Nimzowitsch’s Morphyesque Miniature

While in the previous game featured in this series, Nimzowitsch found his French Defense position squeezed by Alekhine’s masterful play, in this game he shows he’s no pushover. Playing with the White pieces, he unleashes his own aggressively positional (yeah, hence Morphyesque) attack, but with time instead of space.

Why should you memorize this game?

As White

This game is a beautiful demonstration of attacking with the most invisible weapon in the chess arsenal: time. It prioritizes development by gaining tempo on the opponent pieces and critical squares, slows down opponent’s development by baiting already developed pieces with juicy material, and finally sacrifices a piece to initiate a deadly attack before Black has an opportunity to castle away to safety.

As Black

By yielding king-side space to White, the French Defense also imposes constraints on development. In many cases, if you’re not precise with the 5-6 opening moves, you’ll find yourself unable to castle. This is why most coaches of the French Defense advise to prioritize development over material if you find yourself out of your preparation. This cautionary tale demonstrates how your greed for material advantage may quickly turn into a checkmate in the center.

Pull out your chess set

If you don’t have one, or it is super-inconvenient right now, you can use the lichess interface below. In case you can’t see it, go directly to the study page.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.exd5 Entering the Delayed Exchange line of the Classical Variation.

4…Nxd5 5.Nf3 c5 This is a key decision in the Delayed Exchange: How do you want to undermine White’s pawn structure? Try to get rid of the central pawns, as is tried here OR trade Knights and double the c-pawns, albeit at the cost of strengthening White’s center. [5…Nxc3 6.bxc3]

6.Nxd5 This is where the fun begins. White trades Knights knowing Black can rebuild the center with exd5. But White gains control of the critical e3 square for its Bishop, which can develop with pressure on c5 pawn.

6…Qxd5 Black takes with Queen to add a defender to the c5 pawn. [6…exd5 7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.Bxd7+ Nxd7 9.O-O Be7 10.dxc5 Nxc5 and white is slightly better (9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.Qxd5 and white is slightly better)]

7.Be3 As planned.

7…cxd4 Black chooses to capture at the cost of losing the option to develop its own Bishop with tempo. In essence, White developed his Bishop with tempo and made Black lose one tempo.

8.Nxd4 White wants to win another tempo by developing its light-squared Bishop with check. So, recapturing the pawn with the Knight protects the critical b5 square while simultaneously pressuring c6 to prevent Black from blocking check by developing the b8 Knight to its most natural square.

8…a6 Almost a forced move to take control of the b5 square.

9.Be2 Preparing for a King-side castle. But what is this? Is that a juicy pawn on g2?

9…Qxg2 Black gets greedy and goes for it. It was in this position that Nimzowitsch writes in his notes, “…the consequences will be dire.” And that is what makes this game so instructive.

10.Bf3 Black has of course calculated that the Queen can escape this harrassment. What he missed is that this too is just a sneaky developing move with tempo. White has no interest in the Queen.

10…Qg6 11.Qd2 Making way for a queen-side castle, which will also line the Rook and Queen into an impressive attacking battery on the open d-file.

11…e5 Black can feel the crisis. All his pieces are on the back rank. So, he tries to solve all his troubles by freeing up the e6 square for his Bishop and by chasing the White Knight away so he can develop his b8 Knight to c6.

12.O-O-O Boss move!! Sacrifices Knight for tempo to set up the Rook-Queen battery.

12…exd4 Black again succumbs to greed. That’s the theme of this game. One player is greedy for time, the other for material.

13.Bxd4 White’s advantage in development is simply too great now. Black is already completely losing.

13…Nc6 Black tries to develop with tempo now, while protecting the d8 square to avoid checkmate. Except it completely misses White’s plan.

14.Bf6 Moving out of the way and protecting the d8 square again. Now it is a Checkmate in 12. Game Over. While the game finishes in fewer moves, find as an exercise the most resilient line from Black that prolongs the inevitable.

14…Qxf6 Uh-oh. Now its Mate in 3. Do you see it? Don’t worry if you don’t. Even Nimzowitsch missed it. But he went for a flashier Mate in 5.

15.Rhe1+ Be7 16.Bxc6+ Kf8 17.Qd8+ Bxd8 18.Re8# 1-0 White wins by checkmate.

---

From my Chess Preparation Journal, dated 18-April-2020.

---

Miniatures to Memorize is a series of short games (30 moves or fewer) that I highly recommend beginner- and intermediate-level players to commit to memory during their opening preparation. Some games show how to quickly punish your opponent’s natural-looking but inaccurate moves, while others demonstrate how easily you can go wrong and completely blunder your game. Presently, the series covers my favourite openings: the London and Catalan Systems for White and the French, Dutch, and King’s Indian Defenses for Black. I hope you enjoy and learn from these as much as I did.

I strongly urge you to follow along on a physical chess set. In case that is not convenient, and only in that case, use the lichess interface below. In case the interface does not load, you can go directly to the study.

---

Alekhine punishes the French

The first game in the French Defense series is a cautionary tale. World Champion Alexander Alekhine shows his opponent in a simultaneous exhibition match at Reykjavik, Iceland, how easy it is to find oneself out of preparation within three moves.

Why should you memorize this game?

As White

Being a 1.e4 player, you probably face the 1…e5 or 1…c5 in most of your games. Meaning, there is a good chance you aren’t paying that much attention to the 1…e6 French. If your opponent is well-prepared, they can quickly puncture your position. But you’re already overwhelmed by the extensive theory around your Ruy Lopez, Italian Games, and the countless Sicilian variations.

So, you need an easy-to-learn counter against the French. One strategy is to throw Black off their preparation as early as you can. This means focusing not on the main variations, but on the rather obscure sidelines. This game has become the theory around one such. As of writing, fewer than 5% of French Defense games on lichess, played between players rated under-2000, follow this line and 83% of those games are won by white.

As Black

You already know that the French has the reputation of being a rather “narrow” opening, albeit with a lot of “depth”. Meaning, most games evolve into only a handful of variations (Classical, Advance, Winawer, Tarrasch, and Euwe), though each of these has theory going up to 20 moves. So, you might have convinced yourself that you’ve smartly minimized your preparation time by avoiding all the 1…e5 and 1…c5 theory. You prepare the five variations listed above and chill, as you’re fairly convinced that white probably doesn’t know theory beyond move 5 or 6.

So, you keep winning (unless you blunder your middle- or endgame) until you face an opponent who plays a sideline you never considered memorizing. You will soon find yourself trying to hold on to the general ideas of the French, trying to play it as a system irrespective of White’s moves, trying to make sense of why the same plans aren’t working, and you’ll have a losing position by move 15.

This problem becomes exacerbated, particularly as you move up the ratings ladder. Higher rated opponents may not be fully conversant with the main variations, but they are almost always guaranteed to have one weapon against the annoying French that shows up on their board from time to time.

So, if you’ve made the French a part of your lifelong repertoire, you have to divorce yourself from the “narrow” reputation, and have a general sense of multiple sidelines.

Now, let’s jump into the game.

Pull out your chess set

If you don’t have one, or it is super-inconvenient right now, you can use the lichess interface below. In case you can’t see it, go to the study page directly.

1.e4 e6 And we enter the French territory.

2.Nc3 Alekhine tries to throw his opponent out of preparation with a rarely played continuation of the French Defense. Usual replies are 2.d4 and 2.Nf3

2…d5 Continuing in the typical French Defense style. Though, 2. …c5 might have been a more positional move, preventing d2-d4.

3.d4 Nf6 4.Bg5 Another rare move. The e4-e5 advance is more typical.

4…Be7 Counter-pinning the c3 Knight might have been a better try as Bxf6 can be followed by Qxf6 without damaging the pawn structure. On the other hand, white does run the risk of a doubled c-pawn after Bxc3.

5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.Nf3 O-O 7.e5 Be7 8.h4 Alekhine is in no hurry to castle. Instead he sets up a deadly trap to pressure the h7 pawn and open the h-file for his rook through a fishing pole maneuver, as eventually did happen in the game.

8…Re8 Asgeirsson probably realized the threat, but his response was to create room for his king to escape. Instead, better response could have been c7-c5, counter-striking in the center. [8…c5 9.dxc5 Nd7 10.Bd3 Nxc5 11.Bxh7+ Kxh7 12.Ng5+ Kg6 (Preventing Qh5) 13.Qg4 Bxg5 14.f4 f5 15.exf6 Kxf6 16.hxg5+ Ke7 and white is only slightly better.]

9.Bd3 c5 Too late. Now, better would have been simply h7-h6, removing the pawn from the target square, and potentially keeping the h-file closed.

10.Bxh7+ Kxh7 11.Ng5+ Bxg5 12.hxg5+ Kg8 Moving up the board is not any better. [12…Kg6 is Mate in 4. Find it as an exercise.]

13.Qh5 Kf8 King starts running away. The rook slide seems to be paying off.

14.O-O-O Getting the king to safety, but more importantly connecting rooks. With the center closed, might double up on the h-file.

14…Ke7 15.g6 Completely busting open the king-side. Remember, this is just move 15.

15…a6 Not sure if this is a waiting move or a passive attempt to prevent the knight from joining the attack on the queen-side via b5.

16.gxf7 Rf8 17.dxc5 Nd7 Attempting to pressure the weak c5 and e5 pawns and also add another defender to the queening square, so the rook can potentially move. The Queen could also be developed to c7 to further pressure the pawns.

18.Rxd5 Although completely winning, maybe Nxd5+ was more forcing as it comes with check. [18.Nxd5+ exd5 19.Qg5+ Nf6 20.Rxd5 Qxd5 21.exf6+ Kxf7 22.Qxd5+ and white is completely winning]

18…Qa5 [18…exd5 19.Nxd5+ Ke6 20.Qg6+ Nf6 (20…Kxd5 walks into Mate in 7. Find it as an exercise.) 21.exf6 Kxd5 22.fxg7 Bg4 23.gxf8=Q Qxf8 24.Qxg4 Kxc5 25.b4+ Kd6 26.Rd1+ Ke7 27.Rd7+ Kf6 28.Qf4+ Ke6 29.Rd3 Rd8 30.Qe4+ Kxf7 31.Qf5+ Ke8 32.Qh5+ Qf7 33.Re3+ Kf8 34.Qh6+ Qg7 35.Rf3+ Kg8 36.Qe6+ Kh8 37.Rh3+ Qh7 38.Qf6+ Kg8 39.Rg3+ Qg6 40.Rxg6+ Kh7 41.Qg7#]

19.Qg5+ Kxf7 20.Rh7 Black still can’t capture the rook on d5, as it will hang mate in 2. Find the mate.

20…Rg8 21. Rd4 Capturing the knight here is a blunder. [21.Rxd7+ Bxd7 22.Qf6+ Ke8 23.Rxg7 Rxg7 24.Qxg7 Bc8 and black is material up and better]

21…Qxc5 22.Rxd7+ Why does Rxd7 work now when it didn’t in the last move? What has changed? The black queen is now on c5, which means the white knight can join the attack with tempo via the c3-e4-d6+ jumps.

22…Bxd7 23.Ne4 Qb4 As the Queen is lost anyway, a last attempt could be to bring the rook in to capture the knight. [23…Rac8 24.Nd6+ Qxd6 25.exd6+ but white is completely winning.]

24.Nd6+ Kf8 This walks into Mate in 2, but the more resilient defense isn’t much better. [24…Qxd6 25.Qf6+ Ke8 26.Qg6+ Kd8 27.exd6 and white is completely winning.]

25.Qf6+ 1-0 Black resigns. [25…gxf6 26.Rf7#]

---

From my Chess Preparation Journal, dated 5-April-2020.