Chess 960 at the Newburyport Chess Club

Collins,Geoff - Bournival,Braden
Chess 960, Newburyport Chess Club

The time control for this game was G/80. This game was played at the Newburyport Chess Club located in Newburyport, MA. I play there on occasion just to keep my chess skills sharp. I used my Chronos Chess Clock to get this random position. Most people don’t know that Chronos Clocks have this feature where it’ll spit out a random Chess 960/Fischer Random Position. Consult your Chronos Chess Clock Manual if you are interested in this. 1.d4 I half expected white to play e2-e4, but this move makes a lot of sense. The same principles to the opening in regular chess seem to apply to Fischer Random / Chess 960, such as develop your pieces, control the center, etc. With this specific starting position, it is pretty clear that both sides will castle kingside at some point. All that’s needed to accomplish this is for the queen to move. It also seems quite difficult for either side to be able to develop pieces on the kingside, so it seems likely that the battle will take place in the center and queenside, which is what happened in the game. 1…d5 This response seemed like the most logical. I can’t develop my knights to the center, nor can I play c5 or e5 to attack white’s d4 pawn. The only other move I considered was e7-e6, but that seemed to doom my e8 bishop for awhile. 2.Nd3 Nc6 I’m not 100% sure about this move, since it blocks the c pawn and the e8 bishop. Perhaps I should have played Nd6 instead but I hated to just keep on copying my opponent like this. 3.e3 Nd6 4.Nd2 White developed this knight here because he seems to win to play c2-c4 and try and gain an intiative on the queenside. 4…f6 I played this move to combat the c2-c4 idea. I figured if I develop my bishop on f7, it will be much more difficult for white to do anything on the queenside. My d8 bishop is blocked here, but I figured I can always play e7-e5 where it will come alive. 5.Bf3 Bf7 6.c4!?

A very interesting pawn sacrifice! I think black should probably still be OK here, but white seems to have a nice queenside initiative. The d3 knight seems headed to c5 where it will be a beast. 6…dxc4 This seems forced, if: [6…Nxc4? 7.Nxc4 dxc4 8.Nc5 The b7 pawn falls along with black’s entire queenside.] 7.Nc5 Qe8 This allows me to castle kingside and protects the weak c6 knight since White was threatening Nxb7 followed by Bxc6. 8.Rc1 Na5!?

I figured if I allowed white to win back this c4 pawn, then I will have no compensation for his queenside intiative. I also saw the variation that happened in the game up until move 14 where the c6 pawn is immune because of back rank threats. [8…e5 9.Nxc4! Nxc4 10.Rxc4 Seems pretty good for white.] 9.Nde4 [9.b4! cxb3 10.axb3 Seems best for white, although now he is down a clear pawn his initiative on the queenside gives him enough compensation.] 9…c6 10.Bxa5?! Tempting but this resolves the tension too soon I think. It also leads to a forced variation where black just wins the exchange. [10.Qe2!?] 10…Bxa5 11.Nxd6 exd6 12.Nxb7 Bc7

Now since the knight is trapped on b7, white must sacrifice the exchange. 13.Rxc4 Bxc4 14.Qxc4+ d5 15.Qc2 [15.Bxd5+ cxd5 16.Qxc7 Rc8 And black mates on the back rank if the queen moves. This is a key variation to this entire line.] 15… 0-0 16. 0-0?

16…Bxh2+! 17.Kh1? [17.Kxh2 Qb8+ 18.g3 Qxb7 19.Rc1 Rac8 20.Bg4! This is white’s best try. 20…Rcd8 (20…Rc7? 21.Be6+ Kh8 22.Bxd5 Is even a little better for white.) 21.Qxc6 Qxb2 22.Rc2 Qb8 23.Be6+ Kh8 24.Bxd5 And black is still better but white should be able to hold this position.] 17…Bc7 18.Rc1 I spent a lot of time on this move because I was worried about: [18.Rc1 Rb8 19.Qxc6 Qxc6 20.Rxc6 Rxb7 21.Bxd5+ Kh8 22.Rc5 And in my calculations I thought I was losing the bishop on c7, after which it would be equal. But then I realized I can just protect my rook on b7 with: 22…Rfb8! 23.Bxb7 Rxb7 24.d5 Kg8 And the 2 pawns aren’t enough for the piece.] 18…Rb8 19.Nc5 Bd6 20.Na4?! [20.Nb3 Is a better square for the knight since it can come to a5 to attack the c6 pawn.] 20…Rc8 21.Qf5 g6 22.Qd3 Kg7

I wanted to stop any Rxc6 Rxc6 Bxd5+ ideas.. My plan here is quite simple, i just want to push my f5 and h5 pawns up the board to open up lines for my rooks. There is not much white can do about this plan 23.g3 f5 24.Kg2 h5 25.b3 Rh8 26.Rh1 Qe7 27.Rh4 g5!

This is a nice touch. 28.Rh1 [28.Rxh5 g4 29.Qxf5 gxf3+ 30.Qxf3 Rxh5 31.Qxh5 Qe4+ 32.Kg1 Rh8 33.Qg5+ Kf7 And white’s checks run out.] 28…g4 29.Be2 Qe4+ 30.Kg1 [30.Qxe4 fxe4 is an easy win for black, I Just play Kg6-g5 and h5-h4 to break the kingside open.] 30…Qxd3 31.Bxd3 Kf6 32.Rh4 c5 With the rook offside on h4, i thought it made sense to open the C file. 33.dxc5 Bxc5 34.Kg2 Be7 35.Rh1 Ke5 36.Rd1 h4

Finally I am able to push the H pawn! It’s interesting how it took me 11 moves from the time I played h7-h5 to be able to do this move. 37.gxh4 Rxh4 38.Ba6 Rch8 39.Rd4 Rh1! White is now in a mating net. 40.f4+ Kd6 There is no good way to stop R8h2+ Kg3 Bh4 mate.