Winning without doing anything

[Roger de Coverly]

I can be amazed sometimes how it's possible to win quickly with the Black pieces without actually doing very much and in a mostly positional opening for good measure.

Here's the position

r4rk1/1pqbbppp/p7/3Qp3/8/1P3P2/PBP3PP/2KR2NR b - - 0 14

and here's how we got there

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. e3 c5 4. d4 Nd7 5. Bb5 Qc7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O cxd4 9. exd4 O-O 10. f3 a6 11. Bxd7 Bxd7 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Qxd5

The idea of setting up a Breyer/Chigorin position against Bb5 plans is one of my pet resources

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Roger,

I've won more than my fair share of games under 20 moves and a lot more with Black.

It seems the average White player is less alert than with Black and theory dodgers
(1.b3 ) often make it up as they go along thinking because they are then you are
and play neat cute 'rule of thumb' developing moves

Moves like 10.f3 are encouraging to see as Black and he should have swapped
on e5 before 0-0-0 allowing Black to play...cxd4 with an attack down the c-file.

But easing the central tension is not a good rule of thumb as it allows Black to
equalise not realising that the game was equal the moment they played 1.b3.


Did you sac your Queen?

From the first diagram 14...Bf5 15.Rd3(best?) Rac8. 16.Rc3 Qxc3!

[Roger de Coverly]

From the first diagram 14...Bf5 15.Rd3(best?) Rac8. 16.Rc3 Qxc3!

15. Qc4 was played and I just went into the better ending with 15. .. Qxc4. An engine reckons 15. .. Qb6 is quite a bit better ( I only analysed 15. .. Qa5 which can be met by 16. Qc3)

[LawrenceCooper]

I can be amazed sometimes how it's possible to win quickly with the Black pieces without actually doing very much and in a mostly positional opening for good measure.

Here's the position

r4rk1/1pqbbppp/p7/3Qp3/8/1P3P2/PBP3PP/2KR2NR b - - 0 14

and here's how we got there

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. e3 c5 4. d4 Nd7 5. Bb5 Qc7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O cxd4 9. exd4 O-O 10. f3 a6 11. Bxd7 Bxd7 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Qxd5

The idea of setting up a Breyer/Chigorin position against Bb5 plans is one of my pet resources

Without any knowledge of the line it looks to me as though white should exchange on e5 very early and target the d5 square. Castling queenside and allowing the c file to be opened looks risky/suicidal.

[Chris Goodall]

Moves like 10.f3 are encouraging to see as Black

I have a rule of thumb for these tension-free positions: find the least productive move on the board (which doesn't just lose material). If it turns out to be the same move you were about to play, play something different.

Is 10.Nd5 on? Same idea as the game but without giving Black the tempo to chase the bishop away?

[Roger de Coverly]

Is 10.Nd5 on? Same idea as the game but without giving Black the tempo to chase the bishop away?

10 dxe5 has to be played first, else the Nd5 is just hanging to the Nf6. Black probably replies 10. .. Nxe5 when the game is about equal according to engines and the pawn on d6 is secure for the time being.

[J T Melsom]

What's wrong with simply playing 5 d x e5?

[Roger de Coverly]

What's wrong with simply playing 5 d x e5?

Also certainly nothing. Black can take with the d7 Knight instead of the pawn which isn't possible once it's pinned by Bb5. But if 4. .. Nd7 is a marginally dodgy novelty, the exact position hasn't been seen before, so how should white play it?

[J T Melsom]

From what I can establish white is graded some twenty points lower, plays an irregular opening, is confronted by a dodgy or unbalancing move 4, and then picks the wrong response. I'm a bit weaker than white but I wouldn't choose Bb5 and certainly wouldn't castle queenside, the only side of the board where white is likely to get open lines. Perhaps your opponent was just intimidated by your reputation

[Chris Goodall]

Is 10.Nd5 on? Same idea as the game but without giving Black the tempo to chase the bishop away?

10 dxe5 has to be played first, else the Nd5 is just hanging to the Nf6.

It's not, because 11.dxe5 and 12.exd6 wins the piece back but Black can go 11...Nxe5 if he doesn't like that, so it amounts to the same as 10.dxe5. I like forcing moves is all

[Roger de Coverly]

It's not, because 11.dxe5 and 12.exd6 wins the piece back

Not after Nd7-b6 it doesn't, as the now defended Knight on d5 shields the d file allowing a recapture on d6.

[Chris Goodall]

It's not, because 11.dxe5 and 12.exd6 wins the piece back

Not after Nd7-b6 it doesn't, as the now defended Knight on d5 shields the d file allowing a recapture on d6.

If all those pieces are safe, I'm going to be annoyed with the chess gods. Bc4 if queen takes, or Qd4 (forcing f-pawn to move) and then Bc4 if bishop takes?

[Roger de Coverly]

If all those pieces are safe, I'm going to be annoyed with the chess gods.

An engine reckons so. Don't forget that the Bishop on d6 can go to f4 with check or winning the Queen on d2.

[Chris Goodall]

Don't forget that the Bishop on d6 can go to f4 with check

and then back to h6 to cover g7.

And then I say to the spectators "D'oh, I didn't see the knight on f6" and win all their lunch money.