The Importance of Tempo

Open games can pick up pace very quickly, and so it is crucial that a player develops his pieces as quickly as possible. One of the primary aims for each player, is to avoid a loss of ‘tempo’ (the chess terminology for a ‘move’). Each move, in an opening, must be utilised in developing all of a players major pieces as quickly as possible. Should a player move a piece twice, before developing another piece, this is described as a ‘loss of tempo’. This is because, in developmental terms, she has wasted a move. Assuming her opponent has utilised her every move for development, then said opponent has now gained ‘tempo’: she has obtained a temporal advantage.

Alexander Beaufort Meek vs Paul Morphy Mobile (1855)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. d4 exd4

4.Bc4

This is the Scotch opening. In the Scotch, rather than exchanging pawns (White could have taken Black’s pawn with 4. Nxd4), White simply sacrifices his pawn and concentrated on advantage in development.

4...Bc5

5. Ng5

In terms of tempo, this is a mistake. White has now lost the opportunity to play a further development move, by playing a piece that has already been developed. Should Black return with a development move, then Black will have gained advantage in tempo.

But according to modern theory, White’s move is a mistake for a further reason. Modern theory posits that: the opening is the battle for the control of the centre. However, White is now attempting to attack Black’s f7 pawn. By shifting his attention to Black’s f7 pawn, Black’s Knight has abandoned the fight for control of the centre.

In fact, by engaging in this early attack, Meek is acting in accordance with ideas that were current at the time. Such ideas, Morphy proved, were ill-founded.

5...Nh6

Morphy defends his f7 pawn with a development move, thus gaining advantage in tempo. The more obvious move might have been 5...Ne5, since Black’s Knight then not only defends his f7 pawn, but simultaneously attacks White’s Bishop. But this would have been a mistake, since it would have involved moving a piece that has already been developed, and therefore, a loss of tempo.

6. Nxf7 Nxf7

7. Bxf7 Kxf7

8. Qh5+ g6

9. Qxc5 d6

So at first glance, this looks pretty cool!

1) White begins by taking Black’s pawn on f7. This is followed by:

2) Black Knight is exchanged for White Bishop

3) White and Black exchange Bishops.

So White successfully obtained Black’s f7 pawn, through a series of 2 exchanges. Here White attempts to apply aDECOY: sacrificing a piece (7. Bxf7+) in order to lure the opponent's King onto a particular square, in order to be exploited to obtain an advantage. The luring of Black’s King onto f7 enables White to create a FORK: by moving his Queen to h5. In so doing, White simultaneously places Black’s King in check AND threatens to take White’s Bishop on c5. As is the case in a good fork, Black cannot protect both pieces at the same time: in fact he MUST protect his King. By moving g6 he protects his King but is forced to leave his Bishop defenceless. Hence he loses a Bishop.

But actually, in order to really assess the merit of this sequence, one needs to consider how this has impacted White’s development. Prior to the sequence, White had two developed pieces: his Knight and his Bishop. At the end of the sequence, both these previously developed pieces have been removed from the board, and have been replaced by Queen. We will return to discuss this Queen in a moment.

But there is another very important lesson to be learned as a result of the play at this point. Let us return to consider Black’s 5th move: Ngh6. We commented that this was the correct move as opposed to Nch6, since the latter would have required Black to move an already developed piece for a 2nd time. Ngh6, on the other hand, involves developing a new piece. Now at the end of the aforementioned sequence, we can consider how dire would have been the consequences of Nch6.

We now consider the use of 2 moves in two different ways. After Black’s f7 pawn had been taken, the aforementioned sequence continued with a Knight exchange. Let us compare the 2 possible Knight moves in Black’s 5th move.

1) If Black had moved his Queenside Knight for a 2nd time, (as opposed to developing his Kingside Knight), he would then have exchanged a piece that had taken in TWO moves.

2) In the actual game however, instead of moving his Queenside Knight a 2nd time, Black used his 5th move to develop his Kingside Knight. A Knight exchange then ensued and his KINGSIDE Knight is removed. But this Knight had only been moved ONCE, and the other move had been used to bring out the other Knight. Therefore, after the exchange, a Knight is left on the board.

Let us compare these two scenarios. In the first (imagined) scenario, White removes a piece that had used up 2 moves to reach it’s position. So 2 moves are lost. In the 2nd scenario, White removes a piece which had only taken 1 move to reach it’s position. The 1st move had resulted in the development of a separate piece. And so in the actual scenario, by developing 2 pieces in with 2 separate move (as opposed to only one piece), Black loses a Knight, yet has another Knight developed. Should he instead, have moved his Kingside Knight for a 2nd time on his 5th move, the aforementioned sequence would have resulted in Black having one less piece developed. And of course, White has taken Black’s f7 pawn at the beginning of the sequence. And so in this hypothetical scenario, Black would have been left with 2 disadvantages: one less piece developed AND the loss of a pawn.

And so, this scenario constitutes a stark example of the importance of tempo: using every move for development rather than moving an already developed piece twice.

Early development of Queens

So to recap, at the end of the aforementioned sequence, White has removed all his developed pieces from the board, and replaced them with his Queen.

This example actually serves to demonstrate an important point: when Queens are pushed into open space, they can become very vulnerable to attack. This can have a devastating effect on a player’s ability to develop. Should Black now make a move that simultaneously develops his pieces, whist at the same time threatening White’s Queen, White is forced to respond by protecting his Queen. Hence, potentially, White may be able to employ successive development moves, whilst simultaneously forcing White to waste moves defending his Queen.

9...d6

10. Qb5

In move 9 Black clears space for the development of his Bishop. This move will have to occur in order to develop the Bishop so shall be classed as a development move. In response, White is forced to move his Queen to safety, and so wastes a move which could otherwise have been allocated to development, exactly as discussed above.

Re8

11. Qb3+ d5

White has now created a PIN: Black cannot take White’s e4 pawn since his d5 pawn is pinned protecting his King from White’s Queen. However, in order for this pin to remain in tact, White cannot move his Queen. So how secure is this pin? The answer is, not very secure, as we will see in in the next 3 moves:

12.f3

White defends his e4 pawn with f3.

12...Na5

13. Qd3

And with one move of the Knight, White’s Queen is dislodged and his pin is broken. This once again demonstrates how weak a Queen can become when pushed forward early in a game into open space. She is forced to evade any attack from any of her opponent's pieces, other than his Queen: lest she lose her own Queen. And so, she can be pushed from pillar to post.

13...dxe4

14. fxe4 Qh4+

15. g3 Rxd4+

16. Kf2

Fantastic sequence. Black exchanges pawns leaving White with an isolated pawn on e4 protected by White’s Queen. However, Black then moves his Queen to h4, covering White’s pawn with 2 pieces and at the same time placing White’s King in check. And so he is able to take White’s e4 pawn, and in so doing places White’s King in check. Since Black’s Rook is defended by his Queen White must parry check by moving his King (obviously he will not take Black’s rook with his queen because he would lose his Queen). White’s King is now getting quickly choked, and White will struggle to defend it, being already attacked in open space by 2 of Black’s pieces. It is only a matter of time before his inevitable demise.

Castling in open games

In open games, especially if your opponent has developed faster than you, your King’s safety should be your primary concern. This game is a perfect example of this scenario, and White should have castled when he had the chance in move 11. Instead, he attempted some ill-conceived Queen move shenanigans. This lost him the game. Remember this point in open games: PROTECTING YOUR KING SHOULD BE YOUR PRIMARY CONCERN.

16...Qe7

17. Nd2 Re3

Queen backs up Rook. White threatens attack of Rook with Knight – which at the same time develops his Knight. But Black has a pawn to defend his Rook so simply moves one square forward, and in so doing threatens White’s Queen. But White is desperate to defend the e2 square with his Queen. The following sequence is therefore a chase, in which White attempts to continue to defend his e2 square.

18. Qb5 c6

19. Qf1 Bh3

20. Qd1

Morphy now brings his Queenside Rook into play.

20...Rf8

21. Nf3

A desperate attempt to block Black’s Queenside Rook from attacking White’s King. I’m not even sure why he bothered doing this since...

21...Ke8

...once Black’s King has moved out of the way then

(22...Rxf3#)

or

(22. Bxe3 Qxe3#)

It’s a fools game. White resigns.