Launching the h-pawn at the Leningrad Dutch

One of the best things about writing a blog is the response received from readers, most of which, fortunately, is positive. One of the emails received earlier this month, from a young man relatively new to Chess, had an influence on my deciding to continue writing the AW blog.

“I discovered your blog when looking for opening material on the Dutch opening. After reading all posts concerning the Dutch I decided to buy the book on the Leningrad Dutch

by GM Malaniuk which you have written about often. It was one of the best chess moves I have made off of the chess board. What I like about the book the most is how much of it is devoted to earlier deviations from the main lines. Most of my games venture away from the “book” moves very early in the game. Because of this I have found that to be successful in chess one must first study what is not “book” first in order to understand what is “book.” Most of my games do not reach an endgame, and if they do one side has a large advantage. Because of your blog I began playing some of the lesser played variations and found the better players were taking more time in the opening when before they would simply make their replies instantly. I have attempted to play many of the “offbeat” openings you advocate on your blog with success. For example, I have won games with the Bishop’s opening, and many of those have been won because of being able to play the Bxf7+ check. In the past year or so I have gained hundreds of rating points and now am a class D player. I attribute much of my success to your blog. It opened my mind. After looking at a game and making notes I then go to the ChessBomb and compare my notes with the variations given. Seeing the variations of how a game should have developed has helped my understanding of chess.

Before the last round of the 11th dMP Batavia GM 2019 Amsterdam (NED) IM Arthur Pijpers was tied with FM Jasel Lopez, both with 5 points. Pijpers was paired with GM Simon Williams, who had four points, and the white pieces. FM Jasel Lopez had white against Rick Lahaye, the only untitled player, who had 4 points.

The latter game began 1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6. This made me think of something you had written about always playing the move d6 when white plays both d4 and c4, so I looked it up on your blog and found you wrote, “As I recall one of the first chapters is titled, “Berzerk attacks.” This occurs when the Leningrad player allows white to fire the h4 salvo in the early opening phase of the game. Many failed experiments taught me to avoid h4 if at all possible. One of the ways to do this would be to delay playing g6 until after first playing d6, and then Nf6. White can still fire the h4 salvo, but it turns into a premature ejaculation. As a general rule I usually play d6 after the white pawns come to d4 and c4.” https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2017/12/15/breaking-the-rules-of-the-leningrad-dutch/

Sure enough, Lopez played 4. h4 and Lahaye did not play 4…d6 but 4…Bg7. In the game mentioned above between GM Jahongir Vakhidov and GM Neil McDonald you wrote, “Vakhidov fired the h4 salvo on his fourth move, to which McDonald replied Bg7. Vak, in for a penny, in for a pound, continued pushing it in with 5 h5. Neil takes the sucker offa the board with Nxh5. When Vak fires his King pawn to e4 I am willing to wager Neil was wishing he had already played d6…At this point Stockfish, according to the CBDB would play fxe4. McDonald plays 6…e6. There follows, 7 exf5 exf5 8 Rxh5 gxh5 9 Qxh5+.”

Lopez did not play 6. e4 but a ChessBomb red move, 6. Rxh5? If Lopez had played 6. e4 he would have had a large advantage, according to ChessBomb of about a pawn and a half. Instead after taking with the rook he was down about half a pawn. That is a huge swing in the opening. What I do not understand is FM Lopez is rated 2390 and his opponent, even though untitled, is rated 2414, so they are obviously strong players. If a player is going to play an attacking line launching his h pawn, such as in this game it seems he would have at least studied the opening. If Lopez had read your post he would have known to play 6. e4! After the game moves of 6. Rxh5 gxh5 Lopez did play 7. e4 but then it was not good and he lost the game and a chance at first place. IM Arthur Pijpers was winning his game when he offered GM Williams a draw to clinch first place.

Thank you for writing such an interesting blog. I have learned about how to study and play winning chess from your blog. I hope you recover and decide to write again.”

Thank you, sir, for such positive feedback! If only all feedback were so nice…

I decided to put the opening of the game into the ChessBaseDataBase.

Jasel Lopez 2390 (ARU) – Rick Lahaye 2414 (NED)

dMP Batavia Chess Tournament 2019 round 9

1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. h4 Bg7 5. h5 Nxh5 6. Rxh5 gxh5 7. e4 O-O 8. Qxh5 fxe4 9. Be3 e5 10. d5 d6 11. Nge2 Nd7 12. Ng3 Nf6 13. Qh1 c6 14. Bg5 cxd5 15. Nxd5 Be6 16. O-O-O Bxd5 17. Rxd5 Qb6 18. Bxf6 Rxf6 19. Nxe4 Rxf2 20. Nxf2 Qxf2 21. Rd2 Qe3 22. Kc2 Rf8 23. g3 e4 24. Bh3 Rf2 25. Be6+ Kh8 26. Rxf2 Qxf2+ 27. Kd1 e3 28. Qe1 Qf3+ 29. Qe2 Qe4 30. Qg4 Qd3+ 0-1

1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. h4 Bg7 (Stockfish at the ChessBase Data Base show 4…d6 as the best move) 5. h5 Nxh5 6. Rxh5 (This is shown as a “red move” at the ChessBomb. Both Stockfish and Houdini at the CBDB give 6 e4 as a much superior move) gxh5 7. e4 (Now this move is not best as SF and Komodo prefer 7 Bg5, a move not shown at 365Chess. Only one game has been played with 7 Bg5:

K. Tsatsalashvili (2226) vs N. Batsiashvili (2425) Chennai Open (Women) 2013

1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. h4 Bg7 5. h5 Nxh5 6.Rxh5 gxh5 7. Bg5 O-O 8. e3 c5 9. d5 d6 10. Nh3 Nd7 11. Nf4 Nf6 12. f3 a6 13.Bd3 Qe8 14. Qc2 h6 15. Bh4 e5 16. dxe6 Bxe6 17. O-O-O Bd7 18. Ncd5 Nxd5 19. Nxd5 Rf7 20. Re1 Be6 21. e4 f4 22. Qd2 Qf8 23. Nb6 Re8 24. e5 Bxe5 25. Bg6 Rf5 26. Nd5 Kg7 27. Bxe8 Qxe8 28. Ne7 Qf7 29. Nxf5+ Qxf5 30. Be7 Bd4 31. Bxd6 Be3 32. Rxe3 fxe3 33. Qxe3 Kg6 34. b3 b6 35. g3 Qf7 36. Bf8 Qxf8 37. Qxe6+ Kg7 38. Qe5+ Kg6 39. Qe6+ Kg7 40. f4 Qf6 41. Qe5 Kg6 1/2-1/2)

7…O-O 8. Qxh5 (This move, along with 8 e5 and Nh3 have been played, but Komodo and Houdini give 8 Bd3 as best)

https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2019-dmp-batavia-chess-tournament/9-4-Lopez_Jasel-Lahaye_Rick

Black, Rick Lahaye, has a huge advantage and went on the win the game which put him in a four way tie for second place, a half point behind winner IM Arthur Pijpers of the Netherlands. Tournament information can be found here: http://batavia1920.nl/chess/about/

Here are some previous posts on the Dutch:

https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/mikhail-kobalia-wins-with-the-leningrad-dutch/

https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2018/04/08/mikhail-kobalia-plays-the-dutch/

https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/reti-versus-dutch/

https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2018/04/01/2191/

https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2017/12/15/breaking-the-rules-of-the-leningrad-dutch/

Breaking The Rules of the Leningrad Dutch

Neil McDonald

is a English Chess Grandmaster born in 1967, and a prolific author. His Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_McDonald_(chess_player)) shows thirty five Chess titles he has authored, including three on the Dutch.

Opening Guides: Dutch Leningrad, (1997);

Starting Out: The Dutch Defence, published in 2005;

Play the Dutch: An Opening Repertoire for Black based on the Leningrad Variation (2010).

Then there is this one:

Heading into the last round of the recently completed London Classic Open GM McDonald was in the fourth score group, along with a host of other players with 5 1/2 points out of a possible 8. He had black versus fellow GM Jahongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan,

who was rated 2500, about one hundred points higher than McDonald.

Vakhidov opened with 1 c4, to which his opponent replied f5! The Dutch, a fighting opening for the last round game! There followed 2 Nc3 Nf6 and 3 d4 g6.

When attempting to play the Dutch four decades ago I was attracted to the Leningrad because of a game between Karpov vs Jacobsen, USSR vs Scandinavia junior match 1968, (https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/?s=karpov+jacobsen) found in a book by Tim Harding, published in 1976, appropriately titled, The Leningrad Dutch.

As I recall one of the first chapters is titled, “Berzerk attacks.” This occurs when the Leningrad player allows white to fire the h4 salvo in the early opening phase of the game. Many failed experiments taught me to avoid h4 if at all possible. One of the ways to do this would be to delay playing g6 until after first playing d6, and then Nf6. White can still fire the h4 salvo, but it turns into a premature ejaculation. As a general rule I usually play d6 after the white pawns come to d4 and c4.

Vakhidov fired the h4 salvo on his fourth move, to which McDonald replied Bg7. Vak, in for a penny, in for a pound, continued pushing it in with 5 h5. Neil takes the sucker offa the board with Nxh5. When Vak fires his King pawn to e4

I am willing to wager Neil was wishing he had already played d6…At this point Stockfish, according to the CBDB would play fxe4. McDonald plays 6…e6. There follows, 7 exf5 exf5 8 Rxh5 gxh5 9 Qxh5+.

How would you like to be sitting behind the black pieces in this position? Me neither…McDonald moved his King to f8 and Vak played 10 Nd5. Neil tried a new move, 10…h6 (10…d6 11. Bg5 Qd7 12. O-O-O Nc6 13. Re1 Qf7 14. Qxf7+ Kxf7 15. Nxc7 Rb8 16. Nb5 Bxd4 17. Nxd6+ Kg6 18. Bh4 Bf6 19. Nf3 Bxh4 20. Nxh4+ Kf6 21. Ne8+ Kf7 22. Nd6+ Kf6 23. Ne8+ Kg5 24. g3 Rf8 25. f4+ Kh6 26. Bd3 Bd7 27. Nd6 Kg7 28. Nhxf5+ Bxf5 29. Nxf5+ Kh8 30. a3 Rbd8 31. Bc2 Na5 32. Re2 Rf6 33. b3 Rdf8 34. Nd4 R6f7 35. Re3 Rf6 36. Nf3 Nc6 37. Ng5 Rh6 38. Rd3 Rh1+ 39. Kb2 h6 40. Ne6 Rf6 41. Nc5 b6 42. Nd7 Re6 43. Rd2 Rhe1 44. Bd1 R6e3 45. g4 Re4 46. f5 Rd4 47. Kc2 Ree4 48. Bf3 Rxd2+ 49. Kxd2 Rd4+ 50. Ke3 Rxd7 51. Bxc6 Re7+ 52. Kd4 Kg7 53. b4 Kf6 54. c5 bxc5+ 55. Kxc5 Ke5 56. b5 Kf4 57. Kd6 Rh7 58. f6 Kxg4 59. Ke6 Kf4 60. f7 Rh8 61. Ke7 Ke5 62. f8=Q Rxf8 63. Kxf8 Kd4 64. Kg7 h5 65. Kg6 h4 66. Kg5 h3 67. Kg4 h2 68. Kg3 Kc4 69. Kxh2 Kb3 70. a4 Kb4 71. Kg3 Kc5 72. Kf4 1-0; Jimenez Martinez,J (2002) vs Encinas Encinas, (2174) Albacete 2004) There followed: 11 Qxf5+ Kg8 12 c5 d6 13 Qe4 Nc6 14 Bc4 Kf8 15 Ne2 Na5 16 Qf4+ Ke8 17 Bb5+

You know you have stepped into some really deep poo when your opponent ALLOWS you to fork two minor pieces with a lowly pawn…

c6 18 Bd3 cxd5 19 Bg6+ Kd7 20 Qxd6# 1-0

Gruesome. When is the last time you saw a GM mated in the middle of the board? The McDonald version of the Leningrad Dutch was obliterated.

Old McDonald turns fifty next month, becoming eligible for the World Senior. Maybe he should consider retiring to the farm…

I do not have either of the Leningrad books authored by GM McDonald. If you do and would like to leave a comment, or send an email (xpertchesslessons@yahoo.com) with what he has to say about handling berzerk attacks with an early h4, inquiring minds would like to know…

Chess Life vs Chess Monthly

On the cover of Chess Life one reads, “THE WORLD’S MOST WIDELY READ CHESS MAGAZINE.” I wonder if that statement is true, or if it is similar to what is on the front of the New York Times, “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” We know that to be a lie from the many instances the NY Times has not published a topical story when it could, and possibly should have. The latest example comes from the program, “The United States of Secrets” on the award winning PBS show, “Frontline.” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/united-states-of-secrets/)
The paper claiming to publish “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” sat on a story of criminal acts by the Bushwhackers until forced to do so by one of their own writers, who planned on putting the story in a book. By not publishing the story, which would have proven the POTUS, “Dubya,” was on the hustings lying to We The People, the Bush crime family (see: “Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America” by Russ Baker-http://www.amazon.com/Family-Secrets-Dynasty-Powerful-Influence/dp/B002T45028/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402500592&sr=1-1&keywords=family+of+secrets) was allowed to steal yet another election, to the detriment of We The People. Read, for example, “New York Times under fire for spiking NSA leaks story in 2004,” by Renee Lewis (http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/5/14/nyt-nsa-leaks.html)
I was at a coffee shop with some chess magazines, one of which was the May issue of Chess Life. The other was the April issue of Chess Monthly. Unable to locate a copy of New in Chess I took to be with me caused me to think of something GM Jonathan Rowson had written in his column in the best chess magazine in the world, New in Chess, about taking his newly arrived issue of NiC to a coffee shop. I had to make do with the aforementioned magazines. I flipped through the first few pages before stopping at “Chess to Enjoy” by GM Andy Soltis. I played over the first game, which was enjoyable. Then I sat up the position from the next game from the diagram at the top of the next page. After finishing it I turned to the next page only to find, “pable of making the solid moves that wereusually his forte…” The two words are not separated in the article and I was unable to find what should have been the first part of the sentence, or paragraph, so I stopped reading the article and flipped to the next page, wondering why Chess Life is not proofread before being published. It was the “Back to Basics” column by GM Lev Alburt. The game was between a class “B” player and an Expert, which is a Candidate Master to the rest of the world. I was appalled to see it was played at a time limit of G/60, 5 second delay. I closed the magazine thinking of days gone by when a top GM, such as Paul Keres or Robert Byrne would annotate a game between the best players in the world, played at what is now called a “classical” time control.
Then I opened the Chess Monthly. The first article was the “Chess Editorial” by Executive Editor, IM Malcolm Pein. Included in the editorial was a fantastic game between A. Motylev and A. Tari from the European Championship in Yerevan, 2014. It was so good I decided to copy it to share with my readers.
Motylev, Alexander (2656) vs Tari, Aryan (2424)
Event: 15th ch-EUR Indiv 2014
Site: Yerevan ARM Date: 03/04/2014
Round: 2.57 Score: 1-0
ECO: B90 Sicilian, Najdorf, Byrne (English) attack
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. h3 Be7 9. Qf3 O-O 10. O-O-O b5 11. g4 b4 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. exd5 Bc8 14. Bd3 a5 15. Kb1 a4 16. Nd2 Ba6 17. Bf5 Nd7 18. h4 Qc7 19. Bg5 Nc5 20. Ne4 Nxe4 21. Bxe4 Rfb8 22. Bc1 Bc4 23. h5 Bf8 24. Qf5 g6 25. hxg6 hxg6 26. Qf3 b3 27. cxb3 Rxb3 28. axb3 axb3 29. Bd2 Qa7 30. Kc1 Qa1+ 31. Bb1 Bxd5 32. Qxd5 Rc8+ 33. Bc3 Rxc3+ 34. Kd2 Qxb2+ 35. Ke1 Rc2 36. Rh2 Qc3+ 37. Kf1 b2 38. Kg2 Be7 39. Bxc2 1-0
(http://www.365chess.com/game.php?gid=3885378)
Next I read the “69 Seconds with…” which happened to be GM Neil McDonald. I love these Q&A’s with the players. The GM answers the question, “A tip please for the club player” with wonderful advice: “If you lose, be nice to your opponent. Players feel generous after they’ve won, and if you suggest a post-mortem they might reveal some secrets that help improve your game.”
One of the most amazing things I have witnessed in chess was the end of the last round game between Andrey Chumachenko and Jonathan Schroer. When the game ended the combatants immediately got up and walked to the skittles room, sat down and began analyzing the game. From the demeanor of the players I could not tell who had won, so I asked. Chumachenko had won, and the victory put him in a tie for first place, so it must have been a tough loss for IM Schroer, but no one would have ever known because of his gentlemanly behavior.
I played over the Bird’s Opening of Simon Williams vs D. Ledger, and a Caro-Kann between G. Wall vs J. Houska and learned the latter has a new edition of her “Play the Car0-Kann” in the works. I read the first edition, which left much to be desired, to be kind. It needed major improvements.
I had only made it to page 13 of the 58 page magazine and it was time to take my leave. Chess Monthly is a wonderful magazine and truly cheap at twice the price. The official organ of the USCF remains Chess on Life support.