Game of the Week

10 September 2007, Monday

1994 Colorado Master/Expert Class Championship

(1) Hortillosa, Andres - Hartsook, David

This game was played in my only opportunity to participate in the coveted Colorado's Master/Expert Class Championship. I have this notion that the status of a tournament can inspire a player to play beyond his capabilities. This experience and countless others I have had when playing with the "big boys" have strengthened my argument that one should play in Open sections to improve faster in chess.

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 h6

I normally do not like exchanging my dark-squared bishop for a knight early in the opening but this line is an exception. Retreating the bishop to h4 only invites ...g5, and black gets the opportunity to seize the initiative. Exchanging on f6, however, allows white to occupy e4 immediately, and retain the initiative.

4.Bxf6 Qxf6 5.e4 Nc6

Black has other choices besides the one played. [5...d6 ; 5...g6 ]

6.c3 g5

In my mind (be warned that these pronouncements are that of a Class A player who was a lifetime Expert before my rating floor was changed to 1900), this move is a little committal. Amateurs including myself tend to make inflexible moves. We tend to forget that pawns do not move backwards. Once pawns are fixed, they are subject to attack and they leave you with limited options. Pay attention to what happens to the g-pawn later in the game.

7.Bd3

Where to place your pieces in the opening is one facet of the game that presents many challenges especially to amateurs. The pawn structure arising from the opening system I employ in a game helps me decide where to place my minor pieces including which side of the board to castle. Playing the Torre Attack in the current game gives white a blueprint as to where the pieces should go. Growth in chess is demonstrated when one becomes aware of changes (subtle or obvious) in the position and knows when to adapt to the occurring change.

7...d6

I do not pretend to understand black's intent here but it is obvious he wants to stop e5 which will then give scope to my bishop on d3. Should black really need to prevent it? Could it be allowed so he could undermine it later to his advantage with ...d6? Does black plan to play ...e5 himself to ensure white's bishop on d3 will have no influence along the b1-h7 diagonal?

8.Na3

In chess, you need to try to understand the reasoning behind your opponent's moves. If you ignore your opponent's moves, you will only understand half of the game and in most cases it will be to your peril. Here is one example of when to deviate from the standard setup. I postponed castling on the kingside so as not to give black an invitation for a direct attack there. The other point of developing the queen's knight via a3 is to free d2 for the other knight on f3 in case black attacks it with ...g5, which is a likely possibility. I also have ideas of deploying a knight to e3. More importantly, it is a flexible move.

8...a6

Black is also getting ready to expand on the queenside in case I castle there on the next move. So, I answered with developing the queen. But why e2? It is the only candidate square left since c2 and d2 are possible squares for the knights.

9.Qe2 g4

And there it is... black attacks the knight while gaining a tempo. If this pawn gets fixed, I will be able to forcibly open the h-file.

10.Nd2 h5

As you can see the gained tempo is immediately spent because the g-pawn needs protection from the queen on e2. Black, in return, has gained space on that side of the board. Now, the move ...Bh6 looks inviting and is probably how black should continue because the bishop on this diagonal would accrue scope and would be unopposed. The queenside is looking to be the obvious home for the black king.

11.Nc2 Bh6 12.0-0-0

I had no other flexible move so I castled queenside. I was convinced black would castle there as well.

12...Bd7 13.Kb1

...played so the knight on d2 can move. If there is no direct threat to your pieces or to squares (enemy pieces threatening to control or occupy a key square), try to improve your pieces like unpinning them so they are ready for deployment. The best time to do it is usually when there are no threats needing attention to. The position at this point looks equal but I like black's chances on the kingside where he has more space.

13...e5

...a very logical continuation. I would play it too if I were black. Amateurs when confronted with situations like this one tend to resolve tensions immediately. I guess amateur minds dislike complexity so we simplify. So, it will be either capture on e5 or advance to d5. I can opt to maintain the pawn on d4 with Ndb3, but it will invite black to harass the knight on b3 with ...a6-a5-a4. Besides, the resulting position, if pawns are exchanged on d4 is not good for white. It is only black who will benefit from the resulting structure. However, when possible, one must learn to keep the tension. Avoid capturing defenseless pawns right away. Sometimes, a centralizing move is the better move. Do not be afraid to jettison a pawn if minor pieces are held to its defense. Or willingly sacrifice a pawn to ruin piece harmony or structure of the other side.

14.d5 Ne7 15.Nc4

I had to play this now if I wanted to place a knight on e3. Otherwise, ...b5 will control the c4-square. In my limited experience with the Torre Attack against a King's Indian setup, white benefits if he can place a knight on e3 to restrict black from playing ...f5. The game had evolved to almost look like a typical King's Indian expansion on the kingside except here it started not as one and the black king is still not castled.

15...Ng6

Black's previous move forced me to play g3, a move I was dying to play anyway to fixed the g4-pawn. I wondered why he opted not to chase my knight on c4 right away and gain space on the queenside. Had black done it first, it would dawn on him that the safest place for his king was in the middle. Sometimes you have to be careful not to make an obvious move so as not to force your opponent to play a good defensive move. Because doing so will eliminate the task of forcing your opponent find the defensive move on his own. The possibility of not finding it is already removed. In other words, you just helped your opponent unwittingly.

16.g3

Eagerly played to prevent ...Nf4 and to fix the g-pawn. But I was unhappy with my position because all chances seem to belong to black especially if he does not castle. He can play on both wings. I resigned to the sad prospect of waiting for black's attack.

16...Rb8

...and here he comes. But then I thought I should take advantage of the vulnerable position of the queen to the possible opening of the f-file. I was not afraid of my rook being pinned by ...Bg4 since the queen on f6 has to move first because it would be attacked by the rook and was undefended whereas my queen on e2 is defended by the bishop on d3, so I played the next move.

17.Rdf1

The game up to this point according to Rybka and Fritz is still equal.

17...0-0?!

I could not believe black castled into a possible attack which was my only avenue of any counter play. I started to get excited. The black player is known in Colorado circles as a methodical and solid player. Reflecting on this game now, it came to me that the gift became possible only because white pieces were ready for an attack there. The danger did not look obvious to black because my piece placements were not obviously directed for such an attack. I would look like a "genius" here and it would seem that I carefully masked my intentions but the reality could not be farther from the truth. My esteemed opponent simply made a strategic error.

18.N4e3

Now, I am threatening to play f3 and in panic black came up with a wasted tempo.

18...Qe7?!

Bad move as it gave me opportunity to continue with my next move. Be alert for new opportunities. Be careful, however, that the perceived "new" opportunities are indeed superior to the original plan. Otherwise, distractions can be dangerous. On the other hand, inflexibility can be equally ruinous because it inhibits creativity.

19.Nf5 Qg5 20.Nce3

This move was fun to make because it gave the impression that I would recapture with the knight on f5 if black takes the other knight with the bishop. Also, I had to prevent black from bailing out with ...Qd2. Very tricky. This possibility was actually seen on the board during the game.

20...Bxf5

What can I say? It worked.

21.exf5

I might have said in my mind, "Sorry, just kidding. I really wanted to occupy f5 with a pawn."

21...Ne7

Be careful where you place your pieces because sometimes they can reduce escape squares for your valuable piece like the queen in this game. When you only have one square left for your queen if attacked, the situation is almost always bad for you. Never plug your own escape squares.

22.h3!

Here is one example of a position where the need to calculate concrete variations have become unnecessary. The move invites itself. This is where intuition or "feel" comes in. You just know sometimes that some moves are intrinsically good. Also, f3 is no longer possible because the knight on e3 will be en prise.

22...Bg7

The bishop hopes to take the place of providing shield to the hapless king abandoned by the valiant g-pawn.

23.hxg4 hxg4 24.Rh4

The rest is easy.

24...c6 25.Rxg4 Qf6 26.Rh4 cxd5 27.Qh5 Qh6 28.Qg4

I like this move because it pins the bishop on g7 and makes the mate on h8 impossible to defend once the rooks are connected on the h-file.

Finding good moves becomes easier when your pieces are harmonious and structure is favorable. I consider this game as one of my satisfying games. You can tell when moves are not wasted in the opening when the game concludes and all pieces were developed. The fixed g-pawn became black's undoing in this game. 1-0