Pinter - Kekenj

7/31/2019 Pinter - Kekenj

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G. Pinter - A. Kekenj, Litohoro 1999.

1. e4 e62. d3

An unusual move. It deserves to be characterized as the onewhich violates the basic opening principles:

(1) take the center with pawns (especially if your opponent is allowing you to do that);(2) develop quickly and place your pieces on the most active squares (with d2-d3 White is

closing his light-squared Bishop, and that obviously can't be good from the point ofactivity and development).

However, the move was played by - nobody else but - Bobby Fischer. Further we will see how

it can be dangerous for Black.

2... d53. Qe2


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The reason for such set-up is in the idea of developing a kingside attack. Exchanging the

Queens wouldn't help White to do so, and that's why wecan see the move Qd1-e2.

Now, there is a question:How it can be already seen that White is heading to the kingside?

Simply, if White is going to preserve (hold) the e4-pawn with help of his neighbour - the pawnon d3-square - it means that White is trying to keep slight space advantage on the kingside.

Further, it is well known that your pieces are more comfortable on the sidewhere they have more space. There they should develop an initiative. So, White will havebetter chances on the kingside.

However, there is another question:

How anyone can think that in such situation - where the e4-pawn ofWhite faces the e6-pawn of Black - White is better on the kingside?

The answer is interesting and that much obvious that is usually forgotten: The e-pawns arekingside pawns! The one with the better or more advanced e-pawn will be considered as theone with space advantage on that side of the board. The same is valid for the queenside d-pawns.

Another question is following:Why Black wouldn't push his e6-pawn to the e5-square, thus equalizing spacepossesion on the kingside?

Sometimes Black tries to create set-up in which the d-pawns are traded off, and then hepushes again his e-pawn, to get more space for his pieces on the kingside. However, in suchcase Black is usually slightly back in development because he already played once with the

same e-pawn.

3... Nf64. Nf3


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So far, White is following his plan of keeping the pawn on e4-square, against his opponent on

the sixth (third) rank. Compared to the French when White pushes the e-pawn more, to thee5-square, this wont give Black any chance of undermining the White e-pawn with f7-f6, northe usual White d4-pawn in the French, which can be undermined with the c7-c5.

This looks more solid for White, but in return his pieces are without suchspace advantage that they usually enjoy in the classical French.

4... Bc5!? N

This move is something new (and literarlly - a novelty). It just came into my mind at thatmoment. I was thinking about the type of position that is going to arise after usual andexpected setups for both sides, and at that point I felt that I would like to play somethingelse. Something new. To force my opponent to think from the fifth move, instead of playingby books in the next ten.

The usual line here, that I wanted to avoid, is:4... Be7 5. g3 c5 6. Bg2 Nc6 7. O-O O-O 8.e5 Nd7 9. Re1 b5 10. Nbd2 a5 11. Nf1 b4 12. h4.


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As it was said before, White is generating an attack on the kingside. The pawn on e5-squareis giving him a lot of space advantage on the kingside, while Black pieces are completelyblocked: not only because White's e5-pawn, but also because of their own on the e6-square.

It would be race on two different sides, and I felt at that moment that I would like to attackon the kingside, so I needed to change something radical in the position.

5. e5

A good reaction by White! He felt that my last move (Bf8-c5) can't be good as it is not playedby top players, and he has found the reason. His thinking was: The Bishop wants to generatean attack on the f2-square, but it will need coordination with other Black pieces. Now, if thecenter becomes locked and closed, there will be no support for the Bishop. Also, if the Whitepawn steps to the e5-square, kingside will belong to the White, and the c5-Bishop wouldhave nothing to do from the c5-square. There is even d3-d4 pawn advance to streighten thecenter, and make the Black dark-squared Bishop useless.

5... Nfd76. g3


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Four years later, in the grandmaster's gameA. Cabrera (2478) - S. Shipov (2604), ICC

2003, White played here: 6. d4 Be7 7. Qe3 c5 8. c3 Nc6 which was quite good for Black(Shipov managed to lose, but his position from the opening was more then solid). At firstsight it looks like the d3-d4 advance is giving White a tempo, because the Bishop isretreating. The problem with such thinking is that White ignores the fact that his Queen is infront of the Bishop, and that he already played once with the d-pawn. It's much better to waitwith the d3-pawn, so that Black can't break with c7-c5 so easily.

What Black should do now (after the move 6. g3)?

Two years after this game, the first Uruguayan grandmaster, Andres Rodriguez Villa (at thatpoint he had 2500+), played just a normal moves - castle, later he advanced with the f-pawn,but not in order to crush the White's central e5-pawn - instead he played f7-f5. Position thathe had was a disaster, but on the end he managed to win lower rated player.

Classical French idea is to destroy White's advanced pawns - e5 or/and d4. If Black plays f7-f5, that will look nice, Black is gaining some space on the kingside, and stopping White'sinitiative, but it closes Black light-squared Bishop, and leaves/stabilizes White's central e5-pawn. Further, White can prepare pawn-brake in view of g3-g4, or even to start opening thegame on the other side. Black is never satisfied in the French when he has to advance the f-pawn to f5-square.

6... f6!


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I give an exclamation mark to this move, not because it is the most accurate move in the

current position, but because it is so much in thespirit of French defense, that even in situation like this, when White's Queen is eyeing the e6-pawn and the King, this move is still okay to play. This is the only active way to play theFrench defense.

One more thing. The Bishop is still on the c5-square. It is eyeing the f2-pawn, and waiting forthe opportunity to strike. Now the f-file is close to be opened, which means that the Rook willjoin the pressure on the f2-pawn.

That's why the next White's move is completelly understandable.

7. d4 Bb6

For the Bishop is now better to stay on that diagonal, as Black's aim is to completelly destroyWhite's pawn-centre. In that case the Bishop would have a great influence in Black's kingsideattack, and a nice coordination with the soon-castled f8-Rook.


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8. Bh3!

An excellent move, which aim is to provoke f6-f5. The point is to securethe e5-pawn, which means that Black would have a big problem of developing his light-square Bishop, and not to forget - Black has significant lack of space because of the e5-pawn.

What to do now? There is a great problem with the e6-pawn. Should Black after all playf6-f5?

8... O-O!!

A completelly insane move! Black is leaving his e6-pawn to be taken, he is placing his Kingso that the pawn can be captured with check, and also the second pawn, the pawn on d5-square, White can take in the second move. However, Black is not going to push f6-f5,which gives him a passive game, and slightly worse position. I wanted to get my b6-Bishopback into the game, to put my pieces to work together (the f8-Rook with the b6-Bishop), andto break the White center while his King is still there!


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So, there are three principles that I just put in practise:

(1) Develop!(2) Move your king into safety!(3) Put your pieces to work together (coordinate)!(4) Open up the center while your opponent has uncastled King!

Not to forget that after White light-squared Bishop goes to the journey to collect all thosepawns, there will be some light-square weakened around White King, even after he castles.

So, all that Black is gaining for the cost of two (central) pawns. Is it worth? Sometimes it can'tbe calculated to the end (Michael Tal used to rely only on intuition when he would decide tosacrifice), and in this case I wasn't really in the mood for deep calculation. I checked somevariations, and I was satisfied, but couldn't see everything. I just knew that there has to besomething. I knew that I am doing everything as it should be done in chess.

9. O-O

After the most logical: 9. Bxe6+ Kh8 10. exf6 I thought over the board that I can playNd7xf6, with more then enough compensation for the pawn, as the light-squared Bishops willbe exchanged, and White King will be in danger because of the weak light-squares (pawn tog3 also makes the f3-Knight voulnerable, and potentially the f2-pawn).

However, there is also an interesting reply in view of: 10... Re8!? This interesting move hasbeen found through my computer's analysis. The move which was not on my mind at thattime. Now, as I am not afan of showing lines and naked variations, I wont add anything more. If someone isinterested to see how it could develop, there are engines to run. For me, the strategicalperspective and the ideas behind these opening moves are more interesting and important.

9... fxe5


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Of course that f6-f5 doesn't deserve any commentary.

Black is aiming to open up everything in the center and stress:

(1) the power of his developed pieces (the b6-Bishop and the f8-Rook),(2) the weakness of White's idea to play a move with the Queen in the early stage of the

game (wasting time), and(3) the bad idea of fianchettoing the light-squared Bishop (one extra-move in order to

develop that piece).

10. Bxe6+

White is thinking correctly: If the Bishop doesn't take the free pawn, then the aim of playingBf1-h3 is gone.

10... Kh811. Bg5


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This move is difficult not to play in such position. It is a developing move, and in the sametime an attacking move. All players higher then 1200 rating points know that such movesshould be good. However, here White is ignoring the fact that the Queen will be "forced" tothe better square!

Maybe slightly better try was: 11. dxe5.

11... Qe812. Bxd5

Practically, the only decent move.

12. Bxd7 would terribly weaken light squares. After simple reply12... Bxd7 Black isthreatening too many things.

There is an interesting fact. At that moment, over the board, I wasn'tcompletelly sure about the evaluation; it is difficult to calculate and see


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everything. Basically, I was more then satisfied with the situation. I justfelt it. It was an intuition (something that is very important and can bedeveloped/improved by any chessplayer). However, today, when I run my chess engine, forthe first twenty seconds it shows that White is slightly better (Black's compensation for thesacrificed material is not enough), but later it changes the evaluation and says that Black hasto be at least slightly better (the compensation for sacrificed material is more then enough).

12... c6?

A mistake that was made again on the wings of intuition. I thought that the Bishop is at themoment centralized, which is good for White, and also it defends the f3-Knight. If the Bishophas to move from the central diagonal h1-a8, it means that the light-squares around theWhite King will be permanently weak. That was all correct. However, the problem is thatWhite can retreat the Bishop to c4-square, from where it can have an important role indefending the Queen on e2, as a defense against Qe8-h5 (after which the f3-Knight wouldn'tbe pinned).

Better was: 12... h6 followed by Nd7-f6, in which case the d5-Bishop will be under attack.

13. Bb3?


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13. Bc4! Qh5 14. Nbd2 and White would be able to defend everything.

13... h6

This move actually does two good things for Black:

(1) it defends from the back-rank weakness that could be problematic in some variationswhen the Queen and the Rook takes an action against the f3-Knight; and

(2) it forces the dark-squared Bishop to go back at c1-square, because the d2-square shouldbe left for the other Knight to take part in defending his collegue.

14. Bd2?

14. Bc1 as it was explained, is better.

14... Qh5


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Now Black pieces are well coordinating and White is in danger. He has only one way to

defend accurately.

15. dxe5?

Houdini showed that there was an interesting draw, which involves the Queen sacrifice: 15.Kg2! Nf6 16. Nxe5! Qxe2 17. Ng6+ Kh7 18. Nxf8+ Kh8 19. Ng6+ and Black King can'tescape checks.

15... Rxf3


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15... Qxf3 was the other option, but I wasn't satisfied to capture the

Knight and exchange the Queens, which would give me clearly better endgame. I felt thatthere has to be a way to proceed with the attack if I keep the Queens.

Further the game is not so instructive, as many blunders are made. Black remained betterfor about ten more moves, but then a big blunder made him fight for a draw. At the very end,White was in time trouble, and made a decisive mistake which gave me a draw by repetition.A lucky draw for Black.

16. Nc3

There was a threat in view of Rf3xg3+, followed by Qh5xe2.

16... Nxe5

At this point I was up a piece. A piece for a pawn. Clearly winning position.

17. Rae1

The only problem of Black is his back-rank in combination with undeveloped queensidepieces. If White Rook reaches the eight rank, Black would be in a deep problem.

17... Rxg3+?

Many other moves were winning, but this one was too tempting. Although I haven't seen anyparticularelly good position for me, I thought that this move should be played. Sometimesthe intuition may trick you. That's why calculation work is one of the most important in chess.

17... Nbd7 is better and a winning move; same with 17... Bc7 and even 17... Bd4.

18. Kh1

The only move.

18... Bg4


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There was nothing better then to sacrifice the Rook. Again, the problem ofBlack is his back rank.

19. fxg3 Nbd7

Black is now an exchange down, but there is a compensation in view of active minor pieces

and slightly exposed White King.

20. Qe4?

20. Qg2 was better, as after: 20... Nf3 White can reply: 21. Re4 with some chances todefend.

20... Bf3+?!

An interesting position would be set on the board if only I menaged to find the best move:20... Nf3 21. Re2 Nf6 22. Qf4 Ng5 and White is hopeless.

21. Rxf3 Nxf3

22. Re2?

The only move was: 22. Qe2 Nde5 with clearly better chances for Black.

22... Nf623. Qf4 Nxd2?!

23... Rf8 was the best move. The Rook is aiming to invade the f-file after the f3-Knightcaptures the d2-Bishop, and the other Knight discover an attack on the White Queen withNf6-d7. White has no defense.

24. Rxd2 Re8

25. Qf1 Ba5?!26. Rf2 Bxc327. bxc3 Qe528. Rf3 Qe429. Kg1 Rd8??30. Rxf6 gxf631. Qxf6+ Kh732. Qf7+ Kh833. Qf6+ Kh734. Qxd8 Qe1+35. Kg2 Qe2+

36. Kh3 Qh5+37. Qh4 Qf5+38. Qg4?? Qf1+39. Kh4 Qf6+40. Kh3 Qf1+41. Kh4 Qf6+

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