Risky Business

"I didn't really care whether I won or lost
so I just took a chance" - Hikaru Nakamura

"A real sacrifice involves a radical change in the character of a game which cannot be effected without foresight, fantasy and the willingness to risk"

- Leonid Shamkovich

Contrary to my expectations I find myself posting another recent game from this season. It's one that I played just last week. Aside from the fact that I won in 15 moves with the Black pieces against another strong player (so, the usual egotistical motivations then!), I was prompted to post this game because my thinking before and during the game chimed with something that I heard Hikaru Nakamura talk about just yesterday after his sensational win against Vishy Anand at the London Chess Classic.

Having lost to Magnus Carlsen in the previous round trying to play very solidly, Nakamura said that against Anand

"I felt like playing something exciting and I didn't really care whether I won or lost so I just took a chance."

That may sound cavalier but in fact I'd suggest that, if he hadn't been in that state of mind, he wouldn't have been prepared to take the risks he did against Anand. Okay, so he didn't sacrifice material carelessly but he did allow Anand to build up what looked like a frightening positional advantage. All the chess engines assessed that Anand's position was completely winning but as Nakamura pointed out "we are not computers" and "the owness is on Vishy to find all he right moves". As it transpired, the World Champion couldn't do that. I highly recommend that you watch Nakamura discussing this game with Daniel King and Laurence Trent (watch Round 4 - Part 4). Besides the fact that the game is tremendously exciting his discussion about his approach to that game is very interesting and instructive.

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H

Slinger T 169 - Shapland D 159

0-1 (Leeds League 1 Leeds) 30/11/2011

[#] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6 A line like this seems a good choice for a player like Tony who has excellent technical skills and who therefore likes to keep things simple. In my previous two encounters with him I had tried to play sound and sensible chess with the White pieces and had been inexorably ground down. Even at this point in the game I was wondering how I would be able to avoid a similar fate in a line that appears to be perfectly good for Black but doen't appear to offer any opportunities for complications. 5...Qf6 6.Qf3 Again I was not surprised to see this move played. Tony was clearly very happy to play a game without queens. I had no idea what the main line was but a subsequent look in my engine's openings book provides the following illustrative line.

[6.Qd2 dxc6 7.Nc3 Ne7 8.Qf4 White still wants the queens off, but the method is different here. 8...Be6!? If the middle game is going to be queenless then Black may as well develop another piece and try and hamper the development of White's king's bishop. 9.Qxf6 gxf6 and the position is pretty much equal although the imbalance in the pawn structure may provide some opportunities for interest in the middle game.]

6...dxc6 I figured that he wouldn't want to exchange queens if it allowed me to develop my knight with tempo. 7.Bc4 Qg6 Why not? My plan was to develop swiftly with, if allowed, Bg4, Nf6 and 0-0-0. I wondered if White might now be tempted to play 8.h3 which seems a little slow to me but I couldn't see an attractive square for his queen if he allowed 8...Bg4. 8.Nc3 Well, let's see what he has in mind then. 8...Bg4 9.Qf4!? I must say I was a little surprised by this but having now seen the opening variation in the note above this is very much consistent with the strategic themes in this line. The alternative was

[9.Qg3 when I had intended to play 9...O-O-O and now there is an interesting line which goes 10.Bxf7!? Qxe4+! The queen is invulnerable because of the mate on d1 that follows! 11.Be3 Qf5 12.Bxc5 Nh6 13.O-O Qxc5 With an interesting game. I think I'd prefer to be White but Black has some activity.]

9...Nf6!? This was the first of several quite sizeable risks that I elected to take in this game. The main alternative looked messy and I didn't like the look of my pawn structure after

[9...Be6 10.Bxe6 fxe6 although White's has pawn weaknesses to worry about too in this line so both Crafty and Fritz 11 suggest that White only has a smallish advantage.]

10.f3 After the game Tony was critical of this move. Certainly it does create a problem in that for now White can't castle short. However, as the game went, this isn't the crucial error. Of course the most direct continuation, and the one I was most fearful of was

[10.Qe5+! A third move with his queen by move 10! But this causes considerable disruption in the Black camp after 10...Be7 11.Be3! Critical. If I'd seen this I wouldn't have played 9...Nf6 at all. The point is that White is threatening simply to play 11.Bc5 when Black will be tied up in knots trying to hold things together. For example after 11...Rd8 12.f3 Rd6 13.O-O Not (13.fxg4? after this suddenly Black has a massive counter attack 13...Nxg4 14.Qf4 Nxe3 15.Qxe3 Qxg2 16.Rf1 Bh4+ wins for Black.) 13...Bh3 14.Rf2 b5 and although Black is hanging in there, his position is pretty stretched and White is doing very well.]

10...O-O-O!? Another big risk offering the piece sacrifice but I felt I couldn't allow the alternative

[10...Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Qg5 b6 13.Qxg6+ hxg6 but although Black's pawn structure is in ruins both my engines assess this position as almost dead level. From a human perspective this kind of line looked like exactly the kind of thing I was trying to avoid against Tony.]

11.Qg5 An interesting choice. Tony didn't feel he needed to take the piece although in fact he can take it with complete peace of mind. That said, although the engines can refute the sacrifice it looks scary over the board so his decision to try and "keep control" is understandable. The engines give the line

[11.fxg4 Rhe8 12.Bd3! Stopping any Black counterplay in its tracks. 12...Nxg4 13.Rf1 Rd7 And now it seems hard to see how Black can avoid the trading of queens. He has very little for his missing bishop.]

11...Nxe4?! Swashbuckling, brave even... but total rubbish! I felt that Tony hadn't played all that accurately on previous moves and so I justifed the decision to play this move based on a hunch that White had so many plausible options he may not be able to find the right one! After a long think I couldn't see the answer concretely myself although I had a good idea what the refutation would involve. Fritz and Crafty suggest that

[11...Qxg5 12.Bxg5 Bh5 is the only way for Black to play and assess the position as equal.]

12.Nxe4? The worst choice but Tony had overlooked my compelling reposte which wasn't the easiest to spot. Instead he could have debunked my hocus by playing

[12.Qxg6! hxg6 13.Nxe4 Rhe8 14.Bd2 Rd4 15.Bd3 f5 16.fxg4 fxe4 17.Be2 and Black does not have enough for the piece. Or;

12.fxe4 Bd4 13.Qxg6 hxg6 14.Ne2 Bc5 15.h3 Rde8 16.Ng3 Bd6 17.Kf2! and again, White stands well though he still needs to disentangle himself a little. Another plausible but bad move would have been;

12.Qxg4+ Qxg4 13.fxg4 Nxc3 14.bxc3 Rhe8+ 15.Be2 Re4 and Black will regain the piece and holds the initiative and an extra pawn.]

12...Qxe4+!! A rude awakening! Obviously White hadn't seen this coming. The point is that the queen can't be taken as there is no longer a White knight protecting the mating square on d1. The fact that this recapture comes with check means that Black can get away with having 3 pieces enprise and still win! 13.Be2 Slightly (but not much) better was

[13.Be3 Qxe3+ 14.Qxe3 Bxe3 15.fxg4 Rd2 ]

13...Qxc2! Accuracy was still required. Black protects the bishop on c5 and threatens to play Rhe8. Now Tony played a very natural and seemingly effective get out. 14.Qxg4+ Even winning this bishop with check is of no use to White. 14...f5 15.Qc4 Allowing me to demonstrate the last idea in the position. 15...Rd1+! This wins on the spot as 16.Bxd1 Qf2 is mate, and a pretty one at that. Seeing this, White resigned! [0-1]

Generated by Aquarium

Points to remember from this game:

1. There was some interesting psychology behind my play in this game. Having lost previously to this opponent trying to play solidly, on this occasion I decided that I should try and mix it tactically and see if I could drag him away from the kinds of simple position I sensed he was most comfortable with. I took risks and some of my play was unsound but I created enough complexity to cause him significant problems at the board. The Nakamura story above illustrates the same theme. The moral of the story is, if you are having a bad run of results against the same opponent you need to consider changing your approach when you next encounter them.
2. Sometimes, if your opponent keeps his king in the centre for a little while, you should try and find ways to exploit this. Look for ways to prevent him from castling or open the position in order to attack him. If you have a development advantage then it might even be possible to sacrifice material in order to do this.
3. Finally, remember that in a complex position, if you can't figure out the best defence is for your opponent then it is quite possible they won't be able to either! Here is one more quote about sacrifices that illustrates this and is well worth remembering...

"A good sacrifice is one that is not necessarily sound but leaves your opponent dazed and confused"

- Rudolph Spielmann.