Speelman's Agony: Exercise your carbon-based noodle

by Jonathan Speelman
10/20/2019 – Help for "fish head" Fleming courtesy GM JON SPEELMAN. Three exciting and instructive games for your agony column. | 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.

Agony & Ecstasy #108

Liam FlemingThis week's pair of games are by Liam Fleming who frequents my Twitch stream as "fish_head_24".

Liam has been playing for three years online and OTB for a year for Hammersmith Chess Club He sent me three very interesting games which he'd annotated himself and I've added my own comments as 'JS'.

We start with the agony, which is against Alan Palmer from Battersea Chess Club, who is the President of the London chess league. A stonewall.

A "pseudo-Tromp" and a Cozio follow. Don't know what those are? Don't worry!

 
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1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bf4 c6 4.Nf3 e6 Stonewall formation. 5.e3 Nf6 6.Be2 Bd3 is more common. However, my plan is to push g4 and this move gives it more support. JS I'm really not sure which is best. They also sometimes play a3 here to prevent ...Bb4. With the bishop on d3 White can play Ne2 and c4 if he doesn't want to play g4 and that also makes sense. Be7 7.Ne5 0-0 8.g4 A Knight on e5 often allows g4. Ne4 9.gxf5 exf5 10.Nxe4 fxe4 11.Qd2 Probably a mistake as the Queen is now cut off from a Kingside attack. Instead, getting rid of the blocking Bishop might've been better. Perhaps I was concerned about getting my King safe, but this allows my opponent to get some pieces out and trade them off. 11.Bg4 Bxg4 12.Qxg4 JS Yes I agree. White has a very nice position here. 11...Nd7 12.Nxd7 Bxd7 13.0-0-0 Be6 Bit strange. Possibly trying to stop c4 break. 14.f3 Attempting to open the position and get rid of my weak f-pawn. Bf5 JS 14...exf3 15.Bxf3 Bg5 Must be correct. Black has good control of the kingside so isn't being attack and White's e pawn is a bit weak. 15.fxe4 Bxe4 16.Rhg1 Kh8 17.Bd3 Bd6 17...Bxd3 Should've been played first, as now he'll be left with an isolated pawn in the endgame. JS Yes the e4 pawn will be a weakness. 18.Bxd6 A mistake. Instead I should have left this move in reserve to play a tactic. 18.Bxe4 dxe4 18...Bxf4 19.Bxh7! JS works out well for White. 19.Qg2 and now e4 and g7 can't be defended at the same time with Qe7 because of Bxd6. Qe7 The engine points out that g6 still may not be too bad though 19...g6 20.Bh6 Rf3 21.Qg4 is quite scary when the emotionless Houdini wants to nick the h2 pawn. 20.Bxd6 Qxd6 21.Qxe4 with a good advantage. 18...Qxd6 19.Bxe4 dxe4 20.Qg2 Qe7 21.Rdf1 Here I figured I'd be slightly up in a Queen endgame given the isolated pawn so decided to swap off. g6
22.Rxf8+ JS My first reaction was that was wrong since White should make Black spend a tempo exchanging rooks himself and Qg4 was obvious but my engine pointed out that Rae8! is a good idea then to prepare Rf3. Still White can play h4-5 trhne and feels a bit better.:even if it's really nothing. 22.Qg4 Rae8 23.h4 Rf3 24.h5 Ref8 25.Re1 Rg8 22...Rxf8 23.Rf1 Rxf1+ 24.Qxf1 Kg7 My opponent offered a draw. 25.Qf4 g5 26.Qg4
26...h6 26...Kg6 was norrmal to get in ...h5 27.c4 My opponent is trying to create a passed pawn on the Kingside. I react with the same threat in the centre. Kf6 28.h4
28...Qe6? Here I was a bit nervous, and unsure whether to swap Queens, but eventually I figured this was pretty drawish as my King is able to block a Queening threat in time. JS Offering to go into a pawn endgame is always a huge step since there may be little chance to recover if it turns out to be bad. Here Black has miscalculated isnce the pawn ending ishould be winning for White who can stop the g pawn and later play d5 exchanging d for g. As long as the blakc king is not then able to enter the queenside, White will win the e pawn and that will be decisive. I'm wrting this slightly with hindsight since although the outlines are very clear, the details are less so and you'd have to check that nothing would go wrong. 28...Qb4 was correct when it looks equal with good play. 29.hxg5+ hxg5 30.Qxe6+ Kxe6 31.Kd2 a6 JS You have to calculate whether Black can support the g pawn with his king. In fiact this loses though. 31...Kf5 32.Ke2 Kg4 33.Kf2 Kh3 34.d5 34.Kg1 Kg4 35.Kg2 would also win but d5 wins by force: 34...cxd5 35.cxd5 Kh2 35...g4? 36.Kg1 36.d6 g4 37.d7 g3+ 38.Ke2 g2 39.d8Q g1Q 40.Qh4+ Kg2 41.Qxe4+ Kh2 42.Qh7+ Kg2 43.Qg6+ Kh2 44.Qxg1+ Kxg1 45.e4 32.Ke2 b5 In my mind I was thinking 'draw!', and gladly would have accepted if my opponent offered. However, I'm probably winning as my King has a firm hold of his g-pawn while his king has to stop my e-pawn and guard his g-pawn. JS Yes it is winning. 33.b3 For example: 33.cxb5 cxb5 34.b4 Kf5 35.Kf2 g4 JS This makes it cleaner. Bklack should leave the pawn on g5 though it's still quite lost: 36.Kg3 Kg5 37.d5 37.a3 JS is nore efficient: Kf5 37...Kh5 38.Kf4 Kh4 39.d5 38.Kh4 g3 39.Kxg3 Kg5 37...Kf5 38.Kh4? JS This last move is wrong. White should play a3 which gains a tempoL 38.a3! Ke5 39.Kxg4 Kxd5 40.Kf4 Kc4 41.Kxe4 Kb3 42.Kd5 Kxa3 43.e4 38...Ke5 39.Kxg4 Kxd5 40.Kf4 Kc4 41.Kxe4 Kxb4 42.Kd5 Ka3 43.e4 b4 44.e5 Kxa2 33...b4 34.Kf2 Kf6 35.Kg3 Getting my King around. Kf5 36.Kh3 Ke6 37.Kg4 Kf6 38.Kh3 Ke6 39.Kg4 Kf6 Draw. For some reason nerves got the better of me and I was so afraid of his g-pawn that I was only thinking of a draw. If I considered that I had my own threat I don't think it is too hard to calculate the win. Something to learn from. Can you spot it? JS A tough battle in which Liam played nicely in the opening but began to go wrong and would have bene under some pressure if his opponent had left him with a weak e3 pawn. After a lot of diffiuclt decisions, Black mistakenly went into the pawn endgame but worried by the passed g pawn Liam believed him and didn't imagine thta it could be he who was winning. One lesson is that if you have a clear draw in an endgame you should try to take a moment to refocus and see if you might have even more. In general when tackling difficult endgames or difficult positions in general strong players will often first look for something that seems to be enough for equality and having satisfied themselves that they are okay then move on to try to find something even better. 39...Kf6 40.d5 cxd5 41.cxd5 Ke5 42.Kxg5 Kd6 43.Kf5 Kxd5 44.Kf4 Ke6 is winning, for instance. JS ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Fleming,L142Palmer,A145½–½2019A80Summer Chess League 9
A Solomon167Fleming,L100½–½2019D00Lytton Hall, Hammersmith
Liam Fleming100Kapesh1181–02019C60Lytton Hall, Hammersmith

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Tap into your creative mind and start the game on a fresh note. The Trompowsky (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5) is an opening outside of conventional wisdom. Create challenges and make your opponent solve problems early on.

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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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