An Interesting Material Imbalance
It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and I have a lot of interesting games to share. About a month ago, I competed at the US Amateur Team East tournament with some friends from my school. Shout out to my friends Aditya, Abhinav, and Justin for competing at the tournamnet with me! In the second round, I faced a 2100 (compared to my 1500 rating at the time), and the game was very intense.
I started with my typical Nimzo-Larsen Attack, and the opening was fairly normal.
2019 US Amateur Team East: Round 2 Table 90 Board #1
Black has a slight advantage here, although it’s about equal. Both sides have comfortable development, although my knight on b1 makes me too slow to take the c file - I will have to cede that to black.
Now, things are starting to get interesting. The center is closed off to both fianchettoed bishops, and my opponent and I are racing to see what can happen first: will I put enough pressure on d5, or the center of the board, making threats on the queenside after Nb4 and Qb5, or will my opponent break through after tripling on the c file? As the tension builds up, it is apparent that no moves can be wasted. Just one move can tip the balance in the opponent’s favor.
This is the climax of the game: every single piece on the board is somehow involved in the pressure. Black has prepared to charge straight down the c file and white has put pressure on d4 and a4, two targets that can’t be defended simultaneously. Despite all of this action, Stockfish evaluates this position as completely equal. When I was playing the game, I did not realize that this was equal, and thought that I might have an advantage after everything explodes on the board. Being the much lower rated player in the match, though, I suspected that there was something the 2100 could do that I hadn’t considered. Nevertheless, there was no turning back, and after 20.Nxd5, I let the board explode.
Wow. After white captured in the center and black broke through the c file, the material ended up being equal. I have a queen and two pawns for a bishop, knight, and rook. Although most players would prefer the three pieces against a queen, Stockfish states that this is a dead draw. Looking back at the game, I am surprised that I made the right decision to allow this trade of pieces, because it seemed risky and my opponent was very strong. However, for some reason, this was the correct way to play the position.
Although I did not play this properly, here is a list of important information for playing a queen vs bunch of pieces endgame:
Here, I messed up because I allowed black to activate his pieces and did not create enough pressure by advancing my a and b pawns.
This is how my opponent activated his pieces, and I was forced into passivity. Black’s immediate threat is Bh2+ followed by Ng3 mate. At first glance, it seems as if my only option is to sac my queen for the knight on e4 (after Qxb7+) followed by taking the rook. However, this is a losing position, as although I am playing with three pawns against a bishop, black can blockade my pawns and easily win. Surprisingly, though, white can still draw after 36. Qxb7+ Kf6 37. Qb6!, pinning the bishop to the king. I did not see this combination and played 37. Qxe4?, which immediately loses. (In my defense, it was 11:30 at night, and the game had already lasted for about 4 hours before reaching this position.)
After a long game, I resigned due to the unstoppable threats of black promoting his h and e pawns. In the end, I found the game very interesting: the “explosion” on the c-file and the unbalanced endgame made for an interesting experience. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this game and are prepared for material imbalances, too!