To Cap It All

AM making final preparations for flying to Spain for the second annual seniors' event at Cap Negret, near Altea on the Costa Blanca.

I am playing in the 65+ tournament, which has 65 entries, including six registered with England, three with Eire and one with Scotland.

There are nine rounds over eight days, so I am taking a half-point bye on the double-round day.

The time control is all moves in 90 minutes, with a 30-second increment, and there is also a 50+ tournament with 31 entries.

Altea art, pictured during last year's event

Perfect Puzzle

HERE is a carriage number from a Central Line train that makes an interesting Tube Puzzle: 52648.
As usual each number should be used once, and once only, and must be added, subtracted, multiplied or divided to make a balanced equation. There are perfect answers, ie ones that use the digits in sequence.
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My solution: (5 x 2) - 6 + 4 = 8

Lessons From Mallorca VIII: Planning

MY round-eight game at the Colònia de Sant Jordi U2400 reached then following instructive position after 30 moves.

Black has just played 30...Kh8-g7 - how would you assess the position and, more importantly, what is the correct plan for both sides?

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White has bishop for three pawns, but Black controls the open file and has a pair of passed pawns supported by the king, while the white king is on the opposite side of the board. Stockfish17 and Dragon1 reckon chances are about equal.

Having played the game, and looked at it afterwards with the engines, I am fairly confident about the following assessments.

1. In the long run, if nothing game-changing happens, White's extra piece will tell.

2. Black must therefore try to create something game-changing in the short, or at least medium, term. Clearly a mating attack with the rooks is not on the cards, so the game-changing event must be the threat of promoting one of the passed pawns. It may look like the pawns could be lost if they are advanced, but if they are not advanced, Black is lost anyway.

3. White's correct strategy is therefore to restrain and, if possible, blockade the passers.

In the game neither player seemed to fully grasp these essentials.

White at first ignored the kingside in favour of giving the bishop a firm outpost, which of course has its positional plus points, but the engines reckon kingside restraint was the priority.

Black spent time adjusting queenside pawns, and dithered about advancing on the kingside. By the time the latter was attempted, it was too late - the black kingside was easily restrained (blockading proved unnecessary, thanks to Black's dilatory play), and White was able to switch to decisively opening a file on the queenside (made easier by Black's earlier unnecessary pawn-moves there).

LESSON: a correct plan, except in weird tactical situations, usually has logical foundations based on imbalances in the position.

Lessons From Mallorca VII: No Surrender!

THE following position was reached after 18 moves in my round-seven game at the Colònia de Sant Jordi U2400.

Black has just played 18...Bd6-f8?

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White is a pawn down, but has compensation worth more than a minor piece, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1.

White's first move is fairly obvious, or, at least, is a move that clearly does no harm to White's position, namely 19.Ng4.

After the reply 19...Bg7 the engines reckon 20.d6! wins, eg 20...cxd6 21.Bxf6 Bxf6 22.Rxb6! (the simple 22.Nxh6+ also wins, according to the engines) Qxb6 23.Nxf6+ etc.

Admittedly the strength of the pawn-push d6 is not obvious in the diagrammed position, but it becomes easier to spot after 19.Ng4 Bg7, either immediately, or in the less convincing, but still quite promising continuation 20.Bxf6 Bxf6 21.d6!?

In the game 19.Bg3? was played, when Black would have been winning after the engines' 19...Nc5!? 20.Bxe5 Ncxe4, and anyway was a sound pawn up after the game's 19...d6.

LESSON: in a sharp position a move that gives up a pin and retreats an attacking piece is unlikely to be the way to play.

Lessons From Mallorca VI: Structure v Dynamism

MY round-six game at the Colònia de Sant Jordi U2400 reached the following instructive position shortly out of the opening.

18...Ng8-e7 has just been played in what is an Exchange Variation of the Spanish - one that has not gone well for Black

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Black no longer has doubled c pawns, but is a tempo behind in development, and the d pawn is vulnerable unless it can be get protection by successfully advancing to d4.

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In order to prevent 19...d4, I played 19.c3?, which restrains the d pawn and frees the c2 square for White's king.

The move has its good points, positionally, but as my opponent pointed out after the game, White has the far superior 19.Nc3, which wins a pawn as 19...d4 can be met by 20.Na4.

LESSON: a piece-initiative, which is what 19.Nc3 gives, is often a surer way to an advantage than adjusting the pawn-structure.

County Chess

PLAYED on board five (of 16) for Kent at Surrey in the Southern Counties Chess Union's U2050 championship yesterday.

John Foley (1996) - Spanton (1955)

London System

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bf4 Bg4 4.e3 e6 5.h3 Nh5 6.c4 Bd6 7.Bxd6 Qxd6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Nc3 Nf6 10.Be2 0-0 11.0-0

Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position?

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From the pawn-formation it might be thought the opening was an Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined. The engines reckon White has a slight edge (Dragon1) or at least the better side of equality (Stockfish17).

11...Ne4 12.Rc1 a6 13.a3

The engines reckon White has at least a slight edge after 13.Nxe4 dxe4 14.Nd2 Bze2 15.Qxe2.

13...Nxc3 14.Rxc3 Ne7 15.Ne5 Bxe2 16.Qxe2 c6 17.b4

White starts the famous Minority Attack.

17...Rfe8 18.Rfb1 Nf5 19.Qf3 Qe6 20.a4 Nd6 21.Nd3 Nc4 22.Qe2 Qf5 

How should White proceed?

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23.b5?

Premature. The engines suggest 23.Qg4!?, claiming equal chances.

23...axb5 24.axb5

What should Black play?

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24...Re6?

Missing the win of a pawn by 24...Na3 etc.

25.bxc6 bxc6 26.Rcb3 h6 27.Nc5 Rg6?

Aggressive, but now White gets the back rank, which is much more dangerous.

28.Rb8+ Rxb8 29.Rxb8+ Kh7 30.Qd3!

The engines agree this is best.

30...Qg5?

Not 30...Qxh3?? 31.Qxg6+ etc, but better is 30...Qxd3, although the engines reckon White is winning after 31.Nxd3, when the c pawn is very weak, eg 31...Na5 32.Ne5 Rf6 33.Ra8 Nb7 34.Ra7 Nd8 35.Rd7 Ne6 36.Nxc6. The engines suggest 31...Rf6, but agree 32.Nb4 Kg6 33.Rc8 Na5 34.Nd3 Nc4 35.g4 gives White a winning advantage, although no material has yet fallen.

31.g3

White threatens ...Nd7-f8#.

How should Black meet the threat?

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31...Qe7

This is the best Black has, but is still losing.

32.h4 f5?!

Objectively better is 32...h5, despite the simple pawn-winning reply 33.Qf5.

33.Qxf5 Nxe3!?

Desperation.

How should White reply?

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34.Qd3

Other moves also win, eg 34.Qc8 Rxg3+ (34...Rd6 35.h5) 35.fxg3 Qf7 36.Qf8, or 34.fxe3 Qxe3+ 35.Kf1 Qxg3 (35...Qc1+ 36.Kg2 Qd2+ 37.Qf2) 36.Nd7 Qg2+ 37.Ke1 Qg1+ 38.Ke2 Qg2+ 39.Kd1, when the checks eventually run out.

34...Ng4 35.Kf1?!

This may be enough to win, but much stronger are moves such as 35.Kg2, and especially the engines' 35.Nd7!, the point being 35...Qxd7 (35...Qe1+ 36.Qf1) is met by 36.h5.

35...Qf6?

Now White is definitely winning. Correct is 35...Qf7, reserving the f6 square for the knight (to prevent h5), while covering the d7 square.

36.f4 Qf5!?

Imaginative, but still losing.

37.Qxf5 Ne3+ 38.Kf2 Nxf5 39.Nd7 Rd6!

The engines prefer three other moves, but they make the win easy, ie 39...Rxg3 40.Rf8 etc; 39...h5 40.Nf8+ Kh6 41.Nxg6; 39...Rf6!? 40.Nxf6+. The text may be objectively worse, at least as far as engines are concerned, but the winning path is narrower.

40.Nf8+ Kg8

White to play and win

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41.h5?

This lets Black equalise. The engines give White a slight edge after 41.Ng6+ (or 41.Nd7+) Kf7 42.Ne5+, but their 41.g4! wins the knight, eg 41...Nxd4 42.Ne6+ etc, or 41...Nxh4 42.Ng6+ etc, or 41...Ne7 42.Ng6+ Kf7 43.Ne5+ Ke6 44.Re8 g6 (44...c5 45.f5+ Kf6 46.Rf8#) 45.Nxg6 Kf6 46.Nxe7 47.Nf5.

41...Kf7 42.Ng6 Nxd4

Black has won a pawn, but White has the draw in hand

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43.Ne5+ Ke6 44.g4 c5 45.Re8+

Or 45.Rb7 Ra6 46.Rxg7 Ra2+, with complete equality, according to the engines, although both sides have the option to play on.

45...Kf6 46.Rf8+ Ke6

Only White has winning chances after 46...Kf7?! 47.Rf7+ and 48.Rxg7.

47.Re8+ Kf6 48.Rf8+ Ke6 49.Re8+ ½–½

Surrey won the match 10-5-5.5.

Lessons From Mallorca V: Double Trouble

THERE are several lines in double-e-pawn openings in which White gets a chance to use the king's knight to capture Black's pawn on e5.

Probably the best-known is in the Petrov: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6, when White's commonest, and possibly best, continuation is 3.Nxe5.

White does not try to gain a material advantage by hanging onto the pawn, but rather to gain a positional advantage after Black levels material by capturing on e4.

There are other openings, however, where White's capturing on e5 only really makes sense if the idea is to hang onto the pawn.

These lines tend to be double-edged in that being a pawn up will likely be a significant advantage in any ending, and, since the capture gives White a central pawn-majority, may well be a very useful advantage in the middlegame.

However, if White proves unable to hold onto the pawn, Black will probably have at least equalised, and may well gain an advantage.

An example of this occurred in my round-five game at the Colònia de Sant Jordi U2400, which reached the following position after six moves (it arose from the Rossolimo Variation of the Sicilian, but the central structure is that of a double-e-pawn opening).

Black has just played 6...Bg7!?

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The game continued 7.Bxc6!? bxc6 8.Nxe5 0-0!?

Castling is probably Black's best move, as trying to win the pawn back with 8...Qe7 can be countered by 9.Nf3!, when either capture on e4 is a blunder that loses a piece.

There followed 9.d3 Re8 10.Nf3 d5, reaching a position that also occurred in two relatively high-level games, Ilya Smirin (2594) - Pavel Eljanov (2655), Netanya (Israel) 2019, and Sayantan Das (2459) - Adham Fawzy (2490), Guwahati (India) 2022.

Those games saw 11.Bg5 Qb6 12.Bxf6 Bxf6, after which Black is slightly better (Dragon1) or at least has the better side of equality (Stockfish17), and Black went on to win both games.

I preferred 11.e5!?, which may be a novelty.

Position after 11.e5!?

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The engines suggest 11...Nd7 or 11...Bg4, awarding Black at least equal chances.

My opponent chose 11...Ba6, and after the further moves 12.Re1 Ng4 13.Bf4 it might be thought White has successfully held onto the extra pawn on e5 as it seems to be overprotected - attacked thrice, but defended four times.

However this is illusory, as Black showed with 13...Nxe5!?, when after 14.Nxe5 f6 15.Qd2 fxe5 Black gets back the pawn and emerges with the bishop-pair and control of the centre.

The engines agree Black is better

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Now it may be that slight improvements can be found for both sides, but as this position and the two high-level games show, White's play after grabbing the pawn is not easy.

LESSON: before spending tempi with the aim of winning a pawn in the opening, even an important central pawn, it is essential to consider all the opponent's options for counterplay. Grabbing such a pawn may be an example where the old joke applies: "Don't do it, even if it is sound!"

League Chess

PLAYED on board two (of five) for Battersea against Pimlico 3 in division two of the Central London League last night.

Gianfranco Ameri (1867) - Spanton (1968)

Chigorin

1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 3.cxd5 Qxd5 4.Nf3 e5 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 e4 8.Ne5 Nge7 9.e3

How should Black meet White's threat to develop the light-square bishop to c4, hitting the black queen and pressurising f7?

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9...Nxe5

This was played in 48 of 55 games to reach the position in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database, the other seven seeing 9...Be6. Stockfish17 and Dragon1 prefer the text, and also like 9...0-0, which would apparently be a novelty.

10.dxe5 Be6

Slightly more popular in Mega24 is 10...Qxd1+, but I rejected the move because it develops the white queen's rook while swopping Black's developed queen for White's undeveloped one.

11.Qa4+ Nc6!?

This may be a novelty. The engines prefer 11...Bd7.

12.Bb5

The engines reckon both 12.Rd1 and 12.Be2 give White the upper hand.

12...0-0 13.Bxc6 Qxc6 14.Qxc6 bxc6

How would you assess this queenless middlegame?

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Black has a slight lead in development, having already castled, but the engines reckon this is more than offset by White's superior pawn-structure.

15.Bd4 Rfb8!? 16.0-0 c5!? 17.Bc3 Rd8 18.a3 Rd3 19.Rac1 a5 20.Rfe1 a4 21.f4 h5 22.Kf2 Bb3 23.h3 h4 24.g3!? hxg3+ 25.Kxg3 Ra6!? 26.f5 g6!? 27.f6 Ra8!?

The engines prefer 27...Bd5 or 27...Kf8.

28.Kf4 Bd5 29.h4 Kf8 30.Rg1 Ke8?

Stockfish17 suggests 30.Rc8!?, but both engines agree White is better.

White to play and gain a winning advantage

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31.h5! gxh5 32.Rg8+?

Winning is 32.e6!, eg 36...fxe6 37.Rg7 Ra7 38.Rcg1, after which the f pawn is a monster.

32...Kd7 33.Rxa8 Bxa8 34.Ba5 Bc6?

Better is 34...Bd5 35.Rxc5 c6, with equality, according to the engines.

35.Rxc5 h4?

Better is 35...Rd5 or 35...Rd1, but strong in reply is the same move as is played in the game.

White to play and win

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36.e6+! fxe6 37.f7 Rd1 38.Kg5

Objectively even stronger is 38.f8=N+!?, but the text also wins easily

38...Rf1 39.Kg6 h3 40.Rh5 Rg1+ 41.Kf6 Rf1+ 42.Kg7 Rg1+ 43.Kh8 Rf1 44.Rh7 Kd6 45.Bb5+ Kd5 46.f8=Q Rxf8+ 47.Bxf8 Kc4 48.Rxh3 1-0

Battersea won the match 4-1.

MY BATTERSEA SEASON 2024-5

DATE.....EVENT...........................COL..RATING..OPP'S RATING..SCORE..SEASON PERF

12/9/24  Central London League   W     1933         1886                   1            2286

26/9/24  Central London League   B      1933         2112                   1            2399

15/10/24 Club Championship        W     1968         1578                   1            2259*

31/10/24 Central London League  B      1968         1867                   0            2061*

*My performance is slightly better than this, but my win against a 1578 counts as a 1978 performance, which lowers my season's average despite me winning the game.

Lessons From Mallorca IV: How's The King?

THE following position was reached in my round-four game at the Colònia de Sant Jordi U2400.

Black has just captured on d5

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White has three ways of recapturing, although I suspect most players would fairly quickly rule out 19.exd5, partly because it leaves both white rooks on files blocked by a white pawn, and because it gives Black what might prove in the middlegame a useful kingside pawn-majority.

The move 19.cxd5 is quite desirable positionally in that it gains space, opens a file on which White already has a rook, and gives the bishop a little more freedom.

The move played, 19.Rxd5?, also has desirable positional qualities, not least that it pressurises Black's backward d pawn, which remains on a half-open file.

But the move is a mistake for a tactical reason - it gives Black a tempo to attack the white king's position.

The game continued 19...Nf4 20.Rd2 Qg5, when White has no good defence to Black's twin threats of checkmate at g2 and winning the white queen with ...Nh3+.

LESSON: grandmaster Nigel Davies's truism that king safety is the most important factor in chess should always be at the forefront of analysis.

Lessons From Mallorca III: Timely Reminder

LOOK at the comparative 10-move clock times from my round-three game at the Colònia de Sant Jordi U2400.

Moves...My Lead On The Clock

10          15 minutes

20          59 minutes

30          71 minutes

40          66 minutes

50          70 minutes

60          73 minutes

The game ended in a draw on move 63.

The standard of play could be described as laughable, if it were not simply atrocious.

In my write-up of the game, published here the following day, I labelled two of my moves dubious (?!), five bad (?) and three as blunders (??).

Naturally such assessments are at least partly subjective, but there can be no doubt a major cause of my bad play was playing too quickly.

What of my opponent, you may ask?

Well, I called one of his moves dubious (?!), 10 bad (?) and one a blunder (??).

He can partly be excused by his lower rating, although 1882 is hardly beginners' standard.

But the main cause of his bad play was his poor handling of the clock, although in his case it was playing too slowly.

He spent about 30 minutes on one move in the opening.

Admittedly the result was an apparent novelty that gets a seal of approval from Stockfish17 and Dragon1, but it flies in the face of grandmaster John Nunn's admonition to never spend more than 20 minutes on a move.

The time control was 40 moves in 90 minutes, with 15 minutes to finish and a 30-second increment throughout.

My opponent left himself 27 minutes (plus the increment) at move 20, and nine minutes (plus the increment) at move 30.

In effect we were at times both rushed - he through procrastination, I through laziness.

And yet I am sure both of us were well aware that even engines, with all their multitude of tactical calculations, make mistakes when forced to give quick evaluations.

LESSON: proper use of time is as important to a chess player as opening knowledge, middlegame planning, endgame technique and accurate analysis.