Chess: Three easy lessons in losing matches
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Your support makes all the difference.THREE of the most popular ways to lose were on display in the closing rounds of the Four Nations Chess League. The simplest - a method requiring hardly any original thought - is to mis-remember the opening. In the following game, Black plays exactly as Anatoly Karpov did in his recent Fide title match against Jan Timman, but apparently forgetting that the moves 9 . . . Nc6 and 10. Nh3 had been interposed in the original game, when White's b4 could be met by Nxb4.
White: G Flear
Black: A Harley
1 d4 e6
2 c4 Nf6
3 Nc3 Bb4
4 Qc2 0-0
5 a3 Bxc3+
6 Qxc3 b6
7 Bg5 c5
8 dxc5 bxc5
9 e3 h6
10 Bh4 g5
11 Bg3 Ne4
12 Qc2 Qa5+
13 b4 cxb4
14 Qxe4 b3+
15 Kd1 d5
16 cxd5 Bb7
17 Bd3 Rc8
18 Bd6 1-0
Case number two is the simple blunder. When White played 22. Rad1 in the following game, he must have seen the idea of . . . Nf4 threatening Qxg2 mate, but the idea of playing the moves in reverse order never occurred to him, despite the fact that Nf4 attacks the undefended white queen.
As happens so often when a threat is overlooked, the move allowing the combination made its consequences even worse. After 22. Rad1? Qxg2+ 23. Kxg2 Nf4+, Black's 24 . . . Nxd3 will attack the rook on e1, which can no longer move to b1 to protect the b-pawn. So Black loses at least two pawns from the transaction.
White: S Carr
Black: C Pritchett
1 d4 Nf6
2 Nf3 e6
3 Bg5 c5
4 e3 Nc6
5 Nbd2 cxd4
6 exd4 Be7
7 c3 b6
8 Bd3 Nd5
9 Bxe7 Qxe7
10 0-0 Nf4
11 Be2 0-0
12 Re1 a5
13 Bf1 Ba6
14 Bxa6 Rxa6
15 Nc4 b5
16 Nce5 d6
17 Nxc6 Rxc6
18 Qd2 Nd5
19 Qd3 Rb8
20 a3 h6
21 Nd2 Qg5
22 Rad1 Qxg2+
White resigns
That game was played at the weekend in the match between North-West Eagles and Barbican, which the London team won 71 2 - 1 2 . We end with another game from the same contest, featuring a losing strategy of higher pedigree. There is nothing wrong with advancing pawns to gain space, but one must be careful not to lose control of the empty spaces they leave behind.
When White played 10. g4 and 11. e4, it all linked up promisingly with his 3. f4 to create a mobile pawn front and chances of developing a K-side attack, but over the next few moves, the initiative passed to Black. 13. e5 looks more logical than Nh2, and White's 15. e5 should surely have been replaced by 15. Ng4, when 15 . . . Bxc3? 15. Qxc3 Nxe4 allows Nh6 mate. White's advanced pawns look impressive, but more important is the weakness they leave behind on the long white diagonal. Flear's 17 . . . Na4] is an important move, either forcing the exchange of White's knight, when it can no longer keep an eye on e4 and d5, or luring it into an uncomfortable pin, as happened in the game.
Black's advantage is pushed home, beginning with 20 . . . Nxb2] (21. Bxb2 Nxf4+), sacrificing rook for knight and pawn, but gaining control of all the important squares. Black's final move is a neat exploitation of a two-way pin.
White: B Lund
Black: G Flear
1 g3 d5
2 Bg2 Nf6
3 f4 g6
4 Nf3 Bg7
5 0-0 0-0
6 d3 b6
7 Qe1 Bb7
8 h3 Nbd7
9 Nc3 e6
10 g4 Qe7
11 e4 dxe4
12 dxe4 Nc5
13 Nh2 Rad8
14 g5 Nh5
15 e5 Bxg2
16 Kxg2 Qd7
17 Qe2 Na4
18 Ne4 Qc6
19 Ng4 Rd4
20 Ngf2 Nxb2
21 c3 Rc4
22 Qxb2 Rxe4
23 Nxe4 Qxe4+
24 Rf3 Rd8
25 Qb1 Qe2+
26 Rf2 Qc4
27 Qc2 Bf8
28 Be3 Rd3
29 Qe2 Qe4+
30 Rf3 Nxf4+
White resigns
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