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"The Uncastled King"The Janitor Jim Series: Game 5Annotated by David Surratt [Click here to view the game on a javascript interactive chess board] In this game Jim neglects to castle, and I take advantage by prying open lines to attack his king, winning material in the process. Sometimes an attack on the king wins material instead of achieving checkmate - but that's still enough to win the game. licenser vs. Janitor Jim 1.e4
e5
White is simply developing pieces to good squares. See Game 1 - "The Pieces That Stayed In Bed" and Game 4 - "Quitters Never Win" for more information about the opening phase of the game. At c4 this bishop eyes Black's sensitive f7 square. Why is f7 "sensitive"? Because it's only protected by the Black king, and at this stage of the game, the king is not a very good defensive piece. 3. .....
Bc5
One of the attractions to this development system is that White is now ready for the middlegame fight. True, he really can't take any major shots just yet because too many of his own pieces are still undeveloped (the entire queenside) but he's castled, and Black is still a couple of moves away from doing so himself. 4. ..... a6 Maybe planning ...b5 to chase away the White bishop on c4? Seems too slow to me. Better might have been 4...Nf6 5.d3 (or 5.Nc3) 0-0. 5.c3 Preparing d4, as well as opening c2 for the light-squared bishop, just in case. 5. ..... d6 Black has to be careful about any opening of the center - his king is still stuck there, and White would like nothing better than to open a line for his heavy artillery (the queen & rooks) to get at his royal highness. 6. ..... exd4 The alternative 6...Bb6 doesn't look so good after 7.dxe5 and now Black can not regain the pawn because of 7...dxe5 8.Qxd8+ and Black has to choose between 8...Nxd8 ( or 8...Kxd8 9.Bxf7) 9.Nxe5. 7.cxd4
The so-called "Classical Center", when White has pawns on d4 and e4, controlling a lot of space in the middle of the board, while Black's only center pawn is stuck on d6. Advantage White. 7. ..... Bb4?? A tactical blunder, which I blithely ignored. (Fancy talk for: I missed it!) Much better was 7...Bb6 8.Bg5. 8.a3 The right move was 8.Qb3! threatening to chase the bishop's protector away (removing the guard) with d5, while also setting up a battery on the a2-g8 diagonal aimed directly at f7; this is an example of a double attack. 8...Qd7 (No better for Black is 8...Ba5 9.Bxf7+ Ke7 10.Bg5+ Nf6 11.e5 Nxd4 12.Nxd4 dxe5 13.Nf3) 9.d5 Nce7 (9...Na5 10.Qxb4 Nxc4 11.Qxc4) 10.Qxb4. 8. ..... Ba5 I wanted to be able to get my rook to e1, but I had to chase the bishop away first. 9. ..... Bb6
Also possible was 10.Bb2 but it seemed too passive to me... Black could then play 10...Bg4 indirectly putting pressure on White's center. Black threatens ...Bxf3 when White must choose between Qxf3 losing the d4 pawn, or gxf3 destroying the pawn cover in front of his castled king. 10. ..... f6 It is almost always dangerous to move this pawn, especially with White's bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal. Now, where will Black castle? Better was 10...Nf6. 11.Bh4 11.Be3 covering the d-pawn was probably better. I have a tendency in these games to overlook Jim's potential counterplay, in this case against my d-pawn. 11. ..... Nh6 Black needs to start fighting back, and the knight doesn't have much of a future on the edge of the board. Generally speaking, knights should be developed towards the center of the board. See Game 2 - "Pawns: The Soul of Chess" for an explanation of why. Better was 11...Bg4. 12.Re1 Still trying to open the e-file, but this allows Black to try and get some counterplay going. It's very important, when you are being attacked, to try and generate some attacking chances of your own. These chances are called counterplay, and are very useful unless you want to spend the rest of the game fighting while lying on your back! Better was 12.h3, an excellent prophylactic move, depriving Black's pieces of the g4 square. 12. ..... Bg4
13.e5 The timing for this break is all wrong. After some "thought", Fritz likes 13.d5 which is absolutely contrary to what White wants to accomplish - namely the opening of the e-file. However, White's inaccurate play (12.Re1) makes 13.d5 necessary now, after which 13...Nd4 14.Nbd2 0-0 allows Black's king to escape the center. 13. ..... Kd7 Black panics and decides to make a run for it. Black could have gotten the upper hand after 13...dxe5 14.d5 ( Not 14.dxe5 Qxd1 15.Rxd1 Bxf3 16.gxf3 Nxe5 and Black is winning.) 14...Ne7 15.h3 Bh5. 14.exd6 Still trying to destroy any cover the Black king might have. 14. ..... Kc8 Marginally better is 14...Bxd4 15.dxc7 Kxc7 16.Bg3+ Kb6 17.Ra2. 15.dxc7
15. ..... Qxc7 Black should play 15...Bxc7 in order to build some cover for his king along the h2-b8 diagonal. 16.Nbd2 Perhaps 16.Bg3 or 16.Qd3 might have been better, but I was anxious to complete my development. 16...Nf5 If 16...Bxd4 17.Bg3 Qd7 18.Ra2 and White still has the edge. 17.Be6+ Kb8??
Best was 17...Kd8. Paradoxically, Black was best off moving his king back towards the center. With 17.Kb8 Black puts his king and queen on the same diagonal - the h2-b8 diagonal. The problem is that this diagonal is wide open, and White still has his dark-squared bishop on the board. This is a set-up to avoid at all costs! 18.Bxf5 Removing the only thing keeping White from playing Bg3, pinning the Black queen against the king. This is another good example of removing the guard. 18. ..... Bxf5 No better is 18...Bxf3 19.Nxf3 Ka7. 19.Bg3
19. ..... Ne5 The only way to protect the queen, which is absolutely pinned to the king. 20.dxe5 Ka7
Skewering the rook. The difference between a pin and a skewer is that in a pin the more valuable piece is behind the weaker one, while in a skewer the more valuable piece is out front, forced to move out of the way of the attack on the weaker piece. 23. ..... Qg8
Forcing the exchange of queens, after which Black is really hopeless. 26. ..... Qxd4 If 26...b6 27.Re7 Qxd4 28.Nxd4. 27.Nxd4 Rf8 Review Time:
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