Winning a Dead Won Game

“I read Winning Chess Strategies and RAYC 4th Ed. this year and then decided to enter my first OTB tournament in 20 years: the 2011 U.S. Class Championship.

 “GM Timur Gareev, at over 2700, was heading up the master section, while I was settling into Class D (playing up a section!) with a 4-game provisional rating of 1012 from part of a tournament I played in and dropped out of in early 1990.

“Sadly, I was 1.0/3 the first day. I had lost games 2 and 3 to elementary oversights and had spent the night before rounds 4 and 5 going back over your books, particularly the part about ‘hope chess’. My goal for game 4 and 5 was to ask myself the hard questions on the necessary moves (checks, threats, captures now, and which will exist after my candidate moves) and was prepared to repeat the mantra ‘just do the work!’ whenever I felt the urge to just move a piece because thinking was getting too hard.

“I won Game 4 to bring my score to 2.0/4 and was hoping for a win in Game 5, which is the game I have attached with my analysis. If I had worked a little harder at the end, it could have been a win. But I took my foot off the gas!”

Russell Gardner (1275) – Joseph Boyle (1012) [D05], U.S. Class Championship 2011

This was the final round of the U.S. Class Championship - my first OTB tournament in 20 years - and a win would put me at 3.0/5.

1.d4 d5 2.e3

Mr. Boyle: “The Colle system.”

Not a Colle yet! Could be a reversed Dutch Stonewall (if White plays f2-f4), or White could reenter more basic Queen’s Gambit type positions with c2-c4.

2...e6

Mr. Boyle: “An unambitious response. I plan to use a Tartakower set-up with …Nf6, …Be7, fianchetto the Queen’s bishop and defend.”

It’s good to stick with what you know, but Black has a huge range of good choices, most of them offering easy equality. Here’s an example:

Liang Chong (2505) - Shen Yang (2452) [D00], 4th All China Games Rapid 2010

1.d4 d5 2.e3 Bf5 3.c4 c6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 (5.Qb3 Qc8 6.Bd2 e6 7.Nf3 Bd6 8.Bb5+ Nc6 9.Bb4 Bxb4+ 10.Qxb4 Nge7, 1/2-1/2, Y. Norowitz – S. Shankland, World Open 2010) 5…e6 6.Qb3 Qd7 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Bb5 Bd6 9.Bd2 Nge7 10.Na4 0-0 11.Rc1 Rfc8 12.0-0 Qd8 13.Nc5 Rab8 14.Qa4 a6 15.Be2 Bg4 16.h3 Bxf3 17.Bxf3 Ne5 18.Be2 Nc4 19.Bc3 b5 20.Qd1 b4 21.b3 bxc3 22.bxc4 dxc4 23.Rxc3 Bxc5 24.dxc5 Rxc5 25.Rxc4 Rd5 26.Qc1 g6 27.Rd1 a5 28.Rxd5 Nxd5 29.Rc5 Nb4 30.a4 Nd3 31.Bxd3, 1/2-1/2.