 Beware the Dark Squares
By IM Jonathan Schroer
For those of us that rely on 1.d4 as our mainstay for the White pieces, IM Jonathan
Schroer details two typical experiences of ICC tournament play. Defensive systems for
Black in the "dark square family" - the Benoni, Benko, and King's Indian for example
- are in use by tremendous numbers of ICC players. Jon emerged victorious in the
following two encounters, and with luck, readers will find some of his ideas helpful
in their own battles against these aggressive systems. Here is part 1, a game against a well-known grandmaster who goes by the name "garompon" on ICC.
Schroer (2673) - garompon (2871) [E62]
ICC tourney 4 (10 0), 12-13-1999
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3 9:31 left. 4...Nf6 9:53 left. This guy is fast! 5.g3 9:02 - too slow! 5...0-0 6.Bg2 c6 7.0-0 Bf5 8.Ne1 Qc8 9.e4?! This incorrectly allows and even encourages black to execute his idea of trading light squared Bs, weakening the light squares around white's K.
9.Qb3 Na6 (In Jakobsen-Eslon, Barcelona 1975, the game went 9...e5 10.d5 Na6 11.e4 Nc5 12.Qc2 Bh3 13.f3 cxd5 14.cxd5 Bd7. Here, black no longer wants to trade what has become his "good" B for white's "bad" B. After 15.Be3 a5 16.Rc1, white is slightly better.) 10.e4 Be6 11.a4 Rb8 12.Nf3 Bh3 13.Re1 Bxg2 14.Kxg2± was Smejkal-Torre, Amsterdam 1979. 9...Bh3 10.Nd3 23 seconds spent; 8:29 left. 10...Bxg2 11.Kxg2 b5?! garompon errs by allowing the c-file to be opened up with Qc8 unfortunately placed. 11... e6 and 11... a6 are sounder ways of pursuing a light-square strategy, a logical follow-up to the exchange of light squared Bs. 12.cxb5 31 seconds spent; 7:57 left. 12...cxb5 13.e5?! I lunge forward to dislodge Nf6, gain space, prepare for Nc3-d5, and create threats on the long diagonal with Qd1-f3. But stronger was 13.f3 or 13.Bg5, preparing for Ra1-c1. 13...dxe5 14.dxe5 Nfd7?! Too passive. The alternatives of 14... Qc6+ and 14... Ng4 create more problems for white. 15.f4 23 seconds spent, 7:28 left. 15...Nc6 20 seconds spent; 8:46 left.
15...Qc4 is more active. 16.Be3 16.Qf3 immediately is also good, although I doubt my opponent would have responded with 16... Qb7? 16...Qb7? garompon spent 20 seconds on this clunker, threatening discovered checks by moving Nc6. But in reality 16... Qb7? creates a nasty self pin on the long diagonal after white's obvious reply. It looks like garompon has been playing too much ICC 3 0! Black had several better moves, including 16... b4 and 16... Nb6. 17.Qf3 Rac8 18.Rac1 18 seconds spent, 6:59 left. 18...a6? This allows white a choice of winning combinations.
18...Rfe8 was better, to stop Nc3-d5-e7+. 19.Nd5 Winning! Another 18 seconds spent. 19...Rfe8 The only move to stop Nxe7+ or Rxc6, followed by Nxe7+. 20.N5b4?! 20.N3b4! is crushing, for example: 20...Kh8 21.Nxc6 Rxc6 22.Nxe7 Rc7 23.Qxb7 Rxb7 24.Nc8. 20...Ndb8 Reality sets in on garompon, as he spends 45 seconds, leaving him with 7:21.
20...Na5 21.Qxb7 Nxb7 22.Nxa6 wins. 21.Nc5 Qa8 22.Ncxa6 15 seconds spent; 6:14 left. Still winning, but not cashing in for the maximum gain. Probably stronger are 22.Nd5 and 22.a4!? 22...Nxa6 The only move, to stop 23.Nxb8, winning a piece. 23.Nxc6 Nc7? 15 seconds spent; 6:50 left. garompon accompanied this move with a draw offer from a clearly lost position. The draw offer was a well timed distraction! 24.a3? 24.Na7! is obvious and crushing. I analyzed 24...Nd5 25.Rxc8 25.Nxc8 wins in similar fashion. 25...Rxc8 25... Nxe3+ transposes. 26.Nxc8 Nxe3+ But then I missed: 27.Kg1! Even 27.Kh1 wins easily, but not 27.Kf2?? Qxf3+ 28.Kxf3 Nxf1 or: 27.Kh3?? Qxc8+. Even 24.Rfd1 is better than my passive, confused 24.a3?. To make matters worse, I wasted 1:34 on 24.a3?, leaving me with just 4:35 vs. a 3 0 specialist! 24...Ne6 37 seconds spent; 6:13 left. Also possible is 24... Na6. The game now goes into a long phase in which I try to convert my winning advantage before I lose control of the clock, while garompon correctly tries to "cheapo" me. 25.Na7 25 seconds spent on alternatives such as 25.Rfd1! dominating the key open central files. 25...Rxc1 20 seconds spent laying a trap; 5:53 left. 26.Rxc1 10 seconds spent spotting Cheapo #1: 26.Qxa8?? Rc2+! wins a rook! 26...Qd8! 40 seconds spent sacrificing a 2nd pawn for activity. The only chance, because 26... Qxf3+? 27.Kxf3 Rb8 28.Rc8+ is a hopeless ending. 27.Nxb5 22 seconds spent considering alternatives such as 27.Rc8!? forcing a trade of the rooks. 27...Qd3 28.Nc3 12 seconds spent. 28...Rb8 29.b4 17 seconds spent. 29...h5 31 seconds spent; 4:32 left. 30.Nd5 13 seconds spent. 30...Bf8 14 seconds spent. 31.Rc3 14 seconds spent. 31...Qb1 32.Qe2?! 18 seconds spent; a mere 2:24 left. Time is running out! Much more to the point is 32.Bf2!, blocking black's 7th rank, and allowing Qe2 to control e4. 32...h4 32...Qe4+ is more stubborn. 33.Qf3 Qb1 Repeating the position, but garompon may have actually been trying to win on the clock here! 34.Bf2! 33.gxh4 Intruder alert! I go up a whopping 3 pawns. But the dark side of capturing the h-pawn is that now the f4 pawn becomes weakened ... 33...Rd8 14 seconds spent; 3:48 left. 34.Rd3 Rc8 35.Rd1 Qe4+ 36.Qf3 Rc2+ 37.Rd2 2 minute warning - no time outs in this game! 37...Qc4 22 seconds spent; 3:07 left. 38.Rxc2 Qxc2+ 39.Bf2 Qc4 20 seconds spent; 2:45 left. garompon has drummed up some irritating counterplay. 40.a4!? Ignorance is bliss! With very little time left on the clock, I overlook garompon's threat to win a piece and a pawn ... 40...Qxd5 Before garompon took the knight, I saw that he could win a piece this way. After an unhappy moment, I realized the tremendous force of my connected passed pawns on the Q-side, and began to calculate winning lines. My confidence grew as garompon hesitated to capture the knight. The 19 seconds he spent to take the piece seemed like an eternity! 2:26 left. 41.Qxd5 Nxf4+ 42.Kf3 Nxd5 43.b5 Passed pawns must be pushed! Perhaps the "trade" of white's Q, N, + P in exchange for black's Q was not so bad for white? 43...e6?! 16 seconds spent on this passive move; 2:08 left.
43...Bg7! 44.b6! Nb4 (44...Bxe5 45.Bc5! Nc7 46.bxc7 Bxc7 47.Bxe7 wins.) 45.Ke4± 44.b6 Nb4 45.b7 Na6 Blockading the a-pawn for as long as possible. If instead 45...Nc6 then 46.a5! Nxe5+ 47.Kg2 Bd6 48.a6 Nc6 49.a7 Nxa7 50.Bxa7 wins easily. The h-pawns' dark queening square is the right color for the dark squared B. 46.Ba7 Bb4 23 seconds spent; 1:29 left. At last I am ahead on the clock by 8 seconds. I'm gonna win! 47.b8Q+ Nxb8 48.Bxb8 Ba5 49.Ke4?! 49.Bd6! keeps black's K out of the game, by stopping ... Kf8. 49...Kh7?! 49... Kf8! is tougher, although in the long run black's game is lost anyway. The far outside passed a4 pawn decides matters. 50.Bd6! Kh6 51.Be7 Kh5 52.h3 "Keep him out of there!" Forever preventing ... Kg4. 52...Kh6 53.Kd4 Bc7 54.Bf6! Kh5 55.Kc4 g5 Desperation. 56.hxg5 Kg6 57.Kc5 Of course 57.Kb5! is more to the point. 57...Kf5 58.Kb5 Kf4 59.a5 Kg3 60.h4 Kf3 Continuing out of inertia. If 60... Kxh4 61.g6+ queens. 61.h5 Ke4 62.h6 It's gonna be a girl! After the game, garompon and I agreed that I had been very lucky. 1-0
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