Wartime streak, Day 4: Win (1571-1596)
It is day eleven of the war with Iran and the Iranians are reportedly firing missiles armed with cluster warheads at us. In Jerusalem air raid sirens sounded sporadically throughout the day, and the shock waves of distant explosions rattled the windows like the pounding of battering rams. Classes continue to be held on Zoom, and I resumed my chess streak after skipping yesterday on account of fatigue.
In today's game Chess.com matched me with one Ransalhariri, rated 1499 out of Sweden. Against his Double Fianchetto Variation of the King's Indian Defense I played the Samisch Variation. Ransal put up more of a fight than the last two opponents but failed to capitalize when I hung a bish midway through the game and ultimately fell to checkmate. The win has put me four points shy of a 1600 rating and improved my wartime record to 3-0-1.
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| Position 1: White to move |
Assigned the white pieces, I opened 1.d4, and Black's reply of 1...g6 suggested I would be facing the King's Indian Defense. The suggestion was affirmed when after 2.c4 Black fianchettoed with 2...Bg7; but then Black replied to my 3.Nc3 with 3...b6, indicating he intended to go for a double-fianchetto setup. Seeing as I have had success against the double-fianchetto with the Samisch King's Indian setup, I continued 4.e4, and sure enough Black fianchettoed again with 4...Bb7. After 5.f3 Black developed the kingside knight with 5...Nf6, and after 6.Be3 0-0 the engine says I had a comfortable +1.29 advantage.
I continued 7.Qd2, and offered a bish trade after 7...d6 with 8.Bh6. The engine preferred a kingside pawn storm, but in my experience that gives Black time to move his rook off of f8 and avoid the bish trade. Ignoring my bish, Black pushed 8...e4, the top move. I initiated a bish exchange with 9.Bxg7 Kxg7, and after 10.0-0-0 Black chopped with 10...exd4. I recaptured with 11.Qxd4, which also absolute-pinned Black's knight, so Black unpinned with 11...Kg8. Now I began my kingside pawn storm with 12.g4, to which Black replied 12...Nbd7. I continued 13.h4, and Black connected rooks with 13...Qe7. To preempt ...g5 I repositioned my queen with 14.Qd2, and Black advanced his knight with 14...Ne5. Continuing my pawn storm, I attacked Black's g6-pawn with 15.h5, whereupon Black double-attacked my once-defended c4-pawn with 15...Ba6. Adding a second defender, I pushed 16.b3, and after Black's 16...Rad8 the engine indicated I had a +2.74 advantage. That advantage flipped to -0.86 after the sequence 17.hxg6 fxg6 18.Qh6.
1. Why did I choose 18.Qh6?
In the Samisch King's Indian, White typically tries to open the h-file and use it as an avenue of attack for the major pieces against Black's king. Having exchanged my h-pawn on the previous move, it seemed logical to move the queen to h6 or h2, and I preferred h6 so Black couldn't push his h-pawn.
2. Why is my move not ideal?
Black had three pieces defending his h7-pawn, rendering my queen ineffective on h6 as an attacking piece. Instead of playing an autopilot move, I needed to scan the board for the best move given the position.
3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
18.Be2 was the move I played on the next turn, but the engine wanted it on move 18 because 18.Qh6 was already the queen's fourth move in the game while my kingside was underdeveloped. Moreover, 18.Be2 would have freed my g1-knight from the defense of f3, which would allow it to activate and in so doing my rooks would connect.
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| Position 2: White to move |
Acknowleding my pressure on h7, Black mobilized a fourth defender with 18...Rf7. Now I played 19.Be2 to free up my knight. Black's next move, 19.c5, I understand to be ill-advised as he should have played for a break with 19...c5 followed by 20...d5 or 20...b5. It increased my advantage from +0.16 to +1.11. With my f3-pawn defended, I could start maneuvering my knight to g5 via 20.Nh3. Black offered a queen trade with 20...Qf8 to remove one of my attacking pieces, and I executed the second part of my knight maneuver with 21.Ng5. An exchange of queens ensued with 21...Qxh6 and 22.Rxh6, after which Black proceeded to blunder a knight-fork with 22...Rg7. I capitalized with 23.Ne6, and after 23...Rdd7 I chopped with 24.Nxg7. Black recaptured with 24...Rxg7, and the eval bar rose to +4.34.
In recapturing with the rook rather than with 24...Kxg7, Black hung his pawn on d6, but I overlooked 25.Rxd6 in favor of 25.Nd5. Accepting my offer to exchange knights, Black chopped with 25...Nxd5, and I should have recaptured with 26.exd5 to fix his backward pawn on d6 but instead did so with 26.Rxd5 to attack d6 immediately. Black defended with 26...Rd7, whereupon I summoned my other rook with 27.Rh1. Black attacked my d5-rook with 27...Bb7, prompting me to retreat with 28.Rd2. After 28...Kg7 the engine wanted 29.g5 followed by 30.f4, but I continued 29.Rhd1 to increase pressure on d6. Black double defended d6 with 29...Nf7, and it was here I started feeling like my only plan was to target Black's pawns on d6 and h7 with my rooks. Game review labels my next move, 30.Bd3, an inaccuracy; what it wanted was 30.g5.
1. Why did I choose 30.Bd3?
My bish on e2 felt like it was in the way of my rooks and the a-file.
2. Why is my move not ideal?
30.Bd3 was a passive move that failed to challenge Black in any way.
3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
The hardest part of the game to fully master is pawn play. In this case, pushing 30.g5 was correct because it would restrict Black's king to the seventh and eighth ranks, it would prepare an f4-push that would give my bish more scope, and further down the line it would lead to the creation of passed pawn. And what if 30...Nxg5? That would invite 31.Rxd6, followed by an exchange of rooks either voluntarily by Black or forced by White.
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| Position 3: White to move |
Black's knight swooped in to attack my f3-pawn with 30...Ne5, and I defended with 31.Rf1. Perhaps preparing to reroute his knight to f4, Black advanced 31...g5. My advantage of +2.36 sunk to -3.10 after 32.Rh2.
1. Why did I choose 32.Rh2
With my bish off the second rank, I could proceed with my plan of stacking rooks on the h-file to attack Black's h-pawn.
2. Why is my move not ideal?
32.Rh2 blundered 32...Nxd3+.
3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
The engine's top recommendation, 32.Be2, feels like a concession, but my rook on f1 was on passive guard duty and 32.Be2 would have freed it up for more important assignments.
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