SenseiDanya (1412) vs AlexSem (1469)

1400Episode 03 · 1-0

During the gameIn the review

  1. Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Caro Variation, 5.Bb3 Nf6
  2. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
  3. 3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez, Danya's main weapon Opening The Ruy Lopez, Danya's own main opening.
  4. 3...a6 4.Ba4
  5. 4... b5 Why 4...b5 is inaccurate rather than losing Opening Inaccurate rather than outright bad - there is a Norwegian Variation that plays this deliberately, and it hands White the b3 square his bishop was heading for anyway. Going through it with Alex the point sharpens: the danger is not Bxc6 at all, it is the bishop reaching b3, where it eyes f7 while Black's kingside is still at home. Play 4...Nf6 first. And what makes the later Ng5 so strong is precisely that the dark-squared bishop has not come out - with it developed Black would simply castle. His parting mnemonic: do not play ...b5 until you are ready to castle, and be far more afraid of the bishop on b3 than of Bxc6.
  6. 5.Bb3 Nf6
  7. 6. d4 Open the centre against an undeveloped opponent Opening The standing question against an underdeveloped opponent: open the centre, as fast as possible. Ng5 at once is not the way, so the pawn does the work. In the review he calls d4 preliminary - it opens the centre and ties down the d-pawn before the knight commits to anything.
  8. 6...d6
  9. 7. Ng5 Revisit a move once the position has changed Opening Now the move is right, and the reason is worth more than the move. Danya's method of comparison: a move that failed earlier is not dead forever. With d4 and ...d6 inserted, Ng5 arrives with White far closer to castling, and it is Black who must open the centre. The same comparison from Black's side: ...d5 here is a much worse version, because dxe5 rips the centre open.
  10. 7... Bg4 Black's clever try: ...Bg4, with ...Bh5 to follow Piece play A genuinely clever try. The idea is that after f3 the bishop drops back to h5, from where it defends f7. He calls it ingenious in the review, and reckons the line would be fine for Black if White did not have the Bxf7 resource.
  11. 8. Bxf7+ Do not get fixated on the fork Piece play Do not get fixated on the fork - Nxf7 only trades queens. Taking with the bishop is the better version: it wins a pawn outright and drags the king into the open. In the review this is named as the move that decides the game: without it Black is fine, and with the king dragged out he is in serious trouble.
  12. 8...Ke7
  13. 9. f3 Defend and gain a tempo with one move Piece play Defends the queen and gains a tempo on the bishop at the same time.
  14. 9... Bh5 The retreat that helps White Piece play This helps White. The bishop stranded on f7 was Black's one source of counterplay, and this offers to trade it off. In the review it becomes a whole concept. The f7-bishop looks like an intruder to be evicted, but it is an asset for Black: a type-2 undefended piece, guarded by the g5-knight alone. Black should leave it there, play ...Bd7 or ...Bc8, and keep ...h6 in reserve to remove that single defender and trap it.
  15. 10.Bxh5 Nxh5
  16. 11. d5 Close the centre - to reopen it on better terms Strategy Closing the centre while the enemy king is exposed looks wrong, and normally is. The exception is the e6 square: a knight belongs there, and the centre gets reopened with f4 later, on better terms.
  17. 11...Nb8 12.Ne6 Qd7
  18. 13. O-O Castle first: put the rook where the file will open Strategy f4 works immediately, but this is the methodical order. The king gets safe and the rook is already on the file that is about to open.
  19. 13...c6
  20. 14. f4 What a pawn chain buys you Strategy ...cxd5 is no threat at all - that is what a pawn chain buys you, with e4 covering d5. It would only open the e-file for White.
  21. 14...cxd5
  22. 15. Nxf8 Move the attacked piece with a threat of its own Tactics Better than the obvious exd5. The knight is attacked, so move it with a threat of its own: this takes the bishop and wins a piece outright. Danya calls it life insurance - if the attack fizzles, the extra piece is still there. In the review he names it the key move of the game: it transforms one advantage into another, moving out with tempo because the h5-knight hangs.
  23. 15...Rxf8
  24. 16. Qxh5 Trade one advantage for another, give up nothing Tactics One advantage traded for another, with nothing given up: the king is still exposed and the f-file is still about to open.
  25. 16...Nc6
  26. 17. Nc3 A piece up, so finish developing Strategy A piece up, so finish developing rather than grabbing. The knight is heading for the d5 outpost and the bishop to e3.
  27. 17...dxe4 18.Nd5+ Kd8
  28. 19. Be3 The fork that is not one Tactics Nb6 looks like a fork but is premature: Qa7 would pin the knight against the castled king. Cover the diagonal first, and note that being a piece up means there is no need to hunt for the exchange at all.
  29. 19...g6
  30. 20. Qg5+ Check with tempo Attack Checking with tempo. Qh6 and Qh4 also work; the point is to keep Black responding.
  31. 20... Ne7 The pinned defender Attack Interposing changes nothing, because the knight is pinned.
  32. 21. fxe5 Open the file; connected rooks decide it Attack No need for anything clever. Opening the f-file is decisive with the rooks connected and Black's still split apart.
  33. 21...dxe5
  34. 22. Rxf8+ Force the queen to block Attack Forcing the queen to block, which is the whole point of the open file.
  35. 22...Qe8
  36. 23. Qxe7+ The finish Attack The pinned knight cannot recapture and the king has to step aside, so the queen falls with mate to follow.
  37. Black resigned
End of episode 03 · 1-0 ← 02. vs AdityaRajagopal (1176)All games at 140004. vs rad_cliff (1294) →