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1. d4
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The following is an interesting encounter in the Queen's Indian. White abandons his natural central play (e3-e4) to contest Black along the a1-h8 diagonal. This is a clear instance of White becoming too "caught up" with one-move attacks and countering Black's plans while losing sight of his own ideas. |
 
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1... Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3
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From this basic position, Black has many popular options. 3...b6 enters the Queen's Indian Defense, 3...d5 is the Queen's Gambit, 3...Bb4 is the Bogo-Indian, and the text move 3...c5 allows White to enter the Modern Benoni with 4.d5. |
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3... c5 4. e3
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White signals his intention to continue quietly, strengthening his central control (and not grabbing space with the more popular 4.d5). This allows Black a free hand to develop (again, he has more space to maneuver his pieces). |
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4... b6
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The Queen's Indian formation. Black restrains White's central expansion along the h1-a8 light-square diagonal with ..b6 and ..Bb7. |
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5. g3
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'?' - Now White's passivity is becoming an issue. His bishop would have been well-positioned on d3 (the best move), where it immediately eyes e4 and gives White attacking possibilities. The decision to fianchetto contests Black along the long diagonal, but it creates massive light-square weaknesses around his kingside. If White loses his light-square bishop, this formation will be especially weak. This plan is also slow. |
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5... Bb7 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O d5
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Attacking White's center. Castling first is also OK, but in this position it doesn't much matter. |
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8. Nc3 O-O 9. Ne5 Qc7 10. Nb5
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'?!' - White harasses the Black queen. His knights give an imposing impression, but are they really that dangerous? If the knights don't accomplish anything concrete or establish more permanent outposts (specifically the b5 knight), they will lose a tempo in retreat, which may allow Black to improve his position with tempo. Also, shouldn't White be worrying about his c1 bishop, which is blockaded by pawns? It seems White has abandoned the natural, freeing plan of e3-e4 (supported by pieces), in favor of this (dubious) knight-harassment scheme. A better plan is cxd4 followed by Re1, aiming at e3-e4. |
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10... Qc8
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Black saves d8 for a rook. |
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11. b3
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'?' - Better is 11.Qc2, which supports the e3-e4 advance White desperately needs. This move bluntly plans Bb2 and dxc4, but in the process White loses control of the center. |
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11... Rd8 12. cxd5 Bxd5
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'!?' - Avoiding an isolated queen's pawn position (not necessarily bad!) after ..exd5 and exchanging bishops. Black reasons that White's kingside light squares are weaker than his queenside ones, and in any event the trading of pieces favors his cramped position. |
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13. Bb2 Bxg2 14. Kxg2 Nc6
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Also strong is ..Qb7 , taking control of the long diagonal. White ought to contest this via Qf3!, exchanging into a drawish endgame. The text presses for an advantage, allowing White the sequence 15.Qf3 Nxe5 16.dxe5, when White's light-square control faces off against Black's queenside majority and obvious target on the doubled e5 pawn. Highly imbalanced. |
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15. Qe2
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'?' - As above, 12.Qf3! is strongest. Now Black is better. |
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15... a6 16. Na3
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'?' - This move is something of a blunder. White overlooked a forcing sequence for Black that wins material. |
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16... cxd4
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The e5 knight has no defense now, but after exd4 Black wins the d-pawn. White must complicate the situation immediately via Rac1, pinning the knight to the queen. |
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17. Nac4 b5
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'?' - Much stronger is ..Nxe5!, when Black simply wins a pawn for nothing. Black's idea is to trap one of the White knights, but he loses sight of the significance along the light squares. Now White is back in the game (if he finds the right moves!) |
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18. Nb6 Qb7
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A further mistake related to Black's last move; positionally, Black's idea is sound - he seizes the light squares and attacks the b6 knight. He doesn't mind allowing Nxa8, as he will pick up 2 knights for the rook with a winning position. Indeed he believes the knight is trapped. But tactically, he overlooks 19.Qf3!, when White pins the c6 knight and actually seizes the advantage (the fight for light-square control is the most important struggle in this position.) |
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19. Nxa8
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'??' - Terrible. Even 19.Nxf7, grabbing one more pawn for the 2 knights' loss, is better than the text. Obviously 19.Qf3 keeps White in the game. |
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19... Nxe5+ 20. f3 d3
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'!' - With the a8 knight trapped, Black can rescue the d4 pawn via ..d3! or ..dxe3!, since Bxe5? is impossible in both cases (after ..dxe3, Black threatens ...Rd2 pinning the queen). Black decides to make a passer. |
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21. Qd2 Nc6 22. Rac1 Qxa8 23. a3 b4
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'!' - Black hits upon the best plan. The old adage: "knights need advanced outposts" certainly applies here, so Black rushes to create strong positions for his knights. One-move "tricks" like ..Nd5? ("centralizing" the knight and scheming 24.Qxd3?? Nf4 ) are clearly worse: from d5, Black's knight simply obstructs the d8 rook and can easily be chased away via e4, when he has nowhere to go but backwards. |
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24. Bxf6
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Now the maneuver ..Nd5-c3 is a very real threat, so White squashes it and doubles Black's kingside pawns. A fair trade? Not exactly, but there is little else. More tenacious was axb4, retaining the bishop, but White is hopeless either way. |
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