Topic 22 (Advanced)
– Game Analysis 1
Before I get into the
analysis, I first have to finish up Topic 21 by giving you the solution to the
strategy puzzle.
Black to Win
This is pretty easy. Black is up a rook, so he can afford to make
a counter-sacrifice!
This should give black the
win. Alternatively, he can go for white’s
passed pawns:
The extra rook should enable
black to emerge from this sacrifice in fine shape, with proper play.
Now, on to Topic 22!
In this and likely multiple
ensuing topics I’ll be analyzing some games that I played recently in the Kung
Fu Chess Masters Cup. I’ve actually lost 11 games in Cup play so far (through
Round 3), so I may even analyze a game or two that I lost. So, I present to you my analysis of:
Kung Fu Chess Masters Cup Round 1 11-12-2006
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
I suggest you download the Round
1 Games and the Round 3
Games which you can watch using Epikur's Movie Player.
This will let you watch the game in real time in addition to reading the
diagrams in this Topic.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1 11 seconds
I got my pawn to f4 before Hawked’s
pawn reached e5, allowing me to win the e5 pawn.
A key weakness of Hawked is
that he always plays the same opening. Since
I was quicker than Hawked in attacking the center with my first pawn, I could
exploit his opening by playing a stonewall.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
14 seconds
Since I made the first
capture, as long as I keep trading on e5 I will win a piece.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
21 seconds
We’re still trading on
e5. I play the pawn to e4 because I need
to clear the column so my rooks can attack e5.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
28 seconds
Hawked wisely decided to stop
trading on e5, conceding the pawn. That brings us to the end of the opening,
and into the exciting middlegame!
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
33 seconds
Thanks to my opening, I have
an extra, passed pawn on e5. As long as
I don’t screw up, this advantage is easily enough to win the game.
For now, Hawked is still on
the attack. He is unfortunately threatening
my a3 pawn, which forces me to play my rook to a1. He also plays his rook to f4, where it
controls a large swath of the board.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
44 seconds
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1 56 seconds
I maintain my pawn advantage,
but Hawked has solid positioning. His
rook on f4 is very dangerous, as are both of his knights. However, his attack has stalled and Hawked
missed an attacking opportunity on the queenside:
Missed attack:
This pawn move would have allowed Hawked to threaten a
devastating combination attack (shown). Devilant could not capture the
pawn with his b pawn, because this would leave him
with isolated pawns (see Topic 9 for more on isolated pawns).
At this point I could defend the
attack by playing my bishop to c5, but this move would have kept me on the
defensive. Instead, after some thought,
I unleashed an attack of my own.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
64 seconds
Devilant unleashes a
devastating attack. What action!
You may notice that both my
attack and the one Hawked missed involve playing the a-pawn forward. I covered using outer pawns in attacks in
Topic 20. This is yet another example of
how to use your pawns.
I am now threatening two
combination attacks.
Attack 1
The knight move is a necessary block to stop Hawked’s queen from countering the combination. For more on blocking, see Topic 19.
Attack 2
This combo is currently defended by Hawked’s
knight, but I was ready to execute it if the knight moved.
Also note how useful my
knight is. It is allowing me to threaten
attacks on both sides of the board simultaneously.
Now, Hawked obviously must
move his knight away from c4.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
73 seconds
I’m now threatening to
take the knight with my bishop and defend with my pawn, so Hawked is forced to
capture my a pawn, leaving himself with isolated
pawns.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
78 seconds
After capturing both the
knight and pawn, I have achieved a dominating position. However, I made a pivotal mistake that could
have cost me, if Hawked had seen it. I
left my e5 pawn undefended.
Missed attack
With this attack, Hawked not only recovers the pawn, he
also wins my knight. Close call for
me!
I left this combination open
for Hawked to take advantage for only 2 seconds, and fortunately for me, Hawked
missed his opportunity.
In fact, not only did he miss
it, Hawked even made a killer mistake!
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1 80 seconds
I correct my mistake by playing my queen to d4. Hawked missed the 2 second window in
which he could have won my knight and pawn.
Hawked makes the mistake of
capturing my bishop with his knight instead of with his queen. This is a terrible mistake for two reasons.
First, he cannot move his
knight back to d5 because I can play my pawn to c4 and catch it. His knight is now trapped in the corner of
the board, away from the action.
Hypothetical Move
Hawked abandons his knight’s strong position. It cannot safely return to its prior
post.
But the second and most
important reason this is a mistake, is because I now have the opportunity to
execute my combination attack on Hawked’s rook!
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
103 seconds
I win a pawn and trade my
knight for Hawked’s rook. This is in addition to the pawn I won in the
opening, so I have two extra pawns, a rook for a knight, and Hawked has
isolated pawns.
My advantage is so big that
there is very little I can now do that would lose the game.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1 115 seconds
Hawked plays his rook to g6
to defend his pawn, so I opt to play my h pawn forward, rather than
capture. This gives me a second passed
pawn.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
130 seconds
The game winds down. My goal now is simply to trade off my major
pieces and use my pawn advantage to win, if I can’t straight up checkmate
Hawked right away. At this point, Hawked’s king is trapped on the e column—my rook and queen
control the d and f columns.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1 142 seconds
As I move my rook to f5,
Hawked seizes the opportunity to move his King out of danger. A quick checkmate is no longer an option.
At this point I actually miss
the free pawn on g5. Instead, I opt for
a trickier idea of moving my rook to d6.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1 162 seconds
Once on d6, my rook will
block Hawked’s queen and rook from protecting the c
pawn.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1 168 seconds
I have all my pieces
defended, but Hawked tries the desperation combination anyway before finally
resigning.
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1 174 seconds
Devilant v. Hawked Game 1
177 seconds
Hawked resigns, as I can play
queen takes queen and defend the queen with my pawn before his rook recaptures.
Despite the auspicious opening
game, I would go on to lose the overall match against Hawked 5-4. Oops.
I haven’t come up with any
puzzles worth giving, so this Topic will be the first since Topic 14 not to
feature a Strategy Puzzle.
Topic 23 (coming soon!) will
likely continue this series of Masters Cup game analysis.