Triberg was not really an easy tournament (there were actually more tournaments), as the players were interrupted several times and even detained due to the outbreaking war.
Nonetheless, a few interesting games were played. This is one of them. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 Bd7 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.0-0 Be7 7.Re1 exd4 8.Nxd4 0-0 9.Bf1 Re8 (diagram) probably the best response for Black in this position.
10.Nde2?! I was not sure how to consider this move, as strategically the idea of avoiding exchange and bringing the knight toward the opponent's castle might be OK. However, as we discussed in the previous game (Capablanca - Hodges 1915), White has no reason to fear the exchange, as his queen will be nicely placed in the centre. Moreover, my gut feeling tells me that the move is excessively artificial (there are so many natural options, such as 10.h3 or 10.b3 that it does not make sense to me to look for creative solutions to a non-problem).
10...h6 11.Ng3 Bf8 12.h3 Ne5 (diagram). Black is reorganising his position by moving the knight on the kingside. By doing this, he also prepare the advance of his queenside pawns, a typical flank attack to indirectly weaken the e4 pawn.
13.Be3 c6 14.Qd2 Think what would you play with Black, 3-5 minutes.
The game continued with 14...Qc7. Yet, 14...b5 immediately would have been more precise, without giving White the chance to play a4.
15.f4 Ng6 16.Rad1 (16.a4 was better) 16...b5 17.Bd3 b4 18.Nce2 c5 = The position is already pretty equal and it is not interesting for us anymore.
The main point is that when you play open dynamic positions there is rarely room for slow manoeuvring. 10.Nde2 going backward is a bit suspicious and you should not cross your mind unless you are sure that the other options are weaker.
Eventually, White got worse but Black messed it up and lost at move 46.
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