Morra Gambit - Part 5

Sample game # 4

Black could try to develop its Queenside bishop after a6 and b5.

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 a6

Black is intending b5 and Bb7, nevertheless white continues in the same style and develops its bishop to the best square.

5.Bc4! b5??

But black is oblivious to the white’s threat. After the standard 6.Bxf7+ black is losing:

6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxa8

Winning the rook on a8. Black resigns 1-0

  

Sample game # 5

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Bc4 e6.

The safest setup. Black is blocking the dangerous diagonal - where we have seen so many catastrophes on f7 square.

White has no immediate threats, though in the Morra gambit you don’t need to look after a casual combination.

You have to follow the main principles of the opening as: fast development, control over the center and a tactical combination will bear itself!

 6.Nf3 Qc7 7.0-0 Nf6

Why does black omit 7…d6, what is the point of this?

Black is waiting for 8.Qe2 - the most natural continuation, which could be met by the 8…Ng4!? Preparing a fine trap. Now if white plays the obvious 9.h3?? Unexpectedly comes the beautiful 9.Nd4! Black distracts the only defender of the h2 square - the white knight f3, which leads to the inevitable mating construction.

White is obligated to eliminate the knight 10.Nd4 and 10.Qh2! Checkmate! No help either is 10.Qd3 Nf3! nor 10.Nb5 Nf3! and 11.Qh2 is coming.

9.Rd1 Doesn’t fix the problem, since after 9… Bc5! White can’t comfortably protect f2.
White has a problem: How to stop Nd4? How to improve the position?
 
The next energetic move sets the control over the d4 square and gains the initiative: 

8.Nb5! Qb8 9.e5!

White is going to sacrifice another pawn but the main purpose is the unprotected c7 square.
 

9… Nxe5

Doesn’t help 9…Ng4 10.Bf4! Nge5 11.Nxe5 Nxe5 12.Rc1 d6 13.Bxe5 dxe5 14.Nc7+ Qc7 15.Bb5+ and white wins the Queen)  

10.Nxe5 Qxe5 11.Re1

Black keeps moving his Queen, while white just increases his development advantage move by move by bringing more and more pieces into the attack.  

11…Qb8

Black’s pieces are under nasty pressure and virtually all restrained to the back rank!  

12.Qd4!

The decisive move.
  
Suddenly black has no good defenses against the incoming 13.Bf4! move,
I suppose at the moment black is lost already.
 

12…d6 13.Bf4 e5

The only way to stop Nd6, actually white has such a huge development advantage then the following combination is natural as a baby’s smile:  

14.Rxe5+

White ruins black fragile shelter with the simple rook sacrifice.
Black has to accept the rook but after 14…de 15.Be5 the Queen is trapped.

Black resigned

Morra Gambit - Part 4

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cd 3.c3 dc 4. Nc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nc6 6.Nf3 Nf6 7.e5!

 

 7…de 8. Qd8!  

So.. With no better choice the Queen has to be captured with the knight.

B.) 8… Nd8

 Now white could capture the pawn after 9.Ne5, the nice mobilization allows even more powerful aims.  

9. Nb5!   

White intends Nc7 winning the full rook. Black suddenly has no good answers.

The attempt to cover c7 after  9 …Kd7??, simply leads to the mate after 10. Ne5 Ke8 11. Nc7 checkmate.

After 9… Ne6 white immediately eliminates the knight after 10.Be6 Be6 and invades on c7 square with the decisive fork 11. Nc7+! Winning the rook.
 
No help either is 9… Be6 - black is hoping for 10. Be6? Ne6 covering the c7 square, nevertheless white wins easily after 10. Nc7! Kd7 11.Na8 Bc4 for a short while look like black is fine - the Na8 is trapped and black could hope to capture it soon. But here came the surprise 12. Ne5+! With the check - the Bishop c4 is lost.
 
The only precise defense

9… Rb8

indeed after

10.Ne5!

 white creates the threat Nc7 checkmate.

10… e6

 now white could simple take the pawn 11.Na7 or continue the attack after

12. Nc7+ Ke7 13.b3! 

 Gaining more development due the mating threat Ba3!
 
Lets just evaluate the position. White has completed his development, when the black pieces are just on the back rank. Thus white easily exploits an ugly position of the King on e7 by increasing their pieces activity and keeping an unpleasant pressure.
 
The main conclusion:
 
In the Morra gambit black has to be extremely careful. One slip could cause an immediate disaster as I have shown above.

Letter From a Reader - Cochrane Gambit

Dear Mr. Alterman 

Some time ago I enjoyed your three videos on Cochrane Gambit, and decided to give this gambit a try in a serious tournament game as soon as someone would dare to play me the Petroff. It just happened today, July 27, in last round of Canadian Open. I thought you would be happy to see the score of my very first game with this gambit.

White: Louis Morin (1907)- Black: Alex Ferreira (1954)

Canadian Open, 9th round, July 27, 2008.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nxf7 Kxf7 5.Bc4+ Be6 6. Bxe6+ Kxe6 7.d4 Be7 8.O-O Kf7 9.Nc3 Rf8 10.f4 Kg8 11.Be3 c5 12.e5 dxe5 13.fxe5 Nd5?

A most natural move. I guess Black was expecting 14.Nxd5 Qxd5 with much the better game, but…

14.Rxf8+! Bxf8 

(Black is losing after 14…Kf8 15.Qf3+! and knight d5 is gone - B.A)

 15.dxc5!

Pins and wins the knight since the black queen is not protected anymore. I give the remaining moves only to show that I did not waste this opportunity.

 15…Nc6 16.Qxd5+ Qxd5 17.Nxd5 Nxe5 18.b3 Ng4 19.Bd4 Rc8 20.b4 Re8 21.h3 Ne5 22.Bxe5 Rxe5 23.c4 Re2 24.Kf1 Rc2 25.Ne3 Rc3 26.Ke2 Ra3 27.Nc2 Rc3 28.Kd2 Rxc4 29.g3 Re4 30.Re1 Txe1 31.Nxe1 Kf7 32.Ke3 Ke6 33.Ke4 g6 34.Nf3 h6 35.Nd5+ Kd7 36.Kd6 h5 37.a4 g5 38.g4 hxg4 39.hxg4 Be7 40.b5 Bd8 41.c6+ Kc8 42.Ne6 Be7 43.Nc5 bxc6+ 44.Kxc6 Kb8 45.a5 Kc8 46.Nd7 Bd8 47.b6 axb6 48.a6

1-0

Should you like this example, please feel free to use it in future videos or chess lessons. With all my thanks

Louis Morin

Montreal, Canada

Morra Gambit - Part 3

Sample game #3

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cd 3.c3 dc 4. Nc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nc6 6.Nf3

So. as we saw in the game 2 black can’t activate the bishop at once but what’s wrong with

6… Nf6!?  

 With the previous 5… Nc6 black was setting control over the important e5 square. Furthermore black is planning to bring the bishop on g4.
 
Can white do perform anything special? The answer will be - yes!

 7.e5!

 Anyway! This brave move disorganizes black’s position. Black has two obvious options, when the first one 7… Ne5 fails immediately after 8. Ne5 de 9.Bf7+! (Well-known theme - the black King is overloaded) Kf7 10. Qd8 white gains decisive material advantage.  

7…de 8. Qd8!  

White isn’t spoiling any initiative by the Queen’s swapping, but gains more and more pressure.
 
Black has two possible recaptures:  A.) 8…Kd8 and B.) 8…Nd8.

 A.) 8… Kd8?!

Looks natural. Black is hoping for 9.Bf7 the move, which only slips away white’s initiative after 9…e6! Then white’s bishop is trapped, though it seems that after  

9. Ng5!  

Black is facing a serious problem - how to stop the Nf7 fork.  

9… Kc7 10. Nf7 Rg8  

and now white comes with another blow  

11. Ne5! Ne5 12. Bf4!

12.Bg8 Ng8?! ( better is 12…Nd3+!)  For a second black is doing fine since it’s having two pieces for a rook, but white pins the knight  13. Bf4! Kd6 14. 0-0-0 + Kd6  and now after  15.Rhe1 the knight is lost.

12…e6 13.Be5 +

 and Black’s position is hopeless.

Morra Gambit - Part 2

Sample game #2  

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cd 3.c3 dc 4. Nc3 d6 5.Bc4

No doubt then that

 5…Nc6

 is much better continue then 5.. Nf6.

6. Nf3

 White completes his development and prepares the short castling.
 
At this moment black doesn’t wish to lock the bishop c8 - so what’s wrong with the attempt of pinning white’s knight after

6… Bg4?

Therefore 6… Bg4 could be punished immediately. Please pay attention to the reasons:
 
The well-known nuance - weakness of the f7 square and the suddenly unprotected bishop on g4 are the motifs of white’s success.

The combination starts with the nice smash

7. Bf7+!

 White is gaining a pawn back and also the black King is no longer in safe place after

7… Kf7 8. Ng5+! Ke8 9.Qg4

 and white has the obvious advantage when the material is even.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kasparov against Deep Junior - NY 2003 Part 2

At the press conference, Garry was excited and now had become very confident by the result of his new strategy and his performance. Our programmers, Shay Bushinsky and Amir Ban were startled and shocked by Garry’s successful play. Amir said - “If Kasparov does as well in every game, Junior has no chance.”  

I have worked with Kasparov and am very familiar with his game, and was very impressed how well he had adapted to the new competition. Although I was a bit excited with Garry’s strategy, I had not begun to panic.  

After all, we were being challenged by the best human player in the world, and I had my hands full making sure there would not be another game 1 accident!

That evening I explained to our programmers Shay Bushinsky and Amir Ban, what Kasparov’s strategy was and in what way I think we had to respond.

The plan was:
1. Reconsider the opening book of the computer.
2. Make serious changes to the program (The blessing, the rules of a match resolved it.)  

My problem was, not only let Kasparov  increase his advantage , but also to invite him to a  different kind of struggle in which it would be hard for him to counteract the program - both in an opening, and in the middle game.

Preparation for each following game required at least 30-40 hours of my time .You see; all of us were more prepared for anticomputer strategy:

I could not believe Kasparov could fight 5 more games to play with the computer in tactical chess. But the fantasy that Kasparov at any moment would back to anticomputer strategy, remained an illusion. We in a match have not seen the Berlin wall or any closed positions. For example, Sicilian with 3.Bb5.

And on a move of a match these problems have left on the third plan.
Except for development of rigid tactics after failure in the 1-st game, it was important for us not to concede the initiative.

The main thing - If we had changed our original Junior common openings in such a situation, there was the great danger that Kasparov would at once would feel this weakness.  

(2) Deep Junior - Kasparov,G [B42] NY Match, 2003

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6

Kasparov opts for quite Paulsen variation of the Sicilian defence.

3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Ba7 7.c4

 Junior takes the center.

7…Nc6 8.Nc3 d6 9.0–0 Nge7 10.Re1 0–0 11.Be3 e5 12.Nd5a5 13.Rc1 a4!

This part of the game Kasparov played very deep. Junior gets into strategically passive position, especially Bd3 feels a bit passive despite Whites space advantage.

14. Bxa7 Rxa7 15.Nd2 Nd4 16.Qh5

 Typical Computer move. Human would bring his attention to the Queenside, indeed Junior keeps an eye on the Kingside

16…Ne6 17.Rc3.

Seems like White is standing more actively and Junior is bringing more forces toward the Kingside.  

 17…Nc5 18.Bc2 Nxd5 19.exd5 g6 20.Qh6 f5 21.Ra3 Qf6?  

The critical moment of the game! First Kasparov misses 21…e4! with good counter play.

 22.b4?

 After 22.Nf3! White maintains an advantage, as b4 is now a serious threat. The problem is that the computer can’t appreciate the amount of compensation black is about to get for the sacrificed material.   

22…axb3! 23.Rxa7 bxc2 24.Rc1 e4 25.Rxc2 Qa1+?  

A moment of carelessness. Kasparov, a bit tired thinks that everything looks good for him and inserts an unnecessary check. 25…f4! as he himself indicated after the game would have left black with strong initiative.

26.Nf1 f4 27.Ra8!

27…e3 28.fxe3 fxe3 29.Qxf8+

The computer bails out with a draw.

29…Kxf8 30.Rxc8+ Kf7 31.Rc7-c8

is just a perpetual. Black isn’t going to go for more and get less with either Kf6 or Ke8.

½–½

 

The first thing Garry said after the game was that he is happy to finally break the curse of losing game 2 of a match! So now Garry has one win and one ‘almost’ and nearly everyone is already counting the computer out! The gambling site on the Internet that takes bets considers Kasparov as a heavy favourite now.  

No doubt Kasparov worked very hard before the match and now tried to use new ideas and patterns in which Deep Junior feels it may be in a trap. (Game 1 is a good example.)

By the way, both matches Kramnik vs Deep Fritz and Kasparov with Deep Junior - developed approximately under one course:

First- domination of the human, then - is escalating on eyes of muscles at the computer. To this there is rather simple explanation.
The human in the beginning of a match always tries to grab the initiative and it a psychological edge. Unfortunately, the computer can not perceive a similar psychology.
The computer doesn’t know anything about the score of the match. The computer doesn’t even know it is playing chess. For the software it is a mathematical problem.
Their main purposes constantly increase the “evaluation”; that is an estimation of a position.
The human, leading in the score, starts to resort to more cautious tactics. It happened both with Kramnik, and with Kasparov.

 

 

 

Morra Gambit - Part 1

We will start from building the good attacking system against the Sicilian defense.
 
The Morra gambit is the very powerful weapon! The critical position has arisen after

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cd 3.c3!

White is offering the pawn sacrifice for development advantage and to open the “d” and “c” files.Lets take a look what benefits white could obtain after

3.dc 4. Nc3

White is has one more piece already developed in addition to the actively placed pawn on the e-file. Having clear space advantage and pressure over the most important squares on the chessboard - e4, d4 and d5 white is hoping to develop the initiative by aiming at the center and preventing black’s pieces mobilization.
Lets take a look what problems black is having to face already after only a few more moves:

Sample game #1

4… d6

Black is preparing 5…Nf6 as 4. ..Nf6 is worthless do to the immediately 5.e5! White gains more space and black’s knight must go away.

5. Bc4!

White develops bishop on the most aggressive and strongest outpost. Thus white also intends the weakest point in the black’s position the f7 pawn.
 

5. Nf6?!

 Black is continuing his own plan without any doubts, however this offers white to use the additional weapon - the development advantage.
 

6.e5!

For a few seconds this move seems to be a serious blunder - looks like black could capture the pawn without any compensation.
 

6… de??

A pleasant surprise. Black is greedily capturing the pawn, but after the elegant tactical shot

7. Bf7+!

Black has found himself in a difficult situation. By targeting black’s King White obtains a decisive material advantage.
 

7… Kf7

The only move.
 
Suddenly the Queen becomes suspended, this nuance decides the whole game.

8.Qd8.

Black resigned
 
After 6… de?? Nothing could help black. But lets try to move the knight somewhere else.The attempt

6… Ng8?!

 Could be replied by the simple developing

7. Nf3!

 And black is still unable to remove the whites nasty pawn - after 7.de? due to the simple 8.Bf7!+ with the similar combination.
 
Probably the best move seems to be

6… Ng4!? 

 Indeed white might continue

7.e6!

 Aiming at black’s knight g4 keeping the clear initiative after the best try

7… Ne5

(but not 7…Be6? 8.Be6 fe 9.Qg4 or 7…fe? 8. Qg4 and white is winning a piece.)

8. ef + Nf7 9. Nf3

keeping the unpleasant pressure when the immediate 9. Bf7+ leaving black’s King unable to castle.

A Daily Schedule - Using Your Time Wisely

From their very childhood, junior chessplayer live under the stress of chronic lack of time.

Many young players complain that they are almost always very busy, and haven’t got enough time for carrying out serious chess studying.

It is necessary to develop the skill of good time management, spend the time with maximum efficiency.

Such skill in a young talent determines, to a great extent, the rate at which chess strength grows.

Start your daily schedule, and you will be surprised of how many extra hours you will be able dedicate to your chess training.

 

The Fried Liver Attack - Part 6

The next brilliant game is a very typical example of Fried Liver Attacking ideas.  

Morphy,P - NN [C55]  

New Orleans sim New Orleans, 1858  

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4   

There are two ideas behind 4.d4. One of them is obviously the attack over the center - to support active actions there. Another obvious idea is to open Bc1.  

4…exd4 5. Ng5 d5

Pushing the “d “pawn, Black prevents the immediate threat over f7. But now the position becomes quite similar to the standard Liver attack setup, when the inclusion of d4 and 0-0 definitely favor white.  

 6. exd5 Nxd5?  

Rather then capturing a pawn either 7…Ne5 or 7…Na5 could be a better alternative.    

7.0-0 Be7  

Black needed only one tempo to castle to get a perfect position. But after White’s next move it’s no longer possible. I have to admit that after 7…Be6  White keeps a strong attack by 8.Re1 Qd7 and here comes another bunch of pins: 9.Nf7! breaking through Black’s position. 9… Kf710. Qf3 Kg8 11.Re6! and Black is losing immediately.    

8.Nxf7! 

The well-known Fried Liver attack sacrifice, but here we have a much better version.   

8…Kxf7

9.Qf3+ Ke6  

White has deployed his pieces optimally, and the assault begins. Black never gets a chance to counterattack for the remainder of the game.  

10.Nc3!!  

Unbelievable. It’s amusing to see White breaks down the black’s position with the help of this simple developing move, despite the fact that c3 square is under attack by black’s d4 pawn!  

Of course, the reason it’s a great move is that a whole knight is going to be sacrificed for just following general attacking rules:

In the open positions we have to:

a.)    Develop all your forces quickly as possible – so Rook a1 soon will be connected with the other rook

b.)   Open central files where your opponents King is stuck so after 10.Nc3 dc  the “d” file becomes available.    

10… dxc3

 Black must accept the offer.  

11.Re1+

The rook swings to e1 with decisive effect! Black has only one defensive move every time.   

11…Ne5 12.Bf4

Developing Bc1 with a threat.

12… Bf6 13.Bxe5 Bxe5 14.Rxe5+ !!  

A fantastic blow! Black’s position is completely ruined. The totally exposed position of the Black King makes defending impossible.  

14…Kxe5 15.Re1+

The white pieces dominate the board, besides, all black pieces are still passively placed on the back rank.

 15… Kd4 16.Bxd5

Not only does it regain the piece, but at the same time eliminates black’s only developed piece. 

16… Re8  

The rest is agony. Now if 16…Qd5  17.Qc3 leads to a beautiful mate, when  even after 16…Rf8 17.Qxc3+ Kxd5 18.Re5+ the mate is forced: 18…Kd6 19.Qc5+ Kd7 20.Qd5 mate.

17.Qd3+ Kc5 18.b4+

Preparing a resting place for the King on the Queenside.  

18… Kxb4 19.Qd4+ Ka5 20.Qxc3+ Ka4 21.Qb3+ Ka5 22.Qa3+ Kb6 23.Rb1 Mate 1-0

A magnificent game, which even still inspires chess fans everywhere!

A beautiful combination of utilizing a fast and complete development with efficient mobilization!

Botvinnik said about Morphy: “Up to now Morphy has to be the greatest ever master of the Open positions. His opening principles were so effective and his mastery of open positions was so vast that little new has later been learned about such positions.

Morphy never lost a tempo and the center was the main point of his strategy. Immediately upon achieving development advantage Morphy immediately breaks and opens files and diagonals for his pieces for a crushing attack.

Many masters even before Morphy sacrificed material in order to open files and diagonals, but Morphy always does it only when was sure about his pieces domination on the most important territory of the chess board!   

Kasparov against Deep Junior - NY 2003 Part 1

A special thanks to Harvey Mandell and Aviv Friedman  who have contributed to this lecture. 

Introduction:
Over the last decade, computer programmers with grandmaster guidance have brought computers to the stage where  they beat grandmasters. One of the best programs is the Israeli developed ”Deep Junior” three time and current world computer champion. 

 Junior’s programmers Shay Bushinsky and Amir Ban  are both brilliant programmers but mediocre chess players. I am the grandmaster part of the Junior trio.  My role is to aid in the opening preparation as well as to detect the problem of each version Junior programmers are creating and to decide which one is the best.
 
It seemed that the ultimate test for Junior was to see how it could do against Garry Kasparov, considered by many to be the best chess player of all time. This match took place seven years after the famous match with IBM’s Deep Blue (1997), when the world’s leading player had returned to play in New York once again representing humans against technology. The match was sponsored by FIDE, the international chess federation and X3D technologies.

This article tells some of the inside stories of the match as I saw it by my participation.  

Before the beginning of the match we did not expect … any specific result. We - simply hoped that Deep Junior would act adequately. It seemed that everyone except for us was sure of Kasparov’s victory. It wasn’t clear to me why so many had reached that conclusion. In 2002 Kramnik had failed to beat Deep Fritz, using anti-computer strategy.  Also, Kasparov’s style was not considered to be the best for a game against the computer.

The venue of the match, an impressive 24 story building which is an all-in-one combination of hotel, health spa, gymnasium, conference rooms, restaurant and a lot more, had dedicated its 12th floor as the playing ground. Blocked off to the general public and manned by no-nonsense security guards, the floor contained a special room for Garry, one for the Deep Junior team where the physical machines rested (and where representatives of the ICGA made sure it was ONLY the computer making the moves) and of course the actual playing room.

 The first game effectively changed the situation.  

Kasparov,G - Deep,Junior , New York 2003

Game 1 

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.g4!

 The first sign of combat! This move, attributed to GM’s Shabalov and Shirov came as a surprise to me. How to expect such a sharp line when you play against the computer?!  

7…dxc4 8.Bxc4 b6 9.e4 e5 10.g5 Nh5 11.Be3 0–0 12.0–0–0 Qc7 13.d5

Definitely that was not the best position Junior got after the Opening.  

13…b5?

This just makes things worse… 12…Bb7!? or even 12…c5 were better, although white already has a nice edge.

14.dxc6 bxc4 15.Nb5 Qxc6 16.Nxd6 Bb7 17.Qc3

 

17…Rae8

No other computers would have played this move, but as a computer when the evaluation of losing e5 with a bad position is more than sacrificing an exchange for some ‘life’, you play it.

18.Nxe8 Rxe8 19.Rhe1 Qb5 20.Nd2 Rc8 21.Kb1 Nf8 22.Ka1 Ng6 23.Rc1 Ba6 24.b3 cxb3 25.Qxb3 Ra8 26.Qxb5 Bxb5 27.Rc7

1–0

Completely unexpectedly for all of us, Kasparov decided to use all his opening potential, and “to break” a computer quickly in the opening.
 
The opening stage is in general a rather hard test for the machine and perhaps, its weakest place. In its opening the computer is still not ready to enter serious rivalry with humans.You see on a board - 32 figures, and it is enormously difficult for the computer to expect variants. And very frequently the opening phase puts a computer in a tough situation.
 
That is why the Opening Book is such an important part of the preparation. The Computer like a human should feel quite confident. Sometimes the situation could be pretty funny. I used to detect many positions, where according to theory the line appears to be a good one, but the Computer feels like it is going to lose.I could compare it to the kid who should taste the ice cream before eating it.

The same thing with the Computer - you have to feed it and to see the feedback, before deciding if the Computer will feel comfortable enough.

So, game 1 Deep Junior lost because Garry found the hole in our Opening Book, but as well understood that the best strategy vs. Junior is to push pawns forward, win a territory and get more space … Junior panicked in such situation, made a few positional errors and Kasparov simply dominated.