Alekhine-Chatard Attack (C14) WCM Qiyu Zhou (1879) WFM Annie Wang (2222)
North American Youth Chess Championships (3), Tarrytown, New York
My opponent Qiyu Zhou is a seasoned
player from Canada. Her early mistake in the opening gave me a slight advantage. White was too aggressive pushing her f- pawn prematurely, allowing me to attack the e5-pawn. I also took advantage of the half-open c-file.
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7
The game starts off as the Classical variation of the French Defense. 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4 Bxg5 Another option is 6. ... a6 7. Qg4 Bxg5
8. hxg5 c5. The continuation 6. ... Bxg5 is usually more dangerous for Black though than 6. ... a6 because of White’s fast development.
7. hxg5 Qxg5 8. Qd3 h6 9. Nf3? Not a good move. Usually White will go 9.
Nh3 instead, as White’s plan is to move the knight to f4, prevent Black from cas tling queenside, and, at some point, sac ri fice one of his knights for Black’s pawns on d5 and e6.
9. ... Qe7 10. 0-0-0 Nc6 Also good is 10. ... a6.
11. Qe3 Not sure what the point of 11. Qe3 is. My
guess is that 11. Qe3 helps with White’s plan of g4-g5.
11. ... Nb6 12. Qf4 Bd7
Cover Story / Annie Wang French Defense,
13. ... 0-0-0 14. Be2 Na5 This move was premature. For instance,
after 15. Kb1 Nac4 16. Nd2, Black’s knight cannot stay on c4. However, 16. b3 is not good, because of 16. ... Qb4. A better move than 14. ... Na5 would have been 14. ... Rdf8, followed by … f7-f6, opening up Black’s position and allowing her pieces to become more active.
15. Rh3 Nac4 16. a3 Preventing Black’s threat of ... Qb4 or ...
Nxb2.
16. ... Rdf8 17. Qh2 Rhg8 Unpinning the h6-pawn.
18. Nh4 To stop 18. ... f6 by 19. Ng6. However,
this move was slightly inaccurate, because White will just have to move his knight back to f3 after Black plays 18. ... c5. Instead, White could have played the prophylactic move Kb1. 18. Qg3 was also a good idea, preparing to push g4-g5.
18. ... c5 Black has to go c5 to prevent White from
playing 19. f4. If White does go 19. f4 after 18. ... c5, Black will trade the c5-pawn for White’s d4-pawn, then Qc5 follows.
19. Nf3 Bc6
I was planning to move my queen to c7 later to attack White’s weak e5-pawn. 20. dxc5 Qxc5 21. Nd4 Kb8 22. f4
I was thinking that this move was to support the e5-pawn. Later, it turned out that White was planning to push her pawn to f5. Another option was 22. Nb1 and then Nd2 to trade Black’s c4-knight.
22. ... Rc8 Putting pressure on White’s c2-pawn.
23. f5 This move was not good, because the e5-
pawn becomes weak. Also, White cannot easily open up or break through the f- or e-files and Black can easily protect her e6- pawn.
23. ... Bd7 24. f6? A big mistake for my opponent.
13. g4 A better move here would have been
13. Qg3 or 13. Qg4. Then, after Black defends the g7-pawn with 13. ... Qf8, (note that 13. ... Rg8?? is a blunder, because of Rxh6. 13. ... g5?? is also a blunder because of 14. Qxg5) White will play 14. Qh4, preventing Black from castling queenside. If Black goes 13. ... g6 instead of 13. ... Qf8, White will go 14. Qf4 h5 15. g4 to destroy Black’s pawn structure.
26 October 2014 | Chess Life
24. ... g6 Better is 24. ... Qc7 to attack e5. Also
good is 24. ... gxf6, followed by 25. exf6+ Ka8. White cannot play 26. Rxh6, because after 26. ... Nxb2, Black would be totally winning.
25. Bxc4 Nxc4 26. Rdd3 Qa5 Again, 26. ... Qc7 would have been better,
putting pressure on White’s weak e5-pawn. 27. Rxh6
27. ... Qc7
Black cannot play 27. ... Nxa3 here, because White has the in-between move 28. Nb3.
28. Nf3 Qb6 An interesting option in this position
was 28. ... d4. If 29. Rxd4, then Black will go 29. ... Nxb2 30. Nd5 exd5 31. e6 Nd3+ (distracting White’s rook from guarding the g4-pawn) 32. Rxd3 Bxe6 33. Ng5 Bxg4. If White plays 29. Nxd4 instead, Black will simply go 29. ... Nxe5.
29. Nd1 Bb5 30. Rb3 Na5 31. Rb4
31. ... Qc5 A mistake for Black. I should have played
31. ... Nc6 instead, which forces White to move his rook back to b3, and at the same time, supports the d4-pawn push in the future. Then, after 32. Rb3, Black has 32. … Qa6 to unpin and increase the power of his light-square bishop, with ideas such as ... Bc4 and ... Be2 later.
32. Nd4 Bc4 33. Qd2
33. Qf2 was probably better, trying to trade off the queens to free her b4-rook. 33. ... Nc6 34. Nxc6+ Rxc6 35. Kb1 If White tries 35. Ra4 in this position,
Black will go 35. ... Bb3, putting more pres - sure on c2.
35. ... Qg1 A mistake, because it distracts my queen
from attacking c2. A better move was 35. ... Rgc8, tripling the queen and rooks on the c-file.
36. Rh7 Rc7
PHOTOS: DORA LETICIA
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76