Game 4 in 45 45 league: Loss with GPA
I played as white, and my opponent played the Sicilian. Hence, I got to trot out the Grand Prix Attack for the first time. I lost, as can be seen in the annotated game here. I made one major error (move 22) that blew the game. It was a tricky little position, and if I had just more seriously considered the consequences of my potential captures, I probably would have made the right move eventually. I like these games, as my errors are more subtle and instructive than in fast games.
I really liked the GPA. With natural-feeling moves, I was able to get a pretty good position in the middlegame (which I squandored) on this line I hadn't even studied. It felt natural partly because the pawn structure is similar to the King's Gambit declined, which I often transpose into.
One thing that was reinforced was that I should be spending less time studying openings, and use my non-tactical study time playing slow games so I can get better at my thought process, in particular thinking through the consequences of all checks and captures.
I really liked the GPA. With natural-feeling moves, I was able to get a pretty good position in the middlegame (which I squandored) on this line I hadn't even studied. It felt natural partly because the pawn structure is similar to the King's Gambit declined, which I often transpose into.
One thing that was reinforced was that I should be spending less time studying openings, and use my non-tactical study time playing slow games so I can get better at my thought process, in particular thinking through the consequences of all checks and captures.
posted by Blue Devil Knight at 7/16/2006 07:53:00 PM
6 Comments:
That was a good opening, and frankly the middlegame looks non-trivial. If your only making 1 major error per game, your doing better than lots of us ;-).
At move 16 it looked like you had some attacking chances on the kingside, but 16. Nxd7 gives that up. Before that you have bishop, knight, and rook all pointing at f7. You have another knight on the kingside and your queen can get there quickly. The defense doesn't have nearly that many pieces over there.
The bishop on c4 is a little susceptible to the b5 push. One idea is to play 16. a5 to secure the c4 bishop. Or if you really like to calculate, you could try 16. f5 where the threat is Nxf7 (Rxf7 fxe6 forking the bishop and rook, opening the f-file followed by e5 driving away the f6 knight so the queen can penetrate on g4 or h5). I think the critical response by black would be b5. Can white still play Nxf7?
I think he can't:
16. f5 b5 17. Nxf7 Rxf7 (Qc8 Bxe6 Bxe6 fxe6 Qxe6 Ng5) 18. fxe6 Rf8 19. exd7+ bxc4 and there doesn't seem to be enough for white.
But there are some lines that look promising:
16. f5 b5 17. fxe6 fxe6 (bxc4 exd7) 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rxa8 Qxa8 20. Nxd7 Nxd7 21. Bxe6 looks good for white. (Maybe axb5, Rxa8, and Nxd7 should come before fxe6, not sure).
It looks complicated, but the moves are very forcing, so the analysis tree has very few branches to consider. In any case, if it's too much to stomach, or you don't have the time on the clock, you can shut down the b5 push with 16. a5 and play f5 later.
This is definitely an interesting position, it looks like your development is much more coordinated than your opponent's. At this point you probably want to avoid exchanging your well developed pieces for his poorly developed ones unless it nets you some other advantage.
P.S. I've enjoyed a lot of you guys chess blogs here and since I can't post anonymously, I've signed up for my own.
Loomis, those are excellent comments! When I have time later, I'll sit down and think through the variations you suggested. Thanks!
Good to see you started a blog. I'll add it to my sidebar and look forward to your thoughts on this nutty game.
I commented at your blog on the GPA lately. I did that by meomory. Now I see I have mixed up two variants. So it was utterly nonsense.
I will have a close look again at the GPA one of these days, since I'm not content with the Smith-Morra nor the Alapin.
Tempo, it turns out that in the forthcoming "Chess Openings for White, Explained", they recommend the GPA.
This makes me happy with my choice, but also concerned, as there is sure to be a resurgence of interest in this line.
thanks for your recent comment. ive seen your web page before, very nice, i mean your blog here... im just in from work (2-11 pst) so getting ready to do CT-
Art, then CTS after, same as Temposchlucker. I probably need to be a Knight, but hadn't gotten round to asking or buffing my page, either. i work hard at chess. i like to play less and study more. playing is stressfull!
i was a senior broker for many years and don't need more stress.
i just got a new dual core instead of old notebook, so instead of migrating my application data over, just starting over on CTA. i was up to 335 or so and starting to suffer. now im repeating the first 300+ and much less suffering!
nevertheless, since i often do 100 per day of CTS, its not like i need to be in a big hurry on CTA.
lets remain in touch and thanks for writing.
warmly, dk
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