English Chess Forum

Interesting game. Is that early queen exchange theory? And looking at the later part of the game (not having looked at this on a computer, Carl doesn't seem to have found the resources yet for parallel computer engine analysis to go with the PGN display) is the piece sacrifice sound? PS. I'm forgetting my manners. Congratulations to the junior (Theodore)!

The early queen exchange is theory, yes. Theo informed me afterwards that I'd played that line twice before, against Richard Pert and Martin Taylor, and that in both games I'd played 9...e6.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:Interesting game. Is that early queen exchange theory?

Certainly is. The other idea is to play 8 .. Nc6 so as to provoke White to take on b6. I remember Mark Hebden using a new idea as Black against Tony Miles at the 2000 British. A couple of weeks later, I borrowed it (as Black) to get a draw against a local player that I otherwise have bad results against.

It might seem odd to deliberately allow doubled and isolated pawns, but any sense of positional propriety has to be abandoned when playing the Tromp. Or at least that's the way it seemed the last time I went anywhere near it.

Roger de Coverly wrote: It might seem odd to deliberately allow doubled and isolated pawns, but any sense of positional propriety has to be abandoned when playing the Tromp. Or at least that's the way it seemed the last time I went anywhere near it.

I had this Tromp game recently that also featured a queen exchange on b6 to double those pawns (though these ones were not isolated). It is very short, so I'll give it here. Not the best of games, but I was pleased to be able to use both my King and bishop to form part of the pawn chain to lock up most of the board...

[Event "Maidenhead A vs Richmond B"] [Site "St Luke's Church, Maidenhead"] [Round ""] [Date "2013.01.28"] [White "Wager, John"] [Black "Kreuzer, Chris"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.c4 c6 4.Bxf6 gxf6 5.e3 Bf5 6.Nc3 e6 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.Qxb6 axb6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Nge2 Bd6 11.Ng3 Bg6 12.Kd2 Ke7 13.Bd3 Ke6 14.f4 f5 15.h4 h5 16.a3 Nd7 17.Nge2 Ra7 18.Ra2 Rha8 19.Rha1 b5 ½-½

Ironically, in the final position, my computer engine (Fritz 6, so YMMV) starts out assessing it as about +0.3 for White and then slowly turns to -0.4 in Black's favour. Probably still objectively drawn, and we were both happy with the draw at that point.

Personally, I think White should have done cxd5 before Qb3, if you take with the e pawn Black's king side is looking artificial, if you take with the c pawn then Qb3 is a better idea, then Qb6 you just take and the Bishop of f5 maybe slightly misplaced if White quickly attacks the queenside

Going back to the original game, I had a interesting game against David Howell back in 2003, where Black played the Nc6 line, where after Qxb6 bxc6, Nd4 e5, Nxc6 exf4, Nd4 then white can play the interesting e4 and after en passent can play Ke2 and Ke3

Some people recommend that Qd8 instead of Qb6 is a better line for black

That result makes me feel slightly better about this: [Event "e2e4.org.uk Torquay Open"] [Site "Imperial Hotel, Torquay, Engla"] [Date "2013.02.10"] [Round "5"] [White "Slade, Theodore"] [Black "Thompson, Robert"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "1775"] [BlackElo "1954"] [PlyCount "55"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 g6 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. c4 Bg7 5. Nc3 f5 6. e3 O-O 7. Nge2 d6 8. g3 Nd7 9. Bg2 Nf6 10. O-O Re8 11. Qd3 c6 12. b4 Qc7 13. a4 a5 14. b5 c5 15. Nf4 cxd4 16. exd4 Be6 17. Nfd5 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. Bxd5 Qb6 20. Rfd1 Re7 21. Rac1 Rc8 22. Qd2 Bf6 23. Kg2 Kg7 24. Rc2 h6 25. Qd3 Kh7 26. h4 h5 27. Rcd2 Bg7 28. Qf3 1/2-1/2

Astonishing result. To think - Jack drew a game!

However, White can play on, I think? I can see that the position looks scary, and that Jack will see any tactical shot in the blink of an eyelid. But negotiating your way through challenges like this is one key step to becoming a better player.

Jonathan Rogers wrote:Astonishing result. To think - Jack drew a game!

However, White can play on, I think? I can see that the position looks scary, and that Jack will see any tactical shot in the blink of an eyelid. But negotiating your way through challenges like this is one key step to becoming a better player.

Jack drawn with Peter at Coulsdon chess international last year it stopped Jack winning event outright

Still good result by the lad to work out a good system against Jack opening.

its a lovely day sun is out and its almost time for lunch