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| 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.
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| 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.
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