Monday, 28 July 2025

Lessons From Bad Bertrich: Material Is Not The Only Advantage

MY round two game reached a critical position after 18 moves.
Here Fide master Peter Dittmar (2128) came up with the strong 19.d5!, which seems to be a novelty
How should Black respond?
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I played 19...cxd5?!, but after 20.exd5 Bf7 21.Ne5 I was losing the f pawn, while lagging in development.
Stockfish17 and Dragon1 suggest giving up a pawn immediately by simply retreating the bishop with 19...Bf7.
After 20.dxc6 Qxc6 21.exf5 White has won a pawn, but Black's pieces are so much more active than in the game.
A possible continuation is 21...Qc5+ 22.Kh1 Nd7, when Black has the better queen and the only long-range minor piece - full compensation for a pawn, according to the engines.
LESSON: more activity can be just as much an advantage as more material.

Sunday, 27 July 2025

Lessons From Bad Bertrich: Keep Calm And Carry On

IN round one my opponent, Cordula Hinrichs (1683), was under the cosh almost the entire game.
But in this position I failed to play the winning 29.g5, preferring 29.Qf4? under the misconception I had to do something about Black's threat to capture on e4
After my mistake, it was Black to make her 29th move
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Black has two ways to prevent 30.g5: a) 29...h6, and b) 29...Qe7.
The former gives complete equality, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1, while the latter leaves White with at best a slight edge.
However my opponent had a rush of blood to the head, seeing an apparent chance, after many moves of grovelling, to make an attacking move, namely 29...Bh6??
The game finished: 30.Nxf6+ Kh8 31.g5 Bxg5?! 32.Qxg5 Qe7 33.Qh6 1-0
LESSON: don't let excitement at the possibility of making an aggressive move lead you to omit the basic checks necessary to avoid blunders.

Summing Up Bad Bertrich

MY score of +5=1-3 in the 31st Bad Bertrich Chess Days, for players born before 1976, gained 40.6 Fide elo, and won me the U2000 second rating prize of 160 euros.

Saturday, 26 July 2025

Bad Bertrich Round Nine

Spanton (1946) - Andreas Kessler (2084)
French Exchange
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.c4 Qe7+!?
This has been played by grandmasters, but putting the queen on a central open file early on entails risk.
How should White respond?
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6.Be2
There is no need to worry about losing a pawn, although some strong players have preferred 6.Be3.
6...dxc4 7.0-0 Nf6
Hardly surprisingly, there are no games in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database with 7...b5? After the reply 8.Re1, Black has problems.
8.Bxc4 0-0
Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position?
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It may look like a typical opening position with an isolated queen's pawn, but in this one White will gain time threatening the black queen.
9.Re1 Qd8
More-or-less forced as after 9...Qd7?! White will pose problems with Bg5, and development of the black queen's bishop will be obstructed.
10.Nc3 Bg4 11.Bg5 Nbd7?!
The engines much prefer 11...h6, meeting both 12.Bh4 and 12.Be3 with 12...Nc6.
12.Qd3
Even stronger, according to the engines, is 12.h3, meeting 12...Bh5 with 13.g4!? Bg6 14.Ne5.
12...c6 13.Ne5
How should Black proceed?
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13...Qc7
Not 13...Be7?? 14.Nxg4 Nxg4 15.Bxe7, and if 13...Bh5? then 14.g4! is good as 14...Bg6 runs into 15.Nxg6 hxg6 16.Qxg6!?
14.f4
Stockfish17 gives 14.Nxg4 Nxg4 15.Qf5!?, when 15...Nxh2? can be met by 16.Ne4, and 15...Bxh2+ by 16.Kh1 Ngf6 17.g3!? Bxg3 18.fxg3 Qxg3 19.Rg1, when Black has no bishops left to worry the exposed white king.
Dragon1 suggests 14.h3 Be6 15.Nxd7 Qxd7!? (15...Nxd7 16.Bxe6 fxe6 17.Rxe6) 16.Bxf6 Bxc4 17.Qxc4 gxf6 18.Ne4 with a strong attack.
14...Be6!?
The engines fluctuate between continuations, but eventually more-or-less settle on 14...a5!?, a possible continuation being 15.Rac1 Be6!? 16.Bxe6 fxe6, which is similar to the game.
15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.Rac1
With this move-order 16.Re3 my be an improvement.
16...a6 17.g3 Rae8
How should White proceed?
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18.Ne4?
The engines much prefer either 18.a3!?, eg 18...Nb6 19.Rc2 Nbd5 20.Nf3!?, or 18.Bxf6, when both 18...Nxf6 and 18...gxf6 can be answered by 19.Nf3!?, and 18...Rxf6?! by 19.Ne4.
18...Bb4?
The threat to e1 is easily met, after which the bishop is hanging. The engines reckon 18...Nxe4 19.Qxe4 Bxe5 20.dxe5 Nb6 gives Black a slight edge - the isolated e6 pawn is masked, and the white bishop is very restricted, albeit controlling d8.
19.Red1?!
The engines give 19.Bxf6!? gxf6 20.Nxd7 Qxd7 before moving the king's rook, although they cannot decide whether it should go to e3, e2 or d1.
19...Nxe4 20.Qxe4 Nf6
This lets White swop off the restricted bishop, so perhaps 20...Nb6 or 20...Bd6 is better.
21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Nf3 Qd6 23.Kg2 Qd5 24.Qxd5
The engines slightly prefer 24.Qb1!?
24...exd5 25.a3 Ba5 26.b4 Bb6 27.Re1 Re4 28.Rxe4!? dxe4 29.Nd2 Bxd4
Black may have an edge after 29...f5!?, according to the engines.
30.Nxe4 Bb2 31.Rb1 Bxa3 32.Rb3
Both 32.Nd6? and 32.Nc5? fail to 32...a5.
32...Bc1 33.Kf3 Kg7 34.Rb1 Ba3 35.Rb3
It was probably worth trying 35.Nc5!?, when Black more-or-less needs to find 35...Re8 (35...Rd8?? 36.Ne6+ etc), although then the engines reckon Black should hold, eg 36.Nd3 a5!? 37.bxa5 Re7.
35...Bc1 ½–½

Taking It Easy

I FELT leggy after the previous day's exertions, so was determined to keep my afternoon hike short.
If anything, I rather overdid it, as the hoop walk turned out to be under a mile, including the distance covered to get to the start 
The route goes to Elfengrotte, which even I with my virtually non-existent German could work out means Elves' Grotto.
Approaching
Entrance
Grotto
Upstream

Friday, 25 July 2025

Bad Bertrich Round Eight

Horst Prüsse (2017) - Spanton (1946)
Bird/Sicilian 2.f4
1.f4 c5 2.e4 d5!?
This position used to arise very often in the Sicilian when White was trying to play a Grand Prix Attack via the move-order 1.e4 2.c5 2.f4. Nowadays, thanks to 2...d5!?, White usually sets about getting a GPA with 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 and 3.f4.
How should White proceed?
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3.e5
The main line in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database runs 3.exd5 Nf6 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.Bxd7+ (5.Bc4 b5) Qxd7 6.c4 e6 7.Qe2 Bd6!? 8.d3 0-0 9.dxe6 fxe6, when Stockfish17 and Dragon1 reckon Black has more than enough for a pawn.
3...Nc6 4.Nc3 Bf5!?
How should White respond to this development of the black queen's bishop?
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5.d3
There are no games in Mega25 with 5.g4!?, which the engines reckon should be met with 5...Be6!?
5...h5 6.Be2 h4!? 7.Bg4!? Nh6 8.Bxf5 Nxf5
The square f5 is at least as good an outpost for a knight as for a bishop.
9.Nf3 e6 10.Ng5?!
The engines strongly dislike this.
10...Be7 11.Nh3
Clearly 11.Nf3 would simply represent a serious loss of time, but 11.0-0!? is possible, the point being that after 11...Bxg5 12.fxg5 the capture 12...Nxe5?! is met by 13.Qe1, when White has good compensation for a pawn.
11...f6!? 12.Qg4!? Ncd4 13.Qg6+
This looks natural, but the engines prefer 13.Qd1, or 13.exf6 gxf6 14.Qd1, albeit reckoning Black is on top.
13...Kd7 14.0-0!?
Offering a pawn to get the king to safety in a sharp position looks a reasonable practical decision, but there is a problem.
14...Nxc2 15.Rb1 Qe8! 16.Qg4!?
If queens come off, the uncastled black king no longer has difficulties.
How should Black proceed?
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16...Nce3
Winning the exchange, but Stockfish17 prefers forcing queens off with 16...Qh5!?, which has a more-human feel to it! Dragon1 agrees with its fellow engine, but to a smaller degree.
17.Bxe3 Nxe3 18.Qe2 Nxf1 19.Rxf1
Now the smoke has, as it were, cleared, how would you assess the position?
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Black is the pawn and an exchange up, and it does not appear easy to safely open files for black rooks to operate on. White has much the safer king and a lead in development. Nevertheless the engines reckon Black is winning - up the equivalent of more than a minor piece.
19...d4
The engines prefer 19...fxe5!? or 19...f5.
20.exf6 gxf6 21.Ne4 Rc8 22.Rc1 Qh5!
This is the engines' top choice. One idea is to centralise the queen, even at the expense of a pawn.
23.Qc2 Qd5 24.Qa4+ Kd8
Possibly even stronger is 24...Kc7!?, when 25.b4 c4!? 26.Rxc4+ Kb8 gets a pair of rooks off the board - nearly always a good thing for the player an exchange up. But perhaps the simplest solution is 24...Qc6!?
25.Qxa7 c4
The engines prefer 25...Kd7!? or 25...Rg8.
26.Qb6+
They give best as 26.f5!?, eg 26...Qxf5 27.Qxb7 Qe5 28.Nhf2 with complicated play, but they agree Black is still winning.
26...Ke8 27.Nhf2?!
The engines much prefer 27.f5.
27...f5 28.Ng5 Bxg5 29.fxg5 Rg8 30.Nh3 Qe5
Best, according to the engines, is 30...Kd7!?
31.Kf1 Kf7!?
Offering a pawn with check to get the king to relative safety.
How should White continue?
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32.Re1!?
The engines give 32.Qxb7+ Rc7 33.Qf3, but after 33...cxd3 34.Re1 Qb5! 35.Qh5+ Ke7 Black's attack is at least as dangerous as White's, and Black remains the exchange up.
Black to keep a winning position with an only-move
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32...Rc6!
Insisting on giving up the b pawn. After 32...Qd5 33.Nf4 White is at least equal, and may have a slight edge (Stockfish17) or even the upper hand (Dragon1) - the position is complicated, but it is very much White who is attacking.
33.Qxb7+ Qc7 34.Qxc7+
There seems nothing better, but the black king no longer faces mating threats.
34...Rxc7
How would you assess this ending?
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White has a pawn for the exchange, but g5 is weak and Black has good files for the rooks. The engines reckon Black is up the equivalent of a minor piece (Stockfish17) or almost a rook (Dragon1).
35.dxc4
35.Nf4 can be successfully met by 35...c3 or 35...dxc3.
35...Rxc4 36.Nf4 Re8 37.Nd3 Rc2 38.Ne5+ Kg7 39.Rd1 Rd8 40.Nd3 Rd6 41.a4 Rc4
Not 41...Ra6?? 42.Nb4 etc.
42.a5 Ra4 43.b4 Kg6 44.Ne5+ Kg7
Not 44...Kxg5?? Nf7+ and 45...Nxd6.
45.Nc4
If 45.Nd3, then 45...Ra3 is good.
45...Rd8!? 46.Rb1 d3 47.Ke1 Rd4 48.Ne5?
Obviously bad, but Black's advantage has anyway grown to the equivalent of a little more than a rook (Stockfish17) or even almost the equivalent of a rook and a minor piece (Dragon1).
48...Re4+ 0-1

An Adventure

Set off from Bad Bertrich at about 14:15, determining to follow the first waymarked trail I came to

I hoped it would not be too long and not get very high as, although the sun was shining, it had rained earlier, more was forecast and there was a threat of thunderstorms around 17:00

There followed a long, but steady, uphill stretch, which eventually became quite steep, and I remember thinking I did not want to come back that way as it could be slippery going downhill 

Chapel dedicated in 1949 to Judas Thaddäus, known in English as Jude the Apostle
I had early problems spotting waymarks, which caused a bit of toing and froing, but otherwise the walk was pleasant, and seemed to follow a river, albeit at times from a distance
But after more than hour it dawned on me that the route might not be a round-walk - I seemed to be leaving Bad Bertrich behind in more-or-less a straight line - so I began to look for a place to have lunch and start walking back
However that was easier said than done as everywhere was wet, so I was relieved after 90 minutes to come to a bridge, at which point the route started following the river on the other bank and in the opposite direction
Scenery became more dramatic

Soon I came to a clearing where some logged trees had dried in the sun (although when I took my shorts off later I found the logs had not been as dry as I thought)

I ate lunch (studentenfutter with sparkling water) quite quickly as the sky looked threatening

I came to the village of Niederscheidweiler, which had a picturesque rock commemorating the settlement's 1100-year history, but, more usefully from my view, also had a map

The map suggested I was not getting closer to Bad Bertrich, but I consoled myself with the thought there is always someone worse off

Colourful display of fungi

A signpost gave hope as it suggested I was only 1.5km from a town, or at least a village, with a hotel, food and buses
The stretch to Hasborn was all uphill, and steep with it, and when I got there the last bus of the day had long gone (I arrived at about 17:15), and anyway did not seem to go near Bad Bertrich.
The hotel and eating establishment turned out to be a combined enterprise, closed for refurbishment, and there were no shops.
I asked a couple for directions, but they could not understand my pronunciation of Bad Bertrich, and when they eventually cottoned on, all they could do was point in the direction I had come.
The lady added: "It is a long way," and I was too polite to point out I already knew that.
There was nothing for it but to retrace my steps, but soon I felt a spot of water on my hand, and looked up to see a rainbow - pretty, but of course where there's a rainbow, there's rain
I was a bit worried as the sky soon clouded over completely, and I knew the sun sets earlier in mountains, and all-in-all it was rather gloomy when back among the trees.
I had a pocket torch on me, and luckily I had fitted a new battery as the old one proved completely flat when I checked it on the first day at my hotel (I suspect I accidentally turned it on when I fell while running up a down-escalator at Gatwick - don't ask, it seemed the right thing to do at the time).
Walking uphill in the forest was fine, even if I did not have all my earlier energy, but I had to be careful going downhill in the gloom as there were quite a few exposed and slippery rocks, and some mud.
I cheered up considerably on passing this sign
I even allowed myself time to pause and photograph this colourful leaf

I made such good time I was sat outside Bad Bertrich's Mexican bar, enjoying an alkoholfrei weizenbier, shortly after 19:15
When I got back to my room I discovered the waymarks I had followed were posted by the Eifel Association as part of a trail called Mosel-Our-Weg.
I inadvertently walked half of the trail's second stage, which covers 22.3 kilometres, with ascent of 786 metres and descent of 592 metres.
Google Maps confirms that by reaching Hasborn I covered almost exactly half of the total stage, ie 11.2 kilometres, which it reckons should have taken 2hrs 56mins.
That is almost spot on, although my journey out included stopping for lunch and numerous photo-ops - two reasons why coming back I covered the same distance in little over two hours.
For those who struggle metrically (myself included), 22.4 kilometres is 13.9 miles, so it was just as well the rain never became heavy enough to warrant using an umbrella, and thunderstorms never materialised (I feared I heard a rumble at one point, but it may well have been an airplane).

Thursday, 24 July 2025

Bad Bertrich Round Seven

DOWNFLOATED against a Fide master.

Spanton (1946) - Markus Balduan (2247)
Sicilian Accelerated Dragon
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bg7 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nxc6!? bxc6 7.Bc4 d6
There are 535 examples of this position in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database, with Black scoring a fabulous 58%
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8.0-0 Qc7 9.Re1 Nf6 10.Bf4
How should Black proceed?
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10...Nd7
Stockfish17 and Dragon1 agree something has to be done about White's threat to push the e pawn, eg they reckon 10...0-0?! 11.e5 gives White at least a slight edge.
11.Qd2 0-0!? 12.Bh6 Rb8 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.Rad1!? Qb6
Black loses the exchange, albeit for a pawn, after 14...Rxb2? 15.Bb3 etc.
15.Bb3 Ba6 16.Na4 Qc7 17.Re3
The engines suggest 17.c4!?
17...Nf6
The engines prefer 17...Rfd8 or 17...f6.
18.Qc3
Preparing e5, but it could have been played immediately as a sacrifice.
18...e5 19.Bc4 Bb7 20.f3 Rbc8
Possible is 20...d5 as 21.Bxd5?? loses to 21...Qd6.
21.Bb3 c5 22.Bc4!? Bc6 23.b3 Bxa4 24.bxa4
How would you assess this middlegame?
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White's queenside structure is smashed, but it is not easy for Black to get at the weak pawns. Meanwhile Black has a backward d pawn, and White has a powerful bishop. The engines give White the better part of equality.
24...Rb8 25.a3 Rfd8 26.Red3 Kf8?!
Risky. The engines suggest 26...h5!?, 26...Ne8 or 26...Qe7.
27.Qd2 Ke7?
The engines reckon 27...Rb2 keeps Black's disadvantage to a minimum.
28.Qh6
Probably even stronger is 28.Qg5!?
28...Qc6!?
The engines agree this is best.
29.Bb5 Qb6 30.Bc4
Black threatened ...c4+.
30...Rd7?!
Objectively best is allowing a repetition with 30...Qc6.
31.Qg7
Stronger are 31.Qg5 and especially 31.f4.
31...Rf8 32.Rb3 Qa5
How should White proceed?
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33.g4?!
Much stronger is opening lines to Black's king with 33.f4. Note that the sharp try 33.Rb8?! is also suboptimal as after 33...Rxb8 34.Qxf7+ Kd8 35.Qxf6+ Kc7 the black king has escaped.
33...h5 34.g5?
Now the white queen is imprisoned. The engines reckon best is 34.Qh6, although in the slightly changed circumstances they also like 34.Rb8!?
34...Ne8
The position is completely equal, according to the engines
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35.Qh7 Nc7 36.Qg7 Ne8 37.Qh7 Rc7 38.Bb5 c4 39.Rb4??
This lets the black queen into White's position, where White has numerous unprotected pawns and a hanging rook. Correct is 39.Re3.
39...Qb6+ 40.Kg2
There is no defence.
40...Qe3 41.Rbb1
Or 41.Bxc4 Rxc4! 42.Rxc4 Qe2+ etc.
41...Qxg5+ 42.Kf1 Nf6 43.Qg7 Rg8 44.h4 Qf4 0-1

Heading For The Hills

I thought the hat walk might be interesting, and anyway it left Bad Bertrich in a completrly different direction to my most-recent waterfall and Geo walks

It turned out the route at first followed the same path as the castle walk I did on Saturday, including passing a shrine, in which this time candles had been lit

All the walks have had one thing in common - lots of fallen trees
I encountered a problem when, after the hat path separated from the castle route, I came to a fork in the trail and could not find a waymark on either option.
I chose the more substantial trail, but five minutes later, and still with no waymark in sight, I decided I must have chosen wrongly.
However, rather than go back, I thought I might as well continue as the trail was easy enough to follow, and I could return another day to take the 'official' path.
It did not really matter as there was plenty to see (if you like brown tree trunks and green leaves)
Then, just as I was resigned to continuing off-piste, as it were, I came across a hat waymark
I suspect what happened is that at the fork it was possible to take either path, the two joining later.
This had happened on earlier Bad Bertrich walks - I guess the policy is that if both paths will do, don't waymark either.
The difference this time was that the alternate paths diverged for the best part of a kilometre, rather than the hundred or so metres I had been used to.
At times the trees look as if they have been planted to create an avenue
But there are always reminders that erosion plays a big part in shaping the landscape
I saw no carvings along the route, unlike on previous walks, but this gnome was fun, and very appropriate for a walk themed around a hat
Next I spotted a fairy, albeit apparently knocked about a bit in the previous day's mini-storm
I righted her - my good deed for the day
Anyone for tea?
Eventually I emerged above the trees, with a reminder this is hunting country
This 'insect hotel' struck me as somewhat superfluous, although that might have been sour grapes at having forgotten to put on repellent
I avoided spending much time under this tree
Finally, near the end of the walk, which was under eight miles, mostly on ground where it was not necessary to watch your feet, a rare touch of colour that was neither green nor brown