Nalin Jha (1544) – Christopher Johnson (518) [D51]

Meadowdale Fall, 15.10.2016

This is what I call the peril of the 1st round. This 518 player shows the 1544 why you can’t go by someones rating. Christopher comes with an awesome story. I ‘ve seen him at just a couple of tournaments. He came out from a win while I was providing free analysis and he starts going on about describing his win and I said whoa, whoa, whoa, I need a scoresheet to see that. He, gave that look of shame and said he didn’t keep score of games.  I gave him my lecture about notation, showed him how to take notation and sent him on his way. After some sarcasm from me and serious prodding by his mother, he brings a scoresheets from his next rounds. At this tournament, he was taking notation!

  I got to look at the game with both players. The result is a great lesson in Queens Gambit Theory and as valuable a lesson in opposite side castling. There’s something here for every taste, temperment, and skill level!! Christopher lost this game.  The good news, is he wound up in a simular position later in the tournament and won because of our post mortem analysis. That does make a coach feel good!! Why take notation?  It calms you down, intimidates your opponent, (so does a clock) and makes you want to create something worth looking at.  To be honest, I don’t record all of my games, just the ones I really want to win and especially when I play someone for the 1st time!  1.d2-d4 d7-d5 2.c2-c4 e7-e6 3.b1–c3 g8-f6 4.c1–g5 h7-h6?! The only time he looks a little like a 500 player by challenging the bishop too early but most higher rated players want more than just a little mistake from their opponents! As far as tournament tactics are concerned, a person rated much higher or much lower may be able to get away with this move. [¹4…f8-e7; ¹4…f8-b4] 5.g5-h4 c7-c6 6.e2-e3 b8-d7 7.g1–f3 d7-b6?! 8.c4-c5 b6-d7 9.f1–d3 f8-e7 10.d1–c2 0–0

11.0–0–0? White castled to the wrong side. White gets a standard queenside pull with by just going kingside! Instead black get’s the initiative and an impossible short game attack against the improperly castled king! [¹11.0–0 b7-b5 (11…b7-b6 12.b2-b4 a7-a5 13.a2-a3 c8-b7±) 12.a2-a3 a7-a5 13.h2-h3 f6-h5 14.h4xe7 (14.d3-h7+ g8-h8 15.h4xe7 d8xe7 16.h7-d3 c8-a6 17.b2-b4 a6-b7±

Black’s light squared bishop will be a game long problem!) 14…d8xe7 15.f1–e1 c8-a6 16.b2-b4 a5xb4 17.a3xb4 h5-f6 18.c2-b2 f8-b8±

The misery of black’s white squared bishop will not go away.] 11…b7-b6!„ 12.c3-a4 [12.g2-g4! Trying to get there 1st. To really understand how stronger players look at this, black is already there 1st!? Black gets to look at it that way and think it important because the king is over there. If the king were on the other side, white would play b2-b4! 12…b6xc5 13.h1–g1 c5xd4 14.e3xd4 c6-c5! open, open, open. 15.g4-g5 f6-h5 16.d3-b5 c5-c4 17.g1–g4 h6xg5 18.h4xg5 e7xg5+ 19.f3xg5 d7-f6

12.e3-e4?! b6xc5 13.e4-e5 f6-e8 14.h4xe7 d8xe7 15.h1–e1 c5xd4 16.f3xd4 c8-b7

12.c5xb6 This was the variation we looked at after the game. 12…c6-c5!? (‹12…a7xb6?! This yields less than trying to fully open the wing. 13.c1–b1 c6-c5 14.d3-b5 c8-b7 15.h1–g1 a8-c8 16.c2-a4 c5xd4 17.a4xd4 b7-c6 18.b5-e2 e7-c5 19.d4-d3 13.f3-e5 (13.b6xa7 c5-c4 14.d3-e2 a8xa7 15.f3-e5 £d8-b6 16.g2-g4 e7-b4 17.h4xf6 g7xf6 18.e5-f3 b4xc3 19.b2xc3 a7-a3 20.c1–d2 b6-a5 21.d1–b1 e6-e5 22.f3-h4 a3xa2 23.b1–b2 a2xb2 24.c2xb2 e5xd4 25.e3xd4 a5-c7 26.d2-e1 f8-e8 27.h4-f5 c7-f4 28.b2-d2 f4-f3 29.h1–g1 d7-b6 30.f5xh6+ g8-g7 31.g4-g5 e8xe2+ 32.d2xe2 f3xc3+ 33.e2-d2 c3-a1+ 34.d2-d1 a1–c3+=

13…d7xe5 14.d4xe5 f6-d7 15.h4xe7 d8xe7 16.f2-f4 a7xb6³

This is nice too.; 12. c2-a4!? White responds by getting one of the vulnerable pieces off the, “c” file without loss of time. 12…c8-b7 13.a4-b3 d8-c8 14.b3-a3 b6xc5 15.c3-a4 b7-a6 16.h4xf6 d7xf6 17.d3-c2 f6-d7 18.a4xc5 a6-c4 19.a3-a5 d7xc5 20.d4xc5 a8-b8 21. f3-d4 c8-d7

12…b6xc5 13.h4xf6 e7xf6 14.a4xc5 d8-a5 15.c5-a4 c8-b7 16.c1–b1 f6-e7 17.a4-c3 c6-c5³

1–0

What an awesome study! I will never be able to over emphasize the importance of writing down and going back over the games we play. The lines we saw at the board were good, but analysis revealed that there were a lot of important Ideas we never considered that will be important in this and other types of positions. Good job gentleman.  Look forward to seeing more of your games in the future. Mike C

For those who refuse to record their games, you will miss how great you could be.  If not one single game you play is noteworthy, you’ll never be able to show anyone how good you are!