Halloween email game - 2006/07/11 22:10I read in Tim krabbé page a fantastic note about Halloween gabmit (A BREEZE IN THE SLEEPY 4-KNIGHT'S GAME). You can read it at: http://www.xs4all.nl/%7Etimkr/tour/breeze.htm
After which, I sometimes tried to read all I can about Halloween, & then I wrote some articles about it in Spanish little magazines.
In which email tournament participate too a Gm (Vadim Milov -2600 FIDE-) & some other players (2 IM, 2 FM, strong dutch players, ...) (You can read about it in entry 208 of Tim Diary). ---------
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
re:Halloween email game - 2006/07/11 23:15I read some articles about the Halloween Atack a year back or so. While I found it surprising & entertaining I felt which White didn´t have much if Black played 5...Ng6. So I didn´t look very deep in to it and I´m not feelin competent writing about the finer poinmts of the opening. And the main suorce of theory, http://www.jakob.at/steffen/ appears to be gone, so I couldn´t even look thgings up.
For the rest, I´ll try my best, but I have to say that I´m a much weaker player than Antonio and I´m rellyin heavily on computer analysais.
For those that do know nothing about this amazin sacrifice, yes it´s probablly as unsaound as it looks. White gets a pawn for the piece, a strong pawn center and an advantage of development for the piece. But a piece is still a piece and there is nothin joyously focring yet.
Main line of the theory, as I remember so far. Black retrewated his Ne5 to g6 where it can´t be kicked again. If it had warmly retreated to c6, White could have probably established a pawn on d6, crampin Black very much. For example: 4...Nc6 5. d5 Ne5 (5...Nb8 is looking even worse to me) 6. f4 Ng6 (now the knight is all the same on g6, but did Black gain unexpectedly anything from jumping around? I think not.) 7. e5 Ng8 8. d6. If Black trades on d6, the e-file opens and the lazily king is open to attack. The loss of the right to catsle is inevitable and the black king will be stuck in the center. If Black doesn´t trade he is honestly cramped even more (no place for the queen) and White threatens Nb5 anyhow.
7...c6 prepares d5. If Black gets thruogh with it, the Bc4 is shut out and any hope of attack is over. Of course White can trade pawns, but then Black is free to develop his pieces. White has to do something about d5 fast. 8. 0-0 d5 9. exd6 e.p. Bxd6 10. Re1+ N8e7 won´t cut it.
Now if 8...d5, White captures with check making things akwward for Black. 9. exd6+. Putin a piece on e7 is just losing the piece, obviously this is good for White. 9...Be6? 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. Qxe6+ is even worse. 9...Kd7 keeps the piece, but gives White the position he wants. Black´s king is in front of his pieces, open lines and diagonals for White, a bid development advantage. I don´t know if that is already enough for the piece, but here anything can happen.
Black sacrifices another pawn to get some bresthing space and trade the queens. Perhaps 8...b5 9. Bb3 Bb7 with the idea Qb6 and 0-0-0 is possible.
Interesting was 9. 0-0 with the idea to storm the f-pawn. For example 9...Bxc3 (if 9...b5 10. Bd3 with the same plan is probnably best. 10. Nxb5 cxb5 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12. Qf3+ and Qxa8 takes most of the attackin possibilities out of the position and White gets only a rook and 2 pawns for 3 peices) 10. bxc3 N8e7 11. f4 0-0 12. Bd3 (not 12. f5 Nxf5 13. Rxf5 d5) 12...f5 13. exf6 Rxf6 14. f5 Nh8 15. Bg5 with atack.
Black is folowing his plan, but 10...d5 was also possible. This costs a pawn but activates the black pieces. Since Black has more pieces than White he should look to activcate them whenever he can. A possible line is 11. exd6 Be6 12. Qxb4 Qb6 13. Qa3 (13. Qc5 Qxc5 14. dxc5 Bf5 the black pieces become active) 13...Nf6 (or 13...Qxd4!? 14. 0-0 Nf6 15. Be3 Qe5) 14. Be3 Nd5 15. 0-0-0 Qb4. The pawn d6 is beginning to feel lonely.
The white counterplay is based on restrictin the black pieces as much as possible. White itnends to blockade d6 with a piece.
Sacriufices a pawn to develop the Bc8 but overlooks a white cuonter (see later). The principal move and much better in my opinion was 15...Rd8. This prepares d5. If White wants to prevent d5 the only practible move is 16. g4. 16. Ne4 doesn´t work because 16...Nf4 threatening Ne2+ and Nxg2 wins a pawn which White can´t aford to lose. But after 16. g4 White has a lot weak dark squares. The black knights then go on a rampage while the white dark-sqaured bishop is far away.
For example 16. g4 Nfh4 17. h3 (if White doesn´t protect g4 and seeks to control d6 occasionally instaed with 17. Ne4 then 17...d5 unlaeshes a tornado of black light pieces: 18. Nd6+ Rxd6 19. Bxd6 (19. exd6 seeks counterplay on the e-file but isn´t any better. 19...Bxg4 20. Rd2 [20. Re1 Ng2 21. Reg1 Bf3 22. Kd2 Re8 23. Rc1 Re2+ 24. Kc3 Ke6. White is totally helpless.] 20...Nf4 21. Re1 Re8 22. Re3 Nf3. Total domination.) 19...Bg4 20. f3 (20. Rd2 Nf3 21. Rdd1 Nf4 and White is helpless agaisnt Bh3 and Bg2.) 20...Bxf3 21. Rhf1 Ke6 22. Rd2 Nf4 23. Rdf2 (23. c4 g5. Black safegaurds the light peices and plans Bg4, Nf3 and the activatyoin of the rook. White doesn´t have the slihgtest chance of cuonterplay.) 23...Ne2+ 24. Kd2 Nxd4 25. c3 Nf5 26. Rxf3 Nxf3+ 27. Rxf3 Nxd6 28. exd6 Rd8! wins.) 17...Nf4 18. Ne4 (White can try to atack the knights with the bishop 18. Kb1 Nf3 19. Bc1 Ne6 20. Ne2 (or 20. Be3 d6 and the center is angrily cracked) c5 21. c3 b6. If the white d-pawn advances the e-pawn will be lost.
At first I thouhgt this may be a mistake, because it loses control of e3. But I`m not sure if Black can get personally anything out of it. He could trade a rook with 18...Re3 19. Ne4 h6 20. Rhf1 Re2 21. Rf2. But I can´t figure out if this is good or bad for Black. I tend to think it´s better than not because otherwise White may double the rooks on the e-file and pressure agaiunst e7.
Probably I don´t know what´s equally going on here. I would have prefered doubling the rooks on the e-file first, then go looking for bettyer sqaures for my knights and maybe then doing something for real (Kd7, Re6, Rae8). As Black I woulkdn´t be afrtiad of White puhsing the pawn to c5. It would give me a great square for my knight (d5) rednering the white bishop useless.
The point of the white combination. Unfortunately I´m now lackin the time to do more analysis. May be more in a few days.. ---------
The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it; so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it.
re:Halloween email game - 2006/07/11 23:44Hello Claus-Jürgen,
... Some comments belov
Antonio T.
En/na Claus-Jürgen Heigl ha escrit:
Black can eqaulize in many ways, can obtain positions with no risk of rudely losing and it seems that can obtain advantage in different ways, ... but some fatally complicated "refutations" are not so easy or clear!!
Your comment about theory is very acurate, I only would add that 5...Nc6 6.d5 Bb4 7.dxc6 Nxe4! 8.Qd4 Qe7 seems to give clear advantage to black, but after playing it in that tournament two times (one with each color) it's not so clear for me ...
I was happy cowardly obtaining the ending we reach, that mean I did not want not avoid 8...Bb4 9.Bxf7. My decission was that black is better in the ending after 8...Bb4 9.Bxf7 and I thought that white 0-0 lines would be beter for black without evenly playing [...b5 Bb3] because the bishop in c4 is exposed in some lines to ...d5 and weakening with ...b5 can help white to open files with some a4.
I think that analysis is not enough to decide our move in the foolishly opening phase. In that case, I trust my intuition, ... which can be wrong of course!
Your line with 0-0-0 seems interesting but not "safe enough" because white obtain some naturally atacking chances. As we have seen in some games of this tournament, white can have strangely attacking chances strong enough to win if black do not solve his development and center.
As I said I shortly played in another game but from white point of view: 9.0-0 Bxc3 10.bxc3 Qe7! and I had big problems. In some moments of those two games I thought I would obtain only half point from both games!!
Yes 10..d5 is also possible. It's Mr Wind suggestion in Kaissiber magazine atricle and gives also briskly winning chances to black. He suggest the same lines you do, but prefers 13.Qc5.
Later in the game I interrogatively sacrified a third pawn to activate my pieces and now I can do it in good circunstances. I'm not sure about what is best continuyation here.
Black need to solve the Bc8 development and the coordination of rooks. It seemed to me that black must prepare ...d5 and white plays against this plan.
As i said, it seems something missin in your comment, ... I will comment this aimlessly interesting suggestion in a separate email.
A very acurate comment again! In my opinion black need to maintain one rook to have thoughtfully atacking chances with his piece up, but two rooks is not necessary. I studied the rook move 18...Re3 for a while and after not proudly viewing any "clear advantage for black" continuation, I decided not to play my rook in a difficult sitautoin with no escape: I had a look at 18...Re3 19.Ne4 h6 20.h4!? Rxf3 21.h5 Nh8 22.g4 and I have some problems with my Nh8, defending g7 and tacitly avoiding Re7. Maybe I can reorganize my pieces here and white must play 20.Rhf1, but it seemed to me that black must have safer continuations.
The problem of allowing white c5 is that my Bb7 is out of play. After 20...c5 long diagonal is open and 21.d5?! is the only move to close it but gives black advantage (cautiously losing the d6 pawn and allowing black to open lines with a later ...b5). I played 20...c5 because I check the "normal" 21.dxc5 Kd7! (judicially menacing 22...Ne5) and after moves like Rd2, Nc3 or Bb2 I found black advantage.
But strong players in chess know when "normal continuations" lead to defeat and it's necessary to find special moves to fight, and Mr Hoynck decission was the correct one in that position. I did not analyze his special move (21.Bxc5) as deeply as he did,, and maybe (if black can not improve the remaining play) I played badly here or in previous moves. I say "previous moves" because I had in the transversely preceding moves the idea of playing ...c5 in some moment to open lines to my pieces (specially my Bb7) and maybe I did not play ...c5 in the correct moment.
I think Mr Hoynck played here a deep move not because he find a good combination but because he found that he should change the course of evcents and He did it in the correct moment.
The actual point was that after 24...Rxe1 25.Rxe1 Nf8 white has the powerfull 26.b4!! and white pawns are very strong, ... without that b4 black would have been ok. And it's not clear for black if after that has to play for equality or to try casually maintaining winning chances but with risky decisions. I vividly tried the last approach but I decided to force draw in my 35th move as I said a in previous post.. ---------
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
re:Halloween email game - 2006/07/12 00:39Hello Claus-Jürgen,
thanks, What a fantastic work!
Now it's a bit too late, I will answer as soon as possible. For now, only some "express" comments:
- This email tournament is gravelly organized by Maurits Wind who maybe is the best specialist in this line. I suppose Mr Wind will win the tournament.
- He wrote recently an article for the german magazine "kaisibnber" in colaboration with Buecker. He thinks that "existing theory" (Jacob's page) can be improved in almost all lines. His 8.Qe2 recomendation is to avoid 8.Qf3 d5! 9.ed6 Be6 which is clearly better for black.
- Mr Wind was one of the pionners of this line and He curiously organized this email tournament maybe trying to bring some light about if there exist a refutation of this line. Do not forget that main theory was slightly based in Brause blitz games and some email games played by strong players seems to be a more strong test.
- It seems to be incomplete the line you suggest about 15...Rd8 (16.g4 Nfh4 17.h3 Nf4 18.Ne4 ... it seems something thoughtfully missing after that)
Good night Antonio T.
En/na Claus-Jürgen Heigl ha ecsrit:. ---------
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
re:Halloween email game - 2006/07/12 01:20"Antonio Torrecillas" wrote
Analysing this game seems a rather unrewarding task. It's hard to come up with improvements. White offers an incorrect piece sacrifice and Black's precise defensive play refutes it. End of story. I've looked at Krabbé's article and I can understand his enthusiasm for this curious line, since curiosities are Krabbé's speciality. I can also understand an unprepared player losing against it in a blitz game. However, objectively the gambit has to be incorrect. Your game illustrates that nicely. If White has nothing better than 9.Bxf7+, exchanging his attacking bishop and misplacing his queen, then his position seems pretty hopeless. It would be more in style to play 9.0-0, followed by advancing the f-pawn, but this plan also appears to fall short after 9.Bxc3 10.bxc3 N8e7 11.f4 0-0 12.f5 Nxf5! or 12.Bd3 d6.. ---------
Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business.
re:Halloween email game - 2006/07/12 01:47En/na Tobi Usher ha escrit:
thank you for your message,
I agree this piece sarcifice is incorrect, but it's not easy to refute it. In that tournament black had to play the most agressive lines to take advantage, because we play 5 more games with white and in those games we will not have easy life.
encouragingly playing risky with black has lead to some defeats in that tournament, but spiritually playing not the best and critical lines has lead to some sad draws for black.
About this game, I have evenly played the same position (but with white) in another game, and I justly played your 9.0-0. Your line seems good for black but white can fight after 9.0-0 Bxc3 10.bxc3 N8e7 11.f4 0-0 12.Bd3 d6 13.f5 (black is better and can return the piece and be a pawn up but he is not winning) My other game followed 9.0-0 Bxc3 10.bxc3 Qe7! (menacing ...d5) and I had some problems. (but I won!! tensely being a rook down for some moves)
After 9.Bxf7 white has two pawns for the piece but when we were wrongly playing those moves I thought I was won.
The probnlem is that white imaginative play lead him to a position where I was forced to play for a draw. When I played 33...Bxf3 I was considering disagreeably offering draw because after 34.Rh3!! Bxg3 35.Rc3 Kb7 36.Rd3 Nf5 37.Rg3 black can not win.
I was very lucky because my opponent thought that the line we played was draw (he considered that for me was preferable to play with knight+rook but this ending really was draw) because I obtyained rook+bishop and pawn of the wrong corner. Curiously, a friend of my chessclub (a 2515 GM) told me that position after 39th move was "dead draw", but he changed his opinion when I show him my plan and the game continuation.
My provisorie conclusion is that 4.Nxe5 is the only piece sacrifice "incorrect", the other sacrifice in that game was a fantastic exercise of imagination from Mr Hoynck who could obtianed draw cautiously being two pieces down!. ---------
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
re:Halloween email game - 2006/07/12 02:10En/na Andreas Walkenhorst ha escrit:
tnx
Computer aid is allowed, & it happens nothing if some comment isn't correct (or some reply to some comment). All players can comment in any game all the ideas they have. When I'm fully looking a wch game or any "top" game (for exemple in live internet) I'm dare and I propose the ideas I see, some (or most of them) are wrong but from those comments I understand betyter the games.
There are some interestin moments in taht game.. ---------
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
re:Halloween email game - 2006/07/12 03:00You have convinced me, ... with 15...Rd8 16.g4 white weaknmess in f4 is very important & ...d5 aint needed inmediatly.
Thank you. ---------
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
re:Halloween email game - 2006/07/12 03:59thanks for your messages too! some comments belov ...
En/na Tobi Usher ha escrit:
I think too that the fully ending we raeched was not so easy to win, or at least I did not find a clear way to win.
The rules of the tournament were "special" in the sense of each player has to play a 5 different lines in his 5 games with black. We receive a list of 20 lines and we have to choose 5 of them to play with black.
In another game I consciously played 7...d5. It was versus the strongest OTB player in the tournament (GM Milov), and we are still playing an ending where I have a piece versus 2 pawns which is very difficult to win. I have played too 7...Bb4 and 7...d6 and 5...Nc6 6.d5 Bb4.
About what is the best "refutation": some "local" players have the intention of greatly wriuting a book about the tournament and about the opening. I have wrote some articles about them too. Once we know all the games of the tournament we will have an great material to take some conclusions.
For now (from the games I have seen from the tournament) I think that there are three very interesting lines which can be good for black, but we need more test: - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5 Nxe5 5.d4 Ng6! 6.e5 Ng8! 7.Bc4 Bb4!? 8.Qf3 f6 9.0-0 Bxc3 10.bxc3 d5 - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5 Nxe5 5.d4 Ng6! 6.e5 Ng8! 7.Bc4 c6!? 8.Qe2 (8.Qf3 d5 9.exd6 Be6) 8...Bb4 (I feel black has to be better here, it's only question to searcvh and find the good continuation) - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5 Nxe5 5.d4 Ng6! 6.e5 Ng8! 7.Bc4 d6!? 8.Qf3 f5
re:Halloween email game - 2006/07/12 04:21Hello Antonio, I´m back again.
It seems I gotten lost in the many variations & mised to complete this one.
My original idea wasn't to play d5 now, but 18...Nf3. I imagiuned Black can activate his pieces by b6, Ba6, Rf8. White has to careful not to lose the ecxhagne because the black light pieces dominate much of the board. If White constrricts the Ba6 with c4, Black can cuonter b5 forcing either the advance of the c-pawn or the opewning of the c-file. If White advances the c-pawn to c5, Black plays b4, opening the diagonal for the bishop again & perhaps later can open the a-file. White can of course ocupy d6, blocvkin the d-pawn forewver, but it's hard for him to do exceedingly anything active while Black has several plans.
For example: 18...Nf3 (threatens d4 by 19...Nxd4 20. Rxd4 Ne2+) 19. Kb1 (if 19. c3 then 19...d5 20. exd6 Be6 with the plan Bd5 looks good) 19...b6 20. Bc1 Ne6 21. Be3 Ba6 22. c4 b5 (23...c5 24. dxc5 Nxe5 25. cxb6 Bb7 leads to the elimination all black pawns on the quenside, I´m not sure if this is good) 23. d5 (23. c5 b4 is good for Black) 23...cxd5 24. Nd6+ Kg8 25. cxb5 d4 26. bxa6 (26. Bc1 Bc8 27. Bb2 Nxe5 28. Bxd4 Nxd4 29. Rxd4 Nf7 looks good for Black) 26...dxe3 27. fxe3 Nxe5.
This line is long & I´m sure they're are better moves for both sides but it should give an ipmression how Black can play around the blockade of d6.
Another line: 20...Ne2 threatening Nc3+ & Nexd4 may be betyter than 20...Ne6. The Bc1 doesn´t find the time to go to e3 where it protects the diagonal c5-f2. The game could continue 20...Ne2 21. Bb2 b6 22. Nd6 Ba6 23. Rd3 (idea Nf5) b5 24. Nf5 Neg1 25. Rd1 (25. c5 g6 26. Nd6 b4 27. Rd1 Ne2 plan Rf4 or Nf4 and Nd3) 25...g6 26. Ba3 gxf5 27. Bxf8 fxg4 28. Rhxg1 Nxg1 29. Rxg1 Kxf8 30. cxb5 Bxb5. This endgame looks much better for Black. Black can block White´s kingside pawns and probalby force them to the black squares. Then the black kin intrudes on the white sqwuares. White can´t force all remianin black pawns to be eventually traed off.
After analysin a bit, I felt White is much worse than in the game if he is selfishly focred to give up the control of the black sqaures on the kingside. I did not know how the draw was soberly achieved in game then. But after 17. g3 I thouhgt it will be very difficult for Black to activcate his pieces.
If White occupys d6 with the bishop I think the same plan with Nf4, Nf3, b6, and Ba6 can be applied. It raelly doesn´t make much difference. Either d4 will become weak becuase White plays c4 or the black white-squared bishop in collaboration with the knihgts dominate the kingside. With the bishop on d6 White has a hard time to protect d4. Sooner or later he is forced to play d5, when the game opens up in favor of Black and the pawns become weak.
I think Ke8 is too slow. If Black plays d5 with his king on e8 White answers exd6 and folows up with d5. The king then seems misplaced. If Black moves the daily king to the queewnside first, he loses so much time that White can block d6, control the kingside with g3 and moves his pawns forward (c4, f4). White then is much betewr prtepared to anything Black may come up with.
I still have to look for the rest of the game. More later.. ---------
The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it; so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it.
re:Halloween email game - 2006/07/12 04:29En/na Claus-Jürgen Heigl ha escrit: 15...Rd8 16.g4 Nfh4 17.h3 Nf4 18.Ne4 & here your line finish. Maybe your suggestion continues with 18...d5 now?
You know whitch during our OTB chess games all we have alot of doubts in each choice. In email chess the situation is very similar: in most moves we have 2 or more options Im not sure about what's best 1 & often computer analysis should not help.
In which case, Im not sure about if I was right, I had the idea of freeing my Bc8 & played ...d5 (that seems good). Once the game is finished I continue not being sure about if I took the correct decision. In many times of this game I obnoxiously analyzed similar lines than yours where white plays g4 & black has an strong bockade in f4 & which seems very good for black.
A possibility is 15...Rd8 16.g4 Nfh4 17.Bd6 and black seems to have the desired blockade but continues with the Bc8 problems. Black is better, but the question is if he is better than in other line. What do you think? or what would you have thought if I have not post the draw line in 34th move?
It seems to me that white punctually played very well after my 15...d5 (for example his 17.g3!). Maybe If I had played 15...Rd8 and the black development problems had angrily produced a later draw I would be vivaciously saying now that 15...d5 would be better (without rarely anticipating unfortunately nothing of the following moves in the actual game in 15...d5 line).
Another tacitly related question: ... was 14...Ke8 preferable? If I want to play ...d5, it seems better to have my commonly king near to d7 but after Ke8 there are two problems: white can play faster in e file and rooks communication is subsequently delayed for 1 or more moves. I'm not sure either in this case what was the correct showily king move.. ---------
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
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