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

MY round-seven game at the Brno Open began 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 h6!? 4.Bh4 c5 5.Bxf6!? gxf6!? 6.e4!? dxe4 7.dxc5 Qa5 8.Qd2.

Spanton (1771) - Michaela Svobodová  (1973)

Position after 8.Qd2

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Black has the bishop-pair, but an inferior pawn-structure, although the white c5 pawn looks weaker than the black e4 pawn. Thanks to the pawn-structure, Black may have problems finding a safe haven for her king. Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02 reckon the position is equal, but Black's next move is critical.

Capturing with 8...Qxc5?! is risky as White can reply 9.0-0-0 with a large lead in development.

Defending the e4 pawn with 8...f5?! is also problematic. White can play 9.Rd1, when 9...Bd7 10.Bb5! is strong as 10...Bxb5? 11.b4! Qc7 (11...Qa6?? 12.Qd8#) 12.Nxb5 Qc8 13.Qf4 wins.

The engines give 8...Nc6!? with an unclear position, eg 9.Nxe4 Qxd2+ 10.Nxd2 Bf5 11.0-0-0 leaves a hard-to-assess position, although the engines reckon if anyone is a tad better it is Black.

The game saw 8...Bf5?, when 9.Qd5 (I played the inferior 9.0-0-0?) is a winning fork of the f5 bishop and the b7 pawn, eg 9...Bc8 10.Bb5+ Nd7 11.0-0-0 Qc7 12.Nxe4 with numerous threats. Best may be 12...a6 13.Ba4 Bg7, but White has, among other good continuations, 14.Nd6+!? exd6 15.Re1+ Kf8 16.cxd6 Qd8 17.Bb3.

Clearly ...Bf5 is bad, although the fact both players failed to realise this suggests it is a mistake easily made, so the question arises: how to avoid such mistakes?

In part one of this series, M1, I suggested a mantra that should be used before making every move: "Captures, Checks, Hangers, Threats."

Here is the relevant passage:

The idea, and it is easy to forget it in the heat of battle, is, before moving, to:
A) Look at every move that captures a piece or pawn;
B) Look at every move that gives check;
C) Look if there are ways to exploit every piece and pawn that is hanging, ie is unprotected;
D) Look at possible threats, for example pawn moves that hit enemy pieces.
This should be carried out for both sides, and can usually be done quicker than it takes to explain the process.
It should also be done after making your planned move in your mind's eye. [Emphasis added]

So before making the move ...Bf5 the resulting position should be imagined.

Position after the planned ...Bf5 (White to move)

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It can soon be seen that the category Captures does not apply here, but Checks does in the shape of 9.Bb5+, which certainly looks threatening, and according to the engines gives White the upper hand.

But even more critical are the categories Threats and Hangers, as 8...Bf5? creates two hangers, ie unprotected units: the f5 bishop and the b7 pawn.

Once these are recognised the thought should arise as to whether White can attack both units at once, and then 9.Qd5 should leap into view, after which it can quickly be established that ...Bf5 is bad.

SM was lucky to get away with her move, but why did I fail to properly consider the winning reply?

Clearly I did not use the mantra correctly, and this was at least partly because I was too focused on finding a way to win the e4 pawn.

I looked at Qd5 in the context of trying to win that pawn, but saw it meant my queen's knight would be pinned and White would have the reply 9...e6.

This much is true, but 10.Qxb7 wins, and if I had been thinking about Hangers I could hardly have failed to spot it.