Speelman's Agony: "Excruciatingly insipid, and duly punished"

by Jonathan Speelman
10/6/2019 – GM Jon Speelman analyses three d4 games from a class A player for your instruction and amusement. | Send in your own games! Jon can always use more material from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!
Some mistakes repeat themselves often in amateur games. With themes such as "Miscalculating Forcing Lines", "Being Too Materialistic" and "King Safety" Nick Pert shows you how to avoid making typical mistakes.

Speelman's Agony #107

Editors note: Thanks to all those who have answered our Speelman's Agony survey. The survey will remain open for another two weeks, after which we'll announce the prize winner, in column #109.

This week's game are by Mark Houlsby who plays for Ulverston Chess Club in Cumbria and often frequents my Twitch stream as Tchitcherine.

When I solicited the stream for games for here, Mark kindly obliged with three games.

Mark HoulsbyThe first, which is indeed Agonising is characterised by Mark thus: “White's play was excruciatingly insipid, and was duly punished.”

The second is a hard fought battle which ended in a draw, and he writes:

I was reasonably happy with the timing of kingside pawn breaks in this game. They helped to secure a draw against a more highly graded player. 

The third is a nice attacking game in which he explains:

Not long ago I should think that the effect which my Queen's being en prise might have produced would have provided sufficient provocation to persuade me to exchange it, however, one thing that I learned from Igor Nataf, who used to teach me, remotely, on ICC, before he became a full-time mentor to Radjabov, is that if a piece is on the board, it's playing for you (in other words, in many circumstances the initiative overrides other considerations). So, not minding that my Queen was en prise, I ran with the initiative and conducted an attack.

All notes are mine apart from an aside quoting American GM Ben Finegold, at the end of the third.

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,186,70654%2421---
1.d4960,56055%2434---
1.Nf3286,91356%2440---
1.c4185,11556%2442---
1.g319,90256%2427---
1.b314,60954%2428---
1.f45,95948%2376---
1.Nc33,91950%2383---
1.b41,79148%2379---
1.a31,25254%2406---
1.e31,08149%2409---
1.d396950%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39366%2506---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Be2 0-0 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 c5 This position is more often reached (after an early Bf4) with the bishop on f4 when it is the London system. The bishop is more active there but b2 can be annoyingly weak in the opening. 7.dxc5?! Of course this isn't unplayable but the point of White's opening is to stymie Black's fionchettoed bishop with a "granite wall" on the long diagonal and this is the first step to dismantalling that wall. dxc5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Rd1 Rxd1+ 10.Bxd1 Nc6 11.Bd2 Be6 12.Be2 Rd8 13.Be1 h6 14.Nbd2
Although White is a bit passive, his position is intact so Black has only a small advantage. 14...Bf5 14...Ne8 15.Bc4 Bxc4 16.Nxc4 f5 17.a4 Kf7 18.Kf1 15.Nh4 Bd3 16.Kf1 Ng4 17.Nhf3 17.Bxd3 Rxd3 18.Ke2 Rd8 19.Nhf3 was fine when if Nge5 20.Nxe5 Nxe5 21.Rd1 17...Nge5 18.Rd1 c4? A tacical blunder but I think that Mark was quite depressed about his position which is why he failed to spot: 19.Nd4 19.Nxe5 Nxe5 20.f4 Ng4 20...Nc6 21.Nxc4 21.Nxc4! with the advantage 19...b5 20.Nxc6 20.Bxd3 cxd3 20...Nxd4 21.Bxc4! 21.h3 g5 22.N2b3 would have given White a nice edge. 20.Nxb5 Bxe2+ 21.Kxe2 Rb8 22.a4 a6 23.f4! led to a very messy line: Nd3 24.Nxc4 Nxe1 25.Nc7 Nxg2 26.Nxa6 20...Nxc6 21.Bxd3 cxd3 21...Rxd3 22.a4 a6 23.Ra1 22.Nb1?! 22.Nb3 Ne5 23.Nd4 22...Ne5 23.b3 f5 24.Bd2 Ng4 25.h3 Nf6
Somewhat to my surprise, Houdini still thinks White is okay giving this line where the Black d pawn is huge but his queenside is weak: 26.Ke1 26.Na3 Rd5 27.c4 bxc4 28.Nxc4 e5 29.Rc1 e4 26...e5 27.f3 e4 28.Na3 a6 29.c4 Bf8 30.b4 Rb8 31.cxb5 axb5
Black now has a massive advantage. There is a ready made pathway along the g8-a2 diagonal for his king: 32.Nb1 Nd5 33.a3 Rc8 34.Rc1 Rxc1+ 35.Bxc1 Bg7 36.Kd2 Kf7 37.fxe4 fxe4 38.g3 h5 39.Kd1 Here Mark resigned. After simply 39.Kd1 Nc3+ 40.Nxc3 Bxc3 the ending is utterly hopeless as long as he doesn't somehow stumble into pawn ending with Kd5 v Kc3 and the kingside fixed with him to move. A horrible game for Mark in which the light squares were most certainly not his friends. 41.Bd2 Be5 42.Be1 Bb2 43.Kd2 Ke6 44.Kd1 Kd5 45.Kd2 Kc4 46.Kd1 Kb3 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Houlsby,M-Phillips,D-0–12015A48Cumbria League Division 1
Houlsby,M-Ellames,R-½–½2015A85Ulverston
Tchitcherine1907Marat_121017441–02019A50Hourly Rapid Arena

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On this DVD GM Nick Pert shows you typical mistakes by 1800-200 players. Themes as when to exchange pieces, how to convert an advantage, passive pieces, anticipating your opponents plan, openings and pawn structure are shown throughout the DVD.

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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