Another OTB game analysis: the search for early middlegame creativity

The previous game I focused my attention on was of course a little silly (here’s a link). Nothing really spectacular happened, and it just suddenly anti-climatically ended in a draw. And here’s the exciting part: the game I analyze today, is not particularly eye-opening either! No honestly, for those looking forward to see some brilliant sacrificial masterpiece, this post ain’t for you. There’s plenty of this stuff to be found at other places.

But the true reality is that most games are just pretty dry at first glance. And still there is so much to say about them. It’s the minor improvements that collectively can cause a opponent to collapse, leaving him/her in complete confusion about what went wrong... The following game is great for this purpose, because I in my fullest awareness blew up my own position after the opening, and I still don’t know what else I could have done...

Alright, having successfully sacrificed two-thirds of my potential audience here, let’s continue.

General comments about the game

First things first, here’s the game. I played black. Time control was 1 hour and 30 minutes, and I guess there was some increment during the endgame. I commented the endgame too, but I’m pretty happy about that part, so only the opening I will discuss in this post.

In the rare circumstance that you also happen to play this Na6-sideline of the kings-indian, and you get a sudden heart-attack by the positional decision making of the black player (me), then I’m terribly sorry for my actions and I take full responsibility for the consequences. You see, me as an opening non-expert needs to get playable positions whilst avoiding the sharpest main lines. So a move like 7. ...Na6 works fine for me. The issue however becomes that I still don’t have any clue how to continue from there.

After 12 moves, I felt like my position should still be okay and within some kind of theory. I thought my moves were more-or-less forced anyways, so if GM’s play this line, I should be fine, right?!... Well, I didn’t like anything about it! And therefore, I did the only sensible thing a simple man can do in such a precarious situation: burn 30 minutes on my clock to find the fastest way to destroy my position. And I was rather successful, if I may say so myself. Now, of course 13. ...Nb4 isn’t horrible in any particular way, but it’s the upcoming plan that’s just not very great.

The plan was to plant it via c6 on d4, exchange a bunch of random stuff, and hope to find myself in a position I could somehow hold, despite non of my pieces being developed, except for a brave king perhaps. So basically, from move 13 to 25 I’m just holding on for dear life, and I’m lucky white doesn’t have any direct shots that end the game immediately. I show some lines in the game file.

My situation became a lot better after 25. ...f5, when I can force an endgame out-of-nowhere, which is even slightly better for me. From here, things happened that traditionally always seem to happen: My opponent, probably fully aware that he has been outplaying me from the start, suddenly has to spend double the energy for only half a point the remainder of the game. He doesn’t make any big mistakes, but very slowly things get out of hand, and I can feel chances turning my way. I managed to eat some wild pawns with my king leading the way, and that concluded the game in my favor.

Other options after the opening: (1) The queen exchange

After all of this, I would conclude I really seriously need to understand which positions are actually playable, to avoid drastically misplaced measures. One option I didn’t consider was the queen exchange on move 10. I kept the queen. I put it on e8, which is a little blehh, but it’s fine, trust me. I don’t know why I did it. I just like the queen, I guess. It feels like exchanging it, especially on d8 or d1, is kinda lame. I feels too equal without queens, I sometimes fear. There is some beautiful psychology at play in my unconsciousness: I avoid the equal queen exchange with the idea to play for a win, only to immediately find myself playing for a draw from a lost position, and I’m perfectly happy about it. Now, alright, Qe8 is objectively fine, but played without a follow-up idea, it can potentially be very clumsy.

So, let’s check the queen exchange more closely. There are plenty of reasons to give why white could be happy. A free rook development to the only open file, good control over the d8 square, more space on the queenside to launch a pawn storm, overall reasonable piece placement and control over either d5 or d6 (blacks c-pawn can only control one of these squares). Meanwhile, blacks knights both are positioned on the edge of the board, the g7-bishop blocked, the rooks not connected yet and development is not-that-great (in the line given, other setup are viable too, but this one is pretty straightforward). So for sure, white is better here.

But this whole summary consists of relatively minor and overall solvable, temporary issues. The truth is that blacks position is just very stable with a symmetric pawn-structure, white has no obvious direct way to exploit the advantages and therefore black should be fine. If white attacks on the queenside, we might have counter-play with ...f5 on the kingside. If white doesn’t feel like doing anything, we can swap a bunch of rooks on the d-file. The knights will drift towards the center, and we have things under control.

I’m not sure how to win from here, yet... But 'not losing' seems like a reasonable first step.

Other options after the opening: (2) The ...f6 push

As revealed in the previous line, the ...f6 push is quite playable for black. I studied this opening once, and I vaguely remember now this is indeed an idea. Obviously, during the game these logical thoughts were fully overshadowed by a healthy full scale panic, and I played 11. ...Nf6 pretty much as if it were the only move available. But the in-betweener 11. ...f6 is a serious option too (aiming to go to h6 with the knight next). Technically, this sacrifices a pawn after 12. hxg4, but white is better advised to not accept this, and instead return with the bishop, somewhere. Black can continue going for a similar setup as described above, with queens on the board this time.

The alternative 11. ...h6 is possible too, by the way. The knight returns to f6 in that case. But I just don’t like how it looks. It reminds me of a game where I had no idea what to do out of the opening, and just randomly started to blow up my own position. Oh wait... Ehh... Nevermind...

Other options after the opening: (3) Just playing within the structure with 12. ...c6

This was my final chance to do something better with my life than I did. So, first things first, the white knight going to d5 (or b5) is a pretty big menace in various lines, so 12. ...c6 seems like a pretty healthy way to deal with it. But the person that is me just didn’t like my chances there. Basically for the same structural reasons described above. I feared I would just get squeezed on the queenside without any counter-play. Therefore, the only logical thing to do, would to drastically force some positional changes. That’s how it worked in my mind, at least. I came up with the luminous idea of bringing the dumb knight on a6 to d4, and hope that the position would be somewhat playable (spoiler alert: it’s not).

So, what if I instead would just accept the situation as it is, play some calm moves, and ‘play within the structure’ as the experts call it. Well... it’s a lot better, unsurprisingly. Don’t get me wrong, white is still slightly better, but black can shuffle some pieces around, and create counter-play. The strongest idea seems to be place the f6 knight at a random square, free up the g7-bishops eyes, and push the f-pawn.

And yes, the B on c8 is not the prettiest, the knights’ living conditions are so cramped that they might spark some PETA protests, but that’s life. There aren’t many weaknesses in the black camp, so we can slowly make some moves and if needed counter whites actions. Things ain’t perfect, but we’ll make it work.

Conclusion

What I notice most of all, is some severe lack of creativity from my side. I did not really consider all the alternative moves I analyzed here, because I just didn’t think they would lead somewhere. As if all these options would result in me sitting there like a duck waiting to get slaughtered. As if there were no improving moves available in these type of positions. But it’s not true. These positions, though slightly better for white, do have useful moves in them. You just need some creative thinking. And keep in mind there’s no need to rush. Slow and steady wins (or draws) the race.