Converting Extra Exchange - What is the Best Plan?

I played this game recently, and to my shame - lost the position with an extra exchange. What is the best plan to convert the material advantage? Is it possible to formulate it up front?

Jiganchine, Roman - Trotchanovich, Pavel, 2015.03.17 , C99

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 d6 9. c3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4 Nc4 14. Nxc4 bxc4 15. Bd2 Rb8 16. Bc3 Nd7 17. Qe2 Bf6 18. Rad1 g6 19. Qe3 Bg7 20. Qg5 Re8 21. h4 Rb5 22. Qg3 ( 22. Ba4 exd4 23. Bxb5 dxc3 ~ was rejected because of memories of our last game that went bad for me where Pavel sacked an exchange and won against me )  22. ... d5 23. Ba4 dxe4 24. Nxe5 Nxe5 25. dxe5 Bxe5 26. Bxe5 Qxe5 27. Qxe5 Rbxe5 28. Bxe8 Rxe8 29. Rd4 Bb7 30. Rxc4 Bd5 31. Ra4  ( 31. Rd4 Bxa2 32. Rdxe4 Be6 )  31. ... Re6 32. b3 Kg7

White has a pure extra exchange, but the black pawn on e4 somewhat prevents the white rooks from getting activated, and converting the advantage unexpectedly proved a challenge. Coordinating the two white rooks while insisting on exchanging one of them must be the key to winning this position.

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Best Place Online for Playing Rated 15 minute Chess games at the expert/master level?

Question for the readers - I am in the low 2200 in my national, FIDE, and ICC standard ratings, and I want to get a few 15 minute games a week on ICC to meet some of my yearly goals.  However, lately am finding I have to wait for a long time to get a game against opponent rated above 2000 on ICC. Otherwise the quality of games tends to be lower than what I see in the local chess tournaments, so this is a less than optimal situation. Is there a better option in terms of other playing sites?

In addition to ICC, I am open to looking at ChessPlanet, Lichess, PlayChess, newly launched Fide playing zone, etc, but want to hear if any of the readers have better experiences with getting slower games?

Overlooked Queen Sacrifice

Angelwette – Jiganchine, 1998
Black played 31… cxd4 and after 32.Bh6 Qc5 – eventually Black won.
What did both players miss after 31… cxd4 ?

Tactic in Najdorf Sicilian

In a rapid game played a few days ago, I missed this chance:

Chigorin Club – UBC Club, 2013

 White to move 

I took on f6, played Nd5, and the position got murky, as both kings lost the chance to castle.

12. Bb5+ ! gave White a great position. After 12… Nc6 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Nd5! makes it clear who’s in charge here:

White dominates the position and all the key squares.

Sicilian Dragon - from the opening into the endgame

DDT3000 – bobhill, ICC, 2010

  White to move. Black’s rook is very active and is attacking White’s pawn, so White needs to find his own counterplay. Hint: the strength of the bishop is that it can transfer from one side of the board to another very quickly, White just needs to find targets for the bishop on the queenside.

See the video with the solution and overview of the complete game:

This video shows a 15 minute chess game I played on the internet; an example of applying familiar endgame patterns I learned from Anatoly Karpov's games. Typical Bishop vs. Knight themes apply here as the bishop ends up being stronger when there are passed pawns on both sides of the board.

Pawn Structure Chess – when your Opponent Surprises you

DDT3000 – sgilroy, ICC 2011, 20 minutes per game
Black to move.
Here I expected 25…b5-b4, fighting for ‘d4’ square in the typical fashion for the Spanish game. But my opponent surprised me with a different pawn move, as he instead chose to fight for ‘d3’.
25…c4 I thought “Oh no, I’d better stop Ne6-c5-d3”, so I played
26. Bxe6
Black to move. Which recapture is best? My opponent surprised me again, and I must admit, I was so shocked that I blundered immediately and resigned within a couple of moves. Several positional considerations need to be considered:

• Black is eyeing f3 with his queen and knight, but for now it is well guarded
• White may later transfer his knight to ‘d5’ via ‘e3’ so ‘d5’ needs to be covered
• Black’s rooks currently don’t control any open or semi-open files, but they obviously would like to!

How would you recapture on e6?

The Importance of Staying Focused in Chess

This video goes over a promising position that I lost due to relaxing prematurely. That kind of attitude always gets punished – especially in sharp positions with rapid time controls.

 

Replay the game in the viewer:

Positional Exchange Sacrifice

DDT3000 – In-lightning, 15 minutes per game, ICC, 2011

White to move. Would you, or would you not sacrifice an exchange here?
It depends, and while this is a question of judgement but I would argue that 20. Rxf6!? is not really a sacrifice, but instead a fair trade off. I took on f6 without much thought, and went on to lose a complicated game by dropping a bishop in a probably drawn endgame. But given the opportunity – I would take on f6 again and have a fun game. On to the actual positional justification of the move:

I was not too happy with my position, since my bishop was passive, rook on b1 - awkwardly placed, and while the knight had some prospects on f5 and d5 - Black has ability to cover those squares. So I took an opportunity, which, given that both White and Black had about 10 minutes left on the clock (no increment) - I would take again. In a standard time controls game - I would likely not take such a decision very lightly, but in rapid chess - this move is almost standard.

After 20. Rxf6 gxf6 21. Ng3 In return for exchange, White gets the following advantages:
1) The knight gets a permanent control over f5
2) The bishop - permanent control over d5. Opposite coloured bishops definitely contribute to compensation.
3) Black's king is somewhat weakened.

Sure an exchange is worth something, sure White does not have any immediate threats; but the long term control over the light squares - is enough to create threats for your opponent, which given limited time - make things equally hard for White and Black. White has no bad pieces and a lot of positional trumps, so even if Black has a chance to try to convert an advantage, he would first have to defend for 20 moves. The game was not without mistakes, but here is a position which we arrived at after a few more moves

White to move. After Nh6, Black can defend against Nf7 with Rc7, but he can’t really escape from the bind. For example: 32. Nh6! Rc7 33. Qe6 Bd4 34. b4 Bc3 35. b5 axb5 36. axb5

Black to move. White has a fortress since Black has to guard f7 and g8; White can also give perpetual with Nf7-d6-f7.

Even though I went wrong with 32. Nd6? – I still maintained a lot of chance until the very end. The risk White takes upon with Rxf6 in my view is equal to the risk that Black takes by allowing such sacrifices.

Loose Pieces Drop Off – Practical Chess

In his book “Secrets of Practical Chess”, John Nunn coined the phrase “Loose Pieces Drop Off”. Here is a little example that I think illustrates this rule well:

cerassee – DDT3000, ICC, 15 minutes per game

  Black to Move.
White just played 21. Ba5? and seemingly created a threat to the rook on d8. However making aggressive moves before finishing development (White’s rooks have not moved yet!) is dangerous, and Black was able to exploit exactly that. As a hint – consider that Bd3 is attacked by the rook from d8, the knight on c4 is already attacked by Be6. Now also Ba5 is unprotected. Black should be able to exploit all this “looseness” of White pieces and he did… How?

BC Active Championship 2010 – poisoned pawns and blunders

A couple of weeks ago I participated in the BC Active Championship, which was won by Vicente Lee, second year in a row. I lost to speed chess maestros Vicente Lee and Mayo Fuentebella, but going into the last round still had a chance for the 4th place prize. After a complicated opening, my opponent cracked in mutual time pressure:
Jiganchine – Villavieja, Vancouver 2010, Round 9

Black to move What’s wrong with taking on h6?
Loose pieces drop off, and the pawn cost Black a 100 dollars (4th prize) as his rooks became unprotected: 27 …. Qxh6?? 28. Re8+ Rxe8 29. Qxe8+ Kg7 30. Qe5+

1:0

Before that, I was lucky in round 5 in a similar way:
Bellanger – Jiganchine, Vancouver 2010, Round 5

In a difficult position,  Black setup the trap with 1… Nd6.
Can White take on h4?
That cost him the game as the treacherous knights found their victim: 2. Rxh4?? Rxh4 3.Rxh4 Nef5+! and Black won.

Black ends up with an extra piece.

And in the first round I came up with a big blunder of my own, but opponent did not take advantage of it:

Caluza – Jiganchine, Vancouver 2010, Round 1
For a bizarre reason I decided to chase away the bishop with 14…h6?

White to move

The simplest now was 15. Bxh6! the point being that 15… gxh6?! 16 Qg4 + leaves White with an extra pawn.

Black has more resilient defence, but still would remain worse, and I had totally overlooked my hanging knight on d7 when playing h6. Another example to illustrate John Nunn's LPDO principle: Loose pieces drop off (explained in Nunn's "Secrets of Practical Chess"). In the game my opponent instead played 15. Qg4? and lost the game after some adventures. Speed chess is an odd hybrid where you have a bit of time to think about planning and strategy, but often end up winning and losing because of one move threats.

Sacrifices in the Sicilian – with video

I recorded a video about an online 15 minute game I played. Over the course of the game, I played a nice sacrifice, but also missed several tactical shots that would have won the game on a spot. You can try to solve the positions below for White, there are two bishop sacrifices, one exchange sac (that was the one I found during the game), and a rook sac! The video will contain the answers.

White to move. Black’s g7-g6 was very risky, how can White prove that?

White to move. Black’s king has very few defenders – how to exploit that?

White to move. The rook is guarding e6, how can we distract it?

White to move. Two bishops are on fire, but the king is about to escape.

Replay through the video to actually see the solution and the entire game:

I also posted it on youtube: part 1 and part 2.

Most Complicated Pawn Endgame I Ever Played

I usually do not post very detailed analysis on this blog since
a) complicated analysis is not always necessary to illustrate an idea
b) who has time to read chess complex analysis on the Internet
c) lengthy variations often contain errors and are wrong anyway

In this pawn endgame from one of my games from 2000 BC Active Championship – complex analysis is required, but ideally the result of such an analysis is not a myriad of variations, but rather a collection of themes and ideas that serve the purpose of finding the truth – evaluation of each given position that occurred during the game. I suggest that you look at the ideas first, and only if you`re interested – look at the more detailed analysis.

 Black to move, initial position
Who is better here? During the game, I felt that White ought to be better (even winning) because White would create two disconnected passed pawns – one on the kingside, and one on the queenside. Black king would not be able to stop both, while White king can safely block the ‘e’ and ‘f’ pawns. Things are a LOT more complicated however, because Black has several counterattacking ideas:
1) Black can have pawn breakthrough on the queenside to create his own passed pawn, before White gets his ‘h’ pawn going.
Imagine after 34...e4! 35.Kd2 f4 36.a4 Kd7 37.b4 Creating a passed pawn like this does not work since central pawns are too far advanced, and g and h pawns are not going anywhere, so Black king can stop the a pawn

Black to move - 37...b5!! –+ This idea reminded me of the game Adams – Lutz from Endgame Secrets by Lutz.

2) Black can activate the king to support central pawns
Again, imagine a hypothetical position after 34. Kd7  35. a4 e4 36. b4 axb4 37. cxb4 f4 38. h4 Ke639. a5 Kf5 40. b5 f3 41. Kd2
Black to move 41… Kg4!! 42. a6 f2 43. Ke2 Kg3 44. axb7 Kg2 45. b8=Q f1=Q+ 46. Kd2 Qd3+ 47. Kc1 e3 –+
But not 41... Kf4? 42. a6 f2 43. axb7 f1=Q 44. b8=Q+ with a draw since White queens with check. Mark Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual has several similar positions. I remembered from his book that it is advantageous to  have the pawns advanced as far as possible – in that case when the king supports the pawns, they are a lot more dangerous. For the same reason, it is better for White to play Kd3, sooner rather than later. Already here we can see that in this endgame – every tempo may count.

3) Black can blockade White pawns if they are advanced carelessly - This is what happened in the game, after 34… Kd7 35. b4? axb4 36. cxb4 b5!

  Now White will actually have to sacrifice a pawn with a4 to have any chances for counter play.
If Black is careless (and in our game he was), however, that breakthrough will be very effective:

 White to move 40.a4! bxa4 41.g6! hxg6 42.h6 Kf7 43.b5 f4 44.h7 Kg7 45.b6 f3 46.b7 f2 Diagram

 White to move 47.h8Q+ every tempo counts! Kxh8 48.b8Q+ +-

Now that I covered the themes of this endgame, and assuming you are still bearing with me, on to what actually happened in the game, which turned into a comedy of errors, as we were blasting off the last moves in SD time control.

Jiganchine,Roman - Remedios,Russell [B76] BC Active (2), 17.06.2000

34...Kd7?
it may be hard to evaluate this move precisely, but likely committing the king too early was a mistake. The core of the position seems to be that Black needs to advance his e and f pawns ASAP, and White should create passed pawns on kingside and queenside. The White pawns have not advanced far enough though, and Black manages to create his own queenside passer in many lines 34...e4! was correct, I believe Black is winning –+
35.b4? Now only black can play for a win. Correct was 35. Kd3! Ke6 (35...e4+ !?) 36.h4 on the kingside - White can create a passed pawn (or a threat of one), on the queenside - both sides can create a passed pawn if white plays a4 and b4, and Black breaks through with b5. So maybe makes sense to advance kingside pawns first? 36...Kf7 37.h5 Ke7 38.a4+- Diagram

White is winning since Black does not have time to bring central pawns into motion 38...f4 39.Ke4 Ke6 40.b4 f3 41.Kxf3 Kf5 42.bxa5 Kxg5 43.c4 Kxh5 44.c5 Kh4 45.a6+] 35...axb4 36.cxb4 b5 Diagram

during the game - here I realized that I made a mistake. the tables have turned, now White will have to create rescuing chances by the a4 break, but his king will have to guard the e and f pawns as well 37.h4 Ke6 Diagram

38.Kc3? 38.Kd3! definitely makes more sense, even though it could still be losing
38...Kd5??+- Diagram

Without good reason - the king goes too far away from the h pawn [38...f4 Diagram

and White king is too far from e4 39.h5 Kf5 40.g6 hxg6 41.h6 Kf6-+ 42.a4 f3 43.Kd3 bxa4 44.b5 f2!-+ Diagram

this is why it is better to have White king closer to the ‘f’ pawn before playing a4 45.Ke2 a3 46.h7 Kg7 47.h8Q+ Kxh8 48.b6 a2 49.b7 f1Q+ 50.Kxf1 a1Q+-+]
39.Kd3??-+ Diagram

this move should have lead to a loss.
[39.h5! was correct Ke6 Diagram

40.a4! bxa4 41.g6! hxg6 42.h6 Kf7 43.b5 f4 44.h7 Kg7 45.b6 f3 46.b7 f2 Diagram

47.h8Q+ Kxh8 48.b8Q+;

After 39.Kd3? Now black gives a few decisive checks, and the breakthrough is no longer possible, since Black's `a` pawn runs ahead, and my king is too far to stop it. 39...e4+ Black gains decisive tempo for advancing his pawns. 40.Kd2 f4 41.h5 Ke6 42.g6 hxg6 43.h6 Kf6 44.a4 bxa4 45.b5 a3 46.h7 Kg7 47.b6 Kxh7 48.b7 a2 49.b8Q a1Q 50.Qxf4 Qa5+-+]

All this did not matter, since we were both so short on time and confused about what was going on that we agreed to a draw: 1/2-1/2

A very complicated pawn endgame, in which both White and Black were taking turns in making decisive mistakes. The endgame was initially winning for Black, then tables turned several times, some variations lead to possible draw in queen endgames. When I looked at it the first time in 2007, I came to several wrong conclusions, and even now, after spending another few days on it – I am not sure of all evaluations! Pawn endgames are supposed to be simple …
You can replay it in the viewer with even more detailed analysis: