Chess for the Ordinary Mortals

Chess Book for the Ordinary Mortals

Chapter 3: After the Opening - Part 1

A surprising number of players have, over the years, admitted to me that they feel most at a loss at that point in a game immediately after a balanced opening when they have to decide what to do next. Do they attack the opponent's king's position? Do they push on down the opposite flank to their own king? Do they shuffle pieces about and hope something will crop up?

A lot depends on your temperament!

If you are an attacking player (and I am not sure whether aggressive players over the board are the same away from the board), you will seek weaknesses or, if you cannot see one, try to create one – which we shall soon come to. If you are not by nature aggressive over the chess board, you should build up a solid defence and follow the general principles previously discussed. Then, either one of two things may happen …. Your opponent will attack you and beat himself to death trying to crack open your impregnable defence system or, your army will gradually build itself up into an unstoppable force, your attack almost playing itself. A third possibility here is that, if he is barren of attacking ideas too, you will play out an honourable draw.

There is no right or wrong method. Some of the greatest world champions have fallen into one camp or the other. It is the attackers, and perhaps, especially, the unorthodox attackers who draw the greatest admiration. I am glad that that is so but, some of the stodgiest defenders have still chalked up incredibly good results. There can be a lot of admirable chess required to make a successful defender!

The two factors which the reader needs to note are …. 1) Know which sort of player you are. And, 2) Play an opening which will favour your type of game.

I have long been aware that I am a very attacking player. It is my nature. This led to me dropping the Petroff Defence, although I achieved a good success rate using it (even after Korchnoi's venture with it), because I did not find it tactically aggressive enough. Similarly, the old-fashioned but aggressive Giuoco Piano I dropped because it does not have enough back-up for the early threats it carries. An opening with a slower build up can carry more threats and more punch than one where there is an early sally of pieces up the board, as we have already discussed in the chapter on openings.

Campaign plans.

I hope I do not give the impression that the opening phase is in some way entirely separate from the middle game. Ideally the middle game should follow on smoothly from what has gone on before, the opening being a part of the whole campaign. But chess, as is the nature of true conflicts in a war, does not always run to some grand design. Players, having made, perhaps, a dozen moves which may or may not have contained minor skirmishes or, even, more serious minor battles, will often take stock and decide then how the rest of the game (the war) should be conducted.

But, whenever that stock-taking is done, assuming a single moment arrives, be clear about your strategy. This does not rule out being flexible if your game plan in one direction is being thwarted or you come to a dead end. And, that strategy must depend on how your opening has gone and how your opponent has played. Unless you know your opponent very, very well, do not go into a game with pre-conceived notions as to what you will do and how you will do it. Let us consider the following game where one player becomes indecisive about his game plan.

top

Game 28. Leicestershire League game, 1975.

K Morley v Author. Opening: English – Dutch Defence.

1	c4	e6
2	Nc3	f5	This is not the only game in the book where the author, having newly arrived at the Dutch Defence, misses the correct way of playing it … Black must achieve his block on the e4 square earlier with ..d5 as well as ..f5
3	d4	Nf6
4	Nf3		White has carried on with his usual English set-up and missed his chance of a freeing/attacking e4
	…..	Be7
5	e3	c6
6	Be2	0-0
7	Qc2	d5
8	cxd5	exd5	Let us analyse the game at this stage. Despite some inaccuracies in the opening, both players have reached a reasonable jump off point for their middle game play. Black still has to bring his Q-side knight out, of course. White has assisted Black by removing his main weakness, the backward e6 pawn. White should now castle before proceeding with his middle-game strategy but, he falls into the category of the reluctant castler and starts to show his intentions of a Q-side advance. The strategies which should be adopted are …. White should castle K-side (as his king will not be sufficiently covered if placed on the other wing due to the semi-open c-file. He should perhaps consider a Q-side pawn advance but needs to manoeuvre his minor pieces (particularly the knight on c3) onto better squares. Black's strategy goes with the Dutch … his pieces are funnelled towards the white K-side and he should attack in that direction
9	Rb1	Ne4
10	Bd2	Nd7
11	b4	Ndf6
12	h3	Nxc3
13	Bxc3	Ne4
14	g3		Looking at the early middle game play so far: Black has cleared his lines nicely and posted an advanced knight in White territory. He is 'on line' with the indicated strategy. White has, to put it bluntly, dithered in his plan. Starting with a Q-side advance, he has put a target pawn up the board for Black then switched back to some sort of K-side defence (yet with the king still uneasily sitting on his original square where he splits the rooks.) The text move White has made, intended, of course, to discourage the f-pawn from advancing further, has weakened his king's shield (should he ever want to use it!). Now, perhaps surprisingly to the reader, Black appears to change his plan. But, this is not dithering …. He has assessed that the greater weakness in White's position lies with Q-side pawn structure. This is an example of the flexibility previously advocated
	…..	a5!	Black takes on White's Q-side attack … while the powerful knight is still well posted and White's rooks are separated by the king
15	a3	Nxc3
16	Qxc3	axb4
17	axb4		What happened to White's Q-side attack? It is now Black who has an open file for his rooks
	…..	Bd6	Black realigns his bishop and discourages Ne5
18	Bd1		White also re-adjusts but this is a poor move as it further splits the rooks and does not even threaten to come to a good square. Its sole purpose seems to be to prevent ..Ra4
	…..	Qe7
19	Kf1		The king wisely heads for g2 and prevents any possibility of the queen being pinned
	…..	Bd7
20	h4	Ra7
21	Kg2	Rfa8
22	Bc2	Ra3
23	Qe1	Ra2
24	Bb3		At last, and rather laboriously, White's pieces have found better squares. Black has not been able to make a break through or gain material during this process so must now probe for an advantage using his rooks
	…..	R(2)a3
25	Bc2		This is where Black has to choose how he will continue to assert his slight advantage. A re-think and more flexibility are, perhaps, called for
	…..	Qf6	The strategy he has decided upon is a switch to a K-side attack!
26	Rg1	Qg6
27	Kf1	Qh5
28	Nh2??		At last, Black's Q-side/K-side probing has produced a crack in the defence. 28. Bd1, threatening Ng5 looks better
	…..	f4!	White is suddenly in great trouble
29	exf4	Bh3+
30	Rg2	Bxg2+	and wins at the time control

Just a little background history to the next game …. A regular annual event in Leicestershire chess saw the losers in the first round of a knockout event for teams of five being entered in a subsidiary cup competition (the Birstall Cup). The author's village team, East Goscote, had progressed to the semi-final of this and, against a strong club in the Leicester district, Wigston, needed a win from my game to reach the final …..

top

Game 29. Author v Anthony Morley. Opening: Centre Counter.

1	e4	d5
2	exd5	Qxd5
3	Nc3	Qa5
4	d3		White should play d4 here
	…..	Nf6
5	Bd2	c6
6	Nf3	Bg4
7	Be2	Nbd7
8	0-0	Qc7
9	d4		Since Black has lost a tempo by retreating the queen, White corrects his earlier error
	…..	e6
10	Ne5	Nxe5
11	dxe5	Bxe2
12	Qxe2	Nd5
13	f4		Black can, of course, play a queen check thereby capturing the pawn on b2 but this is a so-called 'poison pawn', White immediately winning the pawn back (and with a better attack!) with Rb1. Also, with his K-side undeveloped, this would be an extreme case of a premature attack by Black
	…..	Nxc3	Black seems content to exchange pieces. Where is White's vital win going to come from?
14	Bxc3	0-0-0
15	Kh1	Bc5	White assesses now just how his attack – obviously aimed at the weak side of Black's castled king - should be delivered. One piece badly placed for this assault is his bishop. It must be re-aligned
16	Be1	g6?	I cannot see a good reason for this move
17	b4		The foot-soldiers begin their attack. It is nice that, because of the placing of the black bishop, they can gain a tempo with this first move
	…..	Be7
18	c4	c5
19	b5		It will take some manoeuvring now to get the black bishop onto a good defensive square
	…..	b6
20	a4	Rd7
21	a5		White is hammering at the gate of the citadel! Black's defence is hampered by the diminishing space he has to manoeuvre but, at least his bishop will soon be brought back into service
	…..	Qb8
22	Rf3	Bd8
23	Rfa3	h5	Black can do little for the moment but sit and wait. Maybe ..Re8 – e7 was possible. Instead he makes rumbling noises on the K-side
24	axb6	Bxb6
25	Ba5		The attack is building up to a climax …. And the queen is nicely placed to join in either along a diagonal or the a-file
	…..	Rhd8
26	Bxb6	Qxb6
27	Ra6	Qb7
28	Rc6+	Rc7
29	Rxc7+	Qxc7
30	Ra6	Kb8
31	h3		White has been mindful of the threat from Black of a back row mate during his attack. Now, needing the queen on the a-file, he makes a bolt-hole for his king
	…..	Qe7
32	Qa2	Rd7
33	Qa5!	Rb7	Black has struggled manfully to hold the attack but White now finds the key moves to smash the resistance
34	Rd6	Rd7
35	b6	Rb7
36	Rd8+!!	Qxd8
37	bxa7+	Kc8
38	a8=Q+		And Black resigns

As an addendum to the historical note preceding this game …. Yes, we managed to win the Birstall Cup, the author winning on time in a tense, hard-fought game.

In the previous game White had a clear and obvious objective. There are two main types of situation following on from the opening phase, however. One is, as in the previous game, where the forces are used in a coherent manner. The other is where one must probe to find or create weaknesses. To some extent this happened in game 28 but the weaknesses were there to be probed. In another type of contest, where no obvious weaknesses are there, single pieces may be 'sent on a mission' …. to disrupt; to cause an imbalance and upset the nicely laid out enemy formation. The following game is one of that ilk.

top

Game 30. Leicester Atkins Congress, 1972. Major Open (82 competitors)

I Bourne v Author. Opening: Grunfeld-Indian

This was my round 4 game which concluded a good start with 2 draws and 2 wins. On Sunday it was all 'blown away' when I suffered 2 defeats.

1	c4	Nf6
2	Nf3	g6
3	g3	Bg7
4	Bg2	c6
5	Nc3	d5
6	cxd5	Nxd5
7	d4	Nxc3
8	bxc3	0-0
9	0-0	Nd7
10	Qc2	Nb6
11	Rd1	Be6	Rarely do I play a bishop in front of a pawn but here an attack on the c4 square is essential to hold back the c3 pawn and, perhaps, to create an outpost
12	Bf4	Nd5
13	Bc1		Maybe not such a good square after all! But, can Black keep to his previous objective of strong-pointing the c4 square if he leaves the knight on d5 or must he also eat humble pie and retreat the knight?
	…..	Qa5
14	Bd2		The bishop may have been intending a move to a3. The text move is intended to chase away the black queen but 'the lady is not for returning'
	…..	Nb6	Risky or provocative?
15	Ne1	Nc4	I cannot quite see why White didn't seize his chance to play c4. Whatever the reason, Black's probing has gained a good outpost for his knight
16	a4	Rac8
17	Nd3	b6
18	Nb4	Bd7
19	Qb3	Be6	This bishop would sooner attack than defend!
20	Qc2	Bf5
21	Qb3	Nxd2
22	Rxd2	Be6	The royal harassment continues but Black's probing has achieved nothing. If he continues he may hand White the initiative – in fact he may already have done so as the white knight has moved around the board onto a useful square
23	Qc2	Bd7
24	e4	Rfd8
25	Rd3	e6
26	Qa2	c5	At last!
27	Nc2	c4
28	Re3	Bh6	The black knight and white-squared bishop have tried a little harassment, now the black-squared bishop joins in
29	f4	g5!
30	fxg5	Bxg5
31	Rf3	e5
32	Raf1	Rf8
33	d5	Bg4
34	R(3)f2		A well-known technique for creating a weakness, known as 'overload', is shown here …. Using the bishops together with the queen's continuing menace on a5, Black, although now facing a passed pawn, has forced White to succumb to mounting pressure on two fronts – the vulnerability of the rooks and the weakness of the backward pawn on c3. Something had to give
	…..	Qxc3
35	Bf3	Bh3
36	Bg2	Bd7
37	Rf3	Qa5
38	Na3	Bxa4	Here again a player is faced with a choice of battle plans …. Does Black 'sit back' on his extra pawn or, as in this game, take an aggressive line to follow up on his success? The choice is yours. I prefer not to allow an opponent to re-group but to batter away at him while he is still off balance
39	Kh1		White could not play Nxc4 of course because of ..Qc5+
	…..	Bb3
40	Qb2	Rce8
41	Rf5	Bh6
42	Qf2	Re7
43	d6	Rd7
44	Qf3		Black must be very careful here!
	…..	Bg7
45	Rf6?		Hoping for .. Bxf6 46. Qg4+ picking up the valuable blocking rook on d7
	…..	Qxa3
46	Bh3	Bxf6!
47	Qg4+	Bg7
48	Qxd7	c3
49	Qc7	c2	And White resigned. (If 50. d7 then ..Qe7 wins comfortably)

To round off Campaign Plans, the following game illustrates that situation one sometimes meets where, it can almost be said, there is no campaign plan. A tactical player, as my opponent is, may have only one sort of plan … get 'stuck in'; mix it; go for the jugular from move one!

top
Back to TOC
Back to Home Page