2026 Winter League (Studer method 03)

Yesterday marked a fortnight since my laparoscopic hernia repair surgery. Despite being off painkillers for more than a week and mostly sleeping well at night, I still experience waves of discomfort and am slow moving around. This morning was my first time wearing shoes with laces since the operation; and although I continue to suppress urges to cough and sneeze, I have started allowing myself to laugh more freely.

Jerusalem's annual winter chess league, or C-League, which consists of ten rounds and in which six clubs are competing this year, kicked off on 15 January and will conclude on 12 March. I missed the first four rounds on account of a trip to Italy and the operation, hence yesterday was my first appearance. I ended the evening with a win in round five followed by a loss in round six, and the games are analyzed below a-la the Studer method. The time control was 50+10.

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Position 1: White to move

Assigned the white pieces in the first game, I opened 1.d4, and after 1...d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 we were in the Semi-Slav Defense. I continued 5.e3, opponent replied 5...Be7, and the game continued 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5. The Lichess computer analysis labels my 8.Bb3 an inaccuracy, preferring a line where the bish returns to d3 and, with the queen moving to c2, forms a battery aimed at Black's kingside. Black and I castled with 8...0-0 9.0-0, Black fianchettoed with 9...Bb7, and after 10.Bc2 Qc7 11.e4 Nbd7 the engine evaluated my advantage at +1.9. That evaluation flipped to -0.2 after I played 12.Qd3.

1. Why did I choose 12.Qd3?
Since Black was castled, I was setting up a threat of 13.e5, winning Black's knight on f6 because of the threat of 14.Qxh7#.

2. Why is my move not ideal?
The reason my move isn't ideal is it relies on Black blundering. It's a shortsighted play more suitable for a Blitz game than for a Classical tournament. 12.Qd3 also tranfers the initiative to Black, as he can attack first with 12...b4.

3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
The better move, 12.e5, removes a key defender from Black's castled king. But the engine lines are confusing. Black's best reply is 12...Ne8, in which case White continues 13.Bg5; and if Black chops with 13...Bxg5, White Greek-gifts with 14.Bxh7+. A more natural reply to 12.e5 is 12...Nd5, in which case White threatens checkmate with 13.Qd3; and if Black blocks with 13...g6, White chops Black's knight with 14.Nxd5, leading to a central pawn structure that favors White's attack.

Black, failing to find 12...b4, replied 12...g6. The engine again demands that White play for initiative with 13.e5, but I saw that Black's bish on e7 was undefended and played 13.Bg5 in order to follow up with 14.e5, winning a piece. Yet again Black should have countered on the queenside with 13...b4, but instead he blundered with 13...Rfd8. This invited 14.e5, whereupon Black, recognizing his mistake, sought a way out with 14...Nc5 attacking my queen. After 15.Qe2 Ncd7 I chopped Black's knight with 16.exf6 and went on to win the game.

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Position 2: Black to move

Assigned the Black pieces in game 2, I replied to White's 1.e4 with 1...e6, the French Defense, and after 2.Nf6 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4 I was out of theory. Known as the Wing Gambit, White already surrenders what opening advantage he had, and according to the Lichess Masters database loses more games than he wins: W34%/D28%/L38%. According to the Lichess Rated database, however, White wins to the tune of W55%/D04%/L41%. 4...cxb4 was my best move, after which the game continued 5.a3 Nc6 6.axb4 Bxb4 7.c3 Ba5 8.d4 and 8...Qc7. My idea was to start putting pressure on White's backward c3-pawn, but the engine prefers 8...Rb8 to prepare an attack on c3 with Black's b-pawn. A worse move than that came after 9.Bd3 Bd7 10.0-0 Nge7 11.Bd2 Ng6 12.Ne3. White had an advantage of +0.8, and it surged to +2.9 after my 12...f5.

1. Why did I choose 12...f5?
White had two positional advantages over me that I sought to neutralize: his light-square bish on d3 and his pawn on e5. Yes, he could en-passant me, as indeed he did, but that would at least solve one of my problems. In the event that he didn't en-passant, my pawn on f5 would blunt the scope of the d3-bish and potentially allow me to castle kingside.

2. Why is my move not ideal?
My position was cramped and my pieces uncoordinated. More urgent than worrying about a White attack on my kingside was the threat of White's h3-knight invading on d6 -- which 12...f5 failed to address.

3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
The arrival of White's knight on d6 would deprive me of castling rights. The move 12...a6 would take away the knight's only path into my camp and at the same time it would support a ...b5 push en-route to b4 and attacking the base of White's pawn chain. The engine insists that even without castling and with White's light-square bish aiming at my kingside and White's pawn on e5 cramping my position, Black is okay.

Position 3: Black to move

After an exchange of pawns with 13.exf6 gxf6, the game continued 14.Nb5 Qb8 15.Re1 a6 16.Na3 Nf4 and 17.Bc2. My 17...Rg8 sent the eval bar from 0.0 to +0.7, but White's 18.Nh4 was a blunder that Stockfish evaluates as -1.7. I checked with 18...Nh3+, and after 19.Kf1 Qxh2 I felt the momentum was on my side. White checked with 20.Qh5+, but after 20...Kd8 his attack was over. He continued 21.Qf3, double-attacking my knight, and I found the best move with 21...Nf4. My advantage grew to -2.2 after 22.Qxf4 Qxf4 23.Bxf4 Bxc3, but after 24.Nf3 Bxa1 25.Rxa1 Nxd4 it evaporated to +0.3.

1. Why did I choose 25...Nxd4?
The honest answer for why I chose to capture on d4 is, I couldn't formulate a plan. White had a knight on the edge of the board and a rook in the corner that wasn't doing anything, and that led me to the idea that I should trade off pieces and use my superior activity to my advantage.

2. Why is my move not ideal?
My move is not ideal because when the dust settled, my pawn structure in the center of the board -- a key asset of my position -- was irrevocable destroyed. I failed to appreciate that pawns were where my advantage lay and that my focus should probably be on exchanging pieces such that one my of my six pawns could promote.

3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
The engine recommends two moves: 25...Ke7 and 25...Be8. The fact of the matter is my position was firmly held together with White's dark-square bish mostly a useless piece, and I had to think long-term about capitalizing on my pawn majorities. The engine's line with 25...Ke7 is beyond my understanding, but it does make sense to involve the king in the central pawns' defense. The 25...Be8 line, on the other hand, is more intuitive: the bish was passive on d7 and maneuvering it to a square like g6 would limit the squares White would have for his pieces.

Position 4: Black to move

After White captured my knight with 26.Nxd4 and I forked with 26...e5, White intermezzoed with 27.Bb3. I debated between chopping White's knight and bish, ultimately settling on the latter with 27...exf4. White chopped my passed d-pawn with 28.Bxd5, and after 28...Rg5 29.Bxb7 Ra7 30.Bf3 Ra5 31.Rd1 Be7 32.Nac2 Stockfish evaluates the position at 0.0. Then came my 32...Rc7, and White regained the advantage at +1.1.

1. Why did I choose 32...Rc7?
Stuck as it was behind a pawn on the a-file, I felt repositioning the a7-rook on an open file was a top priority. White's bish on f3 prevented the rook from moving to b7, and that left c7 as the only available square.

2. Why is my move not ideal?
The way my king, rook and f4-pawn were situated, and with White's bish conveniently controlling the h1-a8 diag, d5 was prime real estate for a White knight. Sure enough, a White knight arrived there two moves later.

3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
The engine gives 32...Ba4 as Black's best move, pinning White's knight to the rook and defending c6 from White's knight. I was still ahead a point of material, so exchanging pieces was the correct course of action.