Jon Speelman: Calculation without excessive genuflection

by Jonathan Speelman
11/19/2023 – This week, I’m looking at calculation and what’s reasonable for a mere human being without excessive genuflection to our silicon lords and masters. One thing that the silicon brings us is a totally unprejudiced “eye”, but seeing far enough in difficult positions over the board is something any competitive player needs to develop properly. | Pictured: Vidit Gujrathi | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
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Decision making

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

This week, I’m looking at calculation and what’s reasonable for a mere human being without excessive genuflection to our silicon lords and masters.

To this end, I’ve got a couple of examples which require some thought, an example position which occurred to me apropos — in a pretty distant way — a sharp line of the Caro-Kann and my very tough game last Saturday.

This was against the top board for Wood Green second team Jonah Willow (both teams are in the top division of the 4NCL, so we had to play in round 1). This involved a lot of decision-making by both of us, and we both did pretty well, while after I got the advantage he put up a splendid resistance and there were moments when my advantage had dwindled.

We start with four diagrams which are covered in the pgn.

K. Nicholas - C. Menzies
Black to play

This position from the 4NCL Division 2 was very kindly shown to me by somebody I teach. Black to play could simply reply 36...e5 but chose to accept the bait with 36...Nf3+ 37.Kg3 fxe4 which was met by 38.Bf6+ Has he allowed a swindle or is there still a way to win?

Kotkov - Dvoretsky
Black to play

This appears in one of Mark Dvoretysky’s books. He’d like to play 54...Rb5, and the question is whether this is possible if White exchanges and goes into the knight ending where he will lose his knight for the c-pawn but get connected passed pawns.

Jon Speelman
Black to play and win
J. Speelman - J. Willow
Black to play

One thing that the silicon brings us is a totally unprejudiced “eye”. Can you find the short but very unobvious (to us) way in which the engines neutralise White’s initiative?

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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 B18 Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation, Main Line h6 7.Nh3 e6 8.Nf4 Bh7 9.Nfh5 Nf6 10.Bc4 Rg8 11.c3 Bd6 12.Qb3 b5?! (-0.07 ? 0.57) Inaccuracy. Nxh5 was best. 12...Nxh5 13.Be2 Nd5 14.Nf1?! (0.94 ? -0.01) Inaccuracy. a4 was best. 14.a4 14...Nd7 15.a4 a6 16.axb5 axb5 17.Rxa8 Qxa8 18.Ne3 N7b6 19.Bf3 Qa4 20.Qxa4 Nxa4 21.c4 bxc4 22.Nxc4 Ke7 23.0-0?? (0.24 ? -2.68) Blunder. Nxd6 was best. 23.Nxd6 Kxd6 24.Bxd5 cxd5 25.Rh3 Bg6 26.b3 Bxh5 27.bxa4 Ra8 28.Ra3 Kc6 29.a5 Kb5 23...Bd3 24.Nxd6 Bxf1 25.Ne4 Bd3 26.Nd2 g5 27.b3 Nac3 28.Ba3+ Kd8 29.hxg5 hxg5 30.g4 Nf4 31.Bxc6 Nxh5 32.gxh5 Ne2+ 33.Kh2 Nxd4 34.Be4 Bxe4 35.Nxe4 f5 36.Bb2
36...Nf3+ 36...e5 37.Kg3 fxe4
White to play. Has Black allowed a swindle or is there still a way to win? 38.Bf6+ 38.h6 e5 39.Kg4 Rh8 39...Ke7 40.Kf5 Kf7 41.Kxe4 g4 42.Kf5 Rh8 43.Kxg4 Nd4 44.Kh5 44.Kg5 44...Nf5 45.Bc1 Rb8 40.Kh5 e3 41.fxe3 Rxh6+ 42.Kxh6 g4 43.e4 g3 44.Bc1 44.Ba3 g2 45.Bc5 Nd4 44...g2 45.Be3 g1Q 46.Bxg1 Nxg1 47.Kg6 Kc7 48.Kf5 Nf3 38...Ke8? 38...Kd7! 39.h6 Rc8! 40.h7 40.Bb2 e5 41.Kg4 Rh8 42.Kh5 e3 43.fxe3 Rxh6+ 40...Rc1 41.h8Q 41.Bxg5 Rh1 42.Bc1 Rxh7 43.Kf4 Rh1 44.Ba3 Nd2 45.Ke3 41.Kg4 Rg1+ 42.Kh5 Rh1+ 43.Kg6 g4 44.h8Q Rxh8 45.Bxh8 e3 46.fxe3 g3 41...Rg1+ 42.Kh3 g4# 39.h6 Kf7 40.h7 Rb8 41.h8Q Rxh8 42.Bxh8 Ke7 43.Bb2 Kd6 44.Kg4 Kc5 45.Bf6 Kb4 46.Bxg5 Kxb3 47.Kf4 47.Be3 Kc4 48.Kf4 Kd3 1/2-1/2 (48) Nicholas,K (2139)-Menzies,C (2198) England ENG 2023 47...Kc4 Unterminated 47...Nxg5 48.Kxg5 Kc4 49.Kf6 Kd5 50.Ke7 Ke5 51.Kf7 Kf5 52.Ke7 e5 53.Kd6 Kf4 54.Kd5
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nicholas,K-Menzies,C-2023B184NCL Div 2
Kotkov-Dvoretsky-0–11972Moscow ch
JS idea--2023
Speelman,J2487Willow,J24161–02023E034NCL Division 1 2023-20241.17

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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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