Friday, 7 January 2022

And White has a freer game

 "And White has a freer game" is one of those chess annotations I have never particularly understood. I've always thought it was just something annotators wrote when they felt like they had to add a comment, in a similar vain to "chances for both sides" or "compensation for the pawn". 

Based on some recent reading I've decided it is a more confusing way of simply saying, "White has more space". And advantage in space usually confers greater mobility, allowing the player more control over where the pieces go. 

As an example (from one of the older books I was looking at), here is a quick win for Tarrasch over Meises in their 1916 match.  After White's move 9, Reinfeld remarks "Whites game is noticeably freer". Tarrasch won the match 9-4 (+7-2=4), although it may have been played with fixed openings, as Mieses always played the Scotch as White, and the French as Black.


Tarrasch,Siegbert - Mieses,Jacques [C10]
Match Tarrasch-Mieses +7-2=4 Berlin (3), 13.09.1916

Start positionPrevious MoveNext MoveEnd positionPlay movesStop playing
1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O Nxe4 8. Bxe4 Nf6 9. Bd3 b6 10. Ne5 O-O 11. Nc6 Qd6 12. Qf3 Bd7 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. Bg5 Rac8 15. Rfe1 Rfe8 16. Qh3 Qd6 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Qh6 f5 19. Re3 Qxd4 20. c3 1-0

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