Nelson's Favorite Attacks (Playing White Against Him)

 Nelson, the 1300 bot from chess.com, is known for his aggressive play. I have seen these moves called "advanced tactics" and so forth, but really he just plays an unwisely aggressive game. Accurate play will punish his aggressiveness. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, if you can get past the rapid queen/bishop attacks you can usually beat Nelson with the advantage in material and development that you gain. It's all great in theory that you keep advancing pawns and jumping knights to make him move his queen repeatedly, but it helps to know which attacks he favors in the opening and know the right countermoves.

I played several games with Nelson here to illustrate his tendencies. Note that I do not normally play Queen's Pawn and English openings as white, so you can determine his favorite responses to those on your own. I tend to open with the King's pawn or Nf3, but will focus on King's Pawn games in this post. 

Here is a King's Pawn game where I played white against Nelson. I won a long game, and the majority of it does not matter. Let's focus on how he played in the opening.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Bc5 3.Nxe5 Qh4 4.d4 Qxe4+ 5.Be2 d6 6.Nf3 Bb6 7.Nc3 Qe6 8.Ng5 Qf6 9.f3 Nd7 10.h4 Qxd4 11.Qxd4 Bxd4 12.Nb5 Bb6 13.Nc3 Ne7 14.Nce4 h6 15.Nh3 Ng6 16.Nhf2 Bxf2+ 17.Nxf2 a6 18.O-O h5 19.Re1 d5 20.Bc4+ Kf8 21.Bxd5 c6 22.Be4 Nxh4 23.Bg5 Nxg2 24.Kxg2 Nc5 25.Be3 Nxe4 26.Nxe4 Be6 27.Ng5 Kg8 28.Nxe6 fxe6 29.Red1 Re8 30.Rd7 Kh7 31.Rxb7 Rb8 32.Rxb8 Rxb8 33.b3 Rb4 34.Bc5 Rb5 35.Be3 Ra5 36.a4 Re5 37.Kf2 h4 38.Rh1 c5 39.Rxh4+ Kg6 40.Rc4 Rh5 41.Re4 Kf7 42.Bxc5 Rxc5 43.Rc4 Rh5 44.Rc6 Rh4 45.Rxa6 Rh2+ 46.Kg3 Rxc2 47.Rb6 Rc7 48.b4 Rc4 49.a5 Kf6 50.a6 Rc7 51.Rb7 Rc3 52.a7 Ra3 53.b5 Ra4 54.b6 Ra2 55.Kf4 Ra6 56.Ke4 Ra4+ 57.Ke3 Ra3+ 58.Ke4 Ra4+ 59.Kd3 Ra3+ 60.Kc4 g6 61.Rb8 g5 62.a8=Q Rxa8 63.Rxa8 e5 64.Ra1 e4 65.fxe4 g4 66.b7 Ke5 67.b8=Q+ Kxe4 68.Rg1 Kf5 69.Kd4 Ke6 70.Rxg4 Kf6 71.Re4 Kg6 72.Qf8 Kg5 73.Re1 Kh5 74.Rg1 Kh4 75.Qh8#  {1-0}

Everything was normal through 2.Nf3. Then Nelson brought out the bishop to c5 on his second move, leaving his pawn for the taking. Then he brought out his queen to h4 on this third move. Then he checked me on his fourth move. You get the idea. He will use his bishops and queen to try to get a quick checkmate by attacking f2.

In this case, we take the unprotected pawn with 3.Nxe5. I am not yet overly concerned with just the bishop. It is best to take the material. When black plays 3..Qh4 we have to take things seriously now. 4.d4 attacks his bishop with defense. It is a bonus when these defensive moves help us take centrality or develop our pieces. 

(more here)

In this game, Nelson played a bit differently. This is known as the McConnell Defense where 2..Qf6 is played. It is a less direct threat, but the queen makes its presence known early and will take advantage quickly where it can. 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Nxd4 6.Be3 h5 7.Bxd4 Qh6 8.Be3 Qd6 9.Qxd6 Bxd6 10.Be2 Ne7 11.O-O c5 12.g3 h4 13.Bf4 Bxf4 14.gxf4 O-O 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.exd5 f5 17.Kg2 a5 18.b3 Rf7 19.c4 Re7 20.Rfe1 b6 21.Bd3 h3+ 22.Kxh3 Rxe1 23.Rxe1 d6 24.Rg1 b5 25.cxb5 Bb7 26.Bxf5 Kf7 27.Re1 Rh8+ 28.Kg2 Bxd5+ 29.Be4 Bxe4+ 30.Rxe4 d5 31.Re5 Rb8 32.Rxd5 Ke6 33.Rxc5 Rb7 34.Rc6+ Ke7 35.b6 Kd7 36.Rc7+ Rxc7 37.bxc7 Kc8 38.Kg3 g6 39.Kg4 Kb7 40.Kg5 Kc8 41.Kxg6 Kxc7 42.f5 Kd7 43.Kf6 Kd6 44.Kf7 Ke5 45.f6 Kf5 46.Ke7 Ke5 47.f7 Ke4 48.f8=Q Kd4 49.Qa8 Kd3 50.Qxa5 Kd4 51.Qc7 Ke4 52.a3 Kf3 53.a4 Kxf2 54.a5 Kg1 55.a6 Kg2 56.a7 Kf3 57.a8=Q+ Ke3 58.Qd7 Kf4 59.Qe6 Kg5 60.Qf8 Kh4 61.Qg6 Kh3 62.Qh8#  {1-0}

After 2..Qf6, 3.Nc3 is the best play. I like to play d4 next. Each knight protects each pawn.

(more here)

Here's another McConnell Defense example through castling:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qf6 3.Nc3 a5 4.d4 Qe6 5.dxe5 Nh6 6.Qd5 Bb4 7.Qxe6+ dxe6 8.g3 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Nd7 10.Bg2 Nc5 11.O-O b6 

In this case Nelson moved the queen after 4.d4 and I was able to take e5 with knight defense. I was then able to trade queens before castling. The result was a one material point advantage, control of the center, a castle, and a formation that looks a bit like the King's Indian Attack with a few missing pieces.