Member Games - Steve Dauber

Steve Dauber is currently the strongest player at the Darlington chess club.  He plays top board for two of the teams and has to battle the strongest players from other clubs.  For some reason his grade never seems to represent his true playing strength.  I have seen him beat most of the regions top players at one time or another.  Perhaps his best game in recent times was a draw against IM Hawkins.

The following game was played in an important league match against Gateshead.  This was the last game to finish and the result of the match depended on the result of this game.

Read through the game, or scroll to the bottom to play through the game using GameKnot's ichess viewer.

186 V Steve Dauber (169)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d3

Black has opened with a sicilian defence.  White by playing 3.d3 indicates that he wants to avoid a main line sicilian.  It can be tricky playing an off-beat opening if you wanted to play your favourite line.  All you can do is try and follow opening guidelines.
 2...Nc6 4. g3 With this move White introduces the king's Indian attack (KIA).  Some White players will play this set-up against anything Black plays and Steve will have seen this set-up before.
4...Bg4 Pins the knight on f3 and the bishop is not easily moved without further weakening the king's defence. 5. Bg2 e6 6. O-O Be7 

Most White players of the KIA will reach this position with the White pieces after their first six moves regardless of what Black does.  This of course, is what attracts club players to it.  A, it cuts down on theory and B, you always play your favourite set-up.


7. c3 keeps the Black knight out of d4 and will support the d4 advance that White will no doubt want to play. 7...Nf6 8. Re1 O-O 9. a4 With the pawn on c3 White wants to develop his knight to c4 via either a3 or d2, once there he doesn't want it 'tickled' with b5. Rc8 
10. h3 I'm not an expert on the KIA, but I would say that Black is at least equal here.  White seems to be mixing ideas.  a4 to play Nd2-Nc4, h3 + g4 to move the bishop and then Ne1 f4, sees a classic KIA king-side pawn storm. Ne1 is now difficult because of 8.Re1.  Perhaps White is going to try to play Nfd2/Nc4 and then f4

 Bh5 11. Nbd2 Nd7 Black retreats his knight to place extra pressure on the e5 square.  The f-pawn is freed to advance as well.  12. Qc2 White moves the queen from the awkward pin. b6 Hints at Black's intention to play for the d5 advance 

White now tries to regroup his pieces, but Black looks to annoy White's plan's.
13. Nf1 Bg6 Stares right at White's queen, just when White had moved it. 14. Qe2 Na5 Now that the knight has moved from d2 and the queen from c2 the b3 square is not protected and ideal for a knight to land on. 15.N3d2 Stops ...Nb3 f6? I'm not sure what Black is up to here, perhaps he intends Bf7, e5 to add pressure on light square complex of b3 and c4.  But when he played b6 I thought here comes d5, well perhaps after a bit of arranging.  It seems to me that Black is drifting a little and over the next few moves White definitely takes the initiative.

16. f4 Bf7 17. Ne3 Re8 18. g4 White is advancing on the king-side, just what KIA players love to do. Bf8

Black has tucked his pieces behind his 3 pawns on d6, e6 and f6.  He knows that White wants to advance further, but how can White do this?  Both e5 and g5 lose a pawn while 19.f5 e5 leaves a hole on f4.
 19. Qf2! This is a strong move.  White can now re-evaluate all his pawn push options, but if Black doesn't react quickly then Qg3, Rf1 and then f5 or g5 may break through. Nb8! Black prepares to relocate his knight to c6, where it will fight for the centre squares d4 and e5.  The knight was in the way on d7 and needed to be moved, but moving the knight back to b8 is a very difficult move to play, reminiscent of the great Capablanca who put his pieces on their best squares no matter what. 20. Kh1?! Nbc6 21. Rb1?! White has deviated from his king side plan.  Rf1, Qg3 and g5/f5 would have been more fitting.   d5!  Black strikes back

Both sides have been trying to place their pieces on the best squares before making a decisive pawn move.  Patients is a key part of a good chess player, so many of my own games are spoiled by me 'jumping in' when I think I have an advantage, only to discover I didn't have enough to win.
These two players have jostled for position, but when the time is right action must be taken.  Inability to act is just as bad as jumping in.
The pieces finally clash, note how all the pieces are still on, unusual at move 22.  As it is Black that has instigated this encounter you would have to say he has the initiative and the advantage.
22. Nc2 dxe4 23. Bxe4 dxe4 looks better, but Black has Qd3 which is awkward for White, as his pieces are poorly coordinated. Qd7 24. f5 e5 25. b4 cxb4 26. cxb4 Nb7

White is still uncoordinated, but at least he has harried Black's knights, a plan he continues with
 27. b5? Ncd8 28.Nb4 The knight was under attack Nc5 All of a sudden Black's knight springs into action and White realises that both his a pawn and d-pawn are under attack.  The a-pawn directly and the d-pawn tactically.
29. Nf3 Nxa4 
Black could have taken on e4 first 29...Nxa4, 30.dxe4 (30.Rxe4 Bxb4, 31.Rxb4 Qxd3) 30...Rc4, 31.Bd2 when Black can play Nb7 and Nc5, which should win the weak e-pawn

Analysis

Back to the game

Black has swiped the a-pawn, but the centre pawn is more of a valuable prize.  Partly because a central pawn has more of a say on the central squares and partly because to capture it would leave a Black piece right in the centre.  Black's knight has to take time to re-group to get back in the action.


30. Bd2 Nc3 Good move as it more or less forces off White's bishop. 31. Bxc3 Rxc3 32. Nc6? Nxc6! 33. Bxc6 

It looks as though White has managed a tactical triumph of his own here.  Black has clearly seen this trick and calculated correctly that his bishop pair will be stronger than a knight and rook, don't forget he also has two pawns for this exchange.  If you count the points in the standard 3 for a knight 5 for rook etc then the count will more or less tally, but Black is much, much better now.  Just watch his two bishops go to work.


Qxd3 34.Bxe8 Bxe8 35. Ng1 Bxb5 Winning a second pawn helps Black 36. Rbc1 Bc6+ 

The bishop checks to force the White king out of his corner.
37. Kh2 e4! A little pawn move that opens up the dark squared diagonal to the helpless White king.
38. Rxc3 Bd6+ 

Black ignores the rook and calls check instead.  This is a very pretty position, can you see the finish?
39. Kh1 e3+  Wins the queen, at least 40.Rxc6 exf2

White resigns here, but there is no way to prevent further loss of material and in many lines mate.

Play chess online

Junior Club - 2012 competition round 1

The junior competition made an exciting return this week.  We had eleven children at the club, all of them seemed  up for a competitive game.  The rules were made clear.

• Touch a piece and you move it!  
• Three points for a win
• two for a draw 
• one for a loss.  

There will be five rounds the player with the most points wins the trophy for a year.

Last year's winner was AJ who played Caroline and claimed the full point conclusively.

Both the Wilson boys won their games Dylan defeating Tom while Harry proved too strong for Jamie.

The clubs rising star is Joe who sailed to victory over tenacious James, who is no walk over.

The longest game was Aidan V Leia.  Aidan managed to find a checkmate on the stoke of seven O' clock.  If the game had not finished I would have counted the material and if one side was ahead by more than three points they would win.

The names were picked at random and unfortunately Nicola didn't have a game, but received a full three point bye.

After one round the standings are:

Name	Score
Aidan	3
AJ	3
Dylan	3
Harry	3
Joe	3
Nicola	3
Caroline	1
James	1
Jamie	1
Leia	1
Tom	1

How to lose quickly - Jumping in

There is nothing more annoying or disappointing to a chess player than losing a won game.  That is losing a game where you had a massive advantage.

I'm playing Black in the position below.  Take a look and try and see why I think Black is better.

Black has the move and some big advantages.  His rooks dominate the d-file and his queen and knight are both waiting to jump into an attack on White's king.  White can't complete his development easily as his bishop is in the way of connecting the rooks and needs to find an active role, but both d2 and e3 are off limits.  His king is rather awkwardly placed on h1 and doesn't have a move, which is never a good sign.
White has just moved his queen to e2 and is attacking the Black knight. In the game I played
25...Nf2+? 26.Rxf2 Qxf2, 27.Qxf2 Rd1+

Now I was surprised to see that 28.Qg1 loses Black a piece.  After 28...Rxg1 29.Kxg1 the White king will not be mated on the back rank with 29...Rd1+, as I had thought on move 25.  Play continued, but White soon activated his extra material and won.  What went wrong?

I call this type of error "jumping in".  You see a line with a forcing sequence from a strong position that appears to win and instead of making 100% sure that it does win you dive in and 'snatch' at the full point.

What is the answer?  Cold hard analysis.  Dan Heisman at the marvellous Chesscafe site talks about this type of error and says you should try and analyse the moves until the position is quiet, that is no more forcing moves http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman55.pdf.

If you think you are close to winning then its worth spending extra time checking your analysis.  If you do look at a line and can't see all the possibilities then look for other simpler lines.

Two other moves that jump out to me are 25...Nf6 and 25...Rd1.
25...Nf6 takes the knight out of the sights of White's queen, but the immediate attack would be over, so this line would be the last to look at.

25...Rd1.  The first point is that 26.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 27.Qxd1 allows Black the knight fork 27...Nf2+ winning the white queen

Analysis

Let us call 25...Rd1 line 2, we have established that White can not simply take the rook.

White can't take the knight either as Rxf1 is mate.  White therefore has to find a way to stop 26...Rxf1, 27.Qxf1 Nf2+, 28.Kg1 Nh3+ winning a piece.  White either has to connect the rooks to offer himself extra back rank protection, or defend f2.
Connect the rooks, perhaps White could try 26.Bxf5, but 26...Rxa1 forces 27.Rxa1 and then ...Nf2+, 28.Kg1 Nh3+, 29.Kh1 Nxf4 - Note how this discovery trick crops up again and again. - wins a piece for White and stops any queen invasion on h5

Analysis

Defend f2, 26.Nh3, this is probably White's best.  26...Rxf1+, 27.Qxf1 takes the threat from Black's knight and Black can introduce new back rank threats with 27...Qb5

Analysis

I think I have shown that line 2 offers Black a big advantage.  My problem during the game was that I didn't really look further line 1, I just 'jumped in'.  Earlier I said that "Cold hard analysis" was the answer and perhaps you thought that glib, well I would agree.  Often its difficult to see the truth to a line of play and its so easy to go wrong.  What I would say is this

• Take your time and analyse as deeply as possible if you think you may have a winning line

Try to find alternatives, especially if your first line involves giving up any material.  The second line may give the same result without the material risk.  Which is my second point.

• Given a choice, play the line with the least risk

How to lose quickly - Counting

One of the easiest ways to go wrong in chess are counting errors.  If there are multiple exchanges, make sure you get the correct order, or you may find yourself material down without realising.

Here I am in action as White in a recent game.

1.d4 Nf6, 2.c4 d5, 3.Nc3 dxc4, 4.e3

e4 is also an option here, but this solid move regains the pawn with a solid position.  White will play e4 later in the game.
4...Nc6, 5.Bxc4 e6, 6.Nf3 Bd6

Black's bishop on d6 and knight on f6 are not placed well and prone to a fork on e6.  Time for e4?
7.0-0 White plays safe 0-0, 8.e4 and now advances...

8...e5, 9.Bg5 exd5, I had planned 10.Nxd4 Nxd4, 11.Qxd4, but realised that Bxh2+ loses the queen.  Luckily I had 10.Nd5

The pawn can be regained on the next move quite safely and White is equal.
10...Be6, 11.Nxd4

There are many different captures and sequences in the above position.  This type of position is not that unusual when both players fight for the centre.  Just relax and take your time and ensure you don't mess the sequence up.
Black starts with 11...Bxd5, 12.Nxc6?? White goes very wrong.  Black's bishop has just captured a knight 3 points, White then captures a knight of his own points balanced, but the Black bishop moves out of danger by capturing the knight 6 points V 3 points, or a piece down!!
See if you can spot the best sequence from the diagram after Bxd5.
12...Bxc6, 13.Re1 Be5 White resigns, there is little point playing on a piece down against decent players.

The best sequence is
12.Bxd5 Nxd4, 13.Qxd4 c6, 14.e5

Analysis

Darlington Junior Chess Competition - March 24 2012

Darlington District

Junior  CHESS  Championships

Saturday 24^th March 

09:45am – 1.00pm

Cockerton Band & Musical Institute Club, DL3 9AB

The venue can be found at the end of Woodland Road, just before Cockerton village.  The event is in the club’s large function room, there will be no alcohol in the room.

v   Open to any juniors born after 31/08/1998, living within the Darlington district (Darlington, Richmond, Bishop Auckland etc)

v   Play will be split between an under 13 section and an under 10.  Younger players may play in the older section.

v   The winner of each section will receive a trophy

v   Entry fee is £3 per player (Cheques to “Darlington chess events fund”).  Please give name, date of birth, telephone / email, age section you wish to enter.

v   Groups from schools are welcome.

v   Entries to:

Kevin Wilson, 31 Woodland Terrace, Darlington, Co.Durham,

DL3 9NT

v   (Tel. 01325 485715, email:darlingtonchessclub@gmail.com).

Junior Club: Game Analysis

Here is a game played between a junior and adult.  I don't want to mention names so I will refer to the junior as A.

It is a good idea to play through games once they have finished and try and see where you went wrong.  There are no hard and fast rules as the best way to do this, but I like to try and verbalise my plans.  Often its obvious why that plan failed you can look back a few moves and see if anything could have been done to change the outcome.  Even better is to get a stronger player to look at the game afterwards.

Adult player V A.


1. d4 d5 Black takes a share of the centre and opens lines for his pieces.
2. c4 Nc6 Develops a piece towards the centre, although this blocks Black's best break move for a beginner its still a good move, but as the player progresses he will need to understand that 2...e6 or 2...Nf6 are better.  The pawn on d5 can be taken and may result in loss of time.
3. Nc3 Nf6 Another piece joins the fight.  So far so good.

4. f3 e5 Fights for the centre, but perhaps is too aggressive.
5. dxe5 Nxe5 Breaks up White's centre and gets better piece play.
6. Nxd5 Nxd5 Looks like a good idea, but this loses a pawn.  Black could have played Nxc4

7. cxd5 c6 A clever move to fight for the centre, But Bb4+ and 0-0 is just getting developed and may be better for Black
8.e4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O Black finds the suggested moves anyway and although a pawn down has decent chances.
11. Rd1 

cxd5 I want Black to make another move instead here, but I can't suggest a better move.  It's just that White's king is in the centre and he hasn't developed his king side pieces at all yet.  You would think that Black could start an attack from this position.  cxd5 is ok, perhaps Qf6.
12. Qxd5 Qxd5 13. Rxd5 f6 Any pawn moves in front of the king have to be well and truly justified! If another move for example Nc6 can be played in stead it should be preferred, as the weakening of the king side is often an invitation for tactics.
14. f4 Nc6 The knight ends up on c6 anyway.

15. Bc4 Be6 White threatens a discovery by moving his rook.  Black does well to block that trick with his last.
16. Rc5 Rac8 - Black loses with this move.  After Bxc4 the game is still well and truly on.  When the game gets complicated like this.  You have to try and see all the threats.  First look at any checks and captures, if Black had done this he should have spotted the 5...Bxc4 was ok and that 5...Rca6 6.Bxe6+ was a disaster.  This is a material mistake and is common in junior chess, in fact Black had played very well up to here, probably better than is older opponent.  Black quickly collapses after this.
17. Bxe6+ Kh8 18. Bxc8 Nd4 19. Bxb7 Rb8 20. Rc8+

Break moves

Last time we looked at a rook on the seventh.  To best use rooks we need to open files, but how do we do that?  The obvious answer is by using pawns, but we get told not to make too many pawn moves in the opening. That is true, but once you have developed then what?

This article is on break moves, but Dan Heiman has already written the perfect break move essay at Chesscafe, see here - http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman17.pdf.  Most of what I present can also be found there.

After you develop, or along side developing you will often want to break the pawn position to increase the mobility of your pieces.
Dan writes: "A 'break' move is a pawn move that 'breaks up' an opponent's (fixed) pawn chain by attacking the opponent's pawns with that pawn."


Break moves are not solely for the use of the defender, but they are definitely required more when defending.  The attacker should often seek to advance a pawn alongside his most advanced pawn.  This action can also be thought of as a break move, but is often done more to gain space and cramp the defender.

White would like to advance a pawn to either e4 or d4 the yellow squares.  Black would love to break with c5 or e5 the green squares.  As always with chess short term tactics need to be considered, c4 is a much stronger move than e4, a Black pawn on c4 can be recaptured while e4 is a gambit.  Note that a true break move requires the pawn to be fixed otherwise the pawn may just be pushed past.


Lets look at another position: After 1.e4 e6, 2.d4 d5, 3.e5 we have the Advanced French

Black's break moves are c5 or f6.  f6 may leave the king a little weak, so may be delayed until the king is safe.  Nimzowitsch taught us to attack the base of a pawn chain, so c5 is very strong.  If White captures then Bxc5 develops a piece and leaves White with a pawn on e5 that needs to be defended.


In Dan's article he presents the following position:

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Nf3 e5 7.O-O (7.dxe5 dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Nxe5 does not win a pawn because of 9…Nxe4 and if 10.Nxf7?? then 10…Bxc3+ wins a piece) 7…Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 - The mainline King's Indian

In this position what is Black’s best break move (hint: it is not legal – yet)?

Black wants to attack the base of White's pawn chain, so breaks on either b5 or f5.  Remember though the pawn needs to be fixed to be a break move, so b5 is not an option.  Therefore Black wants to play f5.  If you look through a King's Indian book you will see this position and perhaps wonder why Black plays either Nh5, Nd7 or Ne8 on his next move, depending on White's move, and doesn't move the at home bishop on c8.  Now you know the strategy of breaking, the knight moves don't look so strange.  Some of White's ideas in this opening are to stop Black's best knight move, so you will see lines beginning with 9.Ne1, or 9.Nd2, both prevent 9...Nh5 and allow f3 to support the e4 pawn.

Perhaps White should be trying to advance his c-pawn to c5 so he has a pawn alongside his most advanced pawn, but c5 allows the pawn to be captured, which cedes some advantage to Black.  9.b4 preparing c5 is one plan in this position and makes perfect strategic sense.

Note that in opening play, theory sometimes finds flaws in plans that seem perfectly strategically sound. That is because these ideas have been tested in thousands of games and tactical flaws discovered.  

Please read Dan's article it is available for free and is brilliant!