Expert knowledge is absolutely necessary to win

I managed to secure a draw yesterday against a Teichmann Excehnge defense. My opponent did not play the strongest move, but I was unable to benefit from it, and i left him off the hook. So my advise to every gambiteer : learn the theory lines well - it will bring you many rewards.

Guido De Bouver - Bart Van Tichelen
1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.Nc3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 c6 8.g4 e6 9.g5 Nd5 10.Bd3 Nd7 (diagram)

I knew that this move is not so good - but I failed to take advantage of his move. Maybe I did not think well enough as my opponent had consumed already 55 minutes in this fiurst 10 moves. I used only 2 minutes and planned to start playing quickly to put extra pressure on my opponent's clock ( game was played under standard time control : 2 hours for 40 moves, then 1 hour knock out ).

Now playing quickly in this sort of positions might not be the best strategy...


11. Bd2 ??? (diagram)

Giving it away immediately. My plan was to castle queenside and continue play on f7.
But 11.00 would have crampled black's position ( see below ).

11...Qb6 12.Rf1 000 13.000 Bb4 14.Nxd5 Bxd2+ 15.Rxd2 exd5 16.Qxf7 Qxd4 17.Bxh7 (=) and the game was declared a draw quickly.

But let's look at the correct line after 11.00 (diagram)

a/ 11...f5 12.Nxd5
...a1/ 12...cxd5 13.Re1 (++)
...a2/ 12...exd5 13.Bxf5 (++)

b/ 11...f6 12.Re1
...b1/ 12...Nxc3 13.Rxe6+ (++)
...b2/ 12...Be7 13.Qh5+ (++)
...b3/ 12...Qe7 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Bf4 (+=)

c/ 11...Qe7 12.Nxd5 cxd5 13.Bf4 (diagram)

...c1/ 13...000 14.Kh1 (+=)
...c2/ 13...g6 14.Rae1 (+=)
...c3/ 13...Qb4 14.Bh2 (+=)
...c4/ 13...Rc8 14.Rae1 (+=)

So learn these theory lines and let your opponent's clock tick away these precious seconds !