| Our first question for this
issue comes from S.R. of Michigan. He writes: “According to a book I own,
Black loses after the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Nc3 Nxc3 5.dc
d6 6.Nxe5 de 7.Bxf7+. But in a game my opponent instead played 6…Qe7, and
I lost! Was the book wrong, or should I have won?” |
| White has played the Boden-Kieseritzky gambit, and
after 5...d6? he has two ways to win. Easier to remember is 6.Ng5 Be6 7.Bxe6
fxe6 8.Qf3 (Keres), when the threats at f7 and b7 are already decisive.
6.Nxe5 is more spectacular, but after the best defense 6...Qe7 the position
requires precise handling. Let’s take a look after 7.Bxf7+ Kd8: |
|
| The winning line for White begins with the stone-cold
8.0-0! Black wins the knight, but after 8…Qxe5 9.Re1 his king and queen
are badly placed and he has no way to defend the three squares (e8, g4,
and above all g5) he would need to hold his position together. 9...Qf6
fails to 10.Re8+ Kd7 11.Qg4+ Kc6 12.Bd5+! Kxd5 13.Qe4+ Kc5 14.Be3+ and
mates. The only other try to hold the position together, 9...Qf5 (or 9...Qb5
10.a4 Qf5), fails to the shot 10.Re8+ Kd7 11.Be6+ Kxe8 12.Bxf5 Bxf5 |
|
| With a rook and two minor pieces for queen and pawn,
this may not look so bad at first. But White can win a piece back by force,
and then his “fully operational battle station” (the active queen) settles
the matter. 13.Qe2+ Be7 (king moves don’t work either: 13...Kd7 14.Qb5+
Nc6 15.Qxf5; or 13...Kd8? 14.Bg5+ Kc8?? 15.Qe8#; or 13...Kf7 14.Qf3 with
attacks on f5 and b7/a8) |
| 14.Bg5 Nc6 15. Bxe7 Nxe7 16.Re1 Kd7 17.Qxe7+ Kc6
and White is winning. |
| There is one more clever try for Black, but it doesn’t
quite work either. Going back to the first diagram, 8.0-0 Qxe5 9.Re1 Bg4!?
is refuted by 10.Rxe5! Bxd1 11.Bg5+ Kd7 12.Rxd1. The d6 pawn is pinned,
leaving white up a pawn with the bishop pair and better development! This
is Black’s best, but White should easily win here too. The moral of the
story? Don’t play 5…d6 against the Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit! 5...f6
and 5...c6 6.Nxe5 d5 both offer Black much more. |
| As long as we’re on the subject of older openings,
many scholastic players have asked me about the Scotch Gambit position
after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 ed 4.Bc4. Two Knights players can simply play
4...Nf6, but what if you prefer the Italian? After 4...Bc5, 5 0-0 d6 (5...Nf6
is the Max Lange) gives Black a fine game, while 5.c3 Nf6 leaves nothing
better than 6.cd Bb4+, the Giuoco Piano. But what if White tries 5.Ng5? |
|
| This premature assault isn’t covered in NCO or BCO2,
although Marache’s 1866 Manual of Chess covers it. Black should reply 5...Nh6,
after which White can try: |
| A) 6.Nxf7 Nxf7 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+ g6 9.Qxc5 d5
(the thematic move for Black in many open games; 9...d6 is also playable)
10.Qxd5+ Qxd5 (10.ed Re8+ 11.Kd1 Re5 12.Re1 Rxd5 13.Qc4 Be6 14.Qe2 Qf6
15.Bf4 Nb4 and White has problems) 11.ed Nb4 12.Na3 Bf5 13.Kd1 Rad8 lets
Black win back his pawn and maintain a better position. |
| B) 6.Qh5, “Count Vitzhum’s Attack”, should leave
Black with no problems as long as he keeps careful track of the e6 and
f7 squares in the opening. The easiest way to get a good game is 6...Qe7
7.f4 d6 8.h3 Bd7 9.0-0 0-0-0. If Black wants, s/he can play more ambitiously
with 9...d3+ 10.Kh1 dc 11.Nc3; this is sound and wins a second pawn, but
also accelerates White’s attack, which is all White is playing for in this
line anyway. |
| These old open games take some tactical knowledge,
but once they’re mastered Black usually has little to fear. With this lacuna
in the standard opening references filled, Black should be ready to face
the Scotch Gambit confidently with 4…Bc5! |
| Coming back to the twentieth century, a die-hard
Dragoneer inquired about the tricky lines in the Yugoslav attack where
White does not play an early Bc4. Our reader found himself frustrated after
the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0
8.Qd2 Nc6 9.g4!? Qa5?! 10.0-0-0 Ne5?! 11.h4 11…Bd7? (11…Be6 is better
now) 12.h5 Rfc8 13.hg hg 14.Kb1 Nc4 15.Bxc4 Nxc4 16.Nb3. |
LINE OF PLAY WITHOUT 9.Bc4
|
| Here our reader Tim had the horrifying realization
that he was in a known position two tempos down! Compare this well-known
line from NCO: after 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Qa5 11.Bb3 Rfc8 12.h4 Ne5
13.g4 Nc4 14.Bxc4 Rxc4 15.Nb3, White is thought to have a slight advantage,
with 15...Qc7 being the standard reply. In our reader’s game, however,
White has already played h5 and hxg6, giving him a decisive attack. In
the Dragon, even one tempo is usually the difference between a win and
a loss; |
LINE WITH 9.Bc4 AND 11...Qa5
|
| If either side gives up two moves in this critical
attack the game should be over. And in the first diagram White has a forced
win! If Black tries 16…Qc7 by analogy to normal play in the second diagram,
White plays 17.Bh6 Bh8 18.Bf8!! Rxf8 (18...Kxf8 19.Rh8+ Ng8 20.Qh6+) 19.Rxh8+!
Kxh8 20.Qh6+ Kg8 21.Rh1 Nh5 22.gh and Black will be mated: 22...Rc8 fails
to 23.hg fg 24.Qxg6+ Kf8 25.Rh8#, 22...f5 hg & mates, and the desperate
22…g5 is met by 23.Qxg5+ Kh7 24.Rg1, mating in three. 16...Qd8 is better,
but still loses. |
| The solution to this problem for Black lies in knowing
that unless White has played Bc4, the knight maneuvers c6-e5-c4 and
c6-a5-c4 are unacceptably slow against the Yugoslav attack. Fortunately,
there are different plans available; if White refuses to put his bishop
where Black can strike at it, Black should do something else with his knight
instead – like trade it off! Returning to the position after 9.g4, 9…Qa5
is perhaps too committal; at best it transposes to normal lines, and in
a game Belakovskaia – Paasikangas, 1994 Moscow Olympiad, last year’s U.S.
Women’s champion seemed to have few troubles achieving her aim after 10.Nb3
Qc7 11.g5 Nh5 12.Nd5 Qd7 13.0-0-0 Rd8 14.h4 Rb8 15.Nf4! NCO prefers 9...Be6;
some possible continuations then are: |
| A) 10.Nxe6 fe 11.0-0-0 Ne5 (because of the half-open
f-file, the pawn on f3 is weak, so in this case the knight can still go
to this square usefully) 12.Be2 [with compensation]. |
B) 10.0-0-0 Nxd4 (since White is playing to defang
c6-e5-c4, why not just trade it off and open the c-file?) 11.Bxd4 Qa5
B1) 12.Kb1 Rfc8! (White
threatened 13.Nd5! forcing 13...Qd8 Now Black threatens 13…Rxc3 and 14…Qxa2+)
13.a3 Rab8 14.h4 b5 15.h5 b4 and Black is better.
B2) 12.a3 Rab8 13.h4 b5
is equal after 14.Nd5 Qxd2+ 15.Rxd2 Bxd5 16.ed Rb7. |
| C) 10.h4 d5!? (Tarrasch: “A thrust on the flank
should be met with a counterblow in the center!”) 11.0-0-0 Nxd4 (again
trading off rather than maneuvering) 12.Bxd4 de 13.g5 Nh5 14.Bxg7 Qxd2+
15.Rxd2 Kxg7 16.Nxe4 =. |
| 9...d5!? is also the best way to respond to
9.0-0-0, the more common alternative to 9.Bc4. Note that, aside from attacking
the king, the move 9.Bc4 is designed to prevent Black from playing the
9...d5 line. For those complicated variations, I refer the reader to a
standard opening book. The important point for now is that unless (as in
line A) some new feature of the position emerges to justify the knight
jaunts to e5 or a5, don't waste the time – trade the knight off instead.
So in Tim’s game I would recommend 9...Be6 instead of 9...Qa5, but after
playing 9...Qa5 10.0-0-0 he should have played 10...Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 (transposing
to line B) rather than 10...Ne5. Consider this position which gives
Black good counter chances. |
|
| One more question may be left in your minds after
this: if it’s so good to trade the knight off at d4 in lines without 9.Bc4,
why not do it right away? If White has castled queenside, this is acceptable
play, and 9.0-0-0 Nxd4 is one of the standard lines. But if you hack off
the knight before White has castled queenside, it becomes much safer for
White to leave his king in the center and gain a crucial tempo for the
attack – which is the last thing we want in the Dragon! A sample line here
is 9.g4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.h4 Qa5 12.h5 Rfc8 13.hg hg 14.a3; White is
better here, will probably not need to castle at all, and meanwhile his
attack on the king is going strong. He can play his KB to a useful attacking
square like d3 without worrying about the Black QN, or even leave it on
f1 a while longer in case Black tries ...Bc4, trading off without losing
time. |
| That’s it for this installment of Chess Advice!
Openings – middlegames – endings – history – whatever you want, we’ll cover
it for you here. Remember, you can send questions anonymously if you don’t
want it known that some questionable play was yours. Email them to Don
at mca-editor@home.com,
or post them to me at Sean C. Stidd, 512 N. Seventh St. #1, Ann Arbor,
MI 48103. We’ll find you some answers. |
|
© 2001 Sean
Stidd
|
