Bullet Time #1: Best Moves with No Time?

I was never much of a bullet player but lately I wanted to start playing 2-0 for fun as a way to decompress from playing 10-0. It’s also nice to let the tactics and opening knowledge work their magic when they come with out calculation. I started from about 1000 recently and was working my way up to see how long it would take to reach my 1600-1700 range of my other time controls. I played a game today that was nearly perfect against 1651 bullet 1850 blitz player so I had to dive into it and figure out why it all worked out.

Bullet all comes down to tactics and previous knowledge, in this game we played into the second most popular line of the exchange slave. It’s a position I’ve been in a ton of times and didn’t have to think about at all.

It’s Black’s move in the position above, to me there is really only one move I’d play here and it’s h6 asking the bishop what’s up. The c8 bishop will most likely end up on b6 and the a rook on the c file opposite my Queen which is exactly what happens. There is pressure on h7 which is why h6 is a good idea proactively, I have a tactical sequence to remove the knight from f6 guarding h7 once the rook lands on c8.

Typically a rook opposite the Queen is ideal but in the position above Black can’t stop the knight being removed from f6 regardless of how they recapture. In the game I played 1. Nxd7 and the Queen or knight must take back, Black plays 1…Nxd7 2. Bxe7 Qxe7 3. Bxh7+. Even with the sequence of 1. Nxd7 Qxd7 then 2. Bxf6 Bxf6 3. Bxh7+ still.

The plan from here is very simple, control the c file, double the rooks and try to expand on the Queen side. Black doesn’t have any weakness at the moment so I would need to create and probe, if I am able to get a rook to the 7th rank or harass the a7 pawn that would be a start. Black makes a terrible mistake and gives themself a weakness with doubled pawns with: 1…Nf6 2. Rc1 Ne4 3. Bxe4 and Black now has doubled e pawns with a bishop on b7.

This is enough to be game winning now, the e pawn is a target, the c file is under my control and after Rd1 the center is under control as well. I go into the full review on Lichess.

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Correspondence 5: Don’t Rely on the Books

I don’t play against the Grunfeld too often and I usually don’t enjoy it when I do. Black’s goal of a swift Queen side attack in conjunction with the g7 bishop is completely different than the standard QGD or QGA which I feel more comfortable in. I’m not quite sure of my opponents rating since they were the default 1500 rating but they seem to be in the 1700s classical and 1500s blitz which seems low, however it’s a new account.

They played well, only 5 inaccuracies and 2 mistakes. I think they used the opening book and chose the highest win percentage lines, something common in correspondence games, it’s noticeable when 7…Nc6 is played instead of c5 which is the thematic break in the Grunfeld. Nc6 scored 41% winning for Black but is seen as an inaccuracy and the game changes completely without the c5 break as Black’s main plan. I follow up Blacks move with f4 which takes us out of book and they immediately make a mistake.

The typical Grunfeld opening, Black is looking to play c5 and pressure the Queen side while opening up the g7 bishop.

I mentioned in the intro that Black immediately started to make mistakes when taken out of the opening book. After f4 they played e6 allowing Ba3 and preventing the King from being able to castle. This one mistake plagues Black til move 15, wastes time having to move the bishop back to swap it off and removes their castling ability anyway as the King recaptures.

The Queen side structure is something you’d see from a Grunfeld opening where Black has more pawns on the Queen side but in this position Black is about to lose the a and b pawns after axb5 axb5 Bxb5 Rxb5 and left with only the c pawn which becomes a target.

The c pawn is eventually lost and we end up in this position where Black appears to have a tactical shot. Black plays Ne6 with a discovery on my Queen and an attack on the d4 rook. Play follows as 1…Ne6 2. Qxc8+ Kg7 3. Qb7 Nxd4, if you’re following along mentally there is a attack on the f7 pawn 4. Rxf7+ Kh6 5. Nxd4 Qd1+ 6. Kg2 Qxd4.

The below position picks up from the above with 7. Qe7 and Black is simply lost here. There is no perpetual since my King can hide on h3, mate is coming after Qh4.

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Super Blitz #23: Classic Exchange Caro

This is a 3 minute Caro game where White never really applied any pressure and gave me control over the c file which ultimately leads to their loss. I can’t stress enough how often the c file becomes a weapon in the exchange Caro.

Below is a typical position you’d see albeit a little different of a move order. Generally I would hope to have played Rc8 and if the exchange of knights happens I can recapture with Rxc6, my opponent swaps them off immediately rather than after Bg5. There is an up side here, I can still play Rc8 after Nxc6 bxc6 because pushing the pawn with the support of the rook helps destabilizes the center and gives me more control over the c file before the other player.

We come to the position below where I’ve used the f rook to support the c file in addition to the Queen assisting from d6. There is an obvious down side for me and that’s the isolated a pawn which my rook needs to defend at the moment. Eventually the a pawn will move forward and look to trade off against the majority leaving me with the strong c file.

Here the Queen laterally defend the weak a pawn while both rooks threaten the c2 pawn. At some point if I need to break I can look to play Qc6, a4 and if b4 then Rc3.

Ultimately the game ends in a rather anticlimactic fashion, White simply forgets to make luft for the King and loses the game due to Rc1+.

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Super Blitz #22: Wild Knight Moves

This is a game vs a 1566 in the Traditional variation of the QGD which happens to be my favorite opening of all time.

There is one very important idea Black didn’t play to strengthen their structure which cost them the game. Black needs to play c6 in order to defend d5 in the center and then play the knight to d7.

It’s Black move, the position is equal and Black only has one real weakness which is the pawn on d5. Black needs to play c6 to bolster the d pawn, if you notice once I castle the knight on c3 threatens to capture the pawn and fork the Queen and bishop in the process.

Black does eventually defend the pawn but with the Rook instead. The fact that their bishop captured my knight allowed me to attack the d pawn twice once the King castled. There was a line to partially defend with Ne7 which I look at in the analysis. From this point Black goes down a pawn, recaptures their bishop with the Queen and I capture the knight on c6 with my bishop stacking their c pawns. We get the position below where Black is down a pawn and the Queen side structure is a wreck.

Objectively the position is lost here, even with proper defense Black has too many pawn weaknesses I could exploit while stretching their defenses too thin. The game becomes a matter of technique and clean up from here. The opening had some theory and I analysis quite a few possible lines for the future on lichess.

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