Flummoxed By The Borg Defense

     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!

[Event "Chess Hotel"] [Site "?"] [Date "2022.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Guest"] [Black "Tartajubow"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B00"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] {Borg Defense} 1. e4 g5 2. d4 {White almost always plays this. The only other move that seems worth considering is 2.Bc4} (2. Bc4 d6 3. d4 h6 4. Nc3 c6 5. a4 Nf6 6. Nge2 Bg4 {White is better. Braun,G (2330)-Lang,S (2275)/Germany 1996/ GER-chT2}) 2... Bg7 {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. Nc3 Bg7 4. Be3 d6 5. Qd2 Nc6 6. O-O-O a6 7. Nge2 b5 {White is better and went on to win the game. Collins,S (2387)-Williams,S (2427) West Bromwich 2004}) 3. Bxg5 c5 4. Be3 Qb6 {As recommended by Komodo 14.} 5. Nf3 (5. Nc3 { can get messy!} Qxb2 6. Nd5 Kd8 7. Rb1 Qxa2 8. Ra1 Qb2 9. Bc4 cxd4 10. Ra2 dxe3 11. Rxb2 exf2+ 12. Kxf2 Bxb2 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... Qxb2 6. Nbd2 cxd4 7. Nc4 {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. Nxb2 {White is clearly winning...says Fritz' auto-analysis.} Bxb2 9. Rb1 {Of course he wants to save the exchange, but this may not have been best.} (9. Bc4 exf2+ 10. Kxf2 Bxa1 11. Qxa1 Nf6 12. Re1 {and black is up the creek.}) 9... Bc3+ 10. Ke2 exf2 11. Kxf2 Nf6 12. Bd3 Ng4+ 13. Ke2 Nc6 14. h3 Nf6 15. Kf2 {His intention is to castle artificially.} d6 16. Rf1 Rg8 { 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. Kg1 Bxh3 {After this white still can claim a slight advantage, but his K is exposed and he will have to play very carefully.} 18. Nh4 (18. Rxb7 {Gets him mated. At least he was alert to that threat!} Rxg2+ 19. Kh1 Nh5 {There is no defense against .. .Ng3 mate.}) (18. Kh2 {Getting out of the pin would have kept a small advantage.} Bc8 {Black really can't afford to allow Rxb2 so undeveloping the B is the best option.} 19. Rb3 Ba5 {Preserving the B rather than playing 19...Be5+ seems the best option.} 20. Qb1 Bb6 21. Rxb6 {Best!} axb6 22. Qxb6 Nd7 { If 22.. .Rxa2 23.e5 gives white a strong initiative.} 23. Qc7 Nc5 24. e5 Nxd3 25. exd6 Ndb4 26. Ne5 Be6 27. d7+ Kf8 28. Qxb7 Rd8 29. Nxc6 Nxc6 30. Qxc6 { wins for white.}) 18... Bd4+ 19. Kh1 Bg4 20. Qd2 Nh5 {With the obvious threat of ... Ng3+, but...} 21. Rxb7 {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!} Ng3+ 22. Kh2 Nxf1+ 23. Bxf1 {Bb5 is a serious threat, but black can equalize.} Be5+ 24. Kh1 Nd4 {This was not the best way to avoid the threatened Bb5.} (24... Kf8 25. Bb5 Nd8 26. Rc7 Rb8 27. c4 a6 28. Qh6+ Rg7 {and it's black who is winning because of the mate threat if the B moves.} 29. Qe3 d5 {Attacking the R.} (29... axb5 30. Qa7 {and white's occupation of the 7th rank with his Q and R would win.}) 30. Rc5 axb5 {and black has more than enough compensation for the Q.}) 25. Qb4 (25. c3 {keeps the advantage.} Ne6 26. Nf5 Bxf5 27. exf5 Nc5 28. Rc7 {White is slightly better.}) 25... Rc8 {This hands the advantage back to white.} (25... Kf8 26. Rb8+ Rxb8 27. Qxb8+ Kg7 28. Qxa7 Rc8 29. Bd3 Bf6 30. g3 e6 {A most interesting position that Stockfish evaluates at dead even. In Shootouts all five games were drawn.}) 26. Rb8 {There is no good answer to this move...I am lost.} d5 (26... Nxc2 {loses quickly to} 27. Rxc8+ Bxc8 28. Qb8 Kd8 29. Ba6) ( 26... Kf8 {was worth a try.} 27. Rxc8+ Bxc8 28. Qb8 Kg7 29. Qxa7 Bf6 30. Nf3 Nxc2 {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 Bg4 32. a5 Rc8 33. a6 h6 34. Qf2 Nb4 35. Qg3 h5 36. e5 dxe5 37. Nh2 Rh8 38. Kg1 e4 39. Nxg4 hxg4 40. Qxg4+ Kf8 41. Qxe4 Nxa6 42. Bxa6 Rh4 43. g4 e6 44. Kg2 Kg7 45. Bd3 Rh8 46. Qf4 Be7 47. Qe5+ Bf6 48. Qc5 Kh6 49. Be4 Bg5 50. Qc7 Kg7 51. Qe5+ Bf6 52. Qc5 Kh6 53. Kf3 Bg5 54. Qc7 Kg7 55. Qe5+ Bf6 56. Qc5 Ba1 57. Qg5+ Kf8 58. Kg3 Rg8 59. Qc5+ Kg7 60. g5 Rb8 61. g6 Rf8 62. Qe7 Bf6 63. Qd7 Be5+ 64. Kg4 Bf6 65. gxf7 Rxf7 66. Qxe6 Re7 67. Qf5 Bc3 68. Bd5 Bf6 69. Qc8 Re5 70. Qg8+ Kh6 71. Qf8+ Bg7 72. Qf4+ Kh7 73. Be4+ Kg8 74. Bg6 Bf6 75. Qxf6 Re4+ 76. Kh5 Rh4+ 77. Qxh4 {It's mate in 3.}) 27. Rxc8+ {Best. 27.Rb7 Nc6 and black hangs on.} Bxc8 28. c3 (28. Qc5 Be6 29. Nf5 Nxf5 30. exf5 {was more precise.}) 28... Rg4 29. cxd4 {This time pressure slip allows black to equalize.} Rxh4+ { Even though black has picked up a free N the chances are equal.} 30. Kg1 Bh2+ ( 30... Rxe4 {is also unclear after} 31. Qb5+ Bd7 32. Qxd5 Bxd4+ 33. Kh2 Rh4+ 34. Kg3 Rg4+) 31. Kf2 Rf4+ {By luck black follows the old saying patzer sees a check, patzer gives a check.} (31... Rxe4 {gains a P, but gives white the advantage after} 32. g3 Rg4 33. Qb5+ Kf8 34. Bh3 Bxg3+ 35. Kf3 Rg5 36. Bxc8) 32. Ke1 Rxe4+ {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. Be2 { Fatal. Not only is the B pinned, but black's Bs spring into life.} Bg4 34. Qb5+ Kf8 35. Qxd5 Rxe2+ 36. Kf1 Bg3 {White resigned.} (36... Bg3 37. Qd8+ Kg7 38. Qa5 Re1+ 39. Qxe1 Bxe1) 0-1