The advantage of being the stronger player

Over the weekend Wellington participated in a match against a combined team from Wanganui and Palmeston North. After suffering a previous defeat at the hands of Wanganui when we tried to match their line-up and make the match an even content in the interests of good relations this time we decided to field the strongest team we could muster. The combined team obviously took the event seriously as well fielding the strongest lineup they could. In the end the final result of 16.5 - 1.5 probably exagerated the difference in the teams a little but the games seemed to highlight the advantages of being the stronger player in these sorts of situations.

Justin Davis - Nicolas Croad

Match Wellington vs Wanginui and Palmeston North 2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Bg5?!

This move must be criticised and blamed for giving away any opening advantage available to the White player. Justin probably decided he would have more chance of keeping pace with me in a simplified position with fewer pieces on the board but on positional grounds White has a slight space advantage and exchanging the dark squared bishops affords the Black queen a nice development square on e7.

Some people would probably argue that because White can be somewhat more satisfied with a drawn result he can use this to his advantage by simplifying the game and trying to force Black to take risks to avoid a draw but I do not really agree. As this game shows even in a simplified situation there are often plenty of mistakes to be made and if I am actually stronger than my opponent then I should expect I will exploit my chances better. In other words by playing inferior moves for the purpose of exchanging pieces White is gradually heading towards a situation where I can put pressure on him not one where he will pressure me.

7...Nxc3

I decided to close the c-file before challenging the bishop. After this exchange there is no way for a rook to pressure me along that file so I should have no trouble executing c7-c5.

8.bxc3

If 8.Bxd8 Nxd1 9.Bxc7 Nxb2 White loses a piece.

8...Be7 9.Bxe7 Qxe7 10.e3

Interesting was 10.Qa4+ when 10...Nd7?! 11.Ne5 blocks Black's development. After the better 10...c6 11.Ne5 O-O 12.e3 c5 White experiences some difficulty with the development of his light squared bishop and must take care because Black might be able to quickly open the centre with the White king still uncastled.

10...O-O 11.Be2 Nd7?!

This move must be criticised because this knight later re-develops with Nd7-b8-c6-a5. The same situation as the game could have been achieved with 11...c5 12.O-O Rd8 to be followed by Nb8-c6-a5 and most likely ...Rac8. At the time I had not yet decided where to place the pieces and only later decided that my knight should go to a5. This might have given Black an extra opportunity if White loses temporary control of the d5 square then Black might play ...e5 at an appropriate moment and then break up the White pawn structure. This is the type of decision that you only make easily when you know the opening well and have seen a similar situation before.

12.O-O c5 13.Qd2 Rfd8 14.Rfd1 Rac8 15.Qb2 Nb8!

Both sides have completed their development and now I needed to find a plan. It is still relatively difficult for White to improve his position so I felt that I was better placed but there are no obvious weaknesses in the White camp. Maybe another reasonable square for the knight was on e4 after 15...Nf6 but it seems that the reply 16.Ne5 with the intention of exchanging the light squared bishops was quite strong here.

16.Rac1

Maybe 16.Nd2 Nc6 17.Bf3 trying to exchange black's best minor piece was a little better.

16...Nc6 17.e4 Na5

A rare case of the knight being well placed on the edge of the board. While it never occupies the c4 square during the game this may become possible at some point. It stops White playing a4-a5 and breaking up the Black queenside and this combination allows Black to develop the remainder of his position while the knight stops much of White's counterplay. In lots of variations it also helps by guarding the bishop on b7.

18.Nd2

18...cxd4?!

There were still some useful moves for Black to play before carrying on with the decisive offensive. After 18...h6 19.f3 Qg5! 20.Nf1 cxd4 21.cxd4 Rxc1 22.Rxc1 Rxd4 wins a pawn and shows how difficult to hold together the White position has become. Notice if the knight was not guarding the bishop on b7 now 23.Rc7 would win material here.

19.cxd4 Qd7

Instead 19...Qd6 20.e5 Qxd4? 21.Rxc8 Bxc8 22.Nf1 Qxd1 23.Bxd1 Rxd1 24.Qc2! Rd8 25.Qc7 Rf8 26.Qxa7 White is clearly winning now.

20.Rxc8 Rxc8 21.f3!

An excellent move which shuts down the long diagonal to the extent that Black's light squared bishop becomes cramped for space.

21...Qc7

This was part of my plan when I played 18...cxd4 I control the c-file and that can not be challenged. It turns out however that even though I can stop the passed pawn that White creates in the centre White gains enough counterplay with it to hold the balance.

22.Nb3 Nxb3 23.Qxb3 Qc3

I am quite pleased with this move because before playing it I realised that I really had no advantage in the ensuing complications. Despite this realisation I didn't over-react and end up in a difficult position. There are no better moves available at this point anyway. Instead I also considered 23...Qc2 24.Qxc2 Rxc2 25.Bd3 Rc3 26.d5 with the same result as the game though the bishop is better placed on d3 than e2. Black can't capture the pawn now with 26...exd5 27.exd5 Bxd5? because of 28.Be4 and the bishop is pinned by a back rank mate along the d-file.
I also considered 23...Kf8 but Black has gained nothing after 24.Qb4+ Qe7 25.Qb3 anyway and further pushing in this direction will only make Black's position more difficult.

24.Qxc3 Rxc3 25.d5! exd5 26.exd5 Kf8 27.d6 Ke8 28.Bb5+ Bc6

Forced by the variation 28...Kd8 29.Re1 with the threat of Re8#

29.Re1+?

The decisive mistake allowing me to create two connected passed pawns on the queenside. Instead White needed to more accurately exploit the same idea with 29.Bxc6+ Rxc6 30.Re1+ Kd7 31.Re7+ Kxd6 32.Rxa7 Rc7 with an endgame which offers no advantage and very few winning or losing chances to either side.

29...Kd7 30.Bxc6+ Kxc6!

Instead 30...Rxc6? 31.Re7+ Kxd6 32.Rxa7 Rc7 leads to the same position as White should have forced in the note above.

31.Re7 Rxa3

White was threatening Rc7+ anyway. Now the two protected passed pawns on the queenside are more dangerous than their White counterparts on the kingside.

32.Rxf7 b5 33.d7

The variation 33.Rxg7 b4 34.Rg4 (34.Rxh7 b3 35.d7 this is the most inconvenient moment White can arrange (35.Rh4 b2 36.Rb4 Ra1+ 37.Kf2 b1=Q 38.Rxb1 Rxb1 -+ is the sort of position a player might avoid because of the three white passed pawns against a rook. Converting this will not present a particular challenge because Black has a passed pawn of his own which rather forces White's hand 39.h4 Kxd6 40.h5 Ke6 41.g4 Kf6 42.f4 and since the pawns can't allow themselves to be blockaded this is as far as they are going to go.) 35...Ra1+ 36.Kf2 Rd1 37.d8=Q Rxd8 38.Rxa7 b2 transposes into a position where White can no-longer stop the Black pawns promotion.) 34...a5! 35.Rd4 Kd7 36.f4 b3 37.Rd1 b2 shows which passed pawns are the most dangerous.

There are no alternative defences now anyway.

33...Rd3!

After 33...Kc7 34.d8=Q+ Kxd8 35.Rxg7 b4 36.Rxh7 b3 (or 36...Kc8 37.Rh4 a5 38.Rh5 b3 39.Rb5 a4 40.h4 with the active rook going to White again.) 37.Rb7 a5 38.h4 the win comes into doubt. The difference between these positions and the game is which side has the active rook. Actually this pawn race has some nice tactical twists to it. After 38...Ke8 39.h5 Kf8 40.h6 Kg8 41.g4 a4 42.g5 b2! 43.Rxb2 (43.g6 Rb3! -+) 43...Rxf3 = the game should be drawn. The game can also end with a draw after 41.f4 Ra1+ 42.Kf2 (42.Kh2 Rf1 43.Kg3 a4 = with ...Rh1 to follow) 42...Ra2+ 43.Kf3 b2 44.f5 Ra3+ 45.Kf2 (45.Kf4? Ra4+ 46.Kg5 Rb4 -+) 45...Ra2 = and Black must take the repetition because of 46.Kf3 a4? 47.f6 Ra3+ 48.Kf2 Rb3 49.f7+ Kf8 50.h7! when White wins.

34.d8=Q Rxd8 35.Rxa7 b4 36.Kf1 b3 37.Ra3 Rb8 38.Ra1 Kc5 39.Ke2 Kc4 40.Rc1+ Kb4 41.Kd2 Rd8+ 42.Ke2 b2 43.Rc7 Rb8

There are no longer any moves which stop the b-pawn from becoming a queen.

0-1

Lessons from this game,

a) The most important factor in rook endgames is which side has the active rook. Here I made the right decision easily and quickly with 33...Rd3! because I was well aware of this principal.

b) The stronger player should not avoid their weaker opponent trying to simplify the game, especially if they are making your game easier or better while doing this. Instead concentrate on taking advantage of the chances that your opponent provides.

c) If the game reaches a position where it is difficult for your opponent to progress look for little ways to improve your position before making any radical changes to the character of play. When you do eventually go back to forcing the game again these little advantages accumulated over the course of this developing period should pay off.

d) Don't follow the rules too rigourously. You should not be afraid to undevelop your pieces and subsequently put your knight on the side of the board just because it goes against several rules. In this game my intuition told me that the knight would be well placed there even though at the time it was not entirely clear why. I only came up with the justification of blocking White's plan while I was preparing these notes.