Alexander B King vs Scott Thomson (2021)

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Alexander B King vs Scott Thomson
Peter P Lahde Tennessee Open (2021), Jackson, TN USA, rd 1, Oct-16
Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange. Positional Variation (D35) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Oct-23-21		keypusher: 1.d4 Nf6? My earliest-ever blunder. Having dipped into my modest Game Collection: An Opening Repertoire for Black -- Marovic/Parma, I had planned to play 1….d5 so that I could meet 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 with 3….Be7, sidestepping the Carlsbad/QGD Exchange Variation. But seated at the board, I plonked out the standard 1...Nf6 without thinking and wound up in a Carlsbad after all. 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Nge2 Marovic and Parma don’t cover this line, though it goes back at least to Botvinnik vs Keres, 1952. I knew generally that I was supposed to 1. trade bishops and 2. not get horribly squashed in the center. Unfortunately I only managed to carry out the first half of this plan. 8….c6 9.Qc2 Re8 10.0-0 Nf8 During the post-mortem, a rather irritating kibitzer expressed doubt about this move, but it’s book. Sadly, the knight on f8 winds up being probably my best-placed piece. 11.f3 Nh5 The kibitzer scorned this move also -- it’s a comfort that I beat him in a later game. Alex King explained in the post-mortem that the normal continuation is 11….Be6, and if White lurches forward immediately with 12.e4?!, then ...dxe4 13….fxe4 Ng4! is strong. After the exchange of bishops Black threatens a fork at e3, and if 15.Qd2 Black flicks in ...c5 to try to gain e5 for his knight. In any event, as King said White can make all sorts of strengthening moves before pushing the e-pawn forward, and it’s challenging for Black to generate counterplay in the meantime. 12.Bxe7 Rxe7 With the vague idea of keeping d4 under attack. 13.e4 Nf6? After 13….dxe4 14.fxe4 Ne6! 15.d5 Nc5 followed by ...Nf6 (SF), Black is OK! This is pretty dynamic stuff to be playing against someone rated over 500 points higher, but there’s no other way to handle the line for Black. After the text move the SF eval goes immediately to about +1.9. 14.e5 N6d7? And now it goes higher still. ...Ne8 was a little better. 15.f4 f6 This is SF’s top choice (and the other lines all feature ...f6 in a move or two), which shows how dreadful Black’s position is. The eval is well over +3 at this point. After this King just continued to make solid, strengthening moves until I collapsed. He didn’t always select the engine’s favorite, but that was hardly necessary. 16.Rf3 fxe5? Excessively cooperative. Note that after fxe5 and doubling rooks on the f-file, the knight on d7 will be soldered in place because of the threat of Rxf8+, and if I move my rook back to e8, the f7 square will be free for the taking. 17.fxe5 b6 Another admission of futility. 18.Raf1 Bb7 19.Nf4 Qe8 As my opponent showed me afterwards, if I’d played 19….Nb8, White has 20.Bxh7+ Nxh7 21.Qxh7+ Kxh7 22.Rh3+ Kg8 23.Ng6 followed by mate. 19….Nb8? Well, given some of the other moves I played, I suppose he had grounds for hope. 20.Rh3 g6 21.Rg3 Rg6 22.h4 Ne6 23.Nxe6 Qxe6 24.Ne4! As we discussed afterwards, this is the sort of thing that happens to you when you have a really horrible position. 24….Rf8 25.Rxf8+ Kxf8 26.Ng5! King’s main challenge was that he had several promising possibilities on every move, but this is the best square for the knight. 26….Qe7 27.e6 Nf6 28.Rf3 Ke8 28….Kg8 is not better. 29.Qf2 Ng4 I was going to play ...Ne4 and try eke out a few more moves of misery, but in fact 30.Bxe4 dxe4 31.Rf7 Rxf7 32.exf7+ wins immediately. After the text move, the world ends not with a whimper, but a bang. The funny thing is, in the finale it turns out that I again can’t cover f7 and f8 at the same time.

Oct-23-21		Great Bear: 32. Rf8 !, next move is mate. If ... Kf8 33. Qd8 # or Ke7 33. Qd8 #

Oct-24-21		FSR: Personally, I would always play 3...Bb4!, but obviously 3...d5 is playable.

Oct-24-21		saffuna: From the cb database: <3...Bb4 33,139 3...d5 14,529 3...c5 1,127>

Oct-24-21		FSR: <saffuna> Yes. Opening Explorer shows that both 3...Bb4 and (to my surprise) 3...c5 score much better than 3...d5. (Sam Shankland has gone so far as to describe 3.Nf3 as "a better move" than 3.Nc3, precisely because it doesn't allow the Nimzo. There is also 3.g3, or course, although then Opening Explorer indicates that 3...c5!? even gives Black a plus score.) Opening Explorer shows that White gets a monster score after 3...d5 4.exd5!, as King played. This can be ameliorated a bit by responding 4...Nxd5, the Semi-Tarrasch (still 62.6% for White, though there are subvariations where Black keeps White's percentage lower than that), rather than the more common 4...exd5, allowing the Carlsbad, where White scores a walloping 65.3%. Opening Explorer That is among the worst scores of any mainstream opening for Black. Portisch once said, in a foreword to one of Adorjan's books, (IIRC) "Black is indeed OK, but only if he plays the right openings." I avoid openings that score poorly.

Oct-24-21		keypusher: <FSR> <saffuna> I think someone down at my level shouldn’t worry too much about openings. And Alex King is going to beat me no matter what opening is used. But I didn’t do myself any favors with my first three moves. I’m playing OTB for the first time in many years, and playing a number of new openings. For White I’m using Watson’s strategic opening repertoire book. Like all his books, it’s thoroughly researched and worked out. However, since it’s based on d4, c4, Nc3 whenever possible against all openings, you find yourself playing against the Nimzo, and since it’s “strategic” you don’t play anything too sharp. So if I stick with it, I think I’m going to find myself in some real slogs against the Nimzo and, e.g., the Slav. I already have!

Oct-24-21		keypusher: <FSR> I think ...c5 scores well because it’s played by stronger, better-booked players. The frequency an opening is chosen, as well as its success rate, goes to how good it is. Of course 3....Bb4 scores well by both measures.

Jun-17-22		jerseybob: <12.Bxe7 Rxe7 With the vague idea of keeping d4 under attack.> I've never seen that rook recapture in a QGD before, but it looks good here. <13.e4 Nf6? After 13….dxe4 14.fxe4 Ne6! 15.d5 Nc5 followed by ...Nf6 (SF), Black is OK!> I agree, and 13...dxe4 looks so logical, but it's amazing how our brains lock up at the wrong time! And one mistake often leads to another.

Jul-28-23		Fusilli: <jerseybob: <12.Bxe7 Rxe7 With the vague idea of keeping d4 under attack.> I've never seen that rook recapture in a QGD before> I happened to play exactly the same position with black up to 12.Bxe7 in an open last year. My opponent was a player way below Alex King's level. I recaptured with the queen but got myself in trouble later when I neglected to play c5 at the right time. (The game ended up in a draw. It's not in this database.) There is nothing wrong with 11...Nh5. I'd play it again in the same position. I would follow up better than I did in that game though. Overall, this is one of those openings where black needs to know the middlegame ideas. Figuring them out on the board is hard, and I would not be too hard on myself (and <keypusher>, you shouldn't either IMHO) for not doing so. As I said, I played it poorly too, but was lucky my opponent was not Alex King. The permanent latent threat of a powerful white center is scary. And it's pretty comfortable for white. If I face it again, I know what to play for now.

Jul-28-23		perfidious: On playing through this game, it seemed curious that I had not commented at the time; then I realised I flew from Las Vegas to Charlotte overnight, then home the morning of the 24th. Have vague recollections of wandering through the airport in Charlotte in a daze that Sunday morn. <jerseybob: <12.Bxe7 Rxe7 With the vague idea of keeping d4 under attack.> I've never seen that rook recapture in a QGD before, but it looks good here.> Used to play the QGD Exchange, but with the normal Nf3, and never saw ....Rxe7 either so far as I recall. <<13.e4 Nf6? After 13….dxe4 14.fxe4 Ne6! 15.d5 Nc5 followed by ...Nf6 (SF), Black is OK!> I agree, and 13...dxe4 looks so logical, but it's amazing how our brains lock up at the wrong time!> Been there, done that, more than I care to remember. Something to be borne in mind is the switch in the type of game; things had been on positional lines in a fixed structure, but the idea suggested is a transition to a much more fluid type of middlegame, with play reminiscent of the open games. For even strong players, the psychological adjustment can be a difficult one, which, in my mind, is the explanation for many blunders in objectively favourable (or once favourable) positions. <....And one mistake often leads to another.> An only too frequent consequence of the above, and don't I know it.

Jul-28-23		Fusilli: <perf> I think you should make a comeback and play a tourney. Maybe the US Senior Open next year? You obviously love the game, and you'll have fun.

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