JULY 31, 1994

Exeter Juniors 0 vs. Torbay Juniors 4 (Bloodworth League): Morgan (black) 0-1 Scott (white),

Butler 0-1 Richards, Goldsworthy 0-1 Hardy, MacKeith-Prince 0-1 Davies.

 In the junior Bloodworth League Exeter Juniors were whitewashed 4-0 by an older Torbay side, but the scoreline hides a couple of tough endgames which could have ended very differently.

 Three of the games started with the orthodox set-up of Pe4/Nf3/Bc4/Nc3 with a similar formation for Black. Having seen the Scotch opening above, they might be cautious of playing something less solid, but I think they would have more fun with either the 4.c3 variation of the Giuoco Piano (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3) or even Evans' Gambit 4.b4.

 The top board game actually featured the Tarrasch Variation of the French, where White turns the tables on Black's strategy of attacking central pawns. After 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bb5+ (5.Ngf3 is more common) Bd7 6. Qe2+ Qe7 7. Bxd7+ Nxd7 8. dxc5 Qxe2+ 9. Nxe2 Andrew Morgan was left defending a typical Tarrasch endgame, hours defending pawn weaknesses, and eventually went down when White promoted a pawn. Nigel Short has recommended the line 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 as a way of avoiding this, but I always have thought that 3... Nf6 4. e4 Nfd7 is more likely to give you positions that are typical of the French, with ...c5,...Nc6 and ...Qb6 to follow.

 Here's a quick win by Korchnoi in the French, in a position that could have arisen from the Tarrasch. What should you play after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Bd3 c5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Qe2+ Be7 7. dxc5 Nf6 8. h3 O-O 9. O-O Bxc5 10. c3 Re8 11. Qc2 Qd6 12. Nbd2?

________________________________ 12...Bxh3 is tempting but Korchnoi won after 12....Qg3! 13. Bf5 Re2 14. Nd4 Nxd4 15. cxd4 0-1 since White didn't wait for 15...Bxd4 16. Bxc8 Rxf2

---

Back to Exeter Chess Club home page

Dr. Dave

---

Back to Chess Coaching Page

This document (ECC\eccp13.html) was last modified on 13 Aug 2005 by

Dr. Dave