{"id":2866,"date":"2014-04-05T13:56:37","date_gmt":"2014-04-05T21:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danamackenzie.com\/blog\/?p=2866"},"modified":"2014-04-08T12:11:20","modified_gmt":"2014-04-08T20:11:20","slug":"how-a-master-eats-an-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/?p=2866","title":{"rendered":"“How a Master Eats an Expert”"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Mike Splane’s most recent chess party, Craig Mar showed us a really nice game he played years ago. Even though he doesn’t play tournament chess any more, he is a really good teacher and the games he shows us are usually as relevant as they were when he played them.<\/p>\n

This time he told us he was going to show us “How a Master Eats an Expert.” All of the moves that Black plays in this game are superficially reasonable, and yet he ends up in huge trouble and loses a miniature. How did this happen? Well, let’s see.<\/p>\n

Craig Mar – NN<\/strong>, Queen’s Gambit Declined<\/p>\n

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Be7<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are many options here for Black. I always used to play 4. … c5, called the Semi-Tarrasch, taking advantage of the move order, which allows Black to not get an isolated queen pawn.<\/p>\n

5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Nbd7 7. e3 O-O 8. Qc2 b6?!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Position<\/a>

Position after 8. … b6. White to move.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

FEN: r1bq1rk1\/p1pnbpp1\/1p2pn1p\/3p4\/2PP3B\/2N1PN2\/PPQ2PPP\/R3KB1R w KQ – 0 9<\/p>\n

Although you can find grandmaster games where Black has played this move, I think that it is slightly misguided. Both sides are playing a waiting game, trying to get more information. Craig avoided 8. Bd3 because it gives Black information and allows him to play 8. … dc, winning a tempo. Similarly, Black could play a noncommittal move like 8. … c6 and throw the ball back into White’s court. Or he could play 8. … c5, which again puts the onus on White to figure out how he is going to open the center. With 8. … b6, Black announces that he is developing his bishop on b7. That allows White to take on d5, a move that now has strategic value because it will lock in the bishop on b7. In this sort of position, the bishop on b7 has nothing to do.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, in ChessBase White wins 58 percent of the games after 7. … O-O but 66 percent after 8. … b6.<\/p>\n

9. cd ed 10. Bd3 c5 11. O-O Bb7<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Position<\/a>

Position after 11. … Bb7. White to move.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

FEN: r2q1rk1\/pb1nbpp1\/1p3n1p\/2pp4\/3P3B\/2NBPN2\/PPQ2PPP\/R4RK1 w – – 0 12<\/p>\n

Talking about this position at the chess party, Craig said that Black’s position feels loose. There’s a lot of space behind those d5 and c5 pawns, which might turn into “hanging pawns.” There is also some incipient weakness on Black’s kingside, due to the weakening move … h6. This is a type of formation that is especially vulnerable to a knight coming to f5.<\/p>\n

12. Rad1 Rc8?!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wow, Black’s winning percentage on ChessBase just plummeted from 33 percent to 17 percent! How can such a natural move be bad? Well, the trouble is that White has a bishop that can get on the h3-c8 diagonal. Black’s rook doesn’t really have a comfortable square on the c-file. All of this goes back to the unfortunate decision to fianchetto the queen bishop too early.<\/p>\n

13. Bf5 cd 14. Nxd4 Ne4 15. Bxe7 Qxe7<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Position<\/a>

Position after 15. … Qe7. White to move.<\/p><\/div>\n

FEN: 2r2rk1\/pb1nqpp1\/1p5p\/3p1B2\/3Nn3\/2N1P3\/PPQ2PPP\/3R1RK1 w – – 0 16<\/p>\n

Now Craig plays a move I really like. To motivate it, he asked us, “What piece would you really like to have on f5?” And of course there is also a huge hole on d6. Remember Craig’s comments about all the empty space in Black’s position. Now that is coming into play.<\/p>\n

16. Bxe4! …<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lot of people don’t like to give up a bishop for a knight. But take a look at the pieces that are left! White’s two knights turn into monsters.<\/p>\n

16. … de 17. Nf5 Qe6 18. Nd6 Ba6<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the only game in ChessBase to reach this position, Vakhidov-Kalogiannis 2000, Black waved the white flag and sacrificed the exchange with 18. … Rxc3. It didn’t work any better.<\/p>\n

19. Nxc8 Bxf1 20. Rd6! …<\/strong><\/p>\n

This move speaks to the form and confidence of a master. White could win a pawn with 20. Qxe4 and would most likely grind down Black in the endgame. But Craig smells blood in the water and doesn’t settle for just winning a pawn.<\/p>\n

20. … Bd3 21. Qd1! …<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another kind of move I like: retreating to attack! The queen is heading over to the kingside, where it will exploit those weak squares I talked about earlier. It’s just wonderful to see how all the ingredients work together in this game.<\/p>\n

21. … Qe8 22. Nd5 Kh7 23. N8e7 Ne5 24. Qh5 Ng6<\/strong><\/p>\n

If 24. … f6 it looks as if 25. Qf5+ followed by Re6 is decisive.<\/p>\n

\"Position<\/a>

Position after 24. … Ng6. White to move.<\/p><\/div>\n

FEN: 4qr2\/p3Nppk\/1p1R2np\/3N3Q\/4p3\/3bP3\/PP3PPP\/6K1 w – – 0 25<\/p>\n

It seems as if Black has gotten himself out of trouble, because the rook sacrifice Rxh6+ is no longer possible. At the same time, he is finally threatening to trade off one of White’s rampaging knights.\u00a0 How can White break through?<\/p>\n

(Space inserted if you want to think about it.)<\/p>\n

25. Nf6+! Black resigns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everyone can see that White would like to play Nf6+ to fork the king and queen. Everyone can see the Black’s g-pawn defends that threat. What not everyone can see is that White can do it anyway! One of the secrets of mastery is that when your opponent “prevents” a move, you find a way to play it anyway<\/em>. Here the point is that after 25. … gf 26. Nf5, Black simply can’t get him out of the threat of Qxh6 followed by Qg7 mate.<\/p>\n

A really stylish performance by Craig!<\/p>\n

Note: Typo on move 17 corrected 4\/8\/2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Mike Splane’s most recent chess party, Craig Mar showed us a really nice game he played years ago. Even though he doesn’t play tournament chess any more, he is a really good teacher and the games he shows us are usually as relevant as they were when he played them. This time he told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,11,16],"tags":[1845,2769,2845,2847,1638,2846,588],"class_list":["post-2866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chess-clubs","category-games","category-positions","tag-blood-in-the-water","tag-chess-party","tag-craig-mar","tag-information","tag-mike-splane","tag-play-it-anyway","tag-weaknesses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2866"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2873,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866\/revisions\/2873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danamackenzie.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}