Tabiya Italian and Spanish Four Knights

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bc4 is the rarely played (at master level) Italian Four Knights. If black plays 4...Bc5 the game transposes to the Guioco Pianissimo, but black has a better move with the fork trick 4..Nxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Bd3 and here Kaufman recommends the novelty and gambit 6...Nb4 looking at 7.Ng3 e4 8.Bxe4  dxe4 9.Nxe4 Bf5 with compensation for the pawn. I will place my tabiya for this variation after the novelty 6...Nb4 and look for any games in this line.

The more likely Spanish Four Knights is reached after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 where Kaufman recommends 4...Bc5 and welcomes the fork trick. 5.O-O O-O 6.Nxe5 Nxe5 7.d4 Bd6 8.f4 ( 8.dxe5 Bxe5 and black is fine with the half open e-file) 8...Ng4 9.e5 Be7 10.Be2 d6 11.exf6 Nxf6.

White's f-pawn is in the way of his dark square bishop and at risk of over extending.

Master Game Analysis: Smyslov v Rudakovsky, Moscow 1945

This is game 16 from Chernev's "The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played". I got all of the essential bits in my analysis of this game. Houdini found a few minor flaws in my analysis, but nothing that changes the course of the game, so the following is my work.

US Championship 2013

The tournament is half over and I missed it!

I will be following the rest the games on http://www.uschesschamps.com/live

In viewing the replay, notice the background has Fox Sports Midwest logo. I am in their North territory, so I don't know if they are broadcasting, or just webcasting.

I may encourage coverage by watching via Fox Sports.

Tabiya: Scots Four Knights

Kaufman puts the Scots and Four Knights in one chapter, because of the likely transpositions to this line:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 (Scots)
1.e5 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 (Four Knights)

BTW, I call it Scots rather than Scotch, because Scots refers to things from Scotland, and Scotch is a beverage.

The mainline of the Scots follows from 5.Nxc6 and will require other Tabiya.

1.e5 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.exd5 cxd5 9.O-O O-O 10.Bg5 c6:

11.Qf3 is likely white's best next move, though Na4 and Ne2 are also played. This is exactly the type of open game position I need to understand better. Black's kingside pawn structure might be wrecked, but white will have to give up the queen to do it. Black must get more active piece play to offset his bad pawns.

After 11.Qf3, Bd6 is balanced move, Be7 tries to avoid the bad kingside pawns, while h6 provokes the bad pawns, but will likely get a bishops of opposite color endgame.

Tabiya: Ruy Lopez, Wormald and Worrall attacks

White can meet the threat to his e-pawn by defending it with Qe2, either directly after 4...Nf6 or after 5.O-O Be7. Kaufman recommends a type of Marshall attack in both cases. We reach the same position via 5.Qe2 b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.O-O O-O (Wormald) or 5.O-O Be7 6.Qe2 b5 7.Bb3 O-O (Worrall). I will chose this position as my Tabiya for searching games, because both opponents I have faced with these lines have not played 8.c3 allowing 8...d5 and a Marshall gambit like line.

The Marshall gambit opens the center quickly and black tries to take advantage of his lead in development to  make a quick attack on white's king.

Master Game Analysis: Tarrasch v Scheve, Leipzig 1894

This is game 15 in Chernev's "The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played"

I missed a few nuances when I analyzed this game. I disagreed with Tarrasch and Chernev on the identity of the losing move. I am vindicated by Houdini. The big shift in evaluation happens where I thought it did.

Tabiya:Ruy Lopez 5.d3

In the Ruy after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6, the main line is 5.O-O, which allows black the choice of the open Ruy 5...Nxe4. White regains the pawn easily, because the half open e-file is dangerous to black's uncastled king.

However, white can avoid the Open Ruy by 5.Qe2 (Wormald) or 5.d3. Both of these avoid some of the trickier lines for white in the Closed Ruy, but both have drawbacks. Today, I want to look at my Tabiya after 5.d3.

White will be one tempo slower in the basic Ruy plan, but that plan is a closed game, where tempo are not so critical. White gains several options that are not available if he goes straight ahead for the d4 based plan.

But he also gives black an option not available after 5.O-O Be7.  5...d6 6.c3 {an escape hatch for the Ba4} 6...g6 {black can go for the immediate fianchetto rather than the slower one in the mainline Ruy} 7.O-O Bg7 8.Re1 O-O 9.Nbd2 {The theory seems hot right here. Kaufman recommends ...b5 and moving into familiar Ruy territory, but ...Nd7 seems to be fashionable.} 9...b5 10.Bb3 Na5 11.Bc2 c5 12.Nf1 h6:

If white goes for a "normal" Closed Ruy by playing for d4, he is several tempo behind. More likely he will play for a kingside attack, but black should have enough defensive resources and the central counterstrike ...d5. As usual, white will have to prepare d3d4 with h2h3 which signals that the Na5 should come back to c6.

I think I will use the position after 9.Nbd2 to search for games to review.