1490-1471: Loss in Samisch Nimzo-Indian
Yesterday's game came after almost a month's break from rated Rapid games on Chess.com. A win would have pushed me over the 1500 mark, and I made sure to have energy, altertness and motivation.
White allowed the Nimzo-Indian Defense with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 and led us down the path of the Samisch Variation with 4.a3. I chopped the pinned knight with 4...Bxc3, White rechopped with 5.bxc3, and I castled with 5...0-0. So far, so book -- although Seirawan in Winning Chess Openings prefers 5...c5 to castles: "Black's strategy is to freeze the c4-pawn so that he might capture it in the future."
White had sole possession of the bishop pair, but I was making the case for a lead in development and a healthier pawn structure. Despite having no pieces deployed, White moved his a-pawn a second time with 6.a4. This move was and is puzzling. Chess.com's game review labels it the best move, but at depth=20 Stockfish evaluates the position at -0.48. Since 7.Ba3 would be met with 7...Qa5, the a-pawn push seems like a waste of time.
My reply of 6...d5 was labeled excellent by the game review, but in reality it is inconsistent with the Nimzo-Indian spirit. That spirit, and the game review, call for 6...c5 -- the point being that if 7.dxc5 then 7...Na6, and if 8.Ba3 then 8...Qa5. Interestingly, at depth=20, Stockfish lists 6...c5 as only the third option (-0.37), preferring 6...b6 (-0.43) and 6...Nc6 (-0.42).
White continued 7.e3, and I again demonstrated a poor understanding of the opening with the reply 7...c6 where 7...c5 and 7...b6 were best. White developed his light-square bish with 8.Bd3, and I replied 8...Nbd2 to prep an e-pawn push. White developed his knight with 9.Nf3, and per my plan I replied 9...Re8. White castled with 10.0-0, and I pushed 10...e5. When White captured with 11.dxe5, I was delighted: now his c-pawns were double isolated. A series of exchanges ensued with 11...Nxe5 and 12.Nxe5 Rxe5, and then came the move 13.cxd5.
I had four ways of recapturing on d5 as Black. Had I been scanning the board for tactics, I might have found the winning recapture in the position.
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| 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3 5.bxc3 0-0 6.a4 |
White had sole possession of the bishop pair, but I was making the case for a lead in development and a healthier pawn structure. Despite having no pieces deployed, White moved his a-pawn a second time with 6.a4. This move was and is puzzling. Chess.com's game review labels it the best move, but at depth=20 Stockfish evaluates the position at -0.48. Since 7.Ba3 would be met with 7...Qa5, the a-pawn push seems like a waste of time.
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| 6...d5 7.e3 c6 8.Bd3 Nbd2 9.Nf3 Re8 10.0-0 e5 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Rxe5 13.cxd5 |
White continued 7.e3, and I again demonstrated a poor understanding of the opening with the reply 7...c6 where 7...c5 and 7...b6 were best. White developed his light-square bish with 8.Bd3, and I replied 8...Nbd2 to prep an e-pawn push. White developed his knight with 9.Nf3, and per my plan I replied 9...Re8. White castled with 10.0-0, and I pushed 10...e5. When White captured with 11.dxe5, I was delighted: now his c-pawns were double isolated. A series of exchanges ensued with 11...Nxe5 and 12.Nxe5 Rxe5, and then came the move 13.cxd5.
I had four ways of recapturing on d5 as Black. Had I been scanning the board for tactics, I might have found the winning recapture in the position.
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