Apologia

 "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood."

Marie Curie

After the long hiatus mentioned in the last entry, I tentatively returned to the board in January at a couple of rapidplays. 2nd= at Golders Green with 4½/6 was a good start to the year, although I really ought to have won all of my games and losing a won rook ending against an FM was especially careless. I then followed up with 4/6 at one of the super-strong Kensington tournaments, beating a 2172 with a Benko Gambit in the last round, playing and winning a solitary slowplay game for the Surrey first team in between. Nevertheless, I'd been planning to enter the local congress at Kidlington ever since I relocated, and by the time it rolled around last weekend I was eager to get some more serious games under my belt.

Recent results gave me cause to hope that the quiet nights of study were having their desired effect, and though I hadn't been playing chess I had certainly been thinking about it. Doing some more digging into last season's results after my statistical review, I made an interesting discovery: in stark contrast to relative results, in terms of opening outcomes I still do much better with 1. e4 than flank openings - in fact I would have a colossal plus score if all my king's pawn games were adjudicated after 15 moves. The more direct nature of the play evidently suits me, but also exposes me to more damage from my accident proneness. The partial change of openings a few years ago was intended as a sticking plaster, but my final conclusion was that you have to follow your nature. Now that I am working hard on chess again, I should confront the shortcomings that prevent me making the most of those good 1. e4 positions, rather than avoiding them to minimise risk.

The first round at Kidlington perfectly illustrates both sides of the dilemma. Amusingly, despite everything I still ended up playing an Epsom clubmate, IM Peter Large. In recent years I have faced him many times, albeit mostly in blitz games, and though I of course have a heavy negative score there have been isolated successes too. And whilst this would be a stern test of the new philosophy of sharp chess, ideally the examiner should be familiar with the subject too. Anyway, I went for the kill straight from the opening, had an overwhelming position within a dozen moves, and then...

[Event "Kidlington Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2024.02.03"] [Round "1.3"] [White "Young, Daniel J"] [Black "IM Large, Peter G"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B00"] [WhiteElo "2011"] [BlackElo "2376"] [Annotator "Young,Daniel J"] [PlyCount "48"] [EventDate "2024.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.02.03"] {With only a lean diet of rapidplays and occasional county matches since November, I was hungry to play in a second weekender in as many years. Unlike my previous two visits to Kidlington, this time I had a simple 20-minute drive from home... the Surrey connection followed me for my first-round pairing though! Time control: 90 minutes for all moves + 15 seconds/move.} 1. e4 {(1:30)} Nc6 {(1:17) Large has been dabbling with the Nimzowitsch. He mixes it up a lot more against 1. e4 than other moves, but many Epsom tournaments had slowly taught me that this breadth is not always matched by reliability - in fact it only dawned on him a few moves from now that I gave it a similarly rough treatment in a blitz game last year.} 2. d4 e5 3. dxe5 Nxe5 4. Nf3 Qf6 5. Nc3 {White usually gets bluffed by the 'threat' against f3 into taking on e5, but this little-played alternative saves time since the structure with doubled f-pawns is not to be feared - indeed, on the alternative 4... Nxf3+ I intended 5. gxf3 (Young-Hanreck, Coulsdon Superleague 2017).} Bb4 6. Bd2 Ne7 $6 {This is the most popular move, but it highlights the downside of the early queen sortie - in the lines arising from 5. Nxe5, the knight goes to f6 and White is forced to spend time defending his e-pawn, whereas now there is no pressure on the centre and he is free to expand unhindered.} (6... Nxf3+ $142 {should be preferred, but I feel the structure arising after} 7. gxf3 Ne7 8. Rg1 $146 {(the usual 8. Qe2 is also fairly good) is pleasant for White - he will castle long and have a ready-made avenue of attack down the g-file as well as a healthy space advantage, and these dynamic advantages outweigh the static weakness of the doubled pawns. Stockfish actually suggests that Black tries freeing himself with the pawn sacrifice} d5 {, however} 9. exd5 Bf5 10. Qe2 O-O-O 11. O-O-O $14 {doesn't look like full compensation - after all, White too is on the cusp of completing development.}) 7. Nxe5 Qxe5 8. f4 Qc5 $6 $146 {A new move, played after 10 minutes' thought, but not a very successful one. White isn't really bothered by Black's fleeting control of the a7-g1 diagonal, since he is castling long in any case, and soon he will be able to play Be3 and send the queen packing once again.} (8... Qe6 {has been played before; then} 9. Qe2 {(here White has to develop his queen more modestly than in the game in view of the potential pin on the e-file)} O-O {was Jakovljevic-Terzic, Serbian Team Ch. 2017.} (9... b6 {is the engine improvement, seeking counterplay against e4 by hypermodern means, but White has it covered:} 10. O-O-O Bb7 11. f5 Qe5 12. a3 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 Qf4+ 14. Kb1 O-O-O (14... Qxe4 $143 $2 15. f6 $1 {opens the position to devastating effect, even with the queens coming off;} gxf6 16. Bxf6 Qxe2 17. Bxe2 Rg8 18. Rhe1 $18 {and Black is frozen.}) 15. Qf3 $1 $16 {consolidates White's advantage, since his bishops dominate the board. If Black takes on f3 then the g-file is opened and Black's counterplay against e4 disappears, but if} Qxe4 16. f6 Qxf3 17. gxf3 gxf6 18. Bxf6 Bxf3 19. Ba6+ $18 {and White will come out with two pieces for a rook.}) 10. f5 $1 $146 {A typical idea for this line: White gives up the e5 square, but hinders the development of Black's light-squared bishop and is poised to force open lines around Black's king by advancing the pawn further.} Qe5 11. a3 Ba5 12. O-O-O {Black's obvious attempt to counter is} d5 {but White keeps control with either the straightforward 13. Nxd5 or the sharper} 13. Qb5 $5 Bxc3 14. Bxc3 Qxe4 15. f6 Nf5 16. Bd3 Qe3+ 17. Kb1 $16 {with a menacing attack for the pawn.}) 9. Qf3 $16 d5 $5 {This pawn sacrifice isn't really working, but 9... d6 is lifeless so Large prefers to muddy the waters and at least get some play. Don't forget that he won the Grand Prix back when it was a seriously big deal - he knows his way around a weekend tournament!} 10. exd5 $6 {(1:17) Good enough, though White doesn't have to hurry to accept the pawn.} (10. O-O-O $142 {can also be played, not fearing either move with the d-pawn.} dxe4 (10... d4 {was what actually put me off, but I didn't grasp that} 11. Nb5 {is safe for White (as ...a6 or ...c6 can be met by the intermediate Bxb4) and puts the d-pawn under pressure. If instead} Bxd2+ 12. Rxd2 Be6 13. Nxd4 Bxa2 14. Nb5 Be6 15. Qa3 $1 $18 {leads to the loss of the c-pawn (15... Qb6 16. Qc3).}) 11. Nxe4 Bxd2+ 12. Rxd2 {A lead in development together with the initiative is too much in an open position. The engine's main line allows some ridiculous tactical ideas:} Qc6 (12... Qb6 {if White is allowed to develop his bishop freely then} 13. Bc4 O-O 14. Ng5 $18 {and the threats to f7 and (soon) h7 are lethal in conjunction with Rd8+ ideas - again Black's problems owe much to the stupidly placed knight on e7!}) 13. Rd6 $3 {At first this looks like the sort of move you play just because you can, but remarkably it turns out that the queen lacks a good retreat.} Qa4 (13... cxd6 14. Bb5 {is the point, and on} Qxb5 15. Nxd6+ Kf8 16. Nxb5 $18) 14. Nc3 Qb4 15. Rd1 {So back where we started, moreorless, but Black has problems keeping b7 under guard.} Be6 (15... c6 {is simply too slow:} 16. a3 Qa5 17. Bc4 O-O 18. Rhe1 Ng6 19. g4 $16 {and White's attack is much faster.}) 16. a3 Qb6 17. Na4 Qc6 18. Qxc6+ Nxc6 19. Nc5 $16 {The fireworks are over and White enjoys a comfortable plus thanks to his lead in development and the suffocating knight on c5.}) 10... h5 $5 {(44) This hadn't even begun to think about crossing my radar, but normal moves won't cut it for Black any more. Besides, ...h5 isn't without its points. Castling is temporarily prevented because of the ...Bg4 skewer, and Black can now place his light-squared bishop on f5 without having it immediately swatted away by g2-g4.} (10... Bxc3 $144 {Black can't regain his pawn, and trying to do so would land him in a prospectless position after} 11. Bxc3 Qxd5 (11... Nxd5 $6 {Black cannot afford to sharpen the game; after} 12. Bxg7 Rg8 13. O-O-O $1 Nb4 14. Qe4+ Be6 15. f5 Rxg7 16. fxe6 $18 {he remains a pawn down with his king marooned in the middle of the board.}) 12. Qxd5 Nxd5 13. Bxg7 Rg8 14. O-O-O $16 {- the bishops prove to be too powerful if Black hazards} Nxf4 $2 15. Be5 Ne6 16. g3 c6 17. Bd3 Nf8 18. Rhe1 Be6 19. Bf6 {and he is almost in zugzwang.}) 11. d6 $2 {I was quite fond of this audacious try, returning the pawn in an effort to blow the position open, and using threats to b7 to gain time for castling. Though it works out very well, this is only because of a shared assumption which the computer is of course immune to.} (11. h3 $144 $2 {I was at least right that this timid prophylaxis isn't in keeping with the position - if Black is given time to organise himself then he can play the game too.} Bf5 12. O-O-O O-O-O $11 {Soon the d-pawn really will disappear, and then Black has nothing to fear having successfully brought his pieces out.}) (11. a3 $142 {is another matter though. I think the appearance of a semi-threat in ...Bg4 caused me to panic a little; I didn't take this move seriously as I felt I didn't have time (and why move a pawn in front of where my king is about to be?).} Bxc3 {What else? 11... Ba5 12. b4 wins a piece, and the artificial 11... Qa5 just loses even more time to 12. O-O-O. Both recaptures look good here, but the simpler path is} 12. Qxc3 Qxd5 13. Qxg7 Rg8 14. Qe5 {forcing a queen trade (14... Qc6?? 15. Bb5).} Qxe5+ 15. fxe5 Bf5 16. O-O-O $16 {White has an extra pawn and two bishops, and Black has very little to show for it.}) 11... cxd6 $2 {Large spent 12 minutes on this move and was already down to barely half an hour on the clock. I wasn't surprised he chose this capture, as there's a reflexive aversion to putting the queen in the firing line of my rooks - but actually I can't do anything with it! Structurally, taking with the pawn is a big concession: not only is it exposed to attack on the half-open central file, but Black loses the option of ...c6 in reply to Bb5+.} (11... Qxd6 $142 12. O-O-O {The critical try is} Bg4 $1 13. Qxb7 O-O 14. Re1 {, which I felt had to be good for me: I've won a pawn and escaped the skewer, whilst ...h5 doesn't mesh well with kingside castling. However} c6 $1 {makes it hard for the queen to return to the centre. With active pieces and a newly-opened queenside file, Black has fine compensation for the pawn. For example, if} 15. Qa6 (15. Bd3 $144 a5 $44) 15... Nd5 16. Qd3 Rfe8 $44 {White finds himself ominously pushed back to the first three ranks, and the natural developing move} 17. Be2 $4 {fails to} Bxc3 18. Bxc3 Bxe2 19. Rxe2 Rxe2 20. Qxe2 Nxc3 21. bxc3 Qa3+ 22. Kd2 Rd8+ $19 {and White loses a rook if his king retreats.}) 12. O-O-O {Now 12... Bg4? 13. Qxb7 is unthinkable for Black - that rotten d-pawn blocks the queen's defence of e7. Instead, Large quickly played} d5 $2 {, which really ought to be the losing move. Black blocks the long diagonal, but he is asking too much of an underdeveloped position. Now the game starts to get fantastically complicated as I began to look for a way to kill him off.} (12... O-O $142 {would be more prudent, though it's understandable that Black wasn't satisfied with it - White's kingside attack will play itself.} 13. Bd3 Bg4 14. Qe4 Ng6 15. Na4 Bxd2+ 16. Rxd2 Qa5 17. Nc3 $16 {The bishop on g4 will soon be driven back, Black's king is compromised by the h-pawn's wanderlust, and White can help himself to the b-pawn if he feels like it. What is Black doing in the meantime?}) 13. Be3 $2 {The week before this game, my journey through my long chess reading list (I've been spending two hours every weeknight since I moved to Oxford) got up to a Dvoretsky book on calculation. This game is a perfect illustration of why I bought it! There were so many variations to consider that I couldn't organise my thoughts, or follow them far enough to establish they really were winning. My thinking was dominated by continuing anxiety over ...Bg4, and the looseness of my light-squared bishop when it inevitably comes to b5. So, whilst I was considering all the right ideas, I just couldn't make them coalesce.} (13. Bb5+ $142 Kf8 14. Be3 {is the right move order - Black has no time to take on c3, and his queen can't keep up the attack on b5, so White wins the d-pawn cleanly without breaking co-ordination. Frankly, it should not have been difficult to find this just by comparison with the game continuation. Perhaps I didn't visualise that the queen is blocked from the a5 square, or, more likely, I was fixated on the ...Bg4 threat and failed to consider intermediate moves.} Qc7 (14... Qd6 15. Nxd5 Bg4 16. Nxb4 Qxb4 17. Qxb7 $18 {wins a second pawn with Black's position in disarray}) 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Rxd5 Be6 {The computer try, but nowhere near enough.} (16... g6 17. Rhd1 {and White's activity is too much, leading to some stylish finishing possibilities such as} Be6 18. Qe4 Be7 19. Rd7 $1 Bxd7 20. Rxd7 $18) 17. Rxh5 Rxh5 18. Qxh5 $18 {With two pawns and a continuing initiative, White must win.}) 13... Qa5 14. Bb5+ $6 {Another difficult choice, forcing Black to give up castling rights but driving his king off of e8 (a useful square from White's perspective because of b5 or a8 forks from c7) and giving Black the additional threat of ...Bg4.} (14. Nxd5 $142 {is preferred by the engine. I thought that it didn't work because of} Bg4 15. Qe4 Bxd1 $2 (15... O-O-O $142 {is a better try even if} 16. Nxe7+ Bxe7 17. Rxd8+ Rxd8 18. Bc4 $16 {rescues the exchange and leaves White a pawn up with the safer king}) 16. Bb5+ Kf8 17. Rxd1 Qxb5 {, however even with the king off of e8 White wins a full rook by Nc7, not just the exchange.} (17... Nxd5 $142 18. Rxd5 Be7 {keeps an extra exchange, but as the game shows I didn't fear this - Black can't connect his pieces quickly enough.} 19. Bc4 Qe1+ 20. Rd1 Qa5 21. Qxb7 Rd8 22. Rxd8+ Qxd8 23. Bxa7 $18 {The bishop pair and three passed pawns are more than enough for the exchange.}) 18. Nc7 Qa5 19. Nxa8 $18 {I (hazily) got this far, but wasn't able to appreciate that Black can't trap the knight: his queen is immobilised by the threat of Rd8#, and White will continue calmly with Rd7 and Nc7, when he stays a pawn up with the more harmonious position.}) 14... Kf8 15. Rxd5 $2 {(38) For the second time in five moves I get away with what turns out to be a total bluff! I greatly overestimated this exchange sacrifice, but fortunately so did Large.} (15. Nxd5 $142 {is the way to go, but it follows that if I rejected this line of play last turn I wasn't going to see it now.} Bg4 16. Qe4 Qxb5 {(a new possibility by this move order, since the black king is no longer on a mined square - 16... Bxd1? transposes to the variation above)} 17. Nc7 Bf5 {This is the big difference! White has to allow} 18. Qd4 Nc6 $8 19. Nxb5 Nxd4 20. Nxd4 Be4 21. Nf3 $14 {, when White emerges a pawn to the good but faces great technical difficulties thanks to Black's active bishops.}) 15... Bxc3 $2 {(23) Though I failed to punish it correctly, I had rightly condemned this in advance as giving up an important defensive piece - Black is about to have serious problems on the a3-f8 diagonal. I realised that it gives rise to counterplay by exposing my king, but felt that I should be able to break through first. Meanwhile, there's nothing to stop him just accepting the sacrifice...} (15... Bg4 $142 {Taking on d5 at once is also good, but Black may as well develop with tempo first.} 16. Qe4 {Stockfish prefers 16. Bd3, but White has no hope if the queens are exchanged. Then again,} Nxd5 17. Qxd5 Rh6 $17 {isn't great for White either - Black's pieces have come into play too quickly.}) 16. bxc3 $2 {This was by no means an automatic recapture - I did stop to consider alternatives, but gave up on investigating them too easily. My first idea, 16. Rhd1?? (threatening to mate with 17. Rd8+) loses instantly to 16... Bg4, but there is another idea.} (16. Bc5 $142 $1 {It's hard not to be attracted by the pin against e7, but I was put off by the realisation that} Bxb2+ 17. Kxb2 Qxb5+ {is check. However, if we look deeper it turns out that after} 18. Kc1 {, even with an extra knight and the move, Black can't adequately defend himself since he only has one functional piece. First of all he needs to deal with the twin threats of Bxe7+ and Rd8+, so} Qe8 $8 {, but then} 19. Re5 {pins and wins back the piece.} Be6 20. f5 Kg8 21. fxe6 Nc6 22. exf7+ Qxf7 23. Qxf7+ Kxf7 24. Rg5 $14 {White's initiative continues into the ending, and with the better minor piece (there are pawns on both sides and the position is open) he retains some pressure. Nigel Short writes in his book 'Winning' that "guys like Vladimir Kramnik are strong, not because of extraordinary fantasy, but because they go a little bit deeper as a matter of course."}) 16... Be6 $4 {The wrong square - Large said afterwards that he'd overlooked my reply, but it does worse than allow that. Instead the bishop should go to g4, making a threat that I would truly have been forced to deal with.} (16... Bg4 $142 17. Qe4 Nxd5 18. Qxd5 {is still good for Black, chiefly because the king's rook gets into play through the fire escape after} Rh6 19. Bc5+ Kg8 20. Bd4 Re8 $17 {White might not be doing too badly if it weren't for the troublesome pin on the fifth rank. As it is, he is struggling to show full compensation - his own king is also a problem.}) 17. Rxh5 $2 {I'd overlooked his 19th move, but in any case this was hard to resist - I wanted the security of a second pawn (with tempo!) and I save the rook in the process. But there was better.} (17. Bc5 $142 $1 {One on the theme of including all your pieces in the attack. This version of the exchange sacrifice, with both white bishops participating and the remaining rook free to come the centre, ought to be crushing.} Bxd5 (17... Qxa2 18. Rhd1 Bxd5 19. Rxd5 $18 {Black can't muster any threats with his queen alone, and now Re5 and Rd7 are both killing threats.}) 18. Qxd5 Qxc3 19. Bc4 Qa1+ 20. Kd2 Qf6 21. Re1 $18 {Black is flat-out busted here - if he tries to cling on with} Re8 $2 {then} 22. Rxe7 $1 {and the rook can't recapture as Qd8 is mate, and} Qxf4+ 23. Kc3 Qf6+ 24. Kb3 Qxe7 {doesn't help either:} 25. Qxf7# {A beautiful illustration of the power of two bishops in an open position.}) 17... Rxh5 18. Qxh5 Qxc3 19. Bc5 {Now White threatens 20. Qh8# - I'd been relying on this as my insurance against Black's threat of ...Qa1+, and indeed I thought Black was on his last legs here. However I hadn't reckoned with} Kg8 {, stepping out of the pin and renewing the ...Qa1+ ideas. Now I thought for 11 minutes, but failed to grasp that the position has turned. Black has a safe king and I do not - this outweighs all other factors and I should have sensed the danger a lot more keenly than I did.} 20. Bd3 $4 {(18) For the second weekender in a row, I let a titled player slip away as the result of a disastrous tactical oversight. What makes it really tragic is that I even saw the right move, but dismissed it since I felt there had to be more in the position - still playing the position of a few moves ago! I thought that Black now had to prevent 21. Qh7+ with ...g6, when I would have returned to the right path having recentralised one of my bishops first, but I have no time for such finesses.} (20. Qe5 $142 $8 {forces the exchange of queens. It certainly didn't occur to me that this was the only move - I didn't want to sell myself short. After the game I was kicking myself for rejecting a line I thought should be technically winning for me with an extra pawn and the bishop pair (Large assessed it the same way when I pointed out the idea to him afterwards - he hadn't seen 20. Qe5 at all and was scathing of his own play) but thankfully it's not that simple.} Qxe5 21. fxe5 a6 22. Bd3 Nc6 {Unfortunately, both the a- and e-pawns are en prise, so White can't hold on to his material advantage. True, he can continue to press with the bishops, however} 23. a3 Nxe5 24. Be4 Rc8 $11 {ought to be tenable for Black as his rook is the first to get active.}) 20... Bf5 $1 {(11) Argh! My previous mistakes boiled down to an inability to organise my thoughts; only this was a pure lack of tactical vision. Black both eliminates the mate threat on h7 and interrupts my defence of c5, so after} 21. Bxf5 Nxf5 {I can't save both of my threatened pieces. I tried} 22. Bg1 $2 {, but this doesn't help me either.} (22. Qxf5 Qa1+ 23. Kd2 Rd8+ 24. Ke2 Qxh1 $19 {at least prolongs matters, but it's hopeless for White with his king so open.}) 22... Qa1+ 23. Kd2 Rd8+ {Now I noticed that 24. Ke2 Qd1+ wins my queen, and 24. Ke3 is illegal. Well, if you live by the sword, you die by the sword...} 24. Bd4 Qxd4+ {I won't pretend this wasn't upsetting, and the pain of it carried into the afternoon round - there I didn't even bother getting a winning position before starting to miss one idea after another. However, it did at least support the direction my thinking had been moving in recently.} 0-1

My basic thesis is this: over the years I've had way more winning positions against titled players than someone of my strength has any right to, and it comes from always following the enterprising road. I struggle to make the most of those winning positions, but I would never get them in the first place if I took a more sedate approach. Even players of Large's calibre find it difficult to navigate these waters... I don't think I've ever given so many question marks to a 24-move game!

The challenge now therefore is to stop throwing the winning positions away. 13. Be3? is so tempting and natural, activating the bishop with tempo, but a disciplined comparison with 13. Bb5+ Kf8 and only then 14. Be3 would have revealed how much stronger the latter approach is. Instead I became flustered by all the vulnerable pieces; I felt like my pieces had to be moving at 90 miles an hour, and I ended up calculating at that speed too rather than slowing down. I could have played Nxd5 on either of the next two moves if I had grasped that my knight will not be trapped on a8 - that was a lazy assumption, and 15. Rxd5? was another example of letting myself be rushed. I gave up my analysis of 16. Bc5! too easily, and if I'd been imaginative enough to consider it again on the next move I could still have won quickly. Finally, the greatest of sins in a double-edged position, forgetting about the opponent's threats, caused my downfall. Having pre-empted ...Qa1+ with 19. Bc5, subconsciously I deluded myself that I had stopped it once and for all time. The initiative is an intoxicating thing.

Lots of problems to address then, but it's a work in progress. In the afternoon round, perhaps still shaken by the abrupt turnaround here, I played a shockingly bad game and was deservedly crushed, but a pre-planned bye in the evening round at least got me off the mark. Then it was back to the madhouse on Sunday morning.