D den Drijver
Articulating the ideas behind the moves
My first league game this season turned out to be a relatively easy game where my opponent lost a minor piece to a tactic early on, then losing their queen shortly thereafter.
A positional motif
10. ...Ng4?
After 10. ...Ng4?
The knight striking out on its own. Giving White an opportunity to gain the bishop's pair:
11. Ng5
Black has nowhere to go with his piece on e6. I'm inclined to say the bishop is trapped. Of course tactically this doesn't seem to make sense. After all, White exchanges knight for bishop: 3 equals 3. However, we're gaining a positional plus.
Time for tactics
11 ...f5??
After 11 ...f5??
Thanks to Black’s last move, several forced moves now follow. Using the theme of attraction the knight and queen find themselves on the same diagonal, while other pieces are cleared.
My tactical plan was to pin the knight to the queen and play f3, winning a minor piece. I thought ...h5 might give me some trouble, but it didn't.
12. Nxe6 Qxe6
13. exf5 Qxf5
14. Bh3 h5
15. f3
After 15. f3 Black must lose the knight
Either the king or queen should have left the c8-h3 line. Instead:
15 ...e4?
I wasn't sure what the idea was, but it turned out to be a clearance move. I went on to take the knight.
16. fxg4 hxg4
17. Bxg4 Bxg3+
17. ...Bxg3+
A little trap, as: 18. hxg3?? drops the rook with tempo to 18. ...Rxh1+. Indeed, that was the first move my brain wanted to play (funny how the brain goes straight for recapture). I looked for another way to respond and moved my king instead:
18. Kd1 Qxg4
19. Qxg4+ Kb8
20. Qxg3
Remaining comfortably up by more than a queen. I was very aware of the need to take my time, in order not to return the mistake. I had plenty of time on the clock.
Conversion to a winning endgame
30. ...Rg5
Black plays: 30. ...Rg5
Ten moves later I was looking to put an end to Black's game for a while already. I decided to ‘sack’ the queen:
31. Qxg5 Nxg5
32. Rxe8+
My opponent chuckled at this. Fair do’s for his persistence. “Never give up” he said. Great play ethic.
32. ...Kd7
33. Re5 Nh3
Weaving a mating net
Now Black's last piece is sidelined and the king exposed. I went to activate my remaining forces, aiming to restrict the king’s movements:
34. Ba3 Kc6
After 34. Ba3
Notice how thanks to the bishop Black is unable to get to the rook on e5. The king is already hemmed in.
35. Rf1
The knight is now fully immobilized. However, it is the king we're after. White has ideas of lawnmower’s mate.
35. ...Kb6
Heading for shelter behind the b-pawn.
36. Rf6+ Ka7
37. Bc5+ Kb8 #2
After 37. ...Kb8
38. Bb6
I missed the mate in 2, focusing instead on securing the king onto the back rank with the bishop. But, I had overlooked d7 as an escape square: The bishop cannot hold the king back without help.
38. ...Kc8
39. Rf7
Rd5 - d8 would have been a prettier and perhaps more principled route. However, the main thing is that the escape square d7 needed covering.
39. ...Ng5
40. Re8#
Of course it wasn't hard to win this game with such overwhelming material superiority, but such games can serve well in seeing the ideas play out.
In summary
- An important distinction to make is in the objectives of tactics: one could target material gain or aim for a positional plus.
- Don't just take the opponent's move at face value: check for several available options to respond and weigh up the resulting consequences.
- One method to simplify matters when up material and looking for an advantageous conversion is to consider giving up a strong piece to remove several enemy pieces. In so doing curtailing the opponent 's active play.
- In the endgame with an exposed enemy king, square control takes on much greater importance than merely delivering checks, taking note of any potential escape squares.
- It takes time for the mind to fully grasp the new position on the board, even after one ply difference! Our biases determine what we see first, but that is not necessarily the truth!