Panda Chess Academy

Chigorin-Davidov

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Polgar-Angelova 1988 Greece

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Queen's Gambit Video: Black greedily guards a pawn!

Lessons to be learned:

• How to attack someone who is being too greedy.
• How to play the Queen's Gambit opening better.
• Attacking two things at once: A loose piece and a semi-loose f7 pawn. 
• Precisely checkmating your opponent's exposed King.

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Semi-Slav game played between two students

	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

? - ?

*, 1/1/1917.

[#] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Bd6 6.Bd3 O-O 7.O-O Ne4 The first mistake. It loses a pawn. Look at the better move:

[7...Nbd7 Black has two plans. Basically Black wants to play e7-e5. But first play dxc4.. although it's not required. The other plan is to play a more patient b6, Bb7, and eventually dxc4. 8.Qc2 dxc4 9.Bxc4 e5 Is a good example of what Black usually does.]

8.Nxe4 dxe4 9.Bxe4 Nd7 10.Qc2

[10.Bc2 Is what I would play. White has ideas of Qd3, but also the simple e3-e4, then maybe e4-e5!]

10...c5? 11.d5 A decent move, but overlooking the "easy" Bxh7+.

[11.Bxh7 Kh8 12.Bd3 A "hit and run.]

11...exd5 12.cxd5 Nf6 13.Rd1 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Re8 15.Qc4 Bf5 A good move. Black has two Bishops and fast development for the pawn. 16.Re1 Probably a mistake.

[16.Nd2 With the idea of e3-e4 is a reasonable alternative.]

16...Be4 17.Nd2 Qg5 The biggest mistake, and also it overlooks a powerful tactic.

[17...Bxd5 ! Wins a pawn (or more). 18.Qxd5 Bxh2 19.Kxh2 Qxd5 ]

18.Nxe4 Qe5 19.Nxd6 Qxd6 20.e4 White went on to win [*]

Generated by Aquarium

Amateur vs. Master

	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

? - ?

*, 1/1/1917.

[#] 1.c4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.e4 Not a terrible move, but incorrect thinking. Usually it's best to only play c4 or e4. Not both. 3...Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4 .. Bc5 is also good. 5.Ne2 A very common move among advanced beginners. White is good enough to "see" the Bishop "attacking" the Knight on c3. The stronger player realizes that Bxc3 is a TRADE and there is no need to waste a turn "running away". 5...Nxe4 Capturing a free center-pawn. 6.Nc3 Nxc3 The "fastest" way to deal with the threat of Nxe4. Also trading off while ahead points (one pawn) is a key strategy to win games. 7.bxc3 This is known as capturing towards the center. This is a good move! It also opens the b-file. 7...Be7 ..Bc5 is also good, however Black was trying to avoid d2-d4 pawn thrusts.

[7...Bc5 8.d4 Black is still ok.]

8.Bd3 Another common move made by inexperienced players. It's usually a poor idea to put your Bishop "on top" of a d-pawn. You want to be able to move your d-pawn to control the center, but also to help free the "resting" Bishop on c1. 8...O-O Castle to avoid a hassle. 9.O-O d6 Giving freedom to the c8-Bishop. 10.c5 A free gift. Black can play dxc5 or... 10...d5 ! Threatening a fork with e5-e4. But also threatening Bxc5. [*]

Generated by Aquarium