To begin with, if you've wondered whether it is better to be an attack-oriented player or a defense-oriented player, let me say that the answer is "yes". Chess is not a game for specialists. When you begin to play through the games of the great players, you will likely be surprised to learn that attackers such as Kasparov and Tal have defended brilliantly - and that defenders such as Kramnik and Karpov have played beautiful attacks. Indeed, grandmasters of chess are well-rounded players - so if it is necessary for a peerless attacker like Kasparov to defend well, then it follows that you should also develop and improve your defensive techniques.
Why? Isn't defense boring? Isn't it better to sacrifice pieces and play for mate? Of course it is. But real life gets in the way sometimes. Sometimes your opponent gets the better of you in the opening and when the middlegame begins, you have to deal with
his attack.
What then? Sheepishly resign just because the opponent has the upper hand? Of course not! No, no, a thousand times, no! You fight on until defeat is imminent - for one of you. As GM Viktor Korchnoi says, "If a player believes in miracles he can sometimes perform them." (Lisa D. loves it when I quote people)
Now I love to attack. It's great fun. But the game I am about to show you is a favorite of mine (despite its quality) and is a typical illustration of what stubborn resistance can do for a bad position.
This game was played online (a fifteen-minute game, IIRC), circa 2000. I had the white pieces.
- 1. e4 c5
- 2. Nf3 Nc6
- 3. d4 cxd4
- 4. Nxd4 Qb6!?
This move isn't exactly a mainline Sicilian but it certainly has its attractive qualities. The d4-square is under pressure (compare this to black's play in Aparicio-Makhlaychuk, 1998 for similarities) and the attacking defense 5 Be3? just drops the b2-pawn. The primary idea behind the Open Sicilian, from black's perspective, is that if he can reach an endgame his extra pawn in the center will be very advantageous for him. For white in the Open Sicilian, middlegame attack is the name of the game.
I wasn't very well-versed in the Sicilian back in those days. The retreat 5 Nb3, a standard book move in many lines, simply didn't occur to me. But the text-move allows black to get one step closer to that endgame with that knight trade AND moves the b-pawn to the far more useful c-file, where it will support the d-pawn once it comes to the d5-square. So yeah, I'm giving black EXACTLY what he wants in this opening - all in the first five moves!
As I mentioned in the Makhlaychuk game, I had an unhealthy fixation with the fianchetto during the years 1997-2001; when I was out of ideas, I simply played b2-b3 and Bc1-b2 (or g2-g3 and Bf1-g2, depending). In the abstract, it's a fine idea - place the bishop on the long diagonal, it runs through the center and controls a lot of squares - but a chess game seldom permits such leisurely maneuvers.
Before I go on with the game, I need to make clear the point I am trying to make: the fianchetto is very often an excellent idea. This maneuver is the central idea behind several excellent opening systems, (the King's Indian Defense, the Queen's Indian Defense, the Benoni Defense, the Sicilian Dragon, various English Opening variations, etc.) so I'm not telling you to avoid using the fianchetto; I was using it as a crutch back in those days, making it a substitute for thinking about which moves were relevant to the position. This is a lazy and dangerous approach to chess, especially in complex, tactical openings like the Open Sicilian.
Consider the text-move, 7 b3? To complete the fianchetto, white will need to play 8 Bb2 - what does that accomplish? The white king is stuck in the center and the other bishop is doing nothing on f1; why not 7 Bc4 and 8 0-0 instead? Sure, black can insert something contentious like 7...Ba6 to prevent castling, but then 8 Bxa6 Qxa6 9 Qd4! is strong: 9...Nf6 10 Bg5 Bg7 11 e5. White is now ready to castle and black's knight is getting kicked around like a tin can.
- 7...Bg7
- 8. Bb2 Qa5
- 9. Qd2 Nf6
- 10. Bd3 O-O
- 11. O-O Ng4
- 12. h3 Ne5
- 13. f4 Nxd3
- 14. cxd3 Ba6
- 15. Rf3 Bb7
- 16. Qf2??
I have purposefully avoided comment for the past several moves because the topic here is defending bad positions. White has reasonably handled a bad opening up until now - but this move is a screaming, howling, why-on-earth-do-I-still-bother-with-chess quality blunder. 16 d4 c5 17 d5 was the most plausible continuation; white is still worse off but at least in this line he enters a middlegame with level material.
- 16...Bxc3
- 17. Bxc3 Qxc3
- 18. Rf1 c5
- 19. f5 Qd4!
A queen trade would be disastrous for white, and for that reason white must play an awkward move to keep the queens on.
- 20. Re3 Kg7
- 21. Kh1 g5
- 22. h4 h6
- 23. Qg3 f6
- 24. Ref3 d6
- 25. Qg4 Bc6!
White was threatening a forced draw with Qg4-h5-g6+, Qg6-h6-g6, with perpetual check. Black has maneuvered very nicely: besides preventing that draw, all of his pawns are on dark squares - which of course allows his extra piece, the bishop, to travel unimpeded.
- 26. Qh5 Be8
- 27. Qg4 h5
- 28. Qg3 g4
- 29. R3f2 Qe5?!
This is a subject close to my heart - the unjustified one-move threat. Black has done a superb job improving his most of his pieces after winning the bishop. Here, black could play 29...Bf7 to connect the rooks and begin invading the queenside in earnest; even 29...a5 looks pretty good. Why redeploy an already well-placed piece (to attack a piece which will most certainly not agree to be traded) when black's material superiority can assert itself on the other side of the board? When you've got your opponent in retreat covering up one weakness, it's always a good policy to explore the possibility of creating another one. Eventually, defensive pieces charged with covering multiple problem areas will break under enough well-placed pressure and make winning a game simple.
- 30. Qe3 Rb8
- 31. Rc1 Rb4
- 32. Rc4!?
What's this? Isn't white supposed to avoid trades when down in material? Yes. But it also occurred to me that the result of this trade (which black is quite happy to accept for all reasons obvious) makes a lot of central light squares uninhabitable for the black bishop. So by agreeing to the trade, I reduce the effectiveness of black's extra piece.
33...Qc3 creates a tactical idea in conjunction with ...Be8-f7 and ...Bf7xc4.
35...Rb2 is much stronger and looks decisive, since 36 Qa5 fails to 36...Qg3. Alternatively, 36 Qe3 Rxa2 eventually allows ...Qb2 and white is plastered to his back rank.
- 36. Qa5 Rb7
- 37. Qd8 Qxa2
- 38. Qc8 Qa6?
38...Rb1 is superior. The hanging bishop can't be touched since white loses the exchange.
Black has utterly wasted his extra piece. Far from utilizing the bishop, black assists white by blocking the defense of a vital pawn with that extra material.
What have we witnessed so far? To be sure, black has played rather poorly since preventing the perpetual check - but why? Aided by the urgency of a ticking clock, black has committed errors related to the possiblity that white was threatening, or could threaten, something. In short, black is tiptoeing around ghosts. 29...Qe5?! and 35 Qb2? were undoubtedly motivated by the desire to get the queens off the board. With 38...Qa6? black was so fearful of losing his extra material that he failed to recognize that the bishop was in no real danger. And with the text-move, black was so concerned with the white queen's location that he didn't stop to consider this reality: Her Majesty really can't do anything more than look scary on the e6-square. Black wanted to drive it out at all costs.
The point is, when you're on the short end of the stick, threaten something. Anything. Don't just sit there. Maybe your defense will unnerve the opponent; I'm sure that this is what happened in this game.
- 41. Qxe7+ Kg8
- 42. Qxf6 Ba4
- 43. Qe6+ Rf7
- 44. Qg6+ Kf8
- 45. Qh6+ Ke8
- 46. Qxh5
White has recovered two pawns for the bishop, which is, materially, nearly equal .
Of course, it's curtains for the critical d3-pawn, right?
The Lady in White deserves a raise for her all of her hard work in this game. With this move white keeps the d3-pawn on the board for now.
- 47...Kd7
- 48. Qc3 Qb3
- 49. Qa5 Qa4?
Just grab the d3-pawn! Jeez!
My original note to this move, written after I first analyzed this game, read "Black has played...as though he has the material deficit." That's kind of a stupid comment, I thought as I glanced over the old annotations. However, as I reviewed the game in preparation for writing this post I realized that this comment invites two interpretations. On the one hand, the proper approach for the player short on material is to play more alertly and boldly, since passive play will avail him nothing; in that sense, the note is nonsensical. But on the other hand, the idea that a player with a material deficit will play not to harrass the opponent but solely to preserve what he has, regardless of what's going on in the game, reacting rather than acting, it is that sense in which my original note does have some merit. Black has had the majority of the game dictated to him despite winning significant material in the opening. So keep this in mind - do not let a game get out of your control in this way. It is extremely important to keep a cool head when evaluating threats. Otherwise, reflexive reactions to those threats, over and over again, will transform you into a non-participant at the board. What opponent could be easier to deal with than the one playing your game rather than his own?
- 50. Qd2 Rf8
- 51. Rc1 Bb3
- 52. Qg5 Qa3 - Finally, a counterthreat!
- 53. f6?
This is pure bluff, as it turns out. 53...Rxf6! 54 Qxg4+ is the best white can get from this, since the white rook is en prise on c1.
- 53...Ba4 - But of course, black takes it seriously...
- 54. Qxg4+ Kc6
- 55. Rf1 Qxd3
- 56. f7 Qd4+
- 58. Kh1 Qe5
- 59. Rf5 Qe7
- 60. e5 dxe5
- 61. Rxe5 Qxf7
- 62. Re6+! Kc7
Believe it or not, the only alternative (62...Ka5) is checkmate! (63 Qe1++)
Rook and bishop can often compensate for a queen, and the win isn't forced quite yet. But considering the emotional state black must have been in, can you blame the guy for tipping his king?
Often a position appears to be so strong that the game should just win itself. But as GM Jan Hein Donner put it, "Chess games are not won with good positions but with good moves." I did nearly everything I could to make the win difficult for my opponent, and he responded with bad moves. Had I hunkered down in a corner, waiting for the end, my opponent would have picked me apart in routine fashion. Never give up. Never, never, never. (Churchill)
***Edit by Ricardo*** Besides correcting several errors on the move list, I hadn't yet posted a playback link. You may now click the new link below if it pleases you.
Ricardo Aparicio-NN
[Event "Online"]
[Site "Game Colony.com"]
[Date "2000"]
[Round ""]
[White "Ricardo Aparicio"]
[Black "NN"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO ""]
[BlackELO ""]
{The current board position and moves represent a sample game to view. To
enter your own game in PGN format that you can view and output, choose the
"Import PGN" button.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Qb6 5. Nxc6 bxc6
6. Nc3 g6 7. b3 Bg7 8. Bb2 Qa5 9. Qd2 Nf6 10. Bd3 O-O 11. O-O Ng4 12. h3 Ne5
13. f4 Nxd3 14. cxd3 Ba6 15. Rf3 Bb7 16. Qf2 Bxc3 17. Bxc3 Qxc3 18. Rf1 c5
19. f5 Qd4 20. Re3 Kg7 21. Kh1 g5 22. h4 h6 23. Qg3 f6 24. Ref3 d6 25. Qg4
Bc6 26. Qh5 Be8 27. Qg4 h5 28. Qg3 g4 29. R3f2 Qe5 30. Qe3 Rb8 31. Rc1 Rb4
32. Rc4 Rxc4 33. bxc4 Bc6 34. Rf1 Rb8 35. Qd2 Qb2 36. Qa5 Rb7 37. Qd8 Qxa2
38. Qc8 Qa6 39. Qe6 Qb6 40. Kg1 Bd7 41. Qxe7+ Kg8 42. Qxf6 Ba4 43. Qe6+ Rf7
44. Qg6+ Kf8 45. Qh6+ Ke8 46. Qxh5 Bc2 47. Qh8+ Kd7 48. Qc3 Qb3 49. Qa5 Qa4
50. Qd2 Rf8 51. Rc1 Bb3 52. Qg5 Qa3 53. f6 Ba4 54. Qxg4+ Kc6 55. Rf1 Qxd3 56.
f7 Qd4+ 57. Kh1 Qe5 58. Rf5 Qe7 59. e5 dxe5 60. Qe4+ Kb6 61. Rxe5 Qxf7 62.
Re6+ Kc7 63. Re7 1-0
