Nimzo-Indian Defense: Win (1612-1633)

It being a Saturday, I should not have been at school today, but circumstances were such that I was in the area and the school was open. Wedensday's milestone win, given my opponent's sub-1600 rating and awful time management, left an unsatisfied taste in my mouth. The coast was clear, i.e. I was alone and could bring my A-game, and shortly after one o'clock I settled in for a ten-minute Rapid.

In this afternoon's game Chess.com matched me with one HardcoreHenrik, rated 1588 out of Poland. It was a Classical Nimzo-Indian that developed into a middlegame where I was down two pawns but had compensation in the form of two rooks on the seventh. The Nimzo-Indian is a sharp opening that I am endeavoring to master as Black and here got a taste of as White. Until opponent blundered his rook on move 39, it was a challenging and volatile game. At 1633, I have a cushion to absorb a loss without busting 1600 should I attempt a push to 1700.

---

Position 1: White to move

Assigned the white pieces, I opened 1.d4 and opponent replied 1...e6. We continued 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2, the Classical Nimzo-Indian, and after Black's 4...0-0 I pushed a third pawn to the center with 5.e4. Black needed to reply 5...d5, in which case 6.e5, or 5...c5, in which case things get tricky with 6.e5 cxd4 and I must counterattack with 7.a3 to retain the advantage.

Instead, Black chopped with 5...Bxc3 and I correctly rechopped with 6.bxc3. Black pushed 6...d6 and I correctly developed with 7.Bd3, and after 7...e5 I pinned Black's knight with 8.Bg5. We exchanged with 8...exd4 9.cxd4, and Black attacked my d-pawn with 9...Nc6. What the engine wanted was 10.Ne2, presumably to avoid getting pinned and possibly also to shield the king along the e-file, but I defended d4 with 10.Nf3. Black forced a trade of minors with 10...Nb4 and normally I would rue the loss of my light-square bish, but given my superior center I was okay with the trade and 11.Qb3 Nxd3+ 12.Qxd3 ensued. Black's 12...h6 asked my bish on g5 what its intentions were, and I put off answering with 13.Bh4. When Black targeted my f3-knight with 13...Bg4 my advantage was +1.06, but it flipped to -0.23 when I chopped with 14.Bxf6.

1. Why did I choose the move 14.Bxf6?
Things were looking dangerous for my e4-pawn because Black could chop it with his knight from f6 and I couldn't rechop with my queen due to the threat of Black's rook skewering from e8. I exchanged to avoid any such sneakiness.

2. Why is my move not ideal?
I was hasty as Black's knight was itself pinned, and exchanging activated Black's queen with threats on my d4-pawn and f3-knight.

3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
14.Nd2 would have solved all my problems -- releasing the pressure on f3 and adding a second defender to the e4-pawn. Black's bish on g4 would struggle to find employment.

Position 2: White to move

Black rechopped with 14...Qxf6 and was threatening to chop on f3 and double my f-pawns. The eval bar showed -0.10, but it dropped to -0.94 after my 15.e5.

1. Why did I choose the move 15.e5?
Danger levels. Black's queen couldn't be the first piece to chop my knight, and by attacking the queen I was at least delaying ...Bxf3.

2. Why is my move not ideal?
Problem was my move didn't force Black's queen off the f-file. Not only did it fail to resolve the threat to f3, it weakened a major asset I had on the board in the form of a dominant center.

3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
The simple 15.Nd2 was again the solution, removing Black's target, discoordinating his queen and light-square bish, and adding support to my center.

Position 3: White to move

Black chopped with 15...dxe5, and I should have rechopped with 16.Nxe5 to get my knight off f3 and keep my c- and d-pawns connected as 16.dxe5 isoed my c-pawn. Black maintained the pressure on my knight with 16...Qf4 and declined my offer to trade queens with 17.Qd4 Qf5. I attacked the queen with 18.Nh4, to which Black should have replied 18...Qh5as 18...Qe6 gave me just the daylight I needed to finally castle with 19.0-0. Black attacked my queen from the open d-file with 19...Rfd8, and I sidled over with 20.Qe4 to maintain defense of c4 and apply pressure to b7.

Black weakened the defense around his king with 20...g5 to go after my knight, and I correctly counterattacked with 21.h3 to go after Black's bish. Black needed to chop with 21...Bxh3 but instead we exchanged minors and queens with 21...gxh4 22.Qxg4 Qxg4 23.hxg4. Black forked my c- and g-pawns with 23...Rd4, and I countered with 24.Rab1. Black defended with 24...b6, and with 25.Rfd1 I gave Black an ultimatum: Trade rooks with 25...Rxd1 26.Rxd1 or chop with 25...Rxc4 and I will penetrate to your seventh with 26.Rd7. Black attacked my e-pawn with 26...Re8, and I defended with 27.Rb5. Black kicked my rook with 27...a6, and I doubled with 28.Rbd5. Black double-defended f7 with 28...Rf8 in order to relieve his other rook of defensive duty, but that allowed 29.Re7 and after 29...Rxg4 I completed my invasion with 30.Rdd7. Black was up two pawns, but after 30...Rg7 to defend his f7-pawn the eval bar showed 0.00. I correctly pushed 31.e6, and when Black replied 31...Kf8 the eval surged to +2.50. It snapped back to 0.0 after my 32.Rxf7+.

1. Why did I choose the move 32.Rxf7+?
My two candidate moves were 32.Rxf7+ and 32.exf7. They both resulted in the gain of a pawn and I saw no meaningful difference between them.

2. Why is my move not ideal?
At the end of the exchanges Black would still be up a pawn. The endgame would be objectively equal, but Black's would be eaiser to defend and promote.

3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
The engine's top recommendation, calculating eleven moves ahead to a future where Black promotes to a queen and then White to a knight with check, was 32.f4. The line itself is beyond my level, but the important takeaway is that Black's g7-rook and f7-pawn were paralyzed defending each other and once my f-pawn advanced to f6 Black's position around the king would disintegrate.

Position 4: White to move

Black replied to my check by exchanging with 32...Rxf7 33.Rxf7+. I then had numerous continuations that maintained equality but chose 34.Rf4 and handed Black a -0.28 advantage.

1. Why did I choose the move 34.Rf4?
Black's doubled h-pawns were easy targets for my rook.

2. Why is my move not ideal?
34.Rf4 allowed 34...c5 and Black's queenside pawns to get rolling whereas my rook was in the way of my f-pawn.

3. Why is the better move better than my chosen move?
The engine's top recommendations were 34.f4, en-route to f5, 34.Rd7, continuing to patrol the seventh with back-rank threats, and 34.Kh2, activating.