Brogan, Dave    --    Newton, Frank, 0-1, C06

The first move of the game is always a difficult decision for me. So many interesting openings, so many interesting names. A week before this game, it was my 2 year anniversary with my gf, so I considered playing the Orangutan in her honor. Although 1.b4 is quite the ugly move, I feared it would not do her justice. [Ok, so we just broke up..give me a break.] Having moved on from 1.b4 I realized I still had 19 more possible moves to consider. Then a beautiful idea came to me from out of the blue. If I were to play 1.e4, and black replied with 1...f6 then I followed it up with 2.d4, 2...g5, I had the crushing blow Qh5# which would allow me to get back to my new found love interest, Maria the tap dancing mountain goat.

1.e4 e6

RATS!!! There goes my romantic dinner with Maria

Now I knew I was doomed to a long, hard fight. Black has initiated the French defense, which is in my opinion the refutation to e4 [why didn't I think of this last move?!].

Correctly avoiding the currently more popular lines with 3...c5.

( 3...c5 4.dxc5 Bxc5 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.exd5 exd5 where black has to deal with the structural weakness of the isolated pawn. Granted, practice has proven that black gains compensation due to his easy development and piece activity, but it seems like an uphill fight to me. If white repels blacks attack, and an ending arises with this structure, white has a definite advantage. )

Striking out at the white center. As the great Nimzo once taught, "Attack a pawn chain at its base." The coming play will revolve around the d4 square.

In my opinion, the correct choice of variation. By playing Ne2, white leaves the f3 square open for the d2-knight, a knight that otherwise doesn't have an obvious square to move to.

Stepping away from the normal paths of the opening. Black is aiming for active queenside piece play

( 8...f6 More normal and thematic. Black chips away at whites pawn chain which should, eventually leave him with equality: 9.exf6 Nxf6 ( 9...Qxf6!? 10.Nf3 h6 11.O-O Bd6 12.Bc2 O-O 13.Qd3 Rd8 14.a3 Nf8 15.b4 Bd7 Black will maneuver his bishop to g6 and then play for the freeing e5 pawn push. ) 10.O-O Bd6 11.Nf3 Qc7 )

White's thematic plan is to push his pawn to f5 and break through on the kingside.

N Preventing intrusion on b4. White will first defend the home front, then go on with his attack and storm through on the kingside.

( 11.Nf3 Bd7 12.Kh1 a5 13.g4 h5 14.Rg1 ( 14.g5 = ) 14...hxg4 15.Rxg4 Nb4 16.Bb1 Bb5 17.Nc3 Ba6 18.a3 Nc6 19.b3 Na7 20.Ng5 Bxg5 ?! giving white unnecessary play ( 20...Rc8 21.Bb2 Qc7 =+ ) 21.fxg5 a4 22.Nxa4 Nxa4 23.bxa4 Nc6 24.Ra2 Ne7 25.Rb2 Rc8 And black won in 39 moves (Roder,P-Askgaard,J, Tjele 1995) )

Preventing b4 and threatening a5, which completely tangles up white's queenside

An important move! This temporarily controls c4 from invasion by the b6 knight, and enables white to meet ...a4 with b4! which would put a hamper on black's queenside activity. White also has created a good square on b2 for his bishop.

White proceeds with his idea for the breakthrough on f5. This move is possibly too committal however... more flexible would be 13.Bb2 and normal development. The idea of breaking through on f5 isn't going to disappear anytime soon.

Black finds a strong defensive resource. This immediately neutralizes whites kingside play. This is what puts question to whites early g4.

( 14...O-O?! A very difficult move to make. Castling into white's attack requires an extremely accurate, computer-like defense. If you're lacking at least a Pentium III, I wouldn't suggest attempting moves like this. A sample line of white's attacking possibilities and a line of black's defensive possibilities follows... 15.f5 Bg5 A logical move, trying to keep his pawn formation intact. The downside of this move is that blacks dark squares around his king become very weak. ( 15...exf5 16.gxf5 Bxf5 17.Bxf5 gxf5!? An ugly, yet correct computer-like move that holds the defense! Its very hard for human players to destroy their pawn structure likethis 18.Ng3 Kh8 19.Rxf5 ( 19.Nxf5 Rg8+ 20.Kh1 Rg6 21.Nxe7 Qxe7 22.Rf5 Rag8 23.Qf3 Nd8 24. Rf1 = ) 19...f6 20.e6 a4 21.b4 Rae8 22.Qf3 Qc8 23.Rh5 Qxe6 24.Rxh7+! White finds a perpetual as his position begins to deteriorate. This is a common resource that the attacker should look for when his opponent's king is loose. If your attack is beginning to fade, look for a perpetual to save your half point. 24...Kxh7 25.Qh5+ Kg8 26.Qg6+ Kh8 27.Qh6+ = ) 16.f6 a4 17.b4 Nc4 18.Bxc4 dxc4 19.Ne4 Be3+ 20.Kg2 Rfd8 21.Qe1 Bh6 22.Qh4 Bf8 23.Ng5 Probing at the black kingside for weaknesses. 23...h6 24.Nf3 Na7 25.Bc1 g5 26.Bxg5! hxg5 27.Nxg5 +- )

( 14...h5 15.g5 Rc8 16.Rc1 O-O 17.Rc3 Qb8 18.Qb1 Kg7 19.Rfc1 += White has a much freer game )

White concludes that his king will be safe on the kingside, and hopes to maintain open lines. g5?! would completely close the kingside and lead to play exclusively on the queenside, where black is more then up to the challenge.

( 15.exf6!? Bxf6 16.Nf3 O-O 17.Rc1 Bg7 18.Ne5 White has a good attacking position )

Keeping the kingside closed.

( 15...gxf5 16.Kh1 O-O-O 17.Nc3 Rdg8 18.Nb5 Qd8 19.Rc1 += )

White initiates a several move deep plan to trade off his bishop. This bishop is commonly referred to as a "bad bishop" because its activity is restricted by its own pawns. I beg to argue with this assessment, and even go as far as to say its a good bishop! The fact that white needs to activate his bishop by moving it outside of his pawn chain has left him with a very logical, easy to follow plan. As the saying goes, "a bad plan is better then no play at all!" This brings me to another point. Have you ever wondered why Iceland is called ICEland, when its actually has quite a nice climate with little or no snow? And Greenland is named GREENland, when it is in fact frigid and covered in ice! Well the answer to this question is that the Vikings [who first discovered Iceland], wanted to name Iceland, ICEland so that other foreign settlers wouldn't be encouraged to settle there [who wants to live in the freezing cold?!] This makes me wonder what those dirty commies were up to when calling this kind of bishop "bad" !!! Another idea that came to mind in this position was to walk the king to e3 and break open the kingside. This idea is probably stronger due to an obscure alternative black had at move 20.

Both sides are trying to improve their positions by trading off their bad pieces and repositioning their good ones to better squares. The next sequence of moves will revolve around this strategy.

( 20...Nb5 seems stronger as a3 becomes awkward to defend for white )

A beautiful square! --says pet dog, Fritz

White initially doesn't realize that his pawn on a3 can't be taken.

( 26.Ne3!? Nxa3? ( 26...Nxe3 27.Qxe3 Rfe8 += ) 27.Ncxd5 Rxc1 28.Rxc1 N3b5 29.Ra1 a3 30.Nf6+ +- )

Admitting his mistake, and returning the knight to where it belongs [though down a tempo!]. This actually is a strong psychological move that many players cant bring themselves to make. If you made a bad move, don't be afraid to put the piece right back to where it belonged in the first place!

( 29...b5!? has merit as it eliminates any chances for white to gain space on the queenside. )

Indirectly fighting for control of the c file

Whites best winning chance! White gains valuable space on the queenside with tempo!

( 34.Ne2 Rxc2 35.Rxc2 Rxc2 36.Qxc2 Qc6 = )

Entering complications... normally this is a good idea when playing a higher rated opponent. The crazier things get, the more level the playing field becomes. Masters generally are "smarter then the average bear" because of their pattern recognition [they have more patterns in their head then you do!] As the position becomes more and more bizarre, the number of relevant patterns that they know dwindles significantly!

( 36...Nxd4!? 37.Rxc4 dxc4 38.Qd1 Qd5 39.Nc3 Qc5 -/+ )

( 38...Rxc7 39.Rxc7 Qf7 40.Nc5 +- )

( 43.Rd6!? Re7 is also tempting, but like an offensive lineman, you must leave a path for your running back! [the e pawn] 43...Nxf4?! ( 43...Rxh2 44.Rxe6 Rxb2 45.a4 = the rook ending appears drawn ) ( 43...d4+ 44.Kd3 Rc3+ 45.Kd2 Nc5 46.Rxd4 Rxa3 47.Kd1 Rh3 48.Rd5 Rxh2 49.Rxc5 Rxb2 50.e6 Kg7 51.Rc7+ Kf6 52.e7 Kf7 53.Rxb7 = ) 44.Kxf4 Rxb2 45.e6 Rxh2 46.Rxd5 Rh4+ 47.Ke5 Re4+ 48.Kf6 f4 49.Rd3 Kh5 50.e7 Kg4 51.Rd4 Re2 52.Kf7 Kg3 53.e8=Q Rxe8 54.Kxe8 f3 55.Kd7 f2 56.Rd1 +- )

White, in time trouble after the complications, makes a beginner's blunder. Obviously the French Gods had something to do with this, as white is much too strong a player to blunder like this on his own. What can I say, his knight was "too swindleicious for ya babe~!"

( 45.Rd6 Rxa3+ 46.Kc4 Nxf4 47.e6 d3 48.e7 Ra4+ 49.Kc3 Re4 -+ )

( 45.Re7 Rxa3+ 46.Kc4 Nxf4 47.Rxb7 Ra4+ 48.Kb3 Ra6 49.Nb2 Ne6 50.Nd3 Chessplayers' best friend, Fritz, barks that the position is =, but in practice there is still much play left. I leave the rest of this ending to the reader to figure out, following GM Bent Larsen's advice: "long variations are wrong variations" )