On February 27th of last year I posted about how depressing the last few days had been. It started out drizzling rain before changing over to snow and it was dark, overcast, windy, cold and there was a fine, almost invisible, lake effect snow blowing around outside. It was a good day to say in and play a little chess online.
Here's a video from a couple of days ago of the ice flowing from a nearby River into Lake Erie:
Things have not changed much from last year, so playing online is what I have been doing the last few days. It's been fun playing one appalling opening and one horrid defense.
The opening of choice has been the Desprez Opening (1.h4), an opening that does nothing in either the fight for the center or for white’s development, plus it weakens the K-side.
With black my favorite defense has been the Borg Defense (1...g5). That’s Grob (1.g4) spelled backwards. It’s also known as the Basman Defense, after British IM Michael Basman. The move severely weakens the K-side, but according to Modern Chess Openings (MCO), black is only somewhat worse. I'm convinced that against average players it's not all that bad because they often seem to get totally bewildered!
In the following game I gave up the Q for not nearly enough compensation according to the engines, but when two average players are playing a 10 minute game things aren't so clear cut!
Guest–Tartajubow0–1B00Chess Hotel2022Stockfish 14.1
Borg Defense 1.e4 g5 2.d4 White almost always plays this. The only other
move that seems worth considering is 2.Bc4 2.c4 d6 3.d4 h6 4.c3 c6 5.a4 f6 6.ge2 g4 White is better. Braun,G (2330)-Lang,S (2275)/Germany 1996/
GER-chT2 2...g7 I always play this instead of defending the P with 2...h6
because if white plays 3.Bxg5 then after ...c5 and ...Qc6 white invariably
goes into a long think about how to defend himself against threat of ...Qxb2
and threats on the long diagonal, plus black also threatens to regain the P. 2...h6 3.c3 g7 4.e3 d6 5.d2 c6 6.0-0-0 a6 7.ge2 b5 White is better
and went on to win the game. Collins,S (2387)-Williams,S (2427) West Bromwich
2004 3.xg5 c5 4.e3 b6 As recommended by Komodo 14. 5.f3 5.c3
can get messy! xb2 6.d5 d8 7.b1 xa2 8.a1 b2 9.c4 cxd4 10.a2 dxe3 11.xb2 exf2+ 12.xf2 xb2 13.c3 Petrienko,V (2450)-Svatos,J (2370)
Pardubice 1992. This looks unclear perhaps, but white is better and in the
game he went on to win. 5...xb2 6.bd2 cxd4 7.c4 Now, after 7...Qb4+
white has no more than a slight advantage, but this was an online game being
played anonymously and once you sign out your rating points disappear. That's
why I simply cannot understand people with terribly fragile egos who, when the game is lost, refuse to
move or resign or just abandon the game. But, enough pontificating! Why not
sacrifice the Q?! dxe3 Probably because Komodo says black is minus 2.5 Ps
and is losing. Of course, Stockfish puts white's advantage even higher...a
whopping 4 Ps. 8.xb2 White is clearly winning...says Fritz' auto-analysis. xb2 9.b1 Of course he wants to save the exchange, but this may not have
been best. 9.c4 exf2+ 10.xf2 xa1 11.xa1 f6 12.e1 and black is up
the creek. 9...c3+ 10.e2 exf2 11.xf2 f6 12.d3 g4+ 13.e2 c6 14.h3 f6 15.f2 His intention is to castle artificially. d6 16.f1 g8
White should now play 17.Qc1 or 17.g4, Stockfish doesn't care which. Instead,
in his haste to get artificially castled, he blunders. 17.g1 xh3 After
this white still can claim a slight advantage, but his K is exposed and he
will have to play very carefully. 18.h4 18.xb7 Gets him mated. At least
he was alert to that threat! xg2+ 19.h1 h5 There is no defense against ..
.Ng3 mate. 18.h2 Getting out of the pin would have kept a small
advantage. c8 Black really can't afford to allow Rxb2 so undeveloping the B
is the best option. 19.b3 a5 Preserving the B rather than playing 19...Be5+
seems the best option. 20.b1 b6 21.xb6 Best! axb6 22.xb6 d7
If 22.. .Rxa2 23.e5 gives white a strong initiative. 23.c7 c5 24.e5 xd3 25.exd6 db4 26.e5 e6 27.d7+ f8 28.xb7 d8 29.xc6 xc6 30.xc6
wins for white. 18...d4+ 19.h1 g4 20.d2 h5 With the obvious threat
of ... Ng3+, but... 21.xb7 White played this instantly and I thought he
had just overlooked the fork on his K and R. It was a surprise to find out
that Stockfish finds absolutely nothing wrong with white's move! g3+ 22.h2 xf1+ 23.xf1 Bb5 is a serious threat, but black can equalize. e5+ 24.h1 d4 This was not the best way to avoid the threatened Bb5. 24...f8 25.b5 d8 26.c7 b8 27.c4 a6 28.h6+ g7 and it's black who is winning because
of the mate threat if the B moves. 29.e3 d5 Attacking the R. 29...axb5 30.a7 and white's occupation of the 7th rank with his Q and R would win. 30.c5 axb5 and black has more than enough compensation for the Q. 25.b4 25.c3 keeps the advantage. e6 26.f5 xf5 27.exf5 c5 28.c7 White is
slightly better. 25...c8 This hands the advantage back to white. 25...f8 26.b8+ xb8 27.xb8+ g7 28.xa7 c8 29.d3 f6 30.g3 e6 A most
interesting position that Stockfish evaluates at dead even. In Shootouts all
five games were drawn. 26.b8 There is no good answer to this move...I am
lost. d5 26...xc2 loses quickly to 27.xc8+ xc8 28.b8 d8 29.a6 26...f8 was worth a try. 27.xc8+ xc8 28.b8 g7 29.xa7 f6 30.f3 xc2 In Shootouts white won all five games, but as you can see it's unlikely
the results would have been so cut and dried in the actual game!! 31.a4 g4 32.a5 c8 33.a6 h6 34.f2 b4 35.g3 h5 36.e5 dxe5 37.h2 h8 38.g1 e4 39.xg4 hxg4 40.xg4+ f8 41.xe4 xa6 42.xa6 h4 43.g4 e6 44.g2 g7 45.d3 h8 46.f4 e7 47.e5+ f6 48.c5 h6 49.e4 g5 50.c7 g7 51.e5+ f6 52.c5 h6 53.f3 g5 54.c7 g7 55.e5+ f6 56.c5 a1 57.g5+ f8 58.g3 g8 59.c5+ g7 60.g5 b8 61.g6 f8 62.e7 f6 63.d7 e5+ 64.g4 f6 65.gxf7 xf7 66.xe6 e7 67.f5 c3 68.d5 f6 69.c8 e5 70.g8+ h6 71.f8+ g7 72.f4+ h7 73.e4+ g8 74.g6 f6 75.xf6 e4+ 76.h5 h4+ 77.xh4 It's mate in 3. 27.xc8+ Best. 27.Rb7 Nc6 and black hangs
on. xc8 28.c3 28.c5 e6 29.f5 xf5 30.exf5 was more precise. 28...g4 29.cxd4 This time pressure slip allows black to equalize. xh4+
Even though black has picked up a free N the chances are equal. 30.g1 h2+ 30...xe4 is also unclear after 31.b5+ d7 32.xd5 xd4+ 33.h2 h4+ 34.g3 g4+ 31.f2 f4+ By luck black follows the old saying patzer sees a
check, patzer gives a check. 31...xe4 gains a P, but gives white the
advantage after 32.g3 g4 33.b5+ f8 34.h3 xg3+ 35.f3 g5 36.xc8 32.e1 xe4+ Now by moving his K out of check to either d2 or f2 white would
have kept the outcome unclear. Instead he walks into a fatal pin. 33.e2
Fatal. Not only is the B pinned, but black's Bs spring into life. g4 34.b5+ f8 35.xd5 xe2+ 36.f1 g3 White resigned. 36...g3 37.d8+ g7 38.a5 e1+ 39.xe1 xe1 0–1
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