Under Pressure

I had the chance to get aquainted with John Curdo, who won many tournaments in the New England area, and also coached players such as Patrick Wolff. I had two draws against him and one loss in our games. He was always a gentleman, and the highlight of my career was when he shook my hand to congratulate me on winning the Framingham Chess Club championship.

Once he told me that I didn't put enough pressure on my opponents. I've been thinking a lot about this comment in recent days. To try to put what he meant in my own words, maybe what I need to do is to better focus pieces for attack on the enemy weak points. I don't think he was referring to other possibilities, such as psychological pressure.

In my tournament game last night, I found that putting pressure on the opponent can be easier said than done. I had prepared for my opponent, and noticed in reviewing her online games that her typical setup with the White pieces resembles the following:

So white exactly is white's weak point, and how do we attack it? I don't see any weaknesses. Notice that if black opts for a Gruenfeld style defense, white has carefully not played Nc3, so a d5 knight does not have a ....Nxc3 option. This is considered a less favorable Gruenfeld for black.

If Mr. Curdo was with us today, it's possible he might elaborate on the virtues of the Dutch Defense. After his early ...f5, I remember that often he would play ...Nh5 and ...f4 and attack down the f file. Unfortunately, this Uber Driver does not have the ability to learn the Dutch Defense in 1 night.

Before the game, in my mobile office (which some people call a 2023 Kia Niro), I decided to opt for the Budapest defense, Fajarowicz variation, to at least crack the pawn on d4. I came up with an idea. After 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5!? 3. dxe5 Ne4?! 4. Nf3 Bb4+ 5. Nbd2 Nc6, I expected her to opt for 6. g3, trying to castle early. Then I hoped the game would continue 6. g3 d6 7. exd6 Qxd6 8. Bg2 Bg4 9. a3 Bxd2+ 10. Bxd2 Qf6!

For the sacrificed pawn, black is putting pressure on white. For example, if white plays a move such as 11. Rb1, then 0-0-0 is actually a winning move, because of the tremendous force applied against d2.

What happened in the game was a little different. My 1558 rated, junior age, opponent, opted for the best move on move 6, which is 6. a3!

White more or less forces black to exchange twice on d2, which relieves the pressure. Black will recover the e5 pawn, but odds of a draw now are better than average. I was staring at the possibility of 16 rating points going out the window.

In the completely equal positions that followed, I turned down two offers of a draw. I decided that all I had left was to do a Bobby Fischer, and play that game out until the very end, until the game was totally dead.

I got a lucky break. The following king and pawn ending was reached:

After 1. Kg6, the game should be drawn. Play might continue 1. Kg6 Kb4 2. Kxh5 Kxa4 3. Kg6 and the draw is in sight. Instead, white captured the pawn 1. Kxf6? but after 1. Kxf6 Kb4 2. Kg5 Kxa4 3. Kxh5 Kb3 4. Kg6 a4 5. h5 a3 6. h6 a2 7. h7 a1=Q 8. Kf7 Qh8, I managed to get a winning position.

So, by the the barest of margins, I managed to win against a well coached junior player, after failing to put pressure on her position. But I can take some comfort in another famous saying of John Curdo's: "Gotta get these kids while they're young".

I guess 1 out of two isn't bad.