| Apr-14-24 | | whiteshark: How to beat these <4.d3> s%%%%%% |
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| Apr-14-24 | | cormier: depth=41 | Stockfish 16
-1.24 20... b6 21. Qb1 Ra2 22. Rf2 Qa4 23.Rc1 Ra8 24.Ne1 Ra1
-1.24 20... Ra2 21. Qb1 b6 22. Rf2 |
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| Apr-14-24 | | cormier: depth=41 | Stockfish 16
-0.50 20. Nb1 Ra2 21. Qd3 Qa4 22. Rf2 Ra1 23. Rff1 Qb4 24. Nfd2 Ra8
-0.53 20. c5 Ra2 21.Qd3 c5
Italian Game: Two Knights, Modern Bishop's Opening |
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| Apr-14-24 | | cormier: depth=44 | Stockfish 16
-0.42 16. d5 Re7 17. c4 Qb8 18. b3 b6 19. Nh3 Ng6 20. Rfd2 Re8 |
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| Apr-14-24 | | cormier: depth=41 | Stockfish 16
0.00 12. Bxe6 Rxe6 13. Qc2 a5 14. b5 Nb8 15. c4 Nbd7 16. Nb1 Rc8 |
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| Apr-14-24 | | Atking: 4...a6 and 5...h6 This guy is a genius. |
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Apr-14-24
 | | FSR: I don't understand this game at all, but yay Gukesh. |
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Apr-14-24
 | | MissScarlett: <Gukesh drags Vidit's king out in the open and checkmates it> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_z... |
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| Apr-14-24 | | Saniyat24: The a-file tornado by D Gukesh...! |
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Apr-15-24
 | | Teyss: For beginners looking at this site: getting a Rook + Queen battery on the first rank of the opponent, with the Queen being closer to the opponent's King, always wins. Always. Except when it doesn't. Only 11 games in the Db with 4...a6 and only 3 games with 5.O-O, all Black wins (5.c3 has 5 games resulting in 4 White wins and 1 draw). 5...h6 is a TN. Excellent game. Vidit's attempt to break in on the Qside completely backfired, leaving the first column open for Gukesh's artillery and the White Pawns exposed. 36...? would be a good Tuesday puzzle. 
click for larger view |
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| Apr-15-24 | | GlennOliver: The alternative defence 35. Ng4 is just as doomed, e.g. 35. Ng4 Qg3+ 36. Kg5 Nh7+ 37. Kxh5 g6+ 38. Kh6 Qh4# Very fine game from Dommaraju Gukesh.
Looking forward to today's pairing with him as Black against his championship co-leader, Ian Nepomniachtchi. |
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Apr-15-24
 | | PawnSac: <FSR: I don't understand this game at all, but yay Gukesh. > Yea he pulled off a nice mate net. But what about it puzzled you? The way he handled the opening into the middle game?
First time through it looked a little "unorthodox", but I think I understand what he was doing. Although, it was a bit double-edged as to result. |
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Apr-15-24
| | FSR: <PawnSac> 4...a6 and 5...h6 was very odd, although they ended up just reaching a normal Giuoco Piano position. It seemed to throw Vidit too, who ended up overextending on the queenside and letting Gukesh take over the a-file and then the first rank. If Gukesh had played the standard 4...Bc5 and reached the same position by a different move order I suspect that Vidit would have played more solidly. But maybe he felt he should punish Gukesh's weird play - a dangerous attitude to have. You're right that in retrospect Black's play apart from his surprising fourth and fifth moves wasn't so weird. |
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| Apr-16-24 | | VictorVonDoom: Gujarathi as white here made an inaccuracy on move 12 when he played b5. After this, bishop takes bishop, knight takes bishop axb5, attacking the knight, axb5 stopping the attack and after the rook exchange, black can bring out the pawns to open the center and after that perhaps bring out the queen to attack the pawns on the 3rd rank. Anyway, after this, black has a small advantage till move 29, which I have found out that is where most players make the big mistakes and blunders. Gujarathi plays c5 which I think is a mistake. Perhaps he thought that he could play b6 and after queen takes, he could use the knight to attack the queen and later bring out the rook or maybe he thought that he could bring the queen to c4 and after the exchange, he could bring the knights to check the king and win some pawns. But this is a mistake as in this position, white already has a doubled pawn weakness that can be exploited by the knight. But after this, Gujarathi blunders by playing NC4. After this, Gukesh brings the queen to e1 to attack the rook and at the same time, threaten checkmate. After this, there is no chance of white winning as white already has a bad position and eventually Gukesh gets to a position with a mate in 1 After 39. Kxh5
click for larger viewAfter this, the mate in 1 is easy to find, but Gujarathi resigns before this. |
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| Apr-22-24 | | DanLanglois: 29. c5? and 30. Nc4? It looks like White has some notion of clearing the c4-square for that knight. But, it's a terrible idea, and after 30...Qe1, Black is totally up in White's business, White can pretty much resign already. |
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May-31-24
 | | Sally Simpson: Hi FSR
<4...a6 and 5...h6 was very odd...> Craig S M Thomson showed this game to the kids I coach and explained it very well...too well! I warned them many months ago about wasting time with useless a6's h6's, a3's and h3's (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 h6 was typical.) All my work has been undone. The Pawn to Rook Three's will re-appear. Thomson and Gukesh have nobbled good and proper my class of 12 year old sac-mad, trap-happy, two move trick artists. Next they will asking; "Maestro" (I have them calling me that because it sounds posh) ...what is a pawn structure...what is the distant opposition..." etc and my book of Chernev's Opening Traps (we are up to page 121) will not have the answers. 😊 |
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May-31-24
 | | perfidious: I had never seen 4....a6, but 4....h6 is actually quite a common alternative to more trodden paths and by no means bad (not 'passive', as one poster has characterised it). |
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Jun-01-24
| | Sally Simpson: Hi Perfidious.
One idea v 4...a6 is to play 5.d3-d4 and go mainline Two Knights with a Black pawn on a6. "What difference does that make?"
In this well known mainline position from a 4.d4 Two Knights with White to play. 
click for larger view17. Rc1 is nothing after 17...Qb6 see https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... played 6 times = 5 draws and one Black win. However, if you put a Black pawn on a6 ...and play Rac1... 
click for larger view...then Black does not have Qb6 and White is looking good. I mentioned this possible variation in CHESS magazine in June 2020 though I got there with
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bc4 Nf6 but here 5.d4 would go into the 5.d3-d4 idea. Now go over one of the games that reaches this well known position without a Black pawn on a6 - I Radulov vs Smejkal, 1969 Go slowly after move 12 imagining a Black pawn on a6 and spot the big flaw in going for this position...
click for larger view...with a pawn on a6. I spotted it and wrote the joke article around it. (It appears Gukesh read it and tried it out v Vidit in this game!! 😊 ) |
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Jun-01-24
| | perfidious: <Geoff>, in the 1987 New England Open, I played the line given preceding the first diagram, as Black vs David Harris, and wound up converting a better ending. |
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Jun-01-24
| | Sally Simpson: Hi Perfidious,
So what is the big difference in there was a pawn on a6 in the mainline. It is quite funny. |
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Jun-01-24
| | Sally Simpson: Answer:
The problem is here. In the mainline of what I call the Sham Sac Variation (there are three of them in the first 16 moves.) 
click for larger viewWhite wins their piece back with 15.Qa4+ If there was a Black pawn on a6 then Black can play 15...Qb5 and White does not win their piece back. So if in this threads game White tried 5 d4 to go mainline Two Knights with a6 in it could have come unstuck. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 36...Rxf5