Classical Game Recap: Black vs the King's Indian Attack
Exploring another collapse after making a big mistake
This is the start of a new tournament, a Quad event that lasts three weeks. All of my opponents and I are closely rated, so in general it’s a very competitive tournament.
Time Control: 60 minutes + 15 second increment per move
White: 1763 USCF
Black: Me
My history with my opponent Hebert when he plays White is rather varied. He’s played the Bird (1.f4), the London System, the Queen’s Gambit, etc. I never know what I’m going to be playing against him when I have the white pieces.
The Opening
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6
White springs for a King’s Indian Attack, so I play the only setup with which I am familiar: The Queen’s Gambit Declined. Sometimes I might go for c5, but for some reason, I chose to play things solid. Hebert is a very tactical player, so a tighter-knight position is a bit safer for my sake. Here comes the next surprise:
4.b3 - assuming a double fianchetto configuration where his bishops will be raking the center. Since the position is closed, I don’t think this is the most dangerous plan.
4…c5 - Now I take the space in the center and plan on restricting him as much as I can. The more Queen’s Gambit Declined-ish move is 4…Be7, in a solid manner, but in this case, I think it’s more principled to take up that space before White gets the chance to play d4.
5.Bb2 - I expected 5.c4, after which I would have played d4. This does open up the g2-Bishop a bit, but it wasn’t anything I was particularly worried about.
5…Nc6 6.e3 Be7 7.O-O O-O
The Middlegame
I feel pretty good about my position. Here I think White has two main breaks: d4 or c4. My opponent opts for the former.
8.d4 - I take some time here thinking of the best plan. I don’t want to open the center for the bishops, but allowing 8.dxc5 Bxc5 lets White open the position on his own terms, where his queenside bishop is pointed directly at my kingside and the knight on f6 is no longer defended in a good way, restricting my options. So, I prefer to chop on d4 myself.
8…cxd4 9.Nxd4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Qc7 - Preparing an eventual e5 break. I don’t want to play it yet, but I do want to be ready to play it.
11.Nd2 b6 - preparing Bb7, followed by a rook to c8 where I can put pressure on the backwards c2-pawn.
I think overall that Black can be pleased with this setup. I’m keeping things solid, but I also have some ideas.
12.Bb2 - Personally I think 12.c4 is a better choice here, opening up the position a bit and giving White some counter play and tension on the c-file. During the game for some reason I thought he was looking at 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Rb1, and I’m not sure why. Later he explained he didn’t consider it because of the dark squares that would be left behind with no defender. This is obvious now, but over the board we sometimes lose track of reality under all that stress.
12…Bb7 - Now I will be looking to open the center at some opportune point if possible.
13.a3 - a prophylactic move, to prevent an idea like Bb4-c3
13…Rac8 - making use of the c-file now.
14.Rc1 - He spent a long time on this one too. I also had a small think but came up with a move that I’m rather proud of:
14…b5
Right now White’s issue is space. The only reasonable break in this position is to play for c4, which would gain space and open up White’s position, giving his pieces more room to move and reorganize themselves more actively. So, with b5 I prevent it, or at least make it more distasteful.
15.Re1 - This move would make more sense if White had a way to open the e-file, but at the moment, this doesn’t seem likely.
15…Rfd8 - Following the idea of putting my rooks opposite his queen.
16.Nf3? - This allows my knight to relocate to a more active square.
16…Ne4 17.Nd4 - I anticipated this attack on my b-pawn
17…Nd6?! - A better choice would have been 17…a6, keeping the knight in the center. If 18.Bxe4 dxe4, my b7-bishop is blocked, but eventually this diagonal can be opened up and when that happens, it would be in my favor.
18.Qg4 - I anticipated this idea too, with the threat of checkmate after White’s knight moves.
18…e5 - Blocking the bishop’s diagonal.
19.Nf5 Nxf5 20.Qxf5 Bf6
Here, my position is not bad, but I’m regretful that my d6 knight had to go. This would have been preventable earlier with 17…a6. However, I still feel like my position is much more active and that I have a slight edge due to my space advantage.
21.b4?! - an odd move that I’m not sure had much purpose.
21…Qe7 22.Qd3 Qd7?! 23.Qd2
At this point I feel rather confident in the position. Black isn’t winning, but does have an active plan. My central pawns are protected by my bishops on the long diagonals, and it’s clear that White still suffers from space issues.
Now it’s time to make good against the c2-pawn.
23…Rc4! 24.f4!? d4?! - This move throws away a lot of my advantage. White can respond fxe5! which threatens the bishop on f6, forcing it to move and allowing White to save a pawn.
25.exd4?! - My opponent gives me another chance.
25…exd4 26.Bxb7 Qxb7 27.Qg2 Qb6 28.Qf2 Qd6 29.Rcd1 Rdc8 30.Ba1 - A waiting move. My opponent sets a trap. I think I’m about to win the c-pawn. It should be noted that both of us are in time trouble at this point. However, this is the kind of thing that I would have seen in a blitz game. If I had kept my cool I would keep playing on and have a decent endgame to look forward to.
30…Rxc2 31.Qxc2!
I award this an exclam because it caused me to mentally collapse. I thought I was winning the pawn, but it turns out my opponent can sacrifice his queen because my back rank is weak.
1-0
After this move, I completely collapsed. I don’t remember the entire game as I had stopped recording my moves. However, I know that I did not take the queen, fearing a back-rank mate. In fact, after Rxc2 Re8+ Qf8 Rxf8 Kxf8 the position is still basically equal. However, I panicked because of the unexpected recapture on c2, lost my composure, and mentally checked out, believing I had just lost a rook for nothing after having an edge the entire game.
In the post-mortem, my opponent relayed to me that he was pretty sure I was better the entire time, and I agreed. But when it mattered, he found a tactic that I did not because he had his head on straight and I did not. And that made all the difference and allowed him to win — he was much stronger emotionally than I was. This was a really frustrating loss, though not nearly as poor as my prior game where I lost after achieving a completely won position — it stung because I had put three hours of work into this position only to have it blow up in my face.
Full game in gif form:
Lessons learned:
If something unexpected happens, you have to see if your original plan works, and otherwise formulate a new one.
You put all that work into the position, but let one hiccup ruin the whole thing — I have to learn to have a stronger mental constitution and trust my training rather than collapse at the first shock.