Analysis – Page 6 – On The Road to Chess Master

Lucky, Not Good

There is a saying that it’s better to be lucky that good, but that’s not the case in chess. OK, rating wise, who doesn’t want some luck, but that won’t make you better in the long run.

Take this position from the game Wainscott – Gill from two days ago.

1r6/1r3pbk/1p4pp/p1p1p3/Q1P5/P3B3/1q1R1PPP/3R2K1 b - - 0 34 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.

Seeing the threat against the queen the instinct is to move it. So Governor plays 34…Qc3, but now after 35.Rc2 the queen is lost.

1r6/1r3pbk/1p4pp/p1p1p3/Q1P5/P1q1B3/2R2PPP/3R2K1 b - - 0 35 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.

However, had he fought the instinct to move the attacked piece and looked a bit deeper perhaps he would have found 34…b5, which saves the queen with a nice counterattack.

1r6/1r3pbk/6pp/ppp1p3/Q1P5/P3B3/1q1R1PPP/3R2K1 w - - 0 35 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.

So all in all I’ll take it, but I am not in any way satisfied with my play in this game. I felt I was better, but then 29…Qh4 fell from the sky like a Thunderbolt and I was in some pretty serious trouble.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

Strongest Win Ever (Wainscott – Wallach 1-0)

This game was my third of the day on the first day of the USATN last weekend in Schaumburg.

I haven’t analyzed it deeply but here is what I have.

[Event "USATN"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.02.18"] [Round "3"] [White "Wainscott, Chris"] [Black "Wallach, Ken"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A43"] [WhiteElo "1802"] [BlackElo "2270"] [PlyCount "171"] 1. d4 c5 2. d5 f5 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 g6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Qc2 Bg7 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 Na6 9. a3 Nc7 10. O-O a6 {This seems like a lot of pawn moves for Black, but I wasn’t really surprised since I know that Philidor is Ken’s favorite player and that he likes these types of positions. I’m sure I mangled whatever theory there is here, but I was just trying to develop with a bit of harmony.} 11. Rb1 Rb8 12. b4 Qe8 13. bxc5 dxc5 14. Na4 Nd7 15. Bb2 e5 16. dxe6 Nxe6 17. Bxg7 Nxg7 18. Nb6 Qe6 19. Nxc8 Rfxc8 20. Rb3 Re8 21. Rfb1 b6 22. Rd1 Nh5 23. Qc1 Nhf6 24. Ng5 Qe7 25. Nh3 Ne5 26. Bf1 Red8 27. Rxd8+ Qxd8 28. Nf4 Qd6 29. Nd3 Nfg4 30. f4 Nf7 31. Nf2 Nxf2 32. Kxf2 Re8 33. Rd3 Qe7 34. g3 Nh6 35. Bg2 Ng4+ 36. Kg1 Nxe3 $2 37. Bc6 $1 {I saw this tactic instantly, which made me feel good.} Ng4 38. Bxe8 Qxe8 39. Qd2 Qe4 40. Rb3 Qe6 41. Qd5 Qxd5 42. cxd5 b5 43. Rd3 Kf7 44. d6 Ke8 45. d7+ Kd8 46. Rd6 a5 47. Rd5 b4 48. axb4 axb4 49. Rxc5 Kxd7 50. Rb5 Nf6 {Here Ken offered me a draw. I wasn’t sure if this endgame was actually winning for me, but I did know that I could play all night risk free on the increment.} 51. Rxb4 Ke6 52. h3 h5 53. Kg2 Nd5 54. Rb7 Kf6 55. Kf3 Ke6 56. Ke2 Kf6 ({I received messages from two friends, one a young master rated 2240 and one from an elite GM both of whom told me that this move would have drawn.} 56... h4 57. gxh4 {This seems to allow a fortess.} (57. Kf3 {This on the other hand seems to still be winning.} hxg3 58. Kxg3) 57... Nxf4+ 58. Kf3 Nh5) 57. Kd3 Ke6 58. Kd4 Ne7 59. Rb6+ ({Here I missed a much easier win with.} 59. Rxe7+ Kxe7 60. Ke5 Kf7 61. Kd6 Kf6 62. h4 Kf7 63. Kd7 Kf6 64. Ke8 Kg7 65. Ke7 Kh6 66. Kf8 Kh7 67. Kf7 Kh6 {I had calculated all the way to here, but for some reason thought that Black could just go back and forth between h6 and h7. As GM Josh Friedel pointed out to me in the lobby after this game I completely missed} 68. Kg8 {Mostly I blame this on the fact that it’s hard to calculate at the end of the third game in one day.} g5) 59... Kf7 60. Ke5 Ng8 61. Rb7+ Kf8 62. Rh7 Ne7 63. Ke6 Nc6 64. Kf6 Kg8 65. Rg7+ Kh8 66. Rxg6 Kh7 67. Rg7+ Kh6 68. Rc7 Nd4 69. Rc8 Kh7 70. Rc7+ Kh6 71. Rc8 Kh7 72. Re8 h4 73. gxh4 Nf3 74. Kxf5 Nxh4+ 75. Kg4 Ng6 76. h4 Kg7 77. Kg5 Kf7 78. Ra8 Nf8 79. Rxf8+ Kxf8 80. Kg6 Kg8 81. h5 Kh8 82. h6 Kg8 83. f5 Kh8 84. Kf7 Kh7 85. Ke7 Kxh6 86. f6 1-0 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

Coons – Wainscott 1/2-1/2

Last night I played my first game since the beginning of the Book Challenge. I felt that I played well enough in the opening, then stumbled a bit followed by opponent missing a forced (though a long line) mate.

So all in all a bit of luck can often go a long way.

[Event "Bountiful Bread and Breakfast Quad"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.02.16"] [Round "2"] [White "Coons, James"] [Black "Wainscott, Chris"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E97"] [WhiteElo "1867"] [BlackElo "1804"] [PlyCount "52"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 Nh5 10. Re1 {Rats. Jim is now playing the mainline, which is not what I prepped for. He used to play} (10. c5 f5 11. Ng5 {Here I was going to play} Nf4 {as I have studied this line from Kotronias’s third book on the KID by Quality Chess.}) 10... f5 11. Ng5 Nf4 {I spent a few minutes trying to suss out any differences between 10.c5 and 10.Re1. Clearly the bishop can now retreat to f1. but does that make this move unplayable? After a few minutes of thought I didn’t see anything major and decided to go for it.} (11... Nf6 { This is the main move, but truth be told I hadn’t looked much at this line recently which is why I didn’t play it.}) 12. Bf1 h6 13. Nf3 {Here I felt I had already equalized, which is quite a nice feeling against Coons since he has a reputation of destroying the King’s Indian.} fxe4 14. Nxe4 Bf5 {I’d rather have the knight here, but that is currently impossible due to} (14... Nf5 15. g3 Nh5 16. g4) (14... Bg4 {Objectively this is probably a better square for this bishop since with the bishop on f5 White is about to cause me to have to defend quite accurately.}) 15. Bxf4 ({Now if White tried to kick the knight with} 15. g3 {he winds up in huge trouble after} Nh3+ 16. Bxh3 ({ Even worse is} 16. Kg2) 16... Bxh3 {and those tender light squares around the king look like a sign of trouble to come.}) 15... exf4 16. Rc1 g5 ({I’d like to play} 16... Bd7 {because I’d like f5 for my knight, but then White gains a ton of space with} 17. c5 Nf5 18. c6 bxc6 19. dxc6) 17. Nd4 Bxd4 {This felt forced since after} (17... Bd7 18. Ne6 Bxe6 19. dxe6 {Black has to be very careful.}) 18. Qxd4 Ng6 19. f3 {This is an excellent example of a good prophylactic move.. I don’t have a dark squared bishop to exploit the opening of the g1-a7 diagonal and it prevents me from playing f3 myself.} Ne5 20. c5 Kh7 {I was having a hard time finding any sort of active plan here, so it was here that I realized I was going to have to prepare to defend.} 21. cxd6 cxd6 { Here Jim reached for the pawn on d6 and then stopped as he saw that I could take on f3 with check. After calculating a few minutes more he went ahead and played} 22. Nxd6 Nxf3+ 23. gxf3 Qxd6 24. Bd3 {I’m assuming this is the move that he found when he hesitated to take on d6 earlier.} Kg8 $4 {I wanted to just get out of the pin and figured that after} 25. Bc4 $4 (25. Bxf5 Rxf5 26. Re6 Qxd5 {I would be fine. However, this position was gnawing at me for quite some time, so I put it in the engine where I found that it’s a huge blunder.} 27. Rg6+ {And now mate after} Kf7 28. Qg7+ Ke8 29. Re1+ Kd8 30. Qe7+ Kc8 31. Rc1+ Kb8 32. Qc7#) 25... Rac8 26. Bb3 Kh7 {Moving off of the a2-g8 diagonal to end any tactical ideas of bringing a rook to the 7th followed by d6 discovered check. Here I offered a draw which was accepted.} 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

Wainscott – Gerlach

Here is my game from Thursday night. I will pick up on the Quality Chess project in earnest over the weekend.

[Event "Bountiful Bread and Breakfast Quad"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.02.09"] [Round "1"] [White "Wainscott, Chris"] [Black "Gerlach, Andrew"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E94"] [WhiteElo "1804"] [BlackElo "1753"] [PlyCount "49"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 Na6 7. O-O e5 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. Bg5 {I don’t really know what to play against the 6…Na6 line, so this is what I go with.} Qe8 10. a3 c6 11. Qd6 Qe6 12. Rad1 Qxd6 13. Rxd6 Ne8 14. Rd8 $2 {This is a move that optically looks better than it is since it looks like White is penetrating into Black’s camp. However, as you will see in just a couple of moves this is all illusory and a compete waste of time.} ( 14. Rd2 {Retaining temporary control of the d file and not wasting tempi.} Nec7 ) 14... f6 15. Be3 Nec7 16. Rfd1 Be6 17. R8d6 Rfe8 18. R6d2 Bf8 19. b4 b6 20. h3 Be7 21. Kf1 Rad8 {Here I was offered a draw.} 22. b5 {I felt the need to try to press a little to see if my opponent would crumble at all, which he did not.} (22. Nd5 {This seems interesting. The knight is immune from capture as} cxd5 23. exd5 Bf7 24. d6 Bf8 25. dxc7 {regains the piece.}) (22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Rxd8+ Bxd8 24. Nd2 {My opponent and I looked at this line after the game. Objectively it’s no better than any other try, but perhaps this followed by trying to expand a bit on the queenside would have been a better idea.}) 22... Rxd2 (22... cxb5 23. cxb5 Rxd2 24. Rxd2 Nc5) 23. Rxd2 cxb5 24. cxb5 Nc5 25. Bd1 {With the pawn structure the way it was on the board I decided to offer the draw myself now, which my opponent accepted.} 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott