Week 6: London System setups, the Englund Gambit and a +53 week

Week 6 (February 12–18, 2024) was the first real climb since my first week: 25 games, 12 wins, 11 losses, 2 draws, and 860 → 913 (+53). White did the heavy lifting (8 wins, 4 losses, 1 draw), and most of it came from setups with the bishop on f4: the London System lines went 4 wins out of 4, and when Black tried the Englund Gambit against my 1.d4, the London bishop beat it twice before I lost to it once.

The week in numbers

Tuesday, February 13, was the best day so far: games #185 to #188 were four wins in a row, and after game #190 I reached 944. From there it went flat and then down: two long draws (game #195 lasted 223 half-moves and ended in stalemate, with 11 blunders of mine in it) and four losses to finish the week, the last one abandoned after five half-moves. Of my 59 blunders, 16 came in endgames, more than in any earlier week.

The London System against the Englund Gambit, three times

The Englund Gambit is 1.d4 e5: Black gives up a pawn straight away. All three times I took it with 2.dxe5 and put my bishop on f4 by move 4, the same square it goes to in the London System.

• Game #185, win against arieljon (1014), 94.7% accuracy. Black's queen went to b4 with check and took my pawn on b2. I kept developing, and a few moves later my knight took the black queen on a3.
• Game #188, win against walid0817 (964), 98.1%. Black's sixth move dropped a piece and the game was over in 15 half-moves.
• Game #197, loss against UnclBck (927), 52.7%. This time my queen went hunting: queen to d5 on move 7 was already a blunder (+4.41 to +0.74), and on move 12 I left it on d5 where a knight could take it.

So the London bishop was fine against the Englund. The queen adventures, on either side, decided the games.

Three moments the engine flagged

Evaluations are from White's side; in all three I had White.

Game #176: one knight move, three jobs

Against kurtoglu27 (946), in an Accelerated London (1.d4 d5 2.Bf4), I was winning (+5.26). I moved my queen from b3 to d3. The engine's move was knight from f3 to e5, and it does three things at once: it attacks the knight on g4, attacks the knight on c6, and opens the long diagonal so my bishop on g2 attacks Black's queen on d5. After my quiet queen move it was still clearly better, but only +2.37.

r . b . k . . r
. p p . . . . p
p . n . p . . .
. . . q . p . .
. . N P . . n .
. Q . . P N P .
P P . . . . B P
R . . . . R K .

My opponent blundered right after, and I won by checkmate.

Game #177: the free pawn

Same opening, same day, against PJDLK (871): +3.98 for me. Black's pawn on g5 could simply be taken by my knight. I played h3 instead, Black pushed the pawn to g4 to attack my knight, and my edge shrank to +1.51.

r . . . k . n r
. . p q p . b .
p . p . . . . .
. . . p . p p p
Q . . P . . . .
. . P . P N B .
P P . . . P P P
R . . . . R K .

It was free. I won anyway, in a game that lasted 95 half-moves.

Game #178: attacking the queen with the wrong piece

Against Neimaliti (1077), a stronger opponent, the position was level-ish (+0.76). Black's queen had taken my pawn on b2, the same kind of raid as in the Englund games. I attacked it with my knight from c3 to a4. But after my knight move the queen can take my rook on a1 with check, and the engine's line wins Black a whole rook (-7.66). Moving the rook to b1 also attacks the queen, and takes the rook out of the corner at the same time.

r n b . k . . r
p p . . . p . p
. . p . p . p .
. . . p . n P .
. . . P . . . P
. . N . P N . B
P q P Q . P . .
R . . . K . . R

My opponent missed it and retreated the queen to a3, but I lost the game a few moves later anyway.

The lesson of the week

The best moves this week did two or three jobs at once: a knight move that attacked two knights and uncovered an attack on the queen, a capture that won a pawn, a rook move that hit the queen and escaped from danger. My moves did one job, or none. So when I have a good position, the question I now ask is: which of my moves does the most at once? And when the enemy queen is deep in my camp, as in game #178 or the Englund games, I check what it can take after my move, because that's when the loose piece appears.

All games this week

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