| Mar-18-20 | | ewan14: Wild game |
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| Mar-18-20 | | Steve.Patzer: 4.....Nc6 seems better. |
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Mar-18-20
 | | An Englishman: Good Afternoon: Also prefer 4...Nc6, but 4...d5 does OK in the database. 7...c5 appears in only four games; Black did well in them. 10.Be2 and 11.Nf3 start to take the game into new territory. Wondering about 10...Ne8 intending ...Nd6 as a possible improvement. |
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| Mar-18-20 | | asiduodiego: I don't like 4 ... Nc6. I think Black eventually needs to use the c-pawn to challenge White's attack in the center. Just as a matter of taste, I don't like the Nimzo-Indian: basically is saying to White "All right, you get the center, but I put pressure in your knight". But after a3, Black needs to decide to either trade the Bishop, or retreat. I like better the King's Indian Defence, if you are planning an hyper-modern opening. |
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| Mar-18-20 | | e4Newman: white wins this all day long |
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| Mar-18-20 | | Ulhumbrus: After 6...dxe4 White's f3 pawn ends up getting drawn on to the square d5, leaving White's c pawn on c4 so that White has a protected passed pawn on d5, one which threatens to advance at any moment. In comparison with this one alternative to 6...dxe4 is 6...dxc4 so that after 7 Bxc4 c5 8 d5 it is White's e pawn instead of White's f3 pawn which ends up getting drawn on to d5, leaving White's f3 pawn on f3 while White's c pawn is removed so that the d pawn is not a protected passed pawn. After 12...Nbd7 White's protected passed pawn on d5 can be called a permanent endgame advantage and so a static endgame weapon. Perhaps because of this Alekseenko does not expect Caruana to use his d pawn instead as a dynamic middlegame weapon and so to advance it as quickly as Caruana does. Perhaps this is a lesson in the art of how to use a protected passed pawn. |
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| Mar-18-20 | | sudoplatov: 4...c5 is more in the spirit of Nimzovich and the Nimzo Indian. 4.f3 was very popular when I was in grad school (the last time I played seriously, about 1970). I preferred 4...c5 then followed by ...d6 and ...e5. As long as White is committed to a White Square Pawn structure, Black might as well grab the Black Squares. Here trading the Bishop for White's Knight should be OK if it doubles the White Pawns. I never liked the plans with ...d5 for Black in the Nimzo; I always felt I was playing a Queen's Gambit Declined with a misplaced Bishop. However, this plan seems to do OK in practice. |
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| Mar-18-20 | | sudoplatov: A bit more analysis from an online computer (I think Stockfish) likes 15...Qb6 better than ...Re6. Further probing shows both leading to an advantage to White. It looks like Black's game is drifting badly by move nine. Perhaps ...c5 here isn't that good. (Does ...c5 need ...Bxc3 to work?) |
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| Mar-18-20 | | Carrots and Pizza: What's the point of playing the Nimzo Indian if you are going to play 5...Be7 and not take on c3, doubling White's pawns? |
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| Mar-18-20 | | sudoplatov: And further along, 23...Nf6 is preferred by the computer to ...Bd6. Black gets to exchange the Bishop on e4. Still shows an advantage for White. 27...h5 is seens by the machine as an error; evaluation drops about three Pawns worth for Black. 27...Rc6 is preferred. (I did note that both players generally see farther than the computer does.) |
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| Mar-18-20 | | MordimerChess: The highest ranked player of the tournament plays against the lowest ranked player who is qualified with wild card. The difference in experience and skills is visible, mainly in time spent for the moves. Move 27 - Alekseenko still has to make 14 moves and he has... 5 minutes on the clock + incrementation. But that gives less than 1 minute / move. Caruana at the same moment has more than 1 hour. Huge disproportion. Moves:
27...h5?
28...Bf8?
were just the effect of the time troubles. With 27...Rc6 28. Rg1 Bf8 ⩲ black could have chances to survive the attack. https://youtu.be/0hhRN6_94mQ
Enjoy the youtube video commentary ;) |
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| Mar-18-20 | | sudoplatov: Perhaps 19...Nxg4 followed by ...Rg4+ may be better than the ...Bxg4 but I didn't look long enough.f ...Rc6 looks good to the computer for several moves. On 27...Rc6 though White has 28.Ne3 bringing another minor piece into the attack. Strategically, it's pretty hard to defend against an extra piece when having some Pawn weaknesses. |
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| Mar-18-20 | | SChesshevsky: <Alekseenko does not expect Caruana to use his d pawn... to advance it as quickly as Caruana does...> Think it was probably some very good prep by Caruana. At least by the CG database good chance Alekseenko plays QGA or Nimzo. But very difficult to anticipate Caruana playing Nimzo Kmoch f3 variation. Could be 13. d6 cooked up at home. Seems pretty effective too as it felt that Alekseenko was always looking for first chance to get rid of it. CG computer doesn't seem to even like a rushed 26...Bxd6 as it looks to prefer just moving the N and taking with the Q. Wonder if stronger computer calc confirms? |
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| Mar-19-20 | | Eyal: <Could be 13. d6 cooked up at home. Seems pretty effective too as it felt that Alekseenko was always looking for first chance to get rid of it. CG computer doesn't seem to even like a rushed 26 [23?]...Bxd6 as it looks to prefer just moving the N and taking with the Q. Wonder if stronger computer calc confirms?> It seems likely that 23...Bxd6 (instead of Nf6) kind of tips the game from "big advantage" to just winning for White. After Nf6, White would at least have to part with one minor piece in order to get that fantastic post on d5. In the post-game interview, Caruana gave the line 23…Nf6 24.Re1 Nxe4 25.Rxe4 Qxd6 26.Nd5 Qg6+ (26…b5 27.b3 bxc4 28.bxc4 Rb8 is probably a better fighting chance for Black according to the comp, but his position is still very unpleasant) 27.Qg2 Qxg2+ (27...Qxe4?? 28.Nf6+) 28.Kxg2 and this is definitely better for White - three pawns for the piece is not enough compensation for the strong knight on d5, as it is hard/impossible for Black to advance the pawns at all. Going back, it seems that Black's troubles really started with 15...Re6?; In that post-game interview, Caruana said diplomatically that it's "very sharp and concrete, but even unusual moves are not necessarily bad"; to be honest, it's a lousy move. As it turns out, the rook does not seriously threaten the d-pawn, and is just not well placed either here or on e4.The critical line is probably 15...Rb8! 16.Nc7 Re4 17.Bd3 Bxd6 18.Bxe4 Qxc7 where Black has good compensation for the exchange. Going a bit further back, Caruana's 13.d6, which is very sharp and double-edged, might be White's only way to really fight for an advantage. The point is that in several variations of this 4.f3 Nimzo line Black plays Bd6 earlier and then White can attack it with Nb5; but once Nbd7 has been played, if Black gets Bd6 it can retreat to b8 in such a case. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o-... |
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| Mar-27-20 | | Everett: 7...e5 is my preferred way to play such structures. White wants to crush Black in the f3 lines, and an early ..e5 says “no, you will not” quite clearly |
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| Jun-12-20 | | Richangles: For all those inexperienced players who say that 1.d4 is dull and strategical, use this game as a reference of how highly tactical it can be! |
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| Apr-11-21 | | mathlover: being dull is different than being stratergic |
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Kibitzing
sac: 30.Nxh5+