Leela plays the Kings Indian Defense! #2

Today I'm going to analyze another Kings Indian Defense game from Leela! Same as last time, Leela is playing against itself but can maximally calculate 50 nodes/positions per move. This means Leela needs to rely more on its intuition rather than its calculation abilities. The blunders we might see are therefore way more unintuitive and interesting to analyze. There is nothing else to say; let's just get right to it!

Again, all of these games have what I call a setup opening. Basically I forced the engines to play from a particular position. The starting moves are in reality d4 Nf6 c4 g6 Nc3 Bg7, but this is when the game really starts.

Starting position

White to move

 

1. e4 d6 2. Nf3 

Because of temperature, it doesn't always play the same opening moves (in the previous post, Leela played 2. Be2). Nf3 is a more offensive and perhaps flexible move (some might argue that a setup with h3-g4 and Ne2 Ng3 is very strong), although Be2 is played in most Kings Indian games 

O-O 3. Be2 Nbd7 4. O-O e5

White to move

Black purposefully blocks his own bishop, but in return he will try his best to pressure the e4 pawn with moves such as Nc5 and Re8, and if White plays d5, Black hopes to achieve the pawn break f5, with threats against White's center pawns and White's kingside, and with a hope of at some point unleashing the bishop on g7. In this game, though, White chooses to play more of an open approach!

5. Be3 Qe7 6. dxe5 Nxe5 (actually dxe5 is the most common in human games) 7. Nxe5 Qxe5

White to move

Black transformed the position into a maroxcy-bind structure and threatens to take the pawn on e4. White can defend with f3, which is what happened in the game, but if White is optimistic, he might try f4? Qe6 Bf3, which is met by the surprising Nxe4! Nxe4 f5! and the e3 bishop is targeted by the Black queen.

8. f3 b6 

White to move

We are now officially in uncharted territory! It seems to me Black develops the c8 bishop against a brick wall, but at minimum it negates White's intentions to go f4 because of the overwhelming pressure on e4. In a perfect world Black would love to create threats against White's e4 pawn with an eventual f5, although that takes a lot of preparation.

9. Qd2 Bb7 10. Rac1 Nd7

White to move

Black wants to go Rae8, followed by f5 with threats against the e4 pawn and a great attacking position. But after White's next move, Black's ambitions of equality swindle down; Nb5 is a strong move, and Black will have to "back up" from the action. 

11. Nb5 Rfc8 12. Bd4 Qe7 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Rfe1

Black to move

With this last move, Black's desire for counterplay with f5 has been completely stopped because the bishop on e2 is solidly defended. Instead, Black tries to (or at least wants to) play for a kingside attack with h5-h4, together with pressure on e4.

..a5 Black doesn't mind the knight on b5, as Black argues that it is indeed misplaced. Why? Because Black is just going to play Nc5 next, with no b4 allowed, followed by h5-h4 with a reasonable position.

15. f4!!

Black to move

You cannot take with Bxe4 because of Qd4+ Kg8 Bd3 f5 Nxc7! Rxc7 Bxe4 fxe4 Qd5+ winning the rook on a8 and Qxe4 loses to Bf3

Nc5 16. Bf3

Again, taking on e4 leads to a fork in the end.

 Re8 17. Rcd1 Kg8 18. Nc3

Black to move

Black has a surprisingly solid position. How exactly is White going to generate threats against the Black position here? It seems like it is Black, more than White, who has the initiative and attacks. But on the other hand, Black lacks space, and if he isn't accurate, he will end up much worse.

Rad8 19. b3 Qf6 20. Re2 Rd7 21. Rde1 h5 22. h3 Kg7

White to move

Now White's pieces have somehow become quite stale. Black's structure is just so incredibly solid; how does White really make progress in the position? Well, we got to look at the imbalances. White has clearly much more space in the position. More space is generally a good thing if you can keep your pawns defended. Black has a somewhat weak kingside structure, so something like f5 or g4 could be strong to threaten some stuff over there. But g4 has the downside of opening the opponent's pieces, so some Rh8 ideas become possible. e5 however, might be pretty strong if played at the right time, which is what White achieves eventually in this position.

23. Rf1 h4?! 24. Bg4! Rdd8 25. Rfe1!

Black to move

Now White has a clear plan: go Nd5, get rid of the Black light-squared bishop, then push boldly with e5. Now Black must solve many problems in one go!

Kg8 26. Nd5! Bxd5 27. cxd5 Re7 28. e5!

Black to move

White is just in time to execute this pawn push. Black's mistake was pushing h4, which allowed this entire sequence.

Qg7 29. e6! f5 30. Bf3 Qf6

White to move

This position is technically strategically lost for Black. Why? Because Black has no way of generating counterplay. White has theoretically a weakness on d5 and perhaps a hole on g3, but because of White's superior space, Black isn't really able to do anything special with those advantages. Whites' plan is basically to improve the position 1% every move. White's position is solid, meaning Black cannot really easily attack the position. The only kind of serious counterattacking move for Black is perhaps c6 to remove the defender of d6, but that move can easily be ignored, as dxd5 Bxd5 doesn't really achieve anything and just makes his position worse by weakening the d6 pawn.

31. Re3 Rf8 32. a3 a4 

White to move

Black tries to generate play on the a-file, so White must close down the position.

33. b4! Nb3 34. Qf2 Nd4 35. Bd1!

White keeps his bishop and attacks the a4 pawn. 

b5 36. Rd3 c5 

Black tries to make his position very solid, but White has a tactical win.

37. dxc6 Rxe6 38. Rxe6 Nxe6 39. Rxd6 

Rd8 40. c7 Rxd6 41. c8=Q+ White has two queens vs a queen, a rook, and a knight. White wins now nicely.

Rd8 42. Qc1 Qd4 43. Qxd4 Nxd4 44. Kf2 Ne6 45. Be2 Nd4 46. Qc7 Re8 47. Bd3 Ne6 48. Qc6 Re7 49. Bxb5 Kf8 50. Bc4 Kf7 51. b5 Kf6 52. b6 g5 53. b7 Rxb7 54. Qxe6+ Kg7 55. Qg8+ Kh6 56. fxg5+ Kh5 57. Be2# *