2013-05-18 - Mansson, James 0-1 Ross, Chris
Tyson - This very original game was featured in my short-lived Club Knight column in BCM. It was played by Chris Ross, the UK's number one blind player, and features an extremely instructive way of meeting the Catalan Opening. Most of the notes are Chris's (marked CR) but he was unaware of how amusing the game was until I pointed it out. If you want your chess education mixed with some fun then this one does the trick. What's more you can leave the engine to one side. This game features very fine positional judgement that computers simply don't understand.
[Event "Minor County Championships 2012-2013"] [Site "?"] [Date "2013.05.18"] [Round "?"] [White "Mansson, James"] [Black "Ross, Chris"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E05"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "82"] {Original notes by Chris Ross (CR) "Here is an enlightening game where the question of an outpost is discussed. When is an "outpost" useful, and when not? When is a game strategy based on obtaining an outpost clearly flawed and how can outposts be truly utilised?" CR.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. Qxc4 b5 9. Qc2 Bb7 10. Bd2 {"So far, all according to theory. This 10th move by White is an older line and not often seen nowadays. White's plan is to challenge Black's backward c7-Pawn. If Black can achieve ...c7-c5 he should have equalised. White's focus point is the c7 Pawn and he is seeKing to occupy the square in front of it, c6. As decreed by Nimzovitch one should blockade the square in front of an backward or isolated Pawn. Black's answer to this strategy is quick piece play. First I force a more awkward placement of the White Queen." CR.} Be4 11. Qc1 {"Here, I play one of the latest ideas of the Catalan. This move can even be played on move 10 and is an imitation from something played in the Slav defence. It looks odd but makes a lot of positional sense." CR.} Ra7 {"This came as a surprise to my opponent. The ideas behind the move are not that complex. The Rook is lifted off the long diagonal, making tactics with the fianchettoed Bishop on g2 unlikely. Also, the a8 square is vacated for the light-squared Bishop or, better still, the Black Queen. The c-Pawn is no longer a target and Black aims to push this Pawn, hopefully to c5, thereby opening up the second rank for the Rook which can switch rapidly to c7 or d7 when necessary. An unorthodox development strategy for the Rook, but one deeply planned out." CR.} 12. Rd1 {"It is curious how many games I have won with Black in the Catalan where the white Rook is simply misplaced on d1. Threats down the d-file are rarely achieved, and the f2 Pawn often becomes weak. The only advantage of the move is that the ...c7-c5 thrust is yet again held up for some time to come." CR.} Nbd7 13. Ba5 {"White is intent on his game strategy now. The pinning of the c-Pawn is crucial to his plan. The Bishop holds up all counterplay on the Queenside for Black who must find a way to untangle his pieces and play that desirable ...c7-c5 thrust." CR.} Qb8 {"Not an easy decision to make, but I saw the sort of tactics that arise within six moves. A8 was the tempting square for the lady, raking along the long diagonal. I had ideas though of ...b5-b4 and ...Qb5 ensnaring the loose Bishop on a5. This does not quite work, but the idea was there. I also wanted to leave the a8 square for the a7 Rook or the light-squared Bishop. I also had ideas of leaving the light-squared Bishop on e4 if attacked by the White Queen's Knight and achieving ...c7-c5 in one move. I hadn't decided on that though. White now has a very critical decision to make." CR} 14. b4 $2 {"A highly instructive position has now arisen. White has entombed his Bishop on a5 with the conviction that his play down the c-file is too strong. ...c7-c5 is prevented and White's objective, the c6 square, is hard for Black to defend. Let us look deeper though, and consider the true nature of the outpost on c6. Although a nice hole for a White Knight, it is not supported by a fellow Pawn, and apart from the e5 square, where could a White Knight go from c6? Occupying an outpost is one thing, being effective from there is another. Also the security of protection by a Pawn is important and is absent here. Switch your attention to the c5 square. A White Knight can land there, but can taken by the e7 Bishop. In effect, not that useful. However, after the text the light squares are now noticeably weaker for White. The c4 square, for instance, has now become an outpost for Black! From there, a Black Knight will be very useful, attacKing the strangely-placed Bishop on a5, and dominating the centre. Also when a black Knight lands on c4 it will screen the c6 square, ironically turning the apparently strong outpost into a weak square. For these reasons that I do not fight for the control of c6. White can, and does, obtain the outpost but at a cost - the entombing of the a5 Bishop. " CR.} Nb6 15. Nbd2 Bd5 16. Ne5 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Bd6 {"Black threatens to swap on e5 giving White a bad Pawn there, so occupation of c6 is now necessary." CR.} 18. Nc6 Qb7 {"Luring White into the following tactic. Note that 17... Bd6 meant that the Bishop is no longer loose on e7. With the light-squared Bishops being off the board the Black Queen stands on an ideal diagonal." CR.} 19. e4 $6 {"This must have seemed very attractive to White, but the reality is that the long diagonal pin prevents him ever from playing e4-e5, winning a piece. 19. Kg1 was to be preferred, when Black would simply retreat the Rook to a8 and wait for White to show his hand."} Nc4 $5 {A positionally-motivated Exchange sacrifice resulting in a situation where White's a5 Bishop is useless. In effect Black obtains two effective pieces for the Rook he surrenders. Chris has also calculated he gets the e4 Pawn and hence obtains an outpost on d5 to go with the one on c4. White has nothing to compensate for all his negatives.} 20. Nxa7 {"If White takes the other piece with 20. Nxc4 then 20...Qxc6 is joyless for him. After 21. Nxd6 Qxc1 22. Raxc1 cxd6 White has a horrible ending where the Bishop on a5 has nowhere to go. It might come to b6 and c5, but nowhere from there. In the meantime the e4 Pawn is attacked and Black will play ...d6-d5 and obtain an advantageous good Knight v bad Bishop ending. " CR.} Nxd2 21. Qc6 $2 {"Curiously, White is still intent on utilising the c6 outpost yet it has no value at all. Black is very happy to exchange Queens, as any White attacKing potential is eliminated." (CR). Obviously captures on d2 are met by the intermezzo 21...Nxe4 but White should try this 21 Rxd2 Nxe4 and follow up with 22 Rc2. One line is 22...Qxa7 23 Bxc7 Bxc7 24 Rxc7 Qxd4 25 Qe1 Nxf2!? when Black gets a second Pawn for his Exchange in a complicated position. Of course Black has some discovered checks after 22 Rc2 which have to be calculated but they seem to come to nothing.} Qxc6 22. Nxc6 Ndxe4 {"Here we can assess the position for its true worth. White is an Exchange up, but Black has snaffled a central Pawn and obtained magnificent outposts on c4 and d5. Once his Knights settle on these they will work in tandem to cause White all kinds of tactical difficulties. Whereas the Knight on c6 is doing very little and the Bishop on a5 is as good as a Pawn. Black already has a sizable advantage. It is the conversion of that advantage which is the tricky part." (CR). Computers assess this position as slightly favourable for White because of his small material advantage. Black has a lot of potential here and this is what the mechanical minds fail to grasp.} 23. Rac1 Nd5 24. a3 $6 { Either here or on the last move I feel White should have played Ne5 to extricate the stranded Knight. By trying to consolidate his weak Queenside he gives Chris a chance to further improve his position with an unexpected sequence.} f6 {"Completely restricting the White Knight at the apparent cost of a Pawn. White is now effectively two pieces down; the Bishop on a5 and the Knight on c6.} 25. Re1 {"White believes that Black has blundered a Pawn, but it is a lure to get the Rook to step off the d-file and allow the Black Knight to reach its ideal square on c4. The e6-Pawn is not important to Black. It is the outposts that will determine the result of this game. " CR. Chris is a strong believer in the right of a positional player to overcome attacKing players who have already forfeited their own positional pluses. I believe his judgment is accurate here but even Chris underestimated the fun that could be had from this position.} Nd2 26. Rxe6 Nc4 {"Black has achieved his ultimate objectives. Both his Knights stand on true "outposts" and tactics abound. Here a3 is an obvious weakness now, and once this falls, b4 will shortly tumble." CR.} 27. Rce1 {"Humbling as it was, 27. Ra1 was the only move. Black would need to force a weakness in the centre or on the Kingside." CR. Personally I'd be looKing for a way to simply get the King to d7 and win the trapped Knight.} Kf7 {"Preventing 28 Re8 and the exchange of Rooks. The Black Rook is needed to guard the back-rank and hindering Nb8xa6." CR Perhaps White should try 28 a4 here.} 28. R6e4 $6 Nxa3 29. Ra1 Nc4 30. Rh4 $6 {"White contrives to unco-ordinate his pieces even more. He hopes to dislodge the Knight on d5 and play d4-d5 freeing up the d4 square for the stranded c6 Knight. Unfortunately for him Black has a neat refutation to this plan." CR. The observant reader will have noted that so far I haven't put in any evaluations or analysis by Deep Rybka. The engine hasn't had any particular improvements on the play that haven't already been made in the original notes, while evaluations would have been tainted by the fact that White had a material advantage. It's a well-known failing of engines that they will tend to overevaluate a material plus. Right now the engine says the position is equal which proves that Chris's own evaluations have probably been accurate throughout. However much White has been mis-assessing the position isn't clear, but from this point on there no doubt that Black is in the driver's seat.} h6 31. Rh5 $2 {"Not seeing Black's idea. The return 31. Re4 would have forced Black to work that bit harder to make progress." CR.} g5 $1 {"After which there is no hope for White. The Rook on the h-file is as badly stranded as the White minor pieces on the Queenside are. " CR.} 32. Rxh6 Kg7 33. Rh3 Re8 { Chris makes an observation about the comical placing of the White pieces here compared to the well-placed co-operating Black ones. Indeed he's right, but this is where the fun really starts. Firstly take the opportunity to identify the square that White controls the most times in this position. The answer may surprise you and the relevance of it is not currently apparent. Secondly what move would you play here?} 34. f4 $2 {"Sheer desperation. White understood that his position was hopeless with his disjointed pieces. There is a certain aesthetical pleasure in the best move for Black here." CR.} Bxf4 $1 { "The automatic 34... gxf4 35. Rh4 gave White hope, slim as it was, but the text shatters his illusions entirely. Stealing the f-Pawn is one thing, but preventing the Rook on h3 emerging was the psychological tipping point. If White does nothing, Black will simply retreat the Bishop and get on with penetrating with the Rook, weaving a net around the White King with the two Knights." This is also the point where Deep Rybka begins to realise how much trouble White is in, the evaluation going from equal to +1.21 for Black.} 35. Bxc7 {I"n desperate time-trouble White makes a last-gasp attempt. If 35. gxf4 Nxf4+ 36. Kg3 Re3+ is curtains so he gives up a second minor piece to delay the inevitable, picking up two Pawns en route. Naturally, if Black recaptures on c7 with the Knight then White can capture on f4 without the tactics." CR One of the ironies here is that White would probably have done better to play Bxc7 on the previous move, but who would ever have been brave enough to do that? If you were then well done!} Bxc7 36. Rxa6 {"Now 36... Re6 was crying out to be played but frustratingly there is no good response to 37. Nb8. Then I got the idea of attacking the Knight from the rear, controlling the 7th rank in the process. " CR.} Re2+ 37. Kf1 {"If 37. Kg1 Bb6 38. g4 Re6 39 Nb8 Bxd4+ is crushing." CR. Deep Rybka says that it's mate in six.} Rc2 38. g4 {"White tries to free his h3 Rook, but this surrenders another Pawn and allows the Knights to dance around his King. The position was hopeless anyway. Of course 38 Ra7 allows 38...Nce3+ and 39....Rxc6." CR.} Nce3+ 39. Ke1 {"If 39. Kg1 Nxg4 with 40...Re1+ and 41...Nf4+ to follow." CR.} Nxg4 40. Rb3 Rxh2 41. Na7 Nge3 $1 {White can't prevent ...Bg3 mate. What square was White controlling the most times before his 34th move? Ironically the answer was g3! Isn't chess fun?} 0-1
The games viewer used here was developed by
http://chesstempo.com
and is licensed under
CC BY 2.0.
