The Hawaiian Orangutan Attack, Tartajubow Variation

     Back in February of last year I did a post titled Some Openings Should Be Avoided in which I mentioned that the weather was cold and snowy and I had been online playing goofy openings. Guess what? As mentioned in the post of the other day (February 18th) it seems things have not changed. 

     I was back at it...the wife was ensconced in her home office while I was nestled in the recliner inveighing against the nasty February weather and playing ten minute games online...using goofy openings of course. 

     One of my favorites is the Desprez Opening, or as it's sometimes called, the Kadas Opening. My preference is to use the name Hawaiian Orangutan Attack because it reminds me of nicer places to be in February. As I write this, it's 18 degrees here, the trees are bare and there is a foot of snow on the ground; in Honolulu it's sunny and for the next 10 days the temperature is going to hover around 80 degrees.

     Whatever you call the opening, it's just plain bad, but I have managed to "improve" on its "badness", so to speak, by making it even worse. For this reason I would like to call my innovation the "Tartajubow Variation." It begins 1.h4 e5 2.Rh3. It's been played before, but I have used it in a lot of online games and hopefully this post will help popularize it. 

     If I wanted to write a book on it I could pick a bunch of badly played games, throw in lots of faulty analysis and hype it as an opening in which you can immediately take your opponent out of the book and make him think on his own. Plus, there's a lot of tactical play and tactics win games. It would sell.

Tartajubow - Guest

Result: 1-0

Site: Chess Hotel

Date: 2021

Hawaiian Orangutan Attack, Tartajubow Variation.

[...] 1.h4 e5 Better is 1...d5 preventing my next move. 2.♖h3 d5

2...♘c6 3.b3 ♘f6 4.c3 g6 5.g3 ♗g7 6.b4 d6 7.a3 b5 8.a4 bxa4 9.♖xa4 a6 10.♗g2 ♗xh3 11.♗xh3 O-O 12.♗g2 ♕d7 13.♗h3 ♕e8 14.c4 ♖b8 15.♖xa6 ♘xb4 16.♖a7 White resigned. Nguyen,L (2545)-Ngo,G (2578)/Hanoi 2012

3.♖f3 Attacking f7. Of course retreating to h1 would be pointless.

3.♖e3 Is better, relatively, of course! 3...♘c6 4.d4 f6 5.g3 ♗b4+ 6.c3 ♗e7 7.♗g2 Black has a modest advantage. Krustev,G (2055)-Simov,Z/Sofia 2009

3...e4

3...♕xh4 Brings the Q out too early which is a violation of elementary principles and therefore cannot be good even if it does result in a small material gain. 4.♖xf7 Sacrifices on f7 are always good...at least a ton of my online opponents on Chess Hotel seem to think so. It's called playing tactically and tactics win games, you know. 4...♔xf7 5.♘f3 Developing with a gain of time. 5...♕e7 6.d3 ♘f6 7.♗g5 h6 8.♗h4 ♗f5 9.e4 Sacrificing another P to open up the diagonal his K is sitting on...tactical stuff. 9...dxe4 10.dxe4 ♗xe4 11.♘c3 ♗c6 12.♗c4+ ♔e8 13.♗g3 ♘bd7 14.♕e2 ♗xf3 15.♕xf3 c6 16.O-O-O Black has a huge advantage, but he went on to lose the game due to a tactical error which vindicated my sacrifice on f7 and proves that tactics win games. Tartajubow-Guest/Chess Hotel 2020.

4.♖g3 Engines prefer 4.Re3, but that would be wrong because it blocks the development of the Bs. 4...♕xh4 As mentioned in the note to move 3 this greedy capture is a waste of time. Better was developing with a gain of time by playing 4...Bd6. 5.d4 Sooner or later you always have to stake out a claim in the center. 5...h6 Preventing 6.Bg5 developing a piece with a gain of time, but he still should have played 5...Bd6. 6.♖b3 Hindering the development of his B. A playable alternative is 6.c4. 6...♗d6 7.♘h3 ♘f6 8.♘a3 c6 9.g3 ♕h5 10.♘f4 Gaining another tempo or the two Bs if black doesn't like the N sitting on f4. 10...♕h1 Pinning the B, but his Q is out of play. 11.c4 ♗xf4

11...g5 is met tactically by 12.♘xd5 cxd5 13.♘b5 ♗e7 14.♘c7+ Materially white has a R vs two Ns, but the engines give black a huge (over 4 Ps) advantage.

12.♗xf4 At this point, after 12...O-O black's advantage has shriveled to only a P and a half. 12...♘g4 Another time wasting move that throws away the last vestiges of his advantage and now the game is completely equal. 13.f3 oping to open the e-file or force the N back. 13...♘h2 Black threatens to win material: Nh2xf1 14.♔d2 The K can run, but can it hide? This is the wrong K move.

14.♔f2 ♘xf1 15.♕xf1 ♕h2+ 16.♕g2 ♕xg2+ 17.♔xg2 exf3+ 18.exf3 O-O with equal chances.

14...exf3 Simply 14...O-O was correct.

14...O-O 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.fxe4 dxe4 and white has a hard time extricating his B on f1 and so black would still enjoy a considerable advantage.

15.exf3 Now I can get the B out. 15...O-O Last move this was good, now it's not. (15...♘xf1+ 16.♕xf1 ♕xf1 17.♖xf1 O-O with equal chances.) 16.cxd5 Bad. After 16.Be2 white would have had the better of it. 16...♖e8 Both sides have missed that given the opportunity black should play ...Nxf1 and white given the opportunity should play Be2. 17.♗c4 ♕g2+ Sending white's K on a long journey...can it survive the trip? 18.♔c3 White's pieces are gummed up after 18.Kc1 18...b5 19.♗f1 ♕f2 (19...♕xf1 is clearly inferior 20.♕xf1 ♘xf1 21.♖xf1 is equal.) 20.dxc6 I hated to play this because it brings his N into play and makes room for the R, but I couldn't think of anything else...neither can an engine. 20...b4+ This in-between move exposes my K even further, but it poses no real danger...if I'm careful.

20...♘xf1 is still a mistake. 21.♕xf1 ♕xf1 22.♖xf1 ♘xc6 23.♘xb5 with equal play.

21.♖xb4 ♘xc6 22.♖c4 ♖b8 Threatening mate but allowing white to equalize.

22...♗a6 is a winner. 23.♕c2 (23.♖xc6 ♗xf1 24.♖c1 ♗e2 and black is winning.) 23...♕xf3+ 24.♕d3 ♗xc4 25.♕xf3 ♘xf3 26.♘xc4 ♘cxd4 and black should win.

23.♗xb8 Missing my chance to equalize with 23.Qc2 23...♘xf1 24.♖xc6

24.♕xf1 Grabbing this N would be a huge mistake. 24...♖e3+ mates in 3.

24...♖e3+ Patzer sees a check, patzer gives a check. (An old saying). Of course, here to say that would be a case of the pot calling the kettle black. (An old saying)

24...♘e3 25.♕d3

25.♕h1 ♗b7 26.♗xa7 highly favors black, but practically speaking it's not all together certain he will win! 26...♗xc6

25...♕xf3 and black is better, but not by much (about 1.5 Ps according to Komodo).

25.♔c4 ♗e6+ 26.d5 This give black a chance to equalize. (26.♔c5 is advantageous for white after 26...♕xb2 27.♘b5) 26...♘d2+ Now f3 becomes the focus of attention, but it makes life more difficult for black.

26...♕xb2 is much better as after 27.♘b5 ♘d2+ 28.♔c5 Black has to surrender his B 28...♖xf3

28...♗d7 29.♕c1 ♕xc1+ 30.♖xc1 ♖xf3 (30...♗xc6 31.dxc6 and the passed P wins for white.) 31.♖e1 ♗g4 32.♗f4 and white is winning.

29.dxe6 ♘e4+ 30.♔c4 ♘d2+ and white has to accept the draw by repetition because after 31.♔d5 ♕xb5+ 32.♔d6 ♕xb8+ 33.♔e7 ♕b7+ 34.♔d6 ♖d3+ 35.♔c5 ♖c3+ 36.♔d5 ♕xc6+ mates in 2.

27.♔b5 ♗xd5 28.♖c8+ ♔h7 29.♕c2+ g6 30.♗xa7 ♕e2+ 31.♔a5 ♖e5 32.♖c5 Better was 32.Bd4 32...♕xf3 33.♕xd2 Black lost on time, but his position is lost anyway.

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