Brno: Typical Mistakes & How To Avoid Them (Part Two)

IN round two of the Brno Open I won a pawn with black in the opening.

But White always had some compensation and, thanks to sub-optimal play by me, this grew into a dangerous kingside attack.

The full game can be seen at B2 but here I want to concentrate on a key middlegame position.

Matěj Kuchař (2008) - Spanton (1771)

Here is the position after White's 19th move.

How should Black proceed?

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Black is still a pawn up, but opposite-side castling effectively reduces this to an endgame asset. Indeed, in the middlegame White's missing h pawn helps his kingside attack.

Games where players have castled on opposite wings can come down to whose attack arrives first.

Here it is fairly clear White's attack is the more advanced and Black's is difficult to get going.

That being the case, Black's best plan must be to counter in the centre, which is the traditional way of meeting a wing attack.

So I played 19...Rad8?! to prepare ...d5, but the move is almost certainly too slow.

White replied 20.Qg3 with a good game - winning, according to Stockfish15, although Komodo13.02  is less enthusiastic.

The engines reckon even better is 20.Qh2, when they agree White has a won game, eg 20...d5, which they give as best, is simply met by 21.e5.

Looking at the diagram again, it is undeniable, in my view, that ...d5 is thematic and desirable, so the thought should arise: what happens if it is played immediately?

This should especially be considered as Black is a pawn up, so even if the pawn can be safely captured, Black will not be behind on material.

After 19...d5!? White has two sensible ways of capturing.

A) 20.exd5 can be met by 20...Rad8, when 21.Rhd1 not only diverts the king's rook from White's kingside attack, but is only a short-term defence of d5 as Black replies 21...Rd7 and has ...Qg5 and/or ...Red8 to come.

However White can instead play 21.d6! as Black cannot capture thanks to the fact the b6 pawn would hang.

The engines instead give 21...c5, when Rhd1 is again ineffective, but White has 22.Re1!? After 22...Rxe1+ 23.Qxe1 the engines point out 23...Bxc4, threatening to win the b3 knight as the c2 pawn is pinned.

Stockfish15 reckons White's best is 24.Nc1, but it is unclear whether White can hold on to the d pawn long-term.

B) 20.Nxd5 Nxd5 21.Rxd5 wins the black d pawn in much cleaner fashion, but Black completes development with 21...Rad8.

True, White has won back the pawn lost in the opening, but White's kingside attack is a lot less threatening.

So it seems the thematic 19...d5!? is playable, and is almost certainly better than the move I chose.

The moral here is that if a move is particularly desirable and needs to be played sooner rather than later, it is necessary to try in the mind's eye every possible way of getting that move in.

However, chess is nothing if not complicated (in the application of the rules, that is, rather than the rules themselves).

Stockfish15 likes 19...d5!?, but Komodo13.02 does not, and the reason it does not is that it reckons White should temporarily ignore the move, as it were, and play 20.g5!?

After the forced 20...Qxg5 Komodo13.02 gives 21.Nxd5 Nxd5 22.Rxd5, when Black remains a pawn up but now White has two half-open files on the kingside.

The engines agree best play runs 22...Qf6 23.Rf5 Qg6 24.Rg1 with a very good game for White. Note that Black's bishop and queen's rook are little more than spectators to where the real action is.

So it seems the thematic 19...d5!? is not enough to give Black equality, but that does not stop it being the best move, and certainly it should not have stopped me from trying harder to get the move in.