[Event "Capablanca - Euwe"]
[Site "Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Scheveningen NED"]
[Date "1931.07.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "J.R. Capablanca"]
[Black "M. Euwe"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
{<em><sup>Click or tap on a move in the game text for a popout display board.<sup></em></br> [#]}
1. d4 { </br> 1. e4 is equally good, although 1. e4 can be threatened immediately (1…d7-d5 or 1…Ng8-f6), whereas 1. d4 is just inconvenienced by 1…c5 or 1…e5. </nl>The difference shows at move 2, when White can always follow 1. e4 with 2. d4 (1. e4 d5 2. d4 is a speculative investment that I recommend, but in case of 1. e4 Nf6, forget I said anything; attack them back with 2. e5.), while it is not that easy to continue 2. e4 after 1. d4 (unless you want to chance 1. d4 d5 2. e4; if 1…Nf6, I say 2. g4! Nxg4 and <em>then</em> 3. e4, but keep in mind that people think I’m insane for this ). </br>The upshot is that 1. e4 and 1. d4 are equally valuable as a first move, but the proceedings tend to be a world apart. </br>} 1... Nf6 { </br> Here’s the difference: 1. d4 Nf6 practically prohibits e2-e4, but 1. e4 Nc6 practically invites d2-d4-d5.</br>} 2. c4 { </br> The next-best thing to e2-e4. 2. Nc3 is a solid move, but blocks the c-pawn, which is so useful in the wrestling for center control. So the common practice is c2-c4, and then Nb1-c3. </br>} 2... e6 {</br> 2…d5 3. cxd5 makes it difficult for Black to maintain a pawn in the center. 2…e5 is an underrated move designed for active pieces, but whether it goes 3. dxe5 Ng4 or 3. dxe5 Ne4, Black typically becomes limited in choice of pawn structure.</br>} 3. Nc3 { </br> Aiming for 4. e2-e4. Half the time in modern master practice, White avoids a pin with 3. Nf3, which is a slight concession, blocking the f-pawn from f2-f3 to help form a big pawn center. </br>} 3... Bb4 {</br> Nimzovich’s pin is excellent. Black controls half the center through active piece play.</br>} 4. Qc2 { </br> At the turn of the 1990’s, grandmaster Shirov showed his resolve to push e2-e4 by playing 4. f3. Other grandmasters followed suit, then lesser masters, then class C players. Chess openings are like Internet memes: everywhere today, on your grandmother’s Facebook tomorrow.</br>} 4... d5 {</br> Sensible. The fight for e4 goes on, and since 4. Qc2 unguards the d4-pawn, Black’s …d5xc4 would make a discovered attack.</br>} 5. cxd5 {</br> Capablanca liked Bc1-g5 to help in the fight for e4. In his famous game against Nimzovich (Bad Kissingen, 1928) — the one that inspired the name Capablanca Variation for 4. Qc2 — he played it too soon: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. Bg5 dxc4, and it was much trouble to regain that pawn. </br>} 5... exd5 { </br> 5…Qxd5 keeps the pressure on d4, and increases Black’s lead in development. It was Euwe’s preference in the 1937 world championship match. </br>} 6. Bg5 { </br> Well timed! </br>} 6... Qd6 {</br> The most common move is 6…h6. Half the time, White plays 7. Bh4, when Black could break the pin by …g7-g5, but almost surely hits the center with …c5. The other half the time, 6…h6 persuades White to take 7. Bxf6. Euwe’s unpinning 6…Qd6 also urges White to swap on f6. Modern practice prefers 6…h6 because 1) By pushing …h6 now, the pawn won’t be attacked if White plays Bf1-d3. 2) When White plays 7. e3 to free the king bishop, it sets up Bg5-f4. </br>} 7. Bxf6 {</br> Else the bishop is somewhat staring into space.</br>} 7... Qxf6 {</br> Avoiding bad pawns, and hitting d4.</br>} 8. a3 {</br> 8. e3 loses a tempo to ….Bf5, which renders moot the issue of Bf1-d3 to hit the h7-pawn.</br>} 8... Bxc3+ {</br> Conserves time. If the bishop retreats, White develops. If the bishop captures on c3, White recaptures with a non-developing move. </br> } 9. Qxc3 {</br> 9. bxc3 captures toward the center, but there’s 9…Bf5.</br>} 9... O-O {</br> Black’s ease of castling is a positive aspect of the Nimzo-Indian.</br>} 10. e3 {</br> A must for developing the kingside. 10. e3 as guarding the d4-pawn in order to make a threat of 11. Qxc7 seems like happenstance.</br>} 10... c6 {</br> Forming one of the most common pawn structures in chess. White’s wish is b2-b4-b5xc6 to weaken Black’s queenside. Black’s is …f7-f5-f4xe3 to weaken White’s kingside. The risks and the rewards are greater for Black, whose “minority attack” exposes his own king, but its success would expose White’s.</br>} 11. Nf3 {</br> A natural developing move.</br>} 11... Bf5 {</br> Taking the freer and central diagonal.</br>} 12. Be2 {</br> White is reluctant to offer a trade of bishops, because there’s a slight advantage in owning the “better bishop”, unblocked by friendly center pawns. </br>} 12... Nd7 {</br> An annotator could say this is the “only”development for the knight, given the blocker on c6, but it’s not. Imagine Black could play ….Nb8-a6-c7 with one move instead of two. The knight’s next move would be …Nc7-e6, supporting the plan …f7-f5-f4. Outside the imagination, 12…Na6 is too slow.</br>} 13. O-O {</br> Castled at last. With Black to play, Stockfish evaluates 13…a6 and 13…Qe6 most highly, but if a student played 13…a6, I’d frown. There’s no reason for …a7-a6 to prevent b4-b5 before b4-b5 is possible. 13…Qe6 makes way for the knight to improve …Nd7-f6-e4 and for the pawn to advance …f7-f5-f4. </br>} 13... c5 {</br> Stockfish thinks this move isn’t so good, but humans should see it differently. 13…c5 gives Black some space advantage in the center, while the d4-pawn is pinned in a sense because White’s structure suffers from 14. dxc5 Qxc3 15. bxc3 Nxc5. Further, …c6-c5 removes the primary target of White’s b2-b4-b5 minority attack, though it creates an isolated d5-pawn, the minority attack’s secondary objective. The exchange b2-b4-b5xc6 …b7xc6 sets a backward pawn on c6, and if Black avoids the backward pawn by ….c6xb5 (or by recapturing on c6 with a piece instead of the b7-pawn), the d5-pawn becomes isolated. </br> [#] } 14. b3 { </br> I spent much more time thinking about how to explain this move than Capablanca spent making it (14. Ra1-c1 is a natural alternative, breaking the pin on d4, and threatening d4xc5). One move ago, the d4-pawn was pinned in the mildest way, but b2-b3 makes the pin real. Purdy said “Always unpin”, which you might invert as “Never self-pin”, and Capablanca just did. </br></br> 14. b3 weakens the a- and b-pawns: the a3-pawn because its protector moved, the b3-pawn because it moved. 14. b3 isn’t designed to open the second rank for the rook shift Ra1-a2-c2, because c2 is off-limits. </br></br> It’s also sketchy to consider 14. b3 in terms of queen mobility: after the d4-pawn disappears, the white queen stands as a wall against …Qf6xb2. Purdy said: If you have a unit under attack, move it rather than guard it. If you use one unit to guard one, you have two units under pressure, the attacked unit <em>and</em> its guard. But 14. b3 doesn’t free the queen from the b-pawn’s defense, while the queen might be skewered with the a1-rook.</br></br> Take 14. b3 from an average player’s point of view. Average players love to make prophylactic pawn moves, and 14. b3 keeps the black pawn and the black knight away from c4. This is the wrong way to think; if you use your turn to make a preventive move, your opponent could find a constructive move, and you’ve spent a move on nothing. Prefer to let the scary move happen, then use the preventive move to attack it. That’s what I see in …c5-c4: White brings a rook to c1, the knight to e5 or d2, then b2-b3. And …Nb6-c4 is no concern, at least three moves away (…Nd7-b6 loses the c5-pawn).</br></br> After 2.5 days of contemplation, I have nothing good to say about 14. b3. GM Hodgson and IM Grefe both told me they don’t understand Capablanca; 14. b3 seems to be one of those moves. </br> } 14... Rac8 {</br> Black can see 15…cxd4 16. Qxd4 Rc2.</br>} 15. Rfc1 {</br> 15. Rac1 unguards the a3-pawn, for whatever that is worth. With the king rook on c1, both rooks are doing something.</br>} 15... Qb6 {</br> This is another move that a computer disfavors, but a chess coach thinks sensible. 15…Qb6 keeps pressure on d4, while applying pressure to b3 (the white queen is tied to its defense, here we go again about 14. b3), and freeing f6 for the knight.</br>} 16. Nd2 {</br> A peaceful gesture. White could give Black a chance to go wrong with 16. Qd2, preparing for the knight to recapture on d4, and arranging dxc5 with a possible discovered attack. Then 16…Qxb3? is a blunder, because 17. dxc5 menaces 18. Nd4 to fork, or to trap the black queen (18… Qa4 19. Bb5).</br>} 16... cxd4 {</br> Black goes for this because the exchanges at d4 ultimately block attacks on d5 from the front.</br>} 17. Qxd4 {</br> Else White loses material.</br>} 17... Qxd4 {</br> Forcing the pawn recapture.</br>} 18. exd4 { </br> The pawns are symmetrical, and neither side has an initiative. The game is quite even.</br>} 18... Nf6 {</br> That knight’s been waiting a while to improve itself.</br>} 19. f3 {</br> White inhibits all four minor pieces. About this one, you can say with confidence that it’s made for keeping Black away.</br>} 19... Bc2 {</br> A useful move, permitting the c8-rook to move up on the file ahead of …Rf8-c8, and tying the knight to defense of b3.</br>} 20. Ra2 {</br> Chasing the bishop out prevents Black’s rook up and rook over.</br>} 20... Bf5 {</br> Discovers an attack against c1.</br>} 21. Raa1 {</br> Guards c1 rather than swapping rooks and ceding the c-file.</br>} 21... Bc2 {</br> Offering to repeat the position.</br>} 1/2-1/2
You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.
You must log in to post a comment.