Chess960: Anand's dubious opening in the Chess960 World Championship 2007

In the last moments of the 2014 candidates tournament featuring Anand and Aronian, I thought I would look at a game played by these two greats in the 2007 Mainz world Chess960 championship.

What I found slightly shocked me I have to be honest!

In a rapid game of Chess960 where there is still plenty of time to play a reasonable opening, Anand started out in a dubious fashion, giving a lot of hope to all us Chess960 patzers out there!!

SP535: Anand (white) first move - Wch. Mainz Rapid 2007

1.c4 ... g6. A dubious first move by white, since it slightly weakens king safety, and black can apply pressure immediately with 1...g6 (with d5 to come). White probably didn't want to play d4 or e4, since the former comes under fire after g6, and the latter blocks white's own bishop on h1. However, d4 and e4 still seem like better moves, since they are centralizing and allow a more rapid development (develop more pieces at once), without compromising king safety at all.

SP535: Anand (white) second move - Wch. Mainz Rapid 2007

2. d3 ... d5. A dubious second move by white, since it is passive, giving black the chance to play aggressively with d5/Qa4+. A better move would have been 2.Nc3 which takes control of d5 and prevents what black now tries...

SP535: Anand (white) third move - Wch. Mainz Rapid 2007

3. cxd5... Qa4+. White seems to accept that Qa4+ is coming, but there were alternatives. One energetic but dubious alternative was 3.Qa5...dxc4, 4.Qd5+...Nbd7, 5.Qxc4 ... Nb6.

SP535: Anand (white) fourth move - Wch. Mainz Rapid 2007

4.Kd2 (forced). White will never castle, will have to move his king again to free the c1 bishop and the only compensation is that black cannot easily develop his knights to c6 and e6

If one of the greatest players of all time can play a Chess960 opening like this, there is still hope for all us patzers out there! 

I do have to say in Anand's defense, he actually won the game despite this opening! 

Another point in Anand's favour is that incredibly, Houdini-4 evaluates this position at 0.00 even at depth 22!

Enjoy 960
PS) if you want the PGN for this game, download the database of all Chess960 games here.

Non-Random Chess960 Trial Game 2: SP393

The PGN database for these trials is here.

Here is the second opening played according to the Non-Random Chess960 rules invented by Mark Weeks. As black I decided to see if slowing down the activity in the opening would help my chances to reach complete equality by the mid-game phase, by going for the titular bishops in the middle of the board, an easy king side castling option and a queen in the corner. According to Mark's system of non-random placement, this actually gives black a bit more control over the setup (4 choices) verses white's two choices.

The sequence we used to arrive at SP393 was:

1. Mark put down a bishop on d1
2. I put down a bishop on e8
3. Mark put down two knights on c1 and f1 instead of using his queen placement option
4. I put a queen on a8
5. The position was filled in with rooks and king

SP393 Bishops in the middle (Titular bishops)

Here are my comments on the opening:
The titular bishop start positions are more likely to be high-level positional studies. The tactical opportunities are less significant relative to making the right moves in order not to create long term positional problems. I really like them, but the titular bishops starts do feel quite awkward!

Basically after 1.d4 b5 I simply missed 2.a4! The move just didn't occur to me because I'm still conditioned to see traditional opening pawn moves. The move a4 is a really important move for Chess960, because the idea doesn't occur in the traditional opening. I thought that Mark's reasoning for playing a4 was because it requires black to respond either immediately or soon after. Any response slightly worsens black's position while at the same time there is no possibility of white's position being worsened. At the same time, black's response whatever it is, provides white with more information about how to proceed....In fact, it turned out that Marks reasoning was simpler and more concise (see below). 

Unfortunately, 1....b5 set forth a chain of events where white simply contests the a-file and always remains ahead on tempo, initiative and position. Although black's drawing chances are still reasonable, It became a very compromised situation for black and quite unpleasant.

So to liven it up and break out from being a slave of white's intentions, I decided on the idea of O-O/Ng5/f5!? The idea is really nice from the point of view that black get's a temporary initiative, but it doesn't work all that well as Mark showed in the game.


Here are Marks comments:
At first I rejected 2.a4, because I preferred to develop my minor pieces. Then I realized that both of the obvious plans -- playing for a quick e2-e4 -or- playing to develop the Bishop on the a8-h1 diagonal -- allow Black adequate counterplay. Then I returned to 2.a4, because it interferes with Black's counterplay. Tactically, it addresses the variation that you played...

After 10. Be2 f5 I would probably continue 11.Bd2. Black is falling behind in development and any Knight exchange on e4 gives White the f2-f3 lever. In my opinion, White is now playing for a win and Black is playing for a draw. The move 1...b5 was perhaps not the best....

Chess960: The Great King's Pawns Opening Research Project

Played an SP141 Chess960 game the other day. So often when playing quickly as white, I'll play 1.e4 as a knee jerk reaction! After all it is the famous King's Pawn Opening in traditional chess isn't it? The problem is that in Chess960, 1.e4 can have a bit of a nasty sting in tail for white! Here is an example:

SP141 White to play: 1. e4

The classic scenario simply goes like this:

1. e4!?  ... f5!? (White screams doohhh! because of Bxa2)
2. Nb3!? ... fxe4!?
3. f3!?  ... Nb6!?

I cannot tell you how many times I have played e4 to find this scenario or similar cropping up! So here are some stats for the scenario and how often to expect it. Notice that the theme crops up in batches of three consecutive SP's in a row? I've included quick computer checks of exactly the same King's Pawn Opening opening sequence from above, noting their approximate severity:

| 141 | NRQBNKBR ok

| 142 | NRQNKBBR good

| 143 | NRQNKRBB dubious

| 157 | NRNBQKBR good

| 158 | NRNQKBBR good

| 159 | NRNQKRBB good

| 173 | NRNBKQBR good

| 174 | NRNKQBBR good

| 175 | NRNKQRBB good

| 189 | NRNBKRBQ dubious

| 190 | NRNKRBBQ dubious

| 191 | NRNKRQBB dubious

| 237 | NRQBKNBR ok

| 238 | NRQKNBBR good

| 239 | NRQKNRBB dubious

| 253 | NRKBQNBR good because of Qe1

| 254 | NRKQNBBR good

| 255 | NRKQNRBB dubious

| 269 | NRKBNQBR dubious because of f1

| 270 | NRKNQBBR good?

| 271 | NRKNQRBB dubious

| 285 | NRKBNRBQ dubious

| 286 | NRKNRBBQ good because fxe4

| 287 | NRKNRQBB dubious

| 333 | NRQBKRBN dubious

| 334 | NRQKRBBN good

| 335 | NRQKRNBB good?

| 349 | NRKBQRBN good?

| 350 | NRKQRBBN good?

| 351 | NRKQRNBB good?

| 365 | NRKBRQBN dubious

| 366 | NRKRQBBN good?

| 367 | NRKRQNBB good?

| 381 | NRKBRNBQ good?

| 382 | NRKRNBBQ ok because e4 blocks Qh1

| 383 | NRKRNQBB dubious

Basically the underlying pattern is this:

1. If a rook is on f1 it is dubious for white because of Rf8xRf1
2. If a queen is on f1 same as above
3. If a queen or rook is on e1 then usually good
4. If a knight is protecting a7, then it is dubious for white
5. If a knight is on f1 then good

I actually quite like the Chess960 numbering scheme because of the way that themes like this play out in consecutive batches of SP numbers. Makes for interesting studies by consecutive SP numbers.

Chess960 insiders tip!:

If you are playing white and you knee jerk 1.e4 only to realize that black can counter attack on the edge pawn and your rook on b1, don't panic! Just continue playing the opening calmly, because out of all Chess960 positions, the situation crops up only 4% of the time, and when it does, 1.e4 is only dubious roughly 33% of the time and it is never fatal!

Why do people still insist on playing traditional chess?? Analyzing the patterns in Chess960 is a lot of fun.

Enjoy 960!

Tricky Tricky Chess960 - part 3

Well SP941 "The Bacrot Catastrophe" continues it's amazing journey. In the past both here and at Chess.com I've been referring to this position as a "brutal" position based on what happened with Etienne Bacrot in 2005 based on this starting position. Thankfully Mark over at Chess960(FRC) Chess960 Chaos has checked out the position as well as a commentor "Ichabod" on that blog. The point is that we are all using engines of various kinds to nut out this amazing position up to 20ply deep but black does have good chances to draw in this position and counter attack at the slightest slip up!


The reason I'm posting is that I think that Ichabod is onto something with 1.....e6!? in SP941. Here is the framework of the defense as I see it:

SP941 White on move 3: The Ichabod Defense (modified by me)

If you look at this position closely, you will see that white actually no longer has any really standout moves! The position has quietened down immensely. White can consider d4 and there are continuing issues:
3. d4!?  ... Nd6!?
4. Ng3 ... f5!?  Black's f5!? is good now (knight outpost on e4)
5. e5  ... Ne4

White has moves like c5 but where does that actually lead to?

What do I think are the standout features of 1....e6!?

1. The absolutely wonderful thing that 1....e6!? does is to allow ...c5 later on. The pawn move...c5 is an important play for black at some stage because it contests the center and stops all white's so called "brutal" opening tactics.
2. 1.....e6!? actually stops white from intruding along the h3/c8 diagonal against black's rook
3. 1....e6!? actually supports ....d5 in some lines
4. Naturally it develops both the dark bishop (only in theory) and the queen (only in theory)

What do I think are the standout features of 2....Ng6!?

1. It plays to theory which is nice! (a pawn "free move" then a knight if possible)
2. The g6 knight has a flight square on e5 in some lines
3. The g6 knight contests a bishop on f3 via the strange outpost Nh4!?

I think the critical point about the "Ichabod" defense is that black must try really hard not to play ....f5?! at any stage. Why is that? Well not only does it suggest a backward pawn for black at some future point. If you look at the diagram, ...e6 blocks black's light bishop hmmmmm. However!, black's light bishop has a beautiful escape path via h6/Bh7 which is an attacking move against white's king! Therefore simply black should try not to impede this attacking option as ....f5 does. I realize that all the engines including mine all suggest ....f5 for black at some stage but in his position I think the engines are almost entirely useless except to help seek out gross errors. The position is actually perfect for the trained Chess960 human eye both on attack and defense and that is why Aronian as white absolutely drank up this start position (he would have also beaten the engines as well in this start position I think).

I could go on and on about this start position, but I'll finish with an amazing exchange sacrifice line that I found for black in this start which highlights the incredible exchange sacrifice possibilities that exist in Chess960:

SP941 The Ichabod Defense: Black counter attacks! (Well done black!!!)

After seeing that variation it is clear to me now that Chess960 is the future of Chess! Maybe not this generation but in another one or two! It is incredibly beautiful, very exciting, wonderfully imperfect, completely bizarre, endlessly fascinating and a simple yet complex game that endures for life time without needing technology to play. Not only that, but Chess960 encourages both types of players, the one's that like to research and memorize, as well as the one's that like to fly by the seat of their pants and get creative.

Enjoy 960!

Tricky Tricky Chess960 - part 2

Wow what a journey SP941 has been!...

Please note that since this post, combined between us we have now some more ideas on this start position here:
http://chess960frc.blogspot.com/2011/07/chess960-chaos.html
http://chess960jungle.blogspot.com/2011/07/tricky-tricky-chess960-part-3.html


I decided to check out Mark's blog on SP941 at "A Chess960 Catastrophe". Originally I was going to write about the opening that Etienne Bacrot played against Aronian as an example disaster opening of how not to play Chess960. What I actually found is that back in 2005 Etienne stumbled on what I think could be amongst a few very very tricky SP's for black to play and even worse it was against Aronian! SP941 is honestly the only SP I have so far seen in an ongoing systematic study of them, where after 1. e4, all the lines that Rybka4-960 tries to find are all +/= for white! That does not happen very often at all (note: extremely rare).

Ok let's look at what happened. Etienne actually played very well considering. Unfortunately I believe that in future years, there will be a list of a a couple of dozen SP's that black will have to commit to memory on how to play the first move. So don't say there is no memorization in Chess960! Essentially the statistics on the numbers of these hyper-dangerous openings for black are so minor that it is not an issue.

SP941: The Bacrot Catastrophe 2005

The central problem for black is that white is threatening at least three different tactical motifs! The most serious is a mate threat on b7 and a knight fork on d7. In this SP, black simply must react correctly or things get ugly very quickly. The way that Etienne deals with the issues is very skilled but fatally flawed:

1. e4   ... e5?!  Black does not respond to the tactical problems and also creates problems with the undefended pawn becoming a tactical motif of itself.

2. Nd3! ...       Now here is the point about Chess960. Black only get's into trouble when white finds a counter intuitive opening move. No one would normally play Nd3 unless you were Aronian perhaps!

2.      ... Ng6?! What can you say? Correct but flawed.

3. f4!  ...       White now opens the dark diagonal and attacks e5 but also combines mating and forking threats.

3.      ... Bf6?  Black cracks under immense pressure. There was no acceptable move from here and black is lost. Perhaps black could have played 3....c5!? Note that even Rybka4-960 would probably have lost to Aronian in this SP.

Ok so what do we do about the tragedy of the Bacrot catastrophe!? Essentially put away the computer unless you have got a long time because the computer cannot see the long term complications. I have had to think of a solution myself, and believe me it is counter-intuitive! Now do not get me wrong, I'm not saying that Chess960 is perfect! What I'm saying is this:

1. There will be a very small number of SP's where black's first move may have to be memorized or at least the tactical motifs will have to be memorized.
2. That these extreme SP's only become a problem for black, if white happens to find a specific counter-intuitive opening move. In the example above, Aronian found it. Nd3!....
3. If white can find a pawn move that controls the center and effects more than one tactical motif at the same time (as does SP941), I would suggest that black play for a draw as actively as possible (unless white is not good enough to exploit the opening any further). Since these situations are not common, these starting positions are high level studies in how black reaches equality while maintaining counter-attacking chances.

SP941: One Retrospective Solution to the Bacrot Catastrophe 2005

1. e4    ... c6!?  The computer cannot see this move, only the human eye. The idea is to extinguish only one of white's tactics Nc5/Qb5# and then continue to hose down the less serious problems while simultaneously continuing development in an a-typical way.

2. Nd3!? ...       What is the problem with this move? If the tactics can be extinguished, then it simply blocks the d-pawn.

2.       ... Bb6!? Black puts a hose on all the tactics. I think this move solves all black's problems good enough for a draw...

The point is that if white decides against 2. Nd3 with:

2. Ng3   ... e5   And now we get Etienne's idea but white cannot play the same tactics anymore because the devastatingly strong white move f4 is taken away. Note that white cannot play d4 because their initiative is immediately dissolved because they expose their rook to ...Ng6/Bg5.

3. Nd3!? ... Ng6  And black can get away with a draw.

SP941:  1....c5?! contrasted against 1....c6

In this version, black plays 1....c5?! and white decides against Nd3. It's a difficult option for black to play and I doubt that it works. The issue is that white can take the long light diagonal against the king and black has no natural defense of it and then you get BvR in the corner. Not only that but the two bishops work together against the king with the queens support on b5. Forget about c5 I'd say!

Phew! Occasionally Chess960 is brutal in a few percent of the 960 different openings. By far most of the SP's have plenty of options for black. The interesting thing is that a game like this catastrophe happened six years ago. I suspect that grand-masters may have decided that Chess960 is no good because of a rare example like this. I beg to differ until someone actually proves that black cannot fight back to equality. Having looked at SP941, there is a way....I think....c6!? but it is not ...c5?! Another avenue of thought is 1....f6 or 1.....f5.

Enjoy 960!

Chess960: Car crash openings part 1

A Car Crash Opening is any opening where the game is over before the tenth move because the loosing side was asleep at the wheel - enjoy the ride!

Here's a thread on some of the totally trashed and ridiculously bad Chess960 openings that I have played so many times! Embarrassing but I save face by saying that they were 15 minute games where white's timer was ticking down immediately at the start of the game and so I was under some pressure (as white should be!). I'll be using terms from Naming the bishops and Naming the knights because I find it really useful to put a name to the particular characteristics that the minor pieces have in 960.

SP167: How white should NOT play the opening!

1. d4...g5 Ok d4 is not too bad opening up a line for the archbishop on c1 but it puts white on the defensive straight away. Black's g5 has startled me although it shouldn't have. Immediately black is attacking the undefended pawn. Black's g5 is a great move because now white cannot develop the suffragan bishop via g3 without opening up all the light colored squares on the g-side that black's archbishop can quickly and effectively exploit.

2. e3?! ... Qh3!? Now e3 is incredibly timid and a structurally bad move and any plans white had for the center are over. What was I thinking? I thought it would be good to release the queen on f1. I didn't want to block the long diagonal with e4. Black has startled me with the pestering annoyance to capture h2 but it is just a smoke screen. I should have listened to my own advise and simply not worried about h2. If black takes it, they will have wasted a lot of tempo and their own h-pawn will be weak in any case because the h-file opens. Not only that but their queen would be over-committed and exposed. White can castle c-side and so it really is no big deal. The essential issue is that what has happened to white's initiative?

3. g3?! ... Nb6 And now is the coming of the car wreck for white. The central feature is that white has setup a terrible hedgehog pawn structure which creates a huge number of weaknesses that blacks archbishop and d8 knight can exploit VERY quickly. Black can play the central pawns out with initiative and white has nothing. They can't even play the pawn out to e4 because they wasted the time moving it to e3.
4. Be4?! ... d5 White decides that they are going to actively deploy the bishop and that transferring it to d3 looks fine because it doesn't impede the knights in any way and there are lots of interesting lines for at least one bishop. But the stupidity is that it only encourages black to play d5 and causes white to waste a tempo on realigning the suffragan bishop.
5. Bd3 ...Nc6 Essentially the game is already over for white. Aside from all the other problems, now the d3 bishop block's the queen's active release. The point is that there are not and never were going to be any useful targets that white could hit on the f1-a6 light diagonal.

6. Nc3? ... Bh3 White thinks that it is no big deal if black biffs the queen with Bh3 because white can play Qe2. White is oblivious to the arrowed lines of attack that black has, particularly black's c6 knight and black's central pawns.

7. Qe2 ... e5 Black now threatens to put his knight on e5 at some stage.

8. Nb3 ... O-O-O Black is in total control of the center and also the g-side wing.

9. dxe5 ... Nxe5 and now black's knight threatens to remove the light coloured bishop which leaves all the light squares on the g-side undefended, or instead black's e5 knight sits where it is threatening a fork on f3.

Aaaggh. Crash! (Good fun)

Chess960-SP159: The Royal Punishment

Yesterday I got onto a "Royal" theme which even included a discussion about edge pawns yet again. Well here is just about the most punishing line I've ever seen white deliver to black for taking an edge pawn!

SP159: The Royal Punishment Line

Ok so here is yet another reason why taking the undefended edge pawn is bad! The actual bomb shell mistake that black made was 5...BxR?? But what's the alternative? Well here's the funny thing. Instead black plays 5....Bf7 swallowing all their pride in the process. White then quietly continues development with 6. Nb3 and we arrive at the question can white's queen trapped?:

Black to play: Can White's Queen be Trapped?

Well that's a little puzzle that I'll leave well alone! WARNING: If you try to work out how to trap white's queen, you may require admission into hospital at some stage. Enjoy! (If you want the answer comment me and I'll post it).

Chess960: Elementary opening transition tactics

Here's a beauty tactic from the same game as the previous post. I missed this one as well!

Black's dilemma is that both his knights are forked due to a typical Chess960 remnant where the corner knight is undefended. At the time I thought "ok how can I trap the queen after she takes the corner knight? There must be a way!?" However because I was concentrating so hard on how to trap her, I missed the obvious!

SP140 black to play: find the drawing move

1.      ... NxB   the only move and the obvious beginning
2. QxN?  ... e4!   the sneaky little move!
3. KxN? ... Bg3+! winning the queen

Likewise RxN?...Bxh2+! so black's remaining knight cannot be captured! White's only real alternative is:

3. Qd5  ... Bf4!  withdraw the queen but then the rook falls!

Just get out of here it's too sneaky and very funny! White is now bankrupt and depressed. The only option white has is:

4. KxN  ... BxR   take that damn knight but gone is the rook
5. Qxe4 ... d5    and black is R v N+P up in material.

Chess960 is truly weird at times but then again it can put a smile on your face even if you miss the tactic. Turns out that black's corner knight is poison if white tries to take it. So the drawing move for black is NxB.