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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Woodpushers’ Corner: Tempo And Temperament
Anyone who reads the chess posts here knows I'm a little more aggressive than most other players. As I mentioned not long ago, Fran has been trying to moderate that tendency of mine. Maybe it's working...
I like the Sicilian Defense from both sides of the board, Most White players don't really appreciate its possibilities, and most Black players play it as if they were reading from a book. Fran, who knows a lot more opening theory than I do, says this is the Scheveningen Variation. Black has to brace for a Kingside attack; White must beware of invasion against his relatively denuded Queenside. But in a position where one side's King is under fire, two things matter more than anything else: tempo and temperament.
I was surprised by this gift of tempo. White has possibilities against the Black d-Pawn as well as on the Kingside, and Black has just helped him along. The Queen has to retreat; 11...Qb4 is answered by 12. a3, trapping the Queen.
Black felt he had to prevent White's 13. e5, but this further weakens the d-Pawn and creates a structure that practically demands a mating attack.
Black must now choose between losing the d-Pawn and putting his Queen completely out of play. He should probably give up the Pawn and hope for counterplay in the aftermath, but he proves to be...impatient!
It seems that 13...Be6 was a fatal gift of tempo. Black must now lose a Rook or be mated.
When I showed this to Fran, he clucked and shook his head. "9...a6 was mandatory. It looks like he confused this variation with one of the more aggressive ones. But I'm glad you didn't throw the kitchen sink at him."
"There was no need, was there?" I said.
"No, there wasn't," he said, grinning.
I guess I'm learning.
Comments
Well, don’t let your head get too swelled up, you bloodthirsty high-heeled Vietnamese-American vixen, you!
I did like the “tempo and temperament” line, though. There’s a lot of instruction in it.
Posted by Francis W. Porretto on 05/01/2008 at 05:43 AMAs a former practitioner of this variation of the Sicilian I couldn’t agree more with with Fran about 9. ...a6. However, your deconstruction of Black’s position was certainly aesthetically pleasing and extremely efficient. Thanks for sharing, it rather brightened my day!
Posted by Robert Pearson on 05/01/2008 at 07:31 PM
