Home Page [ROT ]

Game 1 L.Varnham (2088)---M.Surtees (2142)
British Open 2005
ROT Caro-Kann (Spider variation)
1.E4 C6 2.D4 D5 3.NC3 B5!? This move has a dubious reputation but maybe ROT will give it a new lease of life.The tactical point is that if 4ed then 4...b4 followed by 5...cd with more central pawns. 4.A3 A6 5.NF3 F6!? A typical
ROT move.It exerts control over an important central square, restricts White's KN and QB and prepares to support a possible later e5 or g5. It also provides a safety square for the black king.The drawbacks are that e6 is weakened, the f6 square is not available for the KN and the diagonal e8-h5 is exposed.However the KN would not be secure on f6 because of White's e5 move and as will be seen the weaknesses can be covered.6.BD3 E6 Blocking in the QB but in ROT it is more important to create a strong centre with pawns supported by pawns.
We now have a position where White has a conventional centre, (pawns supported by pieces),against an ROT centre.Because White's
knights block his bishop pawns, he cannot readily assault black's centre. 7.ED? This exchange is premature. It partially surrenders control of the centre, allows Black more central pawns and Black's QN access to c6. Also White no longer has the potential thrust e5.Although the e-file is opened, White never seriously threatens the e6 pawn.
After 7.Qe2, (threat:8.ed cd9.Nd5!),Kf7 8.0-0 g5 9.Ne1(or Nd2)h5 Black develops all 8 pawns! 7.0-0 g5 8.Ne1/d2 h5! is a pawn sacrifice which is analysed in Preview ROT.To put it in technical terms, a player moving all pawns without developing a piece is known to be playing ABSOLUTE ROT! I have called these lines Spider variations because they look like the 8 legs of a spider crawling up the board.
7...CD 8.O-O { Here 8.Nh4 g6 9.f4 looks better, restraining black's centre and kingside expansion.} 8...NC6 9.RE1 KF7 The king moves
to a safer square, not only giving extra support to e6 but also covering potential weak squares on f6 and g6 after the intended advance of the g and h pawns.10.BF4 [I considered 10...g5 may be playable now but the sacrifice 11.Ng5+ fg 12.Qh5+ Kg7 13.Bg5 gives White a menacing attack. e.g.13...Be7 14.Be7 Nge7 15.Re3 Ng6 16.Rh3 is unclear.]10...BD6. Note that this is playable since White no longer has the pawn advance e5. 11.BG3. [If 11.Qd2 black can play g5 immediately. 11...h5 Black's centre is secure enough that he is able to launch an attack
against White's king---not so much with pieces as with pawns leading the assault. And Black attacks even though he is 3 moves behind in piece development! 12.QE2 [ If 12.Bd6 Qd6 13.h4 Nh6 and Black's KN can be aggressively placed at g4;a consequence of delayed piece development.] 12...G5 13.BD6.[ A shade better is 13.Qe3 although 13...h4 forces the bishop exchange anyway. It now appears that 11.Bg3 was wasting time.] 13...QD6.Effectively the queen is deployed to a nice position without loss of time.14.QE3 NE7 15.RAD1 Played to prevent black from eventually gaining ground in the centre with h4, g4 and e5. 15...Bd7 16.Nb1 Planning to re-route to c5 but in the upshot it never gets there.16...RAG8? Building up more steam behind the pawn storm. But I should have cranked-up the ROT with h4 to stop Nbd2 which fails to g4.It is not yet totally clear where the QR should be.
17.A4? [A panic reaction against the coming storm on the K side ;White decides to drum up counterplay on the other wing.He should have continued his plan with Nbd2.] 17...BA 18.C4{ If 18.Ba6 Nd4 and White's only centre pawn is lost.}18...NB4. Black now sees that it is easier to attack on the queenside.He exploits the weaknesses (b4,b3 and b2),whilst snuffing out any counterplay. 19.NA3 RB8 20.C5 QF4 Being a pawn up with a superior position Black does not mind a queen swop.21.BF1 NF5 22.QF4 GF 23.RB1 RB7 24.H3 [ If 24.b3 Rhb8 25.ba Ba4 26.Rb2 Nc6 27.Rb7 Rb7 28.Ba6 Rb3 and the White QP falls (29.Nc2 Rf3!)]. 24...RHB8 25.RED1 A5 26.RD2 RE8 [Intending 27...e5.] 27.RE1 BC6 28.KH2 NE7 29.NH4 NG6 30.NG6 KG6 31.NC2 E5 32.NB4 RB4 33.BD3+ Only helping Black but White's game is hopeless. 33...E4 34.BF1 REB8 35.RB1 A3 36.B3 A4 37.RA2 RB3 38.RBA1 R8B4 39.RD1 RB2 40.RA3 RF2 41.KG1 RFB2 0-1. ROT meter 81%.

Game 2 M.SURTEES(2239)---G.KAFKA(2143) BRITISH OPEN 2004
Sicillian (ROT Alapin)
1.E4 C5 2.C3 D5 3.F3 The ROT creeps in. Instead of surrendering central control by 3.ed Qd5 and developing the black queen, White supports the centre. With Black's pawn on c5 the weakness of the diagonal g1-a7 is not serious. 3...E6 [Threatening 4...de 5.fe Qh4+.] 4.D3 NC6 5.NH3 From here the knight can protect the potentially weak d3 by Nf2 if necessary and there are possibilities of aggressive action with Ng5 at a later stage. However I now prefer g3 as it keeps open options for the knight and is less committal. 5...BD6 6.G3 NE7 7.BG2 B5 8.O-O QB6 9.KG1 { If 9.f4 immediately 9...de 10.de c4+ 11.Kh1 Bc5 looks fine for Black.} 9...0-0 10.F4 F6 [ Preventing e5 and Ng5.] 11.ND2 D4 12.C4 BA6? To eliminate White's QN if it comes to c4, but this should have been effected by a6. Black probably expected something like 13.b3 bc 14.bc Rb8 with nothing to fear. Black is well ahead in piece development and , in general, a pawn sacrifice requires a two move advantage in development----but this position is exceptional. 13.E5! This pawn sacrifice is based on a number of tactical points:-
a) Black's KB can be attacked with a pawn and then a knight. b) White's KB pins the black QN. c) Black's e6 pawn has lost protection after Ba6? d) The black king is not adequately defended with the black queen and queen bishop on the queenside. e)White's queen and queen bishop are both developed where they stand in terms of ROT. 13...FE In view of what follows 13...Bc7 is an improvement, but after 14.ef Rf6 (14...gf 15.Qg4+ Kf7 16.Qh5+ Kg8 17.Ne4 threatening 18.Nhg5 aswell as 18.Nc5 followed by 19. Ne6), White establishes a strong knight with Ne4. 14.NG5 Not so good is 14.Ne4 Qc7 15.Ng5 when black can defend with 15...Qd7. 14...EF 15.NDE4 Not 15.Qh5 h6 16.Ne6 Rf6 and the attack loses momentum. 15...F3 Attempting to throw a spanner in the works. 16. RF3 NE5 17.RF8+ RF8 18.QH5. Note how White's queen and later the QB come flying out with a BANG! 18...H6 19.NE6 RF7.It looks like Black has consolidated.He is still in development and threatens Nd3 and bc.20.NG7! But after this sacrifice Black's position falls to pieces. 20...BC7.[If 20...Rg7 21.Qe8+ Kh7 22.Nf6++. If 20...Kg7 21.Qh6+ and Nd6 is decisive.However 20...Bb8 looks slightly better.]21.NE8 BB7 22.BH6 ND3 23.QG5+ NG6.( Not 23...Qg6 24.N4f6+ ) 24.N8F6+ This knight has run riot through Black's position. 24...KH8 25.QG6 NF2+ 26.KG1 1-0.

GAME 3 J.HORNER(2424)---M.SURTEES(2239)
BOLTON CLUB 10MINUTE TOURNAMENT 22/11/04

I have played many friendly games against
Jeff Horner at the Bolton club to practice
my experimental ROT. Jeff is a very strong
attacking player known as the "scourge of the
North West" for winning so many tournaments in
the area. I have lost the majority of these
games but here is one that went in my favour:--

ROT Spider variation

1.E4 C6 2.NC3 D5 3.NF3 F6 4.D4 E6 5.BD3 B5 6.A4 B4 7.NB1 A5 8.QE2 KF7 9.NBD2 G5 10.NF1 H5
11.BE3 G4 12.N3D2 E5!? Black has gained a space
advantage over the whole board and has set up the coveted pawn centre. On the other hand White
is 4 moves ahead in piece development.If he can
break through Black's defence, perhaps with a piece sacrifice, the uncastled black king may be
dangerously exposed, there are many potential weaknesses to exploit and black's back rank pieces may come under fire. Black must rely on
his stronger centre and that his pieces are,to some degree or other developed where they stand.
Note that Black's knights guard weak pawns and
the KN is helping to defend around the vicinity of the king. Through my eyes this position appears satisfactory for Black, though difficult to assess.An attacking player might prefer White
and a computer without ROT concepts would no doubt favour White.
13.DE FE 14.NG3 (Sacrificing a piece for 2 pawns--in these type of situations the pawns act like "fire-ships" amongst the clustered pieces.) 14...D4 15.NC4 DE 16.NE5+ KG7 17.QE3 QF6 After 14 pawn moves and 2 king moves black brings out the queen first!---rules are there to be broken and in order to become a stronger player you need to know when to break them. 18.NC4 NA6 In order to meet 19.Nb6 with Bc5.But 18...h4 may be
best. 19.E5 QH6. Black goes for a queen swop to break the attack; meanwhile White recovers his material.20.QH6 RH6 21.NB6 NC7 22.NA8 NA8 23.BF5 BE6 24.0-0-0 NB6.The knight and bishop are often at least equal to the rook and two pawns if they can find safe active squares.25.H3 H4 26.BE6 HG 27.BG4? About equal is 27.Bg8--now black gets a dangerous pawn.27...GF 28.RD3 BC5 29.RHD1 ND5 Stronger than taking the pawn. 30.RG3 RG6 31.E6 NH6 (Ne3 wins more quickly). 32.RF3 NG4 33.RF7 KG8 34.HG RE6 35.RF3 RE1 36.KD2 RD1 37.KD1 NE3+ 38.KE2 F1(Q)+ and black won.

GAME 4 M.S.-----A.POMOKHENIKOV (2216)
NOTTINGHAM RAPIDPLAY 20/2/05
CARO WING GAMBIT
1E4 C6 2.NE2 D5 3.E5 C5 4.B4 I started playing this after I had seen the French wing gambit.It looks better than the impetuous Sicillian WG as, in effect, White has the extra move Ne2 thrown in.Both the French WG and what I have called the Caro WG embody ROT principles. It is the strong pawn chain c3-d4-e5 which limit the scope of the black pieces combined with the fact that many of the White pieces are well placed where they originally stand that justify the pawn minus.
It was the appreciation of this that gave me a big step in the evolution of ROT.
4...CB 5.D4 E6 6.A3 NC6 7.AB BB4 8.C3 BE7 9.NF4 QC7 10.BD3 BD7 11.0-0 0-0-0 12.RE1 To restrain 12...f6 and in some lines the rook can transfer to the queenside via e2. 12...g5? (12...g6 intending h5 and Nh6 is safer). The text creates organic weaknesses which cannot be reversed. 13.NH5 H6 14.BA3 To exchange Black's "good" bishop which leaves him with weak dark squares.14...NA5. If 14...f5 15.ef Bf6 16.Qe2 with bags of compensation for the pawn.15.BD6! BD6 16.ED QB6 17.ND2 BB5 18.BB5 QB5 19.QF3 F5 If 19...Rd7 20.Reb1 Qa6 21.Nb3 b6 22.c4!with a winning attack. After 19...Rh7 20.Reb1 Qa6 21.Nb3 b6 22.c4!Rd6(if 22...dc 23.Na5 ba 24.Qa8+ Kd7 25.Rb7+ Ke8 26.Re7+ Ne7 27.Nf6+ is spiflicating.)23.c5 Rc6 24.Na5 ba 25.Qb3 Kd7 26.Qb8 Rc8 (26...Qc8 27.Ra5 with an easily won ending) 27.Rb7+ Kd8 28.Qd6+ and the queen swop ensures a winning ending because the Black KR and KN are not in the game e.g. (28...Qd6 29.cd a6 30.g3 Rc6 31.Ra5 Kc8 32.d7+) 20.REB1 QA6 21.NB3 B6 22.QE3 KD7 Losing immediately but there is no defence (22...Re8 23.Ng7 etc.) 23.RA5 QA5 24.NA5 and wins.
--------------------------------------

SURVEY OF EXAMPLE ROT LINES (ANALYSED IN PREVIEW ROT).
---------------------------------------

FOR WHITE:--
--------------
PHILIDOR COUNTER GAMBIT REVERSED WITH EXTRA MOVE. 1.E4 E5 2.A3 NF6 3.D3 D5 4.F4 DE 5.FE NG4 6.D4 E3 7.NC3 NF2 8.QF3 NH1 9.BE3...
THE EXTRA MOVE A3 IS USEFUL IN PREVENTING BB4
OR A LATER NB4. IN OTHER LINES A3 SUPPORTS B4 AND THE A2 SQUARE CAN BE USED BY THE QR, AS A RETREAT FOR THE KB AND EVEN AS A SAFETY SQUARE FOR THE KING IN ONE LINE.IN ANOTHER CRITICAL LINE A3 PRVENTS A BLACK QB4+.THIS EXTRA MOVE RESULTS IN A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT COMPARED TO THE PHILIDOR CG AS BLACK-----WILL WE SEE A RESURGENCE OF THIS OLD GAMBIT??

FRENCH WING GAMBIT 1.E4 E6 2.NF3 D5 3.E5 C5 4.B4 CB AND ITS RELATION TO ROT.

SICILLIAN ALAPIN 1.E4 C5 2.C3 NF6 3.D3 NC6 4.F4 OR 3...E5 4.C4!?----IS WHITE'S LAST GOOD OR BAD?

ROT PIRC 1.E4 D6 2.D4 NF6 3.F3 G6 4.C3

FOR BLACK:--

ROT GAMBIT (1) 1.D4 C6 2.C4 F6 3. NF3 E5 4. NC3 BB4 5.DE BC3+ 6.BC QA5 7.QD4 NA6 8.G3 FE 9.NE5 NE7

ROT GAMBIT (2) 1.D4 C6 2.C4 F6 3.E4 E5 4. DE BB4+ 5.BD2 QE7 6.BB4 QB4+ 7.QD2 NA6

ROT ENGLISH 1.C4 E5 2.G3 C6 3.D4 F6

+ MANY OTHER LINES