Chess960-SP287: The edge pawn debate continued

Cool more high quality games to study from Mark's blog that do not contain tactical blunders, just strategic errors:
http://chess960frc.blogspot.com/2011/04/parallel-games-ii.html.
It's particularly cool because last month I tried really hard to prove that the edge pawn is safe in all 960 positions (there is no benefit in taking it):
http://chess960jungle.blogspot.com/2011/03/chess960-opening-survival-guide-edge.html.
I did pretty well in what was a lot more difficult than it needs to be. That said there were a few "holes" in my proof that I could not plug and still have not plugged whatever! Unfortunately nobody came to my aid to help me unbind them. So here are more practical cases of the edge pawn under threat. Should be a lot of fun.

SP287 Game 1: edge pawn gambit accepted

SP287 Game 2: edge pawn gambit declined

Game 1 Analysis:

An great chess960 game for studying how white assists black in achieving a draw pretty much right out of the opening. Remember that the roles of the colors in Chess is for white to try and find a win, and black to prove a draw or wait for an error. For some reason almost every single move of white's encourages a draw and black should be only to happy to play along. Amazingly, I almost have to redefine my definition of symmetrical play after seeing this game:
http://chess960jungle.blogspot.com/2011/04/chess960-sp139-questions-of-positional.html
There is a  third rule of symmetrical play that this game highlights and that is that white must not steer the symmetry in a direction where it is they that looses the initiative. That's what happened in this game!

White's drawing moves:

• 2.Bxa7?! Why capture the least significant edge pawn when the opponent can do exactly the same? Is it not better to continue development for the sake of more tangible pressure?
• 4.Nb3?! Why would white give away the initiative in a symmetrical opening if they are already playing a drawish line? Better to keep the initiative going with 4.e4 or even the dubious initiative move 4.Qh3 (attacking the edge pawn and threatening potential lines against the king at the expense of sidelining the queen). If white has the initiative at least there is a chance to play for a win. This particular move Nb3?! is fascinating from the point of view that white temporarily breaks symmetry with a complementary Zwischenzug type move that gives black the initiative and forces the line back into symmetry.
• 7.d4?! This is the start of a series of move that set's up a hedge-hog pawn structure that looks drawn because there is no play for the only remaining bishop. 

Looking at the way white played, it almost looks as if they were deliberately aiming for a draw perhaps because of the tournament table who knows. If that is the case then hat's off to them. The game was played to extremely high technical standards without major strategic or tactical errors. It is interesting how soon the kings centralize in a such a stalemated mid-game. The endgame drawing sequence was extremely sharp tactically and well played. Although most of the game looks like a draw, the subtleties are beyond me I have to admit and perhaps Peter Leko would be the best to comment considering he has actually played a Chess960 game against Bobby! (can anyone find that game!?)

Note: See this post for how to play this SP with more energy:
http://chess960jungle.blogspot.com/2011/04/chess960-sp287-how-to-play-opening-with.html

Game 2 Analysis:

Game two is easy to analyse because it contains a couple of strategic errors and no tactical errors:

• 7.BxN? In a position where the game will open up, it is suicidal to exchange away one bishop unless the benefit of having two knights balances the exchange. In SP287 this is highly unlikely. Without the dark bishop, white's queen will have to do the job of being a queen as well as being a dark bishop. It is too much.
• 19.O-O? With black's bishops bearing down on the c-side you can understand that white is nervous. However it is already lost for white because black's bishops can so flexibly re-deploy either to attack the c-side or the g-side. Even worse, white castles into open attack, because as soon as he has done so, black begins the attack with 19....h5!

Chess960: SP145 and Spinning Wheels

The Spinning Wheel Illusion

Ok chill out, relax and simply enjoy the spinning wheel illusion. Notice that the wheel spins consistently while you read these sentences. The thing about standard chess that is missing is this. The generalized form of chess (Chess960) is like a spinning wheel. I'm going to stretch the mind a bit but think of the starting positions of Chess960 like an integrated system of positions that are like a wheel that is spinning really fast. This idea is just a creative analogy.

Now imagine that the wheel is just slightly out of balance because white plays first. If the imbalance is not addressed in each specific starting position, the black player suffers for the vibration only a little bit or so drastically that the entire wheel flies apart. But if black addresses the imbalance with just the right counter weight, the wheel spins absolutely perfectly all the way to the end of the game. It is in black hands! They are the one that must restore balance in the very slight imperfection of the Chess960 opening. Symmetrical moves are the way that the concept of the spinning wheel of Chess960 can be appreciated. Remember that it is only a conceptual tool to help with being imaginative and creative.

A couple of posts ago I showed what happens in some positions when both players play symmetrically but no tactical problem emerges just a positional issue for black. Here at SP145 we get to see what happens when the spinning wheel ruptures! SP145 is a classic SP on so many levels. Here are the highlights:

• The queen can come out early!
• Correct queen placement is a structural question, not really a tactical question
• The rook in the corner can be captured by the bishop in the corner with equality
• A multitude of exchange sacrifices at black's disposal to effect equality

SP145: Restoring balance to the spinning wheel

The green squares show the path that the queen can take with safety in many configurations. She can actually come out early and restore balance for black if needed! She acts a bit like a counter weight on a wheel. Try to follow the reasoning as to why each green square is possible for the queen. The reasoning has to do with harmonius development:

1. The knights to c3/f3
2. Leaving the centre pawns unobstructed
3. The bishop configuration produces many structural "holes" that need to be filled

Because we are all standard chess players, we are conditioned to think that the queen must not come out early. However in Chess960 this starting position amongst others will show that this assumption is wrong.

SP145: The spinning wheel of symmetry that so totally ruptures at high velocity:

SP145: Black adds a counter weight to restore the balance of the spinning wheel!

Here are a few ideas to contemplate:

1. Example one is out of symmetry despite the visual appearance of symmetry
2. Example two is in symmetry despite the visual appearance of asymmetry
3. Example two shows the queen acting a bit like a counter weight on a flywheel
4. Once the queens balances the position, it almost looks like classical chess
5. The idea is that black's queen placement restores a balanced structure

Just analogies and curiosities. There are so many aspects to this amazing SP. I simply cannot go into them all.

Enjoy