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1. Nf3
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Hi everyone!
You may all recall me saying a few months ago that to exchange down into a pure K & P ending a pawn down was scuicide. Well, my buddy Jim Friar (a very strong expert who has an optimum rating of 2092 and has a victory against an International Master stamped on his Gameknot chessic CV) made me eat some of my words! Towards the end you will see that Jim deliberately exchanged down into such an ending and won! How, well you will just have to read on! I start off with the Reti Opening, 1. Nf3. |
 
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1... c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3
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3. Nc3 - out come the cavalry! |
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3... g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. d4
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5. d4 - pawn break. |
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5... d6 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Nge7
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7. ......... Nge7 - after I castled Jim prepares to castle himself with this move. Everything has been so far so quiet do you agree? Well, it is all about to change! |
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8. dxc5
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8. dxc5 - first a pawn trade. |
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8... dxc5 9. Qxd8+ Nxd8
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9. ......... Nxd8 - now a queen trade. |
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10. Ne4 b6 11. Rb1 O-O
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11. ........ 0-0 - Jim now castles. |
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12. b3 Bb7 13. Ned2
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13. Nde2 - takes evasive action. |
1 comment
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13... e5 14. Bb2
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14. Bb2 - Fou Lenoir finally emerges from his pit. |
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14... Nec6 15. a3 Ne6 16. Rfd1
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16. Rfd1 - preparing a trade of heavies on the d file. |
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16... Rad8 17. Nf1 e4 18. Rxd8 Rxd8 19. Ne1
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19. Ne1 - more evasive action. Jim now starts a kingside pawn roll with f5. |
1 comment
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19... f5 20. Bxg7 Kxg7
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20. ......... Kxg7 - bishop trade. |
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21. Rd1 Ne5 22. Rxd8 Nxd8
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22. ......... Nxd8 - a rook trade. |
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23. Nd2 g5 24. Nb1 Ndf7 25. Nc3
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25. Nc3 - feeling that I have a reasonable position I decided to offer a draw here. Jim wanted to play on because he felt it was still too early in the game. As it turned out my position did go south from here, although it was exactly 20 moves later that I was to wave the white flag. Looking at the position now I see that black does have a slight edge due to the placement of his knight on e5. Still, if you don't ask, you don't get. |
1 comment
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25... g4 26. Kf1 h5
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26. ...... h5 - the pawn roll continues. |
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27. Nb5
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27. Nb5 - I now try to improve the position of my minor pieces. |
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27... a5 28. g3
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28. g3 - trying to hold up the pawn roll but would h3 have been an improvement? |
4 comments
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28... Bc6 29. Ng2
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29. Ng2 - would Nc7 have been better here? I wanted to put my knight on f5 and he does get there but it doesn't help in the end. |
3 comments
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29... Bxb5 30. cxb5
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30. cxb5 - B for N trade. |
1 comment
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30... Nd6 31. Nf4 c4
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31. ........ c4! - unexpected as it will momentarily draw my pawns together, but there is an idea behind this. Look at those two black horsies. |
2 comments
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