he has his pawn back and the h6 knight remains a problem. I wasn't yet alarmed enough to consider such radical measures.}) 14. Nc2 Kh8 $2 {Banking on meeting a capture on d4 with ...Nxd4 and ...f5, and clearing g8 for the wayward knight. However White's bind is becoming serious, and more extreme measures are needed to disrupt the flow of the game.} (14... Ne5 $142 $1 {certainly counts as extreme! The idea is not dissimilar to what I soon play in the game, giving up a piece for several pawns, but here Black takes over the centre too... unless White gets creative.} 15. fxe5 fxe5 16. Ncxd4 {is a sharp counter-sacrifice; after} (16. Na3 e4 17. dxe4 dxe4) 16... exd4 17. Bg5 Rc2 18. Rc1 Rxb2 19. Nd2 $44 {White has good play for two pawns, as Qh4 looms and the state of the black knight is becoming increasingly critical.}) 15. Bd2 {(24)} a5 {(29)} 16. Qh4 $2 {Hurrying to cash in. Black is virtually forced to 'fall for' the trap and take on e6, but he is more than happy to do so and free his position.} Qxe6 $1 17. f5 gxf5 $2 {This turns out to be another misevaluation. I could see that I would get plenty of pawns for the piece (for a fleeting moment I will have no fewer than five!) and believed that White's king would be too exposed without this cover. But my material advantage is scattered and weak, and therefore it turns out that White is able to defend his king and start putting the piece to work. Instead, taking with the knight was much stronger.} (17... Nxf5 $142 $1 18. gxf5 Qxf5 {This way, Black keeps the integrity of his structure intact, allowing the pawns to compete with the piece on a more even footing.} 19. Ncxd4 (19. Ng5 $4 {was the reason I rejected the knight capture, hypnotised by the discovery on my queen and therefore missing the obvious} fxg5 20. Rxf5 gxh4 21. Rxf8+ Rxf8 $19) 19... Nxd4 20. Qxd4 (20. Nxd4 $2 Qxd3 21. Rad1 Qa6 $19 {, followed by 22... e5 and White will be swept away by the avalanche of pawns.}) 20... Qxh3 21. Qxd5 Rfd8 22. Qxb7 Qg3+ 23. Kh1 Rb8 $15 { followed by ...Rb5 with a dangerous attack - not} 24. Qxe7 $4 Re8 25. Qc5 Re2 26. Qg1 Qh3+ 27. Nh2 Rxd2 $19 {when Black has at least one extra pawn and White can barely move.}) 18. Bxh6 Bxh6 19. Qxh6 fxg4 20. Nfxd4 {(8) Despite the weakness of the a7-g1 diagonal, there is no way to exploit this move.} Nxd4 {(15)} 21. Nxd4 Qb6 22. Qe3 gxh3 23. Nf5 Qxb2 24. Qxh3 Rg8+ 25. Kh1 {(4)} Rg5 $4 {(8) Another appalling error! The c8 rook had to be got out of harm's way first, and according to Stockfish 25... Rc3 is the only move, lining up a new target in the shape of White's d-pawn.} 26. Rab1 $4 (26. Nxe7 $142 {isn't so hard to find - I thought I could just move my rook away and be happy, but one for one thing my pawns are now splintered; for another White has} Rc2 27. Qh6 Rg7 28. Rab1 Qe5 29. Rxb7 Rcg2 30. Nf5 $1 $18 {and Black's position collapses.} ) 26... Qe2 27. Rbe1 Qh5 {I did not want to exchange queens, as my pawns will become more of a liability if counterplay against the enemy king is removed. But there was no choice.} 28. Qxh5 Rxh5+ 29. Kg2 Rg8+ 30. Ng3 {(2)} Rhg5 {(4)} 31. Rf3 e5 32. Kf2 {Here I simply froze, and burnt up almost all of my remaining time - I just couldn't think of a move! Hence} Rf8 $2 {, which isn't really a move at all.} 33. Nf5 {(White draw offer) In a more level-headed state I ought to have accepted this, but with four pawns for the piece I still thought there were winning chances. It's not normally like me to show such contempt for draws - I hate losing so much that it tends to rein in my excesses - but as I mentioned in the last game, objectivity was not with me at this time. I may have been influenced either by the background hope of British Championship qualification, or an awareness that with so much underrated opposition around I had to fight hard not to lose rating points just by sitting down. Whatever the case, I pushed too hard.} Rc8 34. Re2 h5 $6 { I wanted to take care of the back rank to free my c8 rook. However, White is too far away from a mating threat for this to be necessary yet. The move I originally intended, 34... Rc3, was sufficient; instead} 35. Ne7 {was an unpleasant surprise (I saw it after moving, of course) that, combined with the clock, caused me to fatally panic.} Rc1 $4 {(1) The losing move.} (35... Rd8 $142 {Much the more important pawn to keep.} 36. Rxf6 Kg7 37. Rb6 Rd7 38. Nc8 h4 $11 {Black keeps his central pawns intact and gains crucial counterplay with the h-pawn.}) 36. Nxd5 {Now Black's position rapidly starts to fall apart. } Rcg1 37. Rxf6 R1g2+ 38. Ke1 Rxe2+ 39. Kxe2 Rg2+ 40. Kf3 {(2)} Rxa2 {(2)} 41. Rh6+ Kg7 42. Rxh5 $18 {At least now I had time to take in the wreckage! I hoped that the connected passed pawns might be enough to make up for the piece, but they are not sufficiently advanced and I have no way to force the exchange of White's last remaining pawn.} b5 43. Rxe5 b4 44. Ke3 b3 45. Nc3 {(29)} a4 $2 {(23) Believe it or not, this was played after thinking for almost 10 minutes, and making a point to check I wasn't missing something obvious, as I instinctively distrust clever moves. And yet I did miss something obvious!} 46. Nxa2 Kf6 {46... bxa2 47. Rg5+ was what I missed, of course.} 47. Ra5 { Shambolic.} 1-0

To have lost after getting such a position as black in just six moves is not a pleasant feeling. The risk of having such a narrow opening repertoire is that, as Botvinnik put it, your chess horizon becomes too narrow and you can only play by rote. When an opponent forces you to think for yourself early on (as I achieved here with the 1... g6 move order) the results can be catastrophic. However, my contempt for this sort of 'creativity' as well as the ease with which I gained an advantage from the opening clouded my objectivity once again, or rather, it dulled my sense of danger. I played 12... Qd6?! cheerily assuming that I would round up the e-pawn in short order and then cruise to victory. The idea that the pawn could persist, and lock down my entire kingside in the process, dawned on me only gradually.

It is a slight consolation that I did learn a useful lesson from this game, albeit only because White rashly hastened to force events with 16. Qh4?. I realised that I did not understand piece vs. pawn positions correctly. The truth is that three pawns = one piece is an extremely rough approximation. Hitherto my feeling was that the piece is usually better in the middlegame, and its power begins to wane in an endgame as the pawns become free to advance. In this case the reverse was true: once the queens came off I didn't have any counterplay, irrespective of White's airy king. That was because my position was so fragmented. Compare the game to the 17... Nxf5! variation (which I avoided only through tactical ineptitude, but that's another story) and the difference becomes obvious. As it turned out, even (briefly) five pawns weren't enough - quality over quantity is the name of the game.

In the short-term, of course, I was annoyed: 1½/4 wasn't what I'd hoped for before the tournament, and I could tell I was playing far short of my best. The fifth game improved my mood a little, but poor form remained obvious.