Lessons From Crete V: Keep Active

THE following endgame position arose in my round-five game at the Amateur Chess Organization's 50+ 'world championships' at Fodele Beach, Crete.

White has just played 39.c4-c5

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I played the passive 39...Rd8, guarding the back rank, but soon lost after 40.Rxa6 Rc8 41.c6 Kf8 42.Kg3 Ke8 43.Kf4 Kd8 44.g4 Bxg4 45.hxg4 (the rook-and-pawn ending does not save Black) Kc7 46.Ra7+ Kxc6 47.Rxf7 etc.

Instead Black draws fairly comfortably after the active 39...Rc3 40.c6, and now the key move, 40...Kh7 (this could also be played before ...Rc3).

True, White can go a pawn up with 41.Rxa6, but Stockfish17 and Dragon1 call the position completely equal, a likely continuation being 41...Kh6 42.h4 Rc4 43.g3 g5 44.Ra5 g4 45.Bg2 Kg6, and White cannot make progress.

LESSON: passivity should be regarded as a last resort, only to be used when active play is demonstrably wrong.

Lessons From Crete IV: Tunnel Vision

IN round four of the Amateur Chess Organization's 50+ 'world championships' at Fodele Beach, Crete, I played an interesting pawn sacrifice to relieve pressure against my king.

Black has just played 20...Qd7-f5

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Black threatens 21...g5, followed by opening lines to the white king.

Stockfish17 and Dragon1 want White to play 21.Qxg7, which I (mistakenly) did not seriously consider.
Instead I played the engines' second choice, 21.b6, the game continuing 21...axb6 22.Rb5 Qf7 23.Rd5 Rh6 24.h4 Rg6 25.Ng5 Bxg5 26.hxg5, reaching the following position.

How should Black proceed?

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I cannot be sure, but here I suspect my opponent thought something like this:

White's pawn sacrifice caught me by surprise, and if he now regains the pawn he may well be better. I need to somehow defend d4.

At first glance 26...Qf4 looks good, especially if it leads to queens coming off, as White probably has the safer king. BUT White can reply 27.Re8+, with the forcing continuation 27...Kd7 28.Rxf8 Qxf8 29.Qh3+ Re6 (29...Ke7 looks unpleasant after both 30.Qxh5 and 30.Rf5) 30.Rxd4, when White has regained his pawn, threatens the h pawn and has a pin on the black rook.

That won't do, but instead I can defend d4 with 29...c5 and I remain a pawn up as 30.Rxd6 is a horrible blunder thanks to 30...Rxd6 31.Qxd6 Qxf2+ etc.

There is nothing wrong with White thinking like that, at least as far as the analysis goes.

But it is mistaken thinking because it focuses exclusively on defending d4, rather than looking at the bigger picture.

Instead of the game's 29...c5 the engines point out the much superior 29...c6 30.Rxd4 Rxg5, when 31.Qxg5 loses to 31...Qxf2+ 32.Kh2 Qxd4.

So White should probably play 31.Qe3, but after 31...Re5 Black is a pawn up and has successfully contested the open file.

LESSON: beware getting so engrossed in one aspect of a position that you lose focus on the bigger picture.

Lessons From Crete III: Choosing The Right Recapture

THE following instructive position arose in my round-three game at the Amateur Chess Organization's 50+ 'world championships' at Fodele Beach, Crete.

Black has just captured on d5

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REASONS FOR 26.exd5

1. A pawn on d5 gives White more space in the centre.

2. A pawn on d5 takes away the e6 square from Black's pieces, particularly the queen.

3. The e4 square is freed for a white piece, particularly the knight.

REASONS FOR 26.Rxd5

1. The d6 pawn is left backward on a half-open file.

2. A rook on d5 has pressure down the d file and is more dangerous to the black king than it is on d1.

3. The e pawn is left controlling the f5 square, which is denied to Black's pieces, particularly the queen, and might become an outpost for a white piece, particularly the knight.

I played 26.exd5, which is not even in the top two choices of Stockfish17 and Dragon1. They slightly prefer 26.f4 and much prefer 26.Rxd5.

After 26.Rxd5, the threat of f4 is hard to meet, eg 26...Ne7 (the engines' first choice) 27.f4 Qg6 (27...Nxd5 loses material to 28.fxe5 followed by exd5)28.Qxg6 N5xg6, and then 29.Rd2 leaves pressure, which cannot be evaded by 29...d5 as 30.f5 Nf4 (more-or-less forced as White threatens 31.f6+) 31.Nxf4 gxf4 32.Bxf4 wins a sound pawn as 32...dxe4 fails to 33.f6+ Kxf6 34.Bc7+.

Having played through this line, the engines come to prefer meeting 26.Rxd5 with 26...Qe6, but then 27.Rfd1 threatens 28.Bxe5+ Nxe5 29.Ng3 with Nf5(+) to come.

In the game, 26.exd5 was met by 26...Qf5, when the engines reckon Black has equalised.

The continuation 27.f4 Qg4 forced queens off and so alleviated the danger Black's king faced.

LESSON: concrete analysis in the diagrammed position shows which recapture is better, and concrete analysis is almost invariably better than positional feeling, unless a position is so complicated that reliable conclusions cannot be drawn from analysis.

Lessons From Crete II: Party Time!

THE following position arose in my round-two game from the Amateur Chess Organization's 50+ 'world championships' at Fodele Beach, Crete.

White has just played 9.Qc4-d3

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This position occurs 696 times in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database.

The vast majority - 637 games - feature 9...c4 or 9...Rc8.

After 9...c4 the commonest continuation is 10.Qd1 Rc8 11.Bg5 Be7, when Stockfish17 and Dragon1 reckon Black has fully equalised.

After 9...Rc8 the commonest continuation is 10.dxc5 Bxc5, when Stockfish17 again reckons Black has equalised, although Dragon1 fluctuates between equality and giving White a slight edge.

As well as 9...c4 and 9...Rc8, grandmasters have also played 9...Qb6, but no one over 2399 has tried my choice, 9...Nb4.

After 10.Qd1 Bc6 I thought I was doing well - White's queen has been driven back to its starting square, and the 'Catalan' bishop on g2 has an opposing bishop on the h1-a8 diagonal.

But after 11.a3 Na6 (11...Nbd5 12.e4 is worse, according to the engines) alarm bells started ringing as I had two hangers, ie two pieces (the queenside minors) unprotected by other black pieces or pawns.

The whole sequence reminds me of two of grandmaster John Nunn's axioms.

1. Invite everyone to the party.

Nunn particularly applies this to the build-up of an attack on the king.

The point is to get as many pieces as possible into the action as an attack with just two or three pieces is less likely to succeed unless the opponent's position is very bad.

Inviting everyone to the party can apply equally well to a queenside attack, which is what I had in my game, hence why ...Rc8, or ...c4 followed by ...Rc8, is the best continuation in the above diagram.

2. Loose pieces drop off.

Nunn turned this into an initialism, LPDO, for easy memorisation.

By "loose pieces" he meant any piece, or a pawn for that matter, not protected by a colleague.

After 11...Na6 I have two such pieces, at c6 and a6, while White has none.

The game continued 12.Bg5 cxd4 13.b4 h6 14.Bxf6 Qxf6 15.Qxd4 Be7 16.Nbd2 Qxd4 17.Nxd4 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Bf6 19.N2b3 0-0, reaching the following position.

Black still has two 'loose pieces', or hangers as I like to call them, on a6 and b5

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White is winning, according to the engines, as there is no good answer to 20.Rac1.

LESSON: try to ensure your party is well-attended, and keep an eye out for lonely wallflowers who may need your assistance.

Lessons From Crete: Passivity

WHITE scores about 55% across large databases, a score that reflects the advantage of having the first move.

Moving first is an advantage, no matter how many people you come across who claim they score better as Black.

(When I ask such players what they actually score as White and what they score as Black, they can never give numbers - they just have a gut feeling).

One way of throwing away the advantage of the first move is to play passively, typically by trying to play 'solidly' in the face of a perceived Black threat.

My round-one game at the Amateur Chess Organization's 50+ 'world championships' in Crete neatly illustrates this.

Pay particular attention to White's fifth and seventh moves.

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.d4 Bg4 5.c3 e6 6.0-0 Qb6 7.e3

Position after White's seventh move

Spyridon Skembris, one of the ACO's resident grandmasters at its events, pointed out, after my next move, 7...Nf6, that the position looked as if Black were playing with the white pieces.

Stockfish17 and Dragon1 more-or-less confirm this by giving Black a slight edge - roughly the same edge they give White at the start of a game before a move has been played.

The fault lies with White's passive fifth and seventh moves, which, among other things, make the white queen's bishop a problem piece shut in by its own pawns (Black often has such a problem bishop in d-pawn openings).

Skembris said that, instead of 5.c3, White should play 5.Ne5.

I intended replying 5...Nxe5, which is the most popular continuation in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database, but after 6.dxe5 the engines reckon White has a positionally won game.

That may seem a bit OTT, but following 6...e6 7.c4 it is obvious Black's centre is under a lot of pressure.

White's passive 7.e3 may be a novelty.

The engines prefer 7.a4, meeting 7...Bxf3 with 8.dxc5 Qxc5 9.Bxf3.

They also like Skembris's suggested 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.b4, an idea seen in lines of the Advance Variation of the French Defence.

LESSON: White, having the advantage of the first move, can get away with more than Black in the opening, but there is a limit, and passive pawn moves are liable to hand the initiative to Black and so give away the very advantage of having the first move.

Save The Last Walk For Me

MY flight home is not till mid-afternoon, so after breakfast I made my usual trek to Fodele village for a morning espresso.

But then I carried on to the nearby Church of the Panayia (also transliterated as Panagia), an 11th-century Byzantine cruciform church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Welcome colour along the way

Even this short stretch of road is not without a shrine for an accident victim

Greens and light browns predominate, but can be beautiful

Front view of the church

Side view - I find it sobering to think this was built about the time of the Norman Conquest

This may be a filled-in well, or was perhaps used for immersive baptisms

Summing Up Crete

AMATEUR Chess Organization events are not sent to Fide to be rated, but if they were my score in the 50+ 'world championship' of +4=1-4 would have lost 28.4 elo.

Chess-themed cakes at the outdoors closing buffet

Weight 9

I AM keeping a check on my weight while staying at an all-inclusive resort.

Day One: 82.3kg/181lb
Day Two: 82.4kg/182lb
Day Three: 81.9kg/181lb

Day Four: 82.3kg/181lb

Day Five: 81.8kg/180lb

Day Six: 82.8kg/183lb

Day Seven: 82.8kg/183lb

Day Eight: 82.9kg/183lb

Day Nine: 82.6kg/182lb

Crete Round Nine

UPFLOATED  against a German.

Manfred Gradwohl (1911) - Spanton (2013)

Amateur Chess Organization 50+ World Championship Group C

French Winawer

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 b6!?

This move is third in popularity in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database, behind 4...Ne7 and especially 4...c5.

How should White respond?

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5.a3

Stockfish17 and Dragon1 like the text, which is the commonest move, and they also like the rare 5.h4!?

5...Bf8!?

This is part of the main idea behind 4...b6!? - preserving Black's good dark-square bishop while seeking to swop off White's good light-square bishop. The engines prefer 5...Bxc3+ and 5...Be7, albeit awarding White the upper hand.

6.f4

This has been played by many grandmasters, but more popular is 6.Nf3.

6...Nh6!? 7.Nf3 c5 8.Bd3!?

This move, which is the top choice of the engines, appears to be a novelty. Known moves are 8.Be3, 8.Bb5+ and 8.Ne2!?

8...Ba6 9.Bxa6 Nxa6 10.Qd3

How should Black proceed?

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10...c4!?

This is nearly always a controversial move in the Winawer Variation of the French Defence, even when, as here, it comes with tempo. The move gains space and ensures the white d pawn remains for the foreseeable future on a dark square - the same colour complex as the white bishop - but takes pressure off the white centre.

11.Qe2 Nf5 12.0-0 h5 13.g3!? Be7 14.Nd1

The knight heads to e3 to challenge the black king's knight.

14...b5 15.c3 Nb8 16.Kg2 Nc6 17.h3?

Consistent with earlier play is 17.Ne3, when Stockfish17 reckons Black has an edge after both 17.Nxe3 and 17.g6!? Dragon1 also marginally favours Black.

17...h4! 18.Nxh4

The engines prefer 18.g4 or 18.gxh4.

18...Bxh4!?

This is better than capturing with the knight, which is well-placed in the vicinity of the white king.

19.gxh4 Qxh4 20.Qg4 Qe7?!

The engines agree with avoiding an exchange of queens, but reckon e7 is the worst of the four possible retreat squares.

21.Ne3 Nh6

The engines prefer 21...g6 or 21...Nxe3.

22.Qf3!?

This is the engines' top choice, threatening both 23.f5 and 23.a4.

22...Na5 23.Bd2 Nb3 24.Rad1 0-0-0

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

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The black king cuts something of a lonely figure on the queenside, but it is hard for White to exploit this. Meanwhile the white king could find lines being opened to it, and White has a bad bishop. The engines give Black the upper hand.

25.Be1 Rdg8?!

Probably better is 25...g6.

26.f5 Na5 27.Kh2 Nc6 28.Rd2 Qd8?

Vacating e7 for the queen's knight is a good idea, but it should be done so ...Ne7 does not allow a pin on the h4-d8 diagonal.

29.Rg2 Ne7?!

It was almost certainly better to spend a tempo moving the queen to d7 or e8.

30.Bh4 Qe8 31.Bxe7 Qxe7 32.Rfg1 Rh7 33.f6 Qf8 34.fxg7

Even stronger, according to the engines, is 34.Nxd5!? exd5 35.Qxd5, eg 35...Nf5 36.Qf3!? g6 37.Qxf5+!, or 35...Qd8 36.Qa8+ Kc7 37.Qxa7+.

34...Rhxg7 35.Qf6?

Winning is 35.Rxg7 Rxg7 36.Nxd5!? exd5 37.Qxd5

35...Rxg2+ 36.Rxg2 Rxg2+ 37.Kxg2 Qg8+ 38.Kh2 Qg6? 39.Qh8+

After 39,Qxg6 fxg6 40.Kg3 White has a winning knight-and-pawn ending.

39...Kb7 40.Qf6 Qxf6? 41.exf6 Kc7 42.Kg3 Kd6 43.Kf4 a5 44.Kg5 Ng8 45.Ng4 Kd7 46.h4 Kc6 47.h5 b4

Desperation.

48.axb4 axb4 49.h6 Nxh6 50.Nxh6 e5 51.Nxf7 exd4 52.Ne5+ Kd6 53.cxd4 c3 54.f7 Ke7 55.bxc3 b3 56.Nxd3 Kxf7 57.Kf5 1-0

Weight 8

I AM keeping a check on my weight while staying at an all-inclusive resort.

Day One: 82.3kg/181lb
Day Two: 82.4kg/182lb
Day Three: 81.9kg/181lb

Day Four: 82.3kg/181lb

Day Five: 81.8kg/180lb

Day Six: 82.8kg/183lb

Day Seven: 82.8kg/183lb

Day Eight: 82.9kg/183lb