A nice introduction to my chess posts will be the key positions segment. I think it was the Polgar sisters which made a habit of studying key positions in their journey towards becoming grandmasters. Understanding the objectives behind somewhat random positions should boost your chess IQ if you are serious. The position I pulled was a game I played many years back against a Master from Cedar Rapids (Robert Keating).
I checked our historical matchups and came to realize that he was a big underdog. Out of the previous 14 games I have records of I won 6 games drew 7 and lost just once. I’m not bragging but I hadn’t checked my results against him before and that is really impressive… Now how the title connects to this game, Keating didn’t have a good game and I believe this would have been the last win I got against him before he retired from competitive chess.
The game lasted 22 moves and he menitoned at the end of the game that his mind was set on watching his favorite Hockey team play (Pittsburgh Penguins). Distractions over the board interfere with calculations but I am sure that was only partially the culprit behind his result.
Positional Breakdown:
Black has king safety issues due to his uncastled king. However, it is not a serious problem because white is behind in development. Black’s pawn structure is more advanced (dominant) on the queenside which supports why black’s pieces tend to be developed towards that side. White also has a number of pawn weaknesses on the queenside to give black’s pieces objectives.
It is bad but I am not sure that it is seriously bad for white. White has a structural edge on the kingside given to him by his advanced e- pawn. I suppose if he had the time to develop his pieces there, he could give black’s unsafe king some problems.
What do you think?