Chess for no good reason, part 38
A little preparation is a dangerous thing

I've never had a lot of luck preparing openings. Either my opponent avoids the line completely, or else (even worse!) he plays into it and shows exactly what all my midnight oil was really worth.

In the early days of the 1976 U.S. Open, I was in a restaurant and apparently looking like a chess player because the waitress said to me, "We had a chess book left here a couple of months ago. Would you like to take it?"

I've never been one to look a free chess book in the mouth, particularly when I saw that it was Winning Chess Traps by Irving Chernev. The book's physical condition showed why it had been abandoned, but I didn't mind; I had a new chess Bible.

I flipped through it the next couple days, renewing acquaintance with some old favorites and meeting some new ones. A particularly striking example was #260, the famous Monticelli Trap in the Queen's Indian, which goes something like this:

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 0-0 8.Nc3 Ne4 9.Qc2 Nxc3 10.Ng5!

And the double threat of Qxh7# and Bxb7 ensures that White will win the exchange. Very neat!

Perhaps I would not have been so excited had I known that Capablanca fell into this trap during a match with Euwe, and still managed to draw the game. And then the next time he had Black in the match, Capa contemptuously steered the game right back into the same line, and drew again.

But I was an optimist in those days. So, when I sat down at the board and played 1.d4 on a sudden impulse, I got excited when the Queen's Indian Defense appeared.

David Moody (1576) - Matthew Grinberg (1894) [E18]
U.S. Open Fairfax, Va. (3), 17.08.1976

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Qc2 Nxc3 9.Ng5

I couldn't remember if these were the exact moves from #260, but it sure looked like the same position. So I sprung the trap, trying my best not to look smug.

10...Nxe2+

An unfortunate development. 11.Qe2 releases the mate threat, and Black wins a piece with 11...Bxg2 and 12...Bxg5. And the alternative doesn't help.

10.Kh1 Bxg2+ 0-1

After which it took only a couple of seconds to calculate 11.Kxg2 Bxg5 winning a piece, resign the game, and swear off 1.d4 forever.

Back in my room I quickly grabbed the book and looked for #260. Where had I gone wrong? And along the way, I noticed #265.

It was the exact trap that I had fallen into.